Quotes about racism
page 2

Pete Doherty photo
Sister Souljah photo
Dinesh D'Souza photo

“Racism originated not in ignorance and fear but as part of an enlightened enterprise of intellectual discovery.”

Dinesh D'Souza (1961) Indian-American political commentator, filmmaker, author

Source: Books, The End of Racism (1995), Ch. 1

Maajid Nawaz photo
Julia Gillard photo

“I really don’t know why this wasn’t a career ending moment for Tony Abbott. Sexism is no better than racism.”

Julia Gillard (1961) Australian politician and lawyer, 27th Prime Minister of Australia

In response to Opposition leader Abbott standing in front of signs labelling Gillard a "witch" and a "bitch".
The Killing Season, Episode three: The Long Shadow (2010–13)

Kent Hovind photo
Ayn Rand photo
Carl Rowan photo

“(Ronald Reagan is) the President who is more responsible than any for the fact that white racism is both tolerated and even fashionable again in America.”

Carl Rowan (1925–2000) American journalist

Source: Quoington Star article entitled "Has President Nixon Gone Crazy?", "The Coming Race War in America: A Wake-up Call" (1996)

Joseph Massad photo
Richard Dawkins photo

“I am very conscious that you can't condemn people of an earlier era by the standards of ours. Just as we don't look back at the 18th and 19th centuries and condemn people for racism in the same way as we would condemn a modern person for racism, I look back a few decades to my childhood and see things like caning, like mild pedophilia, and can't find it in me to condemn it by the same standards as I or anyone would today.”

Richard Dawkins (1941) English ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author

Giles Whittell, " The world according to Richard Dawkins http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/science/article4191347.ece" (), The Times, quoted in Trevor Grundy, " Richard Dawkins Pedophilia Remarks Provoke Outrage http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/09/richard-dawkins-pedophilia_n_3895514.html" (), The Huffington Post.

Muammar Gaddafi photo

“The black people’s struggle has vanquished racism. It was God who created colour. Today Obama, a son of Kenya, a son of Africa, has made it in the United States of America.”

Muammar Gaddafi (1942–2011) Libyan revolutionary, politician and political theorist

Closing remarks at the African Union summit (4 February 2009), quoted in RFI English (4 February 2009) " Kadhafi closes AU summit, division over plans for 'United States of Africa' http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/110/article_2801.asp" by Zeenat Hansrod

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Benjamín Netanyahu photo

“We will bring a comprehensive plan to the government to assist you in every way. There is no room for racism and discrimination in our society, none… We will turn racism into something contemptible and despicable.”

Benjamín Netanyahu (1949) Israeli prime minister

As quoted in "Israel failed Ethiopian community, president says at memorial" http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-failed-ethiopian-community-president-says-at-memorial (17 May 2015), by Judah Ari Gross, The Times of Israel.
2010s, 2015

Abbie Hoffman photo
Mark Burns (televangelist) photo

“In reference to dealing with black issues and dealing with issues that plague those minority communities, Donald Trump doesn't have a racist bone in his body. I know what real racism is. And Donald Trump is so far from it. Talking to him and his wonderful wife and his children is like hanging out with some friends of mine that are black … He's just that kind of a person. He is not uneasy around you. He's very relaxed… When Donald Trump talks about 'the blacks' he's talking about the blacks, the group as a whole. He's talking about the groups… No, it doesn't bother me, because I know Donald Trump. I know who he is. I know he is not at all speaking in any derogatory sense at all. He's simply talking to that ethnic group, the blacks or the whites… Even with a sitting black President, the racial tension in this country is at an all-time high. And I believe it's led by the Democratic party and led by President Barack Obama, and obviously Secretary Clinton desires to continue that torch, which I believe will lead us more and more into economic destruction, especially for minorities in this country… I have not experienced racist tension from Donald Trump. I'm from the South. Literally right over the next county, there are active KKK groups that parade their rebel flag on a daily basis… This is in 2016. Right now, today, with a sitting black President. So I know what real racism looks like. And it is not Donald Trump… Does he want it (ex-KKK leaders endorsement)? He said, 'No, I don't want it, I don't accept it.' … He doesn't stand for any hate groups, whether it be a Christian hate group or an Islam hate group. He's already stated this. Mr. Trump has already stated that there was a technical issue in the earpiece. I'm in television; I own a TV studio. I do know how technical issues can cause you to miss out on what someone is saying.”

