“The same would be true for something like Social Security, where historically, if you just read the law and the fact that it excluded domestic workers or agricultural workers, you might not see race in it, unless you knew that that covered a huge chunk of African Americans, particularly in the South.” IfsFactsMightWould BeLawSocialRaceSecurityHugeSouthWorkersBeing TrueAfrican AmericanCoveredSocial SecurityExcludedChunks Author:Barack Obama
“Reinvigorating the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, making sure that in our Department of Education, where we see evidence of black boys being suspended at substantially higher rates than white boys for the same behavior, in the absence of that kind of rigorous enforcement of the nondiscrimination principle, then the long-standing biases that I believe have weakened, but are still clearly present in our society, assert themselves in ways that usually disadvantage African Americans.” WayBelieveKindLongStillsI BelieveBlackJusticeWhiteBoysPrinciplesRightsHigherBehaviorEvidenceStandingRateAbsenceCivil RightsAfrican AmericanDepartmentOur SocietyDivisionEnforcementDisadvantagesSuspendedBlack Boy Author:Barack Obama
“How do we in the African American community build a culture in which we are saying to our kids, "Here's what it takes to succeed. Here's the sacrifices you need to make to be able to get ahead. Here's how we support each other. Here's how we look out for each other."” NeedsLooksKidsAbleCultureCommunitySupportSacrificeSucceedAfrican AmericanGet Ahead Author:Barack Obama
“So how do Latinos feel if there's a big investment just in the African American community, and they're looking around and saying, "We're poor as well. What kind of help are we getting?" Or Asian Americans who say, "Look, I'm a first-generation immigrant, and clearly I didn't have anything to do with what was taking place."” IfsFeelsFirstsWellsLooksKindHelpingBigsCommunityPoorGenerationsInvestmentAfrican AmericanImmigrantsAsianLatinoAsian American Author:Barack Obama
“I have much more confidence in my ability, or any president or any leader's ability, to mobilize the American people around a multiyear, multibillion-dollar investment to help every child in poverty in this country than I am in being able to mobilize the country around providing a benefit specific to African Americans as a consequence of slavery and Jim Crow.” PeopleChildrenCountryHelpingAblePresidentAbilityLeaderPovertyBenefitsConsequenceSlaveryDollarsInvestmentAfrican AmericanProvidingCrowJim Crow Author:Barack Obama
“Let's also say that the Justice Department and the courts are making sure, as I've said in a speech before, that when Jamal sends his résumé in, he's getting treated the same as when Johnny sends his résumé in.Now, are we going to have suddenly the same number of CEOs, billionaires, etc., as the white community? In 10 years? Probably not, maybe not even in 20 years. But I guarantee you that we would be thriving, we would be succeeding. We wouldn't have huge numbers of young African American men in jail.” MenYearsSaidWould BeYoungCommunityJusticeWhiteNumbersHugeSucceedSpeechCourtTreatedAfrican AmericanGuaranteesDepartmentEtcJailCeoBillionaireHuge Numbers Author:Barack Obama
“It requires enormous energy for us to cut the African American uninsured rate by a third. A lot of scars.” EnergyCuttingThirdsRateEnormousAfrican AmericanScar Author:Barack Obama
“Bernie Sanders would say, "You still have millions of African Americans who aren't insured, and if we had a single-payer system, that wouldn't be the case." And that's true.” IfsStillsMillionsCasesAfrican American Author:Barack Obama
“Let's say hypothetically, knowing what we know now about public policy, that we could close the education gap so that it was only a couple percentage points, and we could make sure that hiring barriers and educational barriers had been leveled down, and unemployment among African Americans right now instead of being double was only 10 percent higher than white unemployment - if we got to that point , America as a whole would be a lot richer.” IfsKnowsWholeWould BeAmericaWhiteKnowingPolicyCoupleHigherRight NowPercentDown AndEducationalAfrican AmericanBarriersGapsUnemploymentPercentagesHiringPublic Policy Author:Barack Obama
