Cindy Hayes quotes from Orange Is the New Black

Poussey Washington

Man, I thought special guests meant like Mo'Nique or Wesley Snipes or somethin'. Not some cigarette-hawkin' fuck-nut reminding us that the only people who want to hire felons are already hated by everybody else.

Nah, see, they ain't so bad. See, people can decide for theyselves if they wanna smoke. The real evil are them companies killin' us without consent. Monsanto. Rio Tinto. Big Pharma, BP, Halliburton. I been readin' there's some dark shit goin' down. Not that any of 'em motherfuckers ever wanna hire us. But the real criminals, they don't bother with us small-timers.

And you got to stop using slavery every time you wanna justify some foolishness!

I'm just using it as a placeholder till I become Jewish and I can pin it on Hitler.

Can I be a Jew?

You really want this? Sincerely? Not because this one's trying to blackmail me for something stupid when I was 19 or for broccoli with your dinner? What is this for you?

Honestly? [breaking into tears] I think I found my people. [exhales sharply] I was raised in a church where I was told to believe and pray. And if I was bad, I'd go to hell. If I was good, I'd go to heaven. And if I'd ask Jesus, he'd forgive me, and that was that. And here y'all saying ain't no hell ain't sure about heaven. And if you do something wrong, you got to figure it out yourself. And as far as God's concerned, it's your job to keep asking questions and to keep learning and to keep arguing. It's like a verb. It's like you do God. And that's a lot of work. But I think I'm in, at least as far as I can see it. I mean, maybe I'll learn more and say, "Fuck the whole thing." I mean, but I wanna learn more, and I think I gotta be in it to do that. You know, does that make sense? Shit, did I just talk myself out of it? Fuck.

Ask me again.