Black Panther Party Quotes

The triumphs of Christianity rest this very hour upon slavery; and slavery depends on the triumphs of the South ...

For many gay and bisexual men of color, economic inequalities add to the pernicious effects of oppression and homophobia.

The fact that slavery is written into the Constitution is about as entrenched a form of classism as you could possibly imagine.

Who will deny that thirty years of my life have been spent knocking in vain, patiently, moderately and modestly at a closed and barred door? What have been the fruits of moderation? The past thirty years have seen the greatest number of laws restricting our rights and progress, until today we have reached a stage where we have almost no rights at all.

In the event of a war for the defense of our nation and its liberties, there shall be a conscription of wealth as well as a conscription of men.

I ain’t got no quarrel with the Viet Cong. No Viet Cong ever called me nigger.

Conscription is the cemetery where every vestige of your liberty is to be buried.

Keeping people on the margins of cultural, social and political life constitutes in many nations one of the most glaring injustices of our time.

The evil inequities and oppression of every kind which afflict millions of men and women today openly contradict Christ's Gospel and cannot leave the conscience of any Christian indifferent.

We’re a democracy and we’re defended by volunteers.

I thought the Navy at times resembled a Southern plantation that had somehow escaped the Civil War. Blacks swabbed the decks, shined shoes, did the cooking, washed the dishes, and served the food. Virtually no other jobs were open to them.

Perhaps in combat overseas, we [Blacks] would have more freedom and respect than we had experienced at home.

Opportunity seems to be color-coded here in America

If this country ever had a military of the poor, it no longer does.

This is the first step on the odious ground of conscription—a plan sir, which never will and never ought to be submitted to by this country while it retains one idea of civil freedom.

I am not satisfied as long as the Negro sees life as a long and empty corridor with a "No Exit" sign at the end. The cup of endurance has run over.

We Blacks have a long history of serving as cannon fodder for interests that are not our own.

Will the American People Never Cease to Oppress and Torture the Helpless poor?

It is fundamentally wrong—and cowardly—in a democratic society to claim that those who stand between us and a potential enemy should be risking their lives simply because they are ‘following the marketplace’ and the military is their ‘best deal’.

American democracy is a failure. It is a miserable failure. It has failed because it is a limited and racial and divisible democracy …. How can we fight for democracy in Burma, a country we have not seen, when we don't have democracy in Birmingham, a city we have seen.

…the ownership of slaves brought men great gain from the multitude of their progeny, who increased because they were exempt from military service. Thus certain powerful men became extremely rich and the race of slaves multiplied throughout the country, while the Italian people dwindled in numbers and strength, being oppressed by penury, taxes, and military service.

The draft should be called slavery, involuntary servitude.

What freedom am I being offered while the organization of the people remains banned? What freedom am I being offered when I may be arrested on a pass offence?...What freedom am I being offered when I need a stamp in my pass book to seek work? What freedom am I being offered when my very South African citizenship is not respected? Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts… I cannot and will not give any undertaking at a time when I and you, the people, are not free.

Negro poverty is not white poverty. Many of its causes and many of its cures are the same. But there are differences—deep, corrosive, obstinate differences—radiating painful roots into the community and into the family, and the nature of the individual. These differences are not racial differences. They are solely and simply the consequence of ancient brutality, past injustice, and present prejudice.

... deployed on the sands of Saudi Arabia and facing possible extinction, are young men and women drawn, in the main, from the poorer families of our republic.