I'm Judging You Quotes

“Black trauma is never given space to heal because we have to make sure the white people who hurt us don’t feel too bad about it. Even as victims, we’re told to care about the feelings of those who harm us.”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“We are entrusting thousands of strangers with our innermost thoughts and feelings, and then we're expecting them to be careful with those feelings. As much as we want it to be, the Internet is not a safe space. It is not a place where we can lay our burdens down and heal. Why? Because there are too many people there who do not give an ounce of a shit about our well-being. They do not deserve our rawness, and they will not treat it with care.”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“First of all, even nice people can be racists, because racism does not depend on malicious intent. It is not a requirement for you to consciously hate someone who is of a different skin color for you to be racist. Let me repeat. You do not need to actively hate someone who is of a different race than you to do racist crap and hold racist views.”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“I'm not interested in living in a world where my race is not part of who i am. I am interested in living in a world where our races, no matter what they are, don't define our trajectory in life.”
― luvvie ajayi , I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“I am not asking everyone to be activists. I am not asking everyone to march on the front lines. I am not asking every writer, public figure, or celebrity to lead social movements. I am not asking them to make speeches on how they have a dream. I am, however, challenging people not to stay silent as the world crumbles. You do not have to yell. Even a whisper of truth matters in an echo chamber of lies.”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“Why try to change who you were born to be and force yourself into who you think everyone will find more beautiful? Society has failed people to the point where they feel they cannot like themselves in the skin they were born in.”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“Our privileges are the things not within our own control that push us forward and move us ahead from that starting line. Acknowledging them does not mean you are admitting to doing something to purposefully contribute to someone else’s oppression or marginalization. Nay, friends. It means you recognize that some part of your identity puts you in a better position than others. It means something about you assists your progress in the race of life. It also means that whatever majority group you belong to has likely contributed to the oppression of another. Knowing our privilege does not make us villains, but it should make us more conscious about the parts we play in systems that are greater than us. It should make us be more thoughtful; it should humble us. We need to admit that some of us had a head start and aren’t just flourishing on our strength alone.”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“Real women breathe.”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“Racism is not a byproduct as much as it's the foundational stock in the American soup.”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“But we are more than the sum of our parts, and we are more than the numbers on our scales. Be like me and judge people by the decisions they make with their eyebrows. That’s way more important.”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“It’s like someone breaks your arm, and the person who slammed the baseball bat into it is saying, “The only reason it won’t heal is because you keep complaining that it hurts.” How about you get me a cast so the bone can set straight again? America does not want to put the effort into providing this cast. This is why we must talk about race, and we must do it openly. As”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“Some well-meaning folks think if we stop talking about racism, it’ll magically disappear, like the smell of an errant fart. But like a fart, people might try to be polite and ignore it, but everyone knows it’s there. Avoidance has never been a great tactic in solving any problem. For most situations in life, not addressing what's going wrong only makes matters worse. It’s like someone breaks your arm, and the person who slammed the baseball bat into it is saying, 'The only reason it won’t heal is because you keep complaining that it hurts.' How about you get me a cast so the bone can set straight again? America does not want to put the effort into providing this cast. This is why we must talk about race, and we must do it openly.”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“I have NO LOVE for those who consider themselves “good people” but stand idly by as the world crumbles around them. It’s not enough to personally not do damage. If you’re present as someone else destroys what’s around you and you do nothing, you helped them. And there’s a bunch of do-nothing-ass white folks sitting around today stunned. Everyone lets themselves off the hook by saying “Well, it wasn’t me who did it.” BUT YOU WERE THERE. What did you do to stop it?!? You sleep better at night knowing it wasn’t you who made those racist/homophobic/Islamophobic jokes. But you were there when they happened.”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“Lifelong full-body salving is why Black folks look so young. Black doesn’t snap, crackle, or pop—why? Because: moisture. It’s why some of us look twelve at thirty. Listen to me, white folks. I’m dropping life secrets here. Why else do you think the Olsen twins (born in 1986) look the same age as Nia Long (born in 1970)? You haven’t used the BUTTERS.”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“Being able to live without having to be defined by your skin color is the hallmark of privilege.”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“Black people actually have to PROVE their humanity, instead of having it accepted as a given.”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“White women, include women of color in your agenda as you fight for equality. Don’t leave us behind and then only call on us when you need our numbers.”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“This is a place that was “discovered” by a dude who didn’t know how to read a map, so he just showed up on some shore, thought he was in India, and then proceeded to plant a flag there, like, “TA-DA.” No, sir, no. What Christopher Columbus’s goofass needed was a compass and a clue for being so aggressively mediocre, but that dude has a federal holiday in his honor. He showed up on someone else’s property and claimed it as his because he didn’t know what it was. This country started off all the way wrong and continued in the same fashion. Chris”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“If you constantly have to play ombudsman for your beloved, you’re in a co-dependent prison of your own making. People will keep doing what they can get away with.”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“Until the lion tells his side of the story, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“There's power in believing there's a God in each of us because if we are made in His/Her/Their image, aren't we all like good horcruxes for God? Because a piece of them is in us?”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“The fight for equality on any front does not equate to the oppression of the oppressors.”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“People rush to discredit survivors and protect perpetrators because it’s easier to deny that something happened than to deal with the fact that there are predators in our midst. Unfortunately,”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“I am not ride-or-die. Those are some pretty limiting choices: So if I’m not riding, I gotta die? Can I get off and take the bus? Is “Let’s talk about it” an option? What about “ride, or pause this if we need to”? There”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“Womanhood should be defined by each person for herself, because we are not all the same, and there’s no one way we can define it as a group.”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“I did not attend any Academy so it is not my job to police you or try to catch you in any act. If I get to the point where I feel the need to do that, I'd rather just walk away cuz it means you've lost my trust and without that, we have nothing left. Our foundation is cracked and I'm not living in a shaky house.”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“I know for a fact that I would be awful if I was built like Serena Williams or Jennifer Lopez... If I had a body remotely close to what they have, I would be a terror. My ass would cause me to do really inappropriate and rude things. I'd be so ridiculous that people would be able to pick my labia out of a lineup. I'd wear zero clothes any- and everywhere, every day. I'd show up at church rocking a denim thong and a cropped T-shirt and have the nerve to sit right next to the head usher and dare her to say anything to me. And if anyone did say something to me, I'd tell them, "Jesus blessed me in many ways, and I am just showing off His works. HALLELUJAH." People would be disgusted and appalled by me and I wouldn't care. All insults would bounce off my ample backside. To whom much is given, much is required, and I'd require that my much would be given nary an inch of fabric. I'd hire a band whose sole job would be to follow me around and play theme music for my yansh, based on the mood I was in... I might opt to walk backwards into any room I entered, because why not?... I might also declare my booty its own limited liability corporation, assigning myself as CEO and chairman of the Donk. My jeans would be tax-deductible business expenses, and I would add my ass to my LinkedIn profile's Skills section. Everyone would throw hate ration in my dancery, and I wouldn't even see it, protected as I would be by the throne I sat atop.”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“The times when it is most uncomfortable for us to speak up are usually when our voices are most needed and when what we need to say is most important. Why? Because it’s hard to stand and speak truth to power when it comes to anything that is not trivial. When our voices shake, that’s when the words need to be heard the most.”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual

“The United States of America was built on the backs of Black and brown people, and it still stands on our necks. This is why I’m judging this country for the racism that permeates everything about it.”
― Luvvie Ajayi, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual