Quotessence
Home / Topics / Racism Quotes

Racism Quotes

Browse 3161 quotes about Racism.

Related topics

PeopleWhiteBlackThinkingIfsKnowsSexismRaceCountryAmericaMenWorldWayProblemDiscriminationWantPersonsBelieveColorHumansStillsPrejudiceBigotryHateHas BeensPoliticalAfrican AmericanHomophobiaFeelsFormMeanPovertyDifferentFightingChildrenLongLooksShouldWarJusticeAnti RacismCommunityCultureEndsKindStatesIssuesNeedsViolenceBlack PeopleHatredMadeSlaveryYearsEvilTryingWellsDoeGroupsFirstsSocialBlack RacismCapitalismIgnoranceSocial JusticeAnti RacistEconomicNationsOppressionClassHeartIndividualKidsRightsTodayWhite RacismFactsGivingMindReasonSeemsSometimesCenturyFacesIdeasMaySkinsSouthXenophobiaCertainImportantInjusticeLittlesMatterPresidentReligiousUnited StatesMightUnitedVictimmore

Racism Quotes

“In a manner akin to the influence of Tiger Woods on the other side of the Atlantic, Thierry Henry has helped kick down a few of the remaining bigoted stereotypes. Through his undisputable class and dignity, Henry has made a deep-seated difference to race relations in this country. Racism will flounder whenever white children grow up with a black man as their hero. That so few comment on Henry's colour is a silent tribute to his impact.”

MenChildrenMadeCountryGrowsSidesBlackDifferencesWhiteRaceClassGrowing UpInfluenceFootballHeroRacismDignityRelationImpactSilentWoodsSoccerAnalysisKicksColourCommentStereotypeTigersRace RelationsTribute
Author:Pete Gill
Create image

“Take us generally as a people, we are neither lazy nor idle; and considering how little we have to excite or stimulate us, I am almost astonished that there are so many industrious and ambitious ones to be found - although I acknowledge, with extreme sorrow, that there are some who never were and never will be serviceable to society. And have you not a similar class among yourselves?”

PeopleLittlesFoundClassHuman NatureSorrowRacismExtremesAfrican AmericanAcknowledgeLazyAmbitiousConsideringIdleIdlenessIndustrious
Author:Maria W. Stewart
Create image

“I grew up in a very loving middle class family. My parents were educators. I'm not even the first PhD in my family. They tried to shield me, just as other parents in my neighborhood tried to shield their children. But you knew there was a reason that you couldn't go to that theme park or to a movie theater or to a hamburger stand. They couldn't shield you completely. What they did though was they never let it be an excuse for not achieving, and they always said racism is somebody else's problem, not yours. They tried in that way not to make us bitter about Birmingham.”

WayFirstsChildrenSaidReasonProblemParentClassMiddleAchieveGrewGrew UpRacismMy FamilyTheaterExcuseBitterParksThemeMiddle ClassNeighborhoodShieldsEducatorHamburgersMovie TheaterBirminghamPhdsMiddle Class FamilyTheme Parks
Author:Condoleezza Rice
Create image

“We got to face some facts. That the masses are poor, that the masses belong to what you call the lower class, and when I talk about the masses, I'm talking about the white masses, I'm talking about the black masses, and the brown masses, and the yellow masses, too. We've got to face the fact that some people say you fight fire best with fire, but we say you put fire out best with water. We say you don't fight racism with racism. We're gonna fight racism with solidarity. We say you don't fight capitalism with no black capitalism; you fight capitalism with socialism.”

PeopleFactsFacesFightingBlackWaterWhitePoorTalkingClassFireMassRacismCapitalismSocialismBrownYellowSolidarityLower Class
Author:Fred Hampton
Create image

“It is notable how little empathy is cultivated or valued in our society. I put this down to our traditional racism and obsessive sectarianism. Even so, one would think that we would be encouraged to project ourselves into the character of someone of a different race or class, if only to be able to control him. But no effort is made.”

IfsThinkingLittlesMadeDifferentCharacterWould BeAbleEffortRaceClassProjectsEmpathyRacismTraditionalOur SocietyNotableObsessiveSectarianismBe EncouragedDifferent Races
Book:Screening history
Create image

“America is supposed to pride itself on freedom of religion, race, and class. It's something that is carried on from ignorance and territorialism. I don't know if it's a transcendental pre-colonial mentality but I don't see too many other races of people trippin' about who is coming in and coming out. I think it's primarily racism disguised as class wars.”

PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsWarAmericaRaceClassIgnorancePrideRacismComing OutMentalityTranscendentalFreedom Of Religion
Author:Myka 9
Create image

“As soon as you opened your mouth and said the word woman, you were beaten down with the argument that you were betraying the class struggle. There are many poignant writings in which feminists first write pages about their class standpoint before getting to their actual issue. What was then known as class warfare is today called anti-racism. The threat of being accused of racism gave birth to false tolerance.”

