Alice Walker? Claudia Dreifus? Michael Franti? Alex Walker? Peter Noonan? Apocryphal?
Question for Quote Investigator: A prominent social activist was asked to explain the rationale underlying her sustained efforts. Here are two versions of the response:
(1) Activism is my rent for living on this planet.
(2) My activism pays the rent on being here on the planet.
This reply is usually attributed to Alice Walker who won the Pulitzer Prize for penning the novel “The Color Purple”. I do not know the precise phrasing. Would you please help me to find a solid citation.
Reply from Quote Investigator: In August 1989 Alice Walker was interviewed by Claudia Dreifus in “The Progressive” magazine. Dreifus asked Walker about her history of activism. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
Q: More than many writers, you are known as a political activist. What do you get from activism?
Walker: Well, it pays the rent on being alive and being here on the planet. There are things that you really owe, I feel. I think if I weren’t active politically, I would feel as if I were sitting back eating at the banquet without washing the dishes or preparing the food. It wouldn’t feel right to me.
The question and answer format made it difficult to present Walker’s statement as a self-contained quotation. Strictly speaking, the word “activism” was spoken by Dreifus and not by Walker. Nevertheless, “The Progressive” magazine credited Alice Walker with a streamlined version of her remarks on the page showing the table of contents:2
‘My activism pays the rent on being alive and being here on the planet. If I weren’t active politically, I would feel as if I were sitting back eating at the banquet without washing the dishes or preparing the food.’
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In 1990 “The Humanist” published an advertisement for “The Progressive” magazine which presented a set of quotations including the following item based on a shortened version of Walker’s statement:3
‘My activism pays the rent on being here on the planet.’
—Alice Walker in The Progressive
In 1997 High School Assistant Principal Peter Noonan employed a version of the saying with an anonymous attribution:4
Someone once told Noonan that community service is “paying rent for being alive,” and paying back to the town.
In 1998 a columnist in “The Ithaca Journal” of New York attributed an instance to Walker:5
Author Alice Walker once wrote that service and activism, “pay the rent on being alive and being here on the planet.” I might add that they also contribute to the collective quality of life for which we all strive.
In 2002 the “Calgary Herald” of Alberta, Canada published an interview with a musician Michael Franti who employed the quotation. Franti credited Alice Walker, but the name was misspelled as Alex Walker:6
“I think as human beings we should all be activists. I read a great quote from Alex Walker— ‘My activism is my rent.’”
In 2004 “The Berkshire Eagle” of Pittsfield, Massachusetts printed a letter from a reader who mentioned some of his favorite sayings:7
My favorites are “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.” and “Activism is my rent for living on this planet.”
In 2009 “The Progressive” reprinted excerpts from the August 1989 issue of the magazine including a version of Walker’s statement:8
“My activism pays the rent on being alive and being here on the planet.”
—Alice Walker, in an interview by Claudia Dreifus, August 1989
In conclusion, Alice Walker deserves credit for the remarks she made in 1989. Walker’s statement has often been altered to make it self-contained by incorporating the word “activism”. Also, the phrasing of her original statement has usually been simplified and streamlined.
Image Notes: Picture of a rental sign from Chris Robert at Unsplash. The picture has been retouched, cropped, and resized.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Mardy Grothe whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Grothe operates the fascinating website “Great Opening Lines”.
- 1989 August, The Progressive, Volume 53, Number 8, The Progressive Interview: Alice Walker: ‘Writing to save my life’, Interview conducted by Claudia Dreifus, Start Page 29, Quote Page 30, Column 1, The Progressive Inc., Madison, Wisconsin. (ProQuest) ↩︎
- 1989 August, The Progressive, Volume 53, Number 8, Table of Contents, Quote Page 3, The Progressive Inc., Madison, Wisconsin. (ProQuest) ↩︎
- 1990 September/October, The Humanist, (Advertisement for The Progressive magazine), Unnumbered Page, American Humanist Association, Amherst, New York. (ProQuest) ↩︎
- 1997 August 15, Albuquerque Journal, Section: West Side Journal, New High School Offers Unique Design, Curriculum, Continuation title: School Design, Curriculum Unique, Start Page 1, Quote Page 2, Column 5, Albuquerque, New Mexico. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1998 August 24, The Ithaca Journal, Youth and social action in Ithaca by Curtis Ogden, Quote Page 9A, Column 6, Ithaca, New York. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 2002 July 25, Calgary Herald, The Storyteller by Nick Lewis (Calgary Herald), Quote Page E2, Column 4, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 2004 January 11, The Berkshire Eagle, Section: Letters to the Editor, Tell truths out loud throughout 2004 by Larry Klay (Executive Director of W. Mass Professionals for Social Responsibility), Quote Page A6, Column 6, Pittsfield, Massachusetts. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 2009 April, The Progressive, Volume 73, Number 4, (Reprinted excerpts from August 1989 issue of The Progressive), Quote Page 102, Column 1, The Progressive Inc., Madison, Wisconsin. (ProQuest) ↩︎