Anti Racism Quotes

“We don’t think you fight fire with fire best ; we think you fight fire with water best. We’re going to fight racism not with racism, but we’re going to fight with solidarity. We say we’re not going to fight capitalism with black capitalism, but we’re going to fight it with socialism. We’re stood up and said we’re not going to fight reactionary pigs and reactionary state’s attorneys like this and reactionary state’s attorneys like Hanrahan with any other reactions on our part. We’re going to fight their reactions with all of us people getting together and having an international proletarian revolution.”
― Fred Hampton

“I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color”
― Malcolm X

“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

“Becoming conscious of racism does not mean you are a racist.”
― Auliq Ice

“We all have a sphere of influence. Each of us needs to find our own sources of courage so that we can begin to speak. There are many problems to address, and we cannot avoid them indefinitely. We cannot continue to be silent. We must begin to speak, knowing that words alone are insufficient. But I have seen that meaningful dialogue can lead to effective action. Change is possible.”
― Beverly Daniel Tatum, Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?

“A young nurse, someone new whom he didn't recognise, came up to Henry and patted him on the arm. "Are you a friend or a family member?" She whispered the question in his ear, trying not to disturb Sheldon.

The question hung there like a beautiful chord, ringing in the air. Henry was Chinese, Sheldon obviously wasn't. They looked nothing alike. Nothing at all. "I'm distant family," Henry said.”
― Jamie Ford, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

“There is a great new work before us, which is to replace with true knowledge the ignorance that has destroyed human minds. We will construct unity in a world [which] has been brutally torn apart by false divisions of race, religion, gender, nationality, and age. We will heal with unconditional love those souls whose hearts have been disfigured by hatred and loneliness.”
― Aberjhani, Songs from the Black Skylark zPed Music Player

“Animal' is a category that we shove certain bodies into when we want to justify violence against them, which is why animal liberation should concern all who are minoritized. As long as animals are oppressed, as long as 'animal' means something degrading, we will never be set free.”
― Aph Ko, Aphro-ism: Essays on Pop Culture, Feminism, and Black Veganism from Two Sisters

“Being nonracist will not change our current situation of racism. It may make you feel like you're a good person. But it, once again, reinforces racism. There is no action in being non-racist. You may be conscious of not saying racist statements and you yourself may feel like you are making a difference by sharing a quote from an African poet on social media. The reality is: inaction will do nothing other than maintain the old normal. Action, being anti-racist, will make change.”
― Tiffany Jewell, This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work

“I'm not here to sugar-coat grief. I'm here to be transformed by it.”
― Maya Kalaria, Half Woman Half Grief

“Look at the rainbow, it is made up of different colors, yet they do not split, because they know how beautiful they are when they stick together.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson, Song of a Nature Lover

“Many unlearning racism workshops focus on helping white individuals to see that they too are wounded by racism and as a consequence have something to gain from participating in anti-racist struggle. While in some ways true, a construction of political solidarity that is rooted in a narrative of shared victimization not only acts to recenter whites, it risks obscuring the particular ways racist domination impacts on the lives of marginalized groups. Implicit in the assumption that even those who are privileged via racist hierarchy suffer is the notion that it is only when those in power get in touch with how they too are victimized will they rebel against structures of domination. The truth is that many folks benefit greatly from dominating others and are not suffering a wound that is in any way similar to the condition of the exploited and oppressed.
Anti-racist work that tries to get these individuals to see themselves as "victimized" by racism in the hopes that this will act as an intervention is a misguided strategy. And indeed we must be willing to acknowledge that individuals of great privilege who are in no way victimized are capable, via their political choices, of working on behalf of the oppressed. Such solidarity does not need to be rooted in shared experience. It can be based on one's political and ethical understanding of racism and one's rejection of domination.”
― bell hooks, Black Looks: Race and Representation

“History written by the victors always erases the resistance. And those of us who live in the wake/ruins learn that we're inferior and needed to be conquered and enslaved. This is the afterlife of slavery that the victors need us to inhabit. One in which we have always already lost and have accepted our fate a handed to us.”
― Rebecca Hall, Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts

“The deepest connection you have with someone & their culture, is through learning their language.”
― Marisa J Taylor, Happy within / Feliz por dentro: Children's Book Bilingual English Spanish

“I only had the morning to get my work done. I had to be really efficient. I'd let the others take the easy questions in class and wait to answer the hardest ones. I'm Asian and a woman, which shouldn't matter but did anyway. It was clear sometimes that no matter how hard I worked, I didn't qualify to be a member of the in club.”
― Jean Kwok, Searching for Sylvie Lee

“It's routine, it's a dance and it really needs to stop... And I really wish that these students and the professors who support them understood how dumb they are being considered - not how dumb they look 'cause then it becomes "why are you so concerned what white people think of us?" That's not the point, it's that these people quietly are thinking "these people are dumb and so we're going to approach them on their level." I don't know where people get the idea that that's black strength or that it's "progressive". People REALLY need to get past that. And I just think that black students who protest over things that don't make sense - there's such thing as sensible black protest - but if it's about something that Doesn't. Make. Any. Damn. Sense. And you're making these demands that your school becomes some sort of anti racism academy along the lines of Maoist ideology - you have to understand that the people who give in to you think that you are DUMB AS S*** and you have to understand that that is a problem. You've been condescended to. But no, they don't get it, they just think that to stick your fist in the air and yell certain slogans makes you somebody of higher wisdom and makes you a person who is continuing the struggle of Dr. King. No.”
― John McWhorter

