"I think, though, as African-American women, we are always trained to value our community even at the expense of ourselves, and so we attempt to protect the African-American community"
About this Quote
The quote’s subtext cuts in two directions. First, it recognizes the real stakes behind communal loyalty: Black communities, historically under siege, have needed internal cohesion as a form of survival. "Protect" isn’t abstract; it evokes shielding against racist institutions, hostile media, and punitive public judgment. At the same time, Hill exposes the gendered cost of that protection. The burden falls on African-American women to manage the community’s image, absorb harm quietly, and treat their own injury as expendable if it might be weaponized from outside.
The context matters: Hill’s public life has been defined by what happens when personal testimony collides with collective politics. In the wake of her 1991 testimony against Clarence Thomas, she became a symbol precisely because she disrupted a familiar script: the expectation that Black women will carry the community’s needs, even when the community refuses to carry them back. Her sentence captures the cruel paradox of respectability and solidarity: when protection becomes reflex, it can also become self-erasure.
Quote Details
| Topic | Equality |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Hill, Anita. (2026, January 17). I think, though, as African-American women, we are always trained to value our community even at the expense of ourselves, and so we attempt to protect the African-American community. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-think-though-as-african-american-women-we-are-44163/
Chicago Style
Hill, Anita. "I think, though, as African-American women, we are always trained to value our community even at the expense of ourselves, and so we attempt to protect the African-American community." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-think-though-as-african-american-women-we-are-44163/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I think, though, as African-American women, we are always trained to value our community even at the expense of ourselves, and so we attempt to protect the African-American community." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-think-though-as-african-american-women-we-are-44163/. Accessed 1 Apr. 2026.
