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M. K. Asante Quotes

The artivist (artist +activist) uses her artistic talents to fight and struggle against injustice and oppression – by any medium necessary. The artivist merges commitment to freedom and justice with the pen, the lens,

The artivist (artist +activist) uses her artistic talents to fight and struggle against injustice and oppression – by any medium necessary. The artivist merges commitment to freedom and justice with the pen, the lens, the brush, the voice, the body, and the imagination. The artivist knows that to make an observation is to have an obligation.

M. K. Asante
Struggle, Commitment, Fighting

Love is learning the song in someone's heart and singing it to them when they forget.

M. K. Asante
Song, Heart, Love Is
M.K. Asante (2013). “Buck: A Memoir”, p.140, Spiegel & Grau

Now I see why reading was illegal for black people during slavery. I discover that I think in words. The more words I know, the more things I can think about. My vocab and thoughts grow together like the stem and petals of a flower. Reading was illegal because if you limit someone's vocab, you limit their thoughts. They can't even think of freedom because they don't have the language to.

M. K. Asante
Flower, Reading, Thinking

I write-down to speak-up.

M. K. Asante
Writing, Literature, Speak

When you make an observation, you have an obligation.

M. K. Asante
Observation, Obligation
M. K. Asante, Jr. (2008). “It's Bigger Than Hip Hop: The Rise of the Post-Hip-Hop Generation”, p.9, Macmillan

They can’t even think of freedom because they don’t have the language to.

M. K. Asante
Thinking, Language

Philly is a state of mind I’m always in. The city is truly a character in its own right, and it’s served me well because the people I was exposed to gave me that cultural rootedness.

M. K. Asante
Character, Cities, People

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