Quotes About Civil rights

Civil disobedience is a lever which can move the world by using peace as a fulcrum.

Prisoners of war had] definitely more privileges. They could go anywhere in town they wanted; we could only go in the black section. And of course, as I said, on the train, they could ride in the back of the train or anywhere on the train they wanted, but we had to get in the car right behind the coal car or the baggage car, whichever one was there. And buses, they sat in front and we sat in the back.

In September 1959, Graham was about to begin a crusade in Little Rock. ... 'A lot of business people in Little Rock were worried about some sort of great encounter," Clinton recalled later, 'because racial tensions were very high. And they asked Billy Graham to agree to give this crusade to a segregated audience. And he said if they insisted on that he would not come, that they were all children of God, he wanted to lead everyone to Christ. He would not do it.

In the fight for civil rights] The threat and reality of death played many roles simultaneously: It is a bitter arena to be played. It was also the producer, director, and often the co-star of many civil rights performances--marches, demonstrations, funerals, rallies, protests, freedom rides, sit-ins, speeches, and eulogies.

Martin Luther King, Jr. hoped for a color-blind society, but only as oppression and racism were destroyed.

Barack Obama so spooked the bigoted whites of this country that we are now faced with a racist explicitness that we haven't seen since the height of the civil rights movement. Trump

For the evangelical left, every Facebook update can be a personal march on Selma.

It's an uphill battle, especially because many religious people still believe that being gay is a sin and a crime and, therefore, by their logic, "if homosexuals are allowed their civil rights, then so would prostitutes, thieves, and anyone else." These words were spoken by Anita Bryant—former entertainer and orange juice representative—who now has the honor of an award in her name, to be given to lucky winners for "unbridled and unparalleled bigotry.

When it comes to LGBT civil rights, as with other marginalized groups, our fundamental personhood is not an issue that has two sides.

The victory narrative seduces us, however, to pull back just when we're beginning to win, in fear of taking further risks. The covering demand draws too many of us in, as our enemies put us on the defensive when we must remain vigilant and constantly on the offensive in attaining civil rights. That means being vocal, organizing at the grass roots, and collectively demanding action.

a full civil rights bill, something much bigger than ENDA, that encompasses employment, housing, public accommodations, education, and all banking and lending, without a religious exemption any broader than the one in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. We must not settle for anything less.

Every amendment in the Bill of Rights expressly tells the government what IT is forbidden to do, not one of them explains what the people can't do

Black history is American history.

Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered as our prince of peace, of civil rights. We owe him something major that will keep his memory alive.

Hell no / I ain't going to go / Clean out my cell / And take my tail / To jail / Without bail / Because it's better there eating / Watching television fed / Than in Vietnam with your white folks dead.

I got nothing against no Viet Cong. No Vietnamese ever called me a nigger.

I Ain't Got No Quarrel With The VietCong...No VietCong Ever Called Me Nigger.

As the old saying goes, negroes are nonviolent with those who are violent toward them and violent toward those who are nonviolent toward them. Selfish

Typical was (later governor and U.S. senator) Pitchfork Ben Tillman's cold-blooded massacre in South Carolina of "a troop of black militiamen for no other reason than that they had dared to conduct a celebratory Fourth of July parade through their mostly black town," Thomas writes.

Imagine: they celebrated the Declaration of Independence! But for decades, groups like Tillman's "raped, murdered, lynched, and robbed as a means of intimidating, and instilling pervasive fear in, those whom they despised.… Between 1882 and 1968, there were at least 3,446 reported lynching of blacks in the South.

We know, for instance, that Americans have forcefully resisted extending the right to vote; those in power have disenfranchised blacks, women, and the poor in myriad ways. We know, too, that women historically have had fewer civil protections than corporations. Instead of a thoroughgoing democracy, Americans have settled for democratic stagecraft: high-sounding rhetoric, magnified, and political leaders dressing down at barbecues or heading out to hunt game.

Kill a Mockingbird (1962), a classic portrait of the legacy of slavery and racial segregation in the South.

infuriated Eisenhower, who dispatched the 101st Airborne Division and federalized the Arkansas National Guard. Military protection ensured that the nine black students slated to attend Central High were not barred.

A second line is in effect a civil rights demonstration. Literally, demonstrating the civil right of the community to assemble in the street for peaceful purposes. Or, more simply, demonstrating the civil right of the community to exist.