As the reality of the 2024 presidential election starts to sink in all over the country—specifically, the fact that Donald Trump will be returning back to the White House—many Black people are looking for what to do next. They’re also looking for something or someone to make sense of this present moment and the times to come.
So it’s in that spirit that we thought it’d be apropos to look back to some of our thought leaders, activists, and authors of the past and present who somehow knew and know just what to say during tough times. From Martin Luther King Jr. to Stacey Abrams, let theses words bring you some semblance of peace and strength to fight another day.
Martin Luther King Jr.-1965
“We shall overcome. Deep in my heart I do believe we shall overcome. And I believe it because somehow the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”
Toni Morrison-2004
“This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal. I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that can lead to knowledge—even wisdom. Like art.”
James Baldwin-1963, 1972
“Please try to remember that what they believe, as well as what they do and cause you to endure does not testify to your inferiority but to their inhumanity.”
And
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
Malcom X, 1964
“We suffer political oppression, economic exploitation and social degradation. All of ‘em from the same enemy. The government has failed us. You can’t deny that. Any time you’re living in the 20th century, 1964, and you walking around here singing “We Shall Overcome,” the government has failed you. This is part of what’s wrong with you, you do too much singing. Today it’s time to stop singing and start swinging.”
Harry Belafonte, 2015
“Each and everyone of you has the power, the will and the capacity to make a difference in the world in which you live.”
Maya Angelou, 2009
“We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated. It may even be necessary to encounter the defeat, so that we can know who we are.”
Langston Hughes, 1940
“The only way to get a thing done is to start to do it, then keep on doing it, and finally you’ll finish it.”
Audre Lorde, 1982
“We know what it is to be lied to, and we know how important it is not lie to ourselves. We are powerful because we have survived, and that is what it all about—survival and growth”
John Lewis, 2019
“Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”
Bayard Rustin, Date Unknown
“The only way to reduce ugliness in the world is to reduce it in yourself. The truth that one truly believes, is in action.”
Rev. Dr. William Barber, 2021
“It’s time to believe again. It’s time to believe the heart and soul of this democracy can live. With every breath we have, while we still have time, together let’s rise up and do more to build a true one America that works for all of us.”
Al Sharpton, 1972
“I’ve seen enough things to know that if you just keep on going, if you turn the corner, the sun will be shining.”
Fred Hampton, 1969
“We’ve got to face the fact that some people say you fight fire best with fire, but we say you put fire out best with water. We say you don’t fight racism with racism. We’re gonna fight racism with solidarity.”
Stacey Abrams, 2020
“Because I learned long ago that winning doesn’t always mean you get the prize. Sometimes you get progress, and that counts.”
Raphael Warnock, 2022
“Stay the course, no matter how bleak the outlook.”
Nina Simone, 1991
“What kept me sane was knowing that things would change, and it was a question of keeping myself together until they did.”
Straight From 
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