--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: But the statue attracted a middle-aged…" description: "\"“But the statue attracted a middle-aged, brown-haired, overweight White guy. Clearly drunk, he climbed onto the tiny stage and started fondling Buddha ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f9e/ibram-x-kendi-3080_african-americans_but-the-statue-attracted-a-middle-aged-b_3207452.jpg" --- # But the statue attracted a middle-aged, brown-haired… ![“But the statue attracted a middle-aged, brown-haired, overweight White guy. Clearly drunk, he climbed onto the tiny stage and started fondling Buddha before his laughing audience of drunk friends at a nearby table. I had learned a long time ago to tune out the antics of drunk White people doing…” quote by Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f9e/ibram-x-kendi-3080_african-americans_but-the-statue-attracted-a-middle-aged-b_3207452.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f9e/ibram-x-kendi-3080_african-americans_but-the-statue-attracted-a-middle-aged-b_3207452.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f9e/ibram-x-kendi-3080_african-americans_but-the-statue-attracted-a-middle-aged-b_3207452.jpg) > ““But the statue attracted a middle-aged, brown-haired, overweight White guy. Clearly drunk, he climbed onto the tiny stage and started fondling Buddha before his laughing audience of drunk friends at a nearby table. I had learned a long time ago to tune out the antics of drunk White people doing things that could get a Black person arrested. Harmless White fun is Black lawlessness.”” [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Observes that white drunken behavior can be perceived as threatening to Black people, highlighting racial double standards. **In simple terms:** White drunken antics can feel unsafe for Black people. Key Takeaway Recognize and challenge racial double standards. Themes race social perception power dynamics Mood reflective critical Type social commentary observational When to use this quote - nightlife - public events - interracial interactions Key Concepts racial bias public space police interaction Questions to Reflect On - How do societal norms treat similar actions differently by race? - What steps can reduce perceived threat? A Different Perspective Harmless intent may still cause harm due to systemic bias. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [African americans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/african-americans/) [Bad behavior](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bad-behavior/) [Blacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/blacks/) [Buddha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/buddha/) [Drunkenness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drunkenness/) [Inappropriate behavior](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inappropriate-behavior/) [Racism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/racism/) [White people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/white-people/) [Wine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wine/) ## Related quotes > [Yo! Party at Cindy's house! Drunk white women for everybody! -Shorty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scary-movie/yo-party-at-cindy-s-house-drunk-white-women-for-everybody-shorty/) Scary Movie > [“I thought I had it all figured out. I thought of racism as an inanimate, immortal system, not as a living, recognizable, mortal disease…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/i-thought-i-had-it-all-figured-out-i-thought-of-racism-as-an/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“Donald Trump’s economic policies are geared toward enriching White male power—but at the expense of most of his White male followers, along with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/donald-trump-s-economic-policies-are-geared-toward-enriching-white/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“The system's acts are covert, just as the racist ideas of the people are implicit. I could not wrap my head around the system…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/the-system-s-acts-are-covert-just-as-the-racist-ideas-of-the-people/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“One of racism’s harms is the way it falls on the unexceptional Black person who is asked to be extraordinary just to survive—and, even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/one-of-racism-s-harms-is-the-way-it-falls-on-the-unexceptional-black/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“The only thing wrong with White people is when they embrace racist ideas and policies and then deny their ideas and policies are racist.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/the-only-thing-wrong-with-white-people-is-when-they-embrace-racist/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [It was not just inappropriate behavior](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-kerrey/it-was-not-just-inappropriate-behavior/) [Bob Kerrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-kerrey/) > [I stand by all the women who have had to deal with inappropriate behavior of any sort.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/momina-mustehsan/i-stand-by-all-the-women-who-have-had-to-deal-with-inappropriate/) [Momina Mustehsan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/momina-mustehsan/) > [“the answer might seem obvious: of course yoga is appropriate—why else would thirty-six million of us be spending billions of dollars every year on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rosen/the-answer-might-seem-obvious-of-course-yoga-is-appropriate-why-else/) [Richard Rosen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rosen/) > [“offering her—and her body—everything she needs. Inappropriate behavior in barns, change rooms, and oh-my-gawd phone sex with a cowboy. Six”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vivian-arend/offering-her-and-her-body-everything-she-needs-inappropriate-behavior/) [Vivian Arend](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vivian-arend/) > [As children, we said no, we rebelled, we had temper tantrums and meltdowns. We tested our limits. Our parents' limits. All limits. As parents,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/as-children-we-said-no-we-rebelled-we-had-temper-tantrums-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I've been harassed or on the receiving end of sexist and inappropriate behavior almost every place I've ever worked.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kirsten-powers/i-ve-been-harassed-or-on-the-receiving-end-of-sexist-and/) [Kirsten Powers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kirsten-powers/) > [“I’m now a man on a mission. It’s time to engage in some reckless, inappropriate behavior with a hot slut.