Some time ago, a Facebook friend shared a Baltimore Sun op-ed by Richard Rowe, “A recommendation for Baltimore’s white liberal establishment.” In it, Rowe quotes the below passage from a New York Times op-ed by Michael Eric Dyson, “Death in black and white.” Dyson alleges many things here, and his statement deserves examination from various angles. I anticipate referring to this quotation several times in the near future.
You [white people] do not want to know anything different from what you think you know. Your knowledge of black life, of the hardships we face, yes, those we sometimes create, those we most often endure, don’t concern you much. You think we have been handed everything because we have fought your selfish insistence that the world, all of it — all its resources, all its riches, all its bounty, all its grace — should be yours first, and foremost, and if there’s anything left, why then we can have some, but only if we ask politely and behave gratefully.
As of December 12, 2017, I am working on a prospective post, “Why do roses have thorns?“, that will speak to this.
Reblogged 10/03/24.
Comments