Blacks Quotations

We must recognize that all the civil rights laws in the world are not going to solve the problem of minority underachievement. Ultimately, blacks and Hispanics are going to have to see that their solution is largely in their own hands.

My family's support and the negative environment of the day toward blacks in South Carolina became the forces that led me out of the South - first to New York, then to Philadelphia, where I found opportunity in the form of a PAL gym and my trainer, Yank Durham.

I grew up in Los Angeles when the racial tensions between blacks and Mexicans were very high. Gang violence was very prevalent.

After the Civil War, when blacks fought along whites to secure freedom for all, southern states enacted Black Codes, laws that restricted the civil rights and liberties of blacks. Central to the enforcement of these laws were the stiff penalties for blacks possessing firearms.

When I was young, I was rather attractive, and I thought that I would be a leading lady. I always thought of myself as a dramatic actress, but of course the opportunities for blacks weren't there at the time.

Until Lee Elder, the only blacks at the Masters were caddies or waiters. To ask a black man what he feels about the traditions of the Masters is like asking him how he feels about his forefathers who were slaves.

For people of color - especially African Americans - the idea that racist cops might frame members of their community is no abstract notion, let alone an exercise in irrational conspiracy theorizing. Rather, it speaks to a social reality about which blacks are acutely aware.

Blacks who have not succumbed to the victim culture have been, are, and will be doing quite well - all on their own, without handouts, affirmative action, and other patronizing measures.

In East, South and Central Africa, the minority manipulated the majority into believing the minority was the majority, that there were more whites in the world than blacks; instilled in the blacks a sense of inferiority, inadequacy, worthlessness.

As I look out there and see the culture of baseball, a lot of blacks and Latins, it's given me a lot of joy to know that Jackie started that. If Jackie hadn't come in '47, me and Ron Santo wouldn't have played in Double-A and all those years in the big leagues.

There's no doubt that Mexican men and women full of dignity, willpower and a capacity for work are doing the work that not even blacks want to do in the United States.

Why don't we hear more about and from Asians when it comes to race in America? Are Asians the new Invisible Man - there but not there? In some ways, yeah. Blacks and whites are always carping about the metrics of racism. And any conversation about immigration reform is immediately flipped into a referendum on Hispanics.

Many of the master chefs in the South, both the upper South as well as the deep South, were blacks and many of those people came here to Washington, D.C., and opened up establishments. Very, very few of them have survived. But they certainly were very prominent.

Given the historical power differential between blacks and whites, blacks are required to be attentive to the way their white counterparts see themselves in relation to people of color if they want to survive and even thrive.

While the old spiritual 'Slavery Chain Done Broke at Last' was sung by blacks in the hours following the Appomattox surrender, racism sadly continues to be a crippling national scourge.

For blacks in our society, victimization may be a true issue. But it isn't a true issue for women. Neither men nor women are victimized. The true issue, that I try to point out, is that both sexes suffer restricted roles.

Only blacks can play the race card, apparently; only they think in racial terms, at least to hear white America tell it.

Blacks commit murder eight times more per capita than any other group in our society. If I had put all of my police officers on Park Avenue and none in Harlem, thousands and thousands more blacks would've been killed during the eight years that I was mayor.

As a teenager, my blackness was also questioned by some of the life choices I made that weren't considered to be 'black' choices. For example, joining the swim team when it is a known fact that 'black folk don't swim'; or choosing to become a vegetarian when blacks clearly love chicken.

I used to work in the cotton fields a lot when I was young. There were a lot of African Americans working out there. A lot of Mexicans - the blacks and the whites and the Mexicans, all out there singing, and it was like an opera in the cotton fields, and I can still hear it in the music that I write and play today.

I grew up on the north side of Chicago, in West Rogers Park, an overwhelmingly Jewish neighborhood. When I was 13, my parents moved to Winnetka, Illinois, an upper class, WASPy suburb where Jews - as well as Blacks and Catholics - were unwelcome on many blocks. I suffered the spiritual equivalent of whiplash.

That's the way blacks have been encouraged to think: that we got to stick together. You've got a situation today where if a black person says he thinks O.J. Simpson's guilty, other blacks will cut their eyes at him and say, 'You ought to go somewhere and sit down and shut up.'

