Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

“Spoil me differently! Spoil me with your love, honesty, and commitment. Spoil me with respect, honor, and appreciation. Spoil me with engaging conversations. Spoil me with your attentiveness. Spoil me by being kind, understanding, and genuine. Spoil me with laughter and let’s create memorable memories together. Spoil me by giving me your heart wholeheartedly. Spoil me baby, and I vow to do the same. Material things are okay, but nothing compares to knowing and feeling that you’re genuinely loved. Any man can buy a woman gifts, but it takes a special King to love his Queen properly.”
― Stephanie Lahart

“black women breathe flowers, too.
just because
we are taught to grow them in the lining of our quiet (our grandmothers secret)
does nor mean
we do not swelter with wild tenderness.
we soft swim.
we petal.
we scent limbs.
love.
we just have been too long a garden for sharp and deadly teeth.
so we
have
grown
ourselfves
into
greenhouses.”
― Nayyirah Waheed, Salt

“I know who I married, too. You're in me. When I touch you, your flesh communicates with my bones.”
― Tayari Jones, An American Marriage

“The healing will no longer be theorised and wished upon
One day
We will be walking manifest of healing”
― Malebo Sephodi

“While protesting in the street,
I am fighting for the rights of my community.
While navigating my community,
I am fighting to be loved.
What more do Black women have to sacrifice to be loved by Black men? To be seen as worthy of fighting for.
We have given everything.
What have you given in return, Beloved?
I cannot fight for you, and fight against you.
I cannot honor your spirit,
while you diminish mine.”
― Bethanee Epifani J. Bryant

“I brought Grand Rapids with me to Newaygo. I brought difference. I was used to a fluid concept of harmony. I was used to diversity. Homogenous harmony has walls. As a fourteen-year-old boy in Newaygo, I felt those walls.”
― Daniel Abbott, Wounds

“As a teenager I felt misunderstood. I felt confused. Somewhere in that confusion was me. The me I was destined to become.”
― Daniel Abbott, Wounds

“If you ask Denny, he will tell you: "I'm a patriot. I love my country." A country that doesn't love him back. Doesn't love him black. A patriot. Let that register. A black patriot. In a country that won't acknowledge that Black Lives Matter.”
― Daniel Abbott, Wounds

“He tells me in the way he knows melts me into a puddle—with a song.
“You have stolen my heart with one look of your eyes.”
― Kennedy Ryan, Hook Shot

“It was the butt that had done it nineteen years ago, was still doing it now. He'd seen it coming around Strawberry Alley and had followed it four whole blocks. It was mesmerizing, the way it moved, independent of the rest of her body, as though operating under the influencer of another brain entirely, one cheek knocking into the other cheek so that that cheek had to swing out before knocking back”
― Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing

“Back then and even now, my black friends and family members often tell me they don't consider me white. I don't think that's what they really mean. What they mean is that they feel safe with me. They mean they don't fear the noose in my presence. Their face being pressed to the concrete. My knee being pressed against their neck. My weight bearing down. When they say they don't consider me white, what they mean is that I see them. That I'm with them. That I won't stand for the little white genocides they're subjected to one podium speech at a time.”
― Daniel Abbott, Wounds

“Cars slowed down as they passed. White drivers with white passengers. White parents with white children, watching. Not seeing, I imagine, three innocent black boys being harassed by racist police officers. Seeing three black criminals being brought to justice. Young minds being shaped into wrong thinking. Generational ignorance being reinforced through misconstrued observation.”
― Daniel Abbott, Wounds

“Together we glow
Brighter than the sun and moon
Combined, we are love.”
― Sanjo Jendayi

“I am Fro•riginal”
― Scarlet Jei Saoirse, Jayden Codner

“NOTE: The character of Aoleon is deaf. This conversation takes place in the book via sign language...

