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About this quote

What does it mean?
There are only two kinds of people: free ones and enslaved ones; race is defined by liberty, not skin color.
In plain terms
People are either free or not free; that is the only real divide.
What can you take from it?
Freedom, not appearance, defines the only true division between people.

Where it applies

  • debating liberty
  • equality
  • ,social commentary

Putting it to work

  • defend individual freedom
  • reject racial divisions

Questions to consider

  • What does it mean to be truly free?
  • Is liberty the only measure of human worth?

Another view

It ignores systemic inequalities that exist even among nominally free people.

More from Gerry Spence

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  2. To bargain freedom for security is the devil's bargain. Having made the bargain, one enjoys neither freedom nor security.

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  3. Children are persons. They are small persons whose perfect souls have not yet been ground through the meat grinder of slavery.

    Permalink to quote #14

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