There's so much about the strong black woman stereotype that makes us forget that we do need and deserve help and care.

It's hard for black women to ask for help. We think we don't need it. We're used to being in pain and living with it.

I think sometimes the stars align whether we want them to or not. And we're drawn to certain people and places for no other reason than...Destiny.

I think that we need to make it our goal to define freedom for ourselves.

We kind of have to rewrite our own stories and our own ways of being free.

We can look at history and see that [political turmoil is] fertile ground for art.

Sometimes I feel as though I'm trying to take a hit for the team so that other people then can move forward. I'm like, "Look, I just laid out all of my stuff, so what's the worst that can happen?".

In my experience when I do try to avoid something, it makes its way into the work anyway. To be in front of it and just make friends with it is easier for me.

Аrt movements are always linked to some kind of turmoil.

I really hope that people feel permission to talk about their own troubles, but also to celebrate themselves.

Sometimes it's just rejecting stereotypes, sometimes it's creating work. Sometimes it's just blocking out the noise.

It is hard to look a hero when mounted on a pig.

Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines.

You just rebel against everything. How are you going to survive? I don't know. I'm already tired.

Poetry comes with anger, hunger and dismay; it does not often visit groups of citizens sitting down to be literary together, and would appal them if it did.

I am a huge fan of big cotton underpants; they're comfortable. I wear them every day.

If mutual respect does derive from unilateral respect, it does so by opposition.

Ross [Mathews] was my favorite for years so I am glad he is part of the family. I have stayed in touch and connected with many over the years. I am very lucky that way.

Haitians weren't screwed-up, but everything political, intellectual, and material around them is.

There's a time for casting silver; a time for casting cannon. If that isn't in the red, it should be!

Every divine action begins from the Father, proceeds through the Son, and is completed in the Holy Spirit.