“I don’t think we’re as far apart as you say. I mean, when the shit comes down, we’ll both be on the same side of the barricades.’
‘The shit is already down.’
‘I mean when people are dying in the streets.’
‘Kate, people are dying in the streets. It’s not the movies, where the world divides into freedom fighters and brownshirts. Here in New York City there are people who take action and people who do nothing. Doing nothing is a position. It means giving approval without having actively to say so.”
Source: People in Trouble
“I never thought of myself as an activist. I was just me. There are so many ways of fighting.”
“Having a free press doesn’t mean anyone cares.”
Source: The Wallcreeper
“There's no such thing as activism, there's only accountability.”
Source: Hometown Human: To Live for Soil and Society
“Sonnet of Phony Activism
Those who give their life to society,
Never call themselves activist.
Those who work night and day for others,
Rarely identify as reformist.
It’s only the vane, lame and the shallow,
Who draw attention with phony activism.
Those who actually care for society,
Live a life of sacrifice beyond definition.
Activist and woke are actually code,
That says, look at me I am so great.
Real greats don't care about labels,
They're martyred for others without regret.
The world doesn't need more phony label.
What's needed is humans being accountable.”
Source: Hometown Human: To Live for Soil and Society
“By writing articles, opinion pieces, and letters to the editor, your reasonable, science-based arguments and personal stories can reach a massive audience and help counter misinformation”
Source: An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power: Your Action Handbook to Learn the Science, Find Your Voice, and Help Solve the Climate Crisis
“At its best, activism is a form of healing. It is about what we do and how we show up in the world. It is about learning and expressing regard, compassion and love.”
Source: My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Mending of Our Bodies and Hearts
“[The young communist] must always pay attention to the mass of human beings he lives among. Every Young Communist must fundamentally be human, so human that he draws closer to humanity's best qualities. Through work, through study, and through ongoing solidarity with the people and all the peoples of the world, he distills the best of what man is. Developing to the utmost the sensitivity to feel anguish when a human being is murdered in any corner of the world and to feel enthusiasm when a new banner of freedom is raised in any corner of the world. [Applause]
The Young Communist cannot be limited by national borders. The Young Communist must practice proletarian internationalism and feel it as his own.”
“Talking to a university audience recently I expressed my faith in the power of white people to speak out against racism, challenging and changing prejudice--empathetically stating that I definitely believe we can all change our minds and our actions. I stressed that this faith was not rooted in a utopian longing but, rather, that I believed this because of our nation's history of the many individuals who have offered their lives in the service of justice and freedom. When challenged by folks who claimed these individuals were exceptions, I agreed. But I then talked about the necessity of changing our thinking so that we see ourselves as being like the one who does change rather than among those who refuse to change. What made these individuals exceptional was not that they were any smarter or kinder than their neighbors but that they were willing to live the truth of their values.”
Source: All About Love: New Visions
“There will always be injustice in the world, because, you know, humans. The question is how we will choose to respond to the injustice around us.”
Source: In Defense of Kindness: Why It Matters, How It Changes Our Lives, and How It Can Save the World