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Quotes about race

99 quotes from 54 people

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As a nation, we began by declaring that “all men are created equal.” We now practically read it “all men are created equal, except negroes.” When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read “all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and catholics.”
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865Letter to Joshua F. Speed (24 August 1855)
- America
- Slavery
Let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man, this race and that race and the other race being inferior and therefore they must be placed in an inferior position. Let us discard all these things, and unite as one people throughout this land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that all men are created equal.
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865Speech at Chicago, Illinois (10 July 1858)
- America
Anger is an appropriate reaction to racist attitudes, as is fury when the actions arising from those attitudes do not change.
Audre Lorde1934–1992The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism
- Anger
It’s impossible for a white person to believe in capitalism and not believe in racism. You can’t have capitalism without racism.
Malcolm X1925–1965May 29, 1964
- Economics
I am not a racist. I am against every form of racism and segregation, every form of discrimination. I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color.
Malcolm X1925–1965By Any Means Necessary (1970)
I’m not going to sit at your table and watch you eat, with nothing on my plate, and call myself a diner. Sitting at the table doesn’t make you a diner, unless you eat some of what’s on that plate.
Malcolm X1925–1965Speech in Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964)
- America
We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock. The rock was landed on us.
Malcolm X1925–1965Speech at Founding Rally of the Organization of Afro-American Unity (28 June 1964)
- America
I’m not an American. I’m one of the 22 million black people who are the victims of Americanism. One of the 22 million black people who are the victims of democracy, nothing but disguised hypocrisy.
Malcolm X1925–1965Speech in Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964)
- America
- Democracy
We declare our right on this earth to be a man, to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being, in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary.
Malcolm X1925–1965Speech at the founding rally of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, New York (28 June 1964)
- Freedom
I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man.
Nelson Mandela1918–2013Long Walk to Freedom (1995)
It was during those long and lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of my own people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, white and black.
Nelson Mandela1918–2013Long Walk to Freedom (1995)
- Freedom
I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for. But, my lord, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.
Nelson Mandela1918–2013Statement from the dock at the Rivonia Trial, Pretoria (20 April 1964)
- Courage
- Freedom
Everything that divides men, everything that specifies, separates or pens them, is a sin against humanity.
José Martí1853–1895My Race (1893)
The soul, equal and eternal, emanates from bodies of different shapes and colors. Whoever foments and spreads antagonism and hate between the races, sins against humanity.
José Martí1853–1895Our America (1891)
Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,
And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth,
Stealing my breath of life, I will confess
I love this cultured hell that tests my youth!
Claude McKay1889–1948America (1921)In context
- America