To Have Once Been A Criminal Is

I Believe That It Would Be Almost Impossible To Find Anywhere In America A Black Man Who Has Lived Further Down In The Mud Of Human Society Than I Have; Or A Black Man Who Has Been Any More Ignorant Than I Have; Or A Black Man Who Has Suffered More Anguish During His Life Than I Have. But It Is Only After The Deepest Darkness That The Greatest Joy Can Come; It Is Only After Slavery And Prison That The Sweetest Appreciation Of Freedom Can Come.

If Someone Puts Their Hands On You Make Sure They Never Put Their Hands On Anybody Else Again.

If I Did See A White Man Who Was Willing To Go To Jail Or Throw Himself In Front Of A Car In Behalf Of The So-called "negro Cause," The Test That I'd Put To Him, I'd Ask Him, "do You Think Negro, When Negroes Are Being Attacked They Should Defend Themselves Even At The Risk Of Having To Kill The One Who's Attacking Them?" If That White Man Told Me, "yes," I'd Shake His Hand.

Until The Image Of The Black Man In The Mind Of The Black Man Has Been Changed, There Will Always Be Delinquency, Parental And Juvenile. The Idea Is Not To Change The Attitude Of The White Man To The Black Man But To Change The Attitude Of The Black Man To Himself.

A Negro Just Can't Be Whipped By Somebody White And Return With His Head Up In The Neighborhood, Especially In Those Days, When Sports And, To A Lesser Extent Show Business, Were The Only Fields Open To Negroes, And When The Ring Was The Only Place A Negro Could Whip A White Man And Not Be Lynched.