Cherese > Cherese's Quotes

“Racism, for many people, seems to occupy space in very much the same way as dark matter: it forms the skeleton of our world, yet remains ultimately invisible, undetectable. This is convenient. If nothing is racist, then nothing needs to be done to address it.”
― Alicia Elliott, A Mind Spread Out on the Ground

“It’s hard to let go of control, to stop trying to be the architect of not only our own lives but the lives of the people around us as we single-mindedly work towards our own flawed constructions of "perfection." Once we do, though, we might actually be able to recognize the beauty we’ve missed.”
― Alicia Elliott, A Mind Spread Out on the Ground

“In this age, the natural world is spared only if it can be photographed; if its beauty can be sold; if it doesn’t get in the way of more pipelines and more profit.”
― Alicia Elliott, A Mind Spread Out on the Ground

“Some things only matter when a white man does them.”
― Alicia Elliott, A Mind Spread Out on the Ground

“Our love was a process of unlearning the bad love we'd been given.”
― Alicia Elliott, A Mind Spread Out on the Ground

“Corn, beans, and squash were once all my people needed. They were so essential to our everyday lives that we referred to them as our sisters. We would preserve each plant's seeds and pass them on to our children, knowing that with this gift, they would be able to provide the same nutritious food for their families that we provided for them. This was an act of absolute, undiminished intergenerational love. And if intergenerational trauma can alter DNA, why can't intergenerational love?”
― Alicia Elliott, A Mind Spread Out on the Ground

“Maybe our single-minded focus on the light makes us unable to see the dark that’s all around, always.”
― Alicia Elliott, A Mind Spread Out on the Ground

“The skillset you need to survive is not the same skillset you need to love and be loved”
― Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Islands of Decolonial Love: Stories & Songs

“When you're raising someone to survive a war that the other side invests millions convincing people it doesn't exist you raise your army to be tough. You teach them not to make a big fuss. You teach them not to feel. If you waste your time feeling you're not going to be ready and in the ring for the next blow. You're going to be crying and feeling sorry for yourself in the corner and you're not going to see them coming, because that's the lesson you never see them coming.”
― Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Islands of Decolonial Love: Stories & Songs

“everyone knows white people hate typos”
― Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, This Accident of Being Lost: Songs and Stories