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Black Lives Matter Quotes

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Black Lives Matter Quotes

“I believed strongly in being an engaged citizen and had a certain level of social and political awareness, but my understanding that the struggles of the Civil Rights Movement and its accomplishments shifted during the course of the Obama administration and especially in 2013 when I witnessed the acquittal of George Zimmerman and the attack on voting rights in the state of North Carolina. (Interview with aaihs)”

PoliceBlack Lives MatterPolice BrutalityCivil Rights MovementNorth CarolinaObamaVoting RightsPolice Violence2013
Author:Bree Newsome Bass
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“People still get shot because of their color - people still get mistrusted because of their religion - people still get sneered at because of their gender and sexuality. Does this look like a civilized world? We may have the tangible brain capacity to build a civilized world, but we are not there yet, and we are not going to reach that destination any time soon. However, the work must begin now.”

AcceptanceRacismPrejudiceBlack Lives MatterGender EqualityHate CrimeHomophobiaReligious HarmonySystemic RacismIslamophobia
Book:Servitude is Sanctitude
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“I am memorializing the just-barely-adults (mostly boys, mostly less privileged) who have died fighting wars that for the most part were not their own... the families who have had to go on without them... those who gave their life to this country by standing for our freedoms in non-wars--struggles-- struggles about race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, contraception and abortion rights, the environment, eradication of global disease and world hunger, the right to collectively bargain and unionize... who paid the ultimate price through their civil disobedience, protest, collective action, or just by living in a way that was so challenging to others that they were executed for it... the ones from whom we stole this land and those whose lives we stole to build it... those who were just trying to go to school, pray, shop, watch a movie, be, when they were gunned down in a country that loves its guns far more than its people... those who were killed for driving while black, walking while black, talking while black, sleeping while black. On Decoration Day we are decorated with their blood and their memory”

WarBloodMemoryExecutionPersecutionBlack Lives MatterTheftGun ViolenceDecoration DayMemorializing
Author:Shellen Lubin
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“I woke to the news you were dead. The what arrived before daylight; the how was agony unfolding as I dreaded my way to dusk. Unfolding against my want not to know (but I already knew, have known since I could know): officers, arrest, Black, man, twenty, video, knee, sir, back, dollar, 8, counterfeit, hands, sorry, 46, mama, please, breathe, please! Were you tired George? I feel tired sometimes. America on my neck--my lungs compressed so much they can't expand/contract--”

PoetryPoemRacismAfrican AmericansBlack Lives MatterPolice BrutalitySystemic RacismGeorge Floyd
Book:Worldly Things
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“Possibly twilight makes blackness dangerous Darkness. Probably all my encounters Are existential jambalaya. Which is to say, A nigga can survive. Something happened In Sanford, something happened in Ferguson And Brooklyn & Charleston, something happened In Chicago & Cleveland & Baltimore & happens Almost everywhere in this country every day. Probably someone is prey in all of our encounters. You won't admit it. The names alive are like the names In graves.”

DeathPoetryPoemSurvivalAfrican AmericansBlacksBlack Lives Matter
Book:American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin
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“Just us and the blues kneeling on a neck with the full weight of a man in blue. Eight minutes and forty-six seconds. In extremis, I can’t breathe gives way to asphyxiation, to giving up this world, and then mama, called to, a call to protest, fire, glass, say their names, say their names, white silence equals violence, the violence of again, a militarized police force teargassing, bullets ricochet, and civil unrest taking it, burning it down. Whatever contracts keep us social compel us now to disorder the disorder. Peace. We’re out to repair the future.”

PoetryChangePoemFutureRacismAfrican AmericansBlacksBlack Lives MatterPolice BrutalityProtests
Author:Claudia Rankine
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“Why does our society teach young people to follow beauty standards? Why do young boys and girls have to look beautiful to be accepted into certain professions such as modeling and acting? Why do companies sell fairness creams? Every skin color is beautiful. Why is the society obsessed with looks?”

SocietyLife And Living Life PhilosophyBlack Lives MatterBeautiful InsideBlack Lives Matter RacismSay No To Beauty StandardsEvery Skin Color Is BeautifulSay No To Fairness Creams
Author:Avijeet Das
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“Did you know you have the chance to be the first black queen in Campbell history?” I swallow. I did know that. Of course I know that. But I don’t like it being held against me. I don’t like the implication in her tone. You could make history if you just follow our rules. You could be a real credit to your people if you just straighten up and fly right. You could actually be worth something if you would shut up and take what we give you.”

