the fear of death is that you are dying too soon. Nobody wants to, but at the point that you die you can pray that you are no longer the same person. I pray that when I am about to die I will not be the same person that I am now.

The erotic has often been misnamed by men and used against women. It has been made into the confused, the trivial, the psychotic, the plasticized sensation.

If you do not learn to hate you will never be lonely enough to love easily nor will you always be brave, although it does not grow any easier. Do not pretend to convenient beliefs, even when they are righteous; you will never be able to defend your city while shouting.

I am a post-mastectomy woman who believes our feelings need voice in order to be recognized, respected, and of use.

I agreed to take part in a New York University Institute for Humanities conference a year ago. . . .

what you hear in my voice is fury, not suffering. Anger, not moral authority

Black women sharing close ties with each other, politically or emotionally, are not the enemies of Black men.