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.
Women have to summon courage to fulfill dormant dreams.
I had a vision - and I saw white spirits and black spirits engaged in battle, and the sun was darkened - the thunder rolled in the Heavens, and blood flowed in streams - and I heard a voice saying, 'Such is your luck, such are you called to see, and let it come rough or smooth, you must surely bear it.'
It was easy to persecute me without people feeling ashamed. It was easy to vilify me and project me as a woman who was not following the tradition of a 'good African woman' and as a highly educated elitist who was trying to show innocent African women ways of doing things that were not acceptable to African men.
I am probably an outsider because I challenge conventional narratives about who should have a seat at the table.
...and that visibility which makes us most vulnerable is that which also is the source of our greatest strength.
I won't touch on risky, because that's subjective. People are just afraid of things too much. Afraid of things that don't necessarily merit fear.
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