Samra Habib is the author of We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir.
| A particular Toni Morrison quote springs to mind as the world continues to engage with Donald Trump’s latest cruelty.
| “The function, the very serious function of racism, is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language and you spend 20 years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn’t shaped properly so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Somebody says you have no art, so you dredge that up. Somebody says you have no kingdoms, so you dredge that up. None of this is necessary. There will always be one more thing.”
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