I disagree with the prevailing point of view of some black leaders that special treatment for blacks is acceptable.

'Helter-Skelter' was the motive for the murders. Manson borrowed that term from a Beatles song on the 'White Album.' In England, helter-skelter is a playground ride. To Manson, helter-skelter meant a war between whites and blacks that the Beatles were in favor of.

I'm building shopping centers and movie theaters in the inner cities. So that means supplying jobs and letting blacks understand that we have to build our communities back, not looking to anybody else.

For decades, many blacks were reluctant to pursue a profession that was associated with servitude. If you went to school, it was to become a lawyer or doctor. Older generations didn't understand why one would spend money to learn how to chop, peel, dice, and saute vegetables when that trade could be taught at home.

We are pretty intent on opening more campuses in North Carolina because the achievement gap is so great, whether you are talking about the difference between blacks and whites or the difference between eastern North Carolina and Chapel Hill.

We are a little bit out of touch in Hollywood every once in a while. I think it's probably a good thing. We're the ones who talk about AIDS when it was just being whispered, and we talked about civil rights when it wasn't really popular. This Academy, this group of people gave Hattie McDaniel an Oscar in 1939 when blacks were still sitting in the backs of theaters. I'm proud to be a part of this Academy.

We're going to Dunedin to win the Tri-nations, not to defend it. We do not want to wait another week to see what will happen in the match between the All Blacks and the Wallabies. It is probably the worst thing in the world to wait and see if you are going to win the trophy. We must make sure we retain the title ourselves.

Word is already that we are only sending blacks out of this state. We are make (sic) a strategic error. FEMA will not have to answer to the people, we will.

Woodson hoped that the celebration would help blacks overcome their inferiority complex and instill racial pride and optimism. Black History Month also helps people from all different cultures to become a little more knowledgeable about African-American history and culture.

There are a lot of revelations in this book. The proposals discussed here provided an early glimmering of how the white South would treat blacks for the next century.

Let this iniquity be viewed in its true magnitude, and in the shocking light in which it has been set in this conversation; let the wretched case of the poor blacks be considered with proper pity and benevolence, together with the probably dreadful consequence to this land of retaining them in bondage, and all objection against liberating them would vanish.

Many people, blacks as well as whites, have some trouble having the story of slavery told in a major public venue, ... But we do not have the right not to tell the story.

Mr. Johnson changed the color of American media. Before Ebony, before Mr. Johnson, blacks were not seen in major media in this country. They were not pictured on the front pages; there were no black models, he created that foundation which is reverberating throughout the media today,

My first formal research, published in 1953, was on trying to understand the dynamics of prejudice, of interaction between blacks and Puerto Ricans.

My dad was my hero when I was a young boy. And then it's a toss-up between Han Solo, the New Zealand All Blacks Rugby team, and Marlon Brando.

My family saw it, they were stunned, they didn't feel welcome in Houston anymore, ... You can count the number of blacks who live in this complex on one hand. Although I've never felt prejudice before, you can't help it when you see something like that.

Polls find young blacks less likely to call racism America's No. 1 issue. A Time/CNN poll found 89 percent of black teens consider racism in their own lives to be "a small problem" or "not a problem at all." Twice as many black teens as white believe that "failure to take advantage of available opportunities" is a bigger problem for blacks than discrimination.

Nearly every rescued person, temporary resident of the Superdome, looter or loiterer on the high ground of the freeway I saw on TV was African-American. And from the look of it, they weren't wealthy residents of the Garden District. This storm appears to have hurt blacks more directly than whites, but the broadcasters scarcely mentioned that fact.

I am delighted to see Jonah back on the field again. I had the privilege of captaining him for the All Blacks and he is one of the most dangerous wings the game has ever seen. It is a testament to the kind of man Jonah is that he is back on the rugby field. He is driven by a desire to succeed and we will have to make sure we are ready for him.

I bet if it was a fraternity house, they'd have it, ... I'm upset. If it wasn't just blacks playing, it would be there.

Growing numbers of blacks are openly passed over when paroles are considered. They have become aware that their only hope lies in resistance.

Frank MacKay and the state leadership of the Independence Party have now shown their true colors. They're intent upon turning the Independence Party into an all-white party, where blacks and other minorities are not just unwelcome, they are maligned and abused.

