If we have the courage and tenacity of our forebears, who stood firmly like a rock against the lash of slavery, we shall find a way to do for our day what they did for theirs.
Mary Mcleod BethuneRead
You white folks have long been eating the white meat of the chicken. We Negroes are now ready for some of the white meat instead of the dark meat.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the demand for equality and access to the same opportunities as others.
Mary McLeod Bethune's quote emphasizes the historical inequalities faced by African Americans, symbolized by the distinction between 'white meat' and 'dark meat' of a chicken. It calls for a shift in access to resources and opportunities, advocating for a fairer distribution that allows Black individuals to partake in what has traditionally been reserved for the white community, thus highlighting the importance of equity and justice in society.
In practice
This quote can be used during discussions about social justice and equity initiatives.
If we have the courage and tenacity of our forebears, who stood firmly like a rock against the lash of slavery, we shall find a way to do for our day what they did for theirs.
Enter to learn; depart to serve.
We live in a world which respects power above all things. Power, intelligently directed, can lead to more freedom. Unwisely directed, it can be a dreadful, destructive force.
Forgiving is not about forgetting, it's letting go of the hurt
What does the Negro want? His answer is very simple. He wants only what all other Americans want. He wants opportunity to make real what the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and the Bill of Rights say, what the Four Freedoms establish. While he knows these ideals are open to no man completely, he wants only his equal chance to obtain them.
Whatever the white man has done, we have done, and often better.
The law regards man as man, and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved.
It is better that ten guilty persons escape than one innocent suffer.
The civil forfeiture law - if something so devoid of due process can be dignified as law - is an incentive for perverse behavior: Predatory government agencies get to pocket the proceeds from property they seize from Americans without even charging them with, let alone convicting them of, crimes. Criminals are treated better than this because they lose the fruits of their criminality only after being convicted.
Of course laws will not eliminate prejudice from the hearts of human beings. But that is no reason to allow prejudice to continue to be enshrined in our laws - to perpetuate injustice through inaction.
If you look at any other group of people suffering injustice, women are always in the worst situation within that group.
Until it's understood to involve justice for those in poverty, a future for generations yet unborn, and a commitment to the rest of creation, it's unlikely we'll be able to overcome the status quo.
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