“I actually believe that some residue of discrimination would lessen, because it's my view that there is a certain percentage of the white population that stereotypes and makes assumptions about African Americans because they don't inject the history of slavery and Jim Crow into current incarceration rates, or crime rates, or poverty rates, or what have you.” BelieveCertainWhiteViewsPovertyCrimeSlaveryRatePopulationCurrentsDiscriminationAfrican AmericanAssumptionStereotypePercentagesCrowIncarcerationJim CrowCrime Rates Author:Barack Obama
“I don't want to exaggerate; having as many African American men as we've had in the criminal-justice system, and the amount of time it takes for the damage done by that to wash through our society and our communities, the disadvantages born out of kids being undiagnosed with mental-health problems early, or not getting the kind of exposure to reading and math when they're 4 or 5 or 6 years old, that carries a cost.” MenWantYearsKindDoneProblemKidsReadingBornCommunityJusticeAmountCostMental HealthMathCriminalsAfrican AmericanDamageOur SocietyCarrieExposureDisadvantagesOur CommunityJustice SystemCriminal JusticeCriminal Justice SystemHealth Problems Author:Barack Obama
“I think if you worked at the community level in Chicago and then a politician on the South Side of Chicago, and worked at the state level, then you're pretty familiar with all the variations of politics in the African American community and criticisms you may get. If you're not familiar with those or you don't have a thick enough skin to take it, then you probably wouldn't have gotten here.” IfsThinkingMayStatesEnoughSidesCommunityLevelsPoliticianCriticismSkinsSouthFamiliarAfrican AmericanChicagoThickVariationYou Re Pretty Author:Barack Obama
“I have 90 percent or 95 percent support in the African American community and it's not sort of "Well, he's black, so it's okay. We're not going to say anything even though we're seething." And I hang out with a lot of middle-aged black women, and they're not casual in their support of me. There's a lot of love forthcoming. Partly because they understand the constraints of this society. They know that this is hard.” KnowsWellsHardBlackCommunitySupportMiddlePercentOkayAfrican AmericanHanging OutSay AnythingBlack WomenCasualConstraintsMiddle AgedThis SocietyForthcomingSeething Author:Barack Obama
“I don't regret the fervor, because I do believe, in the African American community but also for other communities, and I know from talking to people, for communities around the world, the election of an African American to the most powerful office on Earth meant things had changed, and not just in superficial ways. That in some irreversible way the world was different.” PeopleKnowsWorldWayBelieveDifferentEarthCommunityPowerfulTalkingChangedRegretOfficeElectionAround The WorldAfrican AmericanMost PowerfulSuperficialDon't RegretFervorIrreversible Author:Barack Obama
“I deeply understand the history of civil rights and the horrendous impact that relentless and systemic discrimination and the denial of voting rights has had on our African-American brothers and sisters. I have witnessed it.” RightsBrotherImpactDiscriminationCivil RightsAfrican AmericanDenialVotingBrothers And SistersRelentlessRight To Vote Author:Jeff Sessions
“To simply say that black people made allegations that substantiated an unfair and selective prosecution where you had more than half of the counts thrown out, where you had 27 counts where it took the jury less than four hours to find them not guilty - that speaks to fact that here we have three civil-rights activists, acquitted. What we have here is a prosecution that was baseless, a prosecution that chilled African Americans right to vote.” PeopleMadeFactsThreeSpeakBlackHoursHalfFourRightsVoteCivil RightsGuiltyAfrican AmericanThrownActivistBlack PeopleUnfairJuryRight To VoteSelectiveProsecutionNot GuiltyAllegationsChilled Author:Cornell William Brooks
“Senator Sessions has opposed protections for LGBT individuals. He's spoken out against Freedom Corps' marriage equality decision. He opposed the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. He opposed the nomination of Loretta Lynch, the nation's first African-American woman to serve as attorney general. These things worry me.” FirstsAsksIndividualNationsDecisionWorryProtectionAfrican AmericanLgbtSenatorsSessionAttorneyNominationsAmerican WomanAfrican American WomenMarriage Equality Author:Patrick Leahy
“To be a survivor as an African American man - maybe any man - you have to be pretty tough. Or at least that's what we all understand.” MenToughAfrican AmericanSurvivor Author:John Edgar Wideman
