 Telling the truths of Black life in the United States requires a multiplicity of voices. It takes voices invested in the stories and experiences of Black men and women; Black heterosexuals and Black gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender folk … Black single parents … and so very much more. When we allow ourselves to be summed up by sanitized versions of Black life in adherence to a form of Black respectability, we tell only part of our story. (McBride 2007, 438–439)