Donna Shalala Quotes

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 would think, that our society is not yet either just or free.

When the youth of America gets together, amazing things happen.

The fight against racism must be seen as a revolutionary one.

The times when black women have been successful in confronting and overcoming the structural and institutional sexism and racism that persists in our society have been when we are thoughtful and strategic about speaking up. It's when we've done what it takes to introduce and implement our ideas and our plans to make things better.

I feel so guilty about the state of young people today. And I say that because our generation fought for everything. We fought to sit down at a counter, to sit on a bus. They were left with nothing to fight for.

The great thing about 2017 is that, because of the terrible political state that we're in and that America is in, young people are so vocal at the moment about so many issues, from racism to LGBT rights to beyond. I feel like - especially when I look at my fan-base - people are so vocal about their opinions and so vocal about spreading love. That's really important, and I think it's really amazing that people are talking about that. I just want that to keep happening.

Young people have been at the forefront of every great social movement in our country's history.

I remember sitting there on my father's couch or my mother's couch, listening to this lecture about how there were two groups and we had to be separated. We've come a long way from this kind of open racism. And I think it's wonderful.

There's sort of a persistent misperception that talking about race is black folk's burden. Ultimately, only men can end sexism, and only white people can end racism.

You can't delete racism. It's like a cigarette. You can't stop smoking if you don't want to, and you can't stop racism if people don't want to. But I'll do everything I can to help.

I think I will always have a connection to young people, to try to bring their voices to the polls, bring their voices wherever they can make a difference.

Facing sexism and racism and classism and transphobia, there are ways to choose to act in those situations, and there shouldn't be a prescriptive list of things that you have to say.

I think we've made tremendous progress on racism. We've even made progress on war. We've made almost no progress on poverty.

I never want to sound preachy about youth and feminism, but I feel like there aren't enough young people coming out about their concerns and opinions.

Kids deserve the right to think that they can change the world.

I tend to focus on young people and on giving a voice to groups of people who don't normally get their voices heard.

I think all these pop cultural media often reflect conversations we're having in the real world at that moment in time. I think one of the big conversations we're having as a culture is we thought we'd solved sexism and racism, and we're realizing more and more that we haven't.

It is now time to mobilize, before it is too late, against the creeping legitimacy of racism in our society.

The need for women to have their own individual identity belongs to your generation, not mine.

My generation of Americans was the first to really care about racism and sexism, not to mention the I Ching, plus, of course, the Earth.

Racial bias does exist, and until we can all admit its existence and become introspective as to whether our own personal biases are impacting how we deal with others, there will be no change.

There's still a really divisive residue in our nation that's called racism and prejudice and oppression and sexism.

Young people, throughout history, have always been the lifeblood of every movement for civil and human rights.

As members of society, we should always be pushing our girls to strive to be the best and to speak up and out about issues we see.

The powers of the teenagers in 'The Darkest Minds' were always meant to represent that inherent drive that young people have to make change, and how the world pushes back against it.