We have to improve life, not just for those who have the most skills and those who know how to manipulate the system. But also for and with those who often have so much to give but never get the opportunity.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the need for equity in improving life, ensuring opportunities are extended to everyone, especially those without access.
Dorothy Height's quote highlights the importance of creating a more equitable society where improvement in life is not reserved solely for the skilled or those who manipulate systems. It calls for including and uplifting those who possess great potential but lack the opportunities to showcase it, reinforcing the idea that true progress involves all members of society.
In practice
This quote can be shared in a speech advocating for social reform to highlight the importance of inclusivity.
I think of my life as a unity of circles. Some are concentric, others overlap, but they all connect in some way. Sometimes the connections don't happen for years. But when they do, I marvel. As in a shimmering kaleidoscope, familiar patterns keep unfolding
Progress comes from caring more about what needs to be done than about who gets the credit
We had people of all backgrounds coming together - all races, all creeds, all colors, all status in life. And coming together there was a kind of quiet dignity and a kind of sense of caring and a feeling of joint responsibility.
There is no contradiction between effective law enforcement and respect for civil and human rights.
The Black family of the future will foster our liberation, enhance our self-esteem, and shape our ideas and goals.
My mother helped me understand how not to show off what I knew, but how to use it so that others might benefit.
By expanding the legal authority of law enforcement agencies - without addressing the infiltration of white supremacy within law enforcement - we are expanding the capacity of white supremacy itself.
Before the Civil War, the Negro was certainly as efficient a workman as the raw immigrant from Ireland or Germany. But, whereas the Irishmen found economic opportunity wide and daily growing wider, the Negro found public opinion determined to 'keep him in his place.'
You have young men of color in many communities who are more likely to end up in jail or in the criminal justice system than they are in a good job or in college. And, you know, part of my job, that I can do, I think, without any potential conflicts, is to get at those root causes.
Being a woman, we talk about equal pay all the time. We're not talking about if you're black or if you are Latina. I would like to get back to that and improving the relationship between the police community and the community of color. I don't know exactly all the right things to say, but I want to engage in that conversation.
Their suffering is intense, widespread, expanding, systematic and socially sanctioned. And the victims are unable to organize in defence of their own interests.
Far less wealthy industrialized countries have committed to end child poverty, while the United States is sliding backwards. We can do better. We must demand that our leaders do better.
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