Ending of Democracy, Tyranny, White Supremacy, Patriarchy, Color, Justin Pearson, Gloria Johnson

“We can never normalize the ending of democracy. We can never normalize the tyranny of the way that these people in positions of power are operating due to white supremacy and … the patriarchy. That is what we’re up against.” - Tennessee state Rep. Justin Pearson (D), On being expelled from the Legislature by the House’s Republican supermajority for joining a chant with gun violence protesters in the capitol in late March, following a mass shooting at a Nashville School three days prior. Found in Ms. Magazine page 6, Summer 2023.

“It might have to do with the color of our skin.” - Tennessee state Rep. Gloria Johnson (d), answering why she was spared from expulsion from the Legislature while Reps. Pearson and Justin Jones (D) were not. Found in Ms. Magazine page 6, Summer 2023.

Humor, Anger, Make-Up, Stephen King

“Humor is almost always anger with its make-up on.” ― Stephen King, Bag of Bones

Found on GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3389.Stephen_King.

Right to Vote, Not Voting, Franklin D. Roosevelt

"Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting." - Franklin D. Roosevelt

Found on Brainy Quote. Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/franklin_d_roosevelt_403816.

Race, Taken Into Account, Constitution, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson

“I don’t think we can assume that just because race is taken into account, that that necessarily creates an equal protection problem. ...We looked at the history and traditions of the Constitution, at what the framers and the founders thought about. And when I drill down to that level of analysis, it became clear to me that the framers themselves adopted the Equal Protection Clause, the 14th, the 15th Amendment, in a race-conscious way. That we were, in fact, trying to ensure that people who had been discriminated against, the freedman, during the Reconstruction period, were actually brought equal to everyone else in society.” - Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, in a back-and-forth exchange with the Alabama solicitor general, who argued that the Equal Protection Clause prevents any consideration of race, even when such a consideration could remedy racial gerrymandering.

Found in Ms. Magazine, Winter 2023, page 6.

Bitterness, Coward's Revenge, Zora Neale Hurston

“Bitterness is the coward's revenge on the world for having been hurt.” ― Zora Neale Hurston

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/15151.Zora_Neale_Hurston.

Freedom of Expression, Believe, Noam Chomsky

“If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all.” ― Noam Chomsky

Found on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/2476.Noam_Chomsky.

Fear, I Dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor

“With fear for our democracy, I dissent.” - Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s foreboding response to the Supreme Court ruling in Trump v. United States the presidents cannot be prosecuted for criminal actions related to their office..

Found in Ms. Magazine, Fall 2024, page 6.