In the gun game, we are the most hunted. The river of blood that washes the streets of our nation flows mostly from the bodies of our black children.
Harry BelafonteRead
I've always been supportive of the right of Israel as a state, and I've always fought against anti-Semitism, even in my own community.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of supporting a state's right to exist while also opposing discrimination within one's own community.
Harry Belafonte's quote reflects his unwavering support for Israel's right to sovereignty while simultaneously condemning anti-Semitism, a form of prejudice against Jewish people. This dual commitment highlights the complexity of social issues, where one can be both a supporter of a nation's legitimacy and an advocate against injustice and hate within one's own circles.
In practice
During a speech on human rights, one might use this quote to highlight the need for solidarity against discrimination.
In the gun game, we are the most hunted. The river of blood that washes the streets of our nation flows mostly from the bodies of our black children.
Artists are the gatekeepers of truth. We are civilization’s anchor. We are the compass for humanity’s conscience.
You can cage the singer but not the song.
Art in its highest form is art that serves and instructs society and human development.
Anti-democracy...is a virus that exists, and pro-democracy is the antibody to that virus, and I think we have to become vigilant, and we have to stay on top of the issues of democracy and freedom.
Children who have lost parents to HIV/AIDS are not only just as deserving of an education as any other children, but they may need that education even more. Being part of a school environment will prepare them for the future, while helping to remove the stigma and discrimination unfortunately associated with AIDS.
The love of power, like the love of money, increases with the possession of it; and we know in what ruin these baneful passions have involved human societies in all ages when they have been let loose and suffered to rage uncontrolled - There is no restraint like the pervading eye of the virtuous citizens.
How can we find spiritual meaning in a scientific worldview? Spirituality is a way of being in the world, a sense of one’s place in the cosmos, a relationship to that which extends beyond oneself. . . . Does scientific explanation of the world diminish its spiritual beauty? I think not. Science and spirituality are complementary, not conflicting; additive, not detractive. Anything that generates a sense of awe may be a source of spirituality. Science does this in spades. (158-159)
America is a hurricane, and the only people who do not hear the sound are those fortunate if incredibly stupid and smug White Protestants who live in the center, in the serene eye of the big wind.
We human beings build houses because we're alive but we write books because we're mortal. We live in groups because we're sociable but we read because we know we're alone. Reading offers a kind of companionship that takes no one's place but that no one can replace either. It offers no definitive explanation of our destiny but links us inextricably to life. Its tiny secret links remind us of how paradoxically happy we are to be alive while illuminating how tragically absurd life is.
Childhood is over the moment things are no longer astonishing.
Do we want to be remembered as the generation that saved the banks and let the biosphere collapse?
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.