Contrary to today's stereotypes, racists do not always chew tobacco and drive pickup trucks with gun racks. They wear silk shirts, treat women as possessions, and talk about human rights at cocktail parties far from communities of people of color. The men in pickup trucks are just as likely to be warm and caring as the high-minded liberals are to be racists.

—Wilma Mankiller

About Wilma Mankiller

Portrait of Wilma Mankiller

Wilma Pearl Mankiller (Cherokee: ᎠᏥᎳᏍᎩ ᎠᏍᎦᏯᏗᎯ, romanized: Atsilasgi Asgayadihi; November 18, 1945 – April 6, 2010) was a Native American activist, social worker, community developer and the first woman elected to serve as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, she lived on her family's allotment in...

More quotations tagged with “discrimination”

I still say black. I say it because . . . African American . . . doesn't make your life any easier. You don't see black people . . . saying, "Oh yeah, African American. Man, I'll tell ya, this beats the hell outta being black." . . . You don't see any of us going into Bank of America [saying], "Excuse me, I'm here to pick up my loan." . . . You were rejected for that loan last week." . . . "I was black then. See, I'm African American now. I'll just go in the vault and take what I need.

—Wanda Sykes