Black in Latin America Quotes

“If you really see our social stratum, you will see that the most powerful people, the most influential people, are lighter and almost European-like. And of course, the darker people are poorer. The most depressed neighborhoods are completely dark. It’s the same thing in the prisons.”
― Henry Louis Gates Jr., Black in Latin America

“One could make analogies with the black experience in the States, but it would be foolish to try to impose our interpretive frame onto theirs. All race, all racism, just like politics, is local.”
― Henry Louis Gates Jr., Black in Latin America

“The Redemption of Cain, by Modesto Brocos (1852–1936). Three generations of a Brazilian family, each successively whiter (black grandmother, mulatto mother, and white baby). (Museu Nacional de Belas Artes)”
― Henry Louis Gates Jr., Black in Latin America

“Boukman’s prayer (first set down by Haitian poet and politician Hérard Dumesle in 1824): The god who created the earth; who created the sun that gives us light. The god who holds up the ocean; who makes the thunder roar. Our God who has ears to hear. You who are hidden in the clouds; who watch us from where you are. You see all that the whites had made us suffer. The white man’s god asks him to commit crimes. But the god within us wants to do good. Our god, who is so good, so just, He orders us to revenge our wrongs. It’s He who will direct our arms and bring us the victory. It’s He who will assist us. We all should throw away the image of the white men’s god who is so pitiless. Listen to the voice for liberty that speaks in all our hearts.”
― Henry Louis Gates Jr., Black in Latin America