“I think that history is the story of the past, using all the available facts, and that nostalgia is a fantasy about the past using no facts, and somewhere in between is memory, which is kind of this blend of history and a little bit of emotion…I mean, history is kind of about what you need to know…but nostalgia is what you want to hear.”
―
Clint Smith,
How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“...I'm left wondering if we are all just patchworks of the stories we've been told. What would it take - what does it take - for you to confront a false history even if it means shattering the stories you have been told throughout your life? Even if it means having to fundamentally reexamine who you are and who your family has been? Just because something is difficult to accept doesn't mean you should refuse to accept it. Just because someone tells you a story doesn't make that story true.” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“I am highly suspicious of attempts to brightside human suffering, especially suffering that—as in the case of almost all infectious diseases—is unjustly distributed. I’m not here to criticize other people’s hope, but personally, whenever I hear someone waxing poetic about the silver linings to all these clouds, I think about a wonderful poem by Clint Smith called “When people say, ‘we have made it through worse before.’” The poem begins, “all I hear is the wind slapping against the gravestones / of those who did not make it.” As in Ibn Battuta’s Damascus, the only path forward is true solidarity—not only in hope, but also in lamentation.” ― John Green, The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet
“The history of slavery is the history of the United States. It was not peripheral to our founding; it was central to it. It is not irrelevant to our contemporary society; it created it. This history is in our soil, it is in our policies, and it must, too, be in our memories.” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“At some point it is no longer a question of whether we can learn this history but whether we have the collective will to reckon with it.” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“Oppression is never about humanity or lack thereof. It is, and always has been, about power.” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“It’s not a feeling of guilt. It’s a feeling of ‘discovered ignorance” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“When I think about the history of slavery and racism in this country, I think about how quick we are to espouse notions of progress without accounting for its uncertain and serpentine path.” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“it would be nice to be something in a museum one day because that’s what I’ve been told means you’ve lived a meaningful life but I think instead I might like to be in a garden where even after I die the residue of me can help grow something more beautiful than I ever was” ― Clint Smith, Counting Descent
“Across the United States, and abroad, there are places whose histories are inextricably tied to the story of human bondage. Many of these places directly confront and reflect on their relationship to that history; many of these places do not. But in order for our country to collectively move forward, it is not enough to have a patchwork of places that are honest about this history while being surrounded by other spaces that undermine it. It must be a collective endeavor to learn and confront the story of slavery and how it has shaped the world we live in today.” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“Just as he did during the Slavery at Monticello tour, David did not mince words. "There’s a chapter in Notes on the State of Virginia,” he said to the five of us, standing in front of the east wing of Jefferson’s manor, “that has some of the most racist things you might ever read, written by anyone, anywhere, anytime, in it. So sometimes I stop and ask myself, 'If Gettysburg had gone the wrong way, would people be quoting the Declaration of Independence or Notes on the State of Virginia?' It’s the same guy writing.” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“What would it take—what does it take—for you to confront a false history even if it means shattering the stories you have been told throughout your life? Even if it means having to fundamentally reexamine who you are and who your family has been? Just because something is difficult to accept doesn’t mean you should refuse to accept it. Just because someone tells you a story doesn’t make that story true.” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“Tell me, at what velocity does joy travel?” ― Clint Smith, Counting Descent
“How do you tell a story that has been told the wrong way for so long?” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“I’ve come to realize that there’s a difference between history and nostalgia, and somewhere between those two is memory,” he said. “I think that history is the story of the past, using all the available facts, and that nostalgia is a fantasy about the past using no facts, and somewhere in between is memory, which is kind of this blend of history and a little bit of emotion…I mean, history is kind of about what you need to know…but nostalgia is what you want to hear.” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“do you know what it means for your existence to be defined by someone else’s intentions?” ― Clint Smith, Counting Descent
“While a life like Frederick Douglas’s is remarkable, we must remember that not every person who lived through slavery was like Douglas. Most did not learn to read or write. Most did not engage in hand-to-hand combat with white slave brakers. Most did not live close enough to free states in the North to have any hope of escape. No one, enslaved or otherwise, was like Douglas. There were other brilliant, exceptional people who lived under slavery, and many resisted the institution in innumerable ways, but our country’s teachings about slavery, painfully limited, often focus singularly on heroic slave narratives, at the expense of millions of men and women whose stories might be less sensational but are no less worthy of being told. “I thought of my primary and secondary education. I remembered feeling crippling guilt as I silently wondered why every enslaved person couldn’t simply escape like Douglas, Tubman, and Jacobs had. I found myself angered by the stories of those who did not escape. Had they not tried hard enough? Didn’t they care enough to do something? Did they choose to remain enslaved? This, I now realize, is part of the insidiousness of white supremacy. It illuminates the exceptional in order to implicitly blame those who cannot, despite the most brutal circumstances, attain super-human heights. It does this instead of blaming the system, the people who built it, and the people who maintained it.” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“We are charred vessels vestiges of wood & wonder anchors tethered to our bows. It is the irony of a ship burning at sea, surrounded by the very thing that could save us.” ― Clint Smith, Counting Descent
