“But for poor black people and working-class black people, it is a much more difficult way to go. The over-incarceration of black people is just intolerable. When you look at the disparity in terms of education and access to fair schooling, it is horrible. If this would happen to white people in this country, it would not be tolerated.” PeopleIfsWayLooksCountryHappensDifficultBlackTermWhitePoorClassFairsAccessHorribleBlack PeopleWorking ClassSchoolingDisparityIncarceration Author:Michael Eric Dyson
“In 2003, at the time I made my "Old Europe" comment, the center of gravity in NATO and Europe had long since shifted to the East. With the former Warsaw Pact countries joining NATO, the alliance has a different mix today. Some people were sensitive about my comment because they thought it was a pejorative way of highlighting demographic realities. Apparently they felt it pointed a white light at a weakness in Europe - an aging population. Europe has come some distance since World War II in becoming Europe.” PeopleWorldWayLongMadeDifferentWarCountryRealityLightTodayFeltWhiteBecomingWeaknessEuropeDistanceAgingPopulationEastFormerSensitiveWar Of The WorldsCommentWorld War IiGravityWorld War IAlliancesJoiningNatoDemographicsPactWhite LightHighlightingWarsawCenter Of GravityAging PopulationWarsaw Pact Author:Donald Rumsfeld
“Socially, hip-hop has done more for racial camaraderie in this country than any one thing. 'Cause guys like me, my kids - everyone under 45 either grew up loving hip-hop or hating hip-hop, but everyone under 45 grew up very aware of hip-hop. So when you're a white kid and you're listening to this music and you're being exposed to it every day on MTV, black people become less frightening. This is just a reality. What hip-hop has done bringing people together is enormous.” PeopleCountryDoneRealityKidsTogetherGuyHateCausesBlackWhiteOne ThingListeningGrewGrew UpHip HopEnormousLike MeHipsHopsBlack PeopleExposedFrighteningMtvCamaraderie Author:Michael Rapaport
“I have just realized that it is due to you, and to Mr. James Thomas and his staff of the Army Navy Country Club that the putting green here on the White House lawn is already in such excellent condition. I assure you that I get a great deal of pleasure and relaxation out of using the green in an occasional late afternoon hour . . .” CountryHouseSportsHoursWhitePleasureDealsConditionsLateArmyGreenClubsDuesExcellentWhite HouseAfternoonStaffRelaxationNavyOccasionalLawnsCountry ClubsJust RealizedArmy NavyLate Afternoon Author:Dwight D. Eisenhower
“I think it's important to accept all the ways that we're absurdly lucky. I'm a white male from a safe city in a wealthy country.” ThinkingWayImportantCountryWhiteCitiesAcceptingLuckySafeMalesWealthy Author:Dan Mangan
“America is or should be about inclusion. Immigrants like muslims don't and can't fit the white European mold that prevailed in this country 50 years ago.” ShouldYearsCountryAmericaWhiteFitYears AgoImmigrantsInclusionMold Author:Tom Gjelten
“Ninety-seven percent of the CEOs of the Fortune 500 are white men, and what they do radiates all the way down into poor areas and cities around our country. Like predatory lending and misallocation of municipal services. These guys get municipal service, poor areas don't. So they run the economy into the ground, and who suffers the most? The poor pay more and they die earlier.” MenWayCountryRunningGuySufferingDiesWhitePoorPayCitiesEconomyPercentAreasFortuneSevenOur CountryCeoWhite ManNinetyLendingPredatory Author:Ralph Nader
“On the downside, to paraphrase Thom Yorke talking about the music business, we're still having to deal with the stench of the last fart of the dying corpse of this regressive vision that America is a white, middle-aged, male, conservative country.” StillsCountryLastsAmericaWhiteDealsTalkingVisionMiddleDyingMalesConservativeCorpsesMusic BusinessMiddle AgedFartParaphrase Author:Edward Norton
“Many heroic things happened during slavery. And remember that there was a national movement away from it even at the time. The era of Reconstruction and then the subsequent dismantling of Reconstruction sent us in a tailspin. Then we had the Civil Rights movement. Now we have our first non-white president. We have a pattern of moving apart and then coming back together throughout the history of this country. Each time, we come closer.” FirstsCountryTogetherRememberMovingPresidentWhiteRightsHappenedMovementSlaveryPatternsThings HappenCivil RightsErasHeroicComing BackCivil Rights MovementBack TogetherReconstruction Author:Wynton Marsalis
“Callista Gingrich. Karen Santorum. Ann Romney. Now do you really think our country is ready for a white first lady?” ThinkingFirstsCountryWhiteReadyOur CountryRomneyFirst Lady Author:Robert De Niro
“Elvis Presley's death deprives our country of a part of itself. He was unique, irreplaceable. More than twenty years ago, he burst upon the scene with an impact that was unprecedented and will probably never be equaled. His music and his personality, fusing the styles of white country and black rhythm and blues, permanently changed the face of American popular culture. His following was immense. And he was a symbol to people the world over of the vitality, rebelliousness and good humor of this country.” PeopleWorldYearsCountryFacesCultureBlackWhiteStyleChangedPersonalitySceneUniqueYears AgoTwentiesImpactFollowingOur CountryRhythmSymbolsImmenseVitalityUnprecedentedPopular CultureIrreplaceableGood HumorRhythm And Blues Author:Jimmy Carter
