I pray with my whole soul that the divide-and-conquerers among us will not triumph over us. We need each other in this world so desperately.
Ruby DeeRead
I'm very much interested in getting prisons off the stock market. I'm very much interested in upgrading the public school system... and taking a second look at capital punishment.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses a desire to address important social reforms, particularly in the criminal justice and education systems.
Ruby Dee emphasizes the need for significant reform in societal institutions such as prisons and public schools. She highlights the urge to remove the commercial aspects from prisons, improve education, and reconsider the ethics of capital punishment, suggesting a broader call for a more humane and just society.
Themes
PrisonsEducationCapital PunishmentSocial ReformJustice
In practice
Example use cases
During a community meeting discussing local reforms, one might quote this to rally support for educational initiatives.
More from Ruby Dee
All quotes βYou should always be prepared to win. But as much as I tell myself that, I've accepted another kind of role. Racism undercuts expectation, something like that. I'm not saying that to excuse myself from anything, but I've lived all this time, and things don't happen.
Ruby DeeRead
We both grew up in the atmosphere of struggle, both Ossie and me, ... I come out of Harlem and Harlem comes out of me - wailing police sirens and street parties, rumors and landlords, that cultural, spiritual scene. And Ossie came up from the South, where struggle and dying were part of everyday life. That is who we are.
Ruby DeeRead
I respect the fact that a director has studied the text and the road map of work before us, the subtleties, interconnections, underpinnings... His job is to paint the entire picture and knows all the colors that have to be in it.
Ruby DeeRead
See, I donβt expect to win a prize for stoic control and dignity at mourning time. Death deserve tantrums. Beating back shocked indignation, kicks in the groin, stones, classified unacceptable, not to be tolerated, not to be wooed, not to be conspired with. Only then can music, dance, movies, plays, rap be about life. Only then can life be cherished and adored.
Ruby DeeRead
I never thought about myself as an activist when we were coming along. I love the people I love. I didn't care whether they could be a Democrat, Republican, communist... anything but a racist.
Ruby DeeRead
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Sometimes I do feel hopeless when I look out and scream out through my music, and I scream out through these interviews, and I scream out to people to kind of get their attention back on the things that are meaningful. There's people dying on the streets of Chicago - young people, young men and women who are losing their lives.
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Today it is fashionable to talk about the poor. Unfortunately, it is not fashionable to talk with them.
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Do not romanticize the poor...We are all people, human beings subject to the same temptations and faults as all others. Our poverty damages our dignity.
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