Mark Burns (televangelist) (1979) Christian pastor and founder of the NOW Television Network

Interview, New York Daily News, 15 May 2016 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/meet-female-muslim-mexican-american-trump-supporters-article-1.2637077

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Bell Hooks photo
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Yuri Kochiyama photo

“The goal of the war [on terrorism] is more than just getting oil and fuel. The United States is intent on taking over the world… It's important we all understand that the main terrorist and the main enemy of the world's people is the U. S. government. Racism has been a weakness of this country from its beginning. Throughout history, all people of color, and all people who don't see eye-to-eye with the U. S. government have been subject to American terror.”

Yuri Kochiyama (1921–2014) American activist

[Diane Carol Fujino, Heartbeat of Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama, https://books.google.com/books?id=b1oowDNmgpoC&pg=PA310, 2005, U of Minnesota Press, 978-0-8166-4593-0, 310] ; In response to the United States' actions following the September 11 attacks in 2001.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali photo
Angela Davis photo
Naomi Klein photo

“This is what Keynes had meant when he warned of the dangers of economic chaos—you never know what combination of rage, racism and revolution will be unleashed.”

Naomi Klein (1970) Canadian author and activist

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (2007)

Martin Luther King, Jr. photo
Herman Cain photo

“I don't believe racism in this country today holds anybody back in a big way. Are there some elements of racism? Yes, it gets back to if we don't grow this economy, that is a ripple effect for every economic level, and because blacks are more disproportionately unemployed, they get hit the worst when economic policies don't work. That's where it starts.”

Herman Cain (1945) American writer, businessman and activist

State of the Union
2011-10-09
Television, quoted in * Cain: Racism not holding anyone back
Political Ticker
2011-10-09
Kevin
Liptak
CNN
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/09/cain-racism-not-holding-anyone-back/

Bell Hooks photo

“Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique is still heralded as having paved the way for contemporary feminist movement-it was written as if these women did not exist. Friedan's famous phrase, "the problem that has no name," often quoted to describe the condition of women in this society, actually referred to the plight of a select group of college-educated, middle and upper class, married white women-housewives bored with leisure, with the home, with children, with buying products, who wanted more out of life. Friedan concludes her first chapter by stating: "We can no longer ignore that voice within women that says: 'I want something more than my husband and my children and my house.'" That "more" she defined as careers. She did not discuss who would be called in to take care of the children and maintain the home if more women like herself were freed from their house labor and given equal access with white men to the professions. She did not speak of the needs of women without men, without children, without homes. She ignored the existence of all non-white women and poor white women. She did not tell readers whether it was more fulfilling to be a maid, a babysitter, a factory worker, a clerk, or a prostitute, than to be a leisure class housewife. She made her plight and the plight of white women like herself synonymous with a condition affecting all American women. In so doing, she deflected attention away from her classism, her racism, her sexist attitudes towards the masses of American women. In the context of her book, Friedan makes clear that the women she saw as victimized by sexism were college-educated, white women who were compelled by sexist conditioning to remain in the home. … Specific problems and dilemmas of leisure class white housewives were real concerns that merited consideration and change but they were not the pressing political concerns of masses of women. Masses of women were concerned about economic survival, ethnic and racial discrimination, etc. When Friedan wrote The Feminine Mystique, more than one third of all women were in the work force. Although many women longed to be housewives, only women with leisure time and money could actually shape their identities on the model of the feminine mystique.”

p. 1-2 https://books.google.com/books?id=uvIQbop4cdsC&pg=PA1.
Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (1984), Chapter 1: Black Women: Shaping Feminist Theory

Richard D. Ryder photo
Ilana Mercer photo
Russell Brand photo

“It's like Kilroy only talking about Big Brother and there's no racism allowed.”

Russell Brand (1975) British comedian, actor, and author

Describing Big Brother's Big Mouth
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross (2006)

