I learned this quote from performance poet, playwright, and educator MO BEASLEY (a dear friend, client, and fellow Howardite). Mo was conducting his popular “N-Word” workshop for high school students in Mt. Vernon last spring when he explained the importance of seeking out the deep origins of the word nigga, a word that many young people find harmless. He challenged them to expand their minds and offered this gem:
“Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.”
– Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
By the end of the full day workshop, the N-Word wasn’t all that hot anymore.