The Constitution they wrote was designed to protect the rights of white, male citizens. As there were no black Founding Fathers, there were no founding mothers - a great pity, on both counts. It is not too late to complete the work they left undone. Today, here, we should start to do so.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the need to address the historical omission of marginalized voices in the founding of the United States.
Shirley Chisholm points out that the original Constitution was crafted in a way that primarily safeguarded the rights of white male citizens, excluding the contributions and rights of black individuals and women. She expresses regret over the lack of representation among the Founding Fathers and urges the current generation to acknowledge this oversight and work towards rectifying it, suggesting that it is not too late to ensure inclusivity and equality in society.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech about the importance of diversity in leadership roles.
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.
The uplift of the women, the awakening of the masses must come first, and then only can any real good come about for the country, for India.
Future generations may well have occasion to ask themselves, "What were our parents thinking? Why didn't they wake up when they had a chance?" We have to hear that question from them, now.
Things bloosom in their time. They bud and bloom, blossom and fade. Everything in its time.
Let not men then in the pride of power, use the same arguments that tyrannic kings and venal ministers have used, and fallaciously assert that women ought to be subjected because she has always been so.... It is time to effect a revolution in female manners - time to restore to them their lost dignity.... It is time to separate unchangeable morals from local manners.
I'm intending to work on juvenile justice reform, sentencing reform, reentry, drug treatment, access to mental health care.
Governments have always tried to crush reform movements, to destroy ideas, to kill the thing that cannot die. Without regard to history, which shows that no Government have ever succeeded in doing this, they go on trying in the old, senseless way.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.