A community is democratic only when the humblest and weakest person can enjoy the highest civil, economic, and social rights that the biggest and most powerful possess. A. Philip Randolph More Quotes by A. Philip Randolph More Quotes From A. Philip Randolph At the banquet table of nature, there are no reserved seats. You get what you can take, and you keep what you can hold. If you can't take anything, you won't get anything, and if you can't hold anything, you won't keep anything. And you can't take anything without organization. A. Philip Randolph organization tables struggle Equality is the heart and essence of democracy, freedom, and justice, equality of opportunity in industry, in labor unions, schools and colleges, government, politics, and before the law. There must be no dual standards of justice, no dual rights, privileges, duties, or responsibilities of citizenship. No dual forms of freedom. A. Philip Randolph responsibility heart school Look for the enemies of Medicare, of higher minimum wages, of Social Security, of federal aid to education and there you will find the enemy of the Negro, the coalition of Dixiecrats and reactionary Republicans that seek to dominate the Congress. A. Philip Randolph wages looks enemy Salvation for a race, nation or class must come from within. Freedom is never granted; it is won. Justice is never given; it is exacted. A. Philip Randolph race justice class Freedom is never given; it is won. A. Philip Randolph 4th-of-july freedom inspirational Justice is never given; it is exacted and the struggle must be continuous for freedom is never a final fact, but a continuing evolving process to higher and higher levels of human, social, economic, political and religious relationship. A. Philip Randolph freedom religious relationship It's easy to get people's attention, what counts is getting their interest. A. Philip Randolph easy attention people The essence of trade unionism is social uplift. The labor movement has been the haven for the dispossessed, the despised, the neglected, the downtrodden, the poor. A. Philip Randolph labour-movement essence uplifting Those who deplore our militants, who exhort patience in the name of a false peace, are in fact supporting segregation and exploitation. They would have social peace at the expense of social and racial justice. They are more concerned with easing racial tension than enforcing racial democracy. A. Philip Randolph democracy names justice Nothing counts but pressure, pressure, more pressure, and still more pressure through broad organized aggressive mass action. A. Philip Randolph revolution pressure action Make wars unprofitable and you make them impossible. A. Philip Randolph money impossible war In every truth, the beneficiaries of a system cannot be expected to destroy it. A. Philip Randolph expected beneficiaries truth We want the full works of citizenship with no reservations. We will accept nothing less . . . This condition of freedom, equality, and democracy is not the gift of gods. It is the task of men, yes, men, brave men, honest men, determined men. A. Philip Randolph democracy brave men Salvation for a race, nation or class must come from within. A. Philip Randolph salvation race class Power is the flower of organization. A. Philip Randolph humanist flower organization We must develop huge demonstrations, because the world is used to big dramatic affairs. They think in terms of hundreds of thousands and millions and billions... Billions of dollars are appropriated at the twinkling of an eye. Nothing little counts. A. Philip Randolph eye world thinking Winning Democracy for the Negro is winning the war for Democracy A. Philip Randolph democracy winning war I personally pledge myself to openly counsel, aid, and abet youth, both black and white, to quarantine any Jim Crow conscription system. A. Philip Randolph myself youth black-and-white black If someone tried to deprive you of your rights, you've got to resist it. You've got to resent it. You've got to fight against it. A. Philip Randolph your someone fight you The Negro was a political football between his former slave master and Northern political adventurers. The economic basis of this contest was the power to tax, to float bonds, to award franchise: in short, to gain control over the financial resources of the newly organized States. A. Philip Randolph award political power football
