Before a group can enter the open society, it must first close ranks.Collection: Society
Black power can be clearly defined for those who do not attach the fears of white America to their questions about it.Collection: Power
The knowledge I have now is not the knowledge I had then.Collection: Knowledge
No man can given anybody his freedom.Collection: Freedom
We were aware of the fact that death walks hand in hand with struggle.Collection: Death
An organization which claims to be working for the needs of a community - as SNCC does - must work to provide that community with a position of strength from which to make its voice heard. This is the significance of black power beyond the slogan.Collection: Strength
The secret of life is to have no fear; it's the only way to function.Collection: Fear
Now, then, in order to understand white supremacy we must dismiss the fallacious notion that white people can give anybody their freedom.Collection: Freedom
There is a higher law than the law of government. That's the law of conscience.Collection: Government
We had no more courage than Harriet Tubman or Marcus Garvey had in their times. We just had a more vulnerable enemy.Collection: Courage
It is a call for black people in this country to unite, to recognize their heritage, to build a sense of community. It is a call for black people to define their own goals, to lead their own organizations.
One of the tragedies of the struggle against racism is that up to now there has been no national organization which could speak to the growing militancy of young black people in the urban ghetto.
Seems to me that the institutions that function in this country are clearly racist, and that they're built upon racism.
There has been only a civil rights movement, whose tone of voice was adapted to an audience of liberal whites.
I knew that I could vote and that that wasn't a privilege; it was my right. Every time I tried I was shot, killed or jailed, beaten or economically deprived.
I also know that while I am black I am a human being, and therefore I have the right to go into any public place. White people didn't know that. Every time I tried to go into a place they stopped me.
Leaders in Africa are so corrupt that we are certain if we put dogs in uniforms and put guns on their shoulders, we'd be hard put to distinguish them.
I maintain that every civil rights bill in this country was passed for white people, not for black people.
Integration is a man's ability to want to move in there by himself. If someone wants to live in a white neighborhood and he is black, that is his choice. It should be his rights. It is not because white people will not allow him.
So that the failures to pass a civil rights bill isn't because of Black Power, isn't because of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; it's not because of the rebellions that are occurring in the major cities.
Now we maintain that we cannot be afford to be concerned about 6 percent of the children in this country, black children, who you allow to come into white schools. We have 94 percent who still live in shacks. We are going to be concerned about those 94 percent.
Dr. King's policy was, if you are nonviolent, if you suffer, your opponent will see your suffering and will be moved to change his heart. That's very good. He only made one fallacious assumption. In order for nonviolence to work, your opponent must have a conscience. The United States has none.Collection: Kings
If a white man wants to lynch me, that’s his problem. If he’s got the power to lynch me, that’s my problem. Racism is not a question of attitude; it’s a question of power.Collection: Attitude
This country is a nation of thieves. It stole everything it has, beginning with black people. The U.S. cannot justify its existence as the policeman of the world any longer. I do not want to be a part of the American pie. The American pie means raping South Africa, beating Vietnam, beating South America, raping the Philippines, raping every country you’ve been in. I don’t want any of your blood money. I don’t want to be part of that system. We must question whether or not we want this country to continue being the wealthiest country in the world at the price of raping everybody else.Collection: Country
Our noses are broad, our lips are thick, our hair is nappy-we are black and beautiful!Collection: Beautiful
One does not fight to influence change and then leave the change to someone else to bring about.Collection: Change
An organization which claims to speak for the needs of a community must speak in the tone of that community.Collection: Organization
What a liberal really wants is to bring about change that will not in any way endanger his position.Collection: Cynical
Go home and tell your daughters they are beautiful.Collection: Beautiful
The time for running has come to an end. You tell them white folk in Mississippi that all the scared niggers are dead!Collection: Running
The death of Che Guevara places a responsibility on all revolutionaries of the World to redouble their decision to fight on to the final defeat of Imperialism. That is why in essence Che Guevara is not dead, his ideas are with us.Collection: Responsibility
I place my own hope for the United States in the growth of belief among the unqualified that they are in fact qualified: they can articulate and be responsible and hold powerCollection: Growth
Capitalism is a stupid system, a backward systemCollection: Stupid
I also know that while I am black I am a human being, and therefore I have the right to go into any public place. White people didn't know that.Every time I tried to go into a place they stopped meCollection: White
An organization which claims to be working for the needs of a community - as SNCC does - must work to provide that community with a position of strength from which to make its voice heard. This is the significance of black power beyond the sloganCollection: Organization
The only position for women in SNCC is prone.Collection: Sncc
Now you know where I got my name.Collection: Names