Those who came to the United States didn't realize they were white until they got here. They were told they were white. They had to learn they were white. An Irish peasant coming from British imperial abuse in Ireland during the potato famine in the 1840s, arrives in the United States. You ask him or her what they are. They say, "I am Irish." No, you're white. "What do you mean, I am white?" And they point me out. "Oh, I see what you mean. This is a strange land."
Interpretation
The quote explores the concept of racial identity and how it is socially constructed in different contexts.
Cornel West highlights the experience of immigrants in the United States who, upon arrival, were made aware of their racial identity as 'white' despite having previously identified primarily with their ethnic backgrounds. This revelation underscores how racial categorizations are not inherently understood but are imposed by societal structures, transforming personal identity in the context of a new environment.
In practice
This quote could be used in a lecture about immigration and identity.
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.'
People must be free to work, to save, to own their own home, to take risks, to invest in each other and, in essence, to control their own lives.
God's word is always effective and produces whatever it expresses. My words, on the contrary, cannot create anything; I can only change what already is into something else.
I believe in goodness, mercy and charity. I believe in casting bread upon the waters.
Wrong life cannot be lived rightly.
There is object proof that homosexuality is more interesting than heterosexuality. It's that one knows a considerable number of heterosexuals who would wish to become homosexuals, whereas one knows very few homosexuals who would really like to become heterosexuals.
If you have a high evaluation of yourself then your ability to recognize new facts is weakened.
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