QuoteProject
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 Bell
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote emphasizes the pervasive and foundational nature of racism in the country's history and ongoing inequalities.

W. Kamau Bell's quote highlights the deep-rooted and systemic nature of racism in the foundations of the country. It suggests that racism is not just a historical issue but continues to manifest in contemporary societal structures, particularly in wealth and housing disparities, suggesting that these inequalities are sustained by the same racist foundations that once built the nation.

Themes

RacismInequalityWealth DisparityHousing DisparitySystemic RacismHistory

In practice

Example use cases

During a panel discussion on social justice.

More from W. Kamau Bell

We really suffer from a hot-take disease, wanting to be the first one who has the hottest take.
W. Kamau BellRead
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.
W. Kamau BellRead
I've turned the annoying questions that white people ask into a career, so I understand that's where I live.
W. Kamau BellRead
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.
W. Kamau BellRead
We can't throw the worst part of racism into the dustbin of history.
W. Kamau BellRead
When we let cops talk about themselves as a separate community, then we are letting cops wall themselves off from the rest of us. We don't generally do that with any other jobs. We don't talk about the barista community or the Wal-Mart greeter community.
W. Kamau BellRead

Similar quotes

Watch the clouds. They will teach you about the world of form.
Eckhart TolleRead
The special virtue of freedom is not that it makes you richer and more powerful but that it gives you more time to understand what it means to be alive.
Adam GopnikRead
We are born one time only, we can never start a new life equipped with the experience we've gained from the previous one. We leave childhood without knowing what youth is, we marry without knowing what it is to be married, and even when we enter old age, we don't know what it is we're heading for: the old are innocent children innocent of thier old age. In that sense, man's world is the planet of inexperience.
Milan KunderaRead
Godliness is more easily feigned in words than in actions
Jonathan EdwardsRead
I feel most alive, most electric with faith, breath, and courage, when I think of God as a current that runs through all that is. Not by will or by choice. Not as a benediction but because there are laws even God must obey.
Tracy K. SmithRead
My continent knows more about me than I do myself.
Winnie Madikizela-MandelaRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.