James McBride Quotes

Colour is not the issue in America; class is.

We are still a nation deeply divided by race and class.

I take much of the attacks and the criticism toward me as being very class-based, but as Americans we don't like to acknowledge that reality.

America is a country that would rather talk about race than class.

It's usually human drama that carries with it issues of race or class that attracts me. That was certainly the case with 'No Crossover.'

Class structures are a luxury that we cannot afford.

The fight still isn't people of colour versus white. It's the people versus the system built to keep us down. That's the first line of the Constitution. And the system is manmade but is made of no man. Everyone, regardless of class, creed, culture and ethnicity can fight the system and help to break it down.

I believe in the law. I think we have a great system of justice. But I do think that system of justice has been corrupted by racism and classism. I think it's difficult for 'poor people' - poor white people, brown people - to be treated fairly before the law in the same way that upper-class people are.

Race and class are the easiest divisions. It's very stupid.

America is like a melting pot. The people at the bottom get burned, and the scum floats to the top.

The South politician preaches to the poor white man, "You got more than the blacks, don't complain. You're better than them, you been born with white skin," they explain. And the Negro's name Is used, it is plain, For the politician's gain, As he rises to fame And the poor white remains On the caboose of the train; But it ain't him to blame -- He's only a pawn in their game.

Everybody in politics claims to want to get everybody out of poverty. What's the opposite? Wealth. And what is often criticized by the left? Wealth.

Now, then, in order to understand white supremacy we must dismiss the fallacious notion that white people can give anybody their freedom.

When the civil rights battle was won, all the Jews and hippies and artists were middle class white people and all the blacks were still poor. Materially, not much changed.

Inequality is as dear to the American heart as liberty itself.

And understand: class differences will not save you.

People don't want to have to justify their privileges; they don't want to have to justify having access to the power and resource that wealth brings. And by not talking about it, they are able to hold onto their power without being questioned, and I think that makes them feel more secure.

I think one of the most important American films is 'Jackie Brown,' which is such a humble depiction of humble characters but so powerful. The film was pure depiction of the American poverty of the '90s.

It seems that the fiction writer has a revolting attachment to the poor, for even when he writes about the rich, he is more concerned with what they lack than with what they have.

Black people have always been used as a buffer in this country between powers to prevent class war.

Remember, social progress only happens when those in society's privileged classes choose to give up their status.

Let him who expects one class of society to prosper in the highest degree, while the other is in distress, try whether one side; of the face can smile while the other is pinched.

And, for an instant, she stared directly into those soft blue eyes and knew, with an instinctive mammalian certainty, that the exceedingly rich were no longer even remotely human.

White middle- and upper-class men have a longer journey to go than many people.

Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.