WritingFirstsSaidTodayKnownClassStruggleIssuesBirthPagesRacismMouthsArgumentThreatFeministToleranceBetrayWarfareBeatenAccusedStandpointClass StrugglePoignantClass WarfareAnti RacismBeing Accused
Author:Alice Schwarzer
Create image

“I was teasing my brother that he was penniless, homeless, jobless. Right now in his life, racism isn't the central highlighting force: it's the world of work and economics. It doesn't mean that he isn't influenced by racism, but when he wakes up in the morning the thing that's driving his world is really issues of class, economics and power as they articulate themselves.”

WorldMeanForceClassMorningIssuesBrotherRight NowRacismEconomicsWake UpDrivingMy BrotherJoblessHomelessTeaseHighlighting
Author:Bell Hooks
Create image

“The horror of class stratification, racism, and prejudice is that some people begin to believe that the security of their families and communities depends on the oppression of others, that for some to have good lives there must be others whose lives are truncated and brutal.”

PeopleBelieveCommunityClassSecurityDependsHorrorRacismPrejudiceOppressionGood LifeBrutalRacism And Prejudice
Book:Skin: Talking About Sex, Class, and Literature
Create image

“Until the philosophy which hold one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned... Everything is war. Me say war. That until the're no longer 1st class and 2nd class citizens of any nation... Until the color of a man's skin is of no more significa...nce than the color of his eyes, me say war. That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race me say war!”

MenHumansWarPhilosophyEyeNationsRaceClassRightsColorCitizensRacismSkinsRegardHuman RightsSuperiorsHis EyesAbandonedInferiorsAnti RacismBasic Human Rights
Author:Bob Marley
Create image

“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
Create image

“Almost all of my early art dealt with the fallout from middle-class taboos, the messy, the ambivalent emotions couples felt, the inherent racism, the sexual tensions and the unhappiness roiling below the surface of our prim suburban lives. Meanwhile I was a suburban bad boy - cynical, sarcastic, contemptuous of all authority.”

ArtFeltEmotionClassBoysMiddleCoupleAuthorityRacismSurfaceTensionMiddle ClassSarcasticUnhappinessCynicalInherentMessyTabooBad BoyLife MeansAmbivalentContemptuousBelow The SurfaceFallouts
Author:Eric Fischl
Create image

“There should be a class on drugs. There should be a class on sex education-a real sex education class-not just pictures and diaphragms and 'un-logical' terms and things like that.....there should be a class on scams, there should be a class on religious cults, there should be a class on police brutality, there should be a class on apartheid, there should be a class on racism in America, there should be a class on why people are hungry, but there are not, there are classes on gym, physical education, let's learn volleyball.”

PeopleShouldRealAmericaSexTermReligiousClassDrugRacismPoliceHungryRevolutionaryLogicalGymCultPolice BrutalityBrutalityRacism In AmericaVolleyballApartheidScamsSex EducationPhysical EducationReligious Cults
Author:Tupac Shakur
Create image

“Parents and schools should place great emphasis on the idea that it is all right to be different. Racism and all the other 'isms' grow from primitive tribalism, the instinctive hostility against those of another tribe, race, religion, nationality, class or whatever. You are a lucky child if your parents taught you to accept diversity.”

IfsShouldChildrenIdeasDifferentSchoolGrowsParentRaceAcceptingClassTaughtLuckyDiversityRacismPrimitiveTribesEmphasisHostilityNationalityIsmsTribalismDifferent Nationalities
Author:Roger Ebert
Create image

“That until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned: That until there are no longer first-class and second class citizens of any nation; That until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; That until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained.”

MenWorldFirstsHumansPhilosophyDreamEyeNationsRaceClassRightsColorCitizensMoralityRacismIllusionSkinsRegardInternationalHuman RightsSuperiorsHis EyesSignificanceLastingAbandonedInferiorsCitizenshipFleetingPursuedFirst ClassEthiopiaSecond Class CitizensBasic Human RightsRace And Color
Author:Haile Selassie
Create image

“I am not ashamed to use the word class. I will also plead guilty to another charge. The charge is that people belonging to my class think they're better than other people. You're damn right we're better. We're better because we do not shirk our obligations either to ourselves or to others. . . .we live by our lights, we die by our lights, and whoever the high gods may be, we'll look them in the eye without apology.”

PeopleThinkingLooksMayUseLightEyeDiesClassRacismObligationGuiltyDamnAshamedLive ByBelongingApologyShirk
Book:The Moviegoer
Create image

“As a citizen of the world, I will not confine myself within the gates of one nation or religion. I will not identify with only one species, sex, class or race; for I am a complete being, and that means that I embrace all of humanity, all of nature, every star and universe within the greater universe as a part of me. If we were all created in the image of God, and his love is unconditional, then why can't we love all living things with the same eyes as God? How can anybody say that one race is more superior than another, when we were all created in God's reflection?”

