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Sista
Salute
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T.C.
Salutes.....
Shirley
Chisholm
(November
30, 1924 - January 1, 2005)
"Of my two "handicaps" being female put
more obstacles in my path than being black. "
"Tremendous amounts of talent are being lost to our society
just because that talent wears a skirt."
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Shirley
Chisholm was the first black woman
to serve in the United States
Congress. An early education expert,
Shirley Chisholm was elected to the
New York Legislature in 1964 and to
Congress in 1968. She ran for
president in 1972, winning 152
delegates before she withdrew.
Shirley Chisholm served in Congress
until 1983. During her congressional
career, Ms. Chisholm was noted for
her support for women's rights, her
advocacy of legislation to benefit
those in poverty, and her opposition
to the Vietnam war.
More of my favorite Shirley
Chisholm quotes include:
"The emotional, sexual, and
psychological stereotyping of
females begins when the doctor says:
It's a girl."
'I was the first American citizen to
be elected to Congress in spite of
the double drawbacks of being female
and having skin darkened by melanin.
When you put it that way, it sounds
like a foolish reason for fame. In a
just and free society it would be
foolish. That I am a national figure
because I was the first person in
192 years to be at once a
congressman, black and a woman
proves, I think, that our society is
not yet either just or free."
"My God, what do we want? What
does any human being want? Take away
an accident of pigmentation of a
thin layer of our outer skin and
there is no difference between me
and anyone else. All we want is for
that trivial difference to make no
difference."
"Racism is so universal in this
country, so widespread and
deep-seated, that it is invisible
because it is so normal."
"We Americans have a chance to
become someday a nation in which all
racial stocks and classes can exist
in their own selfhoods, but meet on
a basis of respect and equality and
live together, socially,
economically, and politically."
"In the end antiblack,
antifemale, and all forms of
discrimination are equivalent to the
same thing - antihumanism. "
"The United States was said not
to be ready to elect a Catholic to
the Presidency when Al Smith ran in
the 1920's. But Smith's nomination
may have helped pave the way for the
successful campaign John F. Kennedy
waged in 1960. Who can tell? What I
hope most is that now there will be
others who will feel themselves as
capable of running for high
political office as any wealthy,
good-looking white male."
"At present, our country needs
women's idealism and determination,
perhaps more in politics than
anywhere else."
"I am, was, and always will be
a catalyst for change."
"There is little place in the
political scheme of things for an
independent, creative personality,
for a fighter. Anyone who takes that
role must pay a price."
"One distressing thing is the
way men react to women who assert
their equality: their ultimate
weapon is to call them unfeminine.
They think she is anti-male; they
even whisper that she's probably a
lesbian."
"... rhetoric never won a
revolution yet."
"Prejudice against blacks is
becoming unacceptable although it
will take years to eliminate it. But
it is doomed because, slowly, white
America is beginning to admit that
it exists. Prejudice against women
is still acceptable. There is very
little understanding yet of the
immorality involved in double pay
scales and the classification of
most of the better jobs as "for
men only." (1969)"
"I am not antiwhite, because I
understand that white people, like
black ones, are victims of a racist
society. They are products of their
time and place".
"When morality comes up against
profit, it is seldom profit that
loses."
"It is not heroin or cocaine
that makes one an addict, it is the
need to escape from a harsh reality.
There are more television addicts,
more baseball and football addicts,
more movie addicts, and certainly
more alcohol addicts in this country
than there are narcotics
addicts."
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