Blacks are about seven times more likely to live in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty than whites.
quote by John Powell
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
Prejudiced? Who? Me? ? .....[Personal; Human Nature; Racial Prejudice]
I'm a white guy, aged 64, raised in a small town way up north.
Do some thoughts I have about blacks signal prejudice coming forth?
First I'd say NO, but then again I'd say YES.
But such thoughts, by both whites and blacks, are normal I would guess.
What thoughts am I now referring to you will probably ask.
To answer that sensible question will put my mind to task.
My interactions with blacks, I think, no prejudice does reveal.
And the rare times I have 'prejudice' thoughts, I think they're no big deal.
Do you wish to know of what my 'pre-judged' thoughts consist?
I'd almost rather not tell you. But, if you insist.
I sometimes think 'nigger'; when and where I grew up that was a 'bad' name.
I also think of them as different though people are the 'same'.
And here is where I say 'I don't like generalization'.
By 'same' I mean neither all blacks nor all whites are 'the same' in this nation.
So whites and blacks can both be smart or stupid, mean or kind;
within each 'race' criminals and 'saints' you'll find.
I wasn't raised to either love or hate blacks. My parents seemed not to judge.
And I've changed my mind again; I'm NOT prejudiced. From that opinion I shall not budge!
Then why you ask do I sometimes think 'nigger' when I think of a black?
I think it's due to both a primeval urge to break society's rules, and to thought-control I lack.
Luckily I don't act out my 'bad' thoughts. I might be in jail now if I had.
When in grade school, a boy said I called him 'nigger'. The accusation made me sad.
poem by Bri Edwards
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Racial Conflict
I, Yellow.
No different
Than others.
Whites on Whites...
Blacks on Blacks...
Browns on Browns...
Racism.
How will it be
When the tie
Binds
Diverging colors?
Soulja'z Story
[Tupac Talking]
They cuttin off welfare
Think they crime is risin' now
You got whites killin blacks
Cops killin blacks
And blacks killin blacks
Shit just gonna get worse
They just gonna become souljas
Straight souljas
Chorus
All you wanted ta be
song performed by by Tupac
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Immigrants in Our Own Land
We are born with dreams in our hearts,
looking for better days ahead.
At the gates we are given new papers,
our old clothes are taken
and we are given overalls like mechanics wear.
We are given shots and doctors ask questions.
Then we gather in another room
where counselors orient us to the new land
we will now live in. We take tests.
Some of us were craftsmen in the old world,
good with our hands and proud of our work.
Others were good with their heads.
They used common sense like scholars
use glasses and books to reach the world.
But most of us didn’t finish high school.
The old men who have lived here stare at us,
from deep disturbed eyes, sulking, retreated.
We pass them as they stand around idle,
leaning on shovels and rakes or against walls.
Our expectations are high: in the old world,
they talked about rehabilitation,
about being able to finish school,
and learning an extra good trade.
But right away we are sent to work as dishwashers,
to work in fields for three cents an hour.
The administration says this is temporary
So we go about our business, blacks with blacks,
poor whites with poor whites,
chicanos and indians by themselves.
The administration says this is right,
no mixing of cultures, let them stay apart,
like in the old neighborhoods we came from.
We came here to get away from false promises,
from dictators in our neighborhoods,
who wore blue suits and broke our doors down
when they wanted, arrested us when they felt like,
swinging clubs and shooting guns as they pleased.
But it’s no different here. It’s all concentrated.
The doctors don’t care, our bodies decay,
our minds deteriorate, we learn nothing of value.
Our lives don’t get better, we go down quick.
My cell is crisscrossed with laundry lines,
my T-shirts, boxer shorts, socks and pants are drying.
Just like it used to be in my neighborhood:
from all the tenements laundry hung window to window.
Across the way Joey is sticking his hands
through the bars to hand Felipé a cigarette,
men are hollering back and forth cell to cell,
saying their sinks don’t work,
or somebody downstairs hollers angrily
about a toilet overflowing,
or that the heaters don’t work.
I ask Coyote next door to shoot me over
a little more soap to finish my laundry.
I look down and see new immigrants coming in,
mattresses rolled up and on their shoulders,
new haircuts and brogan boots,
looking around, each with a dream in their heart,
thinking they’ll get a chance to change their lives.
But in the end, some will just sit around
talking about how good the old world was.
Some of the younger ones will become gangsters.
Some will die and others will go on living
without a soul, a future, or a reason to live.
Some will make it out of here with hate in their eyes,
but so very few make it out of here as human
as they came in, they leave wondering what good they are now
as they look at their hands so long away from their tools,
as they look at themselves, so long gone from their families,
so long gone from life itself, so many things have changed.
poem by Jimmy Santiago Baca
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
I am a man of black and white
I am a man of black and white,
my name is written on the gates of the sky.
i am a man of black and white
my origin is united, yet two apart.
I speak the language of the whites,
but lost in the language of the blacks.
i am a man of black and white,
my resemblance is same with the blacks.
I am a man of black and white,
i was brought up in the land of the whites.
i am a man of black and white,
my home is in the south-east, in the abode of my black dad.
