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Black Quotes

“There were times when I asked myself whether I was being principled or simply a coward.... I was wrapped in the cocoon of tennis early in life, mainly by blacks like my most powerful mentor, Dr. Robert Walter Johnson of Lynchburg, Virginia. They insisted that I be unfailingly polite on the court, unfalteringly calm and detached, so that whites could never accuse me of meanness. I learned well. I look at photographs of the skinny, frail, little black boy that I was in the early 1950s, and I see that I was my tennis racquet and my tennis racquet was me. It was my rod and my staff.”

Wells Looks Littles Black Powerful Boys Court Photograph Calm Tennis Most Powerful Coward Mentor Staff Drs Polite Skinny Johnson Virginia Detached Meanness Frail Cocoons Principled Black Boy

Author:Arthur Ashe

“When you expand the civil-rights struggle to the level of human rights, you can then take the case of the black man in this country before the nations in the UN. You can take it before the General Assembly. You can take Uncle Sam before a world court. But the only level you can do it on is the level of human rights. Civil rights keeps you under his restrictions, under his jurisdiction. Civil rights keeps you in his pocket.”

“Don't count out Marian Wright Edelman, because there is talk that President Clinton may want to shock the nation by putting a real black on the Supreme Court.”

Want May Real Nations Black President Court Clinton Supreme Shock Supreme Court President Clinton

Author:Marian Wright Edelman

“If we have learned anything in the past ten years, it is that these lovely things about America were never lovely. We have been expansionist and aggressive and mean to other people from the beginning. And we've been aggressive and mean to people in this country, and we've allocated the wealth of this country in a very unjust way. We've never had justice in our courts for the poor people, for black people, for radicals. Now how can we boast that America is a very special place? It's not that special. It really isn't.”

People Ifs Way Years Mean Has Beens Country America Past Black Wealth Justice Poor Special Ten Court Lovely Radical Aggressive Black People Unjust Poor People Boast Special Places Lovely Things

Author:Howard Zinn

“I am not a conservative but I have spoken out for years against the staggering amount blind hatred directed at black conservatives by liberals. Liberals are shockingly quick to demean and dismiss brilliant black people like Rice, Carson, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), Professor Walter E. Williams and economist Thomas Sowell because they don't fit into the role they have carved out for a black person in America. Black Americans must be obedient liberals on all things or risk being called a race traitor or an Uncle Tom.”

“All I did in Chicago was to exercise my legal right to speak on my own behalf and I was given four years in jail as a result. But I think the most serious injustice perpetrated by the court system in America is the inability of a black man to get a jury of his peers.”

Thinking Men Years America Speak Given Black My Own Results Four Serious Exercise Court Injustice Jail Chicago Four Years Peers Behalf Inability Jury Court System

Author:Bobby Seale

“The drug war has nothing to do with making communities livable or creating a decent future for black kids. On the contrary, prohibition is directly responsible for the power of crack dealers to terrorize whole neighborhoods. And every cent spent on the cops, investigators, bureaucrats, courts, jails, weapons, and tests required to feed the drug-war machine is a cent not spent on reversing the social policies that have destroyed the cities, nourished racism, and laid the groundwork for crack culture.”

Source: No More Nice Girls: Countercultural Essays

“I know most of the black players who preceded and followed me at Duke. They all contribute to our tradition of excellence on the court.”

Knows Black Player Tradition Court Excellence Dukes

Author:Grant Hill

“... the outcome of the Clarence Thomas hearings and his subsequent appointment to the Supreme Court shows how misguided, narrow notions of racial solidarity that suppress dissent and critique can lead black folks to support individuals who will not protect their rights.”

Shows Individual Black Support Rights Protect Court Notion Folks Hearing Supreme Civil Rights Outcomes Solidarity Supreme Court Dissent Critique Appointments Misguided

Author:Bell Hooks

“It's like they want to shut rappers down. They want to silence us. The Supreme Court says it's OK for a white man to burn a cross in public. But nobody wants a black man to write a record about a cop killer.”

Men Want Writing Black White Silence Records Crosses Court Supreme Rapper Killers Cop Supreme Court White Man

Author:Ice T

“[T]he courts are so willing to assume that anything that is predominantly black must be inferior.... The mere fact that a school is black does not mean that it is the product of an unconstitutional violation.”

Mean Doe Facts School Black Willing Products Constitution Prejudice Court Assuming Mere Inferiors Violation Unconstitutional

Author:Clarence Thomas

“Doesn't anyone wonder why the NAACP does not have events celebrating the first black woman secretary of state?.. Why does an organization whose mission is to advance the lot of blacks not celebrate Clarence Thomas, our black Supreme Court justice?”

Firsts Doe States Black Justice Wonder Events Organization Court Missions Supreme Celebrate Secretary Supreme Court Black Women Supreme Court Justice Court Justice Naacp

Author:Star Parker

“I think the only reason Clarence Thomas is on the court is because he is black”

Thinking Reason Black Court

Author:Joe Biden