Salvation for a race, nation or class must come from within. Freedom is never granted; it is won. Justice is never given; it is exacted.
A. Philip RandolphRead
Negroes are in no mood to shoulder guns for democracy abroad while they are denied democracy here at home.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses the frustration of African Americans who are asked to fight for democracy abroad while being denied basic rights at home.
A. Philip Randolph's quote poignantly highlights the contradiction faced by African Americans during periods of war when they were expected to defend a democratic nation that denied them equal rights and freedom within its own borders. It advocates for the need to address and rectify domestic injustices before expecting marginalized communities to support military efforts abroad, emphasizing a fundamental demand for equality and justice.
Themes
DemocracyEqualityCivil RightsInjusticeMilitaryFrustration
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech advocating for civil rights during a community rally.
More from A. Philip Randolph
All quotes βWe must develop huge demonstrations, because the world is used to big dramatic affairs. They think in terms of hundreds of thousands and millions and billions... Billions of dollars are appropriated at the twinkling of an eye. Nothing little counts.
A. Philip RandolphRead
Justice is never given; it is exacted.
A. Philip RandolphRead
Since almost all Negroes are workers, live on wages, and suffer from the high cost of food, clothing and shelter, it is obvious that the Republican and Democratic Parties are opposed to their interests.
A. Philip RandolphRead
Negroes must be free in order to be equal, and they must be equal in order to be free... Men cannot win freedom unless they win equality. They cannot win equality unless they win freedom.
A. Philip RandolphRead
If someone tried to deprive you of your rights, you've got to resist it. You've got to resent it. You've got to fight against it.
A. Philip RandolphRead
Similar quotes
African-Americans have always viewed the protection of black lives as a civil rights issue, whether the threat comes from police officers or street criminals. Far from ignoring the issue of crime by blacks against other blacks, African-American officials and their constituents have been consumed by it.
James Forman, Jr.Read
One of the tragedies of the struggle against racism is that up to now there has been no national organization which could speak to the growing militancy of young black people in the urban ghetto.
Stokely CarmichaelRead
The seminal right of the modern civil rights movement was the right to vote. My father fought so diligently for it. Certainly Congressman John Lewis and many others, Hosea Williams, fought for it as well.
Martin Luther King IiiRead
There has been far too much hypocrisy in the field of civil rights. It is easy enough to give rousing speeches or call for legislation which has no possibility of passage.
Robert KennedyRead
It is an insult for me to have been alive through the times you are calling the so-called civil rights movement. I don't celebrate my humiliations and my insults.
James MeredithRead
When President Kennedy was elected, many black Americans, like so many Americans, were captivated by his youth and energy and promise and were especially hopeful that he might move the country in a new direction on civil rights.
Marian Wright EdelmanRead