Ava DuVernay Quotes

Here is what is needed for Occupy Wall Street to become a force for change: a clear, and clearly expressed, objective. Or two.

I think the Occupy movement is absolutely fantastic; in my opinion, it's probably one of the most important people's movements of the 21st century and the 20th century. The trouble is that nobody really wants to support what they represent. They are too 'grassroots' for their own good.

The relationship between violence and nonviolence in this country is interesting. The fact of the matter is, you know, people do respond to riots. The 1968 Housing Act was in large response to riots that broke out after Dr. Martin Luther King was killed. They cited these as an actual inspiration.

We are on the threshold of a significant breakthrough, and the greatest weapon is the mass demonstration.

Ferguson shows the power of social media. This could have not been a story. Or it could have just been a local story. Or it could have been something that we saw only from a distance, through the usual filters. Instead, it gathered steam.

I've been in movement work since I was 16 years old. Black Lives Matter becomes an important part of the story, but it's not the only part of the story.

When I think about protest, I worry so much that people think about it only as standing in the streets. And I say that as someone who has been standing in the streets of cities across the country - but at the root of it is this idea of telling the truth in public.

Any protester knows that the only way activism works is to get the people on your side.

Nonviolent tactics can move into action on our behalf men not naturally inclined to act for us.

Ours is a country where anything can be accomplished if enough people get angry... because, in America, we act on our collective anger.

There's nothing automatic about political change, about liberation.

For any movement to gain momentum, it must start with a small action. This action becomes multiplied by the masses, and is made tangible when leadership changes course due to the weight of the movement's voice.

If a huge number of people call for change, the government will have to react. If you want to avoid uprisings, or demonstrations, you need to respond to the people's desperate need for change.

We have a tendency to sugar coat the Civil Rights movement by showing arm in arm and everyone singing 'Kumbaya'. We don't really always show the resistance from the government, the resistance from the status quo, from the majority to silence the movement.

In 2012, I see the potential for people to come together, huge moments of political and social engagement where elections are part of the strategy for change, but not the end goal and not the only thing that matters.

At some point, Twitter hash tags are not enough. Eventually, you have to stand up.

The Occupy movement is - it was a big surprise.

The organizer dedicated to changing the life of a particular community must first rub raw the resentments of the people of the community.

Organize, agitate, educate, must be our war cry.

I think there's a weapon of cynicism to say, 'Protest doesn't work. Organizing doesn't work. Y'all are a bunch of hippies. You know, it doesn't do anything,' because, frankly, it's said out of fear, because it is a potent force for political change.

We live in a country where movies, music, and sports are more important than God to a lot of people. It's why Colin Kaepernick's protest rocked the nation and got the whole world talking. Taking a knee is a simple act of defiance. Had Colin done it anywhere other than the football field, it might not have even made the news.

Injustice has exhausted people but also pushed them to organize and fight back in very sophisticated ways.

People may recognize me as some sort of superhero, but it's different. Spider-Man and all these other superheroes, they get superpowers and do what they want to save the city. If we need to save Hong Kong, we can't rely on superpowers, we can just rely on the people.

I am not naive enough to believe that voting is the only way to bring about transformational change, just as I know that protest alone is not the sole solution to the challenges we face.

We want to spread the movement and want people to join in. Any one who is against corruption should join, be it Baba Ramdev or the common man.