The simple fact is that no people can enslave another for centuries without coming out with a notion of superiority, and when the color and other physical traits of those peoples were quite different it was inevitable that the prejudice should take a racist form. Walter Rodney How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)
In the first place, an unjust law exists in this Commonwealth, by which marriages between persons of different color is pronounced illegal. I am perfectly aware of the gross ridicule to which I may subject myself by alluding to this particular; but I have lived too long, and observed too much, to be disturbed by the world's mockery. Lydia Maria Child An Appeal on Behalf of That Class of Americans Called Africans (1833)
I cannot consent to take the position that the door of hope — the door of opportunity — is to be shut upon any man, no matter how worthy, purely upon the grounds of race or color. Such an attitude would, according to my convictions, be fundamentally wrong. Theodore Roosevelt
A terrorist act is the logical if extreme outcome of white supremacy and intolerance. Apparently, reasons this particular white supremacist gunman, 'if you can't own them, exploit them, or remove them, you kill them'. Brooks D. Simpson
The emotions between the races could never be pure; even love was tarnished by the desire to find in the other some element that was missing in ourselves. Whether we sought out our demons or salvation, the other race would always remain just that: menacing, alien, and apart. Barack Obama Dreams from My Father (1995)
It would be a great mistake to look upon racism as an irrational doctrine: racism is not a doctrine of irrationalism, it is the very surging up of irrationalism as an elemental force, getting rid of all doctrine, truth and rational structure. Jacques Maritain
"All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action. Muhammad
The colonists are by the law of nature free-born, as indeed all men are, white or black...It is a clear truth, that those who every day barter away other men's liberty will soon care little for their own. James Otis Jr. Argument Against the Writs of Assistance (1761)
You speak of racism, for example, and I tell you that there's no such thing as race. The point is that racism is the product of tribalism and ignorance and both are falling victim to communications and world-around literacy. Buckminster Fuller
Racism is simply an ugly form of collectivism, the mindset that views humans strictly as members of groups rather than individuals. Racists believe that all individuals who share superficial physical characteristics are alike: as collectivists, racists think only in terms of groups. Ron Paul
We are a nation of many nationalities, many races, many religions, bound together by a single unity, the unity of freedom and equality. Whoever seeks to set one nationality against another, seeks to degrade all nationalities. Whoever seeks to set one race against another seeks to enslave all races. Whoever seeks to set one religion against another, seeks to destroy all religion. Franklin D. Roosevelt
Racism is not merely exclusion on the basis of race but exclusion for the purpose of subjugating or maintaining subjugation. The goal of the racists is to keep black people on the bottom, arbitrarily and dictatorially, as they have done in this country for over three hundred years. Stokely Carmichael
For those of you who are tired of hearing about racism, imagine how much more tired we are of experiencing it. ... The degree to which it is hard or uncomfortable for you to have the issue raised is the degree to which you know inside of yourself that you aren't dealing with the issue. ... I want to say right here that this is not a "guilt trip." It's a fact trip. Barbara Smith
It's impossible for a white person to believe in capitalism and not believe in racism. You can't have capitalism without racism. Malcolm X Malcolm X Speaks (1965)
Because of the totally racist, genocidal dynamic within this Babylonian Empire, the black nationalist understood that we must primarily look to ourselves to free ourselves. Ashanti Alston Beyond Nationalism But Not Without It (1999)
Racism is a part of a problem, a world problem, which has to be overcome. F. W. de Klerk The Last Trek: A New Beginning, C-Span (1999)
"Racism" is to the current era what "unAmericanism" was to the Fifties: a curse word that provides a handy substitute for logical thought. Steve Sailer
New York State calls this attack on Jussie Smollett what it is — a hate crime. Homophobia and racism will not be tolerated Andrew Cuomo
We cannot accept that this is a little local matter within the control of South Africa's internal affairs. Oppression, apartheid, and racialism—those are crimes against humanity as a whole. Harold Wilson
What was fascism in Italy, in Germany? The exaltation of racial prejudices. Instead of fighting racial prejudice, which is what a revolution does, fascism exalts prejudice and turns it into hatred. Fidel Castro