“In 1990, when we started the Black Community Crusade for Children, we were always talking about all children, but we paid particular attention to children who were not white, who were poor, who were disabled, and who were the most vulnerable.Parents didn't think their children would live to adulthood, and the children didn't think they were going to live to adulthood. That's when we started our first gun-violence campaign. We've lost 17 times more young black people to gun violence since 1968 than we lost in all the lynching in slavery.” PeopleThinkingFirstsChildrenYoungLostParentBlackCommunityWhitePoorAttentionTalkingViolenceParticularGunPaidSlaveryCampaignsVulnerableBlack PeopleAdulthoodDisabledCrusadesGun ViolenceLynchingBlack Community Author:Marian Wright Edelman
“I love what the church offers to us as a culture - black people in particular. We would be nowhere without the black church.” PeopleWould BeCultureBlackChurchParticularOffersBlack PeopleBlack Church Author:Oprah Winfrey
“For a long period of time, the media covered rap music and hip hop the same way they cover a lot of black people, people of color, you know, the bad news happens to be news. They used to have these little stupid colloquialisms that pop up like, "You know what? No news is bad news!" They trick the masses into thinking that any news is great for you. And I just think that's a piece of crap.” PeopleThinkingKnowsWayLittlesLongHappensUsedBlackPiecesMediaStupidColorLike YouPeriodsNewsMassHip HopPopsRapTricksHipsHopsCoveredBlack PeopleCrapBad NewsLong Periods Of TimeRap Music Author:Chuck D
“If you love Black people, why are you destroying Haiti? If you love Black people, why did you, [Hillary] Clinton, stop them from the rice that they were producing in Haiti to feed themselves and other Caribbean nations? You put the rice industry out of business; and now rice is coming from Arkansas, chicken coming from Arkansas, when it once was growing right there in Haiti.” PeopleIfsNationsBlackGrowingIndustryClintonChickensDestroyingBlack PeopleRiceHaitiCaribbeanArkansas Author:Louis Farrakhan
“It's almost like a lot of black people in America, a lot of young black men, are born with this cloud over their heads. It's their penitentiary cloud, this philosophy we all have, that it's harder for us.” PeopleMenPhilosophyAmericaYoungBlackBornHarderCloudsBlack People Author:Erykah Badu
“I was able to meet young black people from all over the country who were focused on education and on elevating themselves.I'm endorsing and supporting this initiative because I believe college is a blessing, and for young black people coming out of areas that are struggling ... for them to see college as their future, that's a blessing.” PeopleBelieveCountryAbleYoungI BelieveBlackStruggleCollegeBlessingAreasFocusedBlack PeopleComing OutInitiativeElevatingEndorsing Author:Common
“It is important for us to remember that black people have been patriotic and have fought for that American dream in every American war.” PeopleHas BeensImportantWarDreamRememberBlackPatrioticBlack PeopleAmerican DreamAmerican War Author:Adele Logan Alexander
“There's a price tag on everything including black people's lives and what they do with them.” PeopleBlackIncludingBlack PeopleTagPrice Tag Author:Vince Staples
“I truly believe slavery is why, as a by-product, we still have a disproportionate amount of black men incarcerated in the USA. It is an extension of that legacy, and that's not going to start to diminish until black people have a new sense of themselves that isn't tied to slavery and feeling inferior. I think the church can be instrumental in that, in terms of repentance, reconciliation and just being more embracing of each other - not just on Sunday, but in life generally.” PeopleThinkingMenBelieveStillsFeelingsBlackTermChurchProductsAmountSlaveryLegacyUsaSundayRepentanceBlack PeopleTiedJust BeingInferiorsExtensionsDiminishReconciliation Author:David Oyelowo
“If I make a joke about black people or Asian people or whatever, and then an Asian comes up to me afterwards and says, "That joke offended me," I'm still more or less not going to listen, but at least it makes sense, like I said something that was about them.” PeopleIfsSaidStillsBlackJokesCome UpMake SenseBlack PeopleOffendedAsian Author:Brad Williams
