"Being involved in the well-being and advancement of one's own community is a most natural thing to do"
About this Quote
The pairing of “well-being” and “advancement” is also doing work. Well-being suggests immediate care - protection, dignity, survival. Advancement raises the stakes: opportunity, power, movement. Clemons isn’t romanticizing mutual aid as mere kindness; he’s smuggling in a demand for progress. Community isn’t just a place to feel safe, it’s a vehicle to get somewhere better.
There’s subtext, too, in “one’s own.” It sounds parochial, but it’s less about exclusion than accountability. Start where you are. Use the access you actually have. For Clemons, a Black artist who navigated an industry that profited from Black sound while often sidelining Black control, “advancement” reads like a pointed reminder that culture isn’t only entertainment - it’s leverage.
The line lands because it refuses drama. It normalizes solidarity, making selfishness look like the strange behavior. That’s a musician’s rhetorical trick: make the humane thing feel like the groove everyone already knows.
Quote Details
| Topic | Peace |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Clemons, Clarence. (n.d.). Being involved in the well-being and advancement of one's own community is a most natural thing to do. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/being-involved-in-the-well-being-and-advancement-38103/
Chicago Style
Clemons, Clarence. "Being involved in the well-being and advancement of one's own community is a most natural thing to do." FixQuotes. Accessed February 3, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/being-involved-in-the-well-being-and-advancement-38103/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Being involved in the well-being and advancement of one's own community is a most natural thing to do." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/being-involved-in-the-well-being-and-advancement-38103/. Accessed 3 Feb. 2026.







