You Can't Touch My Hair Quotes

“At the time of this writing, Donald Trump seeks the Republican nomination supported largely by a bunch of angry white people who sense where history is going and DO NOT LIKE IT AT ALL and are therefore hoping that if they punch and shove enough brown people, it will fix it. Perhaps when you read this, Donald Trump will be president or maybe superking. But even if that happens, he shall pass. Time does not go backward.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“we do not choose our circumstances, the prejudices that we inherit, or our privilege or lack of it. It”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“And maybe they don’t because they’re under the misapprehension that because I talk about race a lot, that I must love talking about it. I don’t. And I’ll let you in on a little secret about what other black people rarely say: Explaining your life to a world that doesn’t care to listen is often more draining than living in it.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“I’m sorry, but eeeeeeeww. A woman telling another woman that she’s not likable because she’s smart is gross. It’s a big F-U to all the women who have fought and continue to fight for ladies’ equality, and furthermore, it continues the cycle of discouraging women from being as well rounded as men are allowed to be.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“But there’s an even harder truth to accept: The kind of growth required to move past race is nearly impossible to achieve because racism is rooted in the foundation of America.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“Whenever someone tells you that you're doing XYZ like a girl, then you can whip out, "Thank you, hater, you're my motivator," and then go back to being XX chromosome AF.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“...there is a predator-like mental scan that black women have to do before speaking, and even after we've done risk assessment, things can still go astray.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“But some people don’t want to believe that, because if varying degrees of blackness become normalized, then that means society has to rethink how they treat black people. In other words, if you allow black people to be as complicated and multidimensional as white people, then it’s hard to view them as the Other with all the messy pejorative, stereotypical, and shallow ideas that have been assigned to that Otherness.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“Do not keep talking to the Devil’s Advocate Guy or Gal aka DAG. I’m not against playing Devil’s Advocate, because a lot can be gleaned from it. However, when it comes to topics such as homophobia, sexism and racism, a particular kind of DAG tends to rear its ugly head. This person isn’t interested in having a fruitful discussion that will enrich everyone involved, nor do they have any intention to have an open and frank discussion about a difficult subject. This person is simply a shit-starter. Someone who is bored and wants to derail a conversation or has some inner rage that they are dying to unleash. During my days of blogging about race, I have encountered this person often. They start out as seemingly run-of-the-mill people, perhaps sharing slightly bias statistics but asking enough questions to seem like they are open to ideas. Eventually though, DAG will lose their cool, and reveal themselves for who they are.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“I was told this comment was only a “joke.” Hell to the no. I don’t care how chummy we are, you don’t get to be racist in the name of comedy. There’s nothing funny about reducing me to the damaging stereotypes that have stuck around for centuries.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“No one tells you this, but when you enter your thirties, you will find vaguely in-shape bodies ridiculously attractive as opposed to your Chris Hemsworth predilections of the past. This is not to say that ripped dudes turn you off.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“Let me just say this right now, in case there’s any confusion in 2016: If you’re a white person and you have references on standby to verify that you’re allowed to say the N-word, you are probably the last person on planet Earth who should be saying nigga.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“The message that society sends to black women is that their hair does not belong to them but is fair game to be discussed, mocked, judged, used, and abused, and it serves as a home for people's preconceived notions about blackness, as if it is an abstract concept that is not connected to living, breathing, and feeling human beings.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“But in all seriousness, the infantilization of women perpetuates inequality, and when that is conflated with sex, it’s easier to reduce women to objects and strip them of the power they have over their bodies. I can’t go for that, which is why I believe there are other, more positive things women should be encouraged to be.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“When you get sworn into office, yell, “I’m a feminist,” and then throw your fist in the air like you’re Judd Nelson at the end of The Breakfast Club. 3A.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“The point is that I assumed, perhaps naïvely, that among blacks and women, there would be a general respect for each other’s histories and struggles”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“I mean, freebasing cocaine on the regs will mess up your bank account, cause you to lose your friends, and lead to rehab, but eating comfort food that is terrible for you, will, OK, slowly kill you over many decades, but also like, maybe not?”