“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”

~Rosa Parks

“The triumph can’t be had without the struggle.”

~Wilma Rudolph

“I love my people. And I love all people.”

~Black Elder

“Healing must be collective.”

~William Oliver

“Healing is a practice. It’s not a one-time thing.”

~Marnita Schroedl

“The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.”

~Malcolm X

“When I dare to be powerful — to use my strength in the service of my vision — then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”

~Audre Lorde

“The power of the white world is threatened whenever a black man refuses to accept the white world’s definitions.”

~James Baldwin

“Give light, and people will find the way.”

~Ella Baker

“You need not carry the heavy, hollow burden of racism any longer.”

~Jesse Williams

“Nobody’s free until everybody’s free”

~Fannie Lou Hamer

“In the world you know, there’s a million boys and girls who are young, gifted and black, and that’s a fact.”

~a Nina Simone song, from Lorraine Hansberry’s play

“Healing is not just about what we experience in the present, it’s also about how we understand the past, how we name our histories and frame the times in which we live.”

~Susan Raffo

“To sit back and do nothing is to cooperate with the oppressor.”

~Jane Elliott

“Life is full of pain. Let the pain sharpen you.”

~Patricia Nombuyiselo Noah

“Sometimes you have to raise a little hell to get some heaven.”

~Joe Madison

“Healing isn’t fully healing if it doesn’t in some way connect the individual to the community.”

~Susan Raffo

“I love being Black! Racism and white supremacy is what it is. I still love being Black.”

~Kokayi Nosakhere

“Turn your wound into wisdom.”

~Oprah Winfrey

“I must undertake to love myself and to respect myself as though my very life depends upon self-love and self-respect.”

~June Jordan