I grew up in a segregated community: I couldn't go to the public schools, beaches, certain parts of town.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the limitations and discrimination faced in a segregated community, emphasizing the impact on education and social opportunities.
Bryan Stevenson's quote illustrates the profound effect that segregation has on individual development and access to essential services such as education and recreation. Growing up in a segregated community meant that he was systematically excluded from opportunities available to others, which not only hindered his intellectual growth but also shaped his understanding of injustice and inequality in society.
In practice
In a speech addressing community youth about the importance of education in overcoming challenges.
That's my mission: I really want to get in the heads and hearts of kids and persuade them that they can believe things they haven't seen, they can do things that maybe others haven't done before them, that they are more than their worst acts.
We all have a responsibility to create a just society
One of the things that pains me is we have so tragically underestimated the trauma, the hardship we create in this country when we treat people unfairly, when we incarcerate them unfairly, when we condemn them unfairly.
Somebody has to stand when other people are sitting. Somebody has to speak when other people are quiet.
If we had done the work that we should have done in the 20th century to combat our history of racial inequality, no one could win national office after demonizing people because they're Mexican or Muslim. We would be in a place where we would find that unacceptable.
The opposite of poverty is not wealth. I don't believe that. I actually think, in too many places, the opposite of poverty is justice.
Books-bright windows in this life of ours, lit by the shining souls of men.
Actually if a writer needs a dictionary he should not write. He should have read the dictionary at least three times from beginning to end and then have loaned it to someone who needs it. There are only certain words which are valid and similes (bring me my dictionary) are like defective ammunition (the lowest thing I can think of at this time).
It is much easier to condemn a child than to understand a child.
Theory is taught so as to make the student believe that he or she can become a Marxist, a feminist, an Afrocentrist, or a deconstructionist with about the same effort and commitment required in choosing items from a menu.
When you have teachers saying, 'I don't have enough time for hands-on activities,' we need to rethink the way we do education.
If a nation's literature declines, the nation atrophies and decays.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.