If You Are Born Black, It Is

You Go Out Into The World, You Read Everything You Can Read, You Imitate The Things You Love, And You Learn How Hard It Is To Do. Eventually, You Learn Your Own Vision Of The World, You Learn Your Own Voice And How To Hear It, And You Learn To Write Your Own Work. Writers Today Have As Many Opportunities As My Generation Did, But They Don't See The Examples As Clearly As We Did.

Let The Truth Take Care Of Itself, I Decided. It's Done All Right On Its Own So Far.

For Almost Anyone Who Chooses To Be A Writer, Since So Very Few Writers Are Able To Learn A Living From Their Work That Is Equivalent To The Living Earned By The Average Dentist Or Accountant.

I Am Aware Of The Changes, But In No Sense Am I Believer That We Live In A Post-racial Society. That's A Description Of Our Inheritance And That Is Theirs, Which Is Inescapable. It Is Doesn't Matter If You Are From New England Or Mississippi. You're An American. It Doesn't Matter If You Are White, Black, Brown, Or Asian. It Is Part Of American Society. You'd Have To Be Blind, Deaf, Or Dumb Not To Know It. The Emphasis On Color Or The Fear Of It, Is All Part Of The Same Dark Flower. I Am Trying To Point To That And To Bring It All The Way Back From Senegal.

Much More Than Memoir; It's History.