I think that you're smarter than we were, but we had two things: one is, in our naรฏvetรฉ we believed we could change the world. And number two, we believed that another world was possible. And once that belief took hold of some critical mass, a tiny minority nonetheless, but a critical mass of people, then the world did change.
Bill AyersIf you were against slavery in 1840 and a white person, you would have been against the law, the Bible, your church, your pastor, your parents, common sense, tradition, everything. You would have been against everything.
Bill AyersIt's not Lyndon Johnson who makes the black freedom movement; it's the black freedom movement who makes Lyndon Johnson.
Bill AyersAll that means to me is that people who have a vision of a better world have a responsibility to open their eyes, to pay attention, to act on what the moment demands, and to be humble about that action.
Bill AyersIf you read Martin Luther King speeches and sermons in the last two years of his life - you might want to - ยwhen I read these to my students, they think it's Malcom X because it's so radical. And if you read nothing else - if your viewers read nothing else - then the April 4, 1967, speech at Riverside Church called "Beyond Vietnam," that's where he says the greatest purveyor of violence on earth is my country. And he connects the triplets of evil, racism, militarism, and materialism, and that connection makes him a radical.
Bill AyersLarge numbers of people are broken from the notion that the system is working for people, that the system is just or humane or peaceful.
Bill AyersYou cannot live a political life, you cannot live a moral life if you're not willing to open your eyes and see the world more clearly. See some of the injustice that's going on. Try to make yourself aware of what's happening in the world. And when you are aware, you have a responsibility to act.
Bill Ayers