Today, April 29, 2011, more than a quarter of a million people in America will take a stand against racism.
Founded in 2007 by two YWCA organizations in New Jersey, this year’s Stand Against Racism will be a nationwide event, celebrated at more than 2,043 participating locations across 32 U.S. states. People from all backgrounds will be stepping up and speaking out against racism…today. You can too!
- click here to view Highlights from the 2011 Stand Against Racism events across the USA.
The Stand Against Racism is a movement of the YWCA with the goal of bringing people together from all walks of life – across the country – to raise awareness that racism still exists. This initiative is a manifestation of the YWCA mission which is:
YWCA is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.
If you are one of the 250,000 people participating in a Stand Against Racism event – good for you! For the remaining 217,550,001 people in the USA who haven’t yet made plans to participate in a Stand Against Racism event, I invite you to take a virtual stand. How can you do this?
- By watching the video below;
- Reading the inspiring quotes on racial justice that are listed in this blog article and adding your comments;
- Join the cause on Facebook and add your comments and/or donate money to support the movement;
- Sharing this blog article with people in your personal and professional network;
- Committing yourself to taking taking action and speaking up in positive ways to help eliminate racism once and for all!
Watch this video from the very first Stand Against Racism event – born from leadership and inspiration from the YWCA in New Jersey. This video was filmed in 2008, yet the message is still relevant and powerful!
Quotes on Racial Justice
Please enjoy these selected quotes related to racism and racial justice. Thank you Susan Bullock for sharing this list of inspiring quotes with me!
“A rattlesnake, if cornered, will become so angry it will bite itself. That is exactly what the harboring of hate and resentment against others is — a biting of oneself. We think we are harming others in holding these spites and hates, but the deeper harm is to ourselves.”– E. Stanley Jones
“It is from numerous diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” – Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968)
“For it isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“Be the change that ou wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“We must learn to live together as brothers and sisters or perish together as fools.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Where there is no hope, there can be no endeavor.” – Samuel Johnson
“Where there is no forgiveness, there is no future.” – Author Unknown
“You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.” – Indira Gandhi
“Accomplishment has no color.” – Leontyne Price
“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“It is never too late to give up your prejudices.” – Henry David Thoreau
“At the hart of racism is the religious assertion that God made a creative mistake when He brought some people into being.” – Friedrich Otto Hertz
“Laundry is the only thing that should be separated by color.” – Author Unknown
“I destroy my enemies when I makes them my friends.” – Abraham Lincoln
“I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.” – Anne Frank
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Meed
“Racism is man’s gravest threat to man – the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.” – Abraham Heschel
“Racism isn’t born, folks, it’s taught. I have a two-year son. You know what he hates Naps! End of list.” – Dennis Leary
“I plan to stand by nonviolence, because I have found it to be a philosophy of life that regulates not only my dealings in the struggle for racial justice, but also my dealings with people, and with my own self.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I wish they would only take me as I am.” – Vincent Van Gogh
“Justice is truth in action.” – Benjamin Disraeli
“Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
“People only see what they are prepared to see.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Racial superiority is a mere pigment of the imagination.” – Author Unknown
“I would like to believe that the discovery of even a single fossil bacteria on Mars would teach us what we ought to know all along, and that is what binds us here on earth – all the diverse peoples here- is really much more profound than what seems to separate us.” – Richard Berendzen, American University Professor
“If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room.” – Anita Koddick
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The very ink with which all history is written is merely fluid prejudice.” – Mark Twain
“We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different, yet all the same.” – Anne Frank
“The time is always right to do what is right.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
