For Black History Month, instead of featuring words, we are featuring quotes from Black writers, activists, politicians, athletes, and entertainers. Certain words and the ideas represented by these words weave a common thread.
Words like love, respect, dignity, freedom, justice, and inclusion are in sharp contrast with hate, humiliation, bondage, and exclusion.
When I read these quotes I think about the experiences of the people who said them. Dr. King was only 26 years old when he was tasked with overseeing the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott. He would spend the next thirteen years of his life leading the non-violent struggle for civil rights. He and his followers would be threatened, attacked, and jailed for asking to be treated as human beings whose lives mattered. In 1968, at the age of 39, he was assassinated.
In 2023, there are still those who want to silence the voices of the Black community and turn back the clock to the days of exclusion and indifference to the human suffering of people who don’t look or sound like them. We must not let that happen.
Black history is American history and World History. Read the words below and imagine a world where we all feel safe, valued, and free to appreciate our diversity instead of fearing our differences.
“I believe that telling our stories, first to ourselves and then to one another and the world, is a revolutionary act. It is an act that can be met with hostility, exclusion, and violence. It can also lead to love, understanding, transcendence, and community.” Janet Mock
“Freedom and justice cannot be parceled out in pieces to suit political convenience. I don’t believe you can stand for freedom for one group of people and deny it to others.” Coretta Scott King
“My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.” Desmond Tutu
“Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations,” Dr Mae Jemison
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
“If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” Shirley Chisholm
“We should emphasize not Negro History, but the Negro in history. What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race hate, and religious prejudice.” Carter Woodson
“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” Nelson Mandela
“At the end of the day, it’s not about what you have or even what you’ve accomplished. It’s about what you’ve done with those accomplishments. It’s about who you’ve lifted up, who you’ve made better. It’s about what you’ve given back.” Denzel Washington
“If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don’t do that, you are wasting your time on this earth.” Roberto Clemente
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” James Baldwin
“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” Alice Walker
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
“We all require and want respect, man, or woman, black or white. It’s our basic human right.” Aretha Franklin
“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” Ida B. Wells
“You've got to learn to leave the table when love's no longer being served.” Nina Simone
“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” Maya Angelou
“We must reject not only the stereotypes that others hold of us but also the stereotypes that we hold of ourselves.” Shirley Chisholm
“Those who say it can't be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.” James Baldwin
“Change is made of choices, and choices are made of character.” Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry
“They made us into a race. We made ourselves into a people.” Ta-Nehisi Coates
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