...and that visibility which makes us most vulnerable is that which also is the source of our greatest strength.
Interpretation
Being open and visible may expose us to risk, but it also empowers us with strength.
Audre Lorde's quote highlights the paradox of vulnerability and strength, suggesting that our willingness to be seen and to reveal our true selves, while it can lead to exposure and potential harm, ultimately serves as a wellspring of our greatest power. Embracing our vulnerabilities allows us to connect with others, cultivate resilience, and draw on our inherent strengths.
In practice
In a motivational speech to encourage team members to embrace their true selves.
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.
There is so much history of this racist violence that simply to bring one person to justice is not going to disturb the whole racist edifice.
Sexuality and gender don't change anyone's performance on the court.
Women are never so strong as after their defeat.
One usually dies because one is alone, or because one has got into something over one's head. One often dies because one does not have the right alliances, because one is not given support. In Sicily the Mafia kills the servants of the State that the State has not been able to protect.
Should one point out that from ancient times decline in courage has been considered the beginning of the end?
As long as gay people don't have their rights all across America, there's no reason for celebration.
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