Alicia Garza > Quotes

“Anger is not a sustainable emotion in and of itself. It has to be transformed into a deep love for the possibility of who we can be.”
― Alicia Garza

“Change does not occur without backlash--at least any change worth having--and that backlash is an indicator that the change is so powerful that the opposing forces resist that change with everything they have.”
― Alicia Garza, Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019

“If we perpetuate the same dynamics that we aim to disrupt in our movements for change, we are not interrupting power and we are not creating change-we are merely rebranding the same set of practices and the same dysfunctions.”
― Alicia Garza, The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart

“Solidarity can never be expressed by hearing someone's pain and then turning the conversation back to yourself.”
― Alicia Garza, The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart

“It's important to understand that declaring that Black lives matter does not negate the significance of the lives of non-Black people, particularly non-Black people of color. But Black lives are uniquely and systematically attacked in our society. Black Lives Matter addresses its own necessity in the phrase itself: Black lives do not have value or merit in our society.”
― Alicia Garza, The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart

“I learned that racism, like most systems of oppression, isn't about bad people doing terrible things to people who are different from them but instead is a way of maintaining power for certain groups at the expense of others.”
― Alicia Garza, The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart

“Black lives matter.”
― Alicia Garza

“Diversity is what happens when you have representation of various groups in one place. Representation is what happens when groups that haven’t previously been included, are included. Intersectionality is what happens when we do everything through the lens of making sure that no one is left behind. More than surface-level inclusion, or merely making sure everyone is represented, intersectionality is the practice of interrogating the power dynamics and rationales of how we can be together.”
― Alicia Garza, The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart

“Intersectionality asks us to examine the places where we are marginalized but it also demands that we examine how and why those of us who are marginalized can in turn exercise marginalization over others. It demands that we do better by one another so that we can be more powerful together.”
― Alicia Garza, The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart

“It is fascinating to be in a nation that claims to value innovation and yet is so resistant to change.”
― Alicia Garza, The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart

“Our lives matter”
― Alicia Garza

“We are fighting for a different world, and we are building new muscles to do so.”
― Alicia Garza, The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart

“I define power as the ability to make decisions that affect your own life and the lives of others, the freedom to shape and determine the story of who we are. Power also means having the ability to reward and punish and decide how resources are distributed.”
― Alicia Garza, The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart

“When people come together to solve problems, they do not automatically become immune to the ways society and the economy are organized. We bring the things that shape us, consciously and unconsciously, everywhere we go. Unless we are intentional about interrupting what we've learned, we will perpetuate it, even as we are working hard for a better world.”
― Alicia Garza, The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart

“Hope is not the absence of despair—it is the ability to come back to our purpose, again and again.”
― Alicia Garza, The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart

“There are plenty of good people who do terrible things as part of their roles within systems.”
― Alicia Garza, The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart

“when it comes to politics, when it comes to governing, when it comes to building power, being small is something we cannot afford.”
― Alicia Garza, The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart

“There are very practical reasons why multiracial movements are vital to building the world we deserve. Segregation by race and class has been used throughout history to maintain power relationships. Segregation, whether through redlining or denying citizenship, helps to create an other, which helps in turn to justify why some people have and other people don't. It reinforces the narratives that make unequal power relationships normal.”
― Alicia Garza, The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart