Cherrie Moraga Quotes

I don't know why people like being oppressed.

In most of Pakistan it is a feudal country. People are very scared and oppressed by authority. But when you move to these wilder areas, they are not so easily suppressed.

I think people really need to think what it's like to have all of society arrayed against you.

My instincts are always against people who want to fasten some sort of hegemony onto things.

Look at the forces against me. They don't want me out. They're afraid I'll cause trouble if I get out.

I think I've always had a certain amount of skepticism of this whole 'shut up and smile' theory. I haven't ever swallowed that pill so easily, although I tried.

Any deviation is looked upon as a perversion, is feared, and is usually a target of hatred and prejudice.

The great strength of the totalitarian state is that it forces those who fear it to imitate it.

Sometimes I think the world is divided into those who have a comfortable relationship with power and those who have a naturally adversarial relationship with power.

I want nothing to do with privilege.

It was impossible to reason with a negro-that the only way to keep him in his place was to keep him under fear.

Intimidation doesn't last very long.

If you’re not part of the steamroller, you’re part of the road.

There is again a rising fever and anger towards those seen as different.

We don't take over the means of those whom we abhor.

What is new in our time is the increased power of the authorities to enforce their prejudices.

I don't believe that the meek will inherit the earth; The meek get ignored and trampled.

... anything a powerful group has is perceived as good, no matter what it is, and anything a less powerful group has is not so good, no matter how intrinsically great it might be.

The behavior of the oppressed is a prescribed behavior, following as it does the guidelines of the oppressor.

Why is it so difficult for many white folks to understand that racism is oppressive not because white folks have prejudicial feelings about blacks (they could have such feelings and leave us alone) but because it is a system that promotes domination and subjugation?

In a society like this there is no negotiation, no discussion, except to tell you that power can crush you any time they want — not only you, your whole family and all people like you.

The same men who are blind and deaf to feminism are acutely sensitive to what threatens their dominance and privilege.

This is the power of the powerful to define, to structure, to say, 'This is the way the world works.' It's enormous power. Among the powers of the weak, I think the first one is the power not to believe the powerful.

The gods made the earth for all men t' share. Only when the kings come with their crowns and steel swords, they claimed it was all theirs. "My trees," they said, "you can't eat them apples. My stream, you can't fish here. My wood, you're not t' hunt. My earth, my water, my castle, my daughter, keep your hands away or I'll chop 'em off, but maybe if you kneel t' me I'll let you have a sniff." You call us thieves, but at least a thief has t' be brave and clever and quick. A kneeler only has t' kneel.

You keep folks so intimidated. You can give them money, access, but they're still scared. And as long as you're scared, you're on the plantation.