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Racism In America Quotes

Browse 302 quotes about Racism In America.

Racism In America Quotes

“Fantasy like thought that no man could rain Just let her reign Run wild with her unafraid Of any rain storms They only wash the mud away and make way For double rainbows and sunny days”

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Book:Stories of a Polished Pistil: Lace and Ruffles
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“...I fell asleep and had a dream that a king was liquidated by a group of kind faces...”

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Author:Maquita Donyel Irvin
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“The US education system works well, just not for lower-SES students, it's said. Ravitch and friends would take credit for successes in the segment of the population where educational quality has less impact and relinquish responsibility for the children for whom educational quality matters most. Rather than focusing narrowly on the undeniably large role of poverty in poor achievement, we might also focus on the undeniably large role that education could play in improving outcomes.”

BlackEducationPovertyRacismInjusticeLiteracyLatinoRacism In AmericaLatinaHispanic American
Book:Language at the Speed of Sight
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“Throw the bums out" and "Drain the swamp" are popular political slogans. But it's not enough to move people around in a bureaucracy if you don't change the underlying values and let those values reshape tactics and procedures.”

JusticePovertySocial JusticePolice BrutalityNon FictionRacism In AmericaImprisonmentBaltimoreYouth Affected By Poverty
Book:Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City
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“Some critics will counter that poverty is a choice made by those that are lazy or who lack the desire to change their loves for the better. I agree that poverty is a choice. But that choice is not made by the people who live under its oppressive effects. Rather, the choice is ours. It's the choice of government that represents our priorities and allocates our investments. Its a choice reinforced by the companies we patronize and the organizations we support.”

JusticePovertySocial JusticePolice BrutalityNon FictionRacism In AmericaImprisonmentBaltimoreYouth Affected By Poverty
Book:Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City
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“(his) actions also underscore the limits of symbolic gestures toward social justice that we also often see in the world of philanthropy. We often pay homage to what needs to change and attempt half measures, but we rarely challenge our own complicity in the structural inequities.”

JusticePovertySocial JusticePolice BrutalityNon FictionRacism In AmericaImprisonmentBaltimoreYouth Affected By Poverty
Book:Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City
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“The truth is that our individual efforts are important but insufficient. Our collective action -- the leaders we elect, the institutions administered in the name of the People, the other stanchions at the table --- offers an opportunity for bigger, longer-lasting action.”

JusticePovertySocial JusticePolice BrutalityNon FictionRacism In AmericaImprisonmentBaltimoreYouth Affected By Poverty
Book:Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City
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“It was a grand opportunity for the low whites, who had no negroes of their own to scourge. They exulted in such a chance to exercise a little brief authority, and show their subserviency to the slaveholders; not reflecting that the power which trampled on the colored people also kept themselves in poverty, ignorance and moral degradation.”

PovertyRacism In AmericaSlavery In The United StatesWhite People
Book:Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself
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“It comforts everybody to think of all Negroes as dirt poor, and to regard those who were not, who earned good money and kept it, as some kind of shameful miracle. White people liked that idea because Negroes with money and sense made them nervous. Colored people liked it because, in those days, they trusted poverty, believed it was a virtue and a sure sign of honesty. Too much money had a whiff of evil and somebody else's blood.”

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Author:Toni Morrison
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“Brown v. Board of Education, 1954: I’m sure you’ve heard of this one. If you live in the South and go to a diverse school, this is why. This was the case that said racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. The results: The schools began to mix. What’s really interesting about this case, though, something rarely discussed, is that it’s actually a pretty racist idea. I mean, what it basically suggests is that Black kids need a fair shot, and a fair shot is in White schools. I mean, why weren’t there any White kids integrating into Black schools? The assumption was that Black kids weren’t as intelligent because they weren’t around White kids, as if the mere presence of White kids would make Black kids better. Not. True. A good school is a good school, whether there are White people there or not. Oh, and of course people were pissed about this.”

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Book:Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You
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“It was not only colored people who praised John, since they could not, John felt, in any case really know; but white people also said it, in fact had said it first and said it still. It was when John was five years old and in the first grade that he was first noticed; and since he was noticed by an eye altogether alien and impersonal, he began to perceive, in wild uneasiness, his individual existence.”

