Home / Quotes / Quote by Frederick Joseph

Quote by Frederick Joseph

“I trust you, and that why I'll be honest and tell you that change is not easy. For some people, it won't matter that we're friends, or that you're friends with people who are like me.”

Book:The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person

Work

The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Frederick Joseph

Browse famous quotes and profile details for Frederick Joseph. more

“If there are inherent predispositions to intolerance of difference, if citizens so predisposed pop up in all societies, and if those predispositions are actually activated by the experience of living in a vibrant democracy, then freedom feeds fear that undermines freedom, and democracy is its own undoing. The overall lesson is clear: when it comes to democracy, less is often more, or at least more secure. We can do all the moralizing we like about how we want our ideal democratic citizens to be. But democracy is most secure, and tolerance is maximized, when we design systems to accommodate how people actually are. Because some people will never live comfortably in a modern liberal democracy. (p.335)”

Freedom Democracy Diversity Authoritarianism

Book:The Authoritarian Dynamic

Source: The Authoritarian Dynamic

“We need to do away with the idea of 'normal,' especially when it's used as a stand-in for 'mainstream' (whether that's white or anything else seen as such). Because at the heart of this difference between normal and abnormal is the belief that these so-called normal things are neutral.”

Diversity Racism Prejudice Young Adult Frederick Joseph

Book:The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person

Source: The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person

“I'm asking you to protect one another and learn from one another. I'm asking you to turn 'different' into the new normal, and then tell others to do the same.”

Diversity Racism Prejudice Young Adult Frederick Joseph

Book:The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person

Source: The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person

“We have to learn to see with new eyes, hear with new ears, and find new ways to trust other people's words when they tell us and show us how we're hurting them. Because doing the right thing sometimes means putting the pain of others before our own, especially if we are part of creating it.”

Diversity Racism Prejudice Young Adult Frederick Joseph

Book:The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person

Source: The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person

“While this book is meant to be a guide for white people to understand and be better, it's important that white people also understand that it isn't the duty of Black people or people of color to explain things. I'm doing so because I hope it can ultimately make change for my community.”

Diversity Racism Prejudice Young Adult Frederick Joseph

Book:The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person

Source: The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person

“He wanted to teach the children that all bodies are beautiful. Among the pupils at Tomoe were some who had polio, like Yasuaki-chan, or were very small, or otherwise handicapped, and he felt if they bared their bodies and played together it would rid them feelings of shame and help to prevent them from developing an inferiority complex. As it turned out, while the handicapped children were shy at first, get soon began to enjoy themselves, and finally they got over their shyness completely.”

Humanity Diversity Inclusion Body Image

Book:Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window

Source: Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“All the elephants of the jungle were gray except Elmer, who was a patchwork of brilliant colors until the day he got tired of being different and making the other elephants laugh.”

Diversity Disability We Are All Different We Are Not All The Same We Are The The Same

Book:Elmer

Source: Elmer

“The trick to forgetting the big picture is to look at everything close-up. The shortcut to closing a door is to bury yourself in the details. This is how we must look to God. As if everything's just fine.”

Truth Fine Details Big Picture Trick Close Up

Author:Chuck Palahniuk

“A large part of white privilege is that it steers white people toward their cultural comfort zones.”

Diversity Racism Prejudice Young Adult Frederick Joseph

Book:The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person

Source: The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person

Quote by Frederick Joseph

Work

Author

You May Also Like