You can find this quote from the book Writin’ Is Fightin’ (1988), and other quotes by Ishmael Reed, in Bartlett’s Familiar Black Quotations. Read the quote in its full context here.
Suggested Reading
Video will return here when scrolled back into view
5 Best Men’s and 5 Best Women’s Looks from the Met Gala 2025
Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and founding director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He is also the editor-in-chief of The Root. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
Straight From 
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.