“Historically, you've had really muddy, unforgiving, unintentional images of black people.” PeopleBlackBlack PeopleMuddyUnforgiving Author:Ava DuVernay
“[T]he Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar Left, and black people. You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black. But by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.” PeopleKnowsTwoWarHomeLyingNightCoursesHouseLeftBlackCommunityWhiteLeaderEnemyBreakDrugNewsMeetingsCampaignsEveningIllegalWhite HouseBlack PeopleAntiwarMarijuanaAssociatesHippieHeroinVilify Author:John Ehrlichman
“I wanted to make sure the focus [in The Land] was on human beings themselves and their decisions, but still connected to the urban environment that people associate as being black. I think I was able to make a film without commenting on "black this or black that" and you still feel the presence of it. There's no one character who's saying "we're all black and we're all in this struggle." It's that you just feel it. Some of that is because we get the sense from a lot of independent films that black people struggle all the time.” PeopleThinkingFeelsHumansStillsCharacterAbleWantedFilmBlackHuman BeingsDecisionStruggleEnvironmentFocusLandIndependentConnectedBlack PeopleUrbanAssociatesIndependent FilmAll BlackUrban Environment Author:Steven Caple Jr.
“Poor is the new black. So on this film [The Land], there are poor black people, but there are also poor Latinos, and poor white people as well.” PeopleWellsFilmBlackWhitePoorLandBlack PeopleLatino Author:Steven Caple Jr.
“Interestingly enough, I feel what the show [OJ Simpson] was able to accomplish in a really masterful way is that White America could look back on the show and the documentary and say, "We understand why Black people were effusive at the acquittal of O.J. Simpson."” PeopleWayFeelsLooksEnoughShowsAbleAmericaBlackWhiteAccomplishBlack PeopleDocumentariesAcquittalOj Simpson Author:Sterling K. Brown
“It was just a wonderful experience, one for the memory book for sure. The sad thing about it was that the picture came under this absurd cloud of controversy. Here was a movie based on the central theme that racism is something that is taught, and it's illustrated by this story of a dog and the efforts of humans to re-train it after it had been trained to go after black people. And it created this ridiculous controversy and wound up being the last Hollywood movie that Sam [Fuller] made.” PeopleHumansMadeBookStoriesLastsBlackMemoriesEffortWonderfulDogTaughtRacismHollywoodTrainCloudsWoundsRidiculousAbsurdThemeBlack PeopleControversySad ThingsHollywood MoviesWonderful Experience Author:Curtis Hanson
“I know that sounds really extreme, but if you just look at the history, you will find Harry Anslinger [first U.S. commissioner of the Bureau of Narcotics] going on about satanic swing and how reefer will make black people think they're as good as white people - which to him, obviously, was a very horrible outcome. This is the basis of our drug laws.” PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsFirstsLooksLawSoundBlackWhiteDrugBasesExtremesHorribleOutcomesBlack PeopleSwingsSatanicNarcoticsCommissionersDrug Laws Author:Maia Szalavitz
“The easy answer is to say that it's a part for black people to see black heroes, but to me it's important to young Mexican kids to see a black hero.” PeopleImportantKidsYoungEasyBlackAnswersHeroBlack PeopleMexicanEasy Answers Author:Adrian Younge
“People say all lives matter. And that's true, but it's just black people that are getting shot in the back running or choked to death for having cigarettes or playing their music too loud.” PeopleMatterRunningBlackShotsLoudBlack PeopleCigarette Author:Ras Baraka
“Black people beating whites when a thug got shot holding a gun by a black officer haha (expletive) cracks me up! Keep kneeling for the anthem!” PeopleBlackGunShotsCracksOfficersBlack PeopleThugAnthemHahaKneelingExpletives Author:Steve Clevenger
