21st Century African American Women

"“In that time I was able to experiment — try things, see what worked, see what didn’t — without someone looking over my shoulder, like ‘Oh my God, that really is terrible!"..."

"I don’t think about what I write and the way I write as “containers”, nor do I think about what others will see it as. I just write it. I know that I am deeply interested in post-humanism and how our pasts connect with our futures and present. I’m interested in African and Arab cultures and how they both battle and blend and I’m coming at this not as a researcher, but as a participant. I’m interested in technology and spirituality and how they blend and what happens when they blend. I think that my interests and the results of them in my stories lead to very “weird” fiction…"

"The theme of choice and the power of culture pops up in my stories often. Before Binti, the biggest example of this is in Who Fears Death when Onyesonwu must face the decision of whether or not to go through a ceremony that required cutting off her clitoris. To many readers, the fact that she even has to think about whether or not to do this is shocking. It’s not shocking to me at all, coming from the culture that I come from where the individual is often secondary to the community…"

"I’ve never heard the term “numerical synesthesia,” but now that I have, yes, this is how she often sees. This is how she is able to calm herself. This is her path to tapping into the energy of spirit. I’ve also blended it with a phenomenon that I became familiar with while playing sports. “Treeing” was when you were effortlessly performing at a level beyond yourself. It was like looking into time and space and being able to manipulate it, but if you tried to analyze it, you’d fall out of it…"

"I believe aliens have definitely been here. I don’t think the theory that they have affected, interacted with, exchanged with the people of Earth (human and otherwise) in the past takes away from the accomplishments or innovations of anyone. I think the general belief that certain peoples are less than other peoples is what does that…"

"Nnedi's work is imaginative and rich."

"For too long, the voices and visions for our future have been provided, for the most part, by and from a culturally European (if not Eurocentric) perspective. However, there is change afoot. The works of Octavia E. Butler are becoming mainstream, and names like Nnedi Okorafor and Lesley Nneka Arimah are bringing much needed flavor to the narratives that help shape our future."

"so much has changed there because of the work of Octavia Butler, because of the work of Nnedi Okorafor, because of the work of Tananarive Due."

"“The problem with you,” Force said, “is that you’re so used to pain and discomfort that your definition of feeling okay is not the greatest indicator of being okay.”"

"It was obvious who the Elders were. Important-looking men wearing important clothes being looked at by everyone else because they were important."

"I will never believe in Christ or Allah or any other God. I will never follow any religion."

"If you could, wouldn’t you replace your damaged legs with cybernetic ones? Why hold on to malfunctioning or poorly formed flesh and bone because “we were born with it”? That’s something said only by people who have no choice or have no actual experience with being…unable. What makes you you, really? I’m a mechanic. When something isn’t working, you replace it with something better, something that is working."

"However, time doesn’t change the essence of what you are."

"People treat it with more respect than they treat any police officer. Maybe because the robot is polite, helpful and never asks for bribes."

"True beauty lies in embracing our flaws and imperfections."

"Our bodies may be fragile, but our spirits are unbreakable"

"The greatest adventure lies not in our surroundings, but in the depths of our own souls."

"Strength comes not from avoiding suffering, but from enduring it with grace and resilience."

"I think there is a deeper and more important issue in this debate, which is that you had Kamala Harris effectively echoing platitude after platitude after platitude. The American people can't pay their grocery bills on platitudes. They can't put their kids in a house on platitudes. Kamala Harris had a lot to say but very little actual substance behind it for how she's going to lower grocery prices, secure the border, and make housing more affordable in this country. She has been the vice president for three and a half years appear she can't run on her record and apparently can't run on much of her plans either because it's just a lot of slogans and not a lot of substance."

"She was the first one to call for a ceasefire. She was the first one to call for Palestinian self-determination. She was the first one to use very powerful language about the devastation of Gaza and the suffering of the people there. She’s been about as clear as you could be that there is a difference in her outlook on this. I’m not going to let you in on all of them but there are indications we’re getting that they do want to turn corners here. They’ve opened a door already in terms of language and policy will follow."

"It was always true that Kamala Harris was going to be a better messenger on abortion. Part of that is relatability. Part of that is living her life. But part of that is her experience and the way she talks about it. She is out there visiting a Planned Parenthood, talking to providers and talking to patients. She is stridently offended by where Republicans are on this issue and that’s a compelling position."

"Harris’ comfort and fervor in discussing abortion could help mobilize more younger female voters, who were losing faith not only in Biden but in the prospect of restoring reproductive rights."

"Even in this moment, she can't break from the stump speech. Even as she hands the keys to power over to a fascist who pledges to destroy this country, she still praises herself for following the rules. If the rules brought you to this place, what good were they?"

"Our economy cannot fully recover unless women can participate fully. I believe, I think we all believe, this is a national emergency — women leaving the workforce in these numbers is a national emergency, which demands a national solution."

"The science behind climate change is not a hoax. The science behind COVID-19 is not partisan. And President-elect Joe Biden and I will not only listen to the science—we will invest in it and the next generation of scientists."

"My mother had many sayings. She would say, "Kamala, you may be the first to do many things; make sure you’re not the last." Which is why [in my victory speech], I said, "I will be the first, but I will not be the last." And that’s about legacy. That’s about creating a pathway. That’s about leaving the door more open than it was when you walked in."

"I would suggest that we not pretend that we don’t know how this nominee views a women’s right to choose to make our own healthcare decisions."

