QuoteProject
It's not a cold that you can get over. There is no anti-racist certification class. It's a set of socioeconomic traps and cultural values that are fired up every time we interact with the world. It is a thing you have to keep scooping out of the boat of your life to keep from drowning in it. I know it's hard work, but it's the price you pay for owning everything.
Scott Woods
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Racism is a complex issue rooted in societal structures that requires continuous effort to combat.

In this quote, Scott Woods emphasizes that racism is not something that can be easily cured or overcome, like a cold. Instead, it is embedded in the social fabric and cultural values of society, manifesting in everyday interactions. Addressing and dismantling these ingrained beliefs and systems is a continuous process, requiring commitment and effort. The metaphor of scooping water out of a boat speaks to the need for ongoing vigilance and action to prevent being overwhelmed by these societal issues.

Themes

RacismSocioeconomicValuesEffortChange

In practice

Example use cases

During a panel discussion on social justice, this quote could be used to highlight the ongoing struggles against systemic racism.

Similar quotes

The power of effecting changes for the better is within ourselves, not in the favorableness of circumstances.
Helen KellerRead
The time has come to choose a new direction of global development, to opt for a new civilization.
Mikhail GorbachevRead
We as the governments, workers, employers and civil society must declare a war on child labour. This war cannot be won without strong, committed, coherent, and well-resourced worldwide movement. Equally needed is a genuine and active coordination between intergovernmental agencies at the highest level.
Kailash SatyarthiRead
Every important social movement reconfigures the world in the imagination. What was obscure comes forward, lies are revealed, memory shaken, new delineations drawn over the old maps: it is from this new way of seeing the present that hope emerges for the future...Let us begin to imagine the worlds we would like to inhabit, the long lives we will share, and the many futures in our hands.
Susan GriffinRead
There's been the same kind of demonizing of the word 'feminism' as words like 'liberal,' 'affirmative action,' and so on.
Gloria SteinemRead
It is fitting that yesteryear's swashbuckling newspaper reporter has turned into today's solemn young sobersides nursing a glass of watered white wine after a day of toiling over computer databases in a smoke-free, noise-free newsroom.
Russell BakerRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.