In my hometown of New Orleans, grief is a public spectacle that, somewhat paradoxically, necessitates celebration. The dead are not mourned so much as they are posthumously venerated with music and dance. Clint Smith Read Quote
Growing up in New Orleans, I was always the only black kid, or one of two, on the school soccer team. While I was always conscious of this status, what took precedent was my unfettered love of the game. Clint Smith Read Quote
The death penalty not only takes away the life of the person strapped to the table – it takes away a little bit of the humanity in each of us. Clint Smith Read Quote
We spend so much time listening to the things people are saying that we rarely pay attention to the things they don’t. Clint Smith Read Quote
If you only hear one side of the story, at some point, you have to question who the writer is. Clint Smith Read Quote
My parents raised me and my siblings in an armor of advice, an ocean of alarm bells so someone wouldn’t steal the breath from our lungs, so that they wouldn’t make a memory of this skin. Clint Smith Read Quote
In an effort to create a culture within my classroom where students feel safe sharing the intimacies of their own silences, I have four core principles posted on the board that sits in the front of my class, which every student signs at the beginning of the year: read critically, write consciously, speak clearly, tell your truth. Clint Smith Read Quote
When we say that black lives matter, it’s not because others don’t: it’s simply because we must affirm that we are worthy of existing without fear, when so many things tell us we are not. Clint Smith Read Quote
