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Second Class Citizens Quotes

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Second Class Citizens Quotes

“Like the panic stricken populace of 'The War of the Worlds' and countless other 1950s invasion movies, the victims are there to provide the human ground over which monster and expert, threat and defender, disordering and ordering impulses can battle it out. Second-class citizens of the genre, they are narratively indispensable because physically entirely disposable. We are only really involved with them in the momentary tension of their capture or demise.”

WorldHumansWarFilmClassCitizensInvolvedBattleHollywoodVictimThreatMonstersImpulseGenreWar Of The WorldsExpertsTensionCapturePanicIndispensableInvasionDefendersMomentaryDemiseDisposableSecond Class Citizens
Author:Andrew Tudor
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“Men ruled the roost and women played a subservient role [in the 1960s]. Working wives were a rarity, because their place was in the home, bringing up the kids. The women who did work were treated as second-class citizens because it was a male-dominated society. That was a fact of life then. But it wouldn't be tolerated today, and that's quite right in my book... people look back on those days through a thick veil of nostalgia, but life was hard if you were anything other than a rich, powerful, white male.”

PeopleIfsMenLooksBookHardFactsHomeKidsTodayWhitePowerfulClassRolesRichWifeCitizensMalesNostalgiaTreatedThickVeils1960sFacts Of LifeSubservientRaritySecond Class CitizensRoost
Author:Jon Hamm
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“Real unity tolerates dissent and rejoices in variety of outlook and tradition, recognizes that it is man's destiny to unite and not divide, and understands that creating proletariats and scapegoats and second-class citizens is a mean and contemptible activity.”

MenMeanRealClassDestinyCitizensActivityCreatingTraditionUnityVarietyDividesRejoiceTolerateOutlookDissentProletariatScapegoatSecond Class Citizens
Book:Northrop Frye on Canada
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“In almost every professional field, in business and in the arts and sciences, women are still treated as second-class citizens. It would be a great service to tell girls who plan to work in society to expect this subtle, uncomfortable discrimination-tell them not to be quiet, and hope it will go away, but fight it. A girl should not expect special privileges because of her sex, but neither should she "adjust" to prejudice and discrimination.”

ShouldArtStillsWould BeGirlFightingSexClassPlansSpecialFieldsCitizensQuietPrejudicePrivilegeDiscriminationTreatedUncomfortableSubtleGoing AwayArt And ScienceGreat ServiceSecond Class CitizensFeminine MystiqueTell A Girl
Author:Betty Friedan
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“I don't want to involve myself in the various arguments about why Israel was created . . . . . I want to deal with the situation at hand which is the ongoing killing on both sides. . . . . . . It's true that there's also much oppression of Palestinians in Arab countries, where Palestinians aren't allowed to vote or own property and are treated as second class citizens and pawns in the fight against Israel. But I'm not going to spend my time on this since there is isn't a whole lot I can do about it.”

WantI CanCountryWholeHandsFightingSidesCan DoDealsSituationClassCitizensArgumentVotePropertyKillingVariousIsraelTreatedOppressionMy TimePalestinianBoth SidesOngoingPawnsSecond Class Citizens
Author:Michael Moore
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“I was a working class Jewish girl. In my girlhood, anti-Semitism was a daily fact of life in Detroit. I did not come from people who had many options in their lives or many choices open to them. I was a girl in a family in which women were, as in society at large, very much second-class citizens. I did not see why I should accept these forced limitations without a fight. Being free to make my own choices thus became very important to me at an early age.”

PeopleShouldImportantFactsAgeChoicesGirlFightingMy OwnAcceptingClassCitizensLimitationWorking ClassDetroitFacts Of LifeAnti SemitismBeing FreeMy GirlGirlhoodSecond Class Citizens
Author:Marge Piercy
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“Too often girls accept that of course the boys will get better lighting and seating at their sports events, of course the football team will get more attention, privileges, and space in the yearbook. We need to teach girls to look around and notice when they're being treated like second-class citizens, and then to insist on equal treatment.”

NeedsLooksGirlCoursesSportsSpaceAttentionAcceptingClassBoysTeachTeamEventsFootballCitizensEqualPrivilegeEqualityTreatedGet BetterTreatmentWomens RightsLightingFootball TeamSecond Class CitizensYearbookEqual Treatment
Author:Mariah Nelson
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“If you do not learn English in this country, you cannot get anywhere. We are in America. We are not in Mexico, we are not in China, we are not in Saudi Arabia - we speak English in this country! And what bilingual education does, is keep them from learning English, so they are doomed to be second-class citizens.”

