Important Quotes
If you know me, you know I have quotes everywhere in my life. I’ve got sticky notes all over my room, my desks, my car, my office, in my books, and.. yeah. I think there’s a lot to learn from a good quote.
Of course, as with every other post on this blog, I encourage you to do your own research. But, as the point of this is to be a resource for you to grow, I made another list. Below are a few relevant quotes that struck me to my core:
"The very serious function of racism…is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language and so you spend 20 years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn’t shaped properly so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Somebody says that you have no art so you dredge that up. Somebody says that you have no kingdoms and so you dredge that up. None of that is necessary." - Toni Morrison, "A Humanist View"
"No matter how big a nation is, it is no stronger than its weakest people, and as long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down there to hold him down, so it means you cannot soar as you might otherwise." - Marian Anderson
“For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us to temporarily beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change. Racism and homophobia are real conditions of all our lives in this place and time. I urge each one of us here to reach down into that deep place of knowledge inside herself and touch that terror and loathing of any difference that lives here. See whose face it wears. Then the personal as the political can begin to illuminate all our choices.” ― Audre Lorde
“In this country American means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate.” ― Toni Morrison
“The question of color was but another detail, somewhere between being six feet tall and being six feet under.” ― James Baldwin, Dark Days
“You are growing into consciousness, and my wish for you is that you feel no need to constrict yourself to make other people comfortable.” ― Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me
“No human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them” ― Elie Wiesel
“If I take your race away, and there you are, all strung out. And all you got is your little self, and what is that? What are you without racism? Are you any good? Are you still strong? Are you still smart? Do you still like yourself? I mean, these are the questions. Part of it is, ‘Yes, the victim. How terrible it’s been for black people.’ I’m not a victim. I refuse to be one … if you can only be tall because somebody is on their knees, then you have a serious problem. And my feeling is that white people have a very, very serious problem, and they should start thinking about what they can do about it. Take me out of it.” — Toni Morrison
“You can't hate the roots of a tree and not hate the tree.” ― Malcolm X
“A riot is the language of the unheard.” — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.” — Malcolm X
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” — Desmond Tutu
“In a racist society it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.”
— Angela Davis
“White feelings should never be held in higher regard than black lives.”
— Rachel Cargle
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” — Nelson Mandela
Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.” — Bertrand Russell
“The Constitution gives you the right, as a white man, to have a rifle in your home. The Constitution gives you the right to protect yourself. Why is it ‘ominous’ when black people even talk of having rifles? Why don’t we have the right to self-defense? Is it because maybe you know we’re going to have to defend ourselves against you?” ― James Baldwin, One Day When I Was Lost
“If you believe in a cause, be willing to stand up for that cause with a million people or by yourself.” ― Otis S. Johnson, From "N Word" to Mr. Mayor: Experiencing the American Dream
