Social and Systemic Injustice

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Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

I believe that there will ultimately be a clash between the oppressed and those that do the oppressing. I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the systems of exploitation. - Malcolm X

 

When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson

 

I guess the only time most people think about injustice is when it happens to them. - Charles Bukowski

 

Man cannot be freed by the same injustice that enslaved it. -  Pierce Brown

 

George Floyd’s pleas awakened this world that has been rendered comatose by fear of contagion and all of a sudden nothing mattered but justice. - Aysha Taryam

 

We cannot accept the world as it is. Each day we should wake up foaming at the mouth because of the injustice of things. - Hugo Claus

 

There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice. - Charles-Louis de Secondat

 

There can be no peace without justice and respect for human rights. - Irene Khan

 

Never be content to sit back and watch as others' rights are trampled upon. Your rights could be next. - DaShonne Stokes

 

You just need to be a flea against injustice. Enough committed fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation. - Marian Wright Edelman

 

There is a power that can be created out of pent-up indignation, courage, and the inspiration of a common cause, and that if enough people put their minds and bodies into that cause, they can win. It is a phenomenon recorded again and again in the history of popular movements against injustice all over the world. - Howard Zinn

 

Silence in the face of injustice, is injustice in action. - C. JoyBell C.

 

Black lives matter is not a black people's movement - metoo is not a women's movement - pride is not a gay people's movement - it's all humanity's movement - a movement for being accepted as humans by the humans. - Abhijit Naskar

 

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. - Desmond Tutu

 

We all too often have socialism for the rich and rugged free market capitalism for the poor. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

It's up to all of us - Black, white, everyone - no matter how well-meaning we think we might be, to do the honest, uncomfortable work of rooting it out. It starts with self-examination and listening to those whoe lives are different from our own. It ends with justice, compassion, and empathy that manifests in our lives and on our streets. - Michelle Obama

 

No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if the can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite. - Nelson Mandela

 

Civil rights are civil rights. There are no persons who are not entitled to their civil rights. We have to recognize that we have a long way to go, but we have to go that way together. - Dorothy Height

 

Social gains are never handed out. They must be seized. - Sheryl Sandberg

 

If you’re not angry, you’re either a stone, or you’re too sick to be angry. You should be angry. You must not be bitter. Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. It doesn’t do anything to the object of its displeasure. So use that anger, yes. You write it. You paint it. You dance it. You march it. You vote it. You do everything about it. You talk it. Never stop talking it. - Maya Angelou

 

The question is not if we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

If you believe in a cause, be willing to stand up for that cause with a million people or by yourself. - Otis S. Johnson

 

You want to make America great again? Make racism wrong again! - Oliver Markus Malloy

 

Our history, America’s history, has been so heavily edited. In history classes, we don’t really go into full discussions about the past. People, struggles, and triumphs have been erased. As a result, we now have a generation, my generation, of people who are intelligent but ignorant of and blind to the truth. - Janelle Gray

 

You're not under attack when others gain rights and privileges you've always had. - DaShonne Stokes

 

Whether it's forced or invited, change is inevitable. - Andrena Sawyer

 

It is the common people's duty to police the police. - Steven Magee

 

The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened. - John F. Kennedy

 

Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe. - Elie Wiesel

 

To say nothing is saying something. You must denounce things you are against or one might believe that you support things you really do not. - Germany Kent

 

 

Free Documentaries to Educate Yourself With

Combining archival footage with testimony from activists and scholars, director Ava DuVernay's examination of the U.S. prison system looks at how the country's history of racial inequality drives the high rate of incarceration in America. This piercing, Oscar-nominated film won Best Documentary at the Emmys, the BAFTAs and the NAACP Image Awards.

US Rating: TV-MA For mature audiences. May not be suitable for ages 17 and under.

 

“Stay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement” is an original documentary film that chronicles the evolution of the Black Lives Matter movement through the first person accounts of local activists, protesters, scholars, journalists and others.

 

This film touches on the lives and experiences of five dynamic educators whose passion for social justice was forged when they were in school. Their personal accounts bear witness to both the overt and subtle forms of injustice that create critical barriers to quality learning and inclusion. Each person enacted their beliefs in equity, access, and respect in order to provide a just and quality education for the learners they serve.

 

"Policing the Police" offers an up-close look at police reform efforts in Newark, NJ, after the force was found to have engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional stops, searches and arrests of black residents. With gripping, on-the-ground access, this 2016 film examines the difficulties of fixing a broken relationship between the police and the community.

 

The National Benevolent Association commissioned this gathering of stories after the death of Michael Brown in August 2014 on behalf of local Disciples seeking to respond to the crisis.

 

Why do we accept huge levels of inequality and social injustice? This is one of the central questions that The Price of Fairness sets out to answer.

 

Systemic racism affects every area of life in the US. From incarceration rates to predatory loans, and trying to solve these problems requires changes in major parts of our system. Here's a simple look at what systemic racism is, and how we can solve it.

 

Roots of racial disparities are seen through a new lens in this film that explores the origins of housing segregation in the Minneapolis area. But the story also illustrates how African-American families and leaders resisted this insidious practice, and how Black people built community — within and despite — the red lines that these restrictive covenants created.

 

Requiem for the American Dream is the definitive discourse with Noam Chomsky, widely regarded as the most important intellectual alive, on the defining characteristic of our time - the deliberate concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a select few. Through interviews filmed over four years, Chomsky unpacks the principles that have brought us to the crossroads of historically unprecedented inequality - tracing a half-century of policies designed to favor the most wealthy at the expense of the majority - while also looking back on his own life of activism and political participation. Profoundly personal and thought provoking, Chomsky provides penetrating insight into what may well be the lasting legacy of our time - the death of the middle class and swan song of functioning democracy. A potent reminder that power ultimately rests in the hands of the governed, Requiem is required viewing for all who maintain hope in a shared stake in the future.

 

Inspiring and Challenging Books From Our Catalog to Educate Yourself With