--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When I say Afro-American aesthetic, I'm…" description: "\"When I say Afro-American aesthetic, I'm not just talking about the United States, I'm talking about the Americas. People in the Latin countries read my..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/420/ishmael-reed-7430_aesthetic_when-i-say-afro-american-aesthetic-i-m-n_146746.png" --- # When I say Afro-American aesthetic, I'm not just talking… ![“When I say Afro-American aesthetic, I'm not just talking about the United States, I'm talking about the Americas. People in the Latin countries read my books because they share the same international aesthetic that I'm into and have been into for a long time. And it's multicultural.” quote by Ishmael Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/420/ishmael-reed-7430_aesthetic_when-i-say-afro-american-aesthetic-i-m-n_146746.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/420/ishmael-reed-7430_aesthetic_when-i-say-afro-american-aesthetic-i-m-n_146746.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/420/ishmael-reed-7430_aesthetic_when-i-say-afro-american-aesthetic-i-m-n_146746.png) > “When I say Afro-American aesthetic, I'm not just talking about the United States, I'm talking about the Americas. People in the Latin countries read my books because they share the same international aesthetic that I'm into and have been into for a long time. And it's multicultural.” [Ishmael Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ishmael-reed/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author describes a shared Afro‑American aesthetic across the Americas, emphasizing multicultural influence. **In simple terms:** A pan‑American aesthetic links cultures and art. Key Takeaway Celebrate multicultural artistic connections. Themes culture art multiculturalism Mood thoughtful inquisitive Type cultural artistic When to use this quote - publishing - art exhibitions - academic studies Key Concepts Aesthetic regional identity literature Questions to Reflect On - How does a shared aesthetic shape identity? - What challenges arise in defining a pan‑American aesthetic? A Different Perspective Cultural definitions can be contested. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Aesthetic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aesthetic/) [Afro American](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/afro-american/) [Beauty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/) [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Country](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/country/) [Latin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/latin/) [Multicultural](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/multicultural/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [United states](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/united-states/) ## Related quotes > [A lot of great art comes from the Afro-American male experience. Black men are geniuses, and many times their desperation, their position as being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ishmael-reed/a-lot-of-great-art-comes-from-the-afro-american-male-experience-black/) [Ishmael Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ishmael-reed/) > [The final test of Afro-American studies will be the extent to which they rid the minds of whites and blacks alike of false learning,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-saunders-redding/the-final-test-of-afro-american-studies-will-be-the-extent-to-which/) [Jay Saunders Redding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-saunders-redding/) > [The Afro-American experience is the only real culture that America has. Basically, every American tries to walk, talk, dress and behave like African Americans.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-afro-american-experience-is-the-only-real-culture-that-america/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The lesson this teaches and which every Afro-American should ponder well, is that a Winchester rifle should have a place of honor in every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ida-b-wells/the-lesson-this-teaches-and-which-every-afro-american-should-ponder/) [Ida B. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ida-b-wells/) > [To say that the Afro American created jazz doesn't mean anything bad about Anglo Americans, and I always teach my younger jazz musicians that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wynton-marsalis/to-say-that-the-afro-american-created-jazz-doesn-t-mean-anything-bad/) [Wynton Marsalis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wynton-marsalis/) > [Forget the methods or the differences in methods. As long as we agree that the thing that the Afro-American wants and needs is recognition…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/forget-the-methods-or-the-differences-in-methods-as-long-as-we-agree/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [The only times an Afro-American who was assaulted got away has been when he had a gun and used it in self-defense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ida-b-wells/the-only-times-an-afro-american-who-was-assaulted-got-away-has-been/) [Ida B. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ida-b-wells/) > [Since the age of 12, all my musical thinking has been influenced by Afro-American music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexis-korner/since-the-age-of-12-all-my-musical-thinking-has-been-influenced-by/) [Alexis Korner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexis-korner/) > [When I did the Abyssinian mass, I went through the whole history of the church music and the gospel music, even with the Anglo…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wynton-marsalis/when-i-did-the-abyssinian-mass-i-went-through-the-whole-history-of/) [Wynton Marsalis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wynton-marsalis/) > [My work sometimes can be abstract and appear not to have a direct relationship to Afro-American concerns, but, in fact, it is based on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-byrd/my-work-sometimes-can-be-abstract-and-appear-not-to-have-a-direct/) [Donald Byrd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-byrd/) > [Somebody must show that the Afro-American race is more sinned against than sinning, and it seems to have fallen upon me to do so.