Civil Rights Quotes - Page 26

• The crucial role communists played in organizing industrial unions in the 1930s and struggling for social reforms, peace, and civil rights strengthened rather then undermined democratic forces.

  Michael Parenti

  Struggle, Rights, Political

  "Democracy for the Few". Book by Michael Parenti, 1974.

  14 Copy quote

  Show source

• Thus these three amendments to the Constitution [13th, 14th, 15th] were ratified while the ten Southern states were under martial law, and "had no law at all." The Force Acts, the four Reconstruction Acts, and the Civil Rights Act were all passed by Congress while the Southern states were not allowed to hold free elections, and all voters were under close supervision by federal troops. Even Soviet Russia has never staged such mockeries of the election procedures.

  Eustace Mullins

  War, Russia, Rights

  18 Copy quote

• A hastily written "Civil Rights Act" was rushed through Congress. President Andrew Johnson immediately vetoed it, noting that the right to confer citizenship rested with the several states, and that "the tendency of the bill is to resuscitate the spirit of rebellion".

  Eustace Mullins

  War, Rights, President

  7 Copy quote

• Since the ousting and capture of Saddam Hussein by U.S. forces, civil rights and personal freedoms have been restored in Iraq, as well as equal rights to all, not just to Saddams entourage of terrorists.

  Jim Gerlach

  Iraq, Rights, Hussein

  8 Copy quote

• The great social justice changes in our country have happened when people came together, organized, and took direct action. It is this right that sustains and nurtures our democracy today. The civil rights movement, the labor movement, the women's movement, and the equality movement for our LGBT brothers and sisters are all manifestations of these rights.

  Dolores Huerta

  Country, Brother, Direct Action

  "Election Day is the Most Important Day of Your Life" by Joe Baker, www.huffingtonpost.com. October 27, 2016.

  384 Copy quote

  Show source

• My friends in the Congress, I have known Coretta King since I went south during the civil rights movement as a lawyer. She was a vibrant, consistent, totally dedicated partner with her husband.

  John Conyers

  Kings, Husband, Rights

  6 Copy quote

• It is distressing to me that we live in an age in which we still must fight to protect our civil rights as Americans, in which a hate crime perpetrated against someone based their sexual orientation can go unpunished, and in which discrimination is being written into our laws.

  John Conyers

  Hate, Fighting, Rights

  16 Copy quote

• Yes, I think it's really important to acknowledge that Dr. King, precisely at the moment of his assassination, was re-conceptualizing the civil rights movement and moving toward a sort of coalitional relationship with the trade union movement.

  Angela Davis

  Kings, Moving, Thinking

  "Frontline", www.pbs.org. 1997.

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• Any kind of civil rights oppression is wrong.

  Bryan Cranston

  Rights, Kind, Oppression

  "Bryan Cranston: 'I had to take my character from Mr Chips to Scarface'". Interview with Andrew Anthony, www.theguardian.com. October 27, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• There’s nothing entertaining about watching goons hurl venomous slurs at congressmen like the civil rights hero John Lewis and the openly gay Barney Frank. How curious that a mob fond of likening President Obama to Hitler knows so little about history that it doesn’t recognize its own small-scale mimicry of Kristallnacht.

  Frank Rich

  Hero, Gay, Rights

  "The Rage Is Not About Health Care". www.nytimes.com. March 27, 2010.

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• When it came to political power, blacks need not apply. Add to this steaming stew the growing tensions over the Vietnam War and the movement for civil rights, and you had plenty of elements to fire the imagination of a novice journalist.

  Andrea Mitchell

  War, Fire, Rights

  Andrea Mitchell (2006). “Talking Back: . . . to Presidents, Dictators, and Assorted Scoundrels”, p.67, Penguin

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• I grew up in Ohio, where civil-rights accomplishments had already begun to accelerate before Martin Luther King appeared. In hindsight, we know that many people, black and white, were instrumental in changing the Jim Crow status quo on all levels.

  Rita Dove

  Kings, Black And White, Rights

  7 Copy quote

• The sad truth is that the civil rights movement cannot be reborn until we identify the causes of black suffering, some of them self-inflicted. Why can't black leaders organize rallies around responsible sexuality, birth within marriage, parents reading to their children and students staying in school and doing homework?

  Henry Louis Gates

  Children, Reading, School

  Henry Louis Gates Jr. (2012). “The Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Reader”, p.546, Basic Books

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• We are not makers of history. We are made by history.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Kings, History, Historical

  Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.13, Beacon Press

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Decision, Progress, Faces

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012). “A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings”, p.105, Beacon Press

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover these precious values - that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Spiritual, Reality, African American

  "Rediscovering Lost Values". Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Sermon at Detroit's Second Baptist Church, kinginstitute.stanford.edu. February 28, 1954.

  17 Copy quote

  Show source

• We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

  111 Copy quote

• I think one of my father's great legacies is the people that he inspired and the generation that he inspired transformed America through civil rights, women's rights, equal justice, and they've passed that on to their children and grandchildren.

  Caroline Kennedy

  Children, Father, Thinking

  15 Copy quote

• I feel that my father's greatest legacy was the people he inspired to get involved in public service and their communities, to join the Peace Corps, to go into space. And really that generation transformed this country in civil rights, social justice, the economy and everything.

  Caroline Kennedy

  Country, Father, Space

  37 Copy quote

• The first thing I said to myself on 9/11 was, 'There go our civil rights.' I found out by comparing notes later that George Carlin and I both said that at the exact same time. That's the first thing that popped into our head.

  Penn Jillette

  Rights, Firsts, Notes

  "Biography/Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

  13 Copy quote

  Show source

• Statehood for the District of Columbia is the most important civil rights and social justice issue in America today.

  Jesse Jackson

  America, Issues, Rights

  4 Copy quote

• I must personally say that I do question the sincerity and nonviolent intentions of some civil rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mr. James Farmer, and others, who are known to have left wing associations.

  Jerry Falwell

  Kings, Rights, Wings

  "Ministers and Marches". Jerry Falwell's sermon in Lynchburg, Virginia, 1965.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• The greatest movement for social justice our country has ever known is the civil rights movement and it was totally rooted in a love ethic.

  Bell Hooks

  Country, Rights, Justice

  "A chat with the Author of 'All About Love: New Visions'". CNN Chat Room, www.cnn.com. February 17, 2000.

  29 Copy quote

  Show source

• I never thought I'd see the day that I would see white folks as frightened, or more so, than black folks was during the civil rights movement when we was in Mississippi.

  Dick Gregory

  White, Rights, Black

  "Dick Gregory's Role as Michael Jackson's Adviser". "News & Notes" with Ed Gordon, www.npr.org. July 12, 2005.

  19 Copy quote

  Show source

• We can revolutionize the attitude of inner city brown and black kids to learning. We need a civil rights movement within the African-American community.

  Henry Louis Gates

  Attitude, Kids, Rights

  19 Copy quote