Julian Bond Quotes

I don't want affirmative action - too much affirmative, not enough action.

Affirmative action was always racial justice on the cheap.

To abandon affirmative action is to say there is nothing more to be done about discrimination.

You know, I love all kinds of activism. I certainly think blacks deserve to have something whether it is affirmative action or an opportunity that should be opened up to them. But at the same time I believe that people of color are not the only poor people in America and all over the world.

The third fallacy is that affirmative action doesn't work.

Racial preferences are dead. All that is required now is to give them a decent and honorable burial.

The whole issue of race and discrimination is a moral issue.

We've come a long way from the days where there was state-enforced segregation. But we still have a way to go.

Affirmitive action is extremely complex because it appears in many different forms.

Affirmative action was never meant to be permanent, and now is truly the time to move on to some other approach.

Affirmative action works but we're going to need to muster all our political resources if we are to keep it in place.

I want a fair housing bill. We’ve got to end this Goddamn discrimination against Negroes. Until people, whether they’re purple, brown, black, yellow, red, green, or whatever – live together, they’ll never know they have the same hopes for their children, the same fears, troubles, woes, ambitions.

I believe the time has come for equal rights for everyone in this country, even for white people.

If affirmative action is quotas, then I am not for it. If it means equal opportunity, then I say support that. But to ask for special treatment because of race, that bothers me...

Affirmative action is the most important antidiscrimination technique ever instituted in the United States. It is the one tool that has had a demonstrable effect on discrimination... Affirmative action, by all statistical measures, has been the central ingredient to the creation of the black middle class.

I think that affirmative action programs can be very important.

The fact is that in too many parts of our country, we still have discrimination. And affirmative action is not just something that applies to people of color. Some people have a mistaken view of it in America. It also is with respect to women, it's with respect to other efforts to try to reach out and be inclusive in our country.

I think there are some things that may even be distorted in the practice, such as some affirmative action programs becoming quota systems. And I'm old enough to remember when quotas existed in the United States for the purpose of discrimination, and I don't want to see that happen again.

Marches alone won't bring integration when human respect is disintegratin'

However, while we should certainly celebrate the demise of overt official racism, we must also critically examine where we are at this historical moment, recognize the many challenges ahead and reaffirm our commitment to making Brown v. Board a reality.

I disagree with the prevailing point of view of some black leaders that special treatment for blacks is acceptable.

When I call myself an affirmative action baby, I'm talking about the essence of what affirmative action was when it started.

You can't be a minority in this society without having someone express disapproval about affirmative action.

Since governmental quotas expand bureaucratic power, provoke a backlash and are unfair to individuals, we need to find a better way to increase minority opportunities.

I was critical of race-based affirmative action early on in my career and I've changed my mind. And I've publicly acknowledged that I was wrong.