Jason Reynolds quotes
Hip-hop saved me,. It gave me permission to use language in a certain way. It validated my community and my friends. It gave our slang a certain elegance. I have a chip on my shoulder I pet every morning, a constant feeling like I have something to prove. Hearing that the canon can't be diversified, there's no room for more brown faces-that fueled my fire. I loved music that people said was not music, that it was too violent, too crass, too sexual. And now everyone in the world is rapping Hamilton.
Jason Reynolds
I'm proud of young black america. I'm proud of them, even if they are misunderstood. I'm proud of them for using their voices, their way. Racism, classism, fear, it all exists. Still. It's here, embedded into the fibers of our society. But I have to be honest, I do believe that because of technology, no matter how problematic it can be, and the rapid spreading of information, I'd like to believe there is a slow awakening occurring, and that our babies, or at least the generation after them will have a very different reality here. I know my role is to do what so many have done before me in this tradition - tell the stories, unashamed and unafraid.
Jason Reynolds
It totally matters to me that teenagers think I'm cool. I mean, teens keep their fingers on the pulse of culture. When things shift, it's usually because they shift them. They call the shots. So if teenagers think I'm cool, then hopefully they'll want to get down with whatever I'm doing. My hope is that reading and writing becomes the new "waiting in line to buy Jordans."
Jason Reynolds
I don't expect it to be easy, but I'm certain it will be fruitful. My mission is to take a different approach: Instead of explicitly encouraging young people to read, my goal is to get them to see the value in their own narratives - that they, too, have a story, and that there's power not just in telling it, but in the opportunity to do so.
Jason Reynolds
...And I just remember the pain – the pain of the lost friend but also the pain of meeting a part of myself that I didn't know existed. A part of myself that could lose control to the point where I could commit a murder. That's a very human thing. I think that most of us don't ever meet that part of ourselves that exists within all of us. This rage that, when triggered, will cause you to do things that you don't necessarily understand that you're doing.
Jason Reynolds
I get to whisper to them, "I love you, I see you, I know. I know you're scared, and it's OK to be scared, and if you can't be scared out there you can be scared in here. Within the pages of this book, you can be who you wholly are." And perhaps that might be empowering enough to at least add a bit of significance to their lives.
Jason Reynolds