Michael > Michael's Quotes

“You can't own a human being. You can't lose what you don't own. Suppose you did own him. Could you really love somebody who was absolutely nobody without you? You really want somebody like that? Somebody who falls apart when you walk out the door? You don't, do you? And neither does he. You're turning over your whole life to him. Your whole life, girl. And if it means so little to you that you can just give it away, hand it to him, then why should it mean any more to him? He can't value you more than you value yourself.”
― Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon

“She was the third beer. Not the first one, which the throat receives with almost tearful gratitude; nor the second, that confirms and extends the pleasure of the first. But the third, the one you drink because it's there, because it can't hurt, and because what difference does it make?”
― Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon

“A redução da cultura africana ao status de vazio folclore não revela somente o desprezo ao negro da sociedade vigente, branca, como também exibe a avareza com que essa sociedade explora o afro-brasileiro e sua cultura com intuitos lucrativos. Pois em bora a religião e a arte sejam tão ridicularizadas e folclorizadas, elas constituem valiosas e rentáveis mercadorias no comércio turístico.

Nesse caminho as manifestações religiosas negras tornam-se "curiosidades" para entreter visitantes brancos. A folclorização dá um passo em frente ao desenvolver outra etapa do tratamento dispensado à cultura afro-brasileira pela sociedade dominante: a sua comercialização.”
― Abdias do Nascimento, O Genocídio do Negro Brasileiro: Processo de um Racismo Mascarado