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Quote by Marian Wright Edelman

“I also grew up with community co-parents who looked out for each other. They looked out for children and tried to be the hands of God. They tried to live their faith.”

Quote by Marian Wright Edelman

Author

Marian Wright Edelman

Marian Wright Edelman is a prominent American civil rights activist and lawyer, born on June 6, 1939. She has dedicated her life to advocating for children's rights and social justice, particularly through the establishment of the Children's Defense Fund in 1973. Edelman's work has had a significant impact on the lives of millions of children in the United States. more

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“Much of what I do now stems from my rage at segregation and discrimination. I can't stand to see children not able to do anything, anybody not able to do what they can do. The daily lessons of exclusion, having hand-me-down books in schools, of seeing ambulances turn away and not give health care for people lying in the streets who are migrant workers. Everything I do today stems from that segregated existence.”

“I wasn't thinking about history. I was thinking about how we were going to end segregation at lunch counters in Atlanta, Georgia.We would have never thought about making history, we just thought: Here is our chance to get out our sense of rejection at this kind of racial discrimination. I don't know that there was a time that anybody growing up in the South wasn't enraged about being segregated and being discriminated against.”

Thinking Knows Kind Ends Chance Growing Up Growing South Discrimination Rejection Lunch Segregation Georgia Atlanta Racial Discrimination Making History Atlanta Georgia

Author:Marian Wright Edelman

“I get very upset with all of the crowd seekers today, and people out there trying to get on TV. It ain't about you. It's about trying to make the world more just for everybody.”

People World Trying Today Tvs Crowds Upset Seekers

Author:Marian Wright Edelman

“[Martin Luther ] King didn't pick his leadership position. Most movements are not started by single people.”

People Movement Position Kings Picks Luther Single People

Author:Marian Wright Edelman

“There were these great women in Montgomery, [Rosa Louise] Parks was among them. Jo Ann Robinson [who organized the bus boycott] was among them. It's always these ordinary women and men of grace who have been waiting and seething and planning to change things that are unjust that bring movement.”

Men Has Beens Waiting Grace Movement Ordinary Men And Women Planning Parks Organized Bus Unjust Great Women Rosa Boycott Montgomery Seething

Author:Marian Wright Edelman

“People want to pick the leader, and we are obsessed with celebrity and whoever is on the cover of this or that.”

People Want Leader Picks Obsessed

Author:Marian Wright Edelman

“[Rosa Louise] Parks used to say, "Everybody looks at me because I sat down once in Montgomery, but the real hero is a woman named Septima Clark."She created the Citizenship Schools [where civil-rights activists taught basic literacy and political education classes].”

Looks Real School Political Used Class Rights Taught Hero Civil Rights Sat Parks Activist Citizenship Look At Me Literacy Rosa Montgomery Real Heroes Political Education

Author:Marian Wright Edelman

“The core of the culture is racism and how black men are viewed. They've always been demonized and seen as threats in our culture. Another holdover from slavery. We've got to deal with that core root of racism and demonization of the upbringing of black men. Black women are not exempt by any means.”

Men Mean Culture Black Deals Racism Roots Slavery Threat Core Black Women Upbringing

Author:Marian Wright Edelman

“You have to have a fundamental change in the culture of policing, and who is the police person. How do they change? How do you learn from England and the other places, or Australia? In England, they don't carry guns on the whole. It's a different kind of mentality that does not demonize, and it's justified on race and income and class.”

Kind Persons Doe Different Whole Culture Race Class Gun England Police Fundamentals Income Australia Different Kinds Mentality Justified

Author:Marian Wright Edelman

“It's deeply rooted in the American psyche. Black men have always been viewed as the other, which leads to a different application of the laws. The current laws are an obscenity. More black men are locked up for using pot than white folk are for far more serious crimes.”

Men Different Law Black White Crime Serious Folks Currents Pot Application Locked Rooted Locked Up Obscenity

Author:Marian Wright Edelman