Citations

[on his decision to remain in his home state Mississippi] This is home. Mississippi is a part of the United States. And whether the whites like it or not, I don't plan to live here as a parasite. The things that I don't like I will try to change. And in the long run, I hope to make a positive contribution to the overall productivity of the South.

It may sound funny, but I love the South. I don't plan to live anywhere else. There's land here where a man can raise cattle, and I'm going to do that some day. There are lakes where a man can sink a hook and fight the bass. There is room here for my children to play, and grow, and become good citizens--if the white man will let them.

Violence certainly is not the way. Returning physical harm for physical harm will not solve the problem. And one of our strongest appeals to the conscience of southern whites is that the NAACP has never been linked to violence. Not even the southern bigot has much ground to stand on when he tries to rabble rouse about our winning court decisions. But give him a little Negro violence to point to, and he will have a good selling point for stirring up racial hatred.

[Speech on May 20, 1963] The Negro citizen wants to register and vote without special handicaps imposed on him alone. The Negro Mississippian wants more jobs above the menial level in stores where he spends his money. He believes that new industries that have come to Mississippi should employ him above the laboring category. He wants the public schools and colleges desegregated so that his children can receive the best education that Mississippi has to offer.

[Speech on May 20, 1963] The Negro has been here in America since 1619, a total of 344 years. He is not going anywhere else; this country is his home. He wants to do his part to help make his city, state, and nation a better place for everyone, regardless of color and race. Let me appeal to the consciences of many silent, responsible citizens of the white community who know that a victory for democracy in Jackson will be a victory for democracy everywhere.

I was born in Decatur here in Mississippi, and when we were walking to school in the first grade, the white kids in their school buses would throw things at us and yell filthy things. This was a mild start. If you're a kid in Mississippi, this is the elementary course.

All we wanted was to be ordinary citizens. We fought during the war for America and Mississippi was included. Now after the Germans and the Japanese hadn't killed us, it looked as though the white Mississippians would.

[shortly before his martyrdom] Freedom has never been free... I love my children and I love my wife with all my heart. And I would die, die gladly, if that would make a better life for them.

[shortly before his martyrdom] I'm looking to be shot any time I step out of my car... If I die, it will be in a good cause. I've been fighting for America just as much as the soldiers in Vietnam.

I plan to live on campus in a dormitory and to do all the things any other student of the law school might do: use the library, eat in the dining hall, attend classes.

As long as God gives me strength to work and try to make things real for my children, I'm going to work for it - even if it means making the ultimate sacrifice.

I'll be damned if I'm going to let the white man lick me. There's something out here that I've got to do for my kids, and I'm not going to stop until I've done it.

When you hate, the only person that suffers is you because most of the people you hate don't know it and the rest don't care.