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Quote by John Lewis

“When you burn down a building or topple a car, the violence drown out the injustice of what’s being done to you. It puts you on the same moral level as the people whose violence you are protesting. You’re no longer on the higher ground or plane. You make enemies of the people you need to win over to effect change.”

Quote by John Lewis

Work

Carry On: Reflections for a New Generation

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Author

John Lewis
John Lewis

John Lewis, an American politician born on February 21, 1940, and passed away in 2016. He was a civil rights activist and served as a U.S. Representative. Throughout his life, he actively participated in the American civil rights movement and made significant contributions to the cause of equality and justice. more

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“Why isn't it justified to resort to violence in the course of justice? It's because if you resort to violence for your conviction of humanity, then nothing stops the inhumans to resort to violence for their conviction. Hence nothing changes. We must change the very notion that it is okay to resort to violence if we want to change the society. What's need is a desire for reform founded entirely on the premise of peace.”

“I cannot conclude without earnestly recommending to my fellow-citizens, the forbearance of all force or violence, to obstruct the execution of the laws, or disturb the peace of society' relying, to effect the desirable reforms, upon the ordinary and proper modes of petition and remonstrance; and above all to be peculiarly cautious, and attentive to that object, in their suffrages at the various Elections, which, in a representative government, cannot fail of restoring things to their first principles, if the people are not deceived or cajoled, nor in a state of apathy or inattention to the importance of their suffrages.' -- EDMUND PENDLETON, 'Address of the Honorable Edmund Pendleton (1798/1799?)”