Alphonso Jackson Quotes

'Billy Elliot' embodies the idea that anyone can achieve anything regardless of their socio-economic background.

Whereas the only real solution to the race problem in this country is a solution that involves individual self improvement and collective self improvement in, whereas our own, wherein our own people are concerned.

The revolution is carried out by means of one's thought, not through one's family background.

We must recognize that all the civil rights laws in the world are not going to solve the problem of minority underachievement. Ultimately, blacks and Hispanics are going to have to see that their solution is largely in their own hands.

There is no public out there who needs to change. It's each one of us.

Get off your bottom and be the stand, and do the work you can to pursue the American Dream for yourself, and help others to do the same.

Education remains the key to both economic and political empowerment.

Good education, housing and jobs are imperatives for the Negroes, and I shall support them in their fight to win these objectives, but I shall tell the Negroes that while these are necessary, they cannot solve the main Negro problem.

It would be against all nature for all the Negroes to be either at the bottom, top, or in between. We will go where the internal drive carries us like everybody else. It is up to the individual.

Because of where I come from, I never thought I'd see in my life a black candidate running for President.

You've got all these books on self help, getting to know yourself, doing the right thing, eating the so-called right foods, even down to what books you have on your shelves. People are encouraged to look to themselves first as opposed to being a part of society.

America is the civilization of people engaged in transforming themselves. In the past, the stars of the performance were the pioneer and the immigrant. Today, it is youth and the Black.

Education brings about opportunity, and in turn inspiration.

Allah does not change social conditions until people change their attitude.

No doubt it is also necessary to improve the classes who now oppress you, but you will never succeed in doing this unless you begin by improving yourselves.

There were communists in the civil rights movement who played a very helpful role.

If not for food stamps, Medicaid, and various job programs, I would never have gone on to be the first in my family to go to college, the first black woman to represent my ward on the Cleveland City Council, and, ultimately, a State Senator.

In America, we can reinvent ourselves - we're encouraged to.

The real problem in Mississippi is almost a complete moral breakdown. In order to move Mississippi from the bottom to the top, all we have to do is just get people to do a little more what they know, to practice a little more of what they preach.

You can't just shuffle people around like they're deck chairs on a ship. You have to help them change their lives, and you have to give them the requisite resources to do so.

Education is the antidote to poverty.

Anything with the title 'Breaking The Barriers' means a lot to us, and to myself in particular, because if it wasn't for those who broke the barrier of color before me, I would not have the opportunity to live the life I'm leading right now.

The mantra I grew up with was that no matter where you came from, hard work and education could set you free.

I don't believe in legacy. I feel that the 'mega' tag definitely acts as a platform, but after that, it's all on the individual. Legacy does not mean a crown that is passed on; we have to create our own paths.

Ours is the old, old story of every uprising race or class or order. The work of elevation must be wrought by ourselves or not at all.