Isabel Wilkerson Quotes

“Our Negro problem, therefore, is not of the Negro's making. No group in our population is less responsible for its existence. But every group is responsible for its continuance.... Both races need to understand that their rights and duties are mutual and equal and their interests in the common good are idential.... There is no help or healing in apparaising past responsibilities or in present apportioning of praise or blame. The past is of value only as it aids in understanding the present; and an understanding of the facts of the problem--a magnanimous understanding by both races--is the first step toward its solution.”
― Isabel Wilkerson, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration

“Because even if I should speak, no one would believe me. And they would not believe me precisely because they would know that what I said was true.”
― James Baldwin