Malcolm Jenkins Quotes

People don't really understand how important our voices are. I think there's a lot of athletes that don't use their power that really should.

You're starting to see more and more athletes recognizing their reach and how much leverage and power that they have in their celebrity and in their platform. And more and more guys are trying to use that leverage to better their communities, to better this country and are speaking out on injustice.

Activism has been very productive in our society.

Activism isn't something you just kind of get involved in and then turn your back on it.

I could just go to the horse races and take lovely holidays, but I have some strong views, and I want to make a difference.

We accept the world in order to change it. If you do not accept, then what are you going to change?

I was raised in a very activist household so that I grew up surrounded by people who were activists.

I've learned how to measure what I say. Al Sharpton in 1986 was trying to be heard. I was a local guy and was like, 'Y'all are ignoring us.'

As a young man, causes of one kind or another engaged me, and I thought the media is where you express yourself in that. I lived with the illusion, for quite a long time, that if you described something accurately, something would be done about it.

Artists have a responsibility to speak and to act when governments fail, and if we don't do that, we really deserve the world we get.

In community work, you reach some people, but in writing, I can reach many more people, not only in exploring issues of domestic violence, but also by showing the importance of strong women in communities.

I was a sports fan, but I also went to peace marches.

I wouldn't characterize my work, however, as directly political.

My outspoken beliefs have been embraced, but I don't consider myself an activist. Maybe people consider me as that, but it's not anything outrageous or bad I can't live with.

Recently, more athletes have been speaking up on political issues, a change from the old days when the only political issue that mattered to 99 percent of them was which candidate was most likely to lower their taxes.

One of the things that I've always not liked is the modern players have always concentrated on dancing in the end zone and BSing when serious things were going on in this country that needed to be changed. So my opinion is that when these young people stand up and risk their careers, that's a good sign for everything and all of us.

People want me to shut up, but I won't. I believe social change is possible; that's why I'm an activist.

I'm not quite sure precisely when social and political activism became a visible brand of my DNA, but it seems to me that I was born into it. It is hard to be born into the experience in the world of poverty and not develop some instinct for survival and resistance to those things that oppress you.

I don't think it's up to black athletes to get involved in political or racial issues.

I think my mom exposed me to the concept of using your voice for anything you care about.

I've never lived through a moment in history where people are using their voices and becoming strong advocates for what they believe in.

If I wanted to change the world, the last thing I would do is write a play.

Activism is wasteful.

I want to act, if I can, as a bridge for people who read 'Shock Doctrine' or 'No Logo'. People who are sitting out for whatever reasons.

People are not afraid to be activists, to be vocal. And I think back to my years in college, and that wasn't the case.