Justin Simien Quotes

A lot of people think that intersectionality is only about identity. But it's also about how race and gender are structured in particular workforces.

If you're anything other than a white, cisgender, able-bodied dude, people are going to project narratives, imagery, and context onto you that you might not necessarily see for yourself.

I'm the result of upbringing, class, race, gender, social prejudices, and economics. So I'm a victim again. A result.

Only a straight white person would have no concept of what visibility is. They've never contended with anything but visibility.

When a system of oppression has become institutionalized it is unnecessary for individuals to be oppressive.

I can't discriminate? Oh, that's ripe, coming from a straight white man. What's the matter, baby doesn't feel like he belongs? Well why don't you try a place that was set up just for you? Like the world!

Different identity groups hold specific levels of power over others when their battles play out in the media. To wit: Black beats white. Gay beats white. Black beats gay.

As a woman of color, I've come to rely on straight white men telling me my experience of the world has nothing to do with my gender, race or class. (Unless something good happens to me, in which case they tell me my gender, race and/or class is exactly why that thing happened).

My whiteness, economic privilege, able-bodied privilege, family support, and so many other factors shield me from some of the worst possible consequences - often fatal ones - that result from the toxic combination of misogyny, racism, and anti-trans sentiment.

Intersectionality is an analytic sensibility, a way of thinking about identity and its relationship to power. Originally articulated on behalf of black women, the term brought to light the invisibility of many constituents within groups that claim them as members but often fail to represent them.

While white women and men of color also experience discrimination, all too often their experiences are taken as the only point of departure for all conversations about discrimination. Being front and center in conversations about racism or sexism is a complicated privilege that is often hard to see.

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.

Class, race, sexuality, gender and all other categories by which we categorize and dismiss each other need to be excavated from the inside.

It's a struggle for every young Black man. You know how it is, only God can judge us.

I'm not a fan of identity politics.

The personal is political, but only to a point.

I'm not a big fan of identity politics and sort of picking one thing and defining yourself with it.

Most men today cannot conceive of a freedom that does not involve somebody's slavery.

America is a fundamentally good country. We have good people with good values who want to do the right thing. But the structures of power that exist are working to their own ends to extend their capability at the expense of the freedom of all publics.

I know how hard it is to be a woman, especially a black woman.

Obviously there is no such thing as race, and in many ways, sex is a continuum, not a binary. So it doesn't make sense to label people in that way.

I am from the class that has, in a sense, benefited from the status quo, but everyone still gets victimized.

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

While everyone's experience of oppression is different and complicated and often overlapping, I really believe that if you have privilege, you need to learn as much as you can about the world beyond yourself.

When someone lives as a minority, they experience the world differently than those of us who live in the majority. We may occupy the same physical space, but we don't occupy the same psychic space.