"To be a Negro in this country is really-Ralph Ellison has said it very well-never to be looked at. What white people see when they look at you is not visible. What they do see when they do look at you is what they have invested you with. What they have invested you with is all the agony, and pain, and the danger, and the passion, and the torment-you know, sin, death, and hell of which everyone in this country is terrified."