"'First of all,' she said with her back to me and sounding like God, 'you are not havin' a breakdown. We don't break down. We may make other people do that, but we don't, so you cannot have one. That woman I worked for, she has breakdowns, which is why she calls me every damn day, 'cause she can't figure out nothin' for herself and she's been given everything her whole life. You, my little girlfriend, come from folks so damn strong-willed that they had to leave the South or White folks was just gon' be forced to kill 'em. You couldn't have no will like that and be a Black man in the South, you understand that. Now, I don't know all of what's bothering you, I do know you can figure out how to get what you want from that paper, and if they can't give it to you, then you go look for somethin' else, and when you find it, then you leave, but you don't just git up and go without someplace else to go.'"
~from Good Hair, Benilde Little
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