Harry V. Jaffa photo
Rand Paul photo

“Rachel Maddow: Do you think that a private business has the right to say we don't serve black people?Rand Paul: I'm not in favor of any discrimination of any form; I would never belong to any club that excluded anybody for race. We still do have private clubs in America that can discriminate based on race. But I think what's important about this debate is not written into any specific "gotcha" on this, but asking the question: what about freedom of speech? Should we limit speech from people we find abhorrent? Should we limit racists from speaking? I don't want to be associated with those people, but I also don't want to limit their speech in any way in the sense that we tolerate boorish and uncivilized behavior because that's one of the things freedom requires is that we allow people to be boorish and uncivilized, but that doesn't mean we approve of it. I think the problem with this debate is by getting muddled down into it, the implication is somehow that I would approve of any racism or discrimination, and I don't in any form or fashion.I do defend and believe that the government should not be involved with institutional racism or discrimination or segregation in schools, busing, all those things. But had I been there, there would have been some discussion over one of the titles of the civil rights. And I think that's a valid point, and still a valid discussion, because the thing is, is if we want to harbor in on private businesses and their policies, then you have to have the discussion about: do you want to abridge the First Amendment as well. Do you want to say that because people say abhorrent things — you know, we still have this. We're having all this debate over hate speech and this and that. Can you have a newspaper and say abhorrent things? Can you march in a parade and believe in abhorrent things, you know?”

Rand Paul (1963) American politician, ophthalmologist, and United States Senator from Kentucky

The Rachel Maddow Show
MSNBC
2010-05-19
Rand Paul on 'Maddow' fallout begins
Maddow Blog
MSNBC
2010-05-20
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/05/20/4313688-rand-paul-on-maddow-fallout-begins
2010-11-17
2010s

Nicholas D. Kristof photo
Hillary Clinton photo

“I will be even briefer than Fabian, I thought I would creep in the back and I don’t have to say anything but what I would like to say and I came in when Eddy was 10 speaking and that was because we had a very constructive meeting with the High Commissioner yesterday and we made some decisions which is always good. Where I disagree sometimes with the Greek Cypriots is that I wanted to vote for Turkey never to be in the European Union! I have no interest in Turkey being in the EU until all, a whole host of problems are resolved and it is of course the Cyprus problem for me first on the agenda, but it is the Kurdish problem, its the military backing barracks, and all the rest of that, you know there are no human rights and many human rights violations in Turkey. So whether it takes 20 years or longer that makes me think that Turkey is using Cyprus as a lever to get as much out of it as is possible and of course the longer it takes for them not to be a member the longer that lever takes and the longer we will have 200,000 or 300,000 Turks settled in Cyprus and that becomes a very much bigger problem than it is now already and I think that I have said that at three or four meetings before rather than us talking about the problem of Cyprus which makes that it becomes a problem for the Republic as it is worldwide known we ought to talk about the problem of Turkey, it is really a 100% Turkish problem that they're not acting in the way in which they should be acting and if that’s the case well shove it to them! And I saw about 50 Turkish … [(A Turkish Cypriot member of the audience accused him saying "You are racist!" and returns his comments…. Many interruptions and heckling from the audience, some Greek Cypriots shouted for the Turkish Cypriot to get out if he didn’t like what he was hearing and three or four police officers arrived in the room.)] Well, it has certainly allocated my speech time and I would only say to the gentleman that we have nothing against honest straightforward Turkish Cypriots but Turkey is using the occupied territory to settle Turkish people they don’t necessarily want in Turkey, many are unemployed, that is not racism, that is a set of true facts and I don’t know whether you are a Turkish Cypriot or a Turkish person I have no disrespect for anybody in the world, but I have deep disrespect for the Turkish Government and the Turkish military and that is my last word on that!”

Rudi Vis (1941–2010) British politician

[At the Friends of Cyprus meeting in the Jubilee Room at the House of Commons, 3rd July 2007] (see External links for transcript)

Steve Sailer photo

“"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 (1958) American journalist and movie critic

Banned by Free Republic? https://archive.is/20120529012553/vdare.com/sailer/Free_Republic.htm

Sister Souljah photo

“Racism is a system of power and in the absence of power you cannot be considered a racist.”

Sister Souljah (1964) American hip hop-generation author, activist, recording artist, and film producer

"We Are at War", speech at Cheyney State University (1994)

Julius Malema photo

“Chinese are like Indians. They think they're close to whiteness. When they practice racism they even become worse than whites. There are even Blacks who mimic whiteness. All of this needs to be confronted.”

Julius Malema (1981) South African political activist

#MalemaOnTouchHD https://twitter.com/hashtag/MalemaOnTouchHD?src=hash, and retweeted on #RegisterToVoteEFF https://twitter.com/EFFSouthAfrica/status/969221090378764289 (1 March 2018)

Jeffrey Tucker photo
Joseph Massad photo

“What is it about the nature of Zionism, its racism, and its colonial policies that continues to escape the understanding of many European intellectuals on the left?”

