I've learned that my people are not the only ones oppressed... I have sung my songs all over the world and everywhere found that some common bond makes the people of all lands take to Negro songs as their own.
Paul RobesonRead
And at home in the United States we found continued and increased persecution, first of leaders of the Communist Party, and then of all honest anti-fascists.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the struggles faced by anti-fascists and communists in the United States, emphasizing the ongoing persecution they endured.
Paul Robeson's quote speaks to the experience of individuals who stood against fascism and oppression, underscoring the persecution they faced at home. It reflects the broader struggle for justice and equality in the face of oppressive ideologies, revealing how political beliefs can lead to severe social and personal repercussions.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech at a civil rights rally to highlight the importance of standing against oppression.
I've learned that my people are not the only ones oppressed... I have sung my songs all over the world and everywhere found that some common bond makes the people of all lands take to Negro songs as their own.
We ask for nothing that is not ours by right, and herein lies the great moral power of our demand.
My mother was born in your state, Mr. Walter, and my mother was a Quaker, and my ancestors in the time of Washington baked bread for George Washington's troops when they crossed the Delaware, and my own father was a slave.
The intolerance of the few, or the risk of it, carries the day against the wider humanity of the many.
I shall take my voice wherever there are those who want to hear the melody of freedom
Art is not just to show life as it is, but to show life as it should be.
You are so afraid of losing your moral sense that you are not willing to take it through anything more dangerous than a mud-puddle.
Rightly tired of the pain Δ° hear and feel, boss... where we's comin from or goin to or why... If Δ° could end it, Δ° would. But Δ° can't.
Our challenge is to mobilize a new coalition of conscience to restore the Voting Rights Act, strengthen voting rights and broaden voter access in the legislatures of the 50 states.
When I was 41, I found a lump the size of a grape in my right breast. I ended up bald, sick and exhausted from surgeries, chemo and radiation treatments. Ah, but I got to live.
... resistance to tyranny is man's highest ideal.
I know that when a fighter is out of the ring for more than two years, when he comes back he isn't the same anymore. Each fighter is different. But each must think, even if something goes wrong, 'I have to make this decision and live with it for the rest of my life.'
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