48 Henry Louis Gates Quotes for You to Enjoy

Henry Louis Gates

American Critic

Born: Sep 16, 1950

America Black People Think White You

Related authors: George Steiner James Wolcott Kimberly Guilfoyle Lawrence Clark Powell Margaret Fuller Pauline Kael Roger Ebert bell hooks

The sad truth is that the civil rights movement cannot be reborn until we identify the causes of black suffering, some of them self-inflicted. Why can't black leaders organize rallies around responsible sexuality, birth within marriage, parents reading to their children and students staying in school and doing homework? Henry Louis Gates

Sad Truth Rights Suffering Marriage Truth Is School Black Parents Sad Truth Reading Homework Birth Rights Movement Responsible Sexuality Civil Some Staying Civil Rights Civil Rights Movement Students Leaders Until Identify Within Around Self-Inflicted Doing Causes Movement Children Cannot Them Organize Reborn Why Rallies

But you see, our society is still trapped in this binary, black/white logic and that has had some very positive implications for our generation. It's had some very negative ones as well and one of the negative ones is that it creates enormous identity problems for people who have one black ancestor and all white ancestors for example. Henry Louis Gates

Positive You Generation People Problems Binary Negative Black Example White Trapped Society Enormous Our Our Generation Ancestors Logic See Some Had Implications For Example Well Identity Still Very Creates Who

Censorship is to art as lynching is to justice. Henry Louis Gates

Art Justice Censorship

If you share a common ancestor with somebody, you're related to them. It doesn't mean that you're going to invite them to the family reunion, but it means that you share DNA. I think it's fascinating. Henry Louis Gates

Family You Somebody Think Related Ancestors Share Invite Reunion Going Common Mean Them Means Fascinating

People are afraid, and when people are afraid, when their pie is shrinking, they look for somebody to hate. They look for somebody to blame. And a real leader speaks to anxiety and to fear and allays those fears, assuages anxiety. Henry Louis Gates

Blame Hate People Anxiety Fear Somebody Fears Leader Those Pie Look Real Afraid Speaks Shrinking

Patriotism is best exemplified through auto-critique. When you're willing to stand up within the group and say, 'It is wrong for Black people to be anti-Semitic,' or 'It is wrong for America to discriminate against persons of African descent and made them slaves and based its wealth upon free labor,' it's crucial to say that. Henry Louis Gates

Best You Patriotism People Wealth Black Made Free Group Say Willing Through Crucial Wrong Within Anti-Semitic Up Discriminate Labor America African Against Them Persons Stand Stand Up Descent Based Slaves

The sad truth is that without complex business partnerships between African elites and European traders and commercial agents, the slave trade to the New World would have been impossible, at least on the scale it occurred. Henry Louis Gates

Sad Truth Business Truth Is World Impossible Sad Truth Complex Scale Would Between New Partnerships Without Trade Occurred Least Been Commercial New World African Agents European Elites Slave

It's important to debunk the myths of Africa being this benighted continent civilized only when white people arrived. In fact, Africans had been creators of culture for thousands of years before. These were very intelligent, subtle and sophisticated people, with organized societies and great art. Henry Louis Gates

Art Great Culture People Important Before White Great Art Thousands Thousands Of Years Only Civilized Fact Had Myths Sophisticated Continent Arrived Were Been Years Very Intelligent Africa African Being In Fact Subtle Organized Creators Societies