Richard Pryor Quotes
I went to Zimbabwe. I know how white people feel in America now; relaxed! Cause when I heard the police car I knew they weren't coming after me!
Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip. Directed by Joe Layton, performances by Richard Pryor, Columbia Pictures, 1982.
This was a quotation from Roof's twisted confession of the fact that he walked into a black church that was holding a Bible Study Class, and gunned down 9 religious people studing the Bible. His "justification" was based on totally false "facts" but at the time many people--especially those and the extremes of political ideology simply chose the fact that supported their narrative and world vie without regard to veracity. The overwhelming majority of whites who are murdered in America are murdered by other whites and usually by people whey knew. Most rapes in the United States are committed by Whites, not Blacks, Of the Black committed rapes, most of the victims were also Black. Large proportions of the American populace believe that the Black cntribution to crime against whites is very much larger than it reall is. Of the whites who believe this, a tiny few become white supremicists and only some of those act out and commit any physical violance. However the few succetable people like Roof have heard these falsehoods so ofteh that tney not only beleive it si try but they believe taht they must do something lest the problem get worse. Of course, even if Blacks were committing all these crimes against whites, it takes a spcially sociopahic mind to believe that by killing Bible-studying, deeply religious, Christian Blacks, they will somehow stop violent Black crime.
Criticizing the Southern FBI agents for not enforcing Civil Rights Laws and protecting Blacks:
Instead of standing and saluting as professional athletes have done for decades before games, he kneeled and refused to stand. This caused great public criticism but also some initial support. He was potentially risking his multimillion dollar salary as this technically violated his contract to avoid anything embarrassing to the team. He also donated $1 million to programs in the area that were working to enhance Black/white understanding. Even those who disagreed with his choice of protest defended his right to do so, and after the initial furor, public opinion, while not in agreement about his method, tended to support him for having the courage of his convictions and using his celebrity for a worthy cause. After sensing the public opinion, his team matches his $1 donation. Professional athletes both in the NFL and in other sports then began to do the same as a form of protest for the large, disproportionate, number of black men who were killed, mostly when unarmed, by police. The reference to the “paid leave” was the practice followed by most police departments—usually required by collective bargaining agreements with police unions—of placing police officers accused of committing violations of laws or regulations on paid administrative leave while all the investigations, hearings, and other processes . While this practice protected the rights of those police officers who were not guilty, it ended up paying brutal murders for a some time entire their case was decided or acted upon be the district attorney.
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential stand-up comedians of all time.
