#unite

For years, I declined to fill in the form for my Senate press credential that asked me to state my 'race,' unless I was permitted to put 'human.' The form had to be completed under penalty of perjury, so I could not in conscience put 'white,' which is not even a color let alone a 'race,' and I sternly declined to put 'Caucasian,' which is an exploded term from a discredited ethnology. Surely the essential and unarguable core of King's campaign was the insistence that pigmentation was a false measure: a false measure of mankind (yes, mankind) and an inheritance from a time of great ignorance and stupidity and cruelty, when one drop of blood could make you 'black. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#civil-rights-movement #ethnology #identity-politics #martin-luther-king-jr #perjury

Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States. ↗

— Noah Webster

#united-states

It's a shame that we have to choose between two such second-rate countries as the USSR and the USA. ↗

— Jorge Luis Borges

#united-states #ussr #united-states

There is one thing that has disappeared, not just from the U.S. but from the entire world, is the idea of ever being embarrassed by anything. ↗

— Fran Lebowitz

#embarrassment #society #united-states #world #united-states

Pain is weakness leaving the body. ↗

— United States Marine Corps

#work-ethic #united-states

This generosity that has been offered to the United States says very much about the Venezuelan spirit. ↗

— Harry Belafonte

#been #generosity #much #offered #says

The United States particularly abandoned Liberia after the end of the Cold War. ↗

— Russell Banks

#after #cold #cold war #end #particularly

It's quite extraordinary to hear a supposedly learned person call the United States a leading terrorist nation, one of the leading terrorist nations in the world. It's false and very treacherous teaching. ↗

— Bill Bennett

#extraordinary #false #hear #leading #learned

But there are 90 million gun owners in the United States. Only 3.5 million want the insurance and magazines and the various things you get for joining the NRA. ↗

— Michael D. Barnes

#gun #insurance #joining #magazines #million

The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion or ethnic background, is that we all believe we are above-average drivers. ↗

— Dave Barry

#background #beings #believe #drivers #ethnic