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Racism In America Quotes

Browse 302 quotes about Racism In America.

Racism In America Quotes

“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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“Racism is a complex and interconnected system that adapts to challenges over time. Colorblind ideology was a very effective adaptation to the challenges of the Civil Rights Era. Colorblind ideology allows society to deny the reality of racism in the face of its persistence, while making it more difficult to challenge than when it was openly espoused.”

RacismRacism In AmericaWhitenessColorblindnessColorblind Racism
Book:What Does It Mean to Be White?: Developing White Racial Literacy
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“The Run" It’s the middle of the day, I know some are home, and they see and hear the wrong that’s going on. A Black man is being hunted on their street, That’s why no one calls in help for me. I hear the shots, three times I’m struck. I try and try, but I can’t get up. My head is lifted toward the sky, No pain, I’m riding the runner’s high.”

InjusticeBlack Lives MatterRacism In AmericaRacial Violence
Book:Black Lives, Lines, and Lyrics
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“Vagrancy laws and other laws defining activities such as "mischief" and "insulting gestures" as crimes were enforced vigorously against blacks. The aggressive enforcement of these criminal offenses opened up an enormous market for convict leasing.”

RacismAfrican AmericansBlack HistoryRacism In AmericaConvictsCriminologyForced LaborBlack AmericansFor Profit Prisons
Book:The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
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“Denying that race matters is irrational in the face of segregation and all of the other forms of obvious racial inequity in society. It is even more irrational to believe that it is whites who are at the receiving end of discrimination. Maintaining this denial of reality takes tremendous emotional and psychic energy.”

DiscriminationRacism In AmericaWhitenessDenial Of RacismReverse Discrimination
Book:What Does It Mean to Be White?: Developing White Racial Literacy
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“You're a Black educated fool, son. These white folk have newspapers, magazines, radios, spokesmen to get their ideas across. If they want to tell the world a lie, they can tell it so well that it becomes the truth; and if I tell them you're lying, they'll tell the world even if you prove you're telling the truth. Because it's the kind of lie they want to hear.”

HateMediaRacismBigotryAmerican HistoryRacism In AmericaInvisibilityWhite PrivilegeRacistsInvisible ManShame Of SocietyAmerican Today
Author:Ralph Ellison
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“I learned that people will practice racism and hate simply because they can or because they know that they can get away with it. They will think twice about it if there are serious legal protections that impose serious consequences on them for doing so. Apparently, for some reason, our system of governance insists on denying this protection for people of color and other marginalized folks, while we know it has been successful in granting it for other minorities who used to be discriminated against in America in the past. We need to ask why and how we can change this.”

InspirationalHateJusticeDiversityRacismDiscriminationBlack Lives MatterDiversity And InclusionRacism In AmericaRacism In The West
Author:Louis Yako
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“Keeping our focus on racist individuals is not only futile, but it also spends a precious energy that we need to direct at changing the entire structure and the system in place as we have it. We must understand that the system and the structure we have in place are created by the powerful 1% that clearly benefits from racism as a form of governance.”

HatePowerDiversityRacismDiscriminationGovernanceDiversity And InclusionRacism In AmericaDecolonizationRacism In The West
Author:Louis Yako
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“Yes, make no mistake, racism (like sexism, patriotism, and ethnonationalism) is a form of governance in that it consistently prevents change and maintains the status quo by deflecting attention from the core issues; by pitting people against each other. In doing so, it blinds most people from seeing who the real enemy is. Racism as a form of governance makes people waste all their energy in the wrong places as well as channel all the hatred and bitterness against the wrong populations (Blacks, immigrants, foreigners, and so on).”

HatePowerRacismGovernanceBlack Lives MatterRacism In AmericaDecolonizationColonizationRacism In The West
Author:Louis Yako
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“Those with unearned privileges often spin things as 'political correctness' to further silence those they wish to oppress.”

HateSilencePowerRacismPrivilegeOppressionPropagandaRacistLgbtLgbtqSpinningPolitical CorrectnessRacism In AmericaHomophobiaGay RightsBiasedPolitically CorrectRacism QuotesBiasesLgbt QuotesHomophobicLgbt RightsRacism And CultureSilencingHatred QuotesSilence QuotePrivilegesPropaganda QuotesRacism QuotePolitically IncorrectSpinOppression QuotesPolitically Correct CultureSilencing DissentBiased OpinionSilencing OthersPolitical CorrectPolitical SpinsUnearned Blessings
Author:DaShanne Stokes
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“Building bridges takes us further than building walls.”

ReligionHateRaceRacismHatredPrejudiceToleranceImmigrationDiscriminationLgbtBigotryBiasLgbtqRace RelationsRacism In AmericaGay RightsRace And Racism In AmericaBiasedLgbtqiaRacism QuotesBiasesReligion SpiritualityPrejudicesReligion And PhilosophyReligious ToleranceLgbt QuotesLgbt RightsDiscrimination QuotesBigotTolerance QuotesRacism QuoteBuilding BridgesDiscriminatingBigotedPrejudicedBuilding Bridges QuotesBuilding Bridges Not Walls
Author:DaShanne Stokes
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“It's a scary world we live in when a person of color endorses a racist for president.”

