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Huey Newton

Huey Newton Quotes

Political Activist

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Famous Huey Newton Quotes

“I expected to die. At no time before the trial did I expect to escape with my life. Yet being executed in the gas chamber did not necessarily mean defeat. It could be one more step to bring the community to a higher level of consciousness.”

MeanDiesCommunityLevelsConsciousnessStepsHigherDefeatExpectedTrialsRevolutionaryGasPatriotismRebellionChamberHigher LevelGas Chambers
Book:Revolutionary Suicide: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“Those in the community who defy authority and 'break the law' seem to enjoy the good life and have everything in the way of material possessions. On the other hand, people who work hard and struggle and suffer much are the victims of greed and indifference, losers. This insane reversal of values presses heavily on the Black community. The causes originate from outside and are imposed by a system that ruthlessly seeks its own rewards, no matter what the cost in wrecked human lives.”

PeopleWayHumansMatterHardHandsSeemsLawSufferingValuesCausesEnjoyBlackCommunityBreakStruggleMaterialsHard WorkCostAuthorityNo Matter WhatVictimPressesRewardsGreedPossessionInsaneHuman LifeIndifferenceLoserGood LifeMaterial PossessionsBlack CommunityReversal
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“Institutions work this way. A son is murdered by the police, and nothing is done. The institutions send the victim's family on a merry-go-round, going from one agency to another, until they wear out and give up. this is a very effective way to beat down poor and oppressed people, who do not have the time to prosecute their cases. Time is money to poor people. To go to Sacramento means loss of a day's pay - often a loss of job. If this is a democracy, obviously it is a bourgeois democracy limited to the middle and upper classes. Only they can afford to participate in it.”

PeopleIfsWayGivingMeanDoneJobsLossPoorPayClassCasesDemocracyMiddleSonGiving UpBeatsPoliceVictimInstitutionsRoundsAgencyOppressedPoor PeopleMerryBourgeoisUpper ClassTime Is MoneySacramentoMerry Go RoundJob Loss
Book:Revolutionary Suicide: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“During those long years in Oakland public schools, I did not have one teacher who taught me anything relevant to my own life or experience. Not one instructor ever awoke in me a desire to learn more or to question or to explore the worlds of literature, science, and history. All they did was try to rob me of the sense of my own uniqueness and worth, and in the process nearly killed my urge to inquire.”

WorldTryingYearsLongSchoolDesireLiteratureProcessMy OwnTeacherTaughtUrgesRelevantUniquenessPublic SchoolMy Own LifeInstructorsOaklandDesire To Learn
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“We [Panthers] have not said much about the homosexual at all, but we must relate to the homosexual movement because it is a real thing. And I know through reading, and through my life experience and observations that homosexuals are not given freedom and liberty by anyone in the society. They might be the most oppresed people in the society.”

PeopleKnowsSaidRealMightReadingGivenLibertyMovementObservationRelateLife ExperienceOppressedHomosexualReal ThingsFreedom And LibertyPanthersGay Liberation
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“White America has seen to it that Black history has been suppressed in schools and in American history books. The bravery of hundreds of our ancestors who took part in slave rebellions has been lost in the mists of time, since plantation owners did their best to prevent any written accounts of uprisings.”

Has BeensBookSchoolAmericaLostBlackWhiteWrittenAccountsBraverySlaveOwnersRebellionAncestorAmerican HistoryBlack HistoryMistUprisingHistory BooksPlantations
Book:Revolutionary Suicide: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“IQ tests are routinely used as weapons against Black people in particular and minority groups and poor people generally. The tests are based on white middle-class standards, and when we score low on them, the results are used to justify the prejudice that we are inferior and unintelligent. Since we are taught to believe that the tests are infallible, they have become a self-fulfilling prophecy that cuts off our initiative and brainwashes us.”

PeopleBelieveSelfUsedBlackWhitePoorResultsClassCuttingGroupsMiddleTaughtParticularWeaponsLowsStandardsTestsPrejudiceScoreMinoritiesMiddle ClassJustifyBlack PeopleInitiativeInferiorsFulfillingProphecyPoor PeopleInfallibleSelf Fulfilling ProphecyUnintelligentMinority GroupsBrainwash
Author:Huey Newton
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“Any unarmed people are slaves, or are subject to slavery at any given moment. If the guns are taken out of the hands of the people and only the pigs have guns, then it's off to the concentration camps, the gas chambers, or whatever the fascists in America come up with. One of the democratic rights of the United States, the Second Amendment to the Constitution, gives the people the right to bear arms. However, there is a greater right; the right of human dignity that gives all men the right to defend themselves.”

PeopleIfsMenGivingHumansStatesMomentsHandsAmericaGivenUnitedUnited StatesTakenGreaterRightsSubjectsArmsBearsGunDignityConstitutionSlaveryDemocraticSlaveCome UpGasConcentrationCampsAmendmentsPigsChamberFascistsSecond AmendmentHuman DignityRight To Bear ArmsConcentration CampUnarmedGas ChambersDemocratic Rights
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“The reactionary suicide is ‘wise,’ and the revolutionary suicide is a ‘fool,’ a fool for the revolution in the way Paul meant when he spoke of being a ‘fool for Christ,’ That foolishness can move mountains of oppression; it is our great leap and our commitment to the dead and the unborn.”

WayMovingChristWiseRevolutionFoolMountainCommitmentSuicideOppressionRevolutionarySpokesLeapFoolishnessUnbornReactionariesMove Mountains
Book:Revolutionary Suicide: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“Too many so-called leaders of the movement have been made into celebrities and their revolutionary fervor destroyed by mass media. They become Hollywood objects and lose identification with the real issues. The task is to transform society; only the people can do that”

PeopleHas BeensMadeRealCan DoLosesLeaderIssuesMediaMovementObjectsRevolutionMassTasksHollywoodDestroyedRevolutionaryIdentificationMass MediaFervor
Book:Revolutionary Suicide: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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