QuoteProject
We used to watch my father, who was a civil-rights activist, get arrested on TV sometimes, and we never knew if he was going to be home for dinner.
Maya Wiley
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote highlights the uncertainty and bravery faced by those who stand up for justice.

Maya Wiley reflects on the experiences of growing up in a household where her father, a civil-rights activist, faced the constant threat of arrest due to his activism. This highlights the personal sacrifices made by activists and the emotional toll it takes on their families, as they live with uncertainty about their loved ones' safety and presence.

Themes

ActivismJusticeFamilyUncertaintyBravery

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about civil rights movements, this quote can illustrate the personal risks faced by activists.

More from Maya Wiley

Like every New Yorker, I know this place is magic. I know this place is amazing. I know that we have come back time and time again from a great recession, from high crime rates, from 9/11, from crisis after crisis.
Maya WileyRead
And if you want partnerships that focus on hard problems and real solutions, then pick a Black woman. Because that's what we do every single day and in every single way.
Maya WileyRead
When Superstorm Sandy churned up fourteen-foot walls of water that slammed New York's coastal communities in October 2012, they also washed away any false notions we had that we care sufficiently for poor people.
Maya WileyRead
I am a Black woman raised by parents who were active in the civil-rights movement.
Maya WileyRead
My mother was this White woman from Texas, from a racist town raised to believe in the inferiority of others by her community, not necessarily by her parents, but certainly by the community around her. And she fled it.
Maya WileyRead
In fact, black students with college degrees are twice as likely to be unemployed as white students with college degrees. So, to say there there is not an issue for black Americans and Latinos in terms of the opportunity that college is supposed to create would be wrong.
Maya WileyRead

Similar quotes

Jesus has many who love the kingdom of God, but few who bear a cross. He has many who desire His comfort, but few who desire His suffering. All want to rejoice with him, but few are willing to suffer for Him. He writes; there are many who admire his miracles, but there are few who follow in the humiliation of the cross.
Thomas A KempisRead
Where it is permissible both to die and not to die, it is an abuse of valour to die.
MenciusRead
This fear bears no analogy to any fear I knew before. This is the basest of all possible emotions, the feeling that was with us before we existed, before this building existed, before the earth existed. This is the fear that made fish crawl out onto dry land and evolve lungs, the fear that teaches us to run, the fear that makes us bury our dead.
John GreenRead
Besides we are men, and after all it is our business to risk our lives.
Alexandre DumasRead
I find it amazing that the only group of people who are not fighting and not killing and not pillaging and not burning and not raping, and the group of people who are mostly β€” though not exclusively β€” who are keeping life going in the midst of war, are not included in the negotiating table.
Zainab SalbiRead
On some positions, cowardice asks the question, is it expedient? And then expedience comes along and asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? Conscience asks the question, is it right? There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Read

A little wisdom, now and then

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