When Toni Morrison spoke, you listened. When she wrote, you read. And we still do even after her death on 5th August 2019.
In her famous 1993 interview with Charlie Rose, she discussed her novel Jazz, how she won Pulitzer Prize, and her encounters with racism. But it’s with the latter that most people remember this interview and a particular section I listen to over and over.
White People Have a Very Very Serious Problem - Toni Morrison on Charlie Rose
If you can only be tall because somebody’s on their knees, then you have a serious problem, and my feeling is White people have a very, very serious problem and they should start thinking about what they can do about it. Take me out of it.
Between Toni Morrison and James Baldwin, I could listen to their speeches until I die.
Stream her interview below.
Toni Morrison interview on "Jazz" (1993)
