Quote of the Day

... while white folk are in many instances just waking up,  Black folk have been awake -- "woke" -- for centuries, and although that's a necessary virtue, it's also a huge burden.  We have been under attack for so long that we dare not close our eyes even for a minute.  We have had one long case of racial insomnia, watching over our families and communities, protecting them until a morning that never seems to come because there's always some other nightfall descending, some other consequence of white comfort that keeps us on the run, on the watch -- say, a dislike for affirmative action because it makes white folk uncomfortable to give up even a little unearned advantage, or a disdain for Black neighbors and the discomfort of encountering Black faces while fetching the morning paper.  And when we managed to catch a few winks, our sleep was either riddled with nightmares or interrupted by the alarming persistence of defenders of white comfort railing against the quest for Black relief.

-- Michael Eric Dyson, Long Time Coming, p. 197-198