"You and I are on the Same Ship"

"Well, charity ain’t justice. Charity is beautiful, but you ain’t got to be charitable to me if I already got justice. If I already got a sense of participation, you ain’t got to be charitable to me. Just treat me right everyday.

That’s why you and I are on the same ship. In fact we’re traveling on the same plane. You might be in first class, eating filet mignon, and I’m eating peanuts back in Row 55. If you’re on the plane, being in first class ain’t gonna stop you from going down with the rest of us. When there’s turbulence, there’s turbulence everywhere. Everybody be shaking. And if the plane goes down, you might die first in first class.

Yes, some of us are in first class, but the plane is in trouble. What will you do to speak to the pilot? To tell the pilot to tell the control center that we’ve got to change directions unless the turbulence leads us to our own deaths.

That’s the truth we’ve got to tell; that’s the courage we’ve got to muster, and that’s the beauty of soul we must reveal to one another in the quietness of our own individual lives."

- Michael Eric Dyson

Complex, yet Ignored

“Gangsta rap often reaches higher than its ugliest, lowest common denominator, misogyny, violence, materialism and sexual transgression are not its exclusive domain. At its best, this music draws attention to complex dimensions of ghetto life ignored by most Americans. Indeed, gangsta rap's in-your-face style may do more to force America to confront crucial social problems than a million sermons or political speeches.”

- Michael Eric Dyson