"to the left, to the left!"

a moment of clarity.


words.

"Sometimes African Americans, in communities where I’ve worked, there’s been the notion of “acting white” — which sometimes is overstated, but there’s an element of truth to it, where, okay, if boys are reading too much, then, well, why are you doing that? Or why are you speaking so properly? And the notion that there’s some authentic way of being black, that if you’re going to be black you have to act a certain way and wear a certain kind of clothes, that has to go. Because there are a whole bunch of different ways for African American men to be authentic.

 ...The insult is as short-sighted as it is ignorant. I told them to be unabashedly black and follow the examples of Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou, Sarah Vaughan and Beyoncé, Michelle Obama and President Obama. And I implored them to be bold, black, beautiful and, most important, American. Too many folks forget that part. They spend so much time fighting for respect as a [fill-in-the-blank] American that they miss the American part altogether. They are part of the larger story of this country, and their success or failure is of great importance to it." But my point is, is that you don’t have to act a certain way to be authentic."

THE WASHINGTON POST: Obama goes there on ‘acting white’