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ida-b-wells/somebody-must-show-that-the-afro-american-race-is-more-sinned-against/) [Ida B. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ida-b-wells/) > [If you are serious about American culture and you are serious about Afro-American culture, you are in a lot of pain. You are not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wynton-marsalis/if-you-are-serious-about-american-culture-and-you-are-serious-about/) [Wynton Marsalis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wynton-marsalis/) > [The Afro-American is not a bestial race. If this work can contribute in any way towards proving this, and at the same time arouse…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ida-b-wells/the-afro-american-is-not-a-bestial-race-if-this-work-can-contribute/) [Ida B. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ida-b-wells/) > [The hearts of Afro-American women are too warm and too large for race hatred. Long suffering has so chastened them that they are developing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-barrier-williams/the-hearts-of-afro-american-women-are-too-warm-and-too-large-for-race/) Fannie Barrier Williams > [We are not only a Latin American nation, we are an Afro-American nation also.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fidel-castro/we-are-not-only-a-latin-american-nation-we-are-an-afro-american/) [Fidel Castro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fidel-castro/) ## More by Ishmael Reed > [Regardless of the criticisms I receive from the left, the right and the middle, I think it's important to maintain a prolific writing jab,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ishmael-reed/regardless-of-the-criticisms-i-receive-from-the-left-the-right-and/) [Ishmael Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ishmael-reed/) > [Richard Price, who has made a fortune writing fake ghetto books, says he takes a cab into the ghetto, transcribes Black speech for a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ishmael-reed/richard-price-who-has-made-a-fortune-writing-fake-ghetto-books-says/) [Ishmael Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ishmael-reed/) > [Free enterprise is not a bad idea and has produced art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ishmael-reed/free-enterprise-is-not-a-bad-idea-and-has-produced-art/) [Ishmael Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ishmael-reed/) > [Tea Party members go to meetings on Medicare scooters.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ishmael-reed/tea-party-members-go-to-meetings-on-medicare-scooters/) [Ishmael Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ishmael-reed/) > [Given all of the anti-Muslim propaganda that's being disseminated by The American Nazi media, you have to be careful. It can stress you out.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ishmael-reed/given-all-of-the-anti-muslim-propaganda-that-s-being-disseminated-by/) [Ishmael Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ishmael-reed/) > [Multicultural is not a description of a category of American writing-it is a definition of all American writing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ishmael-reed/multicultural-is-not-a-description-of-a-category-of-american-writing/) [Ishmael Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ishmael-reed/) > [Writing has made me a better man. It has put me in contact with those fleeting moments which prove the existence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ishmael-reed/writing-has-made-me-a-better-man-it-has-put-me-in-contact-with-those/) [Ishmael Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ishmael-reed/) > [In Crash, you've got a pathological cop who at the end justifies police brutality. He tells the naïve, young cop that you're going to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ishmael-reed/in-crash-you-ve-got-a-pathological-cop-who-at-the-end-justifies/) [Ishmael Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ishmael-reed/) > [I get most my information about what's happening in the United States from reports and studies, which are often in conflict with what you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ishmael-reed/i-get-most-my-information-about-what-s-happening-in-the-united-states/) [Ishmael Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ishmael-reed/) > [ How does the \[New York\] Times treat White pathology? They reported an epidemic of heroin addiction in the Philadelphia suburbs. which included emergency admissions… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ishmael-reed/how-does-the-new-york-times-treat-white-pathology-they-reported-an/) [Ishmael Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ishmael-reed/) > [I asked Joe Weixlmann why he would print a death threat like that in light of the fact that there are all of these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ishmael-reed/i-asked-joe-weixlmann-why-he-would-print-a-death-threat-like-that-in/) [Ishmael Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ishmael-reed/) > [I'm beginning to believe that Killer Illiteracy ought to rank near heart disease and cancer as one of the leading causes of deathamong Americans.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ishmael-reed/i-m-beginning-to-believe-that-killer-illiteracy-ought-to-rank-near/) [Ishmael Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ishmael-reed/) > [Writing poetry is the hard manual labor of the imagination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ishmael-reed/writing-poetry-is-the-hard-manual-labor-of-the-imagination/) [Ishmael Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ishmael-reed/) > [Few white citizens are acquainted with blacks other than those projected by the media and the so--called educational system, whichis nothing more than a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ishmael-reed/few-white-citizens-are-acquainted-with-blacks-other-than-those/) [Ishmael Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ishmael-reed/) > [My work holds up the mirror to hypocrisy, which puts me in a tradition of American writing that reaches back to Nathaniel Hawthorne.