Never to forget where we came from and always praise the bridges that carried us over.
Fannie Lou HamerRead
Sometimes it seem like to tell the truth today is to run the risk of being killed. But if I fall, I'll fall five feet four inches forward in the fight for freedom. I'm not backing off.
Interpretation
Speaking the truth can be dangerous, but standing up for one's beliefs is crucial.
This quote highlights the peril involved in expressing honest opinions, particularly in oppressive environments. Fannie Lou Hamer emphasizes that despite the risks, she is committed to pushing forward in the struggle for freedom and justice, signifying the importance of courage and resilience in the face of adversity.
In practice
This quote was mentioned during a rally advocating for civil rights.
Never to forget where we came from and always praise the bridges that carried us over.
You can pray until you faint, but unless you get up and try to do something, God is not going to put it in your lap.
People have got to get together and work together. I'm tired of the kind of oppression that white people have inflicted on us and are still trying to inflict.
One day, I know the struggle will change. There's got to be a change - not only for Mississippi, not only for the people in the United States, but people all over the world.
Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, where we have to sleep with our telephones off the hooks because our lives be threatened daily, because we want to live as decent human beings in America?
I was forced away from the plantation because I wouldn't go back and withdraw, you know, my literacy test after I had tried to take it. I wouldn't go back.
I know what it's like to want to die. How it hurts to smile. How you try to fit in but you can't. You hurt yourself on the outside to try to kill the thing on the inside.
If it is nothingness that awaits us, let us make an injustice of it, let us fight against destiny, even without hope of victory.
I ran for the presidency, despite hopeless odds, to demonstrate the sheer will and refusal to accept the status quo.
For heaven's sake, when you see the enemy attacking, you pick up the pitchfork, and you enlist everybody you see. You don't stand around arguing about who's responsible, or who's going to pay.
God Almighty has set before me two great objects: the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners.
You are the Master of your Fate, the Captain of your Soul.
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