Most Americans have never seen the ignorance, degradation, hunger, sickness, and futility in which many other Americans live...They won't become involved in economic or political change until something brings the seriousness of the situation home to them.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the disconnect many Americans have from the struggles faced by others in their own country.
Shirley Chisholm highlights the ignorance of many Americans regarding the severe hardships experienced by their fellow citizens, such as poverty, hunger, and illness. She suggests that true awareness and subsequent action towards economic and political reform will only occur when individuals are personally confronted with these harsh realities, indicating a broader call for empathetic engagement and social responsibility.
In practice
During a speech about socioeconomic issues in America, one might use this quote to illustrate the need for greater awareness.
I was the first American citizen to be elected to Congress in spite of the double drawbacks of being female and having skin darkened by melanin. When you put it that way, it sounds like a foolish reason for fame. In a just and free society it would be foolish. That I am a national figure because I was the first person in 192 years to be at once a congressman, black and a woman proves, I think, that our society is not yet either just or free.
I stand before you today to repudiate the ridiculous notion that the American people will not vote for qualified candidates simply because he is not white or because she is not a male.
The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says, 'It's a girl.'
I know that millions of Americans from all walks of life agree with me that leadership does not mean putting the ear to the ground to follow public opinion, but to have the vision of what is necessary and the courage to make it possible.
Of course laws will not eliminate prejudice from the hearts of human beings. But that is no reason to allow prejudice to continue to be enshrined in our laws - to perpetuate injustice through inaction.
I want history to remember me... not as the first black woman to have made a bid for the presidency of the United States, but as a black woman who lived in the 20th century and who dared to be herself. I want to be remembered as a catalyst for change in America.
Do not romanticize the poor...We are all people, human beings subject to the same temptations and faults as all others. Our poverty damages our dignity.
Beef is not what Jay said to Nas;_x000D_ _x000D_ Beef is when the working folks can't find jobs.
There are huge divorces and divides and chasms in black America between the have-gots and the have-nots, between the monied and the poor, between the educated and the non-educated. And there are huge and growing chasms daily. And I want to say that it's not simply about generation. It's about genre.
I wanted to have a body of work behind me before I wrote about racism.
Young mothers who apply for housing assistance in our nation's capital literally could be grandmothers by the time their application is reviewed.
We have failed to fully appreciate how deeply housing is implicated in the creation of poverty.
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