History suggests that the disillusioned and the disaffected do not readily take to the streets nor man the barricades to defend a system that failed to defend them.
David OlusogaRead
Because racism is not like jealousy or selfishness, it is not a primal urge or a basic instinct, it is a 400-year-old political and economic system that has infected our institutions, our culture and even our thinking.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Racism is a deep-rooted system shaped by history, not just a simple emotion or instinct.
David Olusoga's quote emphasizes that racism is not merely a personal flaw like jealousy or selfishness, but rather a complex and systemic issue that has evolved over four centuries. It points out that racism is entrenched in societal institutions and influences cultural beliefs and individual thought processes, suggesting that overcoming it requires more than addressing personal biases—it demands systemic change.
Themes
RacismSystemicPoliticsCultureHistory
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech at a civil rights rally to discuss the historical roots of racism.
More from David Olusoga
All quotes →No matter that you're a British citizen, no matter that you were born here - your skin colour means you do not have the same rights as others to express critical opinions about your own country.
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Public buildings, built from the rates and taxes paid by past generations, are being auctioned off by impoverished councils who need the money to pay the redundancies of workers they can no longer afford to employ. Many of these grand Victorian buildings will be turned into flats that most people will never be able to afford.
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Black history is a series of missing chapters from British history. I'm trying to put those bits back in.
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We nonchalantly expect that next year's smartphone will be faster and better than this year's, yet we struggle to imagine that society and our lives could progress at anything like the pace at which technology advances and we meekly accept it when things go backwards.
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Our national history cannot be national if, in the near future, one in three young adults feels their stories remain untold, if this country's long global history of empire and interconnections is marginalised and if the historical reality of race is rendered almost invisible.
David OlusogaRead
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