Two months ago I went to the Apollo for a screening of The Blacklist: Vol. Two. I was amazed that I could be moved and profoundly inspired by African-American achievers who were just sitting in a chair in front of a simple gray backdrop speaking quite plainly. Today, I bought the coffee table book that accompanies volume one and thought I should share some comments that are weighing on my mind like pork ribs with mac-n-cheese in the tummy:
Toni Morrison: "So that was my effort in writing Beloved, to do that. To talk about a woman who had to make some choices about slavery. About motherhood. About love. About parenting. About all sorts of things. That was a complicated story. It had nothing to do with being a victim. It had something to do with trying to deal with this incredibly complicated, desperate world of a woman."
Al Sharpton (speaking about James Brown): "It was just this dominating kind of presence he had that's hard to describe to people that were never around him. Even in private, he just had this kind of personality. And even his normal everyday movement, he was just different. He was a different kind of person."
Susan Rice (note: I'm a stan and so she gets 2 quotes): "I could only do my best and bring to the game who I was, and other people were going to have to adjust to that."
(on Colin Powell): "I don't think I could have done that, and I don't think they ever gave him the honor and the credit he was due. He stood there and had to fight with Rumsfeld and fight with Cheney in a way that arguably was beneath him." (Tell 'em Susan!!)
Colin Powell (on having to send in troops as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the 1992 King riots in L.A.): "But I commented then that I thought it was terribly disturbing to me as a black man-and it should be disturbing to all Americans-that Rodney King was treated in such a manner. I thought that I should say that out loud to make sure that nobody had any question that an injustice was done. So the riot had to be brought to an end. The cause of the riot, what happened to Rodney King had to be dealt with."
There was so much more. Too much more. You should check it out.
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