Quotes on Social Justice

A girl should not expect special privileges because of her sex, but neither should she "adjust" to prejudice and discrimination.

The genius of any slave system is found in the dynamics which isolate slaves from each other, obscure the reality of a common condition, and make united rebellion against the oppressor inconceivable.

Mankind will endure when the world appreciates the logic of diversity.

The trouble with the profit system has always been that it was highly unprofitable to most people.

With the people, for the people, by the people. I crack up when I hear it; I say, with the handful, for the handful, by the handful, cause that's what really happens.

Freedom is an indivisible word. If we want to enjoy it, and fight for it, we must be prepared to extend it to everyone, whether they are rich or poor, whether they agree with us or not, no matter what their race or the color of their skin.

No man has a right in America to treat any other man "tolerantly" for tolerance is the assumption of superiority. Our liberties are equal rights of every citizen.

There can be no vulnerability without risk; there can be no community without vulnerability; there can be no peace, and ultimately no life, without community.

We call for the end of bigotry as we know it. The end of racism as we know it. The end of child abuse in the family as we know it. The end of sexism as we know it. The end of homophobia as we know it. We stand for freedom as we have yet to know it. And we will not be denied.

A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal.

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.

Unable to understand how or why the person we see behaves as he does, we attribute his behavior to a person we cannot see, whose behavior we cannot explain either but about whom we are not inclined to ask questions.

Was putting a man on the moon actually easier than improving education in our public schools?

In the end anti-black, anti-female, and all forms of discrimination are equivalent to the same thing: anti-humanism.

Herein lies the tragedy of the age: Not that men are poor, - all men know something of poverty. Not that men are wicked, - who is good? Not that men are ignorant, - what is truth? Nay, but that men know so little of men.

Money is like manure; it's not worth a thing unless it's spread around encouraging young things to grow.

There is no prejudice so strong as that which arises from a fancied exemption from all prejudice.

The struggle is inner: Chicano, indio, American Indian, mojado, mexicano, immigrant Latino, Anglo in power, working class Anglo, Black, Asian--our psyches resemble the bordertowns and are populated by the same people. The struggle has always been inner, and is played out in outer terrains. Awareness of our situation must come before inner changes, which in turn come before changes in society. Nothing happens in the "real" world unless it first happens in the images in our heads.

The history of men's opposition to women's emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of that emancipation itself.

Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.