From the moment we were first dumped in Jamestown and had our teeth checked before getting sold off and later considered three-fifths of a human being, an abundance of 'likability' hasn't been something blacks have had to stockpile. Instead, it's been a centuries-long battle for respectability.

If the slavery in which we hold the blacks is wrong, it is a very great and public sin, and, therefore, a sin which God is now testifying against in the calamities he has brought upon us; consequently, must be reformed before we can reasonably expect deliverance, or even sincerely to ask for it.

He has to expand the electorate, and that's a big hurdle. Blacks displaced by Katrina, these people are going to be horribly difficult to reach.

He (McKie) is not going to wave a magic wand and find a loose-head prop that's going to demolish the All Blacks or pull out a winger that will put Rokocoko to shame. That's not his role. There is no quick fix,

He was instrumental in building the All Blacks tradition. We're pleased for the chance to pay our respects

He criticized baseball's racial policies after he stopped playing, especially how blacks were forced to travel. He even criticized some black players for not standing up for their rights.

He changed the way Hollywood looked at black cinematography. He really showed Hollywood that the black story can be told differently and, if they don't invest in us, we'll invest in ourselves. So many other blacks are going to be following that lead.

It appears the police department this morning was arguing that when Channel 2 put on Captain Eric Adams, all of a sudden magically it transformed him from spokesperson for 100 Blacks into a representative of the police department.

I think some of those goals are impossible to get. It's kind of a weird system, but most of the time when we have more blacks than reds, we're in the win column.

I think there's an affinity with the Irish and black culture in many ways. I think tap emerged from Irish dancing when we came over with our hard shoes. Blacks watched it and developed it with hands and body and made it a different thing. There are many ways in how the cultures cross each other.

I re-read all the plays. I'm not sad. He was out of this worldso common, regular, ordinary, but capable of writing awesome poetry. If someone wants to understand what frustrations we felt in the 1950s read 'Fences.' To know about how Blacks were exploited in the music business read 'Ma Rainey.' All those things that teach us from centuries ago to the present are in the forefront of his words.

Physically, the All Blacks were stronger and faster. They gave us a lesson. We did what we could but we know now that the road to the 2007 World is going to be very long.

We need someone to make sure blacks are not always bearing the burden of integration. We have been bearing the burden for a number of years, since this thing started.

Well, about five years ago, when I was invited to the Pentagon, they were still saying that, only 1.5% of the male pilots in the Air Force were black - and they still had a problem with some of the instructors saying blacks were not qualified to fly - blacks didn't have enough brains to fly. I mean, that was existing five years ago.

The analysis reveals great variation within New Orleans, but there is a general tendency for blacks and poor residents to have greater odds of being in harm's way, because they lived in less desirable, low-lying areas.

I was born and raised in Zambia in 1969. At the time of my birth, blacks were not issued birth certificates, and that law only changed in 1973.

My brother Jim and I saw our father go into the jails and pray with the inmates Sunday after Sunday. He prayed with both blacks and whites. If we ever repeated any slurs we heard on the playground, he'd tell us very softly, "I don't want to hear those words.

You just have to come up with something, because there really, really is no differentiation between the blacks and the whites here and the browns. ... Nobody gets preference in that regard.

Whites are significantly less likely to say that there are problems for blacks today,

Whites and blacks have a right to work in an environment free of discrimination. The goal of this lawsuit is to protect that right.

White people are dying out. Genocide is being committed against us. I admire blacks in that they are very racist. They stick together don't they?

While all Americans are suffering from this invasion, we blacks are suffering the most.

We have a huge amount of respect for this team, even more so after they just demolished the All Blacks last week, and that wasn't even a close game.

Tiger had the advantage of high school, college, and a father who knew golf. I was self-taught. Blacks really won't play golf in great numbers until some of these basketball and football stars buy some golf courses where blacks can play.

We were visited by whites, who always found coming into the black community to be interesting. Some even found it exotic. They knew that some of our restaurants were superior to their own. One of the interesting things is that whites discriminated against blacks. Blacks never discriminated against whites, and so they were always welcome.

Those who oppose immigrant rights would love to have blacks and Hispanics working against one another. They would also love to use blacks against Hispanics in the same way that impoverished blacks were used as a threat to white workers in the beginning of the labor movement. But we are united in the fight to get equal rights for all people.

