“Dear Non-American Black, when you make the choice to come to America, you become black. Stop arguing. Stop saying I'm Jamaican or I'm Ghanaian. America doesn't care.”

—  Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie , book Americanah

Source: Americanah

Last update Oct. 1, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Dear Non-American Black, when you make the choice to come to America, you become black. Stop arguing. Stop saying I'm J…" by Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie?
Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie photo
Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie 97
Nigerian writer 1977

Related quotes

Morgan Freeman photo

“I am going to stop calling you a white man and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man.”

Morgan Freeman (1937) American actor, film director, and narrator

Source: [Freeman calls Black History Month ‘ridiculous’, https://web.archive.org/web/20051217080712/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10482634, Associated Press, New York, December 15, 2005, December 4, 2017]

Jamal Simmons photo

“I think nobody really loves America more than black Americans, because black Americans loved America even when America didn’t love us back”

Jamal Simmons (1971) American journalist

Simmons at the Canadian-American Business Council luncheon. 2008-11-13 http://eaves.ca/2008/11/14/quote-of-the-day

Saeed Jones photo

“Being gay isn't a choice, just like being black isn't a choice…I don't stop. I do not give up. I do not take America's 'no' to my identity for an answer.”

Saeed Jones (1985) American poet

On being Black and gay in the United States in “'We're All Struggling': Writer Saeed Jones Reflects On Identity And Acceptance” https://www.npr.org/2019/11/06/776747102/we-re-all-struggling-writer-saeed-jones-reflects-on-identity-and-acceptance in NPR (2019 Nov 6)

Whoopi Goldberg photo

“Most of all, I dislike this idea nowadays that if you're a black person in America, then you must be called African-American. Listen, I've visited Africa, and I've got news for everyone: I'm not an African. The Africans know I'm not an African. I'm an American. This is my country. My people helped to build it and we've been here for centuries. Just call me black, if you want to call me anything.”

Whoopi Goldberg (1955) American actress

The Daily Telegraph interview, 20 April 1998

Donald Rumsfeld photo

“We do have a saying in America: if you're in a hole, stop digging ….. erm, I'm not sure I should have said that.”

Donald Rumsfeld (1932) U.S. Secretary of Defense

http://www.guardian.co.uk/quiz/questions/0,,1943315,00.html
http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/09/24/schroeder.blair/index.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20030621143902/http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/bbing/stories/s865620.htm
2000s

Bono photo

“I love America and I hate it. I'm torn between the two. I have two conflicting visions of America. One is a kind of dream landscape and the other is a kind of black comedy.”

Bono (1960) Irish rock musician, singer of U2
Malcolm X photo

“If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad. If it is wrong to be violent defending black women and black children and black babies and black men, then it is wrong for America to draft us and make us violent abroad in defense of her. And if it is right for America to draft us, and teach us how to be violent in defense of her, then it is right for you and me to do whatever is necessary to defend our own people right here in this country.”

Malcolm X (1925–1965) American human rights activist

Message to the Grass Roots (1963)

David Horowitz photo

“If blacks are oppressed in America, why isn't there a black exodus?”

David Horowitz (1939) Neoconservative activist, writer

[David, Horowitz, http://www.salon.com/news/col/horo/1999/08/16/naacp/, Guns don't kill black people, other blacks do, Salon.com, August 16, 1999, 2007-02-17]
1990s

Ray Lewis (American football) photo

“Remove the word black and say 'lives matter'… Stop sending mothers back home empty. You can never replace a mother's child. If we want black lives matter, let's make it matter to us. That's the new call.”

Ray Lewis (American football) (1975) former American football linebacker

As quoted in "Former NFL Player Ray Lewis: 'Let's Make Lives Matter'" https://web.archive.org/web/20150917002938/http://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/former-nfl-de-ray-lewis-lets-make-lives-matter-n424971 (2015), by Khorri Atkinson, NBC News.
2010s, 2015

Robert Hayden photo

“Standing to America, bringing home
black gold, black ivory, black seed.”

Robert Hayden (1913–1980) American writer and academic

Middle Passage (lines 15-16), from Collected Poems (1985)

Related topics