Your heart was good but you forgot to guard it. You killed yourself slowly because of this. The heart is the true measure of a man or woman. I loved you and I know that you knew I loved you. We all have addictions. Some are just more obvious to the eye. We are all dying, but we are all living.”
-- Sue ("Prologue: We Will Never Ever Know: letters to Uncle Jimmy" paragraph 34)

Importance: Here, Sue, Uncle Jimmy's sister, proclaims the basis of one of the collection's themes, that everyone is dying but living as well.

Our grandmothers and great-grandmothers have paid more than their fair share, and our nation owes them and their children, and their children's children, a lifetime of healthy choices and second chances. That would be responsible.”
-- Kiese Laymon ("The Worst of White Folks" paragraph 28)

Importance: The author discusses his frustration with how the United States treats African Americans, especially after the nation's mistreatment of the race during the Civil Rights movement and prior.

A few weeks later...
-- Kiese Laymon ("The Worst of White Folks paragraph 21)