Structural Racism Quotes

“Colour blindness is often used to silence people of colour attempting to articulate the racism we face. When people of colour point this out, they're accused of being racist against white people, and the accountability avoidance continues. Colour blindness does not accept the legitimacy of structural racism or a history of white racial dominance.”
― Reni Eddo-Lodge

“The thing I least believe about race in America is that we can disregard it. I'm nowehere close to alone in this, and yet the person I encounter far more often than the racist is the one who believes race isn't an active factor in her thinking, isn't an influence on his interactions with the racial other.”
― Jaswinder Bolina, Of Color

“Too many Black communities and families have been left behind in the growth and progress of America. Intergenerational wealth and capital accumulation still remain elusive for too many. Many uneven and unfair structures of systemic rac- ism seem to have mutated into forms even stronger and more difficult to dismantle. And making it all worse is the inability or unwillingness of too many of our political leaders and institutions to address matters of race—or to address it in an honest, nuanced, and constructive fashion, given all of the raw histories, complexities, and emotions that it engenders.”
― Tom C.W. Lin, The Capitalist and the Activist: Corporate Social Activism and the New Business of Change

“Identifying as a woman of colour has been crucial in my understanding of structural politics in society. But this focus hasn't changed the plantation structure, the violence against black bodies and women's bodies. When we stake our primary claim on a racial identity, that identity can be used against us, to keep us in our category, to keep us divided. When we are so divided, it appears that it is impossible to address inequality, because it looks as though we're calling for "sameness" not equality. Which is, of course, not what we want at all.”
― Tessa McWatt, Shame on Me: An Anatomy of Race and Belonging

“Performative allyship does not engage on a complex level. It consists of low level, often ill-informed rhetorical statements that are usually obvious to Black and Brown employees and real allies, of the anti racist, racially inclusive agenda. It lacks genuine concern and does little to acknowledge the very behaviours that support structural and process driven racism.”
― Carmen Morris

“Anti-Racism is Not a Performance Game”
― Carmen Morris