Word: blacking
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...once told writer Gay Talese about the time a white judge warned him about disrespecting women on his all-white staff. J.L. retorted, "I have never been disrespectful of a lady in my life, and unlike you, I also respect black women." The legendary barrister always demanded respect for his clients as well as respect for himself...
...first time I saw the Obama gear, I knew it had begun. I do not mean the official campaign paraphernalia. I'm talking about the wares hawked here in Harlem, the black tees sold in sizes up to 5XL, with Barack Obama's head slightly out of proportion. I bought mine on Lenox and 125th--a mustard number with Martin Luther King Jr. and Obama juxtaposed underneath the words ALPHA and OMEGA. That's when I smelled the air and understood that Obama was running not simply to be President but also to be the next head chiseled...
Consider this fact: the most famous black man in America isn't dribbling a ball or clutching a microphone. He has no prison record. He has not built a career on four-letter words. So much of our blues boils down to CNN: you go home, you cut on the TV, and always you're reduced to skyrocketing murder rates, singers on trial for defiling children and overvalued athletes making it rain. All black news is bad news, and lately we've just been very tired...
...those words ring for a people whose forebears marched into billy clubs and dogs, whose ancestors fled north by starlight, feeling the moss on the backs of trees. The sight of the Obama family onstage that first night in Denver was similarly mind-blowing, an image of black families that television so rarely provides. With its quiet class and agility--the beaming beautiful wife, the waving kids--this campaign has confirmed us, assured us that we are more than just a problem...
African Americans have had to cope with disappointment since the days of slavery. With that come certain defense mechanisms, ways of guarding ourselves against disappointment. Frankly, I was perfectly fine with the idea of never seeing a black President in my lifetime. When Obama entered the race, any expectations we had were negative. We started to see the light in Iowa, but even as his support became a popular movement, there was always a kind of disbelief in the idea that America would really vote for a black man. We'd like to be wrong, but we think...