One person can make a difference, even if it takes forty years.
Fred KorematsuRead
All of them turned their backs on me at that time because they thought I was a troublemaker.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the isolation faced by individuals standing up against injustice, often branded as troublemakers by society.
Fred Korematsu's quote captures the profound loneliness and resilience of individuals who, in standing up for what they believe is right, may find themselves ostracized by those around them. It highlights the struggle against societal norms and the courage required to confront injustice, even when it leads to personal loss and alienation.
In practice
A speech about social justice at a rally.
One person can make a difference, even if it takes forty years.
As long as my record stands in federal court, any American citizen can be held in prison or concentration camps without a trial or a hearing.
I lost everything when they put us in prison. I was an enemy alien, a man without a country.
Every day in school, we said the pledge to the flag, 'with liberty and justice for all,' and I believed all that.
I'm Asian, so they assumed I'm not an American and that I come from Japan. Restaurants would refuse to serve me, and places would refuse to give you a haircut.
My folks were so worried about what they were going to do. All they can take was what they could carry with their hands. What they had for twenty-five years of building their business was going to go out the door, or they're going to lose it.
Have you ever been hurt and the place tries to heal a bit, and you just pull the scar off of it over and over again.
Every Fourth of July, our Declaration of Independence is produced, with a sublime indignation, to set forth the tyranny of the mother country and to challenge the admiration of the world. But what a pitiful detail of grievances does this document present in comparison with the wrongs which our slaves endure!
The predator wants your silence. It feeds their power, entitlement, and they want it to feed your shame.
The question is no longer between violence and non-violence it is between non-violence and non-existence.
The fears that assault us are mostly simple anxieties about social skills, about intimacy, about likeableness, or about performance. We need not give emotional food or charge to these fears or become attached to them. We donβt even have to shame ourselves for having these fears. Simply ask your fears, βWhat are you trying to teach me?β Some say that FEAR is merely an acronym for βFalse Evidence Appearing Real.β From Everything Belongs, p. 143
The Black Panther Party stood up and said that we don't care what anybody says. We don't think fighting fire with fire is best; we think you fight fire with water best.
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