“Once upon a time there was a hazel-eyed boy with dimples. I called him Khalil. The world called him a thug. He lived, but not nearly long enough, and for the rest of my life I’ll remember how he died. Fairy tale? No. But I’m not giving up on a better ending. It would be easy to quit if it was just about me, Khalil, that night, and that cop. It’s about way more than that though. It’s about Seven. Sekani. Kenya. DeVante. It’s also about Oscar. Aiyana. Trayvon. Rekia. Michael. Eric. Tamir. John. Ezell. Sandra. Freddie. Alton. Philando. It’s even about that little boy in 1955 who nobody recognized at first—Emmett. The messed up part? There are so many more.”
Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give (Page 442)
Justice Quotes
“‘That’s why people are speaking out, huh? Because it won’t change if we don’t say something.’ ‘Exactly. We can’t be silent.’ ‘So I can’t be silent.’ Daddy stills. He looks at me. I see the fight in his eyes. I matter more to him than a movement. I’m his baby, and I’ll always be his baby, and if being silent means I’m safe, he’s all for it. This is bigger than me and Khalil though. This is about Us, with a capital U; everybody who looks like us, feels like us, and is experiencing this pain with us despite not knowing me or Khalil. My silence isn’t helping Us. Daddy fixes his gaze on the road again. He nods. ‘Yeah. Can’t be silent.'”
Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give (Page 171)
“Funerals aren’t for dead people. They’re for the living. I doubt Khalil cares what songs are sung or what the preacher says about him. He’s in a casket. Nothing can change that.”
Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give (Page 122)
Audre Lorde Quote On Fighting, Surviving, and Teaching In Order To Win Battles In Life
“I have found that battling despair does not mean closing my eyes to the enormity of the tasks of effecting change, nor ignoring the strength and the barbarity of the forces aligned against us. It means teaching, surviving and fighting with the most important resource I have, myself, and taking joy in that battle. It means, for me, recognizing the enemy outside and the enemy within, and knowing that my work is part of our power, and knowing that this work did not begin with my birth nor will it end with my death. And it means knowing that within this continuum, my life and my love and my work has particular power and meaning relative to others.”
Audre Lorde, The Cancer Journals
Beyond the Quote (153/365)
Even when the tasks set in front of us for affecting change are massive—we mustn’t waver. We mustn’t close our eyes. We mustn’t let the size of the task stop us from taking every possible step we can to keep moving forward as individuals and as a society. For, any big change can only ever happen effectively as a result of a collective series of small efforts. These small efforts collect one by one from each individual person and person by person as a collective group. There is no one person who is “big” enough to handle this task on their own and there is no one person who is “small” enough to contribute to the collective effort that unites us as a whole.
Read More »Audre Lorde Quote On Fighting, Surviving, and Teaching In Order To Win Battles In LifeMartin Luther King Jr. Quote on Violence and How To Fight For The Light Without Adding More Darkness
“I’m concerned about a better world. I’m concerned about justice; I’m concerned about brotherhood; I’m concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about that, he can never advocate violence. For through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can’t murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can’t establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can’t murder hate through violence. Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
Beyond the Quote (152/365)
“No justice, no peace” shouldn’t be interpreted as a direct call to violence. Rather, it’s a statement that so clearly points out that justice and peace go hand-in-hand and that without one, you simply cannot have the other. It’s a chant that means as long as injustice prevails, acting peacefully is a moral impossibility. It’s a chant that points out that peace isn’t just the absence of war, but the presence of justice. For, how can we live in peace if we know that justice isn’t being upheld? What does unjust treatment mean for the people within a community? How can you feel peace if your sense of security is being directly threatened? If there is no justice, then something is seriously wrong and it is a threat to us all—and how can we live in peace knowing that?
Read More »Martin Luther King Jr. Quote on Violence and How To Fight For The Light Without Adding More DarknessJane Addams Quote on True Peace Being About More Than Just The Absence Of War
“True peace is not merely the absence of war but the presence of justice.”
Jane Addams
Beyond the Quote (151/365)
There is a time for words and there is a time for action. As a Martial Arts Instructor, I teach a very clear protocol to my students when it comes to self-defense situations: avoid potentially dangerous situations; be calm and breathe; communicate with confidence; and defend yourself if necessary. And if you find yourself in a situation of self-defense, use the minimum force necessary to deal with the aggressor in such a way that allows you to handle the situation properly and escape safely. I think these personal safety themes can help clear up what’s happening in response to the George Floyd police brutality case on a larger scale.
Read More »Jane Addams Quote on True Peace Being About More Than Just The Absence Of War
40 Empowering Quotes on Justice and How Silence Is As Bad As Injustice Itself
Excerpt: These quotes on justice were collected to empower you to take action against injustice anywhere—because silence is as bad as injustice itself.
Read More »40 Empowering Quotes on Justice and How Silence Is As Bad As Injustice Itself
Quote on Acting in Situations of Injustice and How Silence Is As Bad As Injustice Itself
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”
Desmond Tutu
Beyond the Quote (149/365)
Love is as love does; Hate is as hate does; Indifference doesn’t do. Both hate and love do; care is involved. In the case of love, we care for ourselves and others and so we express it in the form of positive, constructive, kind, mindful actions. Love is not something that can be expressed through intention only.
Read More »Quote on Acting in Situations of Injustice and How Silence Is As Bad As Injustice Itself“That’s the problem. We let people say stuff, and they say it so much that it becomes okay to them and normal for us. What’s the point of having a voice if you’re gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn’t be?”
Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give (Page 252)
