My mother and father taught me about black excellence and dynasty. They experienced racism personally, and when something like that happens to you and not around you, you develop a different perception than someone who has never experienced racism a day in their lives.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the personal experiences of racism and the lessons of excellence and resilience taught by one's parents.
Lizzo's quote highlights the profound impact that parental guidance and personal experiences of racism have on one's understanding of excellence and the importance of legacy. It emphasizes that those who have faced discrimination develop a unique perspective on life, which informs their values and shaping their identity, differing from those who have never encountered such challenges.
In practice
During a speech about diversity, one could use this quote to illustrate the importance of understanding individual experiences.
Minneapolis just embraced me. There are a lot of weirdos here. It's awesome, because I'm a weirdo. Thankfully, the city embraced me with open arms. A lot about Minneapolis helped carve my musicality and open my eyes. The whole town is so open-minded compared to like, you know, Texas.
I knew a lot of girls who just wanted to be famous, and if that's your goal, that's awesome; that just wasn't enough for me.
I'm not a girl who started getting into music and using my femininity to get attention. When I was getting into it, it was all pure skill.
I'm glad I'm a woman; I'm glad I'm a rapper because I get to speak to these people who did not get spoken for in this genre.
When we make ourselves vulnerable, we do open ourselves to pain, sometimes excruciating pain. The more people we love, the more we are liable to be hurt, and not only by the people we love, but for the people we love.
Communities of color don't understand what it means to be a police officer, the fear that police officers have in just being on the streets.
Marriage is the most natural state of man, and... the state in which you will find solid happiness.
The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention…. A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.
People come, people go – they’ll drift in and out of your life, almost like characters in a favorite book. When you finally close the cover, the characters have told their story and you start up again with another book, complete with new characters and adventures. Then you find yourself focusing on the new ones, not the ones from the past.
It is difficult to be generous-minded to those we have greatly harmed.
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