I used to be a discipline problem, which caused me embarrassment until I realized that being a discipline problem in a racist society is sometimes an honor.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the pride of standing against societal injustices despite personal challenges.
Ishmael Reed's quote highlights the complexities of navigating discipline issues within a context of racial discrimination. It suggests that while being labeled a 'discipline problem' may initially be perceived as shameful, it can also signify a refusal to conform to an oppressive societal structure, ultimately embodying a sense of honor in challenging injustice.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about overcoming societal challenges.
During the last decades, films about the black experience have been produced, directed, and even scripted by white men. Some of them are excellent. But most reflect George Bernard Shawβs warning that 'if you do not tell your stories others will tell them for you and they will vulgarize and degrade you.'
Writing poetry is the hard manual labor of the imagination.
What war has always been is a puberty ceremony. It's a very rough one, but you went away a boy and came back a man, maybe with an eye missing or whatever but godammit you were a man and people had to call you a man thereafter.
Before my accidents, there were ten thousands things I could do. I could spend the rest of my life dwelling on the things that I had lost, but instead I chose to focus on the nine thousand I still had left.
The excitement really didn't start to build until the trailer - which was carrying me, with a space suit with ventilation and all that sort of stuff - pulled up to the launch pad.
I have used all the manure that has been thrown on me as fertilizer to make me stronger.
Fear is your best friend or your worst enemy. It's like fire. If you can control it, it can cook for you; it can heat your house. If you can't control it, it will burn everything around you and destroy you. If you can control your fear, it makes you more alert, like a deer coming across the lawn.
Acts of bravery don't always take place on battlefields. They can take place in your heart, when you have the courage to honor your character, your intellect, your inclinations, and yes, your soul by listening to its clean, clear voice of direction instead of following the muddied messages of a timid world.
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