"Long gone is the time when we opposed the notion that we all looked alike and talked alike. Somehow we have come to exalt the new black stereotype above all and to demand conformity to that norm. It is this notion — that our race defines us -- that Ralph Ellison so eloquently rebuts in his essay, "The World and the Jug." He sees the lives of black people as more than a burden, but also a discipline, just as any human life which has endured so long is a discipline, teaching its own insights into the human condition, its own strategies of survival. There's a fullness and even a richness here. And here despite the realities of politics, perhaps, but nevertheless here and real because it is human life."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Justices of the Supreme Court of the United StatesLawyers from the United StatesMemoirists from the United StatesCatholics from the United StatesAfrican Americans
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clarence_Thomas
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Clarence Thomas
120 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Clarence Thomas →
Related Quotes
"I could only choose between being an outcast and being dishonest."
"An education is meaningless unless it equips students to have a better life."
"I was seized with a guilt that I knew would never leave me, and I knew I didn't deserve to be free of it. I hadn't qu…"
"Then, as always, I felt morally obligated to advocate our official position, even when it conflicted with my personal…"
"These guys are sitting there watching the destruction of our race while arguing about Ronald Reagan"
"Ronald Reagan isn't the problem. Former president Jimmy Carter was not the problem. The lack of black leadership is t…"
"This is not an opportunity to talk about difficult matters privately or in a closed environment. This is a circus. It…"
"[I disagree] that there is a racial paternalism exception to the principle of equal protection. I believe that there …"
"To define each of us by our race is nothing short of a denial of our humanity."
"I could feel the golden handcuffs of a comfortable but unfulfilling life snapping shut on my wrists."