Self EsteemIdentityRacismRespectSelf RespectIndividualismRace RelationsAngstRacism In AmericaRace And Racism In AmericaSelf ActualizationRespectabilityIdentity CrisisRacism And CultureIdentity Confusion
Book:Go Tell It on the Mountain
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“A racist cop pulls over a black driver for little reason other than the fact that the driver is black and a recent robbery was committed by a couple of young black guys in a white community. The cop quickly realizes the driver is not one of the robbery suspects. He sees a man with a wife and two small children. They are not a couple of young punks. Still,he persists. Why? “He asks to see the driver’s license and registration. While locating the appropriate documents, the black driver respectfully volunteers that he is legally carrying a handgun. The cop panics—is it the image of a black man with a gun? He barks out conflicting orders and then shoots the man to death, in front of his family. Why? “Is it because the cop is an insensitive racist? Maybe he wasn’t trained or taught any better? Perhaps he lived a completely different life in a completely different world than that of the black man. In this cop’s world, were all black men potential criminals, people to be watched, people to be feared?”

FearRaceSocial JusticeCivil RightsInequalityPolice BrutalityRacism In AmericaRacial ProfilingRacial PrejudiceBlacklivesmatter
Book:Betrayal In Black
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“It is not fun to be pulled over by a police officer. We’re upset or anxious when we’re pulled over by the police. We often know what we did wrong and await the penalty, or we wonder what we did wrong and await the explanation. But, do we expect to be manhandled or abused by the officer? Do we fear that he might kill us? For black people, especially black men, those fears are too frequently an unfortunate reality.”

FearRaceSocial JusticeCivil RightsInequalityPolice BrutalityRacism In AmericaRacial ProfilingRacial PrejudiceBlacklivesmatter
Book:Betrayal In Black
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“It’s up to us, all citizens, regardless of background, to step up to the plate and address these issues. We need to share our life experiences and offer honest appraisals of the problems we face. We need to do it at kitchen tables all over the nation. In schools, we need to educate our children to celebrate diversity rather than fight or kill over it. We need to promote our core values at home and abroad. That begins with citizens and police officers respecting each other and treating each other as each of us would want to be treated.”

FearRaceSocial JusticeCivil RightsInequalityPolice BrutalityRacism In AmericaRacial ProfilingRacial PrejudiceBlacklivesmatter
Book:Betrayal In Black
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“When a little black kid disappears and the media ignores it, so does the public. I know you know this. Not only that but how much media coverage a case gets has a direct relationship to how much manpower the brass assigns to solving that case. It also impacts whether or not the feds get involved. I know you know this too, dammit . . .” “. . . Lobby her on the other case at the same time, knock yourself out, but grant her an interview on Gilbert. Is that understood?” “Loud and clear, boss. After all, we can’t let a little thing like institutional racism get in our way, now, can we?”

FearRaceSocial JusticeCivil RightsInequalityPolice BrutalityRacism In AmericaRacial ProfilingRacial PrejudiceBlacklivesmatter
Book:Betrayal In Black
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“Where is outrage from the National Rifle Association? Where’s the damned NRA? The NRA claims to believe the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States grants all of our citizens the right to survive and protect their families with any gun they want. I guess that’s only true when those citizens are Caucasian! Does the Second Amendment apply if you’re a black man driving through a white neighborhood?”

FearRaceSocial JusticeCivil RightsInequalityPolice BrutalityRacism In AmericaRacial ProfilingRacial PrejudiceBlacklivesmatter
Book:Betrayal In Black
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“Mr. Bialy said you were a good guy.” “You don’t want a good guy representing you in situations like this one. You want a barracuda when it comes to dealing with bad cops, negligent police departments, and attorneys who represent them. They are afraid of me; they think I’m a bad guy. Please don’t give away my secret.” Sarah chuckles through her tears. He has an easy way about him. I hope he’s an ass-kicker in court. “Your secret is safe with me, Zack.”

FearRaceSocial JusticeCivil RightsInequalityPolice BrutalityRacism In AmericaRacial ProfilingRacial PrejudiceBlacklivesmatter
Book:Betrayal In Black
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“So, regardless of the outcome, Bialy will be pissing off some segment of his voters. If a grand jury fails to indict or indicts Jones and Bialy fails to secure his conviction; civil rights protests are likely in an already divided Wayne County. If Bialy secures a conviction, he becomes anti-cop or anti-law and order. It’s a classic lose-lose situation.”

