Zitat des Tages von John Lewis:
It was not enough to come and listen to a great sermon or message every Sunday morning and be confined to those four walls and those four corners. You had to get out and do something.
We had teachers, we had high school principals, we had people teaching in colleges and university in Tuskegee, Alabama. But they were told they failed the so-called literacy test.
I want to see young people in America feel the spirit of the 1960s and find a way to get in the way. To find a way to get in trouble. Good trouble, necessary trouble.
I would say the country is a different country. It is a better country. The signs I saw when I was growing up are gone and they will not return. In many ways the walls of segregation have been torn down.
In the past the great majority of minority voters, in Ohio and other places that means African American voters, cast a large percentage of their votes during the early voting process.
There may be some difficulties, some interruptions, but as a nation and as a people, we are going to build a truly multiracial, democratic society that maybe can emerge as a model for the rest of the world.
Reading the Martin Luther King story, that little comic book, set me on the path that I'm on today.
We are one people; we are only family. And when we finally accept these truths, then we will be able to fulfill Dr. King's dream to build a beloved community, a nation, and a world at peace with itself.
I was honored to have an opportunity to speak on August 28th, 1963.
I think my whole life has been one of sort of daring, and sort of sailing against the wind instead of just going with the wind.
My mother and father and many of my relatives had been sharecroppers.
If you're not hopeful and optimistic, then you just give up. You have to take the long hard look and just believe that if you're consistent, you will succeed.
Sometimes I hear people saying, 'Nothing has changed.' Come and walk in my shoes.
When I was growing up in rural Alabama, it was impossible for me to register to vote. I didn't become a registered voter until I moved to Tennessee, to Nashville, as a student.
The March on Washington was a March for Jobs and Freedom. There are still too many people who are unemployed or underemployed in America - they're black, white, Latino, Native American and Asian American.
The documented incidences of voter fraud are very rare, yet throughout the country, forces have mobilized in over 30 states to stop it. These efforts are very partisan.
I grew up very poor in rural Alabama.
Following the teaching of Gandhi and Thoreau, Dr. King, it set me on a path. And I never looked back.
We need someone who is going to stand up, speak up, and speak out for the people who need help, for the people who have been discriminated against.
Who gets the bird, the hunter or the dog?
Never become bitter, and in the process, be happy and just go for it.
There's nothing wrong with a little agitation for what's right or what's fair.
Without the Sisters of St. Joseph, I might not be standing here.
In Selma, Alabama, in 1965, only 2.1 percent of blacks of voting age were registered to vote. The only place you could attempt to register was to go down to the courthouse. You had to pass a so-called literacy test. And they would tell people over and over again that they didn't or couldn't pass the literacy test.
I'm very hopeful. I am very optimistic about the future.
People come up to me in airports, they walk into the office, and they say, 'I'm going to cry; I'm going to pass out.' And I say, 'Please don't pass out; I'm not a doctor.'
When I was a student, I studied philosophy and religion. I talked about being patient. Some people say I was too hopeful, too optimistic, but you have to be optimistic just in keeping with the philosophy of non-violence.
We are tired of being beaten by policemen. We are tired of seeing our people locked up in jails over and over again. And then you holler, 'Be patient.' How long can we be patient?
Never give up. Never give in. Never become hostile... Hate is too big a burden to bear.
We must continue to go forward as one people, as brothers and sisters.
We are one people with one family. We all live in the same house... and through books, through information, we must find a way to say to people that we must lay down the burden of hate. For hate is too heavy a burden to bear.
The government, both state and federal, has a duty to be reasonable and accommodating.
I travel all the time, but when I come back to the South, I see such progress. In a real sense, a great deal of the South has been redeemed. People feel freer, more complete, more whole, because of what happened in the movement.
I believe that you see something that you want to get done, you cannot give up, and you cannot give in.
Be hopeful. Be optimistic. Never lose that sense of hope.
When growing up, I saw segregation. I saw racial discrimination. I saw those signs that said white men, colored men. White women, colored women. White waiting. And I didn't like it.