“Because my parents were American missionaries who sent me to public schools in rural Japan, I had to confront Hiroshima as a child. I was in the fourth grade - the only American in my class - when our teacher wrote the words "America" and "Atomic Bomb" in white chalk on the blackboard. All forty Japanese children turned around to stare at me. My country had done something unforgivable and I had to take responsibility for it, all by myself. I desperately wanted to dig a hole under my desk, to escape my classmates' mute disbelief and never have to face them again.” ChildrenCountryDoneWantedSchoolAmericaFacesParentWhiteResponsibilityClassTeacherHolesStaringBombsGradesJapanFortyFourthDesksTaking ResponsibilityPublic SchoolDisbeliefMuteAtomic BombHiroshimaClassmatesChalkUnforgivableFourth GradeBlackboard Author:Linda Hoaglund
“It's not very long ago that we were all singing country music. And country music is equally black as it is white and that's important to recognize.” LongImportantCountryBlackWhiteMusic IsSingingLong Ago Author:Ketch Secor
“Country music is the combination of African and European folk songs coming together and doing a little waltz right here in the American south. They came together at some cotillion, and somebody snuck a black person into the room, and he danced with a white lady, and music was born.” LittlesPersonsCountryTogetherSongBlackBornWhiteRoomsMusic IsSouthFolksCombinationComing TogetherBlack PersonWaltzFolk SongsCotillion Author:Ketch Secor
“The reason our country looks the way it does is through social engineering that distinctly benefits suburban communities, exurban communities, and often white residents. And we are socially engineered in such a way as to, often unconsciously and unintentionally, but sometimes intentionally, perpetuate this divisive inequality.” WayLooksDoeCountrySometimesReasonSocialCommunityWhiteBenefitsOur CountryInequalityEngineeringResidentsSocial Engineering Author:Richard Benjamin
“There are a lot of barbecue sauces. But I've been using Head Country barbecue sauce for 20 to 25 years, which is manufactured in Ponca City, Oklahoma. It's just awesome and has tremendous flavor. Many professional cooks use it and it can be found at Kroger and Walmart stores around the country. I use the Original, which has a white label and is a classic. But there's also a hickory flavor, called Hickory Smoke and one that has a little heat.” YearsLittlesCountryUseFoundWhiteCitiesOriginalsStoresSmokeLabelsCooksHeatClassicFlavorSauceBarbecueOklahomaWalmartBarbecue Sauce Author:Johnny Trigg
“[Vladimir] Putin spoke unabashedly about the importance of national sovereignty in Syria, a concept apparently near and dear to his heart, unless it comes to the sovereignty of Georgia, Ukraine or any other country in which he intervenes. Then he offered his cooperation, but without making any concrete concessions at all. And he didn't have to, either. He knows what he can rely on. He has assets that are more valuable than words: He has tanks in Ukraine, fighter jets in Syria - and Barack Obama in the White House.” KnowsHeartCountryHouseWhiteConceptsImportanceDearValuableFighterBarackRelySpokesWhite HouseAssetsCooperationConcreteOther CountriesSyriaSovereigntyTanksPutinUkraineJetGeorgiaConcessionsNational SovereigntyFighter Jets Author:Garry Kasparov
“In the great depression, things could only be set right by causing the idle plant to work again . . . Roosevelt . . . spent billions of public money and created a huge public debt, but by so doing he revived production and brought his country out of the depression. Businessmen, who in spite of such a sharp lesson continued to believe in old-fashioned economics, were infinitely shocked, and although Roosevelt saved them from ruin, they continued to curse him and to speak of him as 'the madman in the White House.' . . . [It's one more] striking example of inability to learn from experience.” BelieveCountryHouseSpeakWhiteExampleHugeLessonsEconomicsPlantProductionsDebtBillionsSavedRuinsCurseSpiteWhite HouseIdleBusinessmanShockedOld FashionedInabilityMadmenGreat DepressionLearning ExperiencePublic Money Author:Bertrand Russell
“I don't feel any 'white guilt,' because I had nothing to do with (slavery) whatsoever. I feel shame for my country that it happened and that's why I feel we need to deal with it.” NeedsFeelsCountryWhiteDealsHappenedShameSlaveryGuilt Author:Quentin Tarantino
“Democracy is the eagle on the back of a dollar bill, with 13 arrows in one claw, 13 leaves on a branch, 13 tail feathers, and 13 stars over its head - this signifies that when the white man came to this country, it was bad luck for the Indians, bad luck for the trees, bad luck for the wildlife, and lights out for the American eagle.” MenCountryLightStarsWhiteDemocracyTreeLuckBillsDollarsBranchesOver ItTailsWhite ManFeathersEaglesArrowsWildlifeBad LuckClawsDollar BillsAmerican Eagle Author:Johnny Carson
“The Arab countries in the Middle East have for decades demonized Israel, to Western leadership, which for reasons not entirely clear, listen to them politely. The Bush Administration, for example, was infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood years before Obama began mainstreaming them and allowing them to have positions of influence within the White House.” YearsCountryReasonHouseWhiteClearInfluenceMiddleExamplePositionWesternIsraelEastDecadesAdministrationWhite HouseAllowingBrotherhoodMiddle EastMuslim Brotherhood Author:Manfred Gerstenfeld