When a system of oppression has become institutionaliz ed it is unnecessary for individuals to be oppressive.
Nail polish or false eyelashes isn’t politics. If you have good politics, what you wear is irrelevant. I don’t take dictation from the pig-o-cratic style setters who say I should dress like a middle-aged lady. My politics don’t depend on whether my tits are in or out of a bra.
You’ve got to rattle your cage door. You’ve got to let them know that you’re in there, and that you want out. Make noise. Cause trouble. You may not win right away, but you’ll sure have a lot more fun.
The biggest sin is sitting on your ass.
Oppressed people are frequently very oppressive when first liberated. They know but two positions: somebody’s foot on their neck or their foot on somebody’s neck.
Here I am a woman attorney being told I can’t practice law in slacks by a judge dressed in drag.
Being a mother is a noble status, right? Right. So why does it change when you put ‘unwed’ or ‘welfare’ in front of it?
Trying to help an oppressed person is like trying to put your arm around somebody with a sunburn.
There’s no way that I know of to avoid pain absolutely, but suffering is the interpretation we choose to place on the pain we encounter.
The spending of our tax dollars by the Pentagon represents the greatest social disease of our country; I call it Pentagonorrhea.
Now, see there. Just because I’m wearing my Super-Dike sweatshirt, you think I’m a lesbian. I guess if I were wearing a string of pearls, you’d think I was an oyster.
Unity in a Movement situation can be overrated. If you were the Establishment, which would you rather see coming in the door: one lion or five hundred mice?
Don’t agonise, organise.
Any woman who still thinks marriage is a fifty-fifty proposition is only proving that she doesn’t understand either men or percentages.
You can’t dump one cup of sugar into the ocean and expect to get syrup. If everybody sweetened her own cup of water, then things would begin to change.
Everybody’s scared for their ass. There aren’t too many people ready to die for racism. They’ll kill for racism but they won’t die for racism.
I’m just a loud-mouthed middle-aged colored lady with a fused spine and three feet of intestines missing and a lot of people think I’m crazy. Maybe you do too, but I never stop to wonder why I’m not like other people. The mystery to me is why more people aren’t like me.
I never stop to wonder why I’m not like other people. They mystery to me is why more people aren’t like me.
Niggerization is the result of oppression – and it doesn’t just apply to the black people. Old people, poor people, and students can also get niggerized.
I know we’re termites. But if all the termites got together, the house would fall down.
There’s a difference between Vaselining the rapee and catching the rapist.