The mettle that it takes to look away from the horror of our prison system, from police forces transformed into armies, from the long war against the black body, is not forged overnight. This is the practiced habit of jabbing out one's eyes and forgetting the work of one's hands. To acknowledge the horrors means turning away from the brightly rendered version of your country as it has always declared itself and turning towards something murkier and unknown. It is still to difficult for most Americans to do this. But that is your work. It must be, if only to preserve the sanctity of your mind.
( Ta-Nehisi Coates )
[ Between the World and Me ]
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