I want to see women of African descent shine.
Danai GuriraRead
Why can't black women on stage tell stories that can affect white men in the audience?
Interpretation
This quote questions the barriers faced by black women in storytelling and their impact on diverse audiences.
Danai Gurira's quote highlights the importance of representation and inclusivity in storytelling. It challenges the notion that stories from black women cannot resonate with or influence audiences, particularly white men, emphasizing the universal nature of experiences and narratives. By posing this question, Gurira advocates for a broader acceptance and appreciation of diverse voices in performance art and beyond.
In practice
In a panel discussion about diversity in theater.
I want to see women of African descent shine.
There’s a saying in Africa, if you give a woman empowerment, you empower a community, you empower men, you empower man. When women become empowered and live in their strength it’s beneficiary to others, and I think as young women today we sometimes forget that we are standing on the struggle of other women. Those women had to stand up to make a change, and they were not popular, and now we’re making them unpopular again.
I work with writers whom I believe to be true storytellers. And because I'm a writer, I pay very keen attention to their vision. I find that so fueling creatively because, in telling those stories, you use everything you've got. You come away with battle scars. It's gratifying and invigorating.
I often feel like a nutty professor, like I'm going to try this experiment and see if it works. My hypothesis is, people in the West can absorb African women stories without any shaken or stirred mixer. It can come directly from the source.
I'm not only a person of color, I'm also a woman. And I'm not only a woman, I'm also a woman from the Third World. All those elements put together means I have a lot to do.
Every relationship has tough days. Don't let the grudge last. Be the first to try to make things right and stop waiting for an apology.
Commitment, by its nature, frees us from ourselves and, while it stands us in opposition to some, it joins us with others similarly committed. Commitment moves us from the mirror trap of the self absorbed with the self to the freedom of a community of shared values.
What is faithfulness, anyway? Can you be unfaithful to your own feelings and faithful to someone else? Is it faithful to lie in bed night after night with someone you love but no longer desire while ardently dreaming of someone else?
Wives in their husbands' absences grow subtler, And daughters sometimes run off with the butler.
Brother, hello and good-bye. Frater, ave atque vale
When Catherine told me about this (tragedy nearby), I could only say, shocked, "Dear God, that family needs grace." She replied firmly, "That family needs casseroles," and then proceeded to organize the entire neighborhood into bringing that family dinner, in shifts, every single night, for an entire year. I do not know if my sister fully recognizes that this _is_ grace.
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