“That's one of the beauties, I think, of African American life. There was this thing called slavery and adjustments were made. It literally destroyed millions, but it didn't destroy everybody and it didn't destroy the inner lives of all the people who experienced it.” PeopleThinkingMadeMillionsSlaveryDestroyedMade ItAfrican AmericanAdjustmentInner LifeAmerican Life Author:John Edgar Wideman
“There really has not been a strong Republican message to either the poor or the African American community at large.” StrongCommunityPoorRepublicanMessagesAfrican American Author:Jack Kemp
“Mrs. James, my fifth-grade teacher, introduced us to some of the great literature of African American culture. I won my first blue ribbon reciting the vernacular poems of Paul Lawrence Dunbar, in particular "Little Brown Baby."” FirstsLittlesCultureLiteratureTeacherParticularBabyBlueAfrican AmericanGradesBrownFifthAmerican CultureRibbonsRecitingGreat LiteratureVernacularFifth GradeAfrican American Culture Author:Michael Eric Dyson
“When we were covering the 2008 campaign I told my young African American colleagues that despite the historical significance of victory, Barack Obama was going to break their hearts. They didn't want to hear that, and they refused to believe it. Eighteen months later they started dropping by one by one to say, sadly: "He broke our hearts." A couple of them even wept.” WantBelieveHeartYoungBreakMonthsCoupleVictoryHistoricalCampaignsDespiteBarackAfrican AmericanBrokeSignificanceColleaguesDroppingCoveringEighteenHistorical Significance Author:Bill Moyers
“The national media which I consider to be very racist against European Americans and I think they have caused the incitement of African Americans against European Americans.I also think that they have also facilitated European Americans being angry at African Americans.” ThinkingMediaAngryAfrican AmericanRacistIncitement Author:David Duke
“There are some dark days when I do receive some racist mail or emails. But overall the response to me has been very positive. Readers relate to me not just as an African-American, but as an American trying to make sense of her personal finance, just like them.” TryingHas BeensDarkReaderResponseFinanceAfrican AmericanRelateMake SenseRacistMailEmailVery PositivePersonal FinanceDark Days Author:Michelle Singletary
“My writing is definitely influenced by and speaks to African-Americans because that is who I am. I'm black. I'm a black woman. I'm a black mother, wife, churchgoer, etc. I am the legacy of slavery.” WritingMotherSpeakBlackWifeSlaveryWho I AmAfrican AmericanLegacyEtcBlack Women Author:Michelle Singletary
“My grandmother's grandparents were slaves. My grandmother Big Mama would tell me about the stories she heard as a child growing up in the shadows of a North Carolina plantation. It's only been in my lifetime that blacks have had the right to vote, live in certain areas or hold certain jobs. It is with this black history that I write about the financial challenges African-Americans still have.” WritingChildrenStillsStoriesBigsJobsCertainBlackChallengesGrowing UpGrowingHeardShadowAreasVoteSlaveLifetimeFinancialAfrican AmericanGrandmotherGrandparentMy GrandmotherBlack HistoryMamaCarolinaRight To VoteNorth CarolinaPlantationsChildren Growing UpGrowing ChildrenBig Mama Author:Michelle Singletary
“When I think of the Harlem Renaissance, I think of bright colors, and bold, dynamic art. African American artists of the period were, in large measure, breaking out of the constrictions white society had set for them. They were claiming and remaking their own images, and doing so in bold and striking ways.” ThinkingWayArtArtistWhiteColorPeriodsAfrican AmericanRenaissanceHarlemBright ColorsHarlem Renaissance Author:Nikki Grimes
“We [African-Americans] are nearly half of all of the new cases of HIV every year, but we only represent 13 percent of the [U.S.] population. So, this is something that's literally bombarding our community, non-stop. We're such a small part of the nation [and] those numbers are alarming. We're putting ourselves in danger, we don't talk about getting tested and we don't talk about knowing [your status].” YearsNationsCommunityNumbersHalfCasesKnowingDangerPercentPopulationAfrican AmericanTestedHivOur CommunitySmall PartsNon Stop Author:Jay Ellis
“I think Muslims in particular are facing similar obstacles African Americans did, historically.” ThinkingParticularObstaclesAfrican American Author:Ibtihaj Muhammad
“As an African-American parent, we have to really, really worry about our children and how our children are perceived in America.” ChildrenAmericaParentWorryOur ChildrenAfrican American Author:Tracy Martin
