We have to consciously study how to be tender with each other until it becomes a habit because what was native has been stolen from us, the love of Black women for each other.
Interpretation
We must actively learn to nurture kindness and love towards each other, as it is not instinctive due to past cultural losses.
In this quote, Audre Lorde emphasizes the importance of intentionally practicing tenderness and care in our relationships, particularly among Black women. She acknowledges that societal challenges have eroded the natural expressions of love and support that should exist within these communities, and advocates for a conscious effort to restore and cultivate those bonds through habitual actions of kindness and understanding.
In practice
This quote would be great for a workshop on building supportive communities.
The fact that we are here and that I speak these words is an attempt to break that silence and bridge some of those differences between us, for it is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence. And there are so many silences to be broken.
There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.
There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt.
I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.
I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.
There's always someone asking you to underline one piece of yourself - whether it's Black, woman, mother, dyke, teacher, etc. - because that's the piece that they need to key in to. They want to dismiss everything else.
I asked my husband if he was surprised by all the #MeToo stories. 'Yeah, I'm surprised,' he said. Ask any woman, they're not surprised. It's been going on for years.
No country should deny people their rights because of who they love, which is why we must stand up for the rights of gays and lesbians everywhere.
I am certain that I speak on behalf of my entire nation when I say: Today, we are all Americans. In grief, as in defiance.
It's always the case that the minority has to navigate two different worlds. Women have to know how to live in a man's world. Gay people have to know how to live in a straight world. Black people gotta know how to live in a predominantly white world.
I've wondered what my sexuality might be, but I've never wondered whether it was acceptable or not. Anyway, who really cares whether I'm gay or straight?
I used to think that I could never lose anyone if I photographed them enough. In fact, my pictures show me how much I’ve lost.
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