“I don't think because I hang out with enough black people, I'm gonna turn black. What kind of rationalization is that? I'm just friends with people that I like. I don't care what skin color you are.” PeopleThinkingKindEnoughCareTurnsBlackColorSkinsDon't CareI Don't CareHanging OutBlack PeopleSkin ColorJust Friends Author:Khloe Kardashian
“One of the things I'm going to say out there is how grateful I am - and how grateful the world is - for the tremendous gift of the black people, of jazz.” PeopleWorldBlackGratefulJazzBlack People Author:Kurt Vonnegut
“The Circle Theatre, black people had to sit in the balcony. Any theater with a balcony, black people had to sit up there. Black people couldn't check into any hotel except their own. And black people couldn't eat anywhere except in their own restaurants.” PeopleBlackTheaterTheatreCirclesChecksRestaurantsHotelBlack PeopleBalconies Author:Kurt Vonnegut
“When you think of the KKK, they actually have as their emblem a fiery cross. And they don't see any contradiction between the cross, an instrument of suffering that procured our reconciliation with God, and its use as a symbol for nefarious attacks on black people. But they believe that they are being obedient to God because they can read things that they see.” PeopleThinkingBelieveUseSufferingBlackCrossesInstrumentsSymbolsContradictionBlack PeopleReconciliationObedientFieryEmblemsKkk Author:Desmond Tutu
“People in apartheid South Africa can tell you that God cursed black people when they cursed Him. And so the hermetic people were condemned to be drawers of water and of wood.” PeopleBlackWaterSouthWoodsBlack PeopleSouth AfricaCursedApartheidDrawers Author:Desmond Tutu
“Blaxploitation films were black films targeting black people. They were films made to appeal to a culture in a way that was supposed to be unfiltered.” PeopleWayMadeFilmCultureBlackSupposed To BeAppealsBlack People Author:Adrian Younge
“Actually, some of the things I experienced as a child still linger on; what the white man has done to the black people in the south!” PeopleMenChildrenStillsDoneBlackWhiteSouthBlack PeopleWhite Man Author:Fannie Lou Hamer
“The only thing I really feel is necessary is that the black people, not only in Mississippi, will have to actually upset this applecart. What I mean by that is, so many things are under the cover that will have to be swept out and shown to this whole world, not just to America. This thing they say of "the land of the free and the home of the brave" is all on paper.” PeopleWorldFeelsMeanWholeHomeAmericaBlackLandPaperBraveWhole WorldUpsetBlack PeopleMississippiLand Of The Free Author:Fannie Lou Hamer
“Now many things are beginning to come out and it was truly a reality to me when I went to Africa, to Guinea. The little things that had been taught to me about the African people, that they were "heathens," "savages," and they were just downright stupid people. But when I got to Guinea, we were greeted by the Government of Guinea, which is Black People - and we stayed at a place that was the government building, because we were the guests of the Government.” PeopleLittlesRealityGovernmentBlackStupidBuildingTaughtLittle ThingsBlack PeopleGuestsSavagesStupid PeopleHeathenGuinea Author:Fannie Lou Hamer
“Not only have we paid the price with our names in ink, but we have also paid in blood. And they can't say that black people can't be intelligent, because going back to Africa, in Guinea, there are almost 4 million people there and what he, President [Sekou] Toure, is doing to educate the people: as long as the French people had it they weren't doing a thing that is being done now.” PeopleLongDoneNamesBlackPresidentMillionsBloodPaidIntelligentBlack PeopleEducateInkBeing DoneGuinea Author:Fannie Lou Hamer
“I met one child there eleven years old, speaking three languages [in Guinea]. He could speak English, French and Malinke. Speaking my language actually better than I could. And this hypocrisy - they tell us here in America [ that black people can't be intelligent].” PeopleYearsChildrenAmericaThreeSpeakLanguageBlackMetsIntelligentHypocrisyBlack PeopleElevenSpeak EnglishGuinea Author:Fannie Lou Hamer