RacismHigh SchoolBlack Lives MatterProm
Book:You Should See Me in a Crown
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“I am a black woman. Don't look beyond me. Don't see through me. Look me in the eye. Hold my gaze. Listen to my heart. See my soul. See me for who I am, not what you would like me to be. Accept or reject but don't hide from my truth.”

PoetryFeminismPoetry QuotesWomen S RightsBlack Lives MatterEmpowerment Of WomenVulnerability QuotesBlack Writers
Book:The Heart and Soul of Black Women: Poems of Love, Struggle and Resilience
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“Whitewashed World (The Sonnet) I once sent my sonnets for an official recognition, They rejected me saying, I lack skill and significance. It's a white people's world after all, like it or not, We wouldn't want the little white poets to take offence! My skin doesn't radiate the glory of talcum powder, So I'm supposed to be thankful for the white hand-me-downs. Mine is not to seek recognition in a whitewashed world, Mine is to keep on struggling with my vigor's last ounce. In a world where top white export is but oppression, Everything is ten times less difficult if you are white. A mermaid of color tickles the conquerors the wrong way, White people's Nobel disproportionately goes to the whites. Whether you recognize me or not, I neither care nor mind. The reason I write this, so humankind becomes human and kind.”

SlaveryWhite SupremacyBlack Lives MatterDiversity And InclusionHate CrimeEmancipationSystemic RacismWhite PrivilegeRacial ProfilingRacism Poetry
Book:Corazon Calamidad: Obedient to None, Oppressive to None
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“You know why I put that "rag" on my head occasionally, even though I hold no compulsion for it? Because in some parts of the world people are still medieval enough to deem us "ragheads" and "desert dwellers" as subject of fear, hate, mistrust and repugnance. I cannot change how these suited savages feel by retaliating hate with further hate. The only way I can expand anybody's sight is by being the most exuberant raghead that ever lived. We treat the worst of humanity by being the best of humanity. That is why I am raghead, that is why I am latino, that is why I am black, and that is why I am many more facets of human existence in one body. I am one, yet I am all. Or better yet, I am all, that's why I am one. Wherever someone is pushed to the wall, I am there. Wherever someone is kneed to the ground, I am there. Wherever someone is denied the freedom of choice and the freedom of love, I am there. Wherever someone is denied the common decency and dignity in life, I am there. For I am but a reflection of life oppressed, for I am but resuscitation of life oppressed, for I am but invigoration of life oppressed.”

Social JusticeAdvaitaWhite SupremacyBlack Lives MatterDiversity And InclusionHomophobiaHuman Rights ViolationIslamophobiaAbortion RightsHate Crimes
Book:Divane Dynamite: Only truth in the cosmos is love
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“You know what Black means? BLACK means Brave, BLACK means Leaderly, BLACK means Adventurous, BLACK means Considerate, BLACK means Kind. You know what Woman means? WOMAN means Wonder, WOMAN means Original, WOMAN means Miracle-worker, WOMAN means Affectionate, WOMAN means Noble. You know what Pride means? PRIDE means Passionate, PRIDE means Resilient, PRIDE means Indefatigable, PRIDE means Determined, PRIDE means Equal. You know what Muslim means? MUSLIM means Magnanimous, MUSLIM means Unbending, MUSLIM means Sensible, MUSLIM means Luminous, MUSLIM means Inquisitive, MUSLIM means Mindful. You know what Asian means? ASIAN means Amiable, ASIAN means Strong, ASIAN means Independent, ASIAN means Articulate, ASIAN means Neighborly. In short, you know what Human means? HUMAN means Harmonious across Hate, Undivided through Diversity, Mindful amidst Mindlessness, Amiable amidst Apathy, and Neighborly amidst Nonchalance.”

PrideSocial JusticeFeministBlack Lives MatterDiversity And InclusionHuman Rights ActivistIslamophobiaHate CrimesEquality No DiscriminationAnti Asian Racism
Book:Bulldozer on Duty
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“Most people write me off when they see me. They do not know my story. They say I am just an African. They judge me before they get to know me. What they do not know is The pride I have in the blood that runs through my veins; The pride I have in my rich culture and the history of my people; The pride I have in my strong family ties and the deep connection to my community; The pride I have in the African music, African art, and African dance; The pride I have in my name and the meaning behind it. Just as my name has meaning, I too will live my life with meaning. So you think I am nothing? Don’t worry about what I am now, For what I will be, I am gradually becoming. I will raise my head high wherever I go Because of my African pride, And nobody will take that away from me.”