“I would definitely like to see the education process more enhanced in African-American communities, because we need to be educated on laws that are relevant to our communities and our people, as well as to any other ethnic groups. A broader view of how people perceive African-American boys and girls in this country is what I'd like to see.” PeopleNeedsWellsCountryLawGirlProcessCommunityViewsBoysGroupsEducatedAfrican AmericanPerceiveRelevantOur CommunityBoy And GirlEthnic Groups Author:Tracy Martin
“Slavery remained in the Deep South by other names - in prison programs with charges over nothing and eternal debt that threatened every African-American in the South right up through World War II. And that was after killing three-quarters of a million people, destroying cities, and creating hostility that exists to this day over the the Confederate flag and the racism it symbolizes, all brewing out of bitterness over a war that didn't have to happen.” PeopleWorldWarHappensThreeNamesCitiesMillionsEternalCreatingRacismProgramSlaveryPrisonSouthKillingDebtAfrican AmericanWar Of The WorldsThis DayBitternessDestroyingQuartersWorld War IiFlagsWorld War IThreatenedHostilityConfederateBrewingConfederate Flag Author:David Swanson
“I think that James Baldwin is, for sure, one of the most important American writer/thinkers of his time... not just African-American. He singled-handily revolutionized the political, artistic and historical discourses about America. He created his particular and original language.” ThinkingImportantAmericaPoliticalLanguageParticularOriginalsHistoricalArtisticAfrican AmericanThinkerDiscourseAmerican Writer Author:Raoul Peck
“When you hear "Seinfield," no one says, "the Jewish comic." You talk about Cedric the Entertainer, you don't say, "African American comedian Cedric the Entertainer." Even Margaret Cho - who's like one of three Korean performers out there - no one refers to her like that. They say, "It's Margaret Cho."” ThreeComicAfrican AmericanComedianPerformersEntertainersKorean Author:Gabriel Iglesias
“For me, the bold jazz of John Coltrane and Miles Davis reflected the bold attitude in African-Americans finding their political identity and voice.” PoliticalVoiceAttitudeIdentityFindingsJazzMilesAfrican AmericanColtrane Author:Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
“When we really began executions rather than lynchings, black folks were 22% of our population in 1950, for instance, but they were 75% of the executions. Now, African-Americans are 13% of the population, but they're still almost half of death row, and over a third of the executions. 34% of the executions are black folks. So, like, I mean, things like the race of the victim is one of the biggest determinants of who gets executed.” MeanStillsBlackRaceHalfThirdsVictimFolksPopulationInstanceAfrican AmericanExecutionLynchingDeath Row Author:Shane Claiborne
“The boundless capacity of the African American spirit in this country to say Hallelujah anyhow, to use our joy as a weapon, to use our creativity as a weapon, to use our moral clarity and our deep experience as a weapon not just to save Black people but to save all of these people.” PeopleCountryUseJoySpiritBlackMoralCreativityWeaponsCapacityClarityAfrican AmericanBlack PeopleBoundlessHallelujahAmerican Spirit Author:Van Jones
“When you graduate is when you start to find yourself looking at the information in the audition breakdown and it says tall black African - or African-American built such and such. And you start seeing these character descriptions and seeing that, oh, you're only going in for the ones that are described as your look.” LooksCharacterBlackSeeingInformationBuiltAfrican AmericanDescriptionFinding YourselfTallGraduatesAuditionsBreakdown Author:Mahershala Ali
“In community after community, there are unemployment rates among young African-Americans of 30 to 40 percent. Thirty to 40 percent! Kids have no jobs, they have no future. That is an issue that has got to be dealt with simultaneously as we deal with police brutality, voter suppression and the other attacks that are taking place on the African-American community.” KidsJobsYoungCommunityDealsIssuesPercentPoliceRateAfrican AmericanThirtyVotersUnemploymentPolice BrutalityBrutalitySuppressionUnemployment RateVoter Suppression Author:Bernie Sanders
