Friday Black Quotes
"Though Emmanuel was happy about scoring the interview, he also felt guilty about feeling happy about anything."
"Emmanuel felt a clicking and grinding in his chest. It burned."
"The court had ruled that because the children were basically loitering and not actually inside the library reading, as one might expect of productive members of society, it was reasonable that Dunn had felt threatened by these five black young people."
"Emmanuel’s usual mall Blackness was a smooth 5.0. Usually only one security guard followed him."
"I’m here to tell you that this case isn’t about any of those things. It’s about an American man’s right to love and protect his own life and the life of his beautiful baby girl and his handsome young son."
"They tried to look superfriendly but also distant, as if he were a tiger or an elephant they were watching beneath a big tent."
"Back when he was in middle school, after a trip to the zoo, where he’d been accused of stealing a stuffed panda from the gift shop, Emmanuel had burned his last pair of baggy jeans in his driveway."
"Back then, everyone was a liar. It was so bad that it would not have been uncommon for people to tell Samantha that she was beautiful even though, obviously, she is hideous."
"Sacrificing themselves, their efficiency, and their wants. This made a world of distrust and misfortune, which led to the Big Wars."
"That’s what my uncle’s saying. You need to protect him. Yeah, you might need to wake him up, but while he’s asleep, he’s your responsibility."
"It is not cool, but thank you. He’s been this way for a while," she said, trying to stab me with her eyes.
"Man, I have nothing to do with you and yours," the psychic said. He put his mug down.
"Listen, I’m just the guy who gets up early in the morning and packs the trunk up. I help you get where you’re already going," the psychic said calmly.
"You think I’m some kind of idiot?" Jaclyn said.
"At the clinic, just before Jaclyn disappeared behind a white door to get her ultrasound, she looked back at me sitting in the waiting-room chair."
"So you loved us, Daddy?" Jamie Lou said, hugging my shoelace.
"I’ll find you," I said. I straightened the car out, then fed the meter.
"I can, I can," said the Twelve-tongued God.
"Mother Earth, Mother Earth," Anansi called out.
"Anansi, you have called my name," Mother Earth called back.
"Beautiful Mother Earth, I have a small request to make of you."
"No! Never! Great Mother, I give in promises and work before I ask," Anansi spoke.
"I’ve planted these seeds to you and promise they will add to your beauty," Anansi said.
"I ask only for a small breeze, a kind wind down this path and up the great mountain," Anansi said.
"My son’s getting ready to graduate, too," Reese said to me one day.
"Probably he’ll do a year or two at the community college, then we’ll see from there," Reese said.
"Nah, you won’t," Reese said. He was encouraging me. He was sure of my future in a way I was not.
"I don’t want to keep you from your working," He laughed.
"Dad," I said, not wanting to be calm but not knowing how to do anything but breathe.
"I’ll be waiting in the lot. You need a ride, right?"
"Love you, sweetie. Keep at it, all right? We want a better semester, right?" Melanie Hayes said to her daughter.
"Love you," she says again to her college girl.
"Hi," Fuckton says. She says nothing in response.
"Are you gonna martyr like me?" Fuckton asks while looking at Porter.
"We’re all supreme and infinite. We might as well act like it," I say.