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Quote by Lailah Gifty Akita

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Lailah Gifty Akita

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“Let us just say that the idea of struggling to make my way in a world of privileged, affluent people exhausted me before I even tried: I was the child of nothing, I had neither beauty not charm, neither past nor ambition; I had not the slightest savoir-fare or sparkle. There was only one thing I wanted: to be left alone, without too many demands upon my person, so that for a few moments each day I might be allowed to assuage my hunger.”

“For decades, the exploitative capitalist system and neoliberalism have been trying to persuade the world that it is for our best interest to reduce (or even erase) the public sector and give more power to the greedy private sector. They have been pushing -with great success – for the privatization of every service that can benefit the poor and marginalized people. They have and still are trying to get rid of universal healthcare anywhere their hands can reach. Why do they do so? The answer is simpler than we think: it is to keep people at the mercy of the greedy capitalist system that sees individuals as either potential cheap laborers to benefit from or a burden to dispose of when no longer usable. This global pandemic should be a wake-up call to all of us about how duped the world has been all along by this narrative. How many more disasters and pandemics will it take for the world to wake up?”

“For the children and youth in poverty from diverse cultural backgrounds who attend urban schools, having effective teachers is a matter of life and death. These children have no life options for achieving decent lives other than by experiencing success in school … Because it generates extremely high levels of emotional intensity, it [teaching in an urban school system] is more akin to being an air traffic controller than being a ‘schoolteacher’.”

“Within the elaborate tableau of illusions weaved by every optimist lies a cynic longing to escape from its cave. This is not a world redeemed, but one saturated with oppression and misery. That is its currency. I feel as if I am Atlas, but instead of carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders, I am crushed beneath its injustice”