Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds.
Thurgood MarshallRead
The United States has been called the melting pot of the world. But it seems to me that the colored man either missed getting into the pot or he got melted down.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the notion of America as a melting pot, highlighting the exclusion or marginalization of people of color.
Thurgood Marshall's quote conveys a profound observation about the concept of the United States as a 'melting pot' where diverse cultures blend into a single identity. Instead of inclusive assimilation, he suggests that people of color have either been left out of this process or have been assimilated in ways that diminish their identity, prompting a critical reflection on racial inequality and social justice in America.
Themes
Melting PotRaceInclusionIdentityEquality
In practice
Example use cases
Discussing racial equality during a community gathering.
More from Thurgood Marshall
All quotes →I cannot accept this invitation [to celebrate the bicentenial of the Constitution], for I do not believe that the meaning of the Constitution was forever 'fixed' at the Philadelphia Convention... To the contrary, the government they devised was defective from the start. [Progressive]
Thurgood MarshallRead
When in Gregg v. Georgia the Supreme Court gave its seal of approval to capital punishment, this endorsement was premised on the promise that capital punishment would be administered with fairness and justice. Instead, the promise has become a cruel and empty mockery. If not remedied, the scandalous state of our present system of capital punishment will cast a pall of shame over our society for years to come. We cannot let it continue.
Thurgood MarshallRead
If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a state has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his house, what books he may read or what films he may watch.
Thurgood MarshallRead
In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.
Thurgood MarshallRead
I have a lifetime appointment and I intend to serve it. I expect to die at 110, shot by a jealous husband.
Thurgood MarshallRead
Similar quotes
It might be a very human thing across the board, but we, in America, love a story - we need a story to get involved in. But then everything becomes more about how the story protects a certain perception as we pick sides.
Brad PittRead
Our destiny is to become what we think, to have our thoughts become our bodies and our bodies become our thoughts.
Terence MckennaRead
Lo, sleep is good, better is death--in sooth The best of all were never to be born.
Heinrich HeineRead
The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
Adrian RogersRead
The dangers of not thinking clearly are much greater now than ever before. It's not that there's something new in our way of thinking - it's that credulous and confused thinking can be much more lethal in ways it was never before.
Carl SaganRead
In this very real world, good doesn't drive out evil. Evil doesn't drive out good. But the energetic displaces the passive.
William BernbachRead