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" There's always someone asking you to underline one piece of yourself - whether it's Black, woman, mother, dyke, teacher, etc. - because that's the piece that they need to key in to. They want to dismiss everything else. "

Audre Lorde

Yourself

Mother

Teacher

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" Black women are programmed to define ourselves within this male attention and to compete with each other for it rather than to recognize and move upon our common interests. "

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Alive

Myself

" In discussions around the hiring and firing of Black faculty at universities, the charge is frequently heard that Black women are more easily hired than are Black men. "

" Black writers, of whatever quality, who step outside the pale of what black writers are supposed to write about, or who black writers are supposed to be, are condemned to silences in black literary circles that are as total and as destructive as any imposed by racism. "

" The sixties were characterized by a heady belief in instantaneous solutions. "

" When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak. "

" Only by learning to live in harmony with your contradictions can you keep it all afloat. "

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" But, on the other hand, I get bored with racism too and recognize that there are still many things to be said about a Black person and a White person loving each other in a racist society. "

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