I don't feel that I've had a life of abuse or that I am a victim in any way. My life is pretty typical of a lot of Americans of my generation who grew up in the sixties in families like mine that were sort of unconventional.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
What distresses me at times is that I meet a lot of people in their 40's, 50's, 60's, who still say they're a victim of child abuse.
There was mental and physical abuse in my family.
I have not personally suffered from the deprivations, the bitterness and sorrow which bring so many men and women to a realisation of social injustice.
Sure, I suffered a lot. But it's not like the end of the world and it's not who I am. I lead quite a pleasant life and I'm able to divorce a perceived reality from my actual experience of life.
If only my folks had beaten me, I could have gotten some material about my miserable childhood. But as it is, I've had a great life.
Violence ravaged my life. I was a victim of hatred, and I have dedicated my life to reversing that hatred.
It's very attractive to people to be a victim. Instead of having to think out the whole situation, about history and your group and what you are doing... if you begin from the point of view of being a victim, you've got it half-made. I mean intellectually.
I know what it feels like to be a victim of domestic violence.
I'm the result of upbringing, class, race, gender, social prejudices, and economics. So I'm a victim again. A result.
I was born in 1960 into a more violent America than we had in 2014. We haven't been in such a good place for more than 50 years.