"My mother made the mistake of assuming that because she sent me to school in an integrated environment, I was going to get a holistic education, but that wasn't true. I was never taught about Langston Hughes or Zora Neale Hurston. I learned that if I didn't want to remain ignorant, I'd have to be responsible for educating myself."
"How can you talk about multiculturalism if you don't even know what you're bringing to the table? For the white students gathered, I'd like for you to think about what you were before you became white? What was your family in the old country? Did they become white at Ellis Island when it was clear that white was the stamp of privilege?"
"Integration has created the illusion of equality. I've traveled to 45 states, and I have yet to see all of the people of color taking over all the college campuses. It saddens me that when people talk about affirmative action, they refuse to acknowledge that affirmative action has been around for centuries for whites."
"The longest-running and most dysfunctional relationship in our history has been the one between blacks and whites. That relationship has defined our relationship with all others. ... It's my responsibility to know how to embrace others and not get stuck in the past. We now live in an integrated world, but the black leadership is living like it's 1965. You have to read and find things out for yourself. You have to forge progressive coalitions with people who don't look like you."
| Four quotes from writer, editor and über-O.G. reality-show participant Kevin Powell, speaking at the University of Michigan-Dearborn's "A Conversation on Race: Voices of a New Generation," in Detroit Free Press columnist Desiree Cooper's "How to help mend race relations: Talk"
posted in articles on February 10, 2004 6:53 AM | t (0)
« Previous phile: Tell us more about the state of the Democrats than the state of Virginia.
» Next phile: 'The motivation behind diversifying can't just be about window dressing.'
Return to top of page