Joseph Massad (1963) Associate Professor of Arab Studies

Massad, in "The legacy of Jean-Paul Sartre", Al-Ahram, 2003
"The legacy of Jean-Paul Sartre"

Cesar Chavez photo
Brooks D. Simpson photo
Dinesh D'Souza photo

“If racism is not the main problem for blacks, what is? Liberal antiracism.”

Dinesh D'Souza (1961) Indian-American political commentator, filmmaker, author

Source: Books, The End of Racism (1995), Ch. 1

Julia Serano photo
Jacques Chirac photo

“Never make up with extremism, racism, antisemitism or rejecting whoever is different”

Jacques Chirac (1932–2019) 22nd President of France

Ne composez jamais avec l'extrémisme, le racisme, l'antisémitisme ou le rejet de l'autre.
Statement in Le Monde http://www;lemonde.fr, dated mars 13th 2007, p. 10

Seba Johnson photo

“It is the responsibility of each of us—every man, woman, and child on this planet—to try to lessen the total amount of suffering in our world. … Speciesism, like racism, is a learned attitude, and both can be unlearned.”

Seba Johnson (1973) Olympic skier

"Taking the Lessons My Mother Taught Me to the African-American Community" http://www.satyamag.com/oct02/johnson.html, Satya (October 2002).

Geert Wilders photo
Trevor Noah photo

“Donald Trump didn't invent racism. Trump didn't invent islamophobia. And he didn't invent violence. All he did was put his name on them like he does with everything else.”

Trevor Noah (1984) South African comedian

16 March 2016
The Daily Show
Source: Visibile al minuto 06:00 Another Super Tuesday for Donald Trump http://www.cc.com/video-clips/my2sru/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-another-super-tuesday-for-donald-trump, CC.com, 16 marzo 2016.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali photo
Trevor Phillips photo
Ron Paul photo

“Racism is simply an ugly form of collectivism, the mindset that views humans strictly as members of groups rather than individuals”

Ron Paul (1935) American politician and physician

Government and Racism http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3EADdr-5AY (16 April 2007).
2000s, 2006-2009
Context: I’m not a racist. As a matter of fact, Rosa Parks is one of my heroes, Martin Luther King is a hero — because they practiced the libertarian principle of civil disobedience, nonviolence.
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. By encouraging Americans to adopt a group mentality, the advocates of so-called "diversity" actually perpetuate racism. Their obsession with racial group identity is inherently racist. The true antidote to racism is liberty. Liberty means having a limited, constitutional government devoted to the protection of individual rights rather than group claims. Liberty means free-market capitalism, which rewards individual achievement and competence, not skin color, gender, or ethnicity.

David Cameron photo
Jonathan Arnott photo

“As a right-winger and UKIP member, I believe in immigration. That sentence might sound slightly surprising coming from the General Secretary of a Party which is perceived by the media as anti-immigration. So let me explain. I reject uncontrolled immigration. I reject immigration beyond the ability of our country’s infrastructure to cope. Recently, I’ve been listening to the Bruce Springsteen song ‘American Land’. It starts off well enough, talking about people relocating to America as it grew and helping to build the country. That’s the kind of immigration that I believe in. Those who believe that they can have a better life (in this case in the UK), who come over and are determined to see themselves as part of British culture and will put their heart and soul into improving this country for all of us. I’m talking about the kind of person who is proud to come to the United Kingdom and shows that pride at every opportunity. Such people are a real asset to the country. That’s why I’m so angry at the ‘left-wing’ in British politics, which has consistently pursued an effective open-door immigration policy. Uncontrolled mass immigration doesn’t provide any of those benefits, but instead creates huge cultural problems for us. Worse still, it creates resentment. In Sheffield, I see workers losing their jobs to immigrant workers. All that does is create resentment and fuels the kind of racism that we’ve painstakingly worked to get rid of from our nation.”

Jonathan Arnott (1981) British politician

I believe….in immigration? http://www.jonathanarnott.co.uk/2013/06/i-believe-in-immigration/ (June 23, 2013)

David Cameron photo
Nicholas D. Kristof photo

“Early signs of what the Trump administration may look like: A man associated with white supremacy and misogyny will be White House chief strategist; a man rejected for a judgeship because of alleged racism will be attorney general; and an Islamophobe who has taken money from Moscow will be national security adviser. No, this is not satire.”

