I See The Energy Of Young People

I Will No Longer Act On The Outside In A Way That Contradicts The Truth That I Hold Deeply Inside. I Will No Longer Act As If I Were Less Than The Whole Person I Know Myself Inwardly To Be.

I Believe There Is Only One Race - The Human Race.

What Really Matters Is Not Whether We Have Problems, But How We Go Through Them. We Must Keep Going On To Make It Through Whatever We Are Facing.

I Did Not Want To Be Mistreated, I Did Not Want To Be Deprived Of A Seat That I Had Paid For. It Was Just Time… There Was Opportunity For Me To Take A Stand To Express The Way I Felt About Being Treated In That Manner. I Had Not Planned To Get Arrested. I Had Plenty To Do Without Having To End Up In Jail. But When I Had To Face That Decision, I Didn't Hesitate To Do So Because I Felt That We Had Endured That Too Long. The More We Gave In, The More We Complied With That Kind Of Treatment, The More Oppressive It Became.

People Have Said Over The Years That The Reason I Did Not Give Up My Seat Was Because I Was Tired. I Did Not Think Of Being Physically Tired. My Feet Were Not Hurting. I Was Tired In A Different Way. I Was Tired Of Seeing So Many Men Treated As Boys And Not Called By Their Proper Names Or Titles. I Was Tired Of Seeing Children And Women Mistreated And Disrespected Because Of The Color Of Their Skin. I Was Tired Of Jim Crow Laws, Of Legally Enforced Racial Segregation.