Saturday, December 15, 2007

Toni Morrison on Black perspectives on good & evil

Toni Morrison is convinced that Black people have a different way of looking at good and evil in general:

"Black people in general don’t annihilate evil. We are not well known for erecting stoning centers or destroying people when they have disagreements. We believe that evil has a natural place in the universe. We try to avoid it or defend ourselves against it but we are not surprised at its existence or horrified or outraged. We may, in fact, live right next door to it…

I’m not saying that Black people don’t kill each other. I’m talking about the way in which they perceive evil and how they act upon that perception. They don’t destroy evil. It’s as though God has four faces for them—not just the Trinity, but four. I know instinctly that we do not regard evil the same way as white people do. We have never done that. White people’s reaction to something that is alien to them is to destroy it."

From Danille Taylor-Guthrie, Conversations with Toni Morrison.

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