By denying its musical and artistic merit, hip hop’s critics get to have it both ways: they can deny the legitimate artistic standing of rap while seizing on its pervasive influence as an art form to prove what a terrible effect it has on youth. Michael Eric Dyson Read Quote
Bill Cosby is a famous black guy who has a bully pulpit the size of the world; it’s global. He puts his colossal foot on the vulnerable necks of poor people, and as a result of that, we don’t have a balanced conversation. Michael Eric Dyson Read Quote
In the barbershop, there’s democracy. You’re a professor; you’re an engineer; you’re a garbage man, have at it. You got something to say, get down with it. Michael Eric Dyson Read Quote
You cannot hear the name Martin Luther King, Jr., and not think of death. You might hear the words ‘I have a dream,’ but they will doubtlessly only serve to underscore an image of a simple motel balcony, a large man made small, a pool of blood. For as famous as he may have been in life, it is – and was – death that ultimately defined him. Michael Eric Dyson Read Quote
When you have closed the Bible, you have neither closed God’s mind nor shut God’s mouth. God continues to speak, live and exist. I think we should consult the living God for the living word for living people dealing with death, destruction and despair in the midst of our hurt humanity. I believe love will conquer all. Michael Eric Dyson Read Quote
There is no conscious choice of heterosexual identity any more than there is a homosexual one. The last person in the world who wants to be homosexual, for the most part, are homosexuals. Michael Eric Dyson Read Quote
George Bush ran a campaign where he bragged about being an anti-intellectual, dismissing his Harvard and Yale pedigree, pretending he was an American every day, ordinary everyman, and as a result of that, played up his fumbling speech because it signified that he was a good guy. That is deeply and profoundly anti-intellectual. Michael Eric Dyson Read Quote
Body piercing and baggy clothes express identity among black youth, and not just beginning with hip-hop culture. Moreover, young black entrepreneurs like Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs and Russell Simmons have made millions from their clothing lines. Michael Eric Dyson Read Quote
There’s a dark underside to philanthropy. People who give a bunch of money are deferred to, even when they are wrong. The emperor cannot be shown to have no clothes. Michael Eric Dyson Read Quote
