Best social-justice & white Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

“No one has been barred on account of his race from fighting or dying for America, there are no white or colored signs on the foxholes or graveyards of battle.”

Has Beens America Fighting White Race Dying Battle Diversity Accounts Social Justice Graveyard Foxholes

Author:John F. Kennedy

“I want to be the white man's brother, not his brother-in-law.”

Men Want Law White Relationship Brother Social Justice Civil Rights White Man In-laws Funny Brother Brother In Law

Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.

“There are many humorous things in the world; among them, the white man's notion that he is less savage than the other savages.”

Men World Inspiration Political White Civilization Diversity Humorous Social Justice Notion Savages White Man

Book:The Chicago of Europe, and Other Tales of Foreign Travel

Source: The Chicago of Europe, and Other Tales of Foreign Travel

“The white American man makes the white American woman maybe not superfluous but just a little kind of decoration. Not really important to turning around the wheels of the state. Well the black American woman has never been able to feel that way. No black American man at any time in our history in the United States has been able to feel that he didn't need that black woman right against him, shoulder to shoulder-in that cotton field, on the auction block, in the ghetto, wherever.”

“The white man discovered the Cross by way of the Bible, but the black man discovered the Bible by way of the Cross.”

Men Way Culture Black Justice White Diversity Crosses Social Justice White Man

Author:James A. Baldwin

“The real victim of bigotry is the white man who hides his weakness under his myth of superiority.”

Men Real Culture Justice White Diversity Weakness Victim Social Justice Myth Bigotry Superiority White Man

Author:James A. Baldwin

“I am not antiwhite, because I understand that white people, like black ones, are victims of a racist society. They are products of their time and place.”

People Black Justice White Products Victim Social Justice Racist

Book:Unbought and Unbossed

Source: Unbought and Unbossed

“I am not in favor of caste, nor separation of the brotherhood of mankind, and would as willingly live among white men as Black, if I had equal possession and enjoyment of privileges, but I shall never be reconciled living among them subservient to their will.”

Ifs Men Culture Black Justice White Mankind Equal Diversity Social Justice Privilege Possession Favors Separation Enjoyment Brotherhood White Man Castes Subservient

Author:Martin Delany

“Anti-Semitism hits me on the head: I am enraged, I am bled white by an appalling battle, I am deprived of the possibility of being man. I cannot disassociate myself from the future that is proposed for my brother.”

Men Justice White Possibility Brother Battle Social Justice My Brother Deprived Anti Semitism

Author:Frantz Fanon

“They will endure. They are better than we are. Stronger than we are. Their vices are vices aped from white men or that white men and bondage have taught them: improvidence and intemperance and evasion-not laziness: evasion: of what white men had set them to, not for their aggrandizement or even comfort but his own.”

Men Justice White Taught Comfort Stronger Social Justice Endure Vices Laziness White Man Bondage Evasion Intemperance

Author:William Faulkner

“We've got Chinese, white, black and mixed; but remember that our colors are cheap, for after many years of contracts and tricks nobody's purity runs very deep.”

Years Running Remember Culture Black Justice White Color Diversity Social Justice Tricks Chinese Purity Contracts Very Deep

Author:Nicolas Guillen

“If you were going to compete successfully in a white man's world, you had to learn to play the white man's game. It was not enough that an Indian be as good as; an Indian had to be better than.”

Ifs Men World Enough Play Games Justice White Diversity Social Justice Indian White Man

Book:The Jailing of Cecelia Capture

Source: The Jailing of Cecelia Capture

“We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased, we are glad. If they are not, it doesn't matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too. The tom-tom cries and the tom-tom laughs. If colored people are pleased, we are glad. If they are not, it doesn't matter either. We build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and we stand on top of the mountain, free within ourselves.”

Source: The Collected Works of Langston Hughes: Essays on art, race, politics, and world affairs

“Among the thousand white persons, I am a dark rock surged upon, and overswept.”

Persons Justice Dark White Rocks Thousand Diversity Social Justice

Book:I Love Myself when I Am Laughing ... and Then Again when I Am Looking Mean and Impressive: A Zora Neale Hurston Reader

Source: I Love Myself when I Am Laughing ... and Then Again when I Am Looking Mean and Impressive: A Zora Neale Hurston Reader

“The colored people of this country know and understand the white people better than the white people know and understand them.”

People Knows Country Justice White Diversity Social Justice

Book:The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

Source: The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

“Suppose a white man should come to me and say, "Joseph, I like your horses. I want to buy them." I say to him, "No, my horses suit me; I will not sell them." Then he goes to my neighbor and says to him, "Joseph has some good horses. I want to buy them, but he refuses to sell." My neighbor answers, "Pay me the money and I will sell you Joseph's horses." The white man returns to me and says, "Joseph, I have bought your horses and you must let me have them." If we sold our lands to the government, this is the way they bought them.”

“Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white-separate and unequal.”

Two Moving Nations Black Justice White Diversity Social Justice

Author:Otto Kerner, Jr.

“We have to undo the millions of little white lies that America told itself and the world about the American Black man.”

Men World Littles America Lying Black Justice White Millions Diversity Social Justice White Lie

Author:John Oliver Killens

“We are not fighting for the right to be like you. We respect ourselves too much for that. When we advocate freedom, we mean freedom for us to be black, or brown, and you to be white, and yet live together in a free and equal society. This is the only way that integration can bring dignity for both of us.”

Way Mean Together Fighting Black Justice White Too Much Like You Equal Diversity Dignity Social Justice Brown Integration

Author:John Oliver Killens

“The Negro loves America enough to criticize her fundamentally. Most white Americans simply can't be bothered.”

Enough America Justice White Diversity Social Justice Criticize Bothered

Author:John Oliver Killens

“We have deluded ourselves into believing the myth that capitalism grew and prospered out of the Protestant ethic of hard work and sacrifices. Capitalism was built on the exploitation of black slaves and continues to thrive on the exploitation of the poor, both black and white, both here and abroad.”

Believe Hard Black Justice White Poor Sacrifice Hard Work Grew Diversity Ethics Capitalism Built Social Justice Slave Myth Thrive Black And White Exploitation Protestants Deluded

Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.

“I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.”

“Why should anyone think a white skin superior in evaluating the qualities of human life? I did not really admire a white skin so much myself. Did I not prefer the brown skin that came with exposure to the sun?”

Thinking Should Humans Justice White Quality Sun Diversity Skins Social Justice Superiors Admire Human Life Brown Exposure White Skin Brown Skin

Book:Autobiography of values

Source: Autobiography of values

“Speaking like this doesn't mean that we're anti-white, but it does mean we're anti-exploitation, we're anti-degradation, we're anti-oppression.”

Mean Doe Justice White Diversity Social Justice Oppression Exploitation Degradation

Author:Malcolm X

“The greatest miracle Christianity has achieved in America is that the Black man in white Christian hands has not grown violent. It is a miracle that twenty-two million Black people have not risen up against their oppressors in which they would have been justified by all moral criteria and even by the democratic traditions.”

“One of the things that makes a Negro unpleasant to white folk is the fact that he suffers from their injustice. He is thus a standing rebuke to them.”

Facts Suffering Justice White Diversity Standing Social Justice Injustice Folks Rebuke

Book:Minority Report

Source: Minority Report

“It occurred to me when I was thirteen and wearing white gloves and Mary Janes and going to dancing school, that no one should have to dance backward all their lives.”

Should School Justice White Diversity Should Have Social Justice Dancing Mary Jane Gloves Thirteen Mary Jane Wearing White

Author:William Ruckelshaus

“"Native" always means people who belong someplace else, because they had once belonged somewhere. That shows that the white race does not really think they belong anywhere, because they think of everybody else as native.”

People Thinking Mean Doe Shows Justice White Race Diversity Social Justice Native Mean People White Race

Author:Gertrude Stein

“Just imagine how boring life would be if we were all the same. My idea of a perfect world is one in which we really appreciated each other's differences: Short, tall; Democrat, Republican; black, white; gay, straight-a world in which all of us are equal, but definitely not the same.”

“Where today are the Pequot? Where are the Narragansett, the Mohican, the Pcanet, and other powerful tribes of our people? They have vanished before the avarice and oppression of the white man, as snow before the summer sun.”

“We shall be free only together, black and white. We shall survive only together, black and white. We can be human only together, black and white.”

Humans Together Black Justice White Diversity Social Justice Black And White

Book:The words of Desmond Tutu

Source: The words of Desmond Tutu

“When I care about black liberation, it is because I care about white liberation.”

Care Black Justice White Diversity Social Justice Liberation I Care Because I Care

Author:Desmond Tutu

“Those who came to the United States didn't realize they were white until they got here. They were told they were white. They had to learn they were white. An Irish peasant coming from British imperial abuse in Ireland during the potato famine in the 1840s, arrives in the United States. You ask him or her what they are. They say, "I am Irish." No, you're white. "What do you mean, I am white?" And they point me out. "Oh, I see what you mean. This is a strange land."”

Mean States Asks Realizing Justice White United United States Land Strange Diversity Abuse Social Justice British Ireland Potatoes Peasants Famine Potato Famine

Author:Cornel West

“Most of the time when "universal" is used, it's just a euphamism for "white"; white themes, white significance, white culture.”

