Jack Schwartz Quotes

Large numbers of people are broken from the notion that the system is working for people, that the system is just or humane or peaceful.

Most men today cannot conceive of a freedom that does not involve somebody's slavery.

Certain people cause so many problems, not only to the running of the town and the country, but to people themselves.

When I stepped into this world, I saw that we were all burdened by a certain kind of indifference to the plight of poor people. We were burdened by an insensitivity to a legacy of racial bias. We were tolerating unfairness and unreliability in a way that burdened me and provoked me.

But after the spirit of conquest had changed the first governments, all the succeeding ones have, in general, proved one continued series of injustice, which has reigned in all countries for almost four thousand years.

Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.

I think that children are acutely sensitive to injustice because they live in a world that is absolutely filled with injustice. They have very, very little power, and they are extremely aware of power relations.

It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.

Discrimination has a lot of layers that make it tough for minorities to get a leg up.

Obviously, I have certain policy positions that I push and advocate for that would benefit people dealing in a system that breeds inequality and makes life more difficult for people.

Black people have always been used as a buffer in this country between powers to prevent class war.

If you see oppression of the poor, and justice and righteousness trampled in a country, do not be astounded.

Any society based on domination supports and condones violence.

Race is not particularly interesting to me. Power is. Who has power and who doesn't. Slavery interests me because it's an incredible violation that has not stopped. It's necessary to talk about that. Race is a diversion.

I think people have to recognise that the traditional modes of authority weren't that great.

The margins don't get erased by simply insisting that the powers-that-be erase them.

Too often, systems of oppression turn those who are the targets of the oppression against one another.

They who have put out the people's eyes reproach them for their blindness.

Whenever there are enclosing walls, there are abuses behind them.

Woe to them, that take away the right of the poor.

Brother! We have, as your friends, fought by your side, and have poured out our blood in your defense, but our arms are now broken. You have grown large. My people have become small, and there are none who take pity on them.

Once you say “racism”, the other side loses automatically.

I've been in revolt for years against ignominy, against injustice, against inequality, against immorality, against the exploitation of human beings.

The poor man looks upon the law as an enemy, not as a friend. For him, the law is always taking something away.

No man-made system is perfect, and the system of oppression is no exception. It is subject to fatigue, to cracks, which you are the likelier to discover the longer your term.