Alice Walker Quotes

Respecting differences is very difficult.

There was a time when someone would get on a plane and request to move their seat just because the person sitting next to them was of a different ethnicity or religion or nationality. But I don't think my generation wants that. That's how it used to be.

It is notable how little empathy is cultivated or valued in our society. I put this down to our traditional racism and obsessive sectarianism. Even so, one would think that we would be encouraged to project ourselves into the character of someone of a different race or class, if only to be able to control him. But no effort is made.

Racism has a very quick expiration date when exposed to actual contact with people.

We were a savage little lot, Liverpool kids, not pacifist or vegetarian or anything. But I feel I've gone beyond that, and that it was immature to be so prejudiced and believe in all the stereotypes.

I really care about people, and I would need someone to also genuinely value other human beings and want to be connected with people in the world and to know about other cultures. That might not be a high standard for someone else, but for me, it's really important to try and stick to that.

I believe that we all have the potential to love any human being, and that genetics, upbringing, choice, social conditioning and environment play a major part in which way we sway.

I do not think the American peoples are idiots. They are a very playful and sensitive people! I know them!

All I know for sure is that issues like race, like class, are always best approached with compassion and open-mindedness.

Diversity ... like anything worth having ... requires effort. Effort to learn about and respect difference, to be compassionate with one another, to cherish our own identity ... and to accept unconditionally the same in all others.

Stereotyping of any race or culture is narrow-minded, and I can't wait to help break the shackles.

Our leaders must hold themselves to a higher standard and ensure their words and actions do not promote hate or hurtful anti-Semitic stereotypes.

Liberals allow right-wingers on their platforms to have a 'civilized discussion,' but there's no reasoning with racists. I don't want them to have a platform that humanizes them. I want to talk down to them and meet them exactly where they are, with absolutely no respect.

If we're constantly giving every one of our allies the woke test instead of inviting them to be more woke, we're doomed. You can be the most woke person of all time and be alone.

I think a lot about our globalized world, our global interconnectedness, and it really saddens me when I see people 'othering,' when I see people who are willing to live narrowly.

I've always been raised to love everyone, to accept everyone for their differences, and to just be open. But at a young, a very young age, I realized what racism was all about.

The hardest thing to attain... is the appreciation of difference without insisting on superiority.

Yet even differences prove helpful, where there are tolerance, charity and Truth.

There is a huge difference between being tolerant and tolerating intolerance

I've told you before. You shouldn't judge people based on appearances and your preconceptions.

To judge someone before understanding that person is a form of human rejection and feeds upon itself. It intensifies personal insecurities, necessitating more judgment (prejudice) and less understanding. The processes continue in this vicious cycle.

I refuse to allow any man-made differences to separate me from any other human beings.

I think if we open ourselves to all different kinds of men and all groups, we find a lot more opportunities to love.

People aren't born racist.

Nobody wants to be racist and I think that most people aren't.