28 Quotes About Oppressed

There are many people throughout history who have fought for freedom and equality. While these quotes about oppression serve as a reminder that we’re all in this together, they also serve as a reminder of what we can do to help others.

Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's...
1
Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else. Malcolm X
2
Just like freedom, Truth is not cheap. Yet both are worth more than all the gold in the world. But what is freedom, if there is no truth? And what is truth, if there is no freedom? Both are worth fighting for – because one without the other would be hell. Suzy Kassem
3
I don't like the way people cherish the ghetto, as if it’s some royal palace, or kingdom. I also don't like the way people treat each other in the ghetto. It is really hard to find love, trust, and respect. You don't find too many people that want to do better for themselves in the ghetto because so many people seem to be satisfied with where they're at. Delano Johnson
When people don't understand the meaning of freedom in their...
4
When people don't understand the meaning of freedom in their lives, they will continue to live as though they're still oppressed. Gugu Mona
5
Let my silence grow with noise as pregnant mothers grow with life. Let my silence permeate these walls as sunlight permeates a home. Let the silence rise from unwatered graves and craters left by bombs. Let the silence rise from empty bellies and surge from broken hearts. The silence of the hidden and forgotten. The silence of the abused and tortured. The silence of the persecuted and imprisoned. The silence of the hanged and massacred. Loud as all the sounds can be, let my silence be loud so the hungry may eat my words and the poor may wear my words. Loud as all the sounds can be, let my silence be loud so I may resurrect the dead and give voice to the oppressed. My silence speaks. Kamand Kojouri
When people don't understand the meaning of freedom in their...
6
When people don't understand the meaning of freedom in their lives, they will continue to live as if they're still oppressed. Gift Gugu Mona
7
The patriarchy longs for the days 'when men were men' and women were oppressed, subservient - and they can see no wrong in it. It justifies its former power and lust to hold on to it - and if possible, to regain it by quoting fundamentalist and radical religion and tradition and calling it 'love'. Some love. How can oppression and power over another person's life ever be 'love'? Christina Engela
8
Our struggle has inspired oppressed people the world over, because if former slaves can make the most powerful nation face itself, there's a chance for everyone else. In a twist, our rage becomes hope for others. Mychal Denzel Smith
9
History matters, not because it repeats itself (which it never does), but because its narration can rid demons that torment the oppressed, shock the complacent and intransigent into self-reflection, and inspire feats of human perseverance and will. Seth Garfield
10
You can't comfort the afflicted without afflicting the comfortable. Lady Diana
11
A society concerned with shalom will care for the most marginalized among them. God has a special concern for the poor and needy, because how we treat them reveals our hearts, regardless of the rhetoric we employ to make ourselves sound just. Randy S. Woodley
12
Can you see the pictures before you on how to intervene on behalf of the oppressed? Are you thinking of what to do to the disenfranchised of your society? Do you notice the abused of your society? Can you see the afflicted that are crying for that justice every day? What of those who are been maltreated on daily basis, do you think they need that justice? Did you see any of those who are downtrodden, would that justice help them? Anyone oppressed and suppressed around you, can you serve them justice? . Sunday Adelaja
13
The Master doesn't try to be powerful;thus he is truly powerful. The ordinary man keeps reaching for power;thus he never has enough. The Master does nothing, yet he leaves nothing undone. The ordinary man is always ding things, yet many more are left to be done.[…] Therefore the Master concerns himself With the depths and not the surface, With the fruit and not the flower.[…] Teaching without words, Performing without actions: That is the Master’s way.[…] The Master arrives without leaving, Sees the light without looking, Achieves without doing a thing.[…] The Master is above the people, And no one feels oppressed. She goes ahead of the people, And no feels manipulated. The whole world is grateful to her. Because she completes with no one, No one can complete with her. . Lao Tzu
14
If our church is not marked by caring for the poor, the oppressed, the hungry, we are guilty of heresy. Ignatius Of Loyola
15
Underlying the attack on psychotherapy, I believe, is a recognition of the potential power of any relationship of witnessing. The consulting room is a privileged space dedicated to memory. Within that space, survivors gain the freedom to know and tell their stories. Even the most private and confidential disclosure of past abuses increases the likelihood of eventual public disclosure. And public disclosure is something that perpetrators are determined to prevent. As in the case of more overtly political crimes, perpetrators will fight tenaciously to ensure that their abuses remain unseen, unacknowledged, and consigned to oblivion. The dialectic of trauma is playing itself out once again. It is worth remembering that this is not the first time in history that those who have listened closely to trauma survivors have been subject to challenge. Nor will it be the last. In the past few years, many clinicians have had to learn to deal with the same tactics of harassment and intimidation that grassroots advocates for women, children and other oppressed groups have long endured. We, the bystanders, have had to look within ourselves to find some small portion of the courage that victims of violence must muster every day. Some attacks have been downright silly; many have been quite ugly. Though frightening, these attacks are an implicit tribute to the power of the healing relationship. They remind us that creating a protected space where survivors can speak their truth is an act of liberation. They remind us that bearing witness, even within the confines of that sanctuary, is an act of solidarity. They remind us also that moral neutrality in the conflict between victim and perpetrator is not an option. Like all other bystanders, therapists are sometimes forced to take sides. Those who stand with the victim will inevitably have to face the perpetrator's unmasked fury. For many of us, there can be no greater honor. p.246 - 247Judith Lewis Herman, M.D. February, 1997 . Judith Lewis Herman
16
When the rich and the powerful rise they leave the powerless and the poor without possibility. Auliq Ice
17
Some seem to be desynchronized in their relationships. They feel oppressed, because they cannot move forward together and at the same pace. Their thinking is often incongruent, their motivation disparate. The phone could be a mediator, as it creates an impression to be a perfect reliable friend. However, in the end, it causes rather a sense of isolation, since it divides more than it unites. Eventually it appears not to be such a good friend but only a ghost friend. ( "Kein Schwein ruft mich an" ). Erik Pevernagie
18
Did you see any of those who are downtrodden, would that justice help them? Anyone oppressed and suppressed around you take a decision, make plans, strategize, to begin to proclaim and establish justice in your world. Sunday Adelaja
19
Don't oppress, don't accept to be oppressed and you will live free. Auliq Ice
20
Becoming conscious of racism does not mean you are a racist. Auliq Ice
21
Saying something is 'politically correct' is often a way of dismissing the voices of the oppressed. DaShanne Stokes
22
Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary re-constitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes. Karl Marx
23
Resherphire: True freedom is not that which is granted by an oppressor. It is a self-evident right, not something that originates from an external force. Angry Zodd
24
The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them in parliament. Vladimir Lenin
25
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor it must be demanded by the oppressed. Martin Luther King
26
The oppressed, having internalized the image of the oppressor and adopted his guidelines, are fearful of freedom. Paulo Freire
27
Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself. Martin Luther King