Quotes about Oppression

To make a contented slave,' [Frederick] Bailey later wrote, 'it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason.' This is why the slaveholders must control what slaves hear and see and think. This is why reading and critical thinking are dangerous, indeed subversive, in an unjust society.

he was able to explain to the clergy that 'Women are: "Satan's bait, poison for men's souls".

Never in all history has man had to face such terrible dangers. He is at the point where he is no longer sure of being able to control the situation. The economic, political, and military systems he has established have turned against him and imposed themselves upon him.

Who ain't a slave?

The absolute monopoly of the soil, the gripping and the strangling of the populace by landlords, is a purely Protestant development.

The present Arab uprising didn't stem from Israel. The old guard is trying to keep down the young chickens. The old guard is better organized. They may win elections, but unless they have a solution to poverty, to corruption, to oppression, they will not last. I am with the young people.

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.

You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lines. You may trod me in the very dirt, but still, like dust, I'll rise.

God wants to set the oppressed free from being oppressed and the oppressors free from oppressing.

The seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want.

America hates the artist. It will not admit: the artist is my soul and I want to kill off my soul.

Our society doesn't want to help girls like that [in Black Snake Moan]. They just want to use them.