Never to forget where we came from and always praise the bridges that carried us over.
Fannie Lou HamerRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the disparity between the ideal of government by the people and the reality of power being held by a select few.
Fannie Lou Hamer's quote critiques the notion of democracy as being truly representative of the people. She highlights the disconnect between the idealistic rhetoric often used in political discourse—'with the people, for the people, by the people'—and the actual practice where a small group maintains control, leading to a government that serves only a handful rather than the broader population.
Themes
DemocracyPoliticsRepresentationPowerInequality
In practice
Example use cases
During a political rally to discuss the importance of voting rights.
More from Fannie Lou Hamer
All quotes →You can pray until you faint, but unless you get up and try to do something, God is not going to put it in your lap.
Fannie Lou HamerRead
People have got to get together and work together. I'm tired of the kind of oppression that white people have inflicted on us and are still trying to inflict.
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One day, I know the struggle will change. There's got to be a change - not only for Mississippi, not only for the people in the United States, but people all over the world.
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Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, where we have to sleep with our telephones off the hooks because our lives be threatened daily, because we want to live as decent human beings in America?
Fannie Lou HamerRead
I was forced away from the plantation because I wouldn't go back and withdraw, you know, my literacy test after I had tried to take it. I wouldn't go back.
Fannie Lou HamerRead
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