--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There is so much history of this racist…" description: "\"There is so much history of this racist violence that simply to bring one person to justice is not going to disturb the whole racist edifice.\" — Angela..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7e5/angela-davis-3825_edifice_there-is-so-much-history-of-this-racist_138475.png" --- # There is so much history of this racist violence that… ![“There is so much history of this racist violence that simply to bring one person to justice is not going to disturb the whole racist edifice.” quote by Angela Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7e5/angela-davis-3825_edifice_there-is-so-much-history-of-this-racist_138475.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7e5/angela-davis-3825_edifice_there-is-so-much-history-of-this-racist_138475.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7e5/angela-davis-3825_edifice_there-is-so-much-history-of-this-racist_138475.png) > “There is so much history of this racist violence that simply to bring one person to justice is not going to disturb the whole racist edifice.” [Angela Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-davis/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. One justice case cannot dismantle systemic racism; broader change requires collective action. **In simple terms:** Single victories don’t end racism. Key Takeaway Pursue systemic reform. Themes justice racism activism Mood determined hopeful Type political reflective When to use this quote - policy reform - community organizing - education Key Concepts structural inequality social movements Questions to Reflect On - How can individual actions contribute to systemic change? - What strategies sustain long‑term activism? A Different Perspective Change is often slow and resisted. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Edifice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/edifice/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [History Racist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history-racist-1083046/) [Justice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/justice/) [Ku klux klan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ku-klux-klan/) [Person Justice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/person-justice-1571059/) [Persons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/persons/) [Racist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/racist/) [Racist Edifice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/racist-edifice-1571057/) [Racist Violence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/racist-violence-1571056/) [Violence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/violence/) [Violence Simply](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/violence-simply-1571058/) [Whole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whole/) ## Related quotes > [There is an unbroken line of police violence in the United States that takes us all the way back to the days of slavery,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-davis/there-is-an-unbroken-line-of-police-violence-in-the-united-states/) [Angela Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-davis/) > [I am personally not advocating violence. I am simply saying that it is a morally acceptable tactic and it may be useful in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-vlasak/i-am-personally-not-advocating-violence-i-am-simply-saying-that-it-is/) [Jerry Vlasak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-vlasak/) > [“If Barack Obama came to embody America’s history of racial progress, then Donald Trump should come to embody America’s history of racist progress. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/if-barack-obama-came-to-embody-america-s-history-of-racial-progress/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“The War on Drugs will go down in history as the most racist crusade since slavery.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thor-benson/the-war-on-drugs-will-go-down-in-history-as-the-most-racist-crusade/) [Thor Benson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thor-benson/) > [“Hate and ignorance have not driven the history of racist ideas in America. Racist policies have driven the history of racist ideas in America.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/hate-and-ignorance-have-not-driven-the-history-of-racist-ideas-in/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [Dubai was a property bubble. Plain and simple. Go to Dubai and see what happened. It was... what I call it the 'Edifice complex'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-chanos/dubai-was-a-property-bubble-plain-and-simple-go-to-dubai-and-see-what/) [James Chanos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-chanos/) > [Meaning is a shaky edifice we build out of scraps, dogmas, childhood injuries, newspaper articles, chance remarks, old fillms, small victories, people hated, people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/meaning-is-a-shaky-edifice-we-build-out-of-scraps-dogmas-childhood/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [With my work, I try to delve into the several layers that compose the edifice of history, to take the shadows cast by this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vhils/with-my-work-i-try-to-delve-into-the-several-layers-that-compose-the/) [Vhils](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vhils/) > [The court is like a palace built of marble; I mean that it is made up of very hard but very polished people. \[Fr.,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-bruyere/the-court-is-like-a-palace-built-of-marble-i-mean-that-it-is-made-up/) [Jean de la Bruyere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-bruyere/) > [God grant that by my persevering labours I may bring a little stone to the frail and ill-assured edifice of our knowledge of those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-pasteur/god-grant-that-by-my-persevering-labours-i-may-bring-a-little-stone/) [Louis Pasteur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-pasteur/) > [The walls of that grand edifice called a good character have to be worked at during life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green-ingersoll/the-walls-of-that-grand-edifice-called-a-good-character-have-to-be/) [Robert