“America that is divided against itself cannot stand, and we cannot say we have all of this unity they say we have when black people are being discriminated against in every city in America I have visited.” PeopleAmericaBlackCitiesUnityDividedBlack People Author:Fannie Lou Hamer
“The Mississippi is not the only river. There's the Tallahatchie and the Big Black. People have been put in the river year after year, these things been happening.” PeopleYearsHas BeensBigsBlackHappeningsRiversBlack PeopleMississippi Author:Fannie Lou Hamer
“I have just as much right to stay in America - in fact, the black people have contributed more to America than any other race, because our kids have fought here for what was called "democracy"; our mothers and fathers were sold and bought here for a price. So all I can say when they say "go back to Africa," I say "when you send the Chinese back to China, the Italians back to Italy, etc., and you get on that Mayflower from whence you came, and give the Indians their land back, who really would be here at home?"” PeopleGivingI CanFactsHomeWould BeKidsAmericaMotherFatherBlackRaceDemocracyLandChinaChineseEtcBlack PeopleMother And FatherMayflower Author:Fannie Lou Hamer
“I saw how the Government was run there [in Africa] and I saw where black people were running the banks. I saw, for the first time in my life, a black stewardess walking through a plane and that was quite an inspiration for me.” PeopleFirstsInspirationGovernmentRunningBlackSawsWalkingFirst TimePlanesBlack PeopleStewardess Author:Fannie Lou Hamer
“It isn't that black people are protected in America by the left; it's that black liberals are protected just as female liberals are protected, not conservatives.” PeopleAmericaLeftBlackFemaleBlack PeopleProtected Author:Andrew Breitbart
“If I'm a racist, why is one of the top civil rights activists of the 1960s asking me to be a centerpiece of the MLK dinner. Why am I the only one who has the guts to stand up to this Democrat Media Complex that insists that black people must exist on the Democrat plantation.” PeopleIfsBlackRightsMediaAskingDemocratComplexesDinnerCivil RightsGutsRacistActivistBlack People1960sPlantationsCenterpieces Author:Andrew Breitbart
“You need Black [people] sometimes to understand things about Black culture.” PeopleNeedsSometimesCultureBlackBlack PeopleBlack Culture Author:Russell Simmons
“Black child poverty is higher. As I write in the epilogue, "Yes we can. No he didn't. President [Barack] Obama didn't push black people backward, but he missed the opportunity to move us forward."” PeopleWritingChildrenMovingOpportunityBlackPresidentPovertyHigherBarackBlack PeoplePresident Barack ObamaYes We CanEpilogues Author:Julianne Malveaux
“President [Barack] Obama's choice of Rahm Emmanuel as his Chief of Staff was questionable, and perhaps coverups around the police violence against black people in Chicago is reflective of Mr. Emmanuel's values.” PeopleValuesChoicesBlackPresidentViolencePoliceChiefsBarackChicagoBlack PeopleStaffPresident Barack ObamaQuestionableEmmanuelPolice ViolenceChief Of Staff Author:Julianne Malveaux
“I don't think a white person can write accurately and convincingly about what black people experience of oppression.” PeopleThinkingWritingPersonsBlackWhiteOppressionBlack People Author:Alice Mattison
“I heard a white writer say, 'Oh, I'd never put black people in my writing, I'm afraid I would offend someone by doing it wrong.' I can't bear that!” PeopleWritingI CanBlackWhiteHeardBearsBlack People Author:Alice Mattison
“Unfortunately, Trump has showed hateful inclinations toward many, many groups. Many groups. The most obvious: undocumented immigrants and Muslims. His comments that I've seen that he's made about Jewish people, about black people - they're all very troubling to me - even though he sort of said, "Oh, I distance myself from hate and don't do any of this hating stuff."” PeopleMadeSaidHateStuffBlackGroupsTrumpDistanceObviousImmigrantsCommentBlack PeopleInclinationHatefulUndocumented ImmigrantsDistance Myself Author:Barbara Boxer