African AmericanAfricaBlack WomenAfrican AmericansBlack Lives MatterBlack HistoryBlacknessAfrica QuotesAfrican American AuthorsAfricanAfrican AuthorsBlack History MonthAfrican QuotesBlack AmericaBlack GirlAfrican LiteratureNelson MandelaAfrican CultureBlack Girls RockAfrican WomenAfricansAfrican ContinentBlack QueenBlack WomanAfrican LeadersBlack Is BeautifulAfrican ProverbAfrican UnionBlack In AmericaBlack AmericansAfrican FictionAfrican PeopleAfrican LanguagesAfrican SayingAfrican WriterKwame NkrumahAfrican National CongressBlack LiteratureAfrica PeopleAfrican CitizensAfrican DevelopmentAfrican DictatorsAfrican Great LakesAfrican WomanDesmond TutuKofi AnnanAfrica LeadersAfrica Will ShakeAfrican BelievesAfrican DescentAfrican FreethinkerAfrican My MotherlandAfrican SocialismBlack Book AuthorBlack IntellectualsAfrica HouseAfrica S PredicamentAfrica S WealthAfrican CulturalAfrican Cup Of NationsAfrican Development BankAfrican Great HealerAfrican HealerAfrican JujuAfrican SafariAfrican Story TellingAfrican Traditional HealerAfricanaAfricana StudiesChina AchebeAfrica HerbalistAfrican VoodooBlack Literary Classics
Book:Wealth for all Africans: How Every African Can Live the Life of Their Dreams
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“always docile. always stud. always inept. always killing. always ugly. always dumb. always drugs. always loathing. always tragic. always lurking. always animal. always respectable. politics. always high white. always fetish black. always unpowered. always hyperbolic. always fear. always on fire. always impotent. always destruction. always spectacle. always shatter. always exacted into the perfect porn star. to bring the world to orgasm. — emotional porn (the black image industry)”

BlackTiredEnduranceBlack Lives MatterBlacknessBlack Pain
Book:Nejma
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“We have won the battle of making the White House human again, but the war has just begun - the war against systemic racism, against misogyny, against homophobia, against islamophobia, against gun violence, and against post-pandemic health and economic crisis. So, though we may celebrate the victory for a short while, we mustn't lose sight of the issues - we must now actually start working as one people - as the American people to heal the wounds on the soul of our land of liberty. It's time to once again start dreaming and working towards the impossible dream - the dream of freedom not oppression, the dream of assimilation not discrimination, and above all, the dream of ascension not descension.”

AmericaPatriotismUnited States Of AmericaAmerican PoliticsBlack Lives MatterAmericanSystemic RacismGun ViolenceStatue Of LibertyBiden Harris
Author:Abhijit Naskar
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“A jail within a jail. In those long hours, he struggled over Reverend King's equation. "Throw us in jail and we will love you ... But be assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and one day we will win our freedom. We will not only win our freedom for ourselves, we will so appeal to your heart and your conscience that we will win you in the process and our victory will be a double victory." No he could not make that leap to love. He understood neither the impulse of the proposition nor the will to execute it.”

RacismBlack Lives MatterCivil Rights MovementRacism In AmericaMartin Luther King JrBirmingham
Book:The Nickel Boys
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“Those who got no balls need the nuclear football. Nuclear reactor aquí! If it goes off, there is no remuneration, only annihilation - annihilation del degradation, annihilation del discrimination, annihilation del dehumanization. Who am I? Yo soy corazón calamidad. Every heart that turns into a brakeless bulldozer in the face of inhumanity, is corazón calamidad. Every heart that turns into an unpluggable volcano in the face of bigoted barbarism, is corazón calamidad. Every heart that calls every other heart their family, and stands prepared to fight the almighty god if necessary, is corazón calamidad. So I ask you - who are you?”

Social JusticeHuman RightsBlack Lives MatterGender EqualityHate CrimeSocial StudiesDerechos HumanosSystemic RacismHumanitarian CrisisNuclear Weapons Free World
Book:Mucize Misafir Merhaba: The Peace Testament
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