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Racism Quotes

Browse 3161 quotes about Racism.

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Racism Quotes

“We should have learnt by now that laws and court decisions can only point the way. They can establish criteria of right and wrong. And they can provide a basis for rooting out the evils of bigotry and racism. But they cannot wipe away centuries of oppression and injustice - however much we might desire it.”

WayShouldMightLawDesireEvilDecisionCenturyRacismShould HaveEarsBasesCourtInjusticeOppressionBigotryCriteriaWipeCourt Decision
Author:Hubert H. Humphrey
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“Man has but little heeded the advice of the wise men. He has been - fatefully, if not willingly - less virtuous, less constant, less rational, less peaceful than he knows how to be, than he is fully capable of being. He has been led astray from the ways of peace and brotherhood by his addiction to concepts and attitudes of narrow nationalism, racial and religious bigotry, greed and lust for power.”

IfsKnowsMenWayLittlesHas BeensWisdomReligiousAttitudeKnow HowWiseAdviceCapableRacismConceptsConstantAddictionGreedLustRationalPeacefulNationalismBigotryBrotherhoodVirtuousLust For PowerReligious Bigotry
Author:Ralph Bunche
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“There was no mistake in us making abortion legal and available on demand. That was what we call progress. Just like it was no mistake that we abolished institutional racism in this country around the same time. The easy thing to do is lay low, but then are we who we say we are? Do we actually stand for anything, if what we do stand for is under attack and we say nothing? There is nothing to be ashamed of here except to allow a radical and recessive group of people to bully and intimidate our mothers and sisters and daughters for exercising their right of choice.”

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Author:Mark Ruffalo
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“Communism forgets that life is individual. Capitalism forgets that life is social, and the kingdom of brotherhood is found neither in the thesis of communism nor the antithesis of capitalism but in a higher synthesis. It is found in a higher synthesis that combines the truths of both.”

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Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“I am a Muslim and . . . my religion makes me be against all forms of racism. It keeps me from judging any man by the color of his skin. It teaches me to judge him by his deeds and his conscious behavior. And it teaches me to be for the rights of all human beings, but especially the Afro-American human being, because my religion is a natural religion, and the first law of nature is self-preservation.”

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Author:Malcolm X
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“Humanity may destroy the possibilities for life on earth unless the freedom and power that we have acquired are channeled in new creative directions by a spiritual awareness and moral commitment that transcend nationalism, racism, sexism, religious sectarianism, anthropocentrism, and the dualism between human culture and nature. This is the great issue for the 1990s and the twenty-first century.”

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Author:Steven Clark Rockefeller
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“We cannot educate white women and take them by the hand. Most of us are willing to help but we can't do the white woman's homework for her. That's an energy drain. More times than she cares to remember, Nellie Wong, Asian American feminist writer, has been called by white women wanting a list of Asian American women who can give readings or workshops. We are in danger of being reduced to purvey­ors of resource lists.”

GivingHas BeensHelpingHandsCareRememberReadingEnergyWhiteDangerWillingRacismResourcesFeministListsMore TimeEducateAsianHomeworkDrainsWorkshopsWomen WantAmerican WomanAsian American
Author:Gloria E. Anzaldúa
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“You and I both know, deep in your heart, you agree with me. And I will prove it with one hypothetical scenario: you are alone in a closet of your home. There`s a bright red button. You can push that button and presto all Negroes and Jews and all other colored people are instantly removed from the North American continent and returned to their native countries. You`d push it, wouldn`t you whitey? See? See? See? in the final analysis, you agree with me. But of course, you wouldn`t do antything to bring that scenario about, or any other scenario favorable to your Race.”

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Author:Frazier Glenn Miller, Jr.
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“Things like racism are institutionalized. You might not know any bigots. You feel like "well I don't hate black people so I'm not a racist," but you benefit from racism. Just by the merit, the color of your skin. The opportunities that you have, you're privileged in ways that you might not even realize because you haven't been deprived of certain things. We need to talk about these things in order for them to change.”

PeopleKnowsWayNeedsFeelsWellsMightCertainHateOrderOpportunityBlackRealizingHavensColorBenefitsRacismSkinsMeritRacistBlack PeoplePrivilegedDeprivedBigotsDon't HateInstitutional RacismBlack Racism
Author:Dave Chappelle
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“In today's climate in our country, which is sickened with the pollution of pollution, threatened with the prominence of AIDS, riddled with burgeoning racism, rife with growing huddles of the homeless, we need art and we need art in all forms. We need all methods of art to be present, everywhere present, and all the time present.”

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Author:Maya Angelou
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“The equal protection standard of the constitution has one clear and central meaning - it absolutely prohibits invidious [repugnant] discrimination by government...Under our Constitution, any official action that treats a person differently on account of his race or ethnic origin is inherently [by nature] suspect and presumptively [probably] invalid...Under the Constitution we have, one practice in which government may never engage in the practice of racism - not even "temporarily" and not even as an "experiment."”

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Author:Potter Stewart
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“Is not nationalism - that devotion to a flag, an anthem, a boundary so fierce it engenders mass murder - one of the great evils of our time, along with racism, along with religious hatred? These ways of thinking - cultivated, nurtured, indoctrinated from childhood on - have been useful to those in power, and deadly for those out of power.”

