There are two things that have always haunted me: the brutality of the European traders and the stories I've heard about Africans selling other Africans into slavery.
Henry Louis GatesRead
If America has a civic religion, the First Amendment is its central article of faith.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The First Amendment represents the core beliefs of American civic life and governance.
In this quote, Henry Louis Gates emphasizes the profound significance of the First Amendment in American society. He implies that it functions as a foundational belief or doctrine that shapes civic engagement and democratic values, akin to how religious tenets guide individuals' lives. The First Amendment's protections of speech, religion, assembly, and petition are seen as vital pillars supporting the nation's identity and ethical framework.
Themes
First AmendmentCivic ReligionFreedomExpressionDemocracy
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on civil rights, one might reference this quote to highlight the importance of free speech.
More from Henry Louis Gates
All quotes βIt's not white versus black any more, it's haves versus have-nots. Unless the black middle-classes unite to promote the interests of the black underclass, tension between them is inevitable. What we, the black middle class have to do, is think of a strategy to avert that.
Henry Louis GatesRead
In America there is institutional racism that we all inherit and participate in, like breathing the air in this room - and we have to become sensitive to it.
Henry Louis GatesRead
In fact, the class divide in the black community is now seen by some as a permanent aspect of our existence.
Henry Louis GatesRead
The historical basis for the gap between the black middle class and underclass shows that ending discrimination, by itself, would not eradicate black poverty and dysfunction. We also need intervention to promulgate a middle-class ethic of success among the poor, while expanding opportunities for economic betterment.
Henry Louis GatesRead
The only people who live in a post-black world are four people who live in a little white house on Pennsylvania Avenue. The idea that America is post-racial or post-black because a man I admire, Barack Obama, is president of the United States, is a joke. And I hope no one will even wonder about this crazy fiction again.
Henry Louis GatesRead
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