HateRaceTrumpRacismHatredPrejudiceScaryDiscriminationBigotryRace RelationsRacism In AmericaRace And Racism In AmericaRacism QuotesDonald TrumpHate QuotesTrump Resistance MovementDiscrimination QuotesHatred QuotesPresident TrumpPeople Of ColorScary RealityBen CarsonDonald Trump QuotesDonald Trump PresidentPresident Donald TrumpPresident Trump QuotesPresident Donald Trump Quotes
Author:DaShanne Stokes
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“Prejudice plunges you into a world of fear and hate. That's no way to live.”

HateFearRightsRacismHatredPrejudiceHuman RightsDiscriminationCivil RightsLgbtSexismBiasRace RelationsFear QuotesCivil Rights MovementFearsRacism In AmericaRace And Racism In AmericaRacism QuotesBiasesPrejudicesHate QuotesLgbt QuotesLgbt RightsHuman Rights DayDiscrimination QuotesHatred QuotesHuman Rights ViolationsSexism QuotesHuman Rights AbuseDiscriminating
Author:DaShanne Stokes
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“Without the voices from the edges publicly demanding, wailing, and protesting, institutions and systems that engage in exclusionary, oppressive, or marginalizing practices continue to operate with apathy or impunity. Destructive systems do not change themselves, and those working for change within these systems can’t do it alone.”

KindnessRacismSocial JusticeActivismProtestRacism In AmericaInstitutional OppressionSocial UnrestInstitutional Change
Book:In Defense of Kindness: Why It Matters, How It Changes Our Lives, and How It Can Save the World
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“The enemy was not the Klan but the inside-outside lock that racism and classism had on the minds of the people: It operated from the inside through self-hate and self-doubt, and from the outside through the police, carnivorous landlords, and the welfare system.”

PoliticsFreedomActivismCivil Rights MovementRacism In AmericaThe South
Book:Unfinished Agenda: Urban Politics in the Era of Black Power
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“All of you are aware of the tragic history of racism in America, but for a very long time, African-Americans and their white allies came together and they struggled and they stood up for justice and they stood up to lynching and they stood up to segregation and the stood up to a nation where African-Americans couldn't even vote in America.”

LongTogetherAmericaNationsJusticeWhiteLong TimeRacismVoteAfrican AmericanTragicAlliesSegregationRacism In AmericaStood UpLynching
Author:Bernie Sanders
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“Part of our identity is the idea that racism is still there and that we are vulnerable to it. So, the question is, 'How vulnerable?' In other words, is it really a problem for us, or is it just a small thing. How do you evaluate racism in America on a scale of 1 to 10? My suspicion is that most blacks overrate it a bit. Not to say it's not there, but we overrate it because this masking is part of our relationship to the larger society. This is a way we keep whites on the hook. We keep them obligated, and we keep ourselves entitled. There's an incentive, you see, to inflate it a little bit.”

WayLittlesStillsIdeasProblemAmericaBitsIdentityLittle BitRacismScalesVulnerableOur RelationshipSuspicionEntitledHookIncentivesSmall ThingsEvaluateRacism In America
Author:Shelby Steele
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“Excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism.”

DreamSuccessPurposeBlackDestinyRacismExcellenceAfrican AmericanSexismBlack HistoryEmpowering WomenRacism In AmericaXenophobiaBlack History MonthAfrican American WomenWomen PowerDeterrentBlack History Month InspirationalAfrican American HistoryBlack History InspirationalWomen Best InspirationalAfrican American LoveAfrican American History MonthBlack InspirationalBlack RacismMoral ExcellenceStriving For ExcellenceAgainst RacismInspirational HistoryWomen History Month
Author:Oprah Winfrey
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“What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race hate, and religious prejudice.”

WorldNeedsHateNationsBlackReligiousRaceHistoryMonthsDiversityRacismPrejudiceSocial JusticeAfrican AmericanVoidBiasWorld HistoryBlack HistoryRacism In AmericaUs HistorySelectedBlack History MonthAfrican American WomenRace In AmericaBlack History Month InspirationalBlack AmericaAfrican American HistoryBlack History InspirationalAfrican American LoveAfrican American InspirationalAfrican American History MonthBlack InspirationalBlack RacismInspirational HistoryReligious PrejudiceAfrican RaceBias And Prejudice
Book:Negro Makers of History
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“If we accept and acquiesce in the face of discrimination, we accept the responsibility ourselves. We should, therefore, protest openly everything ... that smacks of discrimination or slander.”

IfsShouldFacesPeaceBlackResponsibilityAcceptingRacismDiscriminationAfrican AmericanPatriotismProtestBlack HistoryDisobedienceRacism In AmericaSlanderCivil DisobedienceSmackBlack History MonthAfrican American WomenBlack History Month InspirationalBlack AmericaAfrican American HistoryAfrican American LoveAfrican American InspirationalAfrican American History MonthBlack RacismDiscrimination And Racism
Author:Mary McLeod Bethune
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“Racism as a form of skin worship, and as a sickness and a pathological anxiety for America, is so great, until the poor whites -- rather than fighting for jobs or education -- fight to remain pink and fight to remain white. And therefore they cannot see an alliance with people that they feel to be inherently inferior.”

PeopleFeelsJobsAmericaFormFightingWhitePoorAnxietyWorshipRacismSkinsSicknessInferiorsAlliancesRacism In AmericaBlack RacismWhite Racism
Author:Jesse Jackson
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