Howard Zinn Quotes

I think voting is the lowest form of political action that you can do. A lot of times, it keeps people from doing stronger things.

I'm a supporter of Barry Hearn, I voted for him and will support him in whatever he wants to do.

I thought my parents were always having card parties - and they were - but they were actually also having meetings to organize people. My older sister would be part of youth organizing, and she'd have dance parties. People would be dancing and talking about how to improve their neighborhood.

The only way change happens is when people become more significantly involved in the political process.

The first time when I was organizing, I went out and started knocking on doors to see if people were registered to vote. I was a door knocker. I didn't even have the confidence that I could register people, so I just was out there door knocking. That was my first experience.

What a grassroots party is about is people getting excited, getting involved in the local political process, saying, we want our candidate to run for office, we want him to run for office, and we're going to get involved and make sure that he or she wins.

The so-called resistance is very broad and we don't agree on everything, but there's a moment of opportunity when people are paying attention. It's time for us to really get serious about political education and about our own moral education in this moment, and to seize this opportunity to organize and be in deep dialogue with a whole lot of people who never even thought about being politically engaged or active before. There's real hope there and real opportunity.

Do one of three things. One, go find a wailing wall and feel sorry for yourselves. Two, go psycho and start bombing - but this will only swing people to the right. Three, learn a lesson. Go home, organize, build power and at the next convention, you be the delegates.

I was always a politician from the day the civil rights people chose me as their protest singer.

I loved campaigning.

We've got activists all across the country like the members of the Million Mom March organization, some of their leaders are here tonight. We're phone banking congressional offices and pursuing editorial boards.

Politics are close to me, but there are different ways of participating in politics.

In fact, I really didn't get enthused about his Secretary of State race until I attended a couple of his rallies and found out there were a bunch of young folks that there were a bunch of young folks that he had been able to recruit on his own.

You can't do progressive government from the inside. You have to rally those outsiders and make them a force.

The whole idea of a democracy is that we ourselves, the people, are supposed to make a path of our politics, and it is we who with our feet and our vote and our labors and our vigilance are supposed to shape our country.

Until the Negro votes on a large scale, we will have to rely more and more on mass direct action as the one realistic political weapon.

Grass Roots Convention

The organizer dedicated to changing the life of a particular community must first rub raw the resentments of the people of the community.

Obama did organize a great large number of people and many enthusiastic people, what's called in the press 'Obama's Army.' But the army is supposed to take instructions, not to implement, to introduce, develop programs and call on its own candidate to implement them. That's critical.

I want people to be mad as hell. Be mad as hell and work toward something. Find an issue and find a candidate that you believe in.

Put a lawn sign on your lawn; go door to door for your candidate. Register people to vote. There's so much we can do through our voices and time. That's what flips elections.

The more I hear about Eddie Izzard's political agenda, the more sympathetic I feel. I cheer him on in his cause, but I fear he faces an uphill battle.

The reason that I started the Black Futures Lab is because I have some clarity about what I think needs to happen in relationship to electoral organizing. It's not a destination. It is a set of tools that we use to engage people that we care about, en masse, around issues that are important to us.

As a daughter of a former NAACP chapter president, I know all too well how everyday people can change lives and create progress so many others consider 'impossible.'

The folks that are suggesting Occupy move to electoral politics are ignoring history, ignoring what actually creates change. People get involved in electoral politics because they think there is no movement that can create change.