Atishi Quotes

The margins don't get erased by simply insisting that the powers-that-be erase them.

I just think the most difficult thing to displace is privilege.

We must make sure #MeToo breaks the race, class, gender, and faith lines that make it so hard for marginalized people to be heard.

Progress is always relative: to the oppressed, it can only be viewed as an all or nothing deal - if oppression continues, even in a modified form, then the system must still be attacked until that injustice is eradicated.

The paradox of American democracy has been that its slogan of equal opportunity has meant, often, equal opportunity to get power over your fellows.

Many of the ideas that accompany privilege talk, if implemented, would wreak havoc on human wellbeing. If people truly acknowledged their privilege, they would show a greater concern for the forces behind it, which permit them to lead long, healthy, educated, leisure-filled lives, all the while incessantly complaining about the unadulterated evils of modern civilization.

I think what we forget is that everybody loses when we keep unnecessary privilege. The cost to society overall is much greater.

I don't think that the trickle-down theory of diversity ever really works.

What people don't know about oppression is that the oppressor works much harder. You always grew up being told you were not smart enough or not fast enough, but we all lived from the time we were children to beat the system.

I usually play disenfranchised youth.

Discrimination has a lot of layers that make it tough for minorities to get a leg up.

Obviously, I have certain policy positions that I push and advocate for that would benefit people dealing in a system that breeds inequality and makes life more difficult for people.

One needs to place the spotlight more on vulnerable groups of the population such as minorities, indigenous populations, migrants, and historically disadvantaged communities. Placing the spotlight on them brings their plight to the fore and enables the forging of a national consensus to act for their relief and protection.

We do not yet have justice, equal and practical, for the poor, for the members of minority groups, for the criminally accused, for the displaced persons of the technological revolution, for alienated youth, for the urban masses, for the unrepresented consumer – for all … who do not partake of the abundance of American life.

Our criminal justice system affirmatively depends on inequality.

A radical shift in policy brings almost as many injustices in its train as does the continuance of a policy that has outlived its usefulness.

Sadly, the pernicious ironies of privilege talk are generally lost on those who claim to be most aware of privilege.

People have almost been lulled into complacency because there are no signs over the water fountains. But the signs have been in the policies. There's still housing discrimination and wage discrimination.

I'm driven by the gaps, the things that are missing, the areas where marginalized people exist - and where the least resources are available for them.

It's incredibly important to understand history... when it comes to inequality.

We need radical, transformative solutions to address the inequality that is blighting millions of people's lives.

Unrestrained liberalism only makes the strong stronger and the weak weaker and excludes the most excluded.

We have two evils to fight, capitalism and racism. We must destroy both racism and capitalism.

In every human society, there is an effort continually tending to confer on one part the height of power and happiness, and to reduce the other to the extreme of weakness and misery. The intent of good laws is to oppose this effort and to diffuse their influence universally and equally.

It's funny how people who ain't never been down there can think that America is so fair and that we should be alright. It's funny that the people who have their foot on our neck are telling us, 'Get up. What's wrong with you?'