WorldLoveGodReligionHumanitySpiritualityUniverseStarsSexNatureJusticeRaceClassRacismHumanUniversalSpeciesCreatorEqualityThoughtInequalityLabelsUnconditional LoveFairnessBiasThinkNationStarGlobal CitizenSuzy KassemWorld CitizenInferiority ComplexCitizenSuperiorInferiorReligion And ScienceGod S EyesAffiliationsAll Living ThingsComplete BeingAll Men Were CreatedEmbrace IdentityGod S Reflection
Book:Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem
Create image

“Despite his increasing wealth (the money came in so fast he could scarcely keep track of it), Matthew maintained close contact with the merchants and manufacturers. He sent out private letters periodically to prominent men in the Southern business world in which he told of the marked psychological change that had come over the working classes of the South since the birth of the K. of N. He told how they had been discontented and on the brink of revolution when his organization rushed in and saved the South. Unionism and such destructive nostrums had been forgotten, he averred, when The Warning had revealed the latest danger to the white race. Of course, he always added, such work required large sums of money and contributions from conservative, substantial and public-spirited citizens were ever acceptable. At the end of each letter there appeared a suggestive paragraph pointing out the extent to which the prosperity of the New South was due to its "peculiar institutions" that made the worker race conscious instead of class conscious, and that with the passing of these "peculiar institutions" would also pass prosperity. This reasoning proved very effective, financially speaking.”

RaceClassRacismPropagandaAfrican AmericansBlacksRace RelationsWhitesClass ConsciousnessRace Consciousness
Book:Black No More
Create image

“When one-third of the population of the erstwhile Confederacy had consisted of the much-maligned Sons of Ham, the blacks had really been of economic, social and psychological value to the section. Not only had they done the dirty work and laid the foundation of its wealth, but they had served as a convenient red herring for the upper classes when the white proletariat grew restive under exploitation. The presence of the Negro as an under class had also made of Dixie a unique part of the United States. There, despite the trend to industrialization, life was a little different, a little pleasanter, a little softer. There was contrast and variety, which was rare in a nation where standardization had progressed to such an extent that a traveler didn't know what town he was in until someone informed him. The South had always been identified with the Negro, and vice versa, and its most pleasant memories treasured in song and story, were built around this pariah class. The deep concern of the Southern Caucasians with chivalry, the protection of white womanhood, the exaggerated development of race pride and the studied arrogance of even the poorest half-starved white peon, were all due to the presence of the black man. Booted and starved by their industrial and agricultural feudal lords, the white masses derived their only consolation and happiness from the fact that they were the same color as their oppressors and consequently better than the mudsill blacks.”

AmericaClassRacismPrejudiceSouthAfrican AmericansBlacksWhitesConfederacyAmerican South
Book:Black No More
Create image

“The pressure to accumulate, the understanding that poverty is shameful, the double shame of being black and poor, the constant refrain of materialism coming from every facet of popular culture, the empty fridge, the disconnected electricity, the insecurity of being a tenant with eviction always just a few missed paycheques away, the stress and anger of your parents that trickles down far better than any capital accumulation, the naked injustices that you now know to be reality and the growing belief that one is indeed all of the negative stereotypes that the people with the power say you are. These are the factors that aided my own ego in turning me from a wannabe Max Planck to a wannabe gangster. I ultimately take responsibility for my own actions, but there is still a story there and being treated like and presumed to be a criminal for years before I ever contemplated actually carrying a knife is part of that story.”

ClassRacismStereotypes
Book:Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire
Create image

“What would be wicked would be to say, 'I will not give this person a job because he belongs to this category of people, and there's some kind of statistical tendency for this category of person to be different from that category...' Treat them as individuals! Look at the qualifications of this individual, and forget about the group, race, whatever you want to call it, to which he belongs.”

JobsScienceRaceClassRacismPrejudiceGenderDiscriminationSexismJob
Author:Richard Dawkins
Create image

“Let us have peace." But there was the black man looming like a dark ghost on the horizon. He was the child of force and greed, and the father of wealth and war. His labor was indispensable, and the loss of it would have cost many times the cost of the war. If the Negro has been silent, his very presence would have announced his plight. He was not silence. He was in usual evidence. He was writing petitions, making speeches, parading with returned soldiers, reciting his adventures as slave and freeman. Even dumb and still, he must be noticed. His poverty has to be relieved, and emancipation in his case had to mean poverty. If he had to work, he had to have land and tools. If his labor was in reality to be free labor, he had to have legal freedom and civil rights. His ignorance could only be removed by that very education which the law of the South had long denied him and the custom of the North had made exceedingly difficult. Thus civil status and legal freedom, food, clothes and tools, access to land and help to education, were the minimum demands of four million laborers, and these demands no man could ignore, Northerner or Southerner, Abolitionist or Copperhead, laborer or captain of industry. How did the nation face this paradox and dilemma?”

RaceClassRacismCivil WarReconstruction
Book:Black Reconstruction in America
Create image