“Whites, it must frankly be said, are not putting in a similar mass effort to reeducate themselves out of their racial ignorance. It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the white people of America believe they have so little to learn.””
“I frankly confess that even if it were possible I should not wish to have free choice given to me, or to have anything left in my own hands by which I might strive for salvation.””
“The assistant director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, Hyman Bookbinder, in a frank statement on December 29, 1966, declared that the long-range costs of adequately implementing programs to fight poverty, ignorance and slums will reach one trillion dollars. He was not awed or dismayed by this prospect but instead pointed out that the growth of the gross national product during the same period makes this expenditure comfortably possible. It is, he said, as simple as this: “The poor can stop being poor if the rich are willing to become even richer at a slower rate.” Furthermore, he predicted that unless a “substantial sacrifice is made by the American people,” the nation can expect further deterioration of the cities, increased antagonisms between races and continued disorders in the streets. He asserted that people are not informed enough to give adequate support to antipoverty programs, and he leveled a share of the blame at the government because it “must do more to get people to understand the size of the problem.””
“(Context: To those saying to wait for a better time to take action)We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by theoppressed. Frankly, I have never yet engaged in a direct-action movement that was "well timed" according to the timetable ofthose who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation.””
Frank Luther was an American folk singer and songwriter known for his contributions to the preservation and popularization of traditional American music. He gained prominence in the early to mid-20th ...
“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was ‘well timed’ in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. [...] This ‘wait’ has almost always meant ‘never.””
“The emphasis throughout the canon is on “our gifts,” which are offered for the church and for particular needs. Martin Luther believed that this was the reverse of the purpose of the sacrament, which was that the faithful receive the gift of communion in Christ.28 The heart of the sacrament is not gifts we offer but gifts we receive. The fact that the most common form of the Mass was the votive mass, the Mass offered for special intentions (paid for with a Mass stipend), Luther saw works righteousness and blasphemy in the heart of the Mass itself.29 People were being taught to offer their gifts in expectation of benefits that Christ has already secured in his once-for-all atoning sacrifice on the cross.””
“Since Luther we have been living in a centrifugal movement, in a wild individualism where all ties of love and affection have been loosened, and now that the centripetal movement””
“THE LAST POINT I want to make is this: populism wins. Not only is populism the classic, all-American response to hierarchy and plutocracy, but it is also the naturally dominant rhetorical element in our political tradition. I make this claim even though the Populists themselves didn’t get what they were after for many decades, even though the labor movement in the thirties never organized the South, even though Martin Luther King never saw the Freedom Budget enacted into law. Still, populism has a power that technocracy and liberal scolding and Trumpist bullshit do not because populism is deep in the grain of the democratic personality. Americans do not defer to their social superiors: we are natural-born egalitarians. Populism is the word that gets at our incurable itch to deflate pretentiousness of every description.””
“We thereby realize that the hidden part of God must even be in excess of this excess”