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The first step toward tolerance is respect and the first step toward respect is knowledge.
Henry Louis Gates
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Tolerance begins with respect, which itself is rooted in knowledge.

This quote highlights the foundational role of knowledge in fostering respect among individuals, which is essential for cultivating tolerance in society. It suggests that to respect others, we must first understand them, thereby encouraging a more harmonious coexistence rooted in awareness and empathy.

Themes

ToleranceRespectKnowledgeUnderstandingEmpathy

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about community building, one might say, 'As Henry Louis Gates wisely stated, the first step toward tolerance is respect and the first step toward respect is knowledge.'

More from Henry Louis Gates

There are two things that have always haunted me: the brutality of the European traders and the stories I've heard about Africans selling other Africans into slavery.
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It's not white versus black any more, it's haves versus have-nots. Unless the black middle-classes unite to promote the interests of the black underclass, tension between them is inevitable. What we, the black middle class have to do, is think of a strategy to avert that.
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In America there is institutional racism that we all inherit and participate in, like breathing the air in this room - and we have to become sensitive to it.
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In fact, the class divide in the black community is now seen by some as a permanent aspect of our existence.
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The historical basis for the gap between the black middle class and underclass shows that ending discrimination, by itself, would not eradicate black poverty and dysfunction. We also need intervention to promulgate a middle-class ethic of success among the poor, while expanding opportunities for economic betterment.
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The only people who live in a post-black world are four people who live in a little white house on Pennsylvania Avenue. The idea that America is post-racial or post-black because a man I admire, Barack Obama, is president of the United States, is a joke. And I hope no one will even wonder about this crazy fiction again.
Henry Louis GatesRead

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