Green Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green-ingersoll/) > [The common man, finding himself in a world so excellent, technically and socially, believes it has been produced by nature, and never thinks of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jose-ortega-y-gasset/the-common-man-finding-himself-in-a-world-so-excellent-technically/) [Jose Ortega y Gasset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jose-ortega-y-gasset/) > [Just take one thing out and the whole palace, the whole edifice of the human mind collapses. Take effort out of it and desiring…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/just-take-one-thing-out-and-the-whole-palace-the-whole-edifice-of-the/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [The highest perfection of politeness is only a beautiful edifice, built, from the base to the dome, of ungraceful and gilded forms of charitable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-highest-perfection-of-politeness-is-only-a-beautiful-edifice/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [I'm not one of those James Joyce intellectuals who can stand back and look at the whole edifice... It was a slow process for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-mccourt/i-m-not-one-of-those-james-joyce-intellectuals-who-can-stand-back-and/) [Frank McCourt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-mccourt/) ## More by Angela Davis > [I think in black communities today we need to encourage a lot more cross racial organizing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-davis/i-think-in-black-communities-today-we-need-to-encourage-a-lot-more/) [Angela Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-davis/) > [Well of course there's been a great deal of progress over the last 40 years. We don't have laws that segregate black people within…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-davis/well-of-course-there-s-been-a-great-deal-of-progress-over-the-last-40/) [Angela Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-davis/) > [Often young black people are looking towards the alternative economies. They are looking towards the drug economy… the economies that are going to that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-davis/often-young-black-people-are-looking-towards-the-alternative/) [Angela Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-davis/) > [I grew up in the southern United States in a city which at that time during the late '40's and early '50's was the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-davis/i-grew-up-in-the-southern-united-states-in-a-city-which-at-that-time/) [Angela Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-davis/) > [We have been basically persuaded that we should not talk about racism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-davis/we-have-been-basically-persuaded-that-we-should-not-talk-about-racism/) [Angela Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-davis/) > [You can't criticize people for wanting to have a decent life or wanting to live decently.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-davis/you-can-t-criticize-people-for-wanting-to-have-a-decent-life-or/) [Angela Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-davis/) > [As soon as my trial was over, we tried to use the energy that had developed around my case to create another organization, which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-davis/as-soon-as-my-trial-was-over-we-tried-to-use-the-energy-that-had/) [Angela Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-davis/) > [I’m a feminist so I believe in inhabiting contradictions. I believe in making contradictions productive, not in having to choose one side or the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-davis/i-m-a-feminist-so-i-believe-in-inhabiting-contradictions-i-believe-in/) [Angela Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-davis/) > [Kids these days are kind of going back to Tupac and Snoop Doggy Dogg as examples of people that stand for something.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-davis/kids-these-days-are-kind-of-going-back-to-tupac-and-snoop-doggy-dogg/) [Angela Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-davis/) > [Prisons do not disappear social problems, they disappear human beings. Homelessness, unemployment, drug addiction, mental illness, and illiteracy are only a few of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-davis/prisons-do-not-disappear-social-problems-they-disappear-human-beings/) [Angela Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-davis/) > [We are never assured of justice without a fight.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-davis/we-are-never-assured-of-justice-without-a-fight/) [Angela Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-davis/) > [Human beings cannot be willed and molded into non-existence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-davis/human-beings-cannot-be-willed-and-molded-into-non-existence/) [Angela Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-davis/) > [It doesn't surprise me that aspect of the black nationalist movement, the cultural side, has triumphed because that is the aspect of the movement…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-davis/it-doesn-t-surprise-me-that-aspect-of-the-black-nationalist-movement/) [Angela Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-davis/) > [Walls turned sideways are bridges.