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kendall-grey/i-m-now-a-man-on-a-mission-it-s-time-to-engage-in-some-reckless/) [Kendall Grey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kendall-grey/) > [I believe that poverty is often the result of inappropriate behavior - out-of-wedlock births, dropping out of school, crime and drugs - which should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-klein/i-believe-that-poverty-is-often-the-result-of-inappropriate-behavior/) [Joe Klein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-klein/) > [“Glorious Destinations Are Safeguarded With the Right Person When we enter life with an incorrect and unjust partner, we can no longer safeguard anything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-jansen-easy-branches/glorious-destinations-are-safeguarded-with-the-right-person-when-we/) [Jan Jansen Easy Branches](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-jansen-easy-branches/) ## More by Ibram X. Kendi > [“When men oppress their fellowmen, the oppressor ever finds, in the character of the oppressed, a full justification for his oppression.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/when-men-oppress-their-fellowmen-the-oppressor-ever-finds-in-the/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“assimilationists constantly encourage Black adoption of White cultural traits and/or physical ideals.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/assimilationists-constantly-encourage-black-adoption-of-white/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“Enlightenment ideas gave legitimacy to this long-held racist “partiality,” the connection between lightness and Whiteness and reason, on the one hand, and between darkness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/enlightenment-ideas-gave-legitimacy-to-this-long-held-racist/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“Hate and ignorance have not driven the history of racist ideas in America. Racist policies have driven the history of racist ideas in America.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/hate-and-ignorance-have-not-driven-the-history-of-racist-ideas-in/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“From the beginning, it has been a three-sided battle, a battle of antiracist ideas being pitted against two kinds of racist ideas at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/from-the-beginning-it-has-been-a-three-sided-battle-a-battle-of/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“newspaper reports of rape constructed white defendants as individual offenders and black defendants as representative of the failings of their racial group,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/newspaper-reports-of-rape-constructed-white-defendants-as-individual/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“Racist intentions—not policies—became covert after the 1960s.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/racist-intentions-not-policies-became-covert-after-the-1960s/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“Donald Trump’s economic policies are geared toward enriching White male power—but at the expense of most of his White male followers, along with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/donald-trump-s-economic-policies-are-geared-toward-enriching-white/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“individualizing White negativity and generalizing Black negativity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/individualizing-white-negativity-and-generalizing-black-negativity/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“Racially discriminatory policies have usually sprung from economic, political, and cultural self-interests, self-interests that are constantly changing. Politicians seeking higher office have primarily created…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/racially-discriminatory-policies-have-usually-sprung-from-economic/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“The vicious housing cycle had already begun. Racist policies harmed Black neighborhoods, generating racist ideas that caused people not to want to live next…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/the-vicious-housing-cycle-had-already-begun-racist-policies-harmed/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“For Jefferson, power came before freedom. Indeed, power creates freedom, not the other way around—as the powerless are taught.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/for-jefferson-power-came-before-freedom-indeed-power-creates-freedom/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“To justify Black enslavement, Barbados planters actually “preferred” the polygenesis theory over the curse theory of Ham,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/to-justify-black-enslavement-barbados-planters-actually-preferred-the/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“With this law in place, White enslavers could now reap financial reward from relations “upon a negro woman.” But they wanted to prevent the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/with-this-law-in-place-white-enslavers-could-now-reap-financial/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“Our education has filled us with strong prejudices against them,” Hopkins professed, “and led us to consider them, not as our brethren, or in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/our-education-has-filled-us-with-strong-prejudices-against-them/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) [Explore all 140 Ibram X. Kendi quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) ## More African americans quotes > [In a lot of movies, African-Americans are either maids or slaves, but that's not all they were. We need to show that. 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In our position, there's always some sort of stereotype that is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/xavier-woods/as-african-americans-we-don-t-start-with-a-blank-slate-while-other/) [Xavier Woods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/xavier-woods/) [Browse all 593 African americans quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/african-americans/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“But the statue attracted a middle-aged, brown-haired, overweight White guy. Clearly drunk, he climbed onto the tiny stage and started fondling Buddha before his laughing audience of drunk friends at a nearby table. I had learned a long time ago to tune out the antics of drunk White people doing things that could get a Black person arrested. Harmless White fun is Black lawlessness.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ibram X. 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