Alicia Garza Quotes

Alicia Garza

Profession : Activist

Birth : January 4, 1981

Black Lives Matter is not just concerned with what happens in policing. The disregard, the disrespect, and the lack of dignity for black life transcends through the fabric of our society.

Alicia Garza

There is hope for humanity, but in order for us to get there, we really have to interrogate not just what it takes to change laws, but what it takes to change culture that supports laws that uplift humanity and also supports laws that serve to denigrate it.

Alicia Garza

Every successful social movement in this country's history has used disruption as a strategy to fight for social change. Whether it was the Boston Tea Party to the sit-ins at lunch counters throughout the South, no change has been won without disruptive action.

Alicia Garza

We all lose when bullying and personal attacks become a substitute for genuine conversation and principled disagreement.

Alicia Garza

We want to see a world where black lives matter in order for us to get to a world where all of our humanity is respected.

Alicia Garza

Saying 'black lives matter' both literally and figuratively restores people's dignity.

Alicia Garza

I'll be honest with you: I think that it's really difficult, this framing around 'good cops' and 'bad cops.' Policing, as a system, is incredibly corrupt, period.

Alicia Garza

I grew up in Marin County, which is a wealthy suburb of San Francisco.

Alicia Garza

One of the beautiful things about a movement is that there are many strategies and many tactics contained within it. Not every participant in a movement is required to do exactly the same things.

Alicia Garza

My definition of feminism is a social, political, economic system by which all genders are valued, respected, and can live dignified lives.

Alicia Garza

We need to make sure that we have an honest, honest conversation and that we engage honest practices around how racism operates in this country. It's not just about people being mean to each other.

Alicia Garza

We are clear that all lives matter, but we live in a world where that's not actually happening in practice. So if we want to get to the place where all lives matter, then we have to make sure that black lives matter, too.

Alicia Garza

If you're quiet, knowing that there's a culture of racism inside most police departments, and you're not saying anything, you are on the wrong side of history.

Alicia Garza

I think race and racism is probably the most studied social, economic, and political phenomenon in this country, but it's also the least understood.

Alicia Garza

This country was created from stolen land and stolen labor. And from a moral perspective, but also from a practical one, everybody knows that when you steal, you're always looking over your shoulder because you know that somebody may steal it back.

Alicia Garza

When we address the disparities facing black people, we get a lot closer to a true democracy where all lives matter.

Alicia Garza

I have to be honest: I feel like I live in a constant state of rage, and I think a lot of black people do.

Alicia Garza

The history of black women in the economy is rooted in the legacy of slavery. Enslaved black women were forced to provide care work, unpaid, for white families.

Alicia Garza

It's hard to be a leader when you have to make hard choices and when you have to do what's right, even though people are not going to like you for it.

Alicia Garza

I think that building political power has to come from the outside and from within. Meaning, we have to build political alternatives to the existing system, and we have to try to impact what is happening in the existing system.

Alicia Garza