Part of the problem is we had so far to go, given the deep homophobia in our society. But, the movement is very real. The movement is very real.
Interpretation
The quote addresses the ongoing struggle against deep societal homophobia and emphasizes the authenticity of the LGBTQ+ rights movement.
Cornel West highlights the significant challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community due to pervasive homophobia in society. Despite these challenges, he asserts that the movement for LGBTQ+ rights and acceptance is genuine and impactful, acknowledging the long journey ahead while affirming the reality of the struggle for equality and acceptance.
In practice
In a speech advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, one might reference this quote to emphasize the ongoing struggle and the need for activism.
King's response to our crisis can be put in one word: revolution. A revolution in our priorities, a reevaluation of our values, a reinvigoration of our public life and a fundamental transformation of our way of thinking and living that promotes a transfer of power from oligarchs and plutocrats to everyday people and ordinary citizens.
You've got to love yourself enough, not only so that others will be able to love you, but that you'll be able to love others.
Profound music leads us beyond language...to the dark roots of our scream and the celestial heights of our silence.
And when I talk about love, I'm talking about something that's great, though, brother. I'm talking about something that will sustain you.
Clever gimmicks of mass distraction yield a cheap soulcraft of addicted and self-medicated narcissists.
I feel as if I have been blessed to undergo a transformation from 'gangster' to 'redeemed sinner with gangster proclivities.'
There is no way a spirit of resistance that has sunk so deep in the population can be repressed.
I showed her how I'd been making tiny cuts in my skin to let the badness and the pain leak out. They were shallow at first, and short, like claw marks made by a desperate cat that wanted to hid under the front porch. Cutting pain was a different flavor of hurt. It made it easier not to think about having my body and my family and my life stolen, made it easier not to care.
First it was the whites, and then their Negro message bearers. And the word was always the same: 'Tell your sons to take their names off the books. Don't show up at the courthouse voting day.'
Valor lies just halfway between rashness and cowardice.
Covering the civil-rights movement was a mind- and eye-opener for me. Houston was a segregated society, as was Texas as a whole - some of it by law, a lot of it by fear and tradition. But there was no violence where I lived, and if there was hate, it was either concealed from me or I just didn't recognize it.
The onward march of the human race requires that the heights around it constantly blaze with noble lessons of courage. Deeds of daring dazzle history and form one of man's guiding lights.
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