Social Justice Quotes - Page 31

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

  James Weldon Johnson

  Country, White, People

  James Weldon Johnson (2012). “The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man”, p.10, Courier Corporation

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• The time is past when Christians in America can take a long spoon and hand the gospel to the black man out the back door.

  Mordecai Wyatt Johnson

  Christian, Past, Men

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• It's funny how heterosexuals have lives and the rest of us have "lifestyles."

  Sonia Johnson

  Justice, Diversity, Lifestyle

  Sonia Johnson (1987). “Going Out of Our Minds: The Metaphysics of Liberation”, Crossing Pr

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• Good poetry and successful revolution change our lives. And you cannot compose a good poem or wage a revolution without changing consciousness unless you attack the language that you share with your enemies and invent a language that you share with your allies.

  June Jordan

  Successful, Justice, Diversity

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• All men were made brothers. The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it. You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who was born free should be content when penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases.

  Chief Joseph

  Mother, Running, Brother

  Lincoln Hall Speech in Washington D.C., January 14, 1879.

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• 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.

  Chief Joseph

  I Like You, Horse, Native American

  Arguing against the right of the US Government to force his people to leave their lands, 1876.

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• We do not want churches because they will teach us to quarrel about God. We do not want to learn that. We may quarrel with men sometimes about things on this earth, but we never quarrel about the Great Spirit. We do not want to learn that.

  Chief Joseph

  Men, Justice, Diversity

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• Prejudice squints when it looks and lies when it talks.

  Laure Junot, Duchess of Abrantes

  Lying, Diversity, Justice

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• Have therefore zeal to better thyself and then mayst thou have zeal to thy neighbor.

  Thomas a Kempis

  Justice, Diversity, Neighbor

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• We feel and weigh soon enough what we suffer from others: but how much others suffer from us, of this we take no heed.

  Thomas a Kempis

  Soon Enough, Justice, Diversity

  Thomas a Kempis (1913). “The Imitation of Christ”

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• In America there must be only citizens, not divided by grade, first and second, but citizens, east, west, north, and south.

  John F. Kennedy

  America, Justice, Diversity

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• We shall be judged more by what we do at home than what we preach abroad.

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Home, Justice

  Kennedy, John F. (1964). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1963”, p.15, Best Books on

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• Our privileges can be no greater than our obligations. The protection of our rights can endure no longer than the performance of our responsibilities.

  John F. Kennedy

  Responsibility, Rights, Justice

  Kennedy, John F. (1964). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1963”, p.407, Best Books on

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• The war against hunger is truly mankind's war of liberation.

  John F. Kennedy

  War, Justice, Poverty

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

  Otto Kerner, Jr.

  Moving, Two, White

  Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders introduction (1968)

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• I have lived in the redness of the stones that mark a path through my blood; I am the descendant of a forgotten race, but I carry in my hands the remnants of their fire.

  Mohammed Khair-Eddine

  Blood, Hands, Fire

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• People who demand neutrality in any situation are usually not neutral but in favor of the status quo.

  Max Eastman

  People, Diversity, Favors

  Max Eastman (1951). “Enjoyment of Poetry with Anthology”

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• The future which we hold in trust for our own children will be shaped by our fairness to other people's children.

  Marian Wright Edelman

  Children, People, Fairness

  "Why do Politicians Feel Free to Hack Away at Special Education?" by Laurie Levy, www.huffingtonpost.com. October 30, 2017.

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• The question is one of fighting the causes and not just being satisfied with getting rid of the effects.

  Che Guevara

  Fighting, Justice, Diversity

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• 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.

  Nicolas Guillen

  Running, Color, Years

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• As a country, we are in a state of denial about issues of race and racism. And too many of our leaders have concluded that the way to remedy racism is to simply stop talking about race.

  Lani Guinier

  Country, Talking, Issues

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• 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.

  Janet Campbell Hale

  Men, Games, Play

  Janet Campbell Hale (1987). “The Jailing of Cecelia Capture”, p.58, UNM Press

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• Working with children is the easiest part of educating for democracy, because children are still undefeated and have no stake in being prejudiced.

  Margaret Halsey

  Children, Justice, Diversity

  Margaret Halsey (1946). “Color blind: a white woman looks at the Negro”

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• When I liberate others, I liberate myself.

  Fannie Lou Hamer

  Justice, Diversity

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• So far, we do not seem appalled at the prospect of exactly the same kind of education being applied to all the school children from the Atlantic to the Pacific, but there is an uneasiness in the air, a realization that the individual is growing less easy to find; an idea, perhaps, of what standardization might become when the units are not machines, but human beings.

  Edith Hamilton

  Children, School, Air

  Edith Hamilton (1964). “The Ever-Present Past”

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