John Blair Quotes

I got my head bashed in at a demonstration against the Vietnam War. Police were losing control because they were up against a world they really didn't understand.

While I understand the passions and the anger that arise over the death of Michael Brown, giving into that anger by looting or carrying guns, and even attacking the police, only serves to raise tensions and stir chaos.

Post-apocalyptic novels tell you that in the future there is some great war. I would tell you that most cops say that it's going on right now.

A riot is the language of the unheard.

The riot isn't seen in the movie, but it is alluded to. He has this one speech that gives a great sense of texture and paints a picture of what was happening in Harlem then.

You have to understand the Newark Riots - a lot of people understand that the pain was the initial explosion of anger and alienation, but after that, the response, sending the National Guard troops - a lot of violence was carried out and perpetrated by those who were allegedly coming here to protect residents.

'Occupy' is nothing but a pack of louts, thieves, and rapists, an unruly mob, fed by Woodstock-era nostalgia and putrid false righteousness. These clowns can do nothing but harm America.

Riots born out of political issues aren't the same as those born out of personal greed.

We had a lot of riots. We came under attack from many of the police departments. It certainly wasn't some publicity thing. I was afraid for many years. We couldn't play in LA for many years. A lot of people got very cynical.

When you loot or behave violently, you give grounds to those that try to justify illegal police abuse. You become the poster child for them to say, 'See, we have no choice but to shoot and kill, or use a chokehold, because just look at the way they behave.'

The relationship between violence and nonviolence in this country is interesting. The fact of the matter is, you know, people do respond to riots. The 1968 Housing Act was in large response to riots that broke out after Dr. Martin Luther King was killed. They cited these as an actual inspiration.

Urban riots must now be recognized as a durable social phenomenon. They are a special form of violence ... mainly intended to shock the white community.

The Los Angeles riots were not caused by the Rodney King verdict. The Los Angeles riots were caused by rioters.

Tensions and violence in cities across America are reminders of how quickly communities can erupt with an absence of social trust.

I have chosen to kneel because I simply cannot stand for the kind of oppression this country is allowing against its own people.

I was 14 when the Democratic convention in my hometown of Chicago erupted into violence. It was a tough year.

There are so many things going on in this world that are unbelievable. A lot of gun violence and police brutality.

The NYPD is just a branch of corruption connected to a giant, corrupt tree called the United States government.

During the Umbrella Movement, the police force wasn't in control, and the police ignored the law and tried to use extreme force to hurt people.

In 'When They Call You a Terrorist,' I reflect on my time growing up in Van Nuys, California, surrounded by my devoted family and supportive friends, weaving our experiences into the larger picture of how predominantly marginalized neighborhoods are under constant systemic attack.

The violence in 'Visaranai' is based on reality.

The thing that happened in Ferguson touched many of us in a specific way.

Transgender people, especially transgender women of color, face pervasive discrimination throughout life, including by those sworn to protect us.

I don't know if you'd do a Marvel story on Ferguson, because it trivializes what the real flesh-and-blood people on the ground are doing there. But you can make an allegory and deal with the bigger questions.

We have seen communities cry out in pain, generation after generation, because of racism and police brutality.