“Despite the overwhelming evidence of the impact of racism, today the fundamental idea of race neutrality continues to claim an elevated status in law. The consequence, Professor Ibram Kendi observes, is that these legal battles "ended up principally outlawing 'intention to discriminate'" so that "[i]ntent--not outcome--became the preferred proof of discrimination." Kendi argues that the focus on state of mind (intent to discriminate) rather than the effect of specific actions (discriminatory impact) undermines the push for equality.”
― Elizabeth Warren, Persist

“If you only have love for your own race. Then you only leave space to discriminate.”
― Will.i.am

“But rather than deeming the current situation an absolute tragedy, we should seize it as an opportunity to move towards a collective responsibility for a better society, taking account of the internal hierarchies and intersections along the way.”
― Reni Eddo-Lodge, Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race

“Love was the engine of the Civil Rights movement. I risked death for love. I know this isn't a conventional view. We cared not only about those who were marching with us, but those who opposed us. Every human being is deserving and worth of being loved.”
― John Lewis

“It reminded me of an idea the late American novelist James Baldwin posed in various ways over the course of his career: "As long as you think that you are white, there is no hope for you." Perhaps equally relevant is that he never said "As long as you think that you are an antiracist white, there is some hope for you.”
― Timothy H. Ives, Stones of Contention

“Those flirting with the idea that our generation might be the one to end racism have a tremendous hubris, an ignorance of the complexities involved, and a tragically flawed imagination of the phenomenon as a metaphysical substance to be "stamped out" rather than an ever-present complex of observable behaviors throughout multicultural societies that inflates or deflates according to circumstances.”
― Timothy H. Ives, Stones of Contention

“But the real weak point in all of these arguments is simply that, for every reason people can come up with to dislike and reject monsters, there are an equal number of reasons to tolerate and accept them. And we know all of them by heart because we've heard them all before, as Frisk Dreemurr said earlier, when they were used against other human beings. Though having said that, there are also other reasons to like monsters, and I have a few of them right here.”

The host on the screen reached down and started pulling objects out from underneath the news desk and placing them on top of it, while the audience started to laugh. “We have vanilla, chocolate, chocolate chip, fudge, caramel, butterscotch, cherry, wild mango, lava cake, actual lava not sure how that works, strawberry kiwi, watermelon, and pistachio.”

The host picked up one of the items and showed it on screen, so that the logo of the smiling blue monster was easily visible. “And don't forget, when you're done eating the Nice Cream, you also have a message on the wrapper telling you something positive and reassuring. So if I could give a little advice to the anti-monster crowd out there, if you're still watching? Your competition has all these different flavors, and please note that 'Salty' is not one of them. Cornering that market is not the brilliant strategy you seem to think it is.”
― TimeCloneMike, Ebott's Wake

“Many unlearning racism workshops focus on helping white individuals to see that they too are wounded by racism and as a consequence have something to gain from participating in anti-racist
struggle. While in some ways true, a construction of political solidarity that is rooted in a narrative of shared victimization not only acts to recenter whites, it risks obscuring the particular ways racist domination impacts on the lives of marginalized groups. Implicit in the assumption that even those who are privileged via racist hierarchy suffer is the notion that it is only when those in power get in touch with how they too are victimized will they rebel against structures of domination. The truth is that many folks benefit greatly from dominating others and are not suffering a wound that is in any way similar to the condition of the exploited and oppressed.
Anti-racist work that tries to get these individuals to see themselves as "victimized" by racism in the hopes that this will act as an intervention is a misguided strategy. And indeed we must be willing to acknowledge that individuals of great privilege who are in no way victimized are capable, via their political choices, of working on behalf of the oppressed. Such solidarity does not need to be rooted in shared experience. It can be based on one's political and ethical understanding of racism and one's rejection of domination.”
― bell hooks, Black Looks: Race and Representation

“Drink to whatever it is I'm headed, and don't let there be any Japs or Chinks or Jews or Poles or Niggers or Frenchies, but only people.”
― John Okada, No-No Boy

“Any charity that does not have a core mission to empower the communities they are serving is problematic.”
― Nova Reid

“There is much more to doing good work than ‘making a difference’. There is the principle of first do no harm.”
― Nova Reid

“Often, the performative ally professes allegiance in order to distance themselves from potential scrutiny.”
― Carmen Morris

“Performative allyship does not engage on a complex level. It consists of low level, often ill-informed rhetorical statements that are usually obvious to Black and Brown employees and real allies, of the anti racist, racially inclusive agenda. It lacks genuine concern and does little to acknowledge the very behaviours that support structural and process driven racism.”
― Carmen Morris

“Anti-Racism is Not a Performance Game”
― Carmen Morris