Used Culture Justice White Diversity Universal Social Justice Theme Significance

Author:Merle Woo

“We were trying to transform America, not triumph over white folk.”

Trying America Justice White Diversity Social Justice Folks Triumph

Book:An Easy Burden: The Civil Rights Movement and the Transformation of America

Source: An Easy Burden: The Civil Rights Movement and the Transformation of America

“Black is beautiful when it is a slum kid studying to enter college, when it is a man learning new skills for a new job, or a slum mother battling to give her kids a chance for a better life. But white is beautiful, too, when it helps change society to make our system work for black people also. White is ugly when it oppresses blacks-and so is black ugly when black people exploit other blacks. No race has a monopoly on vice or virtue, and the worth of an individual is not related to the color of his skin.”

Source: Beyond Racism: Building an Open Society

“Black people are the magical faces at the bottom of society's well. Even the poorest whites, those who must live their lives only a few levels above, gain their self-esteem by gazing down on us. Surely, they must know that their deliverance depends on letting down their ropes. Only by working together is escape possible. Over time, many reach out, but most simply watch, mesmerized into maintaining their unspoken commitment to keeping us where we are, at whatever cost to them or to us (Bell).”

Source: Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism

“This the American black man knows: his fight here is a fight to the finish. Either he dies or wins. If he wins it will be by no subterfuge or evasion of amalgamation . He will enter modern civilization here in America as a black man on terms of perfect and unlimited equality with any white man, or he will enter not at all. Either extermination root and branch, or absolute equality. There can be no compromise. This is the last great battle of the west.”

“Some white people are so accustomed to operating at a competitive advantage that when the playing field is level, they feel handicapped.”

People Feels Justice White Levels Fields Diversity Advantage Social Justice Accustomed Playing Fields Competitive Advantage Handicapped

Book:Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America

Source: Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America

“In the realm of culture in America, white European culture has held the floor for centuries; just as with any one-sided conversation, a balance can only be achieved if the speaker who has dominated speaks less and listens more.”

Ifs America Culture Speak Justice White Century Balance Conversation Diversity Social Justice Realms Speakers One Sided Speak Less

Author:David Mura

“White men seem to have difficulty in realizing that people who live differently from themselves still might be traveling the upward and progressive road of life.”

People Men Stills Seems Might Realizing Justice White Difficulty Social Justice Progressive White Man

Book:Land of the Spotted Eagle

Source: Land of the Spotted Eagle

“Only to the white man was nature a "wilderness" and only to him was the land "infested" with "wild" animals and "savage" people. To us it was tame. Earth was bountiful and we were surrounded with the blessings of the Great Mystery. Not until the hairy man from the east came and with brutal frenzy heaped injustices upon us and the families that we loved was it "wild" for us. When the very animals of the forest began fleeing from his approach, then it was that for us the "Wild West" began.”

“The more I consider the condition of the white men, the more fixed becomes my opinion that, instead of gaining, they have lost much by subjecting themselves to what they call the laws and regulations of civilized socieities.”

“Find a balance between one's responsibility as a white person to confront acts of racism and one's subconscious sense of power and privilege over people of color when reacting to the [racist] event.”

People Persons Justice White Responsibility Events Color Balance Racism Social Justice Privilege Racist Subconscious Reacting

Author:Eileen O'Brien

“Exposing their own humility and vulnerability is one of the most difficult challenges for white antiracist, even after achieving an autonomous white racial identity.”

Difficult Challenges Justice White Achieve Identity Humility Social Justice Vulnerability Exposing Autonomous Difficult Challenges Racial Identity

Book:Whites Confront Racism: Antiracists and their Paths to Action

Source: Whites Confront Racism: Antiracists and their Paths to Action

“Many white people experience themselves as powerless, even in the face of privilege. But the fact is that we all have a sphere of influence, some domain in which we exercise some level of power and control. The task for each of us, White and of color, is to identify what our own sphere of influence is (however large or small) and to consider how it might be used to interrupt the cycle of racism.”

“White people who are doing this work need to make their stories known to serve as guides for others.”

People Needs Stories Justice White Known Social Justice Guides

Book:Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?

Source: Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?

“You can't organize people if you don't love them. And however hard it can be to love the racist you come in contact with; doing so is the first obligation of a white antiracist.”

People Ifs Firsts Hard Justice White Social Justice Obligation Contact Racist Organize

Author:Tim Wise

“The white man's happiness cannot be purchased by the black man's misery.”

Men Culture Literature Black White Diversity Social Justice Misery White Man Misery And Pain

Author:Frederick Douglass

Social Justice Quotes

Related topics

Social Justice Quotes