“The only honest way to approach the question of whiteness and blackness is to start by accepting that these are arbitrary categories that were invented in the 17th and 18th century in order to just...”

“What I was pointing to was that, yeah, blackness is a fiction; whiteness is a fiction. When we live according to these categories, were living within a fiction. Of course, its a fiction with very r...”

“As a white teen, I was very drawn to hip-hop culture, almost to the point of disappearing in it - there was a sense of having no sense of authenticity except this one that wasn't mine.”

“Does it, does it—I'm flailing here—does it have a name? What you've”

“A name can't begin to encompass the sum of all her parts. But that's the magic of names, isn't it? That the complex, contradictory individuals we are can be called up complete and whole in another ...”

“People often lose their names. Names fall into holes or get eaten by wild animals. Sometimes theyre carried away by the wind.”

“Young man, names are powerful things. You dont just go around using them for no reason.”

“Sometimes it's not enough to know what things mean, sometimes you have to know what things don't mean.”

“Dont cry and dont rage. Understand.”

“The only way to heal yourself was to understand. Understand the love or the hate or the cowardice, or the impulsiveness, the lack of will of the one who hurt you--the circumstances that twisted the...”