“Black people … are the most humane people within the United States. We have suffered and we understand suffering.”
Source: "The Black Manifesto" (1969), p. 116
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James Forman 7
American civil rights leader 1928–2005Related quotes

From "In Defense of Self-defense" I (June 20, 1967)
To Die For The People
Context: The blood, sweat, tears, and suffering of Black people are the foundations of the wealth and power of the United States of America. We were forced to build America, and if forced to, we will tear it down. The immediate result of this destruction will be suffering and bloodshed. But the end result will be the perpetual peace for all mankind.

Speech on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968)

"Attacks 'no excuse for racist violence'" in BBC News (22 September 2001) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1558319.stm
Context: We understand the anger, the anguish and suffering which this act of international terrorism has created amongst people.
What we are worried about is the impact of the wrong kind of response to it. … We believe that the civilised world is a multicultural, multi-religious world. That is the type of message we want to get across. … I think there are many who are Muslims and non-Muslims, who are not warmongers but peace makers and want this world to be a better place.
We believed the unison of the voices of so many people standing together against international terrorism is something to be valued and something to be built upon.

Source: The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation

“We are suffering. We have suffered, and we are not afraid to suffer in order to win our cause.”
The Plan of Delano (1965)
Context: We are suffering. We have suffered, and we are not afraid to suffer in order to win our cause. We have suffered unnumbered ills and crimes in the name of the Law of the Land. Our men, women, and children have suffered not only the basic brutality of stoop labor, and the most obvious injustices of the system; they have also suffered the desperation of knowing that the system caters to the greed of callous men and not to our needs. Now we will suffer for the purpose of ending the poverty, the misery, and the injustice, with the hope that our children will not be exploited as we have been. They have imposed hunger on us, and now we hunger for justice. We draw our strength from the very despair in which we have been forced to live. We shall endure.

Source: Inner Management: In the Presence of the Master

On whether he is an exception when compared to formerly incarcerated individuals in “'Felon' Author Says, 'Everybody Has To Tell Their Kids Something'” https://www.npr.org/2019/11/03/775605155/felon-author-says-everybody-has-to-tell-their-kids-something in NPR (2019 Nov 3)