People think if you describe someone with glistening brown skin you're writing about race, as if the whole of the African diaspora… — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share Image
It's very funny, American society: White culture can do all sorts of things and get away with it, but the minute a… — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share Image
The people who invented race, who grouped us together as "black," were inventing and categorizing their ability to do something vicious and… — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share Image
It is true that our skin is sort of more or less the same shade. But is it true that our skin… — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share Image
A piece of cloth that is called "linen" has more validity than calling you and me "black" or "negro." "Cotton" has more… — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share Image
The history of race relations in America is very different than something like the Holocaust. — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share Image
I didn't really understand racism because I grew up in an all-black society, so I didn't see how it was possible not… — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share Image
It's too easy to say this or that is "race," and that has been a vehicle for an incredible amount of wrong… — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share Image
"Race." I really can't understand it as anything other than something people say. The people who have said that you and I… — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share Image
The African-American is often used, and has conspired with the rest of America to be used, as a diversion from America's problems.… — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share Image
In my writing, I'm often describing a universal situation. A situation in which human beings often choose to violate each other. Sometimes… — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share Image
Race as a subject only comes about because of what I look like. If I say something truthfully, people say "Oh, she's… — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share Image
I didn't think of myself as an outsider because of my race because... where I grew up I was the same race… — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share Image
Race is not particularly interesting to me. Power is. Who has power and who doesn't. Slavery interests me because it's an incredible… — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share Image
The strange thing about my life is that I came to America at about the time when racial attitudes were changing. This… — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share Image
What frustrates me is to see African-Americans behave as though what European-Americans say is worthwhile. It simply isn't. It's just some silly… — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share Image
I'm always telling my students go to law school or become a doctor, do something, and then write. First of all you should have… — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share
The slave trade was globalism. Why people insist that globalism, after its hideous history, is a good thing, I do not know. — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share
I have no credentials. I have no money. I literally come from a poor place. I was a servant. I dropped out of college.… — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share
In my writing I'm trying to explore the violations people commit upon each other. And the important thing isn't whether I'm angry. The more… — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share
"Race." I really can't understand it as anything other than something people say. The people who have said that you and I are both… — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share
Race as a subject only comes about because of what I look like. If I say something truthfully, people say "Oh, she's so angry."… — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share
in the place I am from ... a grave is topped off with a huge mound of loose earth - carelessly, as if piled… — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share
I like melancholy. I like to pretend that I'm alone in the world and I'm just sort of abandoned. — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share
I come from the small island of Antigua and I always wanted to write; I just didn't know that it was possible. — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share
“Have you ever wondered to yourself why it is that all people like me seem to have learned from you is how to imprison… — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share
Love and hatred don't take turns; they exist side by side at the same time. And one's duty, one's obligation every day, is to… — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share
“Do you see the queer thing about people like me? Sometimes we hold your retribution.” — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share
I didn't really understand racism because I grew up in an all-black society, so I didn't see how it was possible not to like… — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share
A great piece of literature encompasses all that is and all that will be. — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share
The people who invented race, who grouped us together as "black," were inventing and categorizing their ability to do something vicious and wrong. — Jamaica Kincaid Copy Share
