When the Kerner Commission told white America what black America has always known, that prejudice and hatred built the nationโs slums, maintains them and profits by them, white America could not believe it. But it is true. Unless we start to fight and defeat the enemies in our own country, poverty and racism, and make our talk of equality and opportunity ring true, we are exposed in the eyes of the world as hypocrites when we talk about making people free - (Chapter 9).
Shirley ChisholmCongress seems drugged and inert most of the time... its idea of meeting a problem is to hold hearings or, in extreme cases, to appoint a commission.
Shirley ChisholmWe have been so patient and loyal ... and what has it gotten us? We want our full share now.
Shirley ChisholmI have never cared too much what people say. What I am interested in is what they do.
Shirley ChisholmMost Americans have never seen the ignorance, degradation, hunger, sickness, and futility in which many other Americans live...They won't become involved in economic or political change until something brings the seriousness of the situation home to them.
Shirley ChisholmThe Constitution they wrote was designed to protect the rights of white, male citizens. As there were no black Founding Fathers, there were no founding mothers - a great pity, on both counts. It is not too late to complete the work they left undone. Today, here, we should start to do so.
Shirley Chisholm