vexatious

“By an exquisite irony, Islam reduced the status of Christians to that which the Christians had earlier thrust upon the Jews, with one difference. The reduction in Christian status was merely judicial; it was unaccompanied by either systematic persecution or a blood lust, and generally, though not everywhere and at all times, unmarred by vexatious behavior.”

–re: the spread of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula in the immediate aftermath of Muhammad’s death.

Islam: the Straight Path, p. 34, John L. Esposito

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Tre Vasquez

“By definition: pimp n.: One who derives income from the earnings of a prostitute, usually by soliciting business.

“And: prostitute (pros-ti-toot) n.: 1. One who solicits and accepts payment for sex acts, 2. One who sells one’s abilities, talent or name for an unworthy purpose.

“Take these words by definition, thinking outside of their traditional use, and relate them to the lives of those who’ve never sold their body for cash. I see my family, my people, every day in the position of selling their abilities, talents, and names for unworthy purposes. And these motherfuckers sittin’ up in the Capitol buildings determining the future of my folks and soliciting their value are, yes, deriving income from the earnings of them. By definition, this country is the biggest pimp of ‘em all. Please, next time you feel for those women on the street in that alternate reality on the other side of town, take a moment, too, for my sisters in the maquiladoras makin’ your clothes, for my brothers picking your produce, my family washing your dishes and cleaning your house. Please take a moment for all the beautiful spirits that have been labeled criminals and thrown away into prison cells who deserve freedom. Please take a moment for all of those in the position of selling their abilities, talents, or names for an unworthy purpose–the appalling economic wealth of this country.”

from his essay “Pimp” in the Working Sex anthology

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Robert Lynd

“There is nothing in which the birds differ more from man than the way in which they can build and yet leave a landscape as it was before.”

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female chauvinist pigs

“If you are the exception that proves the rule, and the rule is that women are inferior, you haven’t made any progress.”

Ariel Levy, Female Chauvinist Pigs, p117

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Staceyann Chin

“I didn’t know that terror looked like silence…I didn’t know you could be so frightened you couldn’t speak, because all of my life I’ve had my voice.”

-on being sexually assaulted by a group of young men for being an out lesbian

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Gandhi

“We must be the change we want to see in the world.”

Mahatma Gandhi

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Emerson

“Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Wilchins

“As a bodily fluid, menstural blood is a loser. It symbolizes – there’s no kind way to say this – waste, weakness, loss, passivity – all the genearl ills assocaited with a feminine disposition. Young girls are often properly appalled to learn this, spending hours staring in shamed silence at their bodies, imagining all the little potential human beings leaking out, perhaps even at that very moment…

…As a bodily fluid, semen is the Man. It symbolizes – there’s no unkind way to say this – dominance, strength, activity, vitality, potency – all the general benefits asscoiated with a masculine disposition. Young boys are often properly proud to learn this, spending hours in rapt contemplation of their own pubescent, potent crotches.”

Riki Wilchins, from the essay “Queerer Bodies,” included in the anthology GenderQueer: voices from beyond the sexual binary.

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MLK Jr.

on Capitalism:
“We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobiles, rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to humanity.”

on pacifism:
“It is better to be the recipient of violence than the inflictor of it, since the latter only multiplies the existence of violence and bitterness in the universe, while the former may develop a sense of shame in the opponent, and thereby bring about a transformation and change of heart.”

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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Derricotte

“What are the reasons for the silence that exists about internalized racism, for the lack of personal admissions? We are afraid we will be criticized. We are afraid to know the ways in which the people closest to us, our parents, relatives, and friends have contributed to our shames, fears, inadequacies, hatreds and repulsions.”

Toi Derricotte, from The Black Notebooks

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