"If you want to make a human being into a monster, deny them, at the cultural level, any reflection of themselves. And growing up, I felt like a monster in some ways. I didn’t see myself reflected at all. I was like, “Yo, is something wrong with me? That the whole society seems to think that people like me don’t exist?"



That the whole society seems to think that people like me don’t exist?"And part of what inspired me, was this deepdesire that before I died, I would make a couple of mirrors. That I would make some mirrors so that kids like me might seethemselves reflected back and might not feel so monstrous for it."

— Junot Diaz

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