Aging & Wisdom Quote by Alvin Ailey

Racism, Ailey implies, is not only an injustice in the moment; it is a sabotage of the future. The line hits hardest because it refuses the comforting idea that racism is merely a set of “bad opinions” held by adults. It’s an ecosystem that trains young people how to see themselves and one another before they’ve had a chance to choose.

As a dancer and choreographer, Ailey understood the body as biography. Racism marks young bodies early: who is watched, who is policed, who is cast as threatening, who is allowed softness, who is told their natural hair, their features, their movement are “wrong.” The subtext is developmental: when a child is forced to navigate stigma, they spend psychic energy on survival rather than curiosity. That doesn’t just steal confidence; it distorts imagination. Ailey’s phrase “what it does” is doing serious work here, pointing to racism as an active force with consequences you can observe in posture, ambition, risk-taking, and trust.

There’s also a quiet rebuke to adult self-congratulation. If racism injures the young, then “waiting for progress” becomes a moral dodge; every year is a formative year. Coming of age during segregation and building a company that put Black experience at the center of American modern dance, Ailey knew representation isn’t cosmetic. It’s protective. His work offered an alternative script: young people seeing themselves as worthy of grace, complexity, and stage light, not just endurance.