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Racism Quotes

Browse 3161 quotes about Racism.

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Racism Quotes

“At times I feel it almost impossible not to despond entirely of there ever being a better, brighter day for us. None but those who experience it can know what it is - this constant, galling sense of cruel injustice and wrong. I cannot help feeling it very often, - it intrudes upon my happiest moments, and spreads a dark, deep gloom over everything.”

KnowsFeelsMomentsHelpingFeelingsDarkImpossibleRacismConstantInjusticeSpreadOppressionBrighterGloomBrighter Days
Author:Charlotte Forten Grimke
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“For most Black people there is still poverty and desperation. The Ghettos still exist, and the proportion of Blacks in prison is still much greater than Whites. Today, there is less overt racism, but the economic injustices create an "institutional racism" which exists even while more Blacks are in high places, such as Condoleeza Rice in Bush's Administration and Obama running for President.”

PeopleStillsRunningTodayBlackPresidentPovertyGreaterEconomicRacismPrisonInjusticeAdministrationProportionBlack PeopleDesperationRiceGhettoHigh PlacesInstitutional RacismEconomic Injustice
Author:Howard Zinn
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“Most pastors railing against gay marriage have never cried out on racism, any type of injustice or police brutality. They've never once made a statement about health care. Many of them are silent on community issues. They are very silent, but they have become the leaders of this particular movement.”

MadeCareCommunityLeaderIssuesMovementParticularTypeGayRacismPoliceSilentInjusticeStatementsHealth CareCriedPastorGay MarriagePolice BrutalityBrutalityAgainst Gay Marriage
Author:Otis Moss III
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“Few if any political philosophers have had the courage of tackling the Cold War. Even the best of them have kept silent or have stated some bromides glossing over the serious shortcomings of "our" side, such as racism, social injustice, extreme income disparities, the exploitation of the Third World, and environmental degradation.”

IfsWorldWarPoliticalSocialSidesSeriousColdRacismThirdsSilentEnvironmentalInjusticePhilosopherExtremesIncomeExploitationCold WarShortcomingsDegradationThird WorldDisparityTacklingEnvironmental DegradationSocial Injustice
Author:Mario Bunge
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“Nothing better protects a human being against the stupidity of prejudice, racism, religious or political sectarianism, and exclusivist nationalism than this truth that invariably appears in great literature: that men and women of all nations and places are essentially equal, and only injustice sows among them discrimination, fear, and exploitation.”

MenHumansPoliticalLiteratureNationsReligiousHuman BeingsProtectEqualRacismMen And WomenPrejudiceInjusticeStupidityDiscriminationNationalismExploitationSectarianismGreat Literature
Author:Mario Vargas Llosa
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“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”

IfsPeaceSidesJusticeSituationFeetEmpathyRacismAppreciateSocial JusticeInjusticeChosenBullyingApathyTailsMiceElephantsBullyDisobedienceOppressorsBulliedCivil DisobediencePeace And JusticeNeutralityPeace JusticeMake Peace Not WarBeing BulliedNonviolent ResistanceJustice And InjusticeBullying InspirationalInjustice And OppressionCyber BullyingPonder This
Author:Desmond Tutu
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“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.”

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Author:Hubert H. Humphrey
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“Do you see law and order? There is nothing but disorder, and instead of law there is the illusion of security. It is an illusion because it is built on a long history of injustices: racism, criminality, and the genocide of millions. Many people say it is insane to resist the system, but actually, it is insane not to.”

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Book:Death Blossoms: Reflections from a Prisoner of Conscience
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“It was not easy for Paul to stand as a mirror and confront Peter's bias towards the Gentiles. He even had to address Barnabas as well, who got swept up in group-think. The majority of the members, including Peter, were satisfied with the way they treated Gentiles. Paul, however, advocated strongly against the evident injustices. Being a Paul and addressing difficult topics on race is what the Church needed then and still needs today. Generally, as a church, we are comfortable with the Peters but feel somewhat awkward around the Pauls because the Pauls push us into an uncomfortable realm. The Pauls are rare but are more precious today than silver and gold.”