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-davis/walls-turned-sideways-are-bridges/) [Angela Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-davis/) > [A fair trial would have been no trial at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-davis/a-fair-trial-would-have-been-no-trial-at-all/) [Angela Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-davis/) [Explore all 118 Angela Davis quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-davis/) ## More Edifice quotes > [I'm not one of those James Joyce intellectuals who can stand back and look at the whole edifice... It was a slow process for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-mccourt/i-m-not-one-of-those-james-joyce-intellectuals-who-can-stand-back-and/) [Frank McCourt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-mccourt/) > [The highest perfection of politeness is only a beautiful edifice, built, from the base to the dome, of ungraceful and gilded forms of charitable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-highest-perfection-of-politeness-is-only-a-beautiful-edifice/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Just take one thing out and the whole palace, the whole edifice of the human mind collapses. Take effort out of it and desiring…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/just-take-one-thing-out-and-the-whole-palace-the-whole-edifice-of-the/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [The common man, finding himself in a world so excellent, technically and socially, believes it has been produced by nature, and never thinks of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jose-ortega-y-gasset/the-common-man-finding-himself-in-a-world-so-excellent-technically/) [Jose Ortega y Gasset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jose-ortega-y-gasset/) > [The walls of that grand edifice called a good character have to be worked at during life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green-ingersoll/the-walls-of-that-grand-edifice-called-a-good-character-have-to-be/) [Robert Green Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green-ingersoll/) > [God grant that by my persevering labours I may bring a little stone to the frail and ill-assured edifice of our knowledge of those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-pasteur/god-grant-that-by-my-persevering-labours-i-may-bring-a-little-stone/) [Louis Pasteur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-pasteur/) > [The court is like a palace built of marble; I mean that it is made up of very hard but very polished people. \[Fr.,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-bruyere/the-court-is-like-a-palace-built-of-marble-i-mean-that-it-is-made-up/) [Jean de la Bruyere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-bruyere/) > [With my work, I try to delve into the several layers that compose the edifice of history, to take the shadows cast by this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vhils/with-my-work-i-try-to-delve-into-the-several-layers-that-compose-the/) [Vhils](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vhils/) > [Meaning is a shaky edifice we build out of scraps, dogmas, childhood injuries, newspaper articles, chance remarks, old fillms, small victories, people hated, people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/meaning-is-a-shaky-edifice-we-build-out-of-scraps-dogmas-childhood/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [Dubai was a property bubble. Plain and simple. Go to Dubai and see what happened. It was... what I call it the 'Edifice complex'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-chanos/dubai-was-a-property-bubble-plain-and-simple-go-to-dubai-and-see-what/) [James Chanos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-chanos/) > [...just as the edifice of all the virtues strives upward toward perfect prayer so will all these virtues be neither sturdy nor enduring unless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cassian/just-as-the-edifice-of-all-the-virtues-strives-upward-toward-perfect/) [John Cassian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cassian/) > [The church has been brought into the same value system as the world: fame, success, materialism and celebrity. We watch the leading churches and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-colson/the-church-has-been-brought-into-the-same-value-system-as-the-world/) [Charles Colson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-colson/) > [And it does no harm to repeat, as often as you can, 'Without me the literary industry would not exist: the publishers, the agents,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/and-it-does-no-harm-to-repeat-as-often-as-you-can-without-me-the/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [It is a useless life that is not consecrated to a great ideal. It is like a stone wasted on the field without becoming…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jos-rizal/it-is-a-useless-life-that-is-not-consecrated-to-a-great-ideal-it-is/) [Jose Rizal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jos-rizal/) > [I would suggest the taxation of all property equally, whether church or corporation, exempting only the last resting place of the dead and possibly,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ulysses-s-grant/i-would-suggest-the-taxation-of-all-property-equally-whether-church-2/) [Ulysses S. Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ulysses-s-grant/) [Browse all 126 Edifice quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/edifice/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There is so much history of this racist violence that simply to bring one person to justice is not going to disturb the whole racist edifice.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Angela Davis" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-davis/there-is-so-much-history-of-this-racist-violence-that-simply-to-bring/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Edifice" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-davis/there-is-so-much-history-of-this-racist-violence-that-simply-to-bring/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7e5/angela-davis-3825_edifice_there-is-so-much-history-of-this-racist_138475.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7e5/angela-davis-3825_edifice_there-is-so-much-history-of-this-racist_138475.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7e5/angela-davis-3825_edifice_there-is-so-much-history-of-this-racist_138475.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There is so much history of this racist violence that simply to bring one person to justice is not going to…” — Angela Davis", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Angela Davis", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-davis/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "There is so much history of...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-davis/there-is-so-much-history-of-this-racist-violence-that-simply-to-bring/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-davis/there-is-so-much-history-of-this-racist-violence-that-simply-to-bring/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```