Silence is for fools. Communication is for leaders. Justice is for those brave enough to not stand another moment dealing with people that feel the solution to any problem is through cold indifference because of...

Although the principle of equality has always been self-evident, it has never been self-executing.

The American flag doesn’t give her glory on a peaceful, calm day. It’s when the winds pick up and become boisterous, do we see her strength. When she unfolds her hand, and shows her frayed...

The Department of Justice enforces civil rights laws and is sensitive to civil rights concerns, … The president thinks John Ashcroft is a man of integrity. He is a good man and he will enforce...

But here in my hometown, history was like a fine dust that settled out on everything. There was nothing to counter it. The culture had been hardened by a religion suspect of joy, yet fascinated...

My rights are not derived from any government. My rights are not denied by any majority. My rights are because I exist.

…legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of...

In its essence, Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech is one citizen’s soul-searing plea with his countrymen––Whites and Blacks––to recognize that racial disparities fueled by unwarranted bigotry were crippling America’s ability to...

[Ella Baker]’s second defining characteristic was her dislike of top-down leadership… ‘She felt leaders were not appointed but the rose up. Someone will rise. Someone will emerge’. It was an attitude Baker shared with some...

I was in the kitchen drinking coffee when I heard Coretta cry, “Martin, Martin, come quickly!” I put down my cup and ran toward the living room. As I approached the front window Coretta pointed...

It was civil disobedience that won them their civil rights.

A leader is a planter—a planter of ideas, seeds of change, and a vision for justice

Right isn’t always legal.

It seems to me that the greatest triumph of any human rights movement, be it fighting for racial, religious, sexual or gender equality – is to achieve that moment where eyes are opened so wide...

The amount of money and of legal energy being given to prosecute hundreds of thousands of Americans who are caught with a few ounces of marijuana in their jeans simply makes no sense – the...

It was your standard civil rights case.

Being an American is about having the right to be who you are. Sometimes that doesn’t happen.

I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil...

I’m a post-Civil Rights baby. I’m not trying to make a point. This is just the way the world looks now.

The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear

How did I make a living? I haven’t. I have eked out an existence.” – Ella Baker

In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as ‘right-to-work.’ It provides no ‘rights’ and no ‘works.’ Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the...

We have the rules because police have historically violated civil rights. We wouldn’t need the constitution to protect our freedoms if we had a government we always agreed with and we would let the legislature...

A champion for civil rights and social justice like him does not come around every day, … He wanted nothing less than what all Americans strive for a good job, safe neighborhoods, quality schools and...

…in recent history the Democrat Party has created the illusion that their agenda and their policies are what’s best for black people. Somehow it’s been forgotten that the Republican Party was founded in 1854 as...

It’s very disturbing and should worry, I think, Pennsylvania women and civil rights advocates and people concerned about unchecked executive power to wiretap and eavesdrop on Americans.

…the majority in a democracy has no more right to tyrannize over a minority than, under a different system, the latter would to oppress the former.

Jealousy clings to love’s underside like bats to a bridge.

Last time I was down South I walked into this restaurant, and this white waitress came up to me and said: ‘We don’t serve colored people here.’ “I said: ‘that’s all right, I don’t eat...

The bottom line is we recognize that civil rights violations, even allegations of civil rights violations, is a serious matter. We’re going to investigate all credible allegations.

Neither Pagan nor Mahamedan nor Jew ought to be excluded from the civil rights of the Commonwealth because of his religion. -quoting John Locke’s argument.

You have to join every other movement for the freedom of people.

Non Violence and Religion: Both designed to keep the oppressed from murdering their oppressors.

The words ‘bad timing’ came to be ghosts haunting our every move in Birmingham. Yet people who used this argument were ignorant of the background of our planning…they did not realize that it was ridiculous...

However much history may be invoked in support of these policies (affirmative action), no policy can apply to history but can only apply to the present or the future. The past may be many things,...

I am an educated black woman in a time when educated black people will be called upon to risk everything for the rights of black people everywhere.

Initially, the purveyors of racism need no more than the silent acquiescence of the public … [I]t is never too soon to confront bigotry and racism whenever, wherever, and in whatever form it raises its...

The freedom to swing your fist ends at my nose.

Ours is a civil rights movement on the march,

You cannot stand for civil rights + not support gay marriage. You cannot stand for human rights + not support gay marriage. It’s that simple.Everywhere, the voice of the oppressed must echo + ring out...

Before God and high heaven, is there a law for one man which is not a law for every other man?

Already the people murmur that I am your enemybecause they say that in verse I give the world your me.They lie, Julia de Burgos. They lie, Julia de Burgos.Who rises in my verses is not...

We are conducting a preliminary inquiry in an effort to determine whether there were any violations of federal civil rights committed at the facility.

Let me be me, or let me be.

He didn’t even have the satisfaction of being killed for civil rights. it had to be some silly little Communist.

[Martin Luther King] said that little black boys and little black girls would be able to join hands with little white boys and little white girls as sisters and brothers. Then he reminded both those...

Dr. King’s policy was that nonviolence would achieve the gains for black people in the United States. His major assumption was that if you are nonviolent, if you suffer, your opponent will see your suffering...

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the most sweeping civil rights legislation of its day, and included women’s rights as part of its reforms. Ironically, the section on women’s rights was added by a...

Democrats have been saying for years to their women’s rights and civil rights base: ‘Vote for us, and we’ll save the Supreme Court.’ Now, they have stepped back from using that power.

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...