We Wear the Mask
Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)
WE wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,— This debt we pay to human guile; With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, And mouth with myriad subtleties. Why should the world be over-wise, In counting all our tears and sighs? Nay, let them only see us, while We wear the mask. We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries To thee from tortured souls arise. We sing, but oh the clay is vile Beneath our feet, and long the mile; But let the world dream otherwise, We wear the mask! Humanity Overcoming
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James Baldwin
The paradox of education is precisely this - that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which one is being educated.
Frederick Douglass
Knowledge makes man unfit to be a slave.
Marian Wright Edelman
A lot of people are waiting for Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi to come back - but they are gone. We are it. It is up to us. It is up to you.
President Barack Obama
The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don't wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.
Powerlessness Everywhere
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We stand on her shoulders.
Lucille Clifton
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Image Credit: Views of the Caribbean "Fish Vendors, Jamaica" by Royan Grey Published by Hi-Qu Art Gallery (876) 926-4183 [email protected]