Civil Rights Quotes - Page 20

• My parents demonstrated against the Vietnam war, they were into the civil rights movement, the feminist movement, they started the first vegetarian restaurant in Pittsburgh.

  Justin Sane

  War, Rights, Parent

  "Anti-Flag to incite May Day masses" by Mark Brown, www.theguardian.com. April 28, 2006.

  17 Copy quote

  Show source

• My friends, to those who say that we are rushing this issue of civil rights, I say to them we are 172 years late. To those who say that this civil-rights program is an infringement on states’ rights, I say this: The time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadow of states' rights and to walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights.

  Hubert H. Humphrey

  Party, Sunshine, Rights

  Address at Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, www.americanrhetoric.com. July 14, 1948.

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly, I don't see much of a distinction beyond that.

  Joe Biden

  Men, Rights, Liberty

  "Biden breaks down stance on same-sex marriage". "Meet the Press" with David Gregory, www.nbcnews.com. May 06, 2012.

  47 Copy quote

  Show source

• I believe that education is the civil rights issue of our generation. And if you care about promoting opportunity and reducing inequality, the classroom is the place to start. Great teaching is about so much more than education; it is a daily fight for social justice.

  Arne Duncan

  Education, Believe, Teaching

  39 Copy quote

• Neither my great-grandfather an NAACP founder, my grandfather Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr. an NAACP leader, my father Rev. A. D. Williams King, nor my uncle Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. embraced the homosexual agenda that the current NAACP is attempting to label as a civil rights agenda.

  Alveda King

  Kings, Uncles, Father

  18 Copy quote

• I think the Civil Rights Movement changed that trajectory for me. The first thing I did was leave school. I was suspended for my participation in Movement demonstrations in my hometown, December, 1961

  Bernice Johnson Reagon

  School, Thinking, Rights

  23 Copy quote

• When I was 15 years old in the tenth grade, I heard Martin Luther King, Jr. Three years later, when I was 18, I met Dr. King and we became friends. Two years after that I became very involved in the civil rights movement. I was in college at the time. As I got more and more involved, I saw politics as a means of bringing about change

  John Lewis

  Kings, Mean, College

  7 Copy quote

• My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Rights, Gains

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2011). “Why We Can't Wait”, p.59, Beacon Press

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• The American dream is not a sprint, or even a marathon, but a relay. Our families don't always cross the finish line in the span of one generation. But each generation passes on to the next the fruits of their labor. My grandmother never owned a house. She cleaned other people's houses so she could afford to rent her own. But she saw her daughter become the first in her family to graduate from college. And my mother fought hard for civil rights so that instead of a mop, I could hold this microphone.

  Julian Castro

  Daughter, Mother, Dream

  "Julian Castro's 5 notable lines" by Kevin Cirilli, www.politico.com. September 4, 2012.

  47 Copy quote

  Show source

• My heart beats red, white, and blue.
  And with patriotism it aches
  Generally, I believe in democracy, freedom and civil rights
  But in particular, cupcakes

  John Walter Bratton

  Believe, 4th Of July, Heart

  4 Copy quote

• The oppressed should rebel, and they will continue to rebel and raise disturbance until their civil rights are fully restored to them and all partial distinctions, exlusions, and incapacitations are removed.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Rights, Adoption, Rebel

  Thomas Jefferson, Martin Alfred Larson (1981). “Jefferson, magnificent populist”, Devin-Adair Pub

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• This is a crucial time in the fight for corporate civil rights. Just look at the hateful signs at Occupy Wallstreet: 'Corporations Are Not People!' Wow, I thought we were past the point in this country where some people aren't people just because they have different color skin or different religion or were born in a lawyer's office, only exist on paper, have no soul and can never die.

  Stephen Colbert

  Country, Fighting, Past

  4 Copy quote

• Yes, it is hard out there. But hard is relative. I come from a middle-class family, my parents are academics. I was born after the Civil Rights movement, I was a toddler during the women's movement, I live in the United States of America, all of which means I am allowed to own my freedom, my rights, my voice and my uterus.

  Shonda Rhimes

  Mean, America, Rights

  Shonda Rhimes (2015). “Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person”, p.83, Simon and Schuster

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Each state, so that it does not abridge the great fundamental rights belonging, under the Constitution, to all citizens, may grant or withhold such civil rights as it pleases; all that is required is that, in this respect, its laws shall be impartial.

  Lyman Trumbull

  Respect, Rights, Law

  66 Copy quote

• The bill neither confers nor abridges the rights of anyone but simply declares that in civil rights there shall be equality among all classes of citizens and that all alike shall be subject to the same punishment.

  Lyman Trumbull

  Equality, Rights, Punishment

  4 Copy quote

• LISTEN: If you ever wondered what you would do if you were alive in the Civil Rights Movement, NOW IS THE TIME to find out. NOW. RIGHT NOW.

  Shaun King

  Rights, Movement, Alive

  "The Amazing Black Activists We’re Thankful For in 2015" By Zeba Blay, www.huffingtonpost.com. November 23, 2015.

  16 Copy quote

  Show source

• Sidney Poitier became a star in part by helping black and white Americans negotiate their new relationship in the post-Civil Rights era.

  Wesley Morris

  Stars, New Relationship, Black And White

  4 Copy quote

• This is nothing new. We saw this with the Social Security Act, the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Right Act - constitutional challenges were brought to all three of these monumental pieces of legislation.

  Stephanie Cutter

  Rights, Voting, Childhood

  "Settled Law is on Side of Health Reform" by Stephanie Cutter, www.realclearpolitics.com. August 03, 2010.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• The first duty of government is to protect the citizen from assault. Unless it does this, all the civil rights and civil liberties in the world aren't worth a dime.

  Richard Viguerie

  Rights, Government, Liberty

  4 Copy quote

• The concept of military necessity is seductively broad, and has a dangerous plasticity. Because they invariably have the visage of overriding importance, there is always a temptation to invoke security "necessities" to justify an encroachment upon civil liberties. For that reason, the military-security argument must be approached with a healthy skepticism.

  William J. Brennan

  Military, Temptation, Healthy

  5 Copy quote
• 

  Justice is indivisible. You can't decide who gets civil rights and who doesn't.

  Angela Davis

  Rights, Justice, Indivisible

  579 Copy quote

• As I got to know the people of the Civil Rights Movement, I realized...
  I am the hopeful black woman who was denied her right to vote.
  I am the caring white supporter killed on the front lines of freedom.
  I am the unarmed black kid who maybe needed a hand, but instead was given a bullet. I am the two fallen police officers murdered in the line of duty. 'Selma' has awakened my humanity.

  Common

  Kids, Caring, Rights

  "72nd Golden Globe Awards". www.imdb.com. 2015.

  40 Copy quote

  Show source

• Had it not been for the ministry of my good friend Dr. Billy Graham, my work in the civil rights movement would not have been as successful as it has been.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Successful, Good Friend, Rights

  8 Copy quote

• For liberalism is a delicate thing. It encompasses so much -- constitutional government, democratic elections, freedom of worship, civil rights, free trade -- that we think of it as timeless and universal. But liberalism came into being in a real place and time, like a flame it has wavered in various eras, and it can be snuffed out.

  Russell Shorto

  Real, Thinking, Flames

  6 Copy quote

• I got out of the Army - in my world - I came to New York, for instance, when the civil rights movement was just beginning, and that created a certain energy, a certain rumble, a certain impetus for black actors.

  James Earl Jones

  New York, Army, Rights

  "James Earl Jones on Vision". The Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. June 29, 1996.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source