Louis Farrakhan Quotes

Abolish lynching

I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with Blood.

We are tired of being lynched physically in Mississippi, and we are tired of being lynched spiritually and economically in the North.

You see people being lynched in public, while others take pictures of the scene. Mind you, this is the 21st century—not the French Revolution.

Racism is here and will always exist, but we can't use it as a crutch.

Black Lives Matter is really an affirmation for our people. It's a love note for our people, but it's also a demand. We know that the system was not designed for justice for us.

We have been shaken by the deaths of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, and Tamir Rice - shaken, but not sufficiently unsettled. We must contextualize those losses, force our neighbors to become so deeply disturbed by what has occurred that they, too, are inspired to act to change the system.

Racism is a way to gain economic advantage at the expense of others. Slavery and plantations may be gone, but racism still allows us to regard those who may keep us from financial gain as less than equals.

I am for violence if non-violence means we continue postponing a solution to the American black man's problem just to avoid violence.

When you grow up in a totally segregated society, where everybody around you believes that segregation is proper, you have a hard time. You can't believe how much it's a part of your thinking.

Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.

So many killings of black men in my lifetime. The physical shock is astounding.

We don't have as much prejudice as we did 40 years ago, but today it is more educated.

I'm not trying to say that it never hurt or that I never felt its sting, but I can honestly say that I never blamed anybody for racism. I have considered it more of a manifestation of humanity's problem rather than my personal problem.

Many are observing Ferguson and witnessing the anger, demonstrations, looting and vandalism and calling for quiet. But quiet isn't enough. The absence of noise isn't the presence of justice - and we must demand justice in Ferguson and the other 'Fergusons' around America.

The man does not beat your head because you got a Cadillac or because you got a Ford; he beats you because you're black!

I don't want any injustice brought against the bullies. Bullies just don't know any better. Anyone who is crying about police brutality or victimization as an adult needs to stop it and realize the privileges we have in this country.

Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.

Although lynchings have steadily increased in number and barbarity during the last twenty years, there has been no single effort put forth by the many moral and philanthropic forces of the country to put a stop to this wholesale slaughter.

Somebody must show that the Afro-American race is more sinned against than sinning, and it seems to have fallen upon me to do so.

The lives of African-Americans in this country are characterized by violence for most of our history. Much of that violence, at least to some extent, you know, done by the very state that's supposed to protect them.

Recent events in Alabama, involving murder, savage brutality, and violence by local police [against civil rights protesters] ... have so aroused the nation as to make action by this Congress necessary and speedy.

Lynchings were public events attended by the town’s leading citizens. They were almost a sport ….Between 1882 and 1968, an estimated 4,742 blacks met their deaths at the hands of lynch mobs.

The white men the Democrats of the South are sending to Congress are coming with hands reeking in human gore.

The murder, savage brutality, and violence perpetrated by Alabama lawmen have so aroused the nation as to make action by the Congress necessary and speedy.