Every time I teach a class, I discover I don't know something. Clint Smith More Quotes by Clint Smith More Quotes From Clint Smith A cage that allows someone to walk around inside of it is still a cage. Clint Smith cage inside walk someone The presidents and the founding fathers and all of the people we sort of raise up as false idols, we don't wrestle with the fact that many of these were brilliant men, but they were also men with deep prejudices against people of color, against indigenous people, against women. Clint Smith deep women men people When the U.S. team went on its historic run to the World Cup quarter-finals in 2002, I was thirteen years old. Each game in that run - the astonishing victory against Portugal, the resilient win over Mexico, even the gutsy but unlucky effort against the Germans - propelled me to push my other athletic interests aside and focus only on soccer. Clint Smith game me focus world The beauty of the World Cup is that while thirty-two countries get to cheer for their respective teams, the event also affirms a global pluralism - it is as much a festival of cultural multiplicity as it is a competition featuring some of the best athletes in the world. Clint Smith best competition beauty world Blackness remains the coat you can't take off. Clint Smith coat off take you Silence is the residue of fear. Clint Smith silence fear Photography, sculpture, and painting were wielded as cultural weapons over the course of generations to substantiate the idea that black people were inherently subordinate beings; they were used to make slavery acceptable and to make black subjugation more palatable. Clint Smith slavery painting black people There is simply no better way to generate buzz for soccer in your country than having your team in the World Cup. Clint Smith better team way world In sixth grade, my status as a Boy Scout was not something I went out of my way to share. In fact, I spent most of my adolescence attempting to keep it a secret from those who might use it as a source of derision. The off-brown collared shirt and forest-green sash were not something I would have ever been caught wearing in front of my friends. Clint Smith shirt boy friends way In an effort to create a culture within my classroom where students feel safe sharing the intimacies of their own silences, I have four core principles posted on the board that sits in the front of my class, which every student signs at the beginning of the year: read critically, write consciously, speak clearly, tell your truth. Clint Smith feel effort truth culture Oppression doesn't disappear just because you decided not to teach us that chapter. Clint Smith chapter just-because you oppression Schools shouldn't have to choose between serving a student with special needs or cutting an art class, laying off teachers or using outdated textbooks. But these are the positions that far too many schools have been placed in, and only a meaningful acknowledgment of the problem can begin the process of getting them out. Clint Smith teachers problem special art The power of literature does not lie in resonance with the particular but the way that the particular speaks to a broader, more universal truth. Clint Smith lie power truth way Education is a human right - a recognition of dignity that each person should be afforded. Clint Smith person recognition dignity education The U.S. prison system, over all, disproportionately affects black and brown people, but people of color are overrepresented to a greater degree in private prisons. Clint Smith black color prison people When the power of private prisons is diminished, so, too, is their ability to engage in back-door political lobbying that has an impact on public and private prisons alike. Clint Smith ability impact political power Until affirmative action is described and understood as one mechanism by which to make amends for historical wrongdoing against members of marginalized communities, it will fail to meaningfully address the inequality that exists as a direct result of federal policy. Clint Smith result will inequality action The most important and brave thing someone can do, I think, in the face of dehumanization, is to continue to assert their humanity. Clint Smith face think humanity brave We tend to think of racism as this interpersonal verbal or physical abuse, when in truth, that is only one way that racism manifests itself. The reality of contemporary racism is that it while it is ubiquitous, it is often invisible, subsequently making it more difficult to name and identify. Clint Smith name racism truth reality We spend so much time listening to the things people are saying that we rarely pay attention to the things they don't. Clint Smith saying time attention people