When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something.
John Lewis
The vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have.
You must be bold, brave, and courageous and find a way... to get in the way.
We are one people with one family. We all live in the same house... and through books, through information, we must find a way to say to people that we must lay down the burden of hate. For hate is too heavy a burden to bear.
If you're not hopeful and optimistic, then you just give up. You have to take the long hard look and just believe that if you're consistent, you will succeed.
What I try to tell young people is that if you come together with a mission, and its grounded with love and a sense of community, you can make the impossible possible.
Never give up. Never give in. Never become hostile... Hate is too big a burden to bear.
Be hopeful. Be optimistic. Never lose that sense of hope.
The vote is precious. It's almost sacred, so go out and vote like you never voted before.
I believe race is too heavy a burden to carry into the 21st century. It's time to lay it down. We all came here in different ships, but now we're all in the same boat.
I want to see young people in America feel the spirit of the 1960s and find a way to get in the way. To find a way to get in trouble. Good trouble, necessary trouble.
My parents told me in the very beginning as a young child when I raised the question about segregation and racial discrimination, they told me not to get in the way, not to get in trouble, not to make any noise.
We all live in the same house, we all must be part of the effort to hold down our little house. When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just... do something about it. Say something. Have the courage. Have the backbone. Get in the way. Walk with the wind. It's all going to work out.
Not one of us can rest, be happy, be at home, be at peace with ourselves, until we end hatred and division.
We are one people; we are only family. And when we finally accept these truths, then we will be able to fulfill Dr. King's dream to build a beloved community, a nation, and a world at peace with itself.
We must be headlights and not taillights.
Sometimes I hear people saying, 'Nothing has changed.' Come and walk in my shoes.
I believe that you see something that you want to get done, you cannot give up, and you cannot give in.
I say to people today, 'You must be prepared if you believe in something. If you believe in something, you have to go for it. As individuals, we may not live to see the end.'
There are still forces in America that want to divide us along racial lines, religious lines, sex, class. But we've come too far; we've made too much progress to stop or to pull back. We must go forward. And I believe we will get there.
Now we have black and white elected officials working together. Today, we have gone beyond just passing laws. Now we have to create a sense that we are one community, one family. Really, we are the American family.
Without prayer, without faith in the Almighty, the civil rights movement would have been like a bird without wings.
Before we went on any protest, whether it was sit-ins or the freedom rides or any march, we prepared ourselves, and we were disciplined. We were committed to the way of peace - the way of non-violence - the way of love - the way of life as the way of living.
The civil rights movement was based on faith. Many of us who were participants in this movement saw our involvement as an extension of our faith. We saw ourselves doing the work of the Almighty. Segregation and racial discrimination were not in keeping with our faith, so we had to do something.
We need someone who is going to stand up, speak up, and speak out for the people who need help, for the people who have been discriminated against.
Too many people struggled, suffered, and died to make it possible for every American to exercise their right to vote.
Sometimes you have to not just dream about what could be - you get out and push and you pull and you preach. And you create a climate and environment to get those in high places, to get men and women of good will in power to act.
Rosa Parks inspired me to find a way to get in the way, to get in trouble... good trouble, necessary trouble.
The scars and stains of racism are still deeply embedded in the American society.
You have to tell the whole truth, the good and the bad, maybe some things that are uncomfortable for some people.
I remember back in the 1960s - late '50s, really - reading a comic book called 'Martin Luther King Jr. and the Montgomery Story.' Fourteen pages. It sold for 10 cents. And this little book inspired me to attend non-violence workshops, to study about Gandhi, about Thoreau, to study Martin Luther King, Jr., to study civil disobedience.
When I was 15 years old and in the tenth grade, I heard of Martin Luther King, Jr. Three years later, when I was 18, I met Dr. King and we became friends. Two years after that I became very involved in the civil rights movement. I was in college at that time. As I got more and more involved, I saw politics as a means of bringing about change.
Too many of us still believe our differences define us.
When you make mistakes, when you're wrong, you should admit you're wrong and ask people to forgive you.
Without our faith, we wouldn't have been able to succeed. On many occasions, before we'd go out on a sit-in, before we went on the freedom ride, before we marched from Selma to Montgomery, we would sing a song or say a prayer. Without our faith, without the spirit and spiritual bearings and underpinning, we would not have been so successful.
We need someone who will stand up and speak up and speak out for the people who need help, for people who are being discriminated against. And it doesn't matter whether they are black or white, Latino, Asian or Native American, whether they are straight or gay, Muslim, Christian, or Jews.
If someone had told me in 1963 that one day I would be in Congress, I would have said, 'You're crazy. You don't know what you're talking about.'
We must continue to go forward as one people, as brothers and sisters.
We must bring the issue of mental illness out into the sunlight, out of the shadow, out of the closet, deal with it, treat people, have centers where people can get the necessary help.
There's nothing wrong with a little agitation for what's right or what's fair.
Some of us gave a little blood for the right to participate in the democratic process.
Never become bitter, and in the process, be happy and just go for it.
We are tired of being beaten by policemen. We are tired of seeing our people locked up in jails over and over again. And then you holler, 'Be patient.' How long can we be patient?
If you ask me whether the election of Barack Obama is the fulfillment of Dr. King's dream, I say, 'No, it's just a down payment.'
I don't understand it, how President Johnson can send troops to Vietnam and cannot send troops to Selma, Alabama, to protect people whose only desire is to register to vote.
Sometimes I feel like crying, tears of happiness, tears of joy, to see the distance we've come and the progress we've made.
You have to be optimistic in order to continue to move forward.
We're one people, and we all live in the same house. Not the American house, but the world house.
I'm very hopeful. I am very optimistic about the future.
In 1965, the attempted march from Selma to Montgomery on March 7 was planned to dramatize to the state of Alabama and to the nation that people of color wanted to register to vote.