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“With that said, don’t be trifling about being a feminist. It really infuriates me when high-profile people in your position self-identity as feminists just because it’s trendy at the moment and then don’t do any of the, you know, actual work of trying to make things equal for everybody. You’re going to have to roll up your sleeves and get dirty in order to create a society that takes women as seriously as the men. The type that encourages us to not define ourselves by who we go to bed with at night, but by who and what we see reflected back at us in the mirror in the morning. The type that recognizes that women are not a monolith and that they have wildly different experiences informed by their race and/or sexuality. Be that beacon of light that we can look toward. Be the feminist who will help normalize the idea of Feminism for society. Be the feminist everyone needs. No presh. 3C.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“In other words, if you allow black people to be as complicated and multidimensional as white people, then it’s hard to view them as the Other with all the messy pejorative, stereotypical, and shallow ideas that have been assigned to that Otherness.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“No one tells you this, but when you enter your thirties, you will find vaguely in-shape bodies ridiculously attractive as opposed to your Chris Hemsworth predilections of the past. This is not to say that ripped dudes turn you off. It’s just that the DadBod signifies comfort—in one’s skin, in throwing a middle finger to vanity, and in eating what tastes good as opposed to what makes one look good—and for me, comfort equals home. DadBod is a home that smells like cinnamon and plush carpeting that you can massage your toes in.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“Nope. You can’t touch my hair. Even if my hair catches on fire, do not come to my rescue; just let me do a Michael Jackson spin move to put the blaze out.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“Pointing out how modern-day institutionalized racism prevents blacks from getting jobs and paints them as angry, scary, and a menace to society by the police until proven otherwise is not me reveling in victimhood. It’s acknowledging the current environment as the first step in attempting to change it.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“Sexually desiring someone who does not share your skin tone is not some grand sign that society is becoming postracial, no matter what anyone tells you.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“But Wyatt stopped for a moment and blinked a couple of times thoughtfully. “I don’t normally mention this kind of thing,” he said, “but that was probably the whitest experience I ever had.” Now, Wyatt is black, and I am white, and his comment really took me by surprise. It took me by surprise in the way white people are constantly being taken by surprise. How could you consider something about my life being anything but totally ordinary and right? After all, I am a white person. Better than that, I am a straight white man, which for a long time in American culture equaled default human.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“When we would visit, the ritual was the same. My grandfather would put out a spread on the kitchen table: six or eight kinds of lunch meat, including Pennsylvania esoterics like Lebanon bologna and souse; white and rye bread; pickles; two mustards; and mayonnaise. We would all sit around that kitchen table and construct our sandwiches and then eat those sandwiches in silence, because that is how white people show affection.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“Let me explain: Like two great athletes who don’t play on the same team but meet up on the world stage, blacks and women have always convened at the Oppressed Olympics and given each other a friendly head nod, similar to how when I’m in line at the grocery store and I notice the person in the next checkout line is also buying lemonade.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“Instances that trigger sidewalk rage: People walking too slowly in front of you. People walking too closely behind you. People having a moment of hesitation because they aren’t sure they’re headed in the correct direction, so they slow down for a brief moment. People who are not you and are on the sidewalk at the same time as you.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“Run, run, far away from him or her, and say what President Bartlet once said on The West Wing: “Stand there in your wrongness and be wrong and get used to it.” White”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“Have the WNBA lower the hoops. Because even though layups get the job done, they're lame. Seriously, layups look the way Woody Allen talks. Wimpy as fuck.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

“This essay was originally going to be nothing but a series of photos of me kneeling before a Solange Knowles shrine I built for her (which is just images of all her various hairstyles, Lawry’s seasoning salt, shea butter lotion, a piece of weave I found off the street because Solange likes “found art,” and flakes from my ashy kneecap as a sacrifice), but then my editor was like, “That’s ignorant.” To which I responded, “Good. Point.”
― Phoebe Robinson, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain