There are two things that have always haunted me: the brutality of the European traders and the stories I've heard about Africans selling other Africans into slavery.
Henry Louis GatesRead
Censorship is to art as lynching is to justice.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Censorship undermines artistic expression just as lynching undermines the justice system.
This quote draws a powerful analogy between censorship in art and lynching in the context of justice, suggesting that both acts are profound violations that suppress truth and inhibit freedom. Just as lynching represents a horrific denial of justice, censorship stifles creativity and expression, hinting at a broader societal injustice that harms individuals and culture alike.
Themes
CensorshipArtJusticeFreedomExpression
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech advocating for the arts, one might use this quote to highlight the importance of creative freedom.
More from Henry Louis Gates
All quotes βIt's not white versus black any more, it's haves versus have-nots. Unless the black middle-classes unite to promote the interests of the black underclass, tension between them is inevitable. What we, the black middle class have to do, is think of a strategy to avert that.
Henry Louis GatesRead
In America there is institutional racism that we all inherit and participate in, like breathing the air in this room - and we have to become sensitive to it.
Henry Louis GatesRead
In fact, the class divide in the black community is now seen by some as a permanent aspect of our existence.
Henry Louis GatesRead
The historical basis for the gap between the black middle class and underclass shows that ending discrimination, by itself, would not eradicate black poverty and dysfunction. We also need intervention to promulgate a middle-class ethic of success among the poor, while expanding opportunities for economic betterment.
Henry Louis GatesRead
The only people who live in a post-black world are four people who live in a little white house on Pennsylvania Avenue. The idea that America is post-racial or post-black because a man I admire, Barack Obama, is president of the United States, is a joke. And I hope no one will even wonder about this crazy fiction again.
Henry Louis GatesRead
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An empty canvas is a living wonder - far lovelier than certain pictures.
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All art is a kind of confession.
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Asking an artist to talk about his work is like asking a plant to discuss horticulture.
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He wanted to cry quietly but not for himself: for the words, so beautiful and sad, like music.
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