I was unique in that I was a kind of black that white people could accept. I was their daydream. I had the worst kind of acceptance because it was never for how great I was or what I contributed. It was because of the way I looked.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the complexities of acceptance based on race and appearance rather than genuine merit.
Lena Horne's quote addresses the uncomfortable reality of racial dynamics, illustrating how acceptance can sometimes be superficial, rooted in societal perceptions rather than true appreciation of an individual's talents and contributions. It highlights the notion that being accepted for one's appearance, particularly in a racially stratified context, can lead to a hollow sense of validation, as it does not reflect a person's worth or efforts.
In practice
In a discussion on racial identity and social acceptance during a seminar.
It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it. Carry it by the comfortable handles of gratitude for what's positive and that it is not worse, rather than the uncomfortable edges of bitterness for the negatives and that it is not better.
I'm not alone, I'm free. I no longer have to be a credit, I don't have to be a symbol to anybody; I don't have to be a first to anybody.
I'm still learning, you know. At 80, I feel there is a lot I don't know.
My identity is very clear to me now, I am a black woman.
In my early days I was a sepia Hedy Lamarr. Now I'm black and a woman, singing my own way.
The foundation of reverence is this perception, that the present holds within itself the complete sum of existence, backwards and forwards, that whole amplitude of time, which is eternity.
The greatest dread of ordinary man is death, with its rude imposition interrupting fortuitous plans and fondest attachments with an unknown and unwelcome change. The yogi is a conqueror of the grief associated with death. By control of mind and life force and the development of wisdom, he makes friends with the change of consciousness called death-he becomes familiar with the state of inner calmness and aloofness from identification with the mortal body.
Economics make homeopath and alternative healers look empirical and scientific.
Everything lives by movement, everything is maintained by equilibrium, and harmony results from the analogy of contraries; this law is the form of forms.
When one sense perceives the hidden, the invisible world becomes apparent to the whole.
What you yourself hate, don't do to your neighbor. This is the whole law; the rest is commentary. Go and study.
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