P. J. Tucker Quotes

The most important thing my grandfather taught me was that the most noble way to use your skills, intellect and energy is to defend the marginalized against those with the greatest power - and that the resulting animosity from those in power is a badge of honor.

I have lectured at the U.N. and travelled widely, giving lectures on human rights and gender inequalities in universities. But this is a life I do not wish to live. I don't want to be a showcase, I want to be in a battlefield where I can stand beside the oppressed and the poor.

Until the world in some way changes, then my responsibility is to share what I know and more importantly to behave like I know about the extraordinary work and effort and blood shed for me to be able to sit here.

Those that have a voice have to speak for those of us who are silenced.

The better we understand how identities and power work together from one context to another, the less likely our movements for change are to fracture.

I'm very grateful for the platform that I've had in my life to speak out about the things I care about.

What I always wanted to do when I was a kid was to speak out and help people which I continue to do afterwards.

When the men are silent, it is our duty to raise our voices in behalf of our ideals.

No change can come if those who are impacted the most by discrimination are not willing to stand up for themselves.

I think that all people who feel that there is injustice in the world anywhere should learn as much of it as they can bear. That is our duty.

Social media are a catalyst for the advancement of everyone's rights. It's where we're reminded that we're all human and all equal. It's where people can find and fight for a cause, global or local, popular or specialized, even when there are hundreds of miles between them.

I want to be the voice of the people; black, white, everyday, oppressed people. A person trying to make it and to do it right.

I like to be able to raise people's consciousness, yes. And to remind that those of us involved in the receiving end of the oppression, we have a duty.

Facing sexism and racism and classism and transphobia, there are ways to choose to act in those situations, and there shouldn't be a prescriptive list of things that you have to say.

I think it is incumbent on all human beings to oppose injustice in every form.

As straight Americans we have two choices: we can choose to sit back and enjoy our rights as we have them, or we can realize that it is actually not freedom at all when our friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues do not share these basic rights.

No one who passively endures an injustice against himself has the material in him to struggle for the rights of others. The one who patiently forbears becomes an accessory to the injustice done to others. He who resists the injustice which he himself meets can open up the way to a higher right for others.

There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.

We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

Each one of our ideas should benefit the people with less power than us.

I want to be the voice and the vision for the poor and the powerless.

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.

We must stand up and do everything we can for the people who do not have a voice.

I know that we will be the sufferers if we let great wrongs occur without exerting ourselves to correct them.

I do feel a responsibility to try and raise awareness and to help tell the stories of those who may not otherwise have a voice.