Quotes About Progress

I look forward to working with the White House in areas like infrastructure, where President Trump says he wants to spend a trillion dollars. Great - we'd love to start right here in Los Angeles.

The fact is this: NASA was desegregated by a white male. NASA was not desegregated by a black male. NASA was not desegregated by white women.

In the 1960s, you had this booming economy, and you didn't really have enough men around to fill all the jobs. So there was this sudden demand that women come back and perform a lot of the white-collar and pink-collar roles that men had done before or that hadn't existed before.

I couldn't go to school with whites. Now there are schools that educate everyone.

We all stand on the shoulders of our ancestors. We're in a relay race, relying on the financial and human capital of our parents and grandparents. Blacks were shackled for the early part of that relay race, and although many of the fetters have come off, whites have developed a huge lead.

My protest about the post exchange seating bore some results. More seats were allocated for blacks, but there were still separate sections for blacks and for whites. At least I had made my men realize that something could be accomplished by speaking out, and I hoped they would be less resigned to unjust conditions.

I am not naive, and I do realize that racism is alive and well in the United States of America. I am also fully aware that when segregation ended, we didn't all live happily ever after. No one can convince me, however, that life in America would be better if blacks and whites had stayed separate and unequal.

In a country that was still racially segregated and prejudiced, music was among the first domains in which African-Americans thrived alongside whites.

I think the legacy of the civil rights movement is that now whites are more open to being represented by people of color or people who are women or, again, non-traditional candidates.

After Civil Rights, it was very awkward for whites and blacks. We didn't know how to talk to each other.

Growing up in Georgia, it was sort of the last place to jump on the bandwagon of the integrated frontier. I have aunts and uncles and grandparents that experienced the 'whites only' and segregated schools.

Martin Luther King fought for blacks, and democratic whites were with him.

We are of the opinion that an important and irreversible process is taking place among the white population. Just as with the blacks, the whites, too, are currently overcoming a psychological barrier.

When I was born in 1959, the hospital in which I arrived had separate floors for black babies and white babies, and it was then illegal for blacks and whites to marry in many states.

I think Dr. King would be pleased to see the number of elected officials of color - African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and progressive whites.

If one black man aided by a bevy of good, decent, dedicated, and open liberal-minded whites and Jews can succeed in prevailing over a group of white racists by making them look like the ignorant fools that they are truly are, imagine what a nation of like-minded individuals can accomplish.

I'm learning to accept myself. I'm still in the process of learning to love who I am. And it's been really refreshing and really nice to be able to do that and be okay. I think my fans have brought that out in me.

A somebody was once a nobody who wanted to and did.

He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.

If you are the kind of person who is waiting for the 'right' thing to happen, you might wait for a long time. It's like waiting for all the traffic lights to be green for five miles before starting the trip.

Most of us aren't defeated in one decisive battle. We are defeated one tiny, seemingly insignificant surrender at a time that chips away at who we should really be.

Each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late.

Those who say it can't be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.

Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master.