Letters to a Black Boy Quotes

“Despite your daddy's desire simply to guide you through the maze, there will be times when I am guilty of pushing and preaching. My excuse is that I cannot forget that the black skin you got from me will force you to waste a kingsize slice of your lifetime climbing invisible barriers, imagining other barriers where none exist, fending off affronts-real and imagined-to your dignity, proving that you are human, disproving that you are inferior, living down stereotypes, protesting injustice, choking down helpless rage, waiting for freedom, and adjusting to the knowledge that you will still be waiting when you die.

All those distractions, of course, will rob you of more time and energy than any man can afford to lose from his search for personal fulfillment, from learning to help, to share, to build, to laugh, to dream, to love.”
― Bob Teague, Letters to a Black Boy

“Despite you daddy's desire simply to guide you through the maze, there will be times when I am guilty of pushing and preaching. My excuse is that I cannot forget that the black skin you got from me will force you to waste a kingsize slice of your lifetime climbing invisible barriers, imagining other barriers where none exist, fending off affronts-real and imagined-to your dignity, proving that you are human, disproving that you are inferior, living down stereotypes, protesting injustice, choking down helpless rage, waiting for freedom, and adjusting to the knowledge that you will still be waiting when you die.

All those distractions, of course, will rob you of more time and energy than any man can afford to lose from his search for personal fulfillment, from learning to help, to share, to build, to laugh, to dream, to love.”
― Bob Teague, Letters to a Black Boy