“At my moment, there was always a token black person. And in the ’70s I became that token black person. It brings out the worst in people when they think there’s only one spot, where for everyone else there are lots of spots.”

— Beverly Johnson

On her past rivalry with Iman in “10 Questions With Beverly Johnson” https://time.com/4004384/10-questions-with-beverly-johnson/ in Time Magazine (2015 Aug 20)

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Beverly Johnson 1

American model and actress 1952

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“There is no servant except that there exists a white spot upon his heart. So when he commits a sin, a black spot arises into that white spot. Then when he repents, this black spot moves away. But if he continues on committing sins, the blackness of this spot increases till such time that it overwhelms and overrides the whiteness. When the whiteness is all covered over (by the blackness), the owner of it (the heart) does never at all return towards beneficence and goodness. And This is what God means when he says: "Nay! rather, what they used to do has become like a rust upon their hearts."”

Muhammad al-Baqir (677–733) fifth of the Twelve Shia Imams

Qur'an, 83:14
Muhammad Kulayni, Usūl al-Kāfī, vol.73, p. 332
Religious Wisdom

“What is the Black Spot, Captain?" "That's a summons, mate.”

Robert Louis Stevenson book Treasure Island

Source: Treasure Island (1883), Ch. 3.

“The hardest thing about being a black writer in this town is having to pitch your black story to white execs…Also, most of the time when we go into rooms to pitch, there’s one token black executive that sometimes can be a friend and sometimes can be a foe. I wonder if they think it makes me more comfortable, if that makes me think that they’re a woke network or studio because they’ve got that one black exec. It feels patronizing. I’m not against a black exec. I want there to be more of them.”

Lena Waithe (1984) American actress, producer, and screenwriter

On the still existing obstacles to pitching ideas in “Lena Waithe Is Changing the Game” https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/03/lena-waithe-cover-story in Vanity Fair (April 2018)

“There have been a number of gains, a number of, I think, token results. But far too many people, both black and white, are still locked out of the system and don't have the opportunity to reach toward those goals that many of us take for granted.”

Yolanda King (1955–2007) American actress

Speaking at UC Irvine (09 January 1985) http://articles.latimes.com/1985-01-09/local/me-12043_1_yolanda-king
1980s

“When I was coming up, trying to get to where I am now, people were so happy for me. They were rooting for me. Now that I'm on top, everyone wants to bring me down. Everyone's trying to tug at me and take my spot… A lot of people say they hate Justin Bieber who haven't even listened to my music. They just hate the idea of me.”

Justin Bieber (1994) Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor

Interview with V Magazine, as quoted in UsMagazine: Justin Bieber Talks Sex, Drugs and Turning 18 http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/justin-bieber-talks-sex-drugs-and-turning-18-2012101, January 2012

“There is I suppose, historically, this seminal moment in the lives of African Americans where one becomes black. Frantz Fanon and everyone talks about it. There is a moment when you go from subject to object and I guess that was my moment…”

Kara Walker (1969) African American artist

On moving to Georgia at a young age and being defined as “Black” in “Kara Walker: ‘There is a moment in life where one becomes black’” https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/sep/27/kara-walker-interview-victoria-miro-gallery-atlanta in The Guardian (2015 Sep 27)

“A white person is free to think whatever they want to think, but a black person has to think a certain way. Why do you think I get in so much controversy? People have a model of what they think a black person should think.”

Clarence Thomas (1948) Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Justice Thomas to Diane Brady, 2007. http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-15/clarence-thomas-brilliantly-breaks-his-silent-streak
2000s

“Look into any man's heart you please, and you will always find, in every one, at least one black spot which he has to keep concealed.”

Henrik Ibsen The Pillars of Society

Bernick, Act III
The Pillars of Society (1877)

“White people scare the crap out of me… I have never been attacked by a black person, never been evicted by a black person, never had my security deposit ripped off by a black landlord, never had a black landlord… never been pulled over by a black cop, never been sold a lemon by a black car salesman, never seen a black car salesman, never had a black person deny me a bank loan, never had a black person bury my movie, and I've never heard a black person say, "We're going to eliminate ten thousand jobs here — have a nice day!"”

Michael Moore (1954) American filmmaker, author, social critic, and liberal activist

[Stupid White Men ...and Other Excuses For the State of the Nation!, 2001, 0060392452, 49040476]
2001

“Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken!”

Edgar Allan Poe The Raven

quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."
Stanza 17.
The Raven (1844)

“At my moment, there was always a token black person. And in the ’70s I became that token black person. It brings out the worst in people when they think there’s only one spot, where for everyone else there are lots of spots.”

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Beverly Johnson 1

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