History resembles a guest list in that sense of the invited and the gatecrashers: the people for whom we have been waiting, and those whose presence takes us unawares. – Sarah Churchwell
The legacy of slavery comes from the sustained political, legal and economic effort to link permanently an entire group of people to poverty – and to mystify that systematic disenfranchisement by making up something called race, which could serve as a distraction. – Sarah Churchwell
Music – not just the lyrics, but the music itself – expresses confused or illicit passions: rage, lust, envy, frustration, channeling these energies and creating an outlet for them. – Sarah Churchwell
In one sense, Obama’s point couldn’t be clearer: race is a distraction from class-based inequities. And if we dismiss working-class resentment as camouflaged racism, we will continue to be distracted by the spectre of race. – Sarah Churchwell
Textbooks are no longer given to schoolchildren; they’re too expensive. So they’re given to the teachers, who probably need them more. – Sarah Churchwell
In all likelihood, the only thing extraordinary about Tiger Woods was his golf: he had extraordinary coordination and extraordinary discipline – on the course, at any rate. That discipline was the source of his power. – Sarah Churchwell
Pop music provides not just the soundtrack to our lives, as the cliche goes; it releases our emotions and helps us to articulate them. This is why music is so important to adolescents, who are struggling with questions of identity and self-expression. – Sarah Churchwell
People who are given whatever they want soon develop a sense of entitlement and rapidly lose their sense of proportion. – Sarah Churchwell
Top-up fees mean that universities are increasingly under pressure to confer degrees upon students, who perceive the degree as a commodity they’ve purchased. Failure doesn’t enter into anyone’s calculations. – Sarah Churchwell
‘Sesame Street’ was a pioneering educational T.V. show, intended to help underprivileged children. But even those of us middle-class kids spoilt for pedagogical choice couldn’t get enough of it. – Sarah Churchwell
Racism is an effect of slavery, not the other way around. Once slavery was abolished, not only did racism not disappear, neither did the economic system it upheld. – Sarah Churchwell
Expression and thought are inextricably linked: crude language permits only crude thinking. – Sarah Churchwell
If history starts as a guest list, it has a tendency to end like the memory of a drunken party: misheard, blurred, fragmentary. – Sarah Churchwell
