If a white man wants to lynch me, that’s his problem. If he’s got the power to lynch me, that’s my problem. Racism is not a question of attitude; it’s a question of power.
Our grandfathers had to run, run, run. My generation’s out of breath. We ain’t running no more.
There is a higher law than the law of government. That’s the law of conscience.
What a liberal really wants is to bring about change that will not in any way endanger his position.
Go home and tell your daughters they are beautiful.
One does not fight to influence change and then leave the change to someone else to bring about.
An organization which claims to speak for the needs of a community must speak in the tone of that community.
The first need of a free people is to define their own terms.
An organization which claims to be working for the needs of a community – as SNCC does – must work to provide that community with a position of strength from which to make its voice heard. This is the significance of black power beyond the slogan.
Our noses are broad, our lips are thick, our hair is nappy-we are black and beautiful!
There has been only a civil rights movement, whose tone of voice was adapted to an audience of liberal whites.