The victim who is able to articulate the situation of the victim has ceased to be a victim: he or she has become a threat.

White people will have quite enough to do in learning how to accept and love themselves and each other, and when they have achieved this - which will not be tomorrow and may very well be never - the Negro problem will no longer exist, for it will no longer be needed.

I was guilty and irritated and full of love and pain. I wanted to kick him and I wanted to take him in my arms.

You're getting to be a big boy,' I said desperately, 'it's time you started thinking about your future.' 'I'm thinking about my future,' said Sonny, grimly. 'I think about it all the time.

There is something terribly radical about believing that one's own experience and images are important enough to speak about, much less to write about and to perform

All over Harlem, Negro boys and girls are growing into stunted maturity, trying desperately to find a place to stand; and the wonder is not that so many are ruined but that so many survive.

One cannot deny the humanity of another without diminishing one's own.