James Meredith Quotations

Liberal whites are the greatest enemy of African Americans.

It is good to have one. It is long overdue,'' said Davis, an African-American student.

You gotta understand -- the state of Mississippi was in rebellion. It had rebelled against the United States, ... Now that has been a very difficult story for America to tell, but that's what actually happened.

I noticed in the hallway a black janitor and I wondered why he was standing there. And he had a mop under his arm. And as I passed him, he turned his body, twisted his body, and touched me with the mop handle. Now this delivered a message and the message was clear: We are looking after you while you are here,

I considered myself engaged in a war from Day One. And my objective was to force the federal government - the Kennedy administration at that time - into a position where they would have to use the United States military force to enforce my rights as a citizen.

There are a million Negroes in Mississippi. I think they'll take care of me.

I am thankful for the strong, united response of our university community to the desecration of the James Meredith statue last year, confirming our university values of civility and respect. what it is saying is that the only possible justice for a black in the state of Mississippi is the federal government and if there's anything that we don't need it's that being our only means of expecting justice.

The day for the Negro man being a coward is over.

Nothing could be more insulting to me than the concept of civil rights. It means perpetual second-class citizenship for me and my kind.

When it comes to my rights as an American citizen, and yours, I am a triumphalist and an absolutist. Anything less is an insult,

My answer to the racial problem in America is to not deal with it at all. The founding fathers dealt with it when they made the Constitution.