“We’re telling history by telling the full story, more of the story of everyone who lived here, not just certain people who were able to tell their stories.” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“...I'm left wondering if we are all just patchworks of the stories we've been told. What would it take - what does it take - for you to confront a false history even if it means shattering the stories you have been told throughout your life? Even if it means having to fundamentally reexamine who you are and who your family has been? Just because something is difficult to accept doesn't mean you should refuse to accept it. Just because someone tells you a story doesn't make that story true.” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“I am highly suspicious of attempts to brightside human suffering, especially suffering that—as in the case of almost all infectious diseases—is unjustly distributed. I’m not here to criticize other people’s hope, but personally, whenever I hear someone waxing poetic about the silver linings to all these clouds, I think about a wonderful poem by Clint Smith called “When people say, ‘we have made it through worse before.’” The poem begins, “all I hear is the wind slapping against the gravestones / of those who did not make it.” As in Ibn Battuta’s Damascus, the only path forward is true solidarity—not only in hope, but also in lamentation.” ― John Green, The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet
“The history of slavery is the history of the United States. It was not peripheral to our founding; it was central to it. It is not irrelevant to our contemporary society; it created it. This history is in our soil, it is in our policies, and it must, too, be in our memories.” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“At some point it is no longer a question of whether we can learn this history but whether we have the collective will to reckon with it.” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“Oppression is never about humanity or lack thereof. It is, and always has been, about power.” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“It’s not a feeling of guilt. It’s a feeling of ‘discovered ignorance” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“When I think about the history of slavery and racism in this country, I think about how quick we are to espouse notions of progress without accounting for its uncertain and serpentine path.” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“it would be nice to be something in a museum one day because that’s what I’ve been told means you’ve lived a meaningful life but I think instead I might like to be in a garden where even after I die the residue of me can help grow something more beautiful than I ever was” ― Clint Smith, Counting Descent
“Across the United States, and abroad, there are places whose histories are inextricably tied to the story of human bondage. Many of these places directly confront and reflect on their relationship to that history; many of these places do not. But in order for our country to collectively move forward, it is not enough to have a patchwork of places that are honest about this history while being surrounded by other spaces that undermine it. It must be a collective endeavor to learn and confront the story of slavery and how it has shaped the world we live in today.” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“Just as he did during the Slavery at Monticello tour, David did not mince words. "There’s a chapter in Notes on the State of Virginia,” he said to the five of us, standing in front of the east wing of Jefferson’s manor, “that has some of the most racist things you might ever read, written by anyone, anywhere, anytime, in it. So sometimes I stop and ask myself, 'If Gettysburg had gone the wrong way, would people be quoting the Declaration of Independence or Notes on the State of Virginia?' It’s the same guy writing.” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“What would it take—what does it take—for you to confront a false history even if it means shattering the stories you have been told throughout your life? Even if it means having to fundamentally reexamine who you are and who your family has been? Just because something is difficult to accept doesn’t mean you should refuse to accept it. Just because someone tells you a story doesn’t make that story true.” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“Tell me, at what velocity does joy travel?” ― Clint Smith, Counting Descent
“How do you tell a story that has been told the wrong way for so long?” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“I’ve come to realize that there’s a difference between history and nostalgia, and somewhere between those two is memory,” he said. “I think that history is the story of the past, using all the available facts, and that nostalgia is a fantasy about the past using no facts, and somewhere in between is memory, which is kind of this blend of history and a little bit of emotion…I mean, history is kind of about what you need to know…but nostalgia is what you want to hear.” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“do you know what it means for your existence to be defined by someone else’s intentions?” ― Clint Smith, Counting Descent
“While a life like Frederick Douglas’s is remarkable, we must remember that not every person who lived through slavery was like Douglas. Most did not learn to read or write. Most did not engage in hand-to-hand combat with white slave brakers. Most did not live close enough to free states in the North to have any hope of escape. No one, enslaved or otherwise, was like Douglas. There were other brilliant, exceptional people who lived under slavery, and many resisted the institution in innumerable ways, but our country’s teachings about slavery, painfully limited, often focus singularly on heroic slave narratives, at the expense of millions of men and women whose stories might be less sensational but are no less worthy of being told. “I thought of my primary and secondary education. I remembered feeling crippling guilt as I silently wondered why every enslaved person couldn’t simply escape like Douglas, Tubman, and Jacobs had. I found myself angered by the stories of those who did not escape. Had they not tried hard enough? Didn’t they care enough to do something? Did they choose to remain enslaved? This, I now realize, is part of the insidiousness of white supremacy. It illuminates the exceptional in order to implicitly blame those who cannot, despite the most brutal circumstances, attain super-human heights. It does this instead of blaming the system, the people who built it, and the people who maintained it.” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
“We are charred vessels vestiges of wood & wonder anchors tethered to our bows. It is the irony of a ship burning at sea, surrounded by the very thing that could save us.” ― Clint Smith, Counting Descent
“We’re telling history by telling the full story, more of the story of everyone who lived here, not just certain people who were able to tell their stories.” ― Clint Smith, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
