I grew up in a segregated community: I couldn't go to the public schools, beaches, certain parts of town.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the limitations and discrimination faced in a segregated community, emphasizing the impact on education and social opportunities.
Bryan Stevenson's quote illustrates the profound effect that segregation has on individual development and access to essential services such as education and recreation. Growing up in a segregated community meant that he was systematically excluded from opportunities available to others, which not only hindered his intellectual growth but also shaped his understanding of injustice and inequality in society.
In practice
In a speech addressing community youth about the importance of education in overcoming challenges.
That's my mission: I really want to get in the heads and hearts of kids and persuade them that they can believe things they haven't seen, they can do things that maybe others haven't done before them, that they are more than their worst acts.
We all have a responsibility to create a just society
One of the things that pains me is we have so tragically underestimated the trauma, the hardship we create in this country when we treat people unfairly, when we incarcerate them unfairly, when we condemn them unfairly.
Somebody has to stand when other people are sitting. Somebody has to speak when other people are quiet.
If we had done the work that we should have done in the 20th century to combat our history of racial inequality, no one could win national office after demonizing people because they're Mexican or Muslim. We would be in a place where we would find that unacceptable.
The opposite of poverty is not wealth. I don't believe that. I actually think, in too many places, the opposite of poverty is justice.
One of the biggest complaints readers have about my work is that I don't tell them often enough what they can do. I do think this is an area where journalism sometimes falls short. We describe a really grim situation but don't really explain to people what they can do about it.
A basic element of the American dream is equal access to education as the lubricant of social and economic mobility.
As children growing up here in the East Bay, we were raised by a community with a deep belief in the promise of our country - and, a deep understanding of the parts of that promise that still remain unfulfilled.
My father believed young people are among our nation's most valuable resources, and so we should ensure that every child - including children and youth returning from the justice system - have access to the opportunities we would want for our own children.
It's hunger. It's homelessness, often. It's underfunded, under-resourced schools. It's abuse beyond the chilling. It's having overwhelmed parents and caregivers. Those are the things that young people are struggling with beyond our view.
Slavery is but half abolished, emancipation is but half completed, while millions of freeman with votes in their hands are left without education.
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