Salvation for a race, nation or class must come from within. Freedom is never granted; it is won. Justice is never given; it is exacted.
A. Philip RandolphRead
Negroes must be free in order to be equal, and they must be equal in order to be free... Men cannot win freedom unless they win equality. They cannot win equality unless they win freedom.
Interpretation
Freedom and equality are interdependent; one cannot exist without the other.
This quote emphasizes the fundamental relationship between freedom and equality, suggesting that true liberation cannot be achieved without achieving equal rights and conditions. A. Philip Randolph argues that the struggle for civil rights is a dual fight; until individuals attain equal status in society, their freedom remains incomplete.
In practice
This quote can be used during a speech advocating for social justice.
Salvation for a race, nation or class must come from within. Freedom is never granted; it is won. Justice is never given; it is exacted.
We must develop huge demonstrations, because the world is used to big dramatic affairs. They think in terms of hundreds of thousands and millions and billions... Billions of dollars are appropriated at the twinkling of an eye. Nothing little counts.
Negroes are in no mood to shoulder guns for democracy abroad while they are denied democracy here at home.
Justice is never given; it is exacted.
Since almost all Negroes are workers, live on wages, and suffer from the high cost of food, clothing and shelter, it is obvious that the Republican and Democratic Parties are opposed to their interests.
If someone tried to deprive you of your rights, you've got to resist it. You've got to resent it. You've got to fight against it.
The power of resistance is to set an example: not necessarily to change the person with whom you disagree, but to empower the one who is watching and whose growth is not yet completed, whose path is not at all clear, whose direction is still very much up in the proverbial air.
Those who criticize, they desire our blood not our pain. But still I must achieve I must seek truth in all things. I must endure for the power I was sent forth, for the world for the children. But have mercy, for I've been bleeding a long time now.
He says NO! In thunder; but the Devil himself cannot make him say yes.
Every time we witness an injustice and do not act, we train our character to be passive in its presence and thereby eventually lose all ability to defend ourselves and those we love.
The pressure of adversity does not affect the mind of the brave man. It is more powerful than external circumstances.
Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.
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