There are many lesbians and gay men trapped by their fear into silence and invisibility, and they exist in a dim valley of terror wearing nooses of conformity.

Hatred is the fury of those who do not share our goals, and its object is death and destruction. Anger is a grief of distortions between peers, and its object is change.

I am a Black Feminist. I mean I recognize that my power as well as my primary oppressions come as a result of my blackness as well as my womaness, and therefore my struggles on both of these fronts are inseparable.

How much of this truth can I bear to see and still live unblinded? How much of this pain can I use?

So it is better to speak, remembering we were never meant to survive.

It does not pay to cherish symbols when the substance lies so close at hand.

Change is the immediate responsibility of each of us, wherever and however we are standing, in whatever arena we choose.