ChurchCourageRacismInjusticePeterBoldApostle PaulDifficult Conversations
Author:Shaun Brooks
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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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“And so how does Um-Helat exist? How can such a city possibly survive, let alone thrive? Wealthy with no poor, advanced with no war, a beautiful place where all souls know themselves beautiful . . . It cannot be, you say. Utopia? How banal. It’s a fairy tale, a thought exercise. Crabs in a barrel, dog-eat-dog, oppression Olympics—it would not last, you insist. It could never be in the first place. Racism is natural, so natural that we will call it “tribalism” to insinuate that everyone does it. Sexism is natural and homophobia is natural and religious intolerance is natural and greed is natural and cruelty is natural and savagery and fear and and and . . . and. “Impossible!” you hiss, your fists slowly clenching at your sides. “How dare you. What have these people done to make you believe such lies? What are you doing to me, to suggest that it is possible? How dare you. How dare you.” Oh, friend! I fear I have offended. My apologies. Yet . . . how else can I convey Um-Helat to you, when even the thought of a happy, just society raises your ire so? Though I confess I am puzzled as to why you are so angry. It’s almost as if you feel threatened by the very idea of equality. Almost as if some part of you needs to be angry. Needs unhappiness and injustice. But . . . do you? Do you?”

WealthBeautyRacismInjusticeEqualityUnhappinessIntoleranceUtopiaHomophobia
Book:How Long 'til Black Future Month?
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“I merely wish to point out that in the face of such a world you have only yourselves to rely on. You have only the decision you must make, each of you, alone. And will you contribute to the indifferent forces that ceaselessly conspire toward injustice? Or will you stand up against this endless tide and in the face of it be truly human?”

RacismHumanInjusticeResistanceWwiiDoing What S RightDavid Guterson Quotes
Book:Snow Falling on Cedars
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“People of Earth know nothing about the heart. And the ones who do, address love as the need to bleed. And it is indeed so. This materialistic world of mentally-obsessed humanoids will never allow true love to show itself. The ones who possess a better understanding often walk alone, love alone, and feel alone, with their partners, groups and the world itself. Altruism is not a disease, a curse or a punishment, although it usually feels that way. Altruism is not even a price we pay for being spiritually free. Altruism, as death or birth, is just what it is. It just happens. The feelings attached to it are merely an awakening to the realization of the gap between oneself and the remaining of his prehistoric ancestors. One moves apart, into the future, in his evolution, and looks back at his brothers and sisters, trapped in the dogmas of the past, not realizing one can’t travel in time in body but only in spirit. And in this sense, none of us ever escapes the prison. Not in body. Only in mind. The mind has the key we look for outside ourselves. The heart helps the blind of spirit find it. And when humanity, as a whole, realizes this, it will ascend. But for now, unfortunately, many will have to suffer and pay with their own life, before this realization becomes common sense. Before the many books that have been written, are finally read by the masses and understood as they were intended by the creators. Before we realize that all the wars are being fought in our mind and merely being represented in the material playground like a theatrical play to which we all contribute with our own mental script, daily written and adjusted by the collective conscience and its concepts of right and wrong, true and false, justice and injustice, real and unreal.”

SufferingDepressionRacismAngerInjusticeBullyingAggressionWars
Author:Robin Sacredfire
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“America, this is what my God has told me about you— you field of dying sunflowers, you semiautomatic gun slinging unsanctuary, you apparition that is the crowd gathered beneath yet another oak tree on the postcard— Justice is not a pendulum Justice is not a hammer Justice is not a bandage it is water, and your better angels have long sung of its rolling tide, calling those things which are not as though they were. Am I crazy, America, letting you inside me again and again though you do not even love me...”

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Author:Natasha Oladokun
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“I gave my youth to humanity, the most precious gift anybody could offer - but I am not asking you to do the same - all I am asking is step up wherever you see injustice - step up wherever you see bigotry - step up wherever you see savagery.”

JusticeSacrificeRacismInjusticeHumanitarianService Of HumanitySelflessSocial ResponsibilityInhumanityServing Society
Book:Hurricane Humans: Give me accountability, I'll give you peace
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“a delegate shout out from the floor: “Peonage, Anti-Lynch Bill, poll tax, these are our issues. They are the most controversial issues in American life, and some of us will have to die for them! Yes, we want to join with the CIO! We cannot stop for controversy!” And there in the faces of my people I saw strength. There with the whites in the audience I saw the positive forces of civilization and the best guarantee of America’s future.”

AmericaHumanityHopeSocietyRacismUnityInjusticeCivil Rights
Author:Ralph Ellison
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