14 Quotes by Jay Coles

Sometime's it's hard to hear people tell us to stay strong. But you never know how strong you really are or can be until it's the only choice you have.

I tell myself that I love this skin, that I've always loved my blackness, that if the world doesn't love me, I will love myself for the both of us.

Who gets to be free?Is someone free when they don't have to think about the way people look at them or treat them because of the color of their skin?Is someone free when they don't have to spend time on this earth with people who have hearts made of hate?Or is someone only really free when they're no longer a part of this world?

Once I find my way to Grandma's restaurant, after what feels like a zillion wrong turns and dead ends, I walk in and smell all the bomb soul food- her famous fried chicken with all the creole seasonings, thyme, rosemary, and tarragon. I even get a whiff of her famous sweet potato pie, and I'm practically drooling.

I prayed for twenty years. Nothing happened until I got off my knees and started marching with my feet.

Hey, you just 'member it's all in the butter. I keep trynna tell your cousins that, and they don't listen for the life of 'em."Butter is probably Grandma's favorite ingredient, and she puts it in nearly everything. I believe she'd put it in her raisin bran in the mornings if she could.One year, she made deep-fried sticks of butter and dipped them in chocolate sauce and melted peanut butter. I'm not gonna lie. It was pretty flame, but I'm sure at least one of my arteries clogged up.

All I am left thinking is: What lesson did I have to be taught? Not to be a concerned individual? Not to care about someone else's innocent life, the boy lying unconscious across from me? Not to care about my own life? Not to be a member of my own race?

I'm seeing so many All Lives Matter bullshit posts that have my entire body shaking. People don't fucking know that black folks were never included in the all. All-American means white. All-inclusive means white. All lives means white lives. It's bullshit. White folks always make it about them, and I'm pissed off that they're trying to mask their hatred with these tags.

I strongly believe that it's up to everyone, regardless of race, to heal that divide and come together to fight police brutality.