This is a country that was founded on racism. It was built on racism. It still continues to thrive through wealth disparity, and housing disparity is all built on the backs of racism.
W. Kamau BellRead
Throughout my career and my life, I talk a lot about racism in this country, and if you're going to talk about it, then you're going to eventually come to the chapter about the Klan.
Interpretation
Discussing racism inevitably leads to addressing groups like the Klan that perpetuate it.
W. Kamau Bell emphasizes that a comprehensive discussion about racism in America must include a critical examination of the Ku Klux Klan, a group known for its historical role in racial violence and oppression. By acknowledging this connection, Bell highlights the importance of confronting uncomfortable truths about systemic racism and its manifestations in society.
In practice
During a seminar on social justice, I quoted Bell to emphasize the importance of addressing historical racism.
This is a country that was founded on racism. It was built on racism. It still continues to thrive through wealth disparity, and housing disparity is all built on the backs of racism.
We really suffer from a hot-take disease, wanting to be the first one who has the hottest take.
People born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens - except for the teeny, tiny, mind-boggling fact that if you live in Puerto Rico, you are not allowed to cast a vote in the election for president. That tiny fact starts to get bigger when you realize that electing our own leaders is the whole reason that we have a country in the first place.
I've turned the annoying questions that white people ask into a career, so I understand that's where I live.
In communities of color, such as Ferguson, it often feels like the police are protecting the white community from us instead of protecting our communities from the criminal element.
We can't throw the worst part of racism into the dustbin of history.
Each of us has interests which conflict the interests of everybody else... 'everybody else' we call 'society'. It's a powerful opponent and it always wins. Oh, here and there an individual prevails for a while and gets what he wants. Sometimes he storms the culture of a society and changes it to his own advantage. But society wins in the long run, for it has the advantage of numbers and of age.
Greek myths, early Roman history, is configured around violence against women. And I think we need to get in there, get our hands dirty, face it, and see why and how it was.
Economics make homeopath and alternative healers look empirical and scientific.
There are few men who dare to publish to the world the prayers they make to Almighty God.
Laughter on American television has taken the place of the chorus in Greek tragedy. In other countries, the business of laughing is left to the viewers. Here, their laughter is put on the screen, integrated into the show. It is the screen that is laughing and having a good time. You are simply left alone with your consternation.
No wind serves him who addresses his voyage to no certain port.
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