"The Bluest Eye," for me, is the most important and formative novel of my life. As a third culture kid growing up in America, we often look upon the qualities within us that differ from the dominant culture (or 'master narrative' as Toni may put it) with disdain. This was very much the case for me as a child. All of Toni Morrison's work is transformative, and for me, "The Bluest Eye" did just that. After reading it as a teenager, I made a firm and solemn commitment to never apologize for my culture or suffer those pitiful ignorant few among us who would choose to see me in a certain unfavorable way because of it.
Toni, in many ways, formed the human being I am and so much of how I see the world.
I recently shared an interview with her on my Instagram:
Interviewer: "Toni Morrison, why, in a period of 10-20 years when many people would say, 'Equal justice under the law, better housing, better schools, these are the things we should concern ourselves with, in fact, and perhaps in our fiction,' why is it that you have dared to go all the way out and say, 'storytelling, fiction, belief in magic, these are also important.'"
Toni: "Well, it's truth. It's not fact, I know. But it is truth. And that's where truth lays. In our myths, in our songs. That's where the seeds are. It's not possible to constantly hone on the crisis.
You have to have the love, and you have to have the magic, that's also life. And I regard it, even though it may sound as though I'm dealing in fantasy, I don't think so. I find it all terribly realistic because I regard my responsibilities as a black writer, as someone who must bear witness. Someone must record the way it used to be. The way it ought to be, I leave to the sociologists. But I want to make sure that the little piece of the world that I knew... the little piece that I knew doesn't get forgotten."
This is the essence of everything that I do. I have a responsibility to this little piece of the world that I know and love and have been blessed with the unique opportunity to impart. I can't let it be forgotten. And I certainly can't let it be literally and figuratively buried under the rubble of war.
I look around at my peers, and it's incredible that we're living in this time where people like me, with both roots and intimate relationships to the global south, are finally taking control of our stories. I truly believe, especially as it relates to food, that the future of storytelling is with the people at origin. And I'm reminded that as we embark on our journeys and start sharing our stories, we must remember the invaluable lesson Toni Morrison imparted to those of us she influenced: to be unapologetic, absent the gaze of the dominant culture (the pen of the master narrative), and true, true, true.
I'm reflecting on Toni these past few days for no particular reason. Do I need a reason? Her passing a few years back was easily the most difficult death I've experienced of someone I'd never met. Maybe around the anniversary of her passing, I'll take some time to write a longer blog post where I really spend time reflecting on how her work impacted me. Until then, I'll leave you with one last quite famous quote of hers:
"If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."
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