Marcia L. Fudge Quotes

Class certainly loomed large in Katrina's aftermath. Blacks of means escaped the tragedy; blacks without them suffered and died. In reality, it is how race and class interact that made the situation for the poor so horrible on the Gulf Coast. The rigid caste system that punishes poor blacks and other minorities also targets poor whites.

It is bad enough to be white and poor; it is worse still to be black, or brown, and female, and young, and poor. Simply said, race makes class hurt more.

In a world of increasing inequality, the legitimacy of institutions that give precedence to the property rights of 'the Haves' over the human rights of 'the Have Nots' is inevitably called into serious question.

Racism is just the symptom, but the fight is economic.

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 doesn't create unhappiness.

You want the good life? You live where white people live, you go to school where white people go to school, and you shop where white people shop.

The Negro today perhaps has more political power than ever before and he is worse off than ever before. It is not votes but dollars that count in this civilization.

Opportunity seems to be color-coded here in America

Our nation's long neglect of minorities whose skin is dark is perhaps only a little worse than our neglect of another minority whose hair is white.

To be concerned about inequality is not engaging in class warfare.

You are exacerbating inequality rather than opening up opportunity.

Minorities do not believe this country will give them a fair shake.

In the area of economic justice, we still have a long way to go. We have too many people who are discriminated against just because they happen to be black or they happen to be a woman or some other minority.

The same way I'm not afraid of calling out systemic discrimination, I'm also not afraid of calling out inequality and the fact that inequality is growing in society and that affects everybody, regardless of race.

I grew up poor, black, and working class.

We live in a capitalist society and if we're talking about the people at the bottom of the food chain, it's women of colour.

When a black person has no electricity, no water, they call it the ghetto. When white people have no electricity and no water, they call it camping.

I think the rich are too rich and the poor are too poor. I don't think the black people are going to rise at all; I think most of them are going to die.

Nobody is poor unless he stand in need of justice.

In poor countries, the rich and powerful crush the poor and powerless.

Colour is not the issue in America; class is.

You cannot talk about race without talking about privilege. And when people start talking about privilege, they get paralyzed by shame.

There's only one free person in this society, and he is white and male.

I learned early that I had to work harder than the white kids and harder than the boys.