"I remember how i felt in those days. I wanted to be an amerikan just like any other amerikan. I wanted a piece of amerika's apple pie. Believed we could get our freedom just by appealing to the consciences of white people. I believed that the North was really interested in integration and civil rights and equal rights. I used to go around saying, "our country," "our president," "our government." When the national anthem was played or the pledge of allegiance spoken, i stood at attention and felt proud. I don't know what in the hell i was feeling proud about, but i felt the juice of patriotism running through my blood. Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them."
React to this quote
More by Assata Shakur
See allResonant Thoughts
"Imagine you are doing a woodworking project, perhaps making a table. Fortunately, you needn't make all the parts yourself. Some are standard sizes and shapes - lengths of two by four, for instance - a…"
Explore Further
Related Quotes
"Chisholm speech on the Equal Rights Amendment"
— Shirley Chisholm"It is doubtful whether the artist altogether knew what he depicted here in this panel, and even more doubtf…"
— Caspar David Friedrich"You don't need words — just one kiss, then another."
— Kate Bush"I used to think that medicine and particularly surgery is just failed prevention. That if we could treat th…"
— Michael Marmot"As far as socialism is concerned, it is not a heavenly message like Islam but a mere system for regulating …"
— Siad Barre"If we have confidence in a law, then if something appears to be wrong it can suggest to us another phenomenon."
— Richard Feynman
