Theo Patterson

“It was on the back of cotton, and thus on the backs of slaves, that the U.S. economy ascended in the world (p.119).”
― Sven Beckert, Empire of Cotton: A Global History

“Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?

“If our starting point is a respect for nature and people, diversity is an inevitable consequence. If technology and the needs of the economy are our starting point, then we have what we are faced with today—a model of development that is dangerously distanced from the needs of particular peoples and places and rigidly imposed from the top down.”
― Helena Norberg-Hodge, Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh

“I stared at the faces of the dead students. “You know, Zacharie, just looking at them, I can’t tell you which ones were Tutsis, which Hutus.” “Exactly!” said Deo in a loud whisper. Evidently, one was supposed to whisper here. “And neither could the killers!” “The killers couldn’t see the difference, too,” whispered Zacharie. “So they ask. Because they can’t tell. We are the same people.”
― Tracy Kidder, Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness