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"Black Power 1990 is a collective means of self defence against the worldwide conspiracy to destroy the black race. it's a movement that only puts fear in those that have a vested interest in the conspiracy, or that think that it's something other than what it actually is ...."
-- Public Enemy
"There were some things I just could not find my way in," she explains. "Sometimes I would look at a song, want to do it, love it sonically and then I'd be doing Karaoke on a Friday night down at the local." For example, a song Tori had longed to do was Public Enemy's Fear of a Black Planet." Really. "I thought it was time in 2001, someone who's considered a white woman would do this, would talk about it and what it was about to me, because that album was so influential. Just the conviction that Public Enemy has to their beliefs. And that's another cornerstone to this record. What are our beliefs? What do you believe in? I don't give many answers on this record but I bring up a lot of questions."
-- Tori; Alternative Press Magazine, Oct 2001
VOX: Were there any other songs that didn't make the record?
T: One song was Public Enemy's Fear of a Black Planet. I really respect Public Enemy for their intensity and conviction, but the song really spoke to me. There's that fear for a white woman, on a planet and she's very conscious of what she's faced with - these black men, who may be a potential lover, and the specter of her white father, and what it's going to do to him if she ends up with a black man. The tension, the question of how her father is going to deal with it. It goes far beyond that - it's not a simple question.
-- Tori; Vox Online, November 2001
Spin: You got deep into these songs. Which did you feel closest too?
T: Actually, it was one that didn't make the record--Public Enemy's Fear of the Black Planet. The album Fear of the Black Planet was the driving force for Little Earthquakes.--its sheer commitment to belief. It made me ask, "what do I believe in?" It was a huge thing for me, and I thought it was time for a woman classified as "white" to sing the song. But I just couldn't find a way into it.
-- Tori; Spin Magazine, October 2001
PS: Were there any songs you couldn't find your way into?
T: Yes. One of them was Public Enemy's Fear of the Black Planet. I thought, a woman who's considered a white woman, singing in Fear of a Black Planet was something that could work and needed to be done, especially when you consider what the song is about. But by the time I thought I had knew how to achieve it, I was in the mix room and I was running out of steam and I needed an anti-inflammatory. My head hurt. This project took a lot of investigating.
-- Tori; Performing Songwriter, January/February 2002
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