“When a black girl dies; the last thing to decompose is her heart.”

Healing can look a lot like violence.

Can we just pretend we are wanted?

It is terrifying to wonder whether that person you love is a walking red flag or a white flag of surrender dipped in your own blood.

I am tired of only being loved in theory.

Her body is a undiscovered country and she is afraid that someone will colonize it and expect her to thank them for the wreckage.

You are something I am trying to love; Not something I am trying to survive.

When will I realize the absence of hate is not love?

I tell the boy in my class that no means no and he laughs in my face – says no means change my mind.

Loving you and leaving you taste the same in the mouth?

Women like me bleed on command.

This body belongs to all those who live in it.

The only difference between a mother and her daughter is how long they’ve lived with the trauma.

I never wanted to be so alone that all I have is you.

Did our fathers create silence or is it that what makes them our fathers?

Do girls really mature faster than boys or are you looking for a way to sexualize young girls without feeling guilty about it?

I know I’m difficult to love but I’m going to need you to love me anyway.

I strongly believe the black culture spends too much time, energy and effort raising, praising, and teasing our black children about the dubious glories of professional sports.

I strongly believe the black culture spends too much time, energy and effort raising, praising, and teasing our black children about the dubious glories of professional sports.

Poor white people and poor black people just don’t know how much they have in common. Rich people don’t give a damn about either group.

If you’re black in this country, if you’re a woman in this country, if you are any minority in this country at all, what could possibly possess you to vote Republican?

Unfortunately, as I tell my white friends, we as black people, we’re never going to be successful not because of you white people but because of other black people.

Seven out of 10 black faces you see on television are athletes. The black athlete carries the image of the black community. He carries the cross, in a way, until blacks make inroads in other dimensions.

Being black or white isn’t an accomplishment. What you do with your life – or what you accomplish with your life – dictates what you should be proud of.

I just wish all these young black kids would realize how significant it is to stop acting a fool out there, killing each other, not getting their education. You know, people have died to put us in a situation to be successful.