Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man

by Emmanuel Acho

the longest-lasting pandemic in this country is a virus not of the body but of the mind, and it’s called racism.

Everything great is birthed through discomfort.

Prejudice is an emotional commitment to ignorance.

That dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.

My journey of love can’t be any different just because of the color of someone’s skin.

I believe that love wins. I believe a family can look however it looks and still be a family.

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

“Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year; it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”

But race can only be defined as a human being.

color and ethnicity are part of what makes people human, and to deny any of us our particularity is to deny our humanity.

Ending racism is not a finish line that we will cross. It’s a road we’ll travel.