American means white, and Africanist people struggle to make the term applicable to themselves with ethnicity and hyphen after hyphen after hyphen.
Toni MorrisonLife that crawled, life that slunk and crept and never closed its eyes. Life that burrowed and scurried, and life so still it was indistinguishable from the ivy stems on which it lay. Birth, life, and death - each took place on the hidden side of a leaf.
Toni MorrisonThere is really nothing more to say - except why. But since why is difficult to handle, one must take refuge in how.
Toni MorrisonIf there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.
Toni MorrisonTwo parents can't raise a child any more than one. You need a whole community - everybody - to raise a child. And the little nuclear family is a paradigm that just doesn't work. It doesn't work for white people or for black people. Why are we hanging onto it, I don't know. It isolates people into little units - people need a larger unit.
Toni Morrison