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.

There has never been a class action law suit on record where both blacks and whites have come together under such a united front to say that such a grossly hostile work environment exists, is perpetuated by management, and must come to an end.

When blacks made purchases in any store, they weren't given paper bags; instead, they had to carry out their purchases without a bag. If my mother had informed us of these things, it might have lessened her authoritarian presence in the world. Or, she might have come home one day to find me with hundreds of paper bags that I might have stolen somewhere.

Why are there no African Americans in that circle? ... How can blacks be left out of the leadership and trapped into the suffering?

Try not to laugh when someone says these are the world's greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the games look like a GOP convention.

The government wants the blacks to leave Sudan - period,

We've got 80 minutes and it could be the best 80 minutes of South Africa's rugby history for a long time. You can't make it any bigger than it is. To win tomorrow you win the Tri-Nations, you win back-to-back Tri-Nations, you go to number one in the world, you beat the All Blacks three times in succession, you can't try to make it any bigger. No South African side has won here (in Dunedin) since 1921. The more you talk about it the more you appreciate just how big this fixture is.

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.

You have to really pick and be careful about what is going to get you the biggest mass audience where you could talk about the conditions of the poor people in Africa. That's what we're doing. If you can suggest to me British blacks acts that should be one, that sell in the same quantities as the bands we've got, fine.

We are aware that blacks are being disproportionately affected by lung cancer. There are differing opinions as to why this is the case, but the bottom line is that we need to continue to educate the public -- especially this community -- about the health effects of smoking.

Blacks were systematically targeted to keep them off the voting roles. I think that we're a long way from saying the vote is protected by the federal government.

Blacks own so little of the music business it's pathetic. But I see that changing soon. Black artists, black businessmen and women will unite.

Blacks in America want to forget about slavery -- the stigma, the shame. That's the wrong move. If you can't be who you are, who can you be? How can you know what to do? We have our history. We have our book, which is the blues. And we forget it all.

Blacks have been migrating into the South in the last decade or so. There are more jobs here. After the 60's, and civil rights, this is where the job growth has been. Because of the lack of unionization, industries have moved back to the South.

Blacks have been migrating into the South in the last decade or so, ... There are more jobs here. After the 60's, and civil rights, this is where the job growth has been. Because of the lack of unionization, industries have moved back to the South.

Blacks got used to winning, and whites got used to losing. Now with all of this upheaval, some blacks think that maybe they're not going to win, and some whites think they're going to win.

Blacks essentially play the race card, when necessary as a counter to white privilege.

Blacks began to sing out of necessity because they couldn't speak. We wanted to honor that.

Black people are inferior to Caucasians. Blacks constitute a totally distinct group; they overshadow the country with the germ... of evil.

At that time, I knew that there were no blacks in the Marine Corps; and the only thing a black did in the Navy - he was a mess attendant.

And the third picture is a picture of a Negro Leagues game in Kansas City. The unique thing about the picture is that while there are black players on the field, there are blacks and whites together in the stands.

The result was disappointing but I thought our effort was outstanding. The All Blacks are a very dangerous team and can make you pay if you miss tackles. They got off to a flyer.

The travel industry is finding that people from all over the world are fascinated with African-American culture, ... particularly Europeans and Asians who have been watching blacks for many years in the movies and through the news media.

I've read many books of blacks who grew up in a white family, and the majority acknowledge that they had opportunities they may not have had with their birth families. The less successful families appeared to be those who didn't integrate more with African Americans.

It would be really unfortunate if we became more complacent about obesity in blacks than in whites,

These blacks here today see the poverty and ignorance that is keeping us at a certain place. They know where the forces are, and they will come together and force our government to respond to the poverty and ignorance that's rampant in our country.

The so-called black leaders of this nation have convinced a large portion of the black community that blacks aren't capable of self-advancement.

The thing about Hip Hop today and music in general is that the people who created it meaning Blacks and Latinos do not control it no more.

I used to think, 'I wonder if I could break his leg at training today'. I'd question what I was even doing there, spending so much time when I knew I wouldn't get to play. The answer always came back to, 'What would I rather be doing, sitting on the bench for the All Blacks or sitting at home watching it on TV?' The answer was always the same.

Teenagers benefited, minorities benefited with employment among blacks and Hispanics rising,