In honor of George Floyd’s life and his funeral, I wanted to share some inspiring quotes that resonate with our current social climate right now and the Black Lives Matter Movement/Ending Police Brutality and Systemic Racism:
1. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
“The time is always right to do what is right.”
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
“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.”
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?”
“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
“A right delayed is a right denied.”
“Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.”
“I am not interested in power for power’s sake, but I’m interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.”
“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.” –Martin Luther King Jr.
2. Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible.” - Maya Angelou
3. Race and racism is a reality that so many of us grow up learning to just deal with. But if we ever hope to move past it, it can’t just be on people of colour to deal with it. It’s up to all of us – Black, white, everyone – no matter how well-meaning we think we might be, to do the honest, uncomfortable work of rooting it out. It starts with self-examination and listening to those whose lives are different from our own. It ends with justice, compassion, and empathy that manifests in our lives and on our streets." – Michelle Obama
4. “To bring about change, you must not be afraid to take the first step. We will fail when we fail to try.” -Rosa Parks
5. “A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.”
“You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.” –Malcom X
6. “Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization.” -Mahatma Gandhi
7. “Every time we turn our heads the other way when we see the law flouted, when we tolerate what we know to be wrong, when we close our eye and ears to the corrupt because we are too busy or too frightened, when we fail to speak up and speak out, we strike a blow against freedom and decency and justice.” -Robert F. Kennedy
8. “…..Black Lives Matter' simply refers to the notion that there's a specific vulnerability for African Americans that needs to be addressed. It's not meant to suggest that other lives don't matter. It's to suggest that other folks aren't experiencing this particular vulnerability.” –Barak Obama
9. “It is never too late to give up your prejudices.” –Henry David Thoreau
10. “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” –Nelson Mandela
