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1 " My heart was beating fast, but it wasn't the beat of fear. It was the beat of frustration--frustrated to be treated like a criminal when no crime had occurred. "
― Razel Jones , Wounds
2 " Don't get me wrong, a lot has changed...lynchings have become white knees pressed against a black neck. Black knees in kneepads, in protest on the ground have become career enders for Super Bowl-contending quarterbacks. Attempting to spend a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill has become guilty before investigation--a death sentence without a trial--a public execution. Looking at a construction site has become justification for chasing, harassing, fighting, shooting, and killing a man...a man...amen. I agree with myself, as I have to do because whiteness doesn't allow itself to agree with my truth. We tell you we're hurting. You tell us we're not. I hurt. I said, I hurt! When will this country ever begin to believe me? "
3 " There's something about a white man who seriously opens up to black people. White people who become family to black people. There's another dimension of militance that emerges from them. They grip their anger with the system in ways black people are not allowed, in efforts to right the wrongs. "
4 " We were beautifully different, and that was okay. "
5 " I brought Grand Rapids with me to Newaygo. I brought difference. I was used to a fluid concept of harmony. I was used to diversity. Homogenous harmony has walls. As a fourteen-year-old boy in Newaygo, I felt those walls. "
6 " If you ask Denny, he will tell you: "I'm a patriot. I love my country." A country that doesn't love him back. Doesn't love him black. A patriot. Let that register. A black patriot. In a country that won't acknowledge that Black Lives Matter. "
7 " As a teenager I felt misunderstood. I felt confused. Somewhere in that confusion was me. The me I was destined to become. "
8 " Back then and even now, my black friends and family members often tell me they don't consider me white. I don't think that's what they really mean. What they mean is that they feel safe with me. They mean they don't fear the noose in my presence. Their face being pressed to the concrete. My knee being pressed against their neck. My weight bearing down. When they say they don't consider me white, what they mean is that I see them. That I'm with them. That I won't stand for the little white genocides they're subjected to one podium speech at a time. "
9 " Cars slowed down as they passed. White drivers with white passengers. White parents with white children, watching. Not seeing, I imagine, three innocent black boys being harassed by racist police officers. Seeing three black criminals being brought to justice. Young minds being shaped into wrong thinking. Generational ignorance being reinforced through misconstrued observation. "
10 " A line between white and black had been drawn in my life. I straddled that line with an ache I had no name for. An ache I now understand as identity crisis. "
11 " Give me my brother. You can keep your friends. "
12 " It is not our differences that separate us. It is the denial of the beauty and rightness of those differences that separate us. "
13 " Accountability is the only real beginning to change. "
14 " Let's make America great. We have not been Great, white people. We have chosen to live in our bubbles. White people have chosen to be angry in silence, at our dinner tables, in conversations with people we know and trust. Our black brothers and sisters, our fellow Americans, need allies. They scream and are not heard. They protest for their basic human rights and they are called thugs. Our black brothers and sisters have been losing this fight alone. We have watched the innocent die. We have mourned them with silence. "
15 " Change your default. Take the risk of expecting the next black man you encounter to more likely be an opportunity than a threat. Productive rather than pitiful. Human rather than hurtful. Dependable rather than destructive. A man, rather than a menace. Change your default. It's true, some will let you down. Some of your race have let you down too. But, your default view of your race hasn't likely changed. "
16 " Just because you know me does not mean that I am not black. I am black. I am thankfully black. I am black just like the person you are hurling your insult at. On the way to them, it hits me. I'm Colin Kaepernick black. Protesting oppression black. Not-so-sure about the National Anthem black. Skeptical of the Pledge of Allegiance black. I'm George Floyd black. At times, leery of law enforcement black. Don't trust the system black.I'm not different.I am no exception. "
17 " I was broken when I met her and to say she fixed me would be an exaggeration. I'm still fixing me. My wife is fixing me. My children are fixing me. God stays fixing me. I'm still not fixed. I am and always will be a work-in-progress. What's not an exaggeration is that a black woman showed a white boy unconditional love. A black woman taught a white boy how to unconditionally love. Diane Cartwright saw me as God sees me: as a masterpiece. "
18 " Nigger...It felt sharper than normal. It wasn't friendly from a friend. The laughable part is that's all he had. The moniker passed down from his great, great grandfather and them. It had made its way to another generation of limited thinkers. Limited speakers. Limited young men. Limited. That's all he had. He didn't have the words. He didn't have the power. He didn't have the control. "
19 " Our world is not colorless. It is colorful, and we're better for it. "
20 " I could recognize the look in the lead officer's eyes. It reminded me of the cop on Lester Street in White Cloud. I was his target. I didn't know why, but he was focused on me, just as I was honing in on him. The other officer was his accompanist. He marched to the cadence of a non-rhythmic drum. he moved closer slower, while my heart beat faster. "
