Black People Quotes

• Segregation was wrong when it was forced by white people, and I believe it is still wrong when it is requested by black people.

  Coretta Scott King

  Believe, Memorable, White

  "The Last Word : A Treasury of Women's Quotes" by Carolyn Warner, (p. 99), 1992.

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• The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men.

  Alice Walker

  Meaningful, Nature, Men

  "The Dreaded Comparison: Animal Slavery and Human Slavery". Book by Marjorie Spiegel, Foreword, 1996.

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  If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Motivational, Inspiring

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  It is in your hands to create a better world for all who live in it.

  Nelson Mandela

  Inspirational, Optimistic, Hands

  Nelson Mandela (2012). “Notes to the Future: Words of Wisdom”, p.118, Simon and Schuster

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• Black people have always been America's wilderness in search of a promised land.

  Cornel West

  Inspirational, America, Land

  Cornel West (2000). “Race Matters”, p.16, Beacon Press

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• It comes down to this: black people were stripped of our identities when we were brought here, and it's been a quest since then to define who we are.

  Spike Lee

  People, Black, Identity

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• A lot of people, black, white, mexican, young or old, fat or skinny have a problem being true to they self. They have a problem looking in the mirror and looking directly into their own souls. Only reason I am who I am today is because I can look directly into my face and find my soul

  Tupac Shakur

  Mirrors, Self, Who I Am

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• In my opinion while lynchings were quite possibly the most heinous crimes ever witnessed in American history, they helped in bringing people together for a sole purpose. It was because of these lynchings that armed self-resistance was created. If white people knew black people were capable of fighting back then there was less of a chance that violence actually would break out.

  Assata Shakur

  Fighting, Lynching, Self

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• Unfortunately, as I tell my white friends, we as black people, we're never going to be successful not because of you white people but because of other black people.

  Charles Barkley

  Successful, White, People

  "Charles Barkley: 'Brainwashed' blacks hold up success" by Breeanna Hare, www.cnn.com. October 28, 2014.

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• Race means family and all black people whether they like it or not, are family.

  Kola Boof

  Mean, Race, People

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• Reckless capitalism kills black people.

  Mos Def

  People, Black, Reckless

  "Mos Def: The Ecstatic" by Gareth Grundy, www.theguardian.com. August 22, 2009.

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• It is our experience that the nation doesn't move around questions of genuine equality for the poor and for black people until it is confronted massively, dramatically in terms of direct action.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Moving, Direct Action, People

  "Blacklivesmatter protests shut down major highway in Boston, 29 arrested" by Adam Fleischer, www.mtv.com. January 15, 2015.

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• If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad. If it is wrong to be violent defending black women and black children and black babies and black men, then it is wrong for America to draft us and make us violent abroad in defense of her. And if it is right for America to draft us, and teach us how to be violent in defense of her, then it is right for you and me to do whatever is necessary to defend our own people right here in this country.

  Malcolm X

  Country, Baby, Children

  "Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements". Book by Malcolm X edited by George Breitman, 1965.

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• At this moment, then, the Negroes must begin to do the very thing which they have been taught that they cannot do.

  Carter G. Woodson

  Black, Taught, Moments

  Carter G. Woodson (2006). “The Mis-Education of the Negro”, p.108, Book Tree

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• The truth is that in this country you here you're more likely to be harassed, hurt, or killed if you're a minister speaking about progress for Black people than if you are a sure enough revolutionary.

  Gil Scott-Heron

  Country, Hurt, People

  Source: agitpropspace.org

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• It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared.

  Whitney M. Young

  Inspirational, Opportunity, African American

  "Independent Lens: The Powerbroker: Whitney Young's Fight for Civil Rights". TV Series, 2013.

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• Dr. King's policy was, if you are nonviolent, if you suffer, your opponent will see your suffering and will be moved to change his heart. That's very good. He only made one fallacious assumption. In order for nonviolence to work, your opponent must have a conscience. The United States has none.

  Stokely Carmichael

  Kings, Heart, Order

  YouTube Channel "StefaniaStudio"/"The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975", www.youtube.com. March 23, 2011.

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• The only thing that white people have that black people need, or should want, is power-and no one holds power forever.

  James A. Baldwin

  Black And White, People, Forever

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• Ancient Egypt was a Negro Civilization. The history of Black Africa will remain suspended in air and cannot be written correctly until African historians dare to connect it with the history of Egypt.

  Cheikh Anta Diop

  Air, Egypt, Civilization

  Cheikh Anta Diop (1989). “The African Origin of Civilization: Myth Or Reality”, p.12, Chicago Review Press

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• The hope, the hope that lives in the breast of the black American, is just so tremendous that it overwhelms me sometimes.

  Maya Angelou

  Black, Sometimes, Breasts

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• Black women have been cultured to compare not connect.

  Michaela Angela Davis

  Women, African American, Black

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• In the gun game, we are the most hunted. The river of blood that washes the streets of our nation flows mostly from the bodies of our black children.

  Harry Belafonte

  Children, Gun, Blood

  Harry Belafonte’s Speech Accepting NAACP Spingarn Medal, www.democracynow.org. February 18, 2013.

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  I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Dream, Kings, Children

  Speech at Civil Rights March,Washington, D.C., 28 Aug. 1963

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• If one lives in a country where racism is held valid and practiced in all ways of life eventually, no matter whether one is a racist or a victim, one comes to feel the absurdity of life....Racism generated from whites is first of all absurd. Racism creates absurdity among blacks as a defense mechanism.

  Chester Himes

  Life, Country, White

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• We accepted education as the means to rise above the limitations that a prejudiced society endeavored to place upon us.

  Evelyn Boyd Granville

  Inspiring, Education, Mean

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