IfsDoeCountryAmericaSpeakClassCitizensChinaMexicoDoomedArabiaSaudi ArabiaSaudisSpeak EnglishSecond Class CitizensLearning English
Author:Rafael Cruz
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“Human beings are hardwired by however many millions or billions of years to orient toward their own survival. That's why we're tribal people. That's why we're prejudiced people. That's why we treat women as second-class citizens, that's why we are homophobic, and that's why we make religion a weapon to prove we're superior to other people.”

PeopleYearsHumansHuman BeingsClassMillionsCitizensProveWeaponsSurvivalTreatsBillionsSuperiorsHomophobicSecond Class Citizens
Author:John Shelby Spong
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“Forty-two years after Dr. King was murdered, we are still a nation of inequality. People of color, women, gays, lesbians, and others are still treated as second-class citizens. Yes, things have changed but we have still not achieved equality among all humans. And nonhuman animals continue to be chattel property without any inherent value.”

PeopleYearsHumansStillsTwoValuesNationsAnimalClassChangedColorKingsCitizensGayPropertyTreatedInequalityFortyTwo YearsInherentWomens RightsDrsThings Have ChangedSecond Class Citizens
Author:Gary L. Francione
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“As for loving woman, I have never understood why some people had a fit. I still don't. It seems fine to me. If an individual is productive responsible, and energetic, why should her choice in a partner make such a fuss? The government is only too happy to take my tax money and yet they uphold legislation that keeps me a second class citizen. Surely, there should be a tax break for those of us who are robbed of full and equal participation and protection in the life of our nation.”

PeopleIfsShouldStillsSeemsGovernmentChoicesIndividualNationsClassBreakFineCitizensFitTaxesEqualUnderstoodResponsibleProtectionPartnersProductiveLegislationParticipationEnergeticLoving LifeTax BreaksSecond Class Citizens
Book:Poems
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“We became a congresswoman, a stay-at-home mom, a filmmaker, and a journalist. And Lino and I taught our children that they could rise to even greater heights. They could become surgeons, CEOs, supreme court justices, secretary of state, and even president of the United States. We didn't teach our daughters that they were second-class citizens.”

ChildrenStatesHomePresidentJusticeUnitedClassTeachUnited StatesGreaterTaughtMomCitizensDaughterOur ChildrenCourtSupremeJournalistHeightFilmmakerSecretaryCeoSupreme CourtBadassSurgeonsOur DaughterStay At HomeSupreme Court JusticeCourt JusticeSecond Class CitizensStay At Home MomGreater Heights
Author:Diana DeGette
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“While society cannot provide employment for its members, the production/work/income nexus has to be abandoned as a justification for our present parsimony to the unemployed. An assumption cannot be used to justify making second-class citizens of those who are unfortunate enough to constitute living proof of the inaccuracy of that assumption.”

EnoughUsedLeadershipClassCitizensMembersProductionsProofIncomeEmploymentAssumptionJustifyAbandonedJustificationUnfortunateUnemployedLiving ProofSecond Class CitizensNexusParsimony
Author:Bob Hawke
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“Today courts wrongly interpret separation of church and state to mean that religion has no place in the public arena, or that morality derived from religion should not be permitted to shape our laws. Somehow freedom for religious expression has become freedom from religious expression. Secularists want to empty the public square of religion and religious-based morality so they can monopolize the shared space of society with their own views. In the process they have made religious believers into second-class citizens.”

WantShouldMeanMadeStatesTodayLawProcessChurchReligiousSpaceViewsClassExpressionCitizensMoralityShapesEmptyCourtBelieverSeparationSquaresArenaChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateSecond Class Citizens
Book:What's So Great About Christianity
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“Arguably the most important parallel between mass incarceration and Jim Crow is that both have served to define the meaning and significance of race in America. Indeed, a primary function of any racial caste system is to define the meaning of race in its time. Slavery defined what it meant to be black (a slave), and Jim Crow defined what it meant to be black (a second-class citizen). Today mass incarceration defines the meaning of blackness in America: black people, especially black men, are criminals. That is what it means to be black.”

PeopleMenMeanImportantTodayAmericaBlackRaceClassCitizensMassFunctionSlaverySlaveCriminalsDefinedPrimariesSignificanceMeant To BeBlack PeopleParallelsCrowBlacknessCastesIncarcerationJim CrowRace In AmericaCaste SystemMass IncarcerationSecond Class Citizens
Author:Michelle Alexander
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“Regardless of the fact that in this country, certainly in the arts, we treat comedy as a second-class citizen, I've never thought of it that way. I've always thought it to be important. The last time I looked, the Greeks were holding up two masks. I've always thought of it not only as having equal value, but as the craft of it, being funny.”

WayArtTwoImportantCountryFactsLastsValuesClassComedyCitizensEqualTreatsCraftsGreekMaskLast TimeBeing FunnySecond Class Citizens
Author:Jeff Daniels
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“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
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