Quotes About Representation

Writing "The Middle-Class Black's Burden" in 1980, McClain shared: I am burdened daily with showing whites that blacks

In a racially imperialist nation such as ours, it is the dominant race that reserves for itself the luxury of dismissing racial identity while the oppressed race is made daily aware of their racial identity. It is the dominant race that can make it seem that their experience is representative.

When a government turns from following the will of its people to willing its people to follow — acting according to its own prerogatives — it ceases to be a representative government and instead has transformed into something else. One

As long as you have broad representation from many parts of society, representative government works extremely well. And it works even better when the representatives serve for only a short period of time and return to their communities, leaving a spot for someone else from the community to become the next representative.

With all of their backbreaking hard work, they felt it unfair to have such a significant portion of the fruits of their labors confiscated by a government that neither represented their interests nor respected their freedom.

Everyone knows that there are thirteen stripes to represent the original thirteen colonies and fifty stars, each representing one of the fifty states. But what you may not know is that red represents hardness and valor. White represents purity and innocence. And blue represents perseverance, vigilance, and justice.

why should he carry the burden of representation when it will only hold him back? white people are only required to represent themselves, not an entire race

Why do they put cows over the gates, sir? For the same reason we put images of a tortured man in our churches. Religion. You ask too many questions, Sharpe.

Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.

his bredren and sistren could damned well speak up for themselves why should he carry the burden of representation when it will only hold him back? white people are only required to represent themselves, not an entire race

History is not the past as it really was. It's the shape we give it.

La historia no es el pasado tal como fue realmente, sino la forma que le damos

The problem of finding a collection of "wise" men and leaving the government to them is thus an insoluble one. That is the ultimate reason for democracy.

A government is usually called 'democratic' if a fairly large percentage of the population has a share of political power. The most extreme Greek democracies excluded women and slaves, and America considered itself a democracy before women had the vote. Clearly an oligarchy approaches more nearly to a democracy as the percentage possessed of political power increases. The characteristic features of oligarchy only appear when this percentage is rather small.

The District of Columbia has every right to pass their own laws, and House Republicans should stay out of it.

I think women bring a different perspective and that we tend to be more collaborative in our approach. I served in the Iowa Senate back in the '90s, when there weren't a lot of us. At the time, I think there were five or six women, and two or three of them were Republicans and two or three were Democrats.

In order for Republicans... to grow its ranks, it must reflect America.

If you're playing any real person, live or dead, you certainly have a responsibility to produce that reputation in some way.

Congressman Engel had a reputation quite frankly for being absent from the community, being disengaged and not being a leader or fighter on the issues that matter most, and that's not just rhetoric.

When I was first elected to the House in 2006, it was important to me to send a clear message to the people of NY-20: I wanted to be a representative for the people and shed some light on their government, so I became the first member of Congress to post my schedule, my financial disclosures and my earmark requests all online.

If our nation is to rebuild opportunity for future generations, it will require our elected leaders to realize that their responsibility lies not with their political party, but rather with the American people that they have been chosen to represent.

I speak from a black woman's perspective, and that's a specific perspective, but sometimes there are things I want to be understood by folks who may not have an entryway into that concept, so I have to think about how I can open the space to bring those people in. And that does require balance.

The Democrats have pretty much given up on the white working class. That would require a commitment to economic issues, and that's not their concern.

I can't compete for roles that require me to be Caucasian or African American, even if those characters really connect with me and intrigue me.