FearRaceSocial JusticeCivil RightsInequalityPolice BrutalityRacism In AmericaRacial ProfilingRacial PrejudiceBlacklivesmatter
Book:Betrayal In Black
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“We, the black people, the most displaced, the poorest, the most maligned and scourged, we had the glorious task of reclaiming the soul and saving the honor of the country. We, the most hated, must take hate into our hands and by the miracle of love, turn loathing into love. We, the most feared and apprehensive must take fear and by love, change it into hope. We, who die daily in large and small ways, must take the demon death and turn it into life.-Martin Luther King Jr.”

PoliticsFeminismLife PhilosophyRacism In AmericaHistory Politics
Author:Maya Angelou
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“America didn’t start burning right now, and it is not burning because Black people are 'overreacting' or committing 'violence'. America has always been burning for many people. If you haven’t felt that America has always been burning, then you are – consciously or unconsciously – part of the structural, systemic, and calculated racism and marginalization committed against Blacks and other marginalized people in America. If you haven’t always felt that America was burning, you are part of the problem and you may want to consider joining the camp of those looking for solution to put an end to this nightmarish reality.”

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Author:Louis Yako
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“I do not believe that Caucasians of the western world are inherently evil. What I do believe is that the powerful subliminal effect of institutionalized racism in American…encouraged and empowered Caucasians to do evil and unimaginable things to people of all colors. ~Commander Jeff - Genesis”

DiversityRacism In AmericaPolitics Of The United StatesRacism And CultureWealth And Virtues
Book:Accelerant...The Sixth Extinction
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“Women are described as the “emotional” gender, but I’ve found that women, Black women in particular, are very skilled at bearing feelings and suffering in silence. Black women have been doing it since we arrived on the shores in 1619. We swallow the pain of racism. We swallow the micro aggressions we experience at the office. We swallow the indignity that we feel when white women touch our hair. We swallow the fear and anxiety that comes with being wives, daughter,s and mothers to Black men and boys.”

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Book:Grief Is Love: Living with Loss
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“For this is your home, my friend, do not be driven from it; great men have done great things here, and will again, and we can make America what America must become. It will be hard, James, but you come from sturdy, peasant stock, men who picked cotton and dammed rivers and built railroads, and, in the teeth of the most terrifying odds, achieved an unassailable and monumental dignity.”

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Book:The Fire Next Time
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“When a political opponent resorts to the racist card, it's a sure sign of moral bankruptcy: there's no decent argument left in the armoury.”

PoliticalPoliticsLeftMoralityRacismArgumentMoralsDecencyPolitical PhilosophyPolitical CorrectnessRacism In AmericaBankruptcyPolitical HumorRacism And CulturePolitical SatirePolitical TheoryPolitical QuotesSignOpponentRacism QuoteResortSignalLast ResortMoral BankruptcyPolitical QuoteRacist CardArmourySure Sign
Book:Impromptu Scribe
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“A staunch determinist might argue that between a magazine in a democratic country applying financial pressure to its contributors to make them exude what is required by the so-called reading public—between this and the more direct pressure which a police state brings to bear in order to make the author round out his novel with a suitable political message, it may be argued that between the two pressures there is only a difference of degree; but this is not so for the simple reason that there are many different periodicals and philosophies in a free country but only one government in a dictatorship. It is a difference in quality. If I, an American writer, decide to write an unconventional novel about, say, a happy atheist, an independent Bostonian, who marries a beautiful Negro girl, also an atheist, has lots of children, cute little agnostics, and lives a happy, good, and gentle life to the age of 106, when he blissfully dies in his sleep — it is quite possible that despite your brilliant talent, Mr. Nabokov, we feel [in such cases we don't think, we feel] that no American publisher could risk bringing out such a book simply because no bookseller would want to handle it. This is a publisher's opinion, and everybody has the right to have an opinion. Nobody would exile me to the wilds of Alaska for having my happy atheist published after all by some shady experimental firm; and on the other hand, authors in America are never ordered by the government to produce magnificent novels about the joys of free enterprise and of morning prayers.”

FreedomDemocracyAtheismCensorshipDictatorshipRacism In AmericaMoral Equivalence
Book:Lectures on Russian Literature
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