If a kid is reading a book about someone who looks like them but doesn't talk like them, we stunt their growth by dissing them.
Jason ReynoldsRead
I was eight years old when I got the talk about what to do if a police officer stops me. I was 15 when I was face-down on the curb for the first time.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the harsh reality of growing up in an environment where conversations about safety and policing are a part of youth.
In this quote, Jason Reynolds shares a personal experience that highlights the unsettling necessity for young people, particularly in marginalized communities, to receive guidance on how to navigate interactions with police. It underscores the contrast between the innocence of childhood and the harsh lessons learned about authority and the potential dangers involved, revealing a deep societal issue.
Themes
PoliceSocietyYouthSafetyExperience
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about racial profiling and youth safety in schools or communities.
More from Jason Reynolds
All quotes →Having a superpower has nothing to do with the ability to fly or jump, or superhuman strength. The truest superpowers are the ones we all possess: willpower, integrity, and most importantly, courage.
Jason ReynoldsRead
Hip-hop saved me. It gave me permission to use language in a certain way. It validated my community and my friends. It gave our slang a certain elegance.
Jason ReynoldsRead
People always say time heals. Time doesn't necessarily heal anything. It allows you to manage things. There are occasions where you feel the pain as if it just happened, but you know that it's a fleeting moment.
Jason ReynoldsRead
I try to create characters people want to sit with, even if nothing is happening.
Jason ReynoldsRead
Similar quotes
A lot of my personality was informed by feeling very different in the world I grew up in, feeling that I didn't fully belong, that my parents didn't belong.
Jhumpa LahiriRead
I think same sex couples should be able to get married.
Barack ObamaRead
Every single lesbian and transgender woman is a woman.
Patricia ArquetteRead
I told him the truth, that I loved him and didn't regret anything about our lives together. But do we ever 'tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God' as my father used to say, to those we love? Or even to ourselves? Don't even the best and most fortunate of lives hint at other possibilities, at a different kind of sweetness and, yes, bitterness too? Isn't this why we can't help feeling cheated, even when we know we haven't been?
Richard RussoRead
Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly.
M. F. K. FisherRead
Ask before offering advice or reassurance.
Marshall B. RosenbergRead