30 Insightful Quotes on Racism and the Power of Diversity in Society

Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible.

To bring about change, you must not be afraid to take the first step. We will fail when we fail to try.

Activism is my rent for living on the planet.

There is no such thing as race. None. There is just a human race — scientifically, anthropologically.

Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.

An eye for an eye makes the world blind.

Excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism.

In a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist. We must be anti-racist.

It doesn't matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you — always.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.

Justice is what love looks like in public.

I see what's possible when we recognize that we are one American family, all deserving of equal treatment.

It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.

The very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being.

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.

You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.

None of us alone can save the nation or the world. But each of us can make a positive difference if we commit ourselves to do so.

Action is the only remedy to indifference: the most insidious danger of all.

Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization.

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.

...'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.

Racism is a white problem. It was constructed and created by white people and the ultimate responsibility lies with white people. For too long we've looked at it as if it were someone else's problem, as if it was created in a vacuum.

If you are a white person who would like to treat black people as equals in every way — who would like to have a set of association with blacks that are as positive as those that you have with whites — it requires more than a simple commitment to equality. It requires that you change your life...

None of us is responsible for the complexion of his skin. This fact of nature offers no clue to the character or quality of the person underneath.

Tolerance, inter-cultural dialogue and respect for diversity are more essential than ever in a world where peoples are becoming more and more closely interconnected.

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 color 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.

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.

The beauty of anti-racism is that you don't have to pretend to be free of racism to be an anti-racist. Anti-racism is the commitment to fight racism wherever you find it, including in yourself. And it's the only way forward.

For too long politicians told most of us that what's wrong with America is the rest of us. Them. Them the minorities. Them the liberals. Them, them, them. But there is no them; there's only us. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty, and justice, for all.