Quote by Toni Morrison: “The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction.”

Racism keeps its targets constantly defending their humanity and dealing with prejudice rather than pursuing their own goals and ambitions. It is a system that wastes people's energy — and that waste is not accidental, it is the point.

Morrison delivered this in a commencement address at Portland State University in 1975. The United States was in the aftermath of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but racial inequality remained deeply embedded in housing, education, and employment, and debates about busing and affirmative action were intensifying.

American novelist, editor, and professor who was the first African American woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded in 1993. Her novels, including Beloved and Song of Solomon, explore the legacies of slavery and Black identity in America with extraordinary depth.