Sunday, August 16, 2015

Truest statement of the week

Public interviews, speeches and writings are just that, they are public. Particularly when written or stated by prominent figures in what we call the movement, these are not private and personal conversations, they are the collective property of the movement, available for us all to agree or disagree with, to learn from or to dismiss.
Sure, I could have called Jesse or Ms. Garza or others and asked them privately what they meant. But if one has to contact everybody one quotes, presumably to give them a chance to review and re-interpret privately for you what they wrote publicly, one sets up a situation in which no public figure ever needs to mean what she says or say what she means.



--  Bruce A. Dixon, "How To Hold Prominent Movement Figures Accountable – With A Private Phone Call or a Public Discussion?" (Black Agenda Report).