I used to be a discipline problem, which caused me embarrassment until I realized that being a discipline problem in a racist society is sometimes an honor.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the pride of standing against societal injustices despite personal challenges.
Ishmael Reed's quote highlights the complexities of navigating discipline issues within a context of racial discrimination. It suggests that while being labeled a 'discipline problem' may initially be perceived as shameful, it can also signify a refusal to conform to an oppressive societal structure, ultimately embodying a sense of honor in challenging injustice.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about overcoming societal challenges.
During the last decades, films about the black experience have been produced, directed, and even scripted by white men. Some of them are excellent. But most reflect George Bernard Shawβs warning that 'if you do not tell your stories others will tell them for you and they will vulgarize and degrade you.'
Writing poetry is the hard manual labor of the imagination.
Rape is one of the most terrible crimes on earth and it happens every few minutes. The problem with groups who deal with rape is that they try to educate women about how to defend themselves. What really needs to be done is teaching men not to rape. Go to the source and start there.
When I started modeling, they tried to pay black models less than they paid Caucasian models. I turned down those jobs because I knew what I was worth.
That is not to say that we can relax our readiness to defend ourselves. Our armament must be adequate to the needs, but our faith is not primarily in these machines of defense but in ourselves.
Players who take a knee during the national anthem do so to protest injustice across the country - fulfilling a patriotic duty to never accept injustice, but to call it out when we see it.
The longer I live the more I think of the quality of fortitude... men who fall, pick themselves up and stumble on, fall again, and are trying to get back up when they die.
The time comes in the life of any nation when there remain only two choices - submit or fight. That time has now come to South Africa. We shall not submit and we have no choice but to hit back by all means in our power in defence of our people, our future, and our freedom
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