Quotes About Activism

Even before 'Pose,' I was involved in activism and advocating for my community in various ways. I didn't see that stopping with my entry into this industry, but people are going to be afraid of what you're going to say. I'm going to bump heads with people that benefit from the oppression that they put trans people through.

If I can, in any way, give people the courage to say, 'Actually, no, the nonsense stops right here,' then I want to be a part of doing that. Especially if that means that our folks will be more free.

For me, as an activist and a storyteller, I'm very centered in ensuring that we show the complicatedness of the human experience that happens to be rooted in my community's trans experiences.

I think a culture can really be elevated through the arts, and it's always a dream come true when I come across roles that enable me to fuse my love of storytelling with my passion for activism and raising social awareness.

I do think that sometimes, especially coming into this going straight from activism to being a candidate or to being a person who potentially, you know, looks like will be holding political office soon, I think we expect our politicians to be perfect and fully formed and on point on every single issue.

If you see something is going wrong within politics and the world today, then some Hip Hop artist is gonna come along and get straight with it. If they think that there's a lot of racism going on then there's another Hip Hop artist who's gonna come out and speak their mind.

As straight Americans we have two choices: we can choose to sit back and enjoy our rights as we have them, or we can realize that it is actually not freedom at all when our friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues do not share these basic rights.

MLK, Jr. taught me how to say no to segregation, and I can hear him saying now... when you straighten up your back, no man can ride you. He said stand up straight and say no to racial discrimination.

I will not remain silent, resigned to watch as my fellow prisoners collapse under the strain of slavery-like conditions.

The suffragettes were quite strategic about documenting their events, and there were some good photos. And we developed a roll of film that had never been developed before!

I'll wear a graphic tee that says: 'AIDS Walk,' when I'm on the AIDS Walk. But generally graphic tees are for the young – and I'm not talking about the young at heart.

I was a sports fan, but I also went to peace marches.

My dad was a Communist Party member who fought for his country.

You can't organize people if you don't love them. And however hard it can be to love the racists you come in contact with, doing so is the first obligation of a white antiracist.

We don't need guns. We just have to be patient. And wait for your hearts to stop beating. And stop they will. And for some of you, real damned soon, truth be told.

It is a common enough mid-career urge: having taken care of life's immediate needs, some of us yearn to chase villains, right wrongs, fight on the side of the angels.

We are still killing black youth because we have not yet killed white supremacy.

There were still men walking the streets of 1922 Indiana who had fought against the slaveholders, and who believed that liberating humans held as property had been the highest calling of their lives. Among them was William H. Stern, a white man raised on a farm north of Indianapolis.

STUDENTS ROUT KLANSMEN

If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it, what would it say and why? I would not have a billboard, and I would take down every billboard that everybody else has put up.

Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth." –Muhammad Ali Legendary American professional boxer and activist

Follow What Angers You

No te daré la felicidad", y la colocaría fuera de un gran centro comercial o de un concesionario de coches. ¿Sabes cuál sería un proyecto divertido de verdad? Comprar miles de loros y enseñarles a decir: "No te dará la felicidad" y, luego, soltarlos por los centros comerciales y grandes superficies de todo el mundo. Ésa es mi misión en la vida. ¿Alguien más se apunta? Hagámoslo.»

brings to mind the tribulations of those groups—blacks in the 19th century, women in the 20th, gays in the 21st—who have learned through struggle that freedom is not given, only claimed.