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" If things aren't working for us, it is our duty to rise up. "
Opal Tometi
Rise
Us
Up
Related Quotes:
" 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. "
Opal Tometi
Level
Black
Beliefs
" The U.S. has long characterized Haitian immigrants as criminals. This tradition began in 1963 when the first boat of Haitians seeking political asylum was summarily rejected by U.S. immigration officials, while at the same time the U.S. admitted thousands of Cubans as refugees and political asylees. "
Opal Tometi
Boat
Political
Long
" 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. "
Opal Tometi
Understand
Rights
Racism
" 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. "
Opal Tometi
Time
Learning
Work
" 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. "
Opal Tometi
Say
Place
Love
" I call on Democrats to use their leverage to fight for a clean DREAM Act and to reject Trump's racist agenda - not only in word but in deed. "
Opal Tometi
Democrats
Only
Dream
" President Trump is mentally incapable of imagining the humanity of anyone who looks different from him or hails from a different nation. "
Opal Tometi
Nation
Him
Looks
" 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. "
Opal Tometi
Action
Intellectual
Community
" Civility is the recognition that all people have dignity that's inherent to their person, no matter their religion, race, gender, sexuality, or ability. "
Opal Tometi
Gender
Religion
Recognition
" We deserve a multiracial democracy that works for all of us. "
Opal Tometi
Us
Works
Democracy
" Some of us have held the hands of friends or brothers as they struggled with military and police academy recruiters, and though many of them never dreamed of being policemen, a lack of opportunities led them to those positions. "
Opal Tometi
Opportunities
Hands
Friends
" I am the executive director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, which is the country's only national immigrant rights organization for black immigrants and African Americans. Being the daughter of Nigerian immigrants really drove me to do this type of work. "
Opal Tometi
Me
Daughter
Black
" Antiblack racism is not only happening in the United States. It's actually happening all across the globe. "
Opal Tometi
United States
Only
Racism
" For the U.S., a nation that boasts of being the land of the free, it does not live up to its ideal. "
Opal Tometi
Ideal
Free
Up
" 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. "
Opal Tometi
People
Black
Society
" Black Lives Matter is really an affirmation for our people. It's a love note for our people, but it's also a demand. We know that the system was not designed for justice for us. "
Opal Tometi
Know
Black
People
" We can't continue to sit on our hands and sit idly by as people are being brutalized, disenfranchised, and left out of the system. "
Opal Tometi
System
People
Out
" I have two younger brothers, and I know my parents have spoken to them about driving and interacting with police. They didn't have those conversations with me, but they did have conversations about being exceptional black people. "
Opal Tometi
People
Parents
Me
" 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. "
Opal Tometi
Black
Immigration
Need
" Implicit bias - our subconscious associations of race - permeates everything that we do. And we must pursue systemic accountability to fix it. "
Opal Tometi
Pursue
Accountability
Bias
" Trump's racism has clearly driven his policy decisions during his first year in office - from his Muslim ban and his despicable treatment of DREAMers to his ruthless ramp-up of immigration raids and the callous termination of protections for Haitians and Salvadorans who fled natural disaster and violence. "
Opal Tometi
Racism
Decisions
Immigration
" Black Lives Matter has been viral, and people are taking it, appropriating it, and using it however they see fit. "
Opal Tometi
Been
Taking
See
" We actually know that all lives do matter. And we believe it is so much so that we had to create Black Lives Matter. "
Opal Tometi
Matter
Create
Black
" Due to broken windows policing, the following interactions can lead to tickets, arrests and summonses, warrants if tickets go unpaid and, in some cases, violence: jaywalking, sleeping on a park bench, spitting, putting your feet up on the subway, and more. "
Opal Tometi
Feet
Violence
Bench
" The reality is that anti-black racism is a global phenomenon, and it looks different in each context, but if you look at the outcomes, if you listen and look at the experiences, you will see that it's clear, and it's happening across the globe. "
Opal Tometi
Look
Listen
Racism
" Police cannot be allowed to continue aggressive, violent, and often unconstitutional policing with impunity. "
Opal Tometi
Aggressive
Police
Cannot
" As an immigrant justice advocate, I, of course, want legal status for everyone trying to make it in this country. "
Opal Tometi
Trying
Immigrant
Justice
" 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. "
Opal Tometi
People
Justice
Community
" To fully understand the black immigrant experience in the U.S., we must understand it not in contrast to the African-American experience, but central to it. "
Opal Tometi
Immigrant
Understand
Black
" There was a time when my uncle was in an immigration detention center, and members of our community would take turns visiting him each weekend. That instilled in me the value of taking care of each other even if the systems aren't working in your favor. "
Opal Tometi
Weekend
Value
Care