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Racial Inequality Quotes

Browse 16 quotes about Racial Inequality.

Racial Inequality Quotes

“Black revolutionaries do not drop from the moon. We are created by our conditions. Shaped by our oppression. We are being manufactured in droves in the ghetto streets, places like attica, san quentin, bedford hills, leavenworth, and sing sing. They are turning out thousands of us. Many jobless Black veterans and welfare mothers are joining our ranks. Brothers and sisters from all walks of life, who are tired of suffering passively, make up the BLA.”

RadicalismRacial InequalityBlack LiberationBlack Revolutionaries
Book:Assata: An Autobiography
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“Back then and even now, my black friends and family members often tell me they don't consider me white. I don't think that's what they really mean. What they mean is that they feel safe with me. They mean they don't fear the noose in my presence. Their face being pressed to the concrete. My knee being pressed against their neck. My weight bearing down. When they say they don't consider me white, what they mean is that I see them. That I'm with them. That I won't stand for the little white genocides they're subjected to one podium speech at a time.”

Black Lives MatterRacial InjusticeBlack LoveRacial Inequality
Book:Wounds
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“So you done worked all year and the Man ain't done nothin, but you still owe the Man. And wadn't nothin you could do but work his land for another year to pay off that debt What it come down to was: The Man didn't just own the land. He owned *you.* Got so there was a sayin that went like this: "An ought's an ought, a figger's a figger, all for the white man, none for the nigger.”

Racial InjusticeRacial Inequality
Book:Same Kind of Different As Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together
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“Let's make America great. We have not been Great, white people. We have chosen to live in our bubbles. White people have chosen to be angry in silence, at our dinner tables, in conversations with people we know and trust. Our black brothers and sisters, our fellow Americans, need allies. They scream and are not heard. They protest for their basic human rights and they are called thugs. Our black brothers and sisters have been losing this fight alone. We have watched the innocent die. We have mourned them with silence.”

Black Lives MatterRacism In AmericaRacial Inequality
Book:Wounds
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“Change your default. Take the risk of expecting the next black man you encounter to more likely be an opportunity than a threat. Productive rather than pitiful. Human rather than hurtful. Dependable rather than destructive. A man, rather than a menace. Change your default. It's true, some will let you down. Some of your race have let you down too. But, your default view of your race hasn't likely changed.”

Black Lives MatterRacism In AmericaCultural DifferencesRacial Inequality
Book:Wounds
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“Don't get me wrong, a lot has changed...lynchings have become white knees pressed against a black neck. Black knees in kneepads, in protest on the ground have become career enders for Super Bowl-contending quarterbacks. Attempting to spend a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill has become guilty before investigation--a death sentence without a trial--a public execution. Looking at a construction site has become justification for chasing, harassing, fighting, shooting, and killing a man...a man...amen. I agree with myself, as I have to do because whiteness doesn't allow itself to agree with my truth. We tell you we're hurting. You tell us we're not. I hurt. I said, I hurt! When will this country ever begin to believe me?”

Black Lives MatterRacism In AmericaRacial ProfilingRacial Inequality
Book:Wounds
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“Just because you know me does not mean that I am not black. I am black. I am thankfully black. I am black just like the person you are hurling your insult at. On the way to them, it hits me. I'm Colin Kaepernick black. Protesting oppression black. Not-so-sure about the National Anthem black. Skeptical of the Pledge of Allegiance black. I'm George Floyd black. At times, leery of law enforcement black. Don't trust the system black. I'm not different. I am no exception.”

Black Lives MatterRacism In AmericaRacial Inequality
Book:Wounds
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“In the 1950s, the Southern social order was as plain to the eye as charcoal in a snowbank. From the perspective of a small fair-skinned boy, it was about as much a topic for considered thought as breathing in and out.”

HistorySocial InjusticeRacial Inequality
Book:Same Kind of Different As Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together
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