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" I was in awe of previous black liberation struggle leaders - Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells. I wanted to be part of something bigger than myself. Black Lives Matter has been that. "

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" Being in the immigrant rights space, I've heard a lot of transactional talk with questions like, 'When will black people show up for immigrants?' "

Opal Tometi

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" I believe that our communities can benefit if they know about and participate in the U.N.'s various human rights forums. "

" Black Lives Matter has been viral, and people are taking it, appropriating it, and using it however they see fit. "

" We deserve to live in a world where there's no impunity, but beyond this question of impunity, there are all these structures that are actually doing a disservice to our people. "

" Racism should be a core concern for all Americans in every area of our lives. "

" As a community organizer who holds a degree in history, I understand the fascination with history. However, there is a tendency for many of us to get engrossed in the recounting of our history, which often amounts to purely intellectual activity without material action. "

" Civility is the recognition that all people have dignity that's inherent to their person, no matter their religion, race, gender, sexuality, or ability. "

" Implicit bias - our subconscious associations of race - permeates everything that we do. And we must pursue systemic accountability to fix it. "

" Anti-black racism operates at a society-wide level and colludes in a seamless web of policies, practices, and beliefs to oppress and disempower black communities. "

" I think it's really important that we understand the ways in which blackness plays out, right, and discrimination against black people impacts different communities in different ways but ultimately leaves them undermined and really devalued in our society. "

" Black people, we are fully deserving of the room and space to fully express our humanity. This is what Black Lives Matter is truly about. "

" We know that there are people in our nation, black people, who are systematically being disenfranchised in a number of spheres in our lives. "

" We came in as organizers before creating the Black Lives Matter network and project, and we are still organizers, strategists, political thinkers, and philosophers, so we actually have a lot ideas and a lot of really thought out strategies. "

" I think about issues like climate change, and how six of the 10 worst impacted nations by climate change are actually on the continent of Africa. People are reeling from all sorts of unnatural disasters, displacing them from their ancestral homes and leaving them without a chance at making a decent living. "

" What we are oftentimes reminding people of is the fact that the history of police in the U.S. was that they were slave patrols. They were quite literally created in order to capture enslaved Africans. "

" I just look back at my time in college and think about how much my community activism and my work in neighborhoods really informed my actual academic career and beyond... It can provide a way better learning than the traditional classroom setting. "

" If people take the fight for justice seriously in their own country and with partners and immigrants in their community and folks in the international community, I believe that we will see human rights for all people affirmed. "

" Fortunately, the leadership of black immigrant communities has always been present in all black liberation movements from leaders like Marcus Garvey to Shirley Chisholm to Malcolm X and Harry Belafonte. We know this is our legacy. "

" President Trump is mentally incapable of imagining the humanity of anyone who looks different from him or hails from a different nation. "

" Our communities are reeling from poverty, from unemployment, from discrimination of all sorts and different interactions that they're having with the law enforcement, and education system, and so on. "

" Lean into your curiosity about any issue, and there will likely be people to share a little bit more of their knowledge and insight and give you ideas on how to make change. "

" I have three godkids that are just so gorgeous; I love them dearly, and they keep me going. "

Opal Tometi

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" Without networks like the Black Immigration Network, organizations like Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees would not get the support and resources and amplification that their voices that they need and deserve. "

" Get involved in your neighborhood. That's how I got really, really committed to the immigrant rights movement. "

" To me and to a number of other activists from the U.S., we believe that the human rights movement has to evolve and understand the global implications of structural racism. This means engaging the United Nations and a variety of other human rights bodies. "

" I often think of Audre Lorde and her saying that we don't live and we don't fight for one specific struggle. "

" In my own personal experience, I've had different family members who have been held in immigration detention because they've had some sort of challenge financially, and they were making difficult decisions, and that led to their immigration detention and, eventually, deportation. "

" We have to start imagining a new reality - this will mean fewer police and more social workers and teachers. This will mean creating more economic possibilities and investment that preserves and does not displace our communities. "

" Black immigrants and refugees have just as much at stake in the fight to make Black Lives Matter as African Americans do. "

" When we say 'Black Lives Matter,' we're not saying that any other life doesn't matter. That has never, ever been our message. Our message has always been from a place of love. "