Absence Quote by Michael Eric Dyson

Blackness is not simply a reactionary title or identity; that is indeed the "negative" way of characterizing African American identity.

— Michael Eric Dyson

I think it's really important that we understand the ways in which blackness plays out, right, and discrimination against black people impacts different communities…

— Opal Tometi

Identity is becoming more dependent on what people are willing subscribe to and less dependent on objective criteria such as skin colour or where…

— Stuart Hall

We’ve gone through the names—Negro, African American, African, Black. For me that’s an indication of a people still trying to find their identity. Who…

— Spike Lee

“The term 'black' was given a rebirth by the black youth revolt. As reborn, it does not refer to the particular color of any…

— Chancellor Williams

If you're black living in the community and you want to change things, there are going to be things that happen. That's true of…

— Cheo Hodari Coker

Like any group that has endured much, African Americans have created a strong and mutually reinforcing sense of group identity. That's not a bad…

— J. C. Watts

Most of all, I dislike this idea nowadays that if you're a black person in America, then you must be called African-American. Listen, I've…

— Whoopi Goldberg

Identity has several parts, and the self needs to expand. Black youth should be encouraged to have as many parts or as rich an…

— Darryl Pinckney

Today mass incarceration defines the meaning of blackness in America: Black people, especially black men, are criminals. That is what it means to be…

— Michelle Alexander

The more I'm educated on things like the Black Lives Matter movement, police brutality, and things that I feel passionate about, I never want…

— Latto

My intention is not to repudiate an African American identity but perhaps to resist how labels take hold, or to make it as slow…

— Mark McMorris