“Yes, you can have art films about the triumph of the human spirit and all of that, but you'll have it done with a big-budget icon with a $20 million salary. You'll have Julia Roberts, you'll have Robert Redford, you'll have Russell Crowe doing those films, because if they're going to cost $90 million, they're going to make that movie for a public that's very large and mainstream. They're not going to make it for three or four million black people.” PeopleIfsHumansArtDoneBigsFilmSpiritThreeBlackMillionsFourCostTriumphBudgetsBlack PeopleMainstreamHuman SpiritSalaryIconsJuliaYes You CanArt Films Author:Pam Grier
“Everyone else can do violence. You know, Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone, they can all do shoot-'em-ups. Arnold Schwarzenegger can kill 10 people in one minute, and they don't call it "white exploitation." They win awards and get into all the magazines. But if black people do it, suddenly it's different than if a white person does it. People respond differently because people come from different places.” PeopleIfsKnowsPersonsDoeDifferentWinningBlackCan DoWhiteViolenceMinutesMagazinesEmsAwardsBlack PeopleExploitationDifferent PlaceOne MinuteSchwarzenegger Author:Pam Grier
“Here you have 22 million Afro-Americans, black people today, catching more hell than Patrick Henry ever saw. And I'm here to tell you, in case you don't know it, that you got a new - you got a new generation of black people in this country, who don't care anything whatsoever about odds. They don't want to hear you old Uncle Tom handkerchief heads talking about the odds.” PeopleKnowsWantCountryCareTodayBlackTalkingMillionsCasesHellSawsGenerationsDon't CareBlack PeopleTomsOddsUnclesCatchingNew GenerationAfrosNew YouHandkerchiefsUncle Tom Author:Malcolm X
“I think that Malcolm X was envisioning, even while he was in the Nation of Islam, a black nationalist progressive strategy toward uniting black people across ideological, class lines, denominational religious lines, Christians, as well as Muslims, to build a strong movement for justice and for empowerment.” PeopleThinkingWellsChristianStrongNationsBlackReligiousLinesJusticeClassMovementEmpowermentStrategyIslamProgressiveBlack PeopleIdeologicalUnitingEnvisioningNation Of Islam Author:Manning Marable
“If the white man can come here uneducated and as an immigrant, and within 10 or 15 years set up an industry that provides job opportunities and educational opportunities for black people, then if the black man, the black leadership, who has access to all of this money and has all of these degrees today, can't use his talent and his know-how to set up business opportunities, job opportunities, housing opportunities for the black people the same as the white leaders have done for white people, then these black leaders need to get off the boat.” PeopleIfsKnowsMenNeedsYearsDoneUseTodayJobsOpportunityBlackWhiteLeaderKnow HowTalentIndustryDegreesEducationalAccessBoatImmigrantsBlack PeopleWhite ManHousingUneducatedBusiness OpportunityJob Opportunities Author:Malcolm X
“After Hitler was destroyed, there was the threat of Stalin, but it was always the world pressure that was upon America that enabled black people to go forward. It was not the initiative internally that the Negro put forth in America, nor was it a change of moral heart on the part of Uncle Sam it was world pressure.” PeopleWorldHeartAmericaBlackMoralPressureThreatDestroyedBlack PeopleInitiativeUnclesUncle Sam Author:Malcolm X
“We're primarily interested in solving the problem of 20 million black people. And if integration is going to solve the problem tomorrow, then let's integrate. But since the Supreme Court issued its desegregation decision seven years ago, and you only have about six or seven percent integration now, on an educational level, that means that the black man trying to use integration as a means of solving his problem will be another 100 years just getting integration on an educational level.” PeopleIfsMenTryingYearsMeanUseProblemBlackDecisionLevelsMillionsTomorrowSixPercentYears AgoCourtSevenEducationalSolveSupremeBlack PeopleIntegrationSupreme CourtSeven YearsIntegrating Author:Malcolm X