I am a man of black and white,
i love the aspirations of life.
i am a man of black and white,
although two apart, we are united as one.
poem by Randy Micheal
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
What Is It That Is Wished
Why are 'whites' in constant dialogue,
About their superiority over 'blacks'?
What insecurities are needing to be fed,
To address those issues and put them to bed?
Allowing needs to feel 'better than'...
Air that does not entrap.
What is it that is wished...
That could be hidden and not contradict this?
Is that why 'black' folks are enforced...
To be multi-cultural,
With a tolerance of others embraced and endorsed?
And 'whites' have a need to keep their pets on a leash.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Crazy - a Filk Song
Yes. I. Am. Crazy crazy crazy and I’m winter
I wear the blacks and whites and reds and greens and blue.
They. Say. You're. Crazy crazy crazy and I love you
And now I’m wond’ring just exactly what to do.
They say the crazy ones are always, somehow, better.
They say I’m crazy. Well how about you?
I say the people who can say that they are crazy
Give me the crazies and I don’t know what to do!
They. Say. You’re. Crazy crazy crazy and you love me!
‘Cause I wear blacks and whites and reds and greens and blue.
Yes. I. Am. Crazy crazy crazy and I love you!
And now I know that you are crazy for me too!
poem by S. Amina Sackinger
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
In the days of segregation, when blacks were limited to certain neighborhoods, you could look around the black community and identify who the leaders were.
quote by Roger Wilkins
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Rough Stuff
Folks are stuck,
And can't grow up...
To leave behind their colors.
Whites and blacks attack,
And all down the brown!
To be found...
All around!
What on Earth are we?
Why can't we share humanity?
And be what it is that God,
Wants us here to be!
The rough stuff is enough!
We all are living...
And times are tough.
Whatever it is dividing...
Has to crush this BS,
To snuff.
Before it chokes us,
Into a ball of puff.
Look at me.
I'm black
And I don't bite!
Look at you.
White...
And you're not always right!
Fighting all around the World.
To incite conflicts to hurl...
Both day.
And night to fright!
The rough stuff is enough!
We all are living...
And times are tough.
Whatever it is dividing...
Has to crush,
This stupid stuff!
Folks are stuck,
And can't grow up...
To leave behind their colors.
Whites and blacks attack,
And all down the brown!
To be found...
All around!
Look at me.
I'm black,
And I don't bite!
Look at you.
White...
And you're not always right!
Fighting all around the World.
To incite conflicts to hurl...
Both day.
And night to fright!
The rough stuff is enough!
We all are living...
And times are tough.
Whatever it is dividing...
Has to crush,
This BS to snuff!
Before this Earth we call our home...
Rids us all to blow us up to dust!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Too many whites still see blacks as a group apart.
quote by Constance Baker Motley
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The unemployment rate is still twice as high for blacks as for whites.
quote by William Weld
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Across The Lines
Across the lines
Who would dare to go
Under the bridge
Over the tracks
That seperates whites from blacks
Choose sides
Or run for your life
Tonight the riots begin
On the back streets of America
They kill the dream of America
Little black girl gets assaulted
Ain't no reason why
Newspaper prints the story
And racist tempers fly
Next day it starts a riot
Knives and guns are drawn
Two black boys get killed
One white boy goes blind
Across the lines
Who would dare to go
Under the bridge
Over the tracks
That seperates whites from blacks
Choose sides
Or run for your life
Tonight the riots begin
On the back streets of America
They kill the dream of America
Little black girl gets assaulted
Don't no one know her name
Lots of people hurt and angry
She's the one to blame
Across the lines
Who would dare to go
Under the bridge
Over the tracks
That seperates whites from blacks
Choose sides
Or run for your life
Tonight the riots begin
On the back streets of America
They kill the dream of America
song performed by by Tracy Chapman from Tracy Chapman
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
When you look at where the real problems are among minorities in our society, particularly blacks, it's at the bottom. It's the people who are in school systems that don't educate, neighborhoods where there is a lot of crime, drugs, the whole bit.
quote by Clarence Thomas
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Blacks have traditionally had to operate in a situation where whites have set themselves up as the custodians of the black experience.
quote by August Wilson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
As soon as white folks say a play's good, the theater is jammed with blacks and whites.
quote by August Wilson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
No one had ever told me that whites were supposed to sing one kind of music and blacks another - I sang what I liked in the only voice I had.
quote by Charley Pride
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Whites were the winners, blacks were the losers, we wrote the history books, and they didn't feature.
quote by Phillip Noyce
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Not Being Black Enough
Unlike whites,
I can not use blacks as an excuse.
I once tried that long ago.
And I was accused of not being black,
Enough.
By those accustomed to the abuse!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Basically there is no difference between whites and blacks, browns and yellows. I decided to think no more of people as Northerners and Southerners.
quote by Ethel Waters
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
I'm really busted up over this and I'm very, very sorry to those people in the audience, the blacks, the Hispanics, whites - everyone that was there that took the brunt of that anger and hate and rage and how it came through.
quote by Michael Richards
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!