Race & Race Relations Quotes

Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.

Had [Clarence] Thomas been white, he never would have been nominated. The only reason he’s on the court is because he’s black.

Racialized oppression and dehumanization is woven into the very fabric of our nation — the effects of which can be seen in the lawful lynching of black and brown people by the police, and the mass incarceration of black and brown lives in the prison industrial complex,

I don't think we can undo the past. … We have to do the best we can now...I don't think quotas are a good idea...I don't think quotas are a good idea. I think it is a mistake to begin to assign quotas on the basis of religion or race or color, or nationality. … We are too mixed, this society of ours, to begin to divide ourselves on the basis of race or color.

Do you know that Negroes are 10 percent of the population of St. Louis and are responsible fro 58% of its crimes? We’ve got to face that. And we’ve got to do something about our moral standards. We know that there are many things wrong in the white world, but there are many things wrong in the black world, too. We can’t keep on blaming the white man. There are things we must do for ourselves.

If you are a black athlete, celebrity or media personality living, socializing, working, studying or dating in the white community, the easiest way to stop Twitter trolls from spamming your social media with accusations of race betrayal is to celebrate BLM. If you’re an educated, nerdy, proper-speaking black person who has been chastised for “acting white” by your black peers, supporting BLM salvages your black image.

The negro race already occupy enough of this fair continent ... I would preserve for free white labor a fair country ... where the sons of toil, of my own race and own color, can live without the disgrace which association with negro slavery brings upon free labor.

The echoes of history are unmistakable in our current climate. The rise in extremist views has created a dangerous environment and radical intolerance (that) leads to a society that no longer celebrates differences, but to instead conspire to demonize those who are different to the point of creating the ‘other.’ The idea of the ‘other’ is an idea that poisons discourse and creates a dangerous wedge throughout our communities. ‘Othering’ rationalizes prejudice. It encourages the willful denial and distortion of reality to enforce preconceptions. ‘Other’ is the kindling that fuels extremism and illiberalism. … The creation of the ‘other’ and that dehumanization of any group based on their differences are the foundations of fascism. It’s an old playbook that has been dusted off and being widely distributed today. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

If I'm an advocate for anything, it's to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river. Walk in someone else's shoes or at least eat their food.

Countries like France, Italy and the Netherlands may pay lip service to inclusion, but the ethos in those places is that immigrants can never really become French, Italian or Dutch, no matter what their passports say. The emphasis is on tolerance and respect, but there’s no real expectation that foreign nationals fit in.

A race is genetically coherent, a race is something you can study, a race is about genes and DNA, but it’s not just about genes and DNA. The most important thing about it is the people and the spirit. That’s what a race is about.

There is a racist virus in the American blood stream...

In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.

Equality is not a one-way proposition. With equality goes responsibility and obligation. There are negroes who have shown that they are not ready to accept this obligation.… Just remember one thing White Man— you’re the minority in this here bigoted world of ours. And you’re becoming a smaller minority with the passing of each day.”

It's more dangerous to be black in America...If you are a normal white American, the truth is you don't understand being black in America, and you instinctively underestimate the level of discrimination and the level of additional risk in a way that you have to be corrected.

Hatred is a transformative power. It can make the innocuous into the menacing.

I do not know many Negroes who are eager to be “accepted” by white people, still less to be loved by them; they, the blacks, simply don’t wish to be beaten over the head by the whites every instant of our brief passage on the planet.

The whole nation is interested that the best use shall be made of these territories, We want them for the homes of free white people. This they cannot be, to any considerable extent, if slavery shall be planted within them.

It is more dangerous to be black in America. It's both more dangerous because of the crime ... but it is more dangerous in that you're substantially more likely to end up in a situation where the police don't respect you or where you could easily get killed.

There is a meta discussion, which is the discussion of either good or evil, between freedom and democracy as opposed to totalitarians and murderers. I have decided to take sides with good and against the woke crowd and their stupid interpretation of freedom, out of which comes the account of oppressors versus the oppressed, which is, at bottom, post-Marxism. They have taken the class struggle to other issues—women against men, black against white, the indigenous people’s agenda, the LGBT agenda, the climate agenda, man against nature. The most violent expression of this is the abortion agenda, which is disguised as goodness when in fact it’s a bloody agenda. Unless Europe breaks from that agenda, it will be doomed and disappear in the way that we know it.

In today’s environment, anyone to the right of Black Lives Matter gets accused of making common cause with David Duke.

The diversity industry needs friction to survive, so it perpetually reworks the definition of racism.

Let us consider a more concrete example of just and unjust laws. An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal.

America's leaders must honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry, and group supremacy, which run counter to the American ideal that all people are created equal. As CEO of Merck, and as a matter of personal conscience, I feel a responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism

A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.