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Book:A Power Governments Cannot Suppress
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“The way in which these two practices contain each other is that it has always been possible to use the one against the other: to use racism-sexism to prevent universalism from moving too far in the direction of egalitarianism; to use universalism to prevent racism-sexism from moving too far in the direction of a caste system that would inhibit the work force mobility so necessary for the capitalist accumulation process.”

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Author:Immanuel Wallerstein
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“Grassroots groups challenge the "business-as-usual" environmentalism that is generally practiced by the more privileged wildlife-and conservation-oriented groups. The focus of activists of color and their constituents reflects their life experiences of social, economic, and political disenfranchisement.”

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Author:Robert D Bullard
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“The problem is that white people see racism as conscious hate, when racism is bigger than that. Racism is a complex system of social and political levers and pulleys set up generations ago to continue working on the behalf of whites at other people's expense, whether whites know/like it or not. Racism is an insidious cultural disease. It is so insidious that it doesn't care if you are a white person who likes Black people; it's still going to find a way to infect how you deal with people who don't look like you.”

PeopleIfsKnowsWayLooksPersonsStillsProblemCarePoliticalHateSocialBlackWhiteDealsGenerationsLike YouDiseaseRacismConsciousBiggerComplexesLikesExpensesBlack PeopleBehalfInsidiousLeversComplex SystemsPulleys
Author:Scott Woods
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“Yes, racism looks like hate, but hate is just one manifestation. Privilege is another. Access is another. Ignorance is another. Apathy is another, and so on. So while I agree with people who say no one is born racist, it remains a powerful system that we're immediately born into. It's like being born into air: you take it in as soon as you breathe.”

PeopleLooksHateBornPowerfulAirIgnoranceRacismAgreeRemainsPrivilegeBreatheAccessManifestationJust OneRacistApathy
Author:Scott Woods
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“It's not a cold that you can get over. There is no anti-racist certification class. It's a set of socioeconomic traps and cultural values that are fired up every time we interact with the world. It is a thing you have to keep scooping out of the boat of your life to keep from drowning in it. I know it's hard work, but it's the price you pay for owning everything.”

KnowsWorldHardValuesPayClassHard WorkColdRacismBoatRacistTrapsGet OverDrowningAnti RacistFired Up
Author:Scott Woods
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“More than 2 million people found themselves behind bars at the turn of the twenty-first century, and millions more were relegated to the margins of mainstream society, banished to a political and social space not unlike Jim Crow, where discrimination in employment, housing, and access to education was perfectly legal, and where they could be denied the right to vote.”

PeopleFirstsPoliticalTurnsFoundSocialSpaceBehindsMillionsCenturyRacismVoteTwentiesAccessBarsDiscriminationEmploymentDeniedMainstreamHousingMarginsCrowRight To VoteJim CrowAccess To EducationMainstream Society
Book:The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
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“The system functioned relatively automatically, and the prevailing system of racial meanings, identities, and ideologies already seemed natural. Ninety percent of those admitted to prison for drug offenses in many states were Black or Latino, yet the mass incarceration of communities of color was explained in race-neutral terms, an adaptation to the needs and demands of the current political climate.”

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Book:The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
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“It is unfortunate that we should find ourselves at this time the only disorganized group. Others have had the advantage of organization for centuries, so what seems to them unnecessary, from a racial point of view, becomes necessary to us, who have had to labor all along under the disadvantage of being scattered without a racial aim or purpose.”

ShouldSeemsPurposeViewsGroupsCenturyRacismAdvantageLaborOrganizationAimPoint Of ViewUnfortunateUnnecessaryDisadvantagesDisorganized
Book:The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey, Or, Africa for the Africans
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“I am obliged to confess that I do not regard the abolition of slavery as a means of warding off the struggle of the two races in the Southern states. The Negroes may long remain slaves without complaining; but if they are once raised to the level of freemen, they will soon revolt at being deprived of almost all their civil rights; and as they cannot become the equals of the whites, they will speedily show themselves as enemies.”

IfsMayMeanLongTwoWarStatesShowsLevelsRaceEnemyStruggleRightsRacismRegardSlaverySlaveRaisedComplainingCivil RightsSouthernDeprivedObligedRevoltAbolitionFreemanAbolition Of Slavery
Book:Democracy in America
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“To solve the new century's mounting social and environmental problems, people of color activist and white activists need to be able to join forces. But all too often, the unconscious racism of white activists stands in the way of any effective, worthwhile collaboration. The Challenging White Supremacy Workshop is the most powerful tool that I have seen for removing the barriers to true partnerships between people of color and white folks. If the CWS trainings were mandatory for all white activists, the progressive movement in the United States would be unstoppable.”

PeopleIfsWayNeedsStatesProblemWould BeAbleForceSocialChallengesWhiteUnitedPowerfulUnited StatesCenturyMovementColorRacismTrainingToolsEnvironmentalFolksSolveUnconsciousBarriersMost PowerfulProgressiveActivistCollaborationWorthwhilePartnershipWhite SupremacyWorkshopsSupremacyUnstoppableEnvironmental ProblemsProgressive Movement
Author:Van Jones
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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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