We Are The Ones We've Been Waiting For

"It was the poet June Jordan who wrote: 'We are the ones we have been waiting for.' Sweet Honey in the Rock turned those words into a song. Hearing this song, I have witnessed thousands of people rise to their feet in joyful recognition and affirmation. We are the ones we've been waiting for because we are able to see what is happening with a much greater awareness than our parents or grandparents, our ancestors, could see."
— We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For

Water

"Water was not meant to be polluted, any more than human blood, which is mostly water, is meant to be contaminated. How dare we bring anyone into the world who must, anywhere on earth, run from rain? Native people have always maintained that water — like trees, rocks, and the earth itself — has emotions. Think how it must feel. We must learn respect for water and teach this respect to the billions of human already here."
— We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For

Erase Yourself

"Sit with the thought of erasing yourself so that others might more gracefully arrive. One easy way to do this is to imagine the spot you are sitting on without you. It will remain full of itself, which contains also, somehow, the invisible essence of you."
— We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For

Ancestors

"What I'm doing is literarily trying to reconnect us to our ancestors. All of us. I'm really trying to do that because I see the ancient past as the future, that the connection that was original is a connection; if we can affirm it in the present, it will make a different future."
— The World Has Changed: Conversations with Alice Walker

God

“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it. People think pleasing God is all God cares about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.”
― Shug Avery, The Color Purple

Divine

“I am an expression of the divine, just like a peach is, just like a fish is. I have a right to be this way...I can't apologize for that, nor can I change it, nor do I want to... We will never have to be other than who we are in order to be successful...We realize that we are as ourselves unlimited and our experiences valid. It is for the rest of the world to recognize this, if they choose.”
― Shug Avery, The Color Purple