“Feeling a certain kind of way Aoleon?�
She snapped-to and quickly became defensive. “What in the name of the Goddess are you on about?�
Shades of anger and annoyance. The old Aoleon coming out.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t poke at you like that. It’s okay you know. There’s nothing wrong about the way you feel.�
As if suddenly caught up in a lie, Aoleon cleared her throat and ran her fingers absentmindedly over her ear and started to fidget with one of the brass accents in her snowy hair.
A very common nervous reaction.
“No…I mean…well I was…uh...�
“Aoleon, I know about you and Arjana.� he admitted outrightly as he pointed at the drawing.
She coughed, stuttered, smiled, but could bring herself to fully say nothing. Words escaped her as she looked about the room for answers.
“My sight is Dįvįnë, lest we forget. I knew you were growing close.�
“Yes. Well…she’s…something else.�
“Indeed?� he responded.
Images flashed briefly in Aoleon’s head of her father’s old friend. Verging on her fiftieth decade of life. She was a fierce woman by all accounts. One who’d just as soon cut you with words as she would a blade. Yet, she was darling and caring towards those she held close to her. Lovely to a fault; in a wild sort of way. Dark skin, the colour of walnut stained wood. Thick, kinky hair fashioned into black locs that faded into reddish-brown tips that were dyed with Assamian henna; the sides of her head shaved bare in an undercut fashion. Tattoos and gauged ears. Very comfortable with her sexuality. Dwalli by blood, but a native of the Link by birth although she wasn’t a Magi. Magick was her mother’s gift.
“I heard her say something very much the same about you once Aoleon.�
“Really?� Aoleon perked up right away. “Did she?�
“Yes. After she first met you in fact. Nearly exactly.�
Aoleon’s smile widened and she beamed happiness. She sat up assertively and gave a curt nod. “Well, of course she did.�
“She’s held such a torch for you for so long that I was starting to wonder if anything would actually come of it.�
“Yeah. Both you and Prince Asshole.� Aoleon exclaimed with a certainty that was absolute as she once again tightened up with defensiveness.
Samahdemn walked his statement back. “Peace daughter. I didn't know your brother had been giving you a row about her. Then again, he is your brother. So anything is possible.�
Aoleon sighed and nodded. “Not so much problems as he’s been giving me the silent treatment over it. Na’Kwanza. It’s always Na� Kwanza.�
Samahdemn nodded knowingly and waived a dismissive hand. “He’s just jealous. He always has been.�
“So I’ve noticed.�
“Why would you hide it? Why not tell me?�
“I don’t know.� she said; shrugging her shoulders. “I didn’t know how you’d take it I suppose.�
“Seriously? You were afraid of rejection? From me? Love, have I ever held your individuality against you? Have I ever not supported you or your siblings?�
She shook her head; a bit embarrassed that she hadn't trusted him. "No, I suppose not."

-Reflections on the Dįvonësë War: The Dįvįnë Will Bear Witness to Fate”
― S.H. Robinson

“Oh, my God. A glass of wine, a smile, and that knowing look. Like the clarity, one gets after the initial drag of that ooowee. I KNOW she knows she got a nigga.”
― A.K. Kuykendall

“You know, in Sophiatown we had very few educated Africans, but they were so broad in their reading. They all had books in their pockets. My husband was one of them. I don't think I would have stayed very long with him if he were different.”
― Miriam Tlali

“When other people parted
We clung to each other fast
We knew our love was special
We struggled to make it last”
― Margaret H. Oliver, A Woman's Place: The Complete Poetry Collection of Margaret Oliver

“You must leave me now
But I feel good in my heart
We stayed together and in love
Only death caused us to part”
― Margaret H. Oliver, A Woman's Place: The Complete Poetry Collection of Margaret Oliver

“I do not dare touch you
As you contemplate the day
Quietly, privately, serenely
I love seeing you that way”
― Margaret H. Oliver, A Woman's Place: The Complete Poetry Collection of Margaret Oliver

“BLACK LOVE LIVES IN THE MIDDLE OF ALL THIS HATE

#HOPENATION”
― Qwana M. "BabyGirl" Reynolds-Frasier

“Because you were right. I was holding onto a ghost. You deserve better. You deserve all of me, not just bits and pieces.”
― Joy Avery, Hollidae Fling

“I love you,â€� he said to her. “And I want you to know that you have a special place in my heart. You’re the first and only woman I've ever loved like this.”
― Lydia V. Simms, Solana

“For a few minutes, Solana basked in his embrace. He was the perfect husband. The man who understood her more than anyone else. The love of her life, the father of her baby, and the first and only man she’d ever put her trust in.”
― Lydia V. Simms, Solana

“Many people do interpret "black men loving black men" solely in terms of a sexual, romantic affinity, and love. But what I meant was love in the sense of friendship, community, family, and fraternity, which was far more important, in nurturing me as a black gay man, than the love of a particular lover who is white. It's more important because for black people in this country it's difficult to exist, to flourish, to find sustenance and spiritual strength when you're totally surrounded by whites, or when the source of your support is solely from whites. There are things that white people can't understand, don't feel, and don't know no matter how much they love you.
(Marlon Riggs, in an interview with Ron Simmons)”
― Essex Hemphill, Brother to Brother: New Writing by Black Gay Men