"The American people know what I’m talking about. You know. I think about 20-year-olds — you know, we have a 20-year-old, a 20-something-year-old — who are coming out of high school and college right now, and you’re wondering, “Is there going to be a job there for me?” We’re looking at people who are trying to figure out how they’re going to pay rent by the end of the month. Almost half of American renters are worried about whether they’re going to be able to pay rent by the end of the month. This is where the economy is in America right now. And it is because of the catastrophe and the failure of leadership of this administration."

"On the issue of the economy, I think there couldn’t be a more fundamental difference between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Joe Biden believes you measure the health and the strength of America’s economy based on the health and the strength of the American worker and the American family. On the other hand, you have Donald Trump, who measures the strength of the economy based on how rich people are doing, which is why he passed a tax bill benefiting the top 1% and the biggest corporations of America, leading to a $2 trillion deficit that the American people are going to have to pay for. On day one, Joe Biden will repeal that tax bill. He’ll get rid of it. And what he’ll do with the money is invest it in the American people. …"

"Jacob Blake: shot seven times in the back in broad daylight in front of his three young sons. Seven times, in the back, in broad daylight, in front of his three young sons. As Vice President Biden put it, the shots fired at Mr. Blake pierced the soul of our nation. It's sickening to watch. It's all too familiar. And it must end Thankfully, he is alive today. But he is fighting for his life and he shouldn't have to be."

"The civil rights struggle is nothing new to Joe. It's why he got into public service. It's why he helped reauthorise the Voting Rights Act and restore unemployment discrimination--and employment discrimination laws. "And today, he takes his place in the ongoing story of America's march toward equality and justice as only--as the only, as the only who has served alongside the first black president and has chosen the first Black woman as his running mate"

"My mother, she raised my sister Maya and me, and she was tough, our mother was all of 5 feet tall, but if you ever met her, you would've thought she was 10 feet tall."

"Black women and women of color have long been underrepresented in elected office and in November we have an opportunity to change that. Let's get to work."

"Those of us who take on a role of leadership in public office, the elected role or appointed or however we get here at this moment, is highlighting the significance of holding these offices in the public trust. And that means that the power that one has in these offices must be used in a way that is about the people and serving the people and being in touch with their needs. Lifting them up in terms of their circumstance, lifting people up spiritually, in terms of lifting up people’s spirits, even having some sense of empathy and understanding about the suffering with some level of concern about one’s responsibility to help alleviate that."

"We’ve got a president of the United States who is so obsessed with what is in his personal best interest … to the pain and the demise of the people who he is in office to represent. So, we need a new president. There is no question about that."

"There are those who enjoy the tradition, and I completely understand why, especially for those who have been historically denied the right to vote — African Americans, women.... So many of them know that people fought and died and bled for our right to vote. We have to start adjusting to new forms that make it easier because the greatest exercise of patriotism, the greatest exercise of the franchise, is to actually vote... This is doable. And I think that there are these moments of a crisis that give us the courage and encouragement to try something that actually may be better than how we were doing it before."

"There is not a black man I know, be he a relative, a friend, or a co-worker, who has not been the subject of some kind of profiling or discrimination."

"My mother was very intentional about raising my sister, Maya, and me as strong, Black women. She coupled her teachings of civic duty and fearlessness with actions, which included taking us on Thursday nights to Rainbow Sign, a Black cultural center near our home."

"When young children see someone who looks like them running for office, they see themselves and what they can be, unburdened by what has been."

"The other one's here."

"They [people in El Paso] said, 'Do you think Trump is responsible for what happened?' And I said, 'Well, look. Obviously he didn't pull the trigger, but he's certainly been tweeting out the ammunition."

"No parent should have to worry about going broke because their child is sick. That’s why we need Medicare for All. #DemDebate"

"As president, I will immediately reinstate and expand DACA and take executive action to provide Dreamers a path to citizenship. We owe it to Dreamers and their families to act."

"Health care should be a right for every American, not just a privilege for those who can afford it. Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda couldn’t be more clear. He has separated families. Locked children in cages. Sought to spend billions on his border wall, which is nothing more than a vanity project. That is not reflective of our values and it has to end. #DemDebate"

"We have a president who believes in science-fiction. I believe in science-fact. Climate change is real and we're in the midst of a climate crisis. We need a #GreenNewDeal and as president, on day one, America will rejoin the Paris Agreement."

"I want to solve the issues keeping people up at night with what I call the 3AM Agenda. That means giving Americans a raise, paying women equally for the work they do, making housing affordable, and paying our teachers their value."

"This election is about you, your hopes, your dreams, your fears, and what wakes you up at 3 a.m. That’s what I care about and what I am fighting for."

"There was a little girl in California who was bussed to school. That little girl was me. #DemDebate"

"At an HBCU, a young person is shown that they can be anything. You step out of the minority and you become the majority. Everything tells you exactly what Aretha (Franklin) told us: You are young, gifted and Black. You can come as you are and leave as you aspire to be. (June 2009)"

"As Robert Kennedy many years ago said, "Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." He also said, "I do not lightly dismiss the dangers and the difficulties of challenging an incumbent President, but these are not ordinary times and this is not an ordinary election." He said, "At stake is not simply the leadership of our party and even our country. It is our right to moral leadership of this planet." So today I say to you my friends, these are not ordinary times. And this will not be an ordinary election. But this is our America. And here’s the thing. It’s up to us. It’s up to us. Each and every one of us. So let's remember in this fight we have the power of the people. We can achieve the dreams of our parents and grandparents. We can heal our nation. We can give our children the future they deserve. We can reclaim the American Dream for every single person in our country. We can restore America’s moral leadership on this planet. So let’s do this. And let’s do it together. And let's start now. Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America."