“Something about the fact that an African American had, given the long sad history of our country, now become President - that was exhilarating.” LongCountryFactsGivenPresidentOur CountryAfrican AmericanExhilaratingLong Sad Author:Bill Ayers
“"First female president." That's it, and that's nowhere near, by the way, as powerful or penetrating as the first African-American president. I mean, women, yeah, I mean, make the case that they've been victimized. But they can't put themselves in the same shoes as slavery's legacy for example. Now, women might try to make the case. Hillary [Clinton] might try to make the case about not being ought to be able to vote, but it ain't gonna fly.” WayTryingFirstsMeanMightAblePresidentPowerfulCasesExampleOughtFemaleVoteYeahSlaveryClintonShoesAfrican AmericanLegacyAmerican PresidentFemale President Author:Rush Limbaugh
“The whole idea of the first female president is not nearly as momentous or exciting as the first African-American.” FirstsIdeasWholePresidentFemaleExcitingAfrican AmericanFemale President Author:Rush Limbaugh
“People can tell if you don't like 'em. African Americans can tell we're not welcome in the Republican Party no matter how many times they say we are. All the signals that it's a party that tolerates anti-black racism is very clear.” PeopleIfsMatterBlackPartyClearRepublicanRacismWelcomeAfrican AmericanEmsTolerateRepublican PartySignalsBlack Racism Author:Van Jones
“I think that America could not become America until it dealt with the disenfranchisement of women and African Americans in the last century. It had to. America could not become America until it dealt with that. And did it deal with it perfectly? No. But it had to confront it.” ThinkingLastsAmericaDealsCenturyAfrican AmericanDisenfranchisement Author:Van Jones
“I think the African American community, the Latino community, the Native American communities have borne an unfair burden in the last century, and continue to.” ThinkingLastsCommunityCenturyBurdenAfrican AmericanNativeNative AmericanUnfairLatino Author:Van Jones
“Without external pressure, things might have gone very differently. That has always been true for African Americans; the better we've been at raising international awareness, the better off we've been at realizing solutions to our own problems.” ProblemMightRealizingGoneAwarenessSolutionsPressureInternationalAfrican AmericanBetter OffSure Thing Author:Michael C Dawson
“Colonization was the idea that once slavery ended African-Americans should be encouraged - or required, in some people's view - required to leave the country. It's part of an attitude toward the abolition of slavery which says America should not be a slave society, but it can never be a multiracial society. You can never have free black and white people living together.” PeopleShouldIdeasCountryTogetherAmericaBlackWhiteViewsAttitudeSlaverySlaveAfrican AmericanBlack And WhiteAbolitionMultiracialColonizationBe A SlaveBe EncouragedLiving TogetherAbolition Of Slavery Author:Eric Foner
“I go back to the parallels with 1963, 1964 when white America really became aware of the brutality of segregation, the cruelty of the apartheid system which existed in the south. Then white people began to get on the freedom buses and travel to the south and be part of the voter registration drives and they... some of them were beaten and some of them were murdered but they stood with the African-American community and the civil rights movement. It's time for straight people to do that today and it is time for gay people to insist that they do that today.” PeopleTodayAmericaCommunityWhiteRightsMovementGaySouthCrueltyCivil RightsAfrican AmericanVotersBusBeatenSegregationParallelsBrutalityCivil Rights MovementGay PeopleApartheidRegistrationVoter Registration Author:Cleve Jones
“You have to understand being an actress, and being an African American actress of a certain hue, I think that you have to be bold with your choices. Even when you're not bold with your choices, have people see it as bold.” PeopleThinkingCertainChoicesActressesAfrican AmericanHue Author:Viola Davis
“The greatest thing to me about Obama is not the individual, it does not have to do with Obama himself - it's really about the people who have elected Obama. It demonstrates that people are ready for change, and I think Obama knows that, because he really came up from the people, the young generation especially. He motivated a lot of African Americans who never voted before to go and vote.” PeopleThinkingKnowsDoeYoungIndividualGenerationsReadyVoteAfrican AmericanMotivatedYoung GenerationReady For Change Author:Damian Marley