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ishmael-reed/my-work-holds-up-the-mirror-to-hypocrisy-which-puts-me-in-a-tradition/) [Ishmael Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ishmael-reed/) [Explore all 91 Ishmael Reed quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ishmael-reed/) ## More Aesthetic quotes > [You feed yourself. Make sure you have all the information, whether it's aesthetic, scientific, mathematical, I don't care what it is. Then you walk…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/you-feed-yourself-make-sure-you-have-all-the-information-whether-it-s/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“Beauty in the European sense has always had a premeditated quality to it. We've always had an aesthetic intention and a long-range plan. That's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/beauty-in-the-european-sense-has-always-had-a-premeditated-quality-to/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [All efforts to render politics aesthetic culminate in one thing: war.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/all-efforts-to-render-politics-aesthetic-culminate-in-one-thing-war/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [Design certainly has a cosmetic, aesthetic aim. It always aims at making things beautiful. But relevance is just as important. I often say, 'If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yves-behar/design-certainly-has-a-cosmetic-aesthetic-aim-it-always-aims-at/) [Yves Behar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yves-behar/) > [I don't think I was ever thinking critically about my aesthetic, I think it's enough when you're little just to understand that you can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tavi-gevinson/i-don-t-think-i-was-ever-thinking-critically-about-my-aesthetic-i/) [Tavi Gevinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tavi-gevinson/) > [I'm kind of still down with Virg Woolf on this one: "women must kill the aesthetic ideal through which they themselves have been 'killed'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lidia-yuknavitch/i-m-kind-of-still-down-with-virg-woolf-on-this-one-women-must-kill/) [Lidia Yuknavitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lidia-yuknavitch/) > [Virtue is as little to be acquired by learning as genius; nay, the idea is barren, and is only to be employed as an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-schopenhauer/virtue-is-as-little-to-be-acquired-by-learning-as-genius-nay-the-idea/) [Arthur Schopenhauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-schopenhauer/) > [There is a certain aesthetic pleasure in trying to imagine the unimaginable and failing, if you are a reader.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-s-byatt-2/there-is-a-certain-aesthetic-pleasure-in-trying-to-imagine-the/) [A. S. Byatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-s-byatt-2/) > [I try to get the hip-hop aesthetic, most times without an MC. I don't use a rapper or a DJ to give it the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-glasper/i-try-to-get-the-hip-hop-aesthetic-most-times-without-an-mc-i-don-t/) [Robert Glasper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-glasper/) > [It's so important what you're doing in your life. It's tremendously important to the work, and no aesthetic theories take that into account.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-maus/it-s-so-important-what-you-re-doing-in-your-life-it-s-tremendously/) [John Maus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-maus/) > [It is not necessary to have an extravagant food budget in order to serve things with variety and tastefully cooked. It is not necessary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-schaeffer/it-is-not-necessary-to-have-an-extravagant-food-budget-in-order-to/) [Edith Schaeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-schaeffer/) > [In reality no food is valued solely for its nutritive power and no garment or house solely for the protection it affords against cold…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-von-mises/in-reality-no-food-is-valued-solely-for-its-nutritive-power-and-no/) [Ludwig von Mises](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-von-mises/) > [Art is realistic when it strives to express an ethical ideal. Realism is striving for truth, and truth is always beautiful. Here the aesthetic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrei-tarkovsky/art-is-realistic-when-it-strives-to-express-an-ethical-ideal-realism/) [Andrei Tarkovsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrei-tarkovsky/) > [I had always wanted to expand to beauty, but I knew I wanted to be able to translate my design aesthetic in an authentic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-ronson/i-had-always-wanted-to-expand-to-beauty-but-i-knew-i-wanted-to-be/) [Charlotte Ronson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-ronson/) > [I wanted the press to become something of a movement. Not a movement committed to a particular 'ism', but a gathering together of writers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-metcalf/i-wanted-the-press-to-become-something-of-a-movement-not-a-movement/) John Metcalf [Browse all 953 Aesthetic quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aesthetic/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When I say Afro-American aesthetic, I'm not just talking about the United States, I'm talking about the Americas. People in the Latin countries read my books because they share the same international aesthetic that I'm into and have been into for a long time. 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