Toni Morrison and Racism's Function

Rethinking "The Little Mermaid" and my goals as a writer

Kris Snibbe/Harvard file photo

Hours after I published my most recent post, “The Black Women Who Rule The Sea,” I was on Twitter (per usual) and saw that there were some users who were circulating a very famous quote by Toni Morrison, “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…None of this is necessary. There will always be one more thing.” And then I realized, I had done it again. I had let racism distract me.