Nicholas D. Kristof (1959) journalist, author, columnist

Trump Embarrasses Himself and Our Country http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/opinion/sunday/so-many-options-yet-donald-trump-picks-the-ugly.html, The New York Times (November 19, 2016)

Bell Hooks photo

“The understanding I had by age thirteen of patriarchal politics created in me expectations of the feminist movement that were quite different from those of young, middle class, white women. When I entered my first women's studies class at Stanford University in the early 1970s, white women were revelling in the joy of being together-to them it was an important, momentous occasion. I had not known a life where women had not been together, where women had not helped, protected, and loved one another deeply. I had not known white women who were ignorant of the impact of race and class on their social status and consciousness (Southern white women often have a more realistic perspective on racism and classism than white women in other areas of the United States.) I did not feel sympathetic to white peers who maintained that I could not expect them to have knowledge of or understand the life experiences of black women. Despite my background (living in racially segregated communities) I knew about the lives of white women, and certainly no white women lived in our neighborhood, attended our schools, or worked in our homes When I participated in feminist groups, I found that white women adopted a condescending attitude towards me and other non-white participants. The condescension they directed at black women was one of the means they employed to remind us that the women's movement was "theirs"-that we were able to participate because they allowed it, even encouraged it; after all, we were needed to legitimate the process. They did not see us as equals. And though they expected us to provide first hand accounts of black experience, they felt it was their role to decide if these experiences were authentic. Frequently, college-educated black women (even those from poor and working class backgrounds) were dismissed as mere imitators. Our presence in movement activities did not count, as white women were convinced that "real" blackness meant speaking the patois of poor black people, being uneducated, streetwise, and a variety of other stereotypes. If we dared to criticize the movement or to assume responsibility for reshaping feminist ideas and introducing new ideas, our voices were tuned out, dismissed, silenced. We could be heard only if our statements echoed the sentiments of the dominant discourse.”

Bell Hooks (1952) American author, feminist, and social activist

Source: (1984), Chapter 1: Black Women: Shaping Feminist Theory, pp. 11-12.

Dinesh D'Souza photo
Patrick Buchanan photo
Mumia Abu-Jamal photo
Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw photo
Glenn Beck photo

“…I said yesterday on Fox & Friends, I think the president is a racist, I think he has race issues. Don't know if he hates white people, but there's something going on with the president. Well, I stand by that. And I deem him a racist based on really his own standard of racism, the standard of the left.”

Glenn Beck (1964) U.S. talk radio and television host

The Glenn Beck Program
Premiere Radio Networks
2009-07-29
Beck "stands by" Fox & Friends remarks that "I think the president is a racist"
Media Matters for America
2009-07-29
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907290012
2000s, 2009

Richard Rodríguez photo
Roseanne Barr photo
Donald J. Trump photo
Bell Hooks photo
Patrick Buchanan photo
Tomislav Sunić photo
Margaret Cho photo

“I got back from Toronto, where they had a severe outbreak of SARS- you know, Severe Asian Racism Syndrome.”

Margaret Cho (1968) American stand-up comedian

From Her Tours and CDs, Revolution Tour

Margaret Cho photo
Rousas John Rushdoony photo
Ken Livingstone photo
Madonna photo

“Not only does society suffer from racism and sexism but it also suffers from ageism. Once you reach a certain age you're not allowed to be adventurous, you're not allowed to be sexual. I mean, is there a rule? Are you supposed to just die?”

Madonna (1958) American singer, songwriter, and actress

Madonna Refuses To Become A Victim of Ageism, chinadaily.com.cn, 2007-12-18 http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/showbiz/2007-12F/10/content_6310487.htm,
Madonna said it at 34 in Jonathan Ross interview ( Ageism and Madonna http://madonnascrapbook.blogspot.ru/2012/02/ageism-and-madonna-saying-fuck-you.html).

Arthur Jensen photo
Ilana Mercer photo
Joseph Massad photo
Koenraad Elst photo
Samir Amin photo
F. W. de Klerk photo

“Racism is a part of a problem, a world problem, which has to be overcome.”

F. W. de Klerk (1936) South African politician

On The Washington Journal of C-SPAN https://www.c-span.org/video/?124979-1/the-trek-beginning (11 June 1999)
1990s, 1999

Albert Memmi photo
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor photo
Thomas Sowell photo

“Racism has never done this country any good, and it needs to be fought against, not put under new management for different groups.”

Thomas Sowell (1930) American economist, social theorist, political philosopher and author

"Out of Context" http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell060209.php3, Jewish World Review, 2 June 2009.
2000s

Ron Paul photo