Politicians will not put forth programs aimed at the problems of poor blacks while their turnout remains so low. Henry Louis Gates More Quotes by Henry Louis Gates More Quotes From Henry Louis Gates You have to have a canon so the next generation can come along and explode it. Henry Louis Gates canon next generations No one thinks of Mexico and Peru as black. But Mexico and Peru together got 700,000 Africans in the slave trade. The coast of Acapulco was a black city in the 1870s. And the Veracruz Coast on the gulf of Mexico and the Costa Chica, south of Acapulco are traditional black lands. Henry Louis Gates land cities thinking The act of writing for the slave constituted the act of creating a public, historical self, not only the self of the individual author but also the self, as it were, of the race. Henry Louis Gates race self writing The sad truth is that the civil rights movement cannot be reborn until we identify the causes of black suffering, some of them self-inflicted. Why can't black leaders organize rallies around responsible sexuality, birth within marriage, parents reading to their children and students staying in school and doing homework? Henry Louis Gates reading children school Color categories are on steroids in Latin America. I find that fascinating. It's very difficult for Americans, particularly African-Americans to understand or sympathize with. Henry Louis Gates color latin america I think literacy is everything. Henry Louis Gates literacy thinking So, Mexico, Brazil, they wanted their national culture to be 'blackish' - really brown, a beautiful brown blend. And finally, I discovered that in each of these societies the people at the bottom are the darkest skinned with the most African features. Henry Louis Gates beautiful culture people The sad truth is that without complex business partnerships between African elites and European traders and commercial agents, the slave trade to the New World would have been impossible, at least on the scale it occurred. Henry Louis Gates agents impossible world The genius is making a way out of no way. Henry Louis Gates genius way There are two things that have always haunted me: the brutality of the European traders and the stories I've heard about Africans selling other Africans into slavery. Henry Louis Gates brutality stories two In America one drop of black ancestry makes you black. In Brazil, it's almost as if one drop of white ancestry makes you white. Henry Louis Gates black white america Mama and I would go to a funeral and she'd stand up to read the dead person's eulogy. She made the ignorant and ugly sound like scholars and movie stars, turned the mean and evil into saints and angels. She knew what people had meant to be in their hearts, not what the world had forced them to become. She knew the ways in which working too hard for paltry wages could turn you mean and cold, could kill the thing that made you laugh. Henry Louis Gates angel stars mean So, the kind of precious memories about being black for my generation won't exist for my kids' and grandkids' generations unless we preserve them through fiction, through film, through comic books, and every other form of media we can possibly utilize to perpetuate the story of the great African-American people. Henry Louis Gates memories kids book The most ironic outcome of the black Civil Rights movement has been the creation of a new black middle class which is increasingly separate from the black underclass. Henry Louis Gates black rights class Everything my mother and father did was designed to put me where I am. Henry Louis Gates mother-and-father mother father First we have to recognize that the cause of poverty is both structural and behavioral. And the first thing about the behavior part is that we need a moral revolution within the African American community. Look - no white racist makes you get pregnant when you are a black teenager. Henry Louis Gates teenager community white Where do real conversations about citizenship occur? In our schools. Think about the things you learned in first grade. "My Country 'Tis of Thee," "I pledge allegiance to the flag," "America the Beautiful." Henry Louis Gates real beautiful country I want to be remembered as someone who tried to bring the story of our ancestors to the broadest possible audience. I want to be remembered as a man who loved his race. Henry Louis Gates race stories men I want to be a figure for prison reform. I think that the criminal justice system is rotten. Henry Louis Gates criminals justice thinking Censorship is to art as lynching is to justice. Henry Louis Gates lynching justice art
