--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Slavery was as customary as prisons are…" description: "\"“Slavery was as customary as prisons are today. Few could imagine an ordered world without them.”\" — Ibram X. Kendi" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15d/ibram-x-kendi-3080_quote_slavery-was-as-customary-as-prisons-are_945354.jpg" --- # Slavery was as customary as prisons are today. Few could… ![“Slavery was as customary as prisons are today. Few could imagine an ordered world without them.” quote by Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15d/ibram-x-kendi-3080_quote_slavery-was-as-customary-as-prisons-are_945354.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15d/ibram-x-kendi-3080_quote_slavery-was-as-customary-as-prisons-are_945354.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15d/ibram-x-kendi-3080_quote_slavery-was-as-customary-as-prisons-are_945354.jpg) > ““Slavery was as customary as prisons are today. Few could imagine an ordered world without them.”” [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Historical oppression normalizes dehumanization; questioning accepted systems reveals hidden injustices. **In simple terms:** Oppression once seemed normal. Key Takeaway Question accepted norms. Themes oppression history human rights Mood thoughtful urgent Type historical activist When to use this quote - education - policy reform - media analysis - community dialogue Key Concepts sociology critical theory Questions to Reflect On - How do you recognize modern equivalents of past oppression? - What actions can you take to challenge them? A Different Perspective Changing entrenched views takes time and effort. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Prisons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prisons/) [Slavery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slavery/) ## Related quotes > [“In his home, no one around him saw anything wrong with the tyranny. Slavery was as customary as prisons are today. Few could imagine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/in-his-home-no-one-around-him-saw-anything-wrong-with-the-tyranny/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [At Liverpool, winning is customary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-torres/at-liverpool-winning-is-customary/) [Fernando Torres](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-torres/) > [Do not act following customary beliefs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miyamoto-musashi/do-not-act-following-customary-beliefs/) [Miyamoto Musashi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miyamoto-musashi/) > [It is not customary to love what one has.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatole-france/it-is-not-customary-to-love-what-one-has/) [Anatole France](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-france/) > [It is customary these days to ignore what should be done in favour of what pleases us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plautus/it-is-customary-these-days-to-ignore-what-should-be-done-in-favour-of/) [Plautus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plautus/) > [Customs are made for customary circumstances, and customary characters.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-stuart-mill/customs-are-made-for-customary-circumstances-and-customary-characters-2/) [John Stuart Mill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-stuart-mill/) > [...majority Patriotism is the customary Patriotism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/majority-patriotism-is-the-customary-patriotism/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Keeping them behind bars does little to reduce crime, but it does a lot to tear apart families, our prisons and our jails are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hillary-clinton/keeping-them-behind-bars-does-little-to-reduce-crime-but-it-does-a/) [Hillary Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hillary-clinton/) > [There are worse prisons than words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-ruiz-zafon/there-are-worse-prisons-than-words/) [Carlos Ruiz Zafon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-ruiz-zafon/) > [There's no straight line between closing the mental institutions and filling the prisons but there is some sort of relationship. And it's hard to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-moskos/there-s-no-straight-line-between-closing-the-mental-institutions-and/) [Peter Moskos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-moskos/) > [Obama and the Democrats were so critical of what Bush did, the interrogations, the secret prisons, Guantanamo and all of that, and even the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/obama-and-the-democrats-were-so-critical-of-what-bush-did-the/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [Challenging schools to treat their students as customers with a choice, instead of inmates serving time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-warlick/challenging-schools-to-treat-their-students-as-customers-with-a/) [David Warlick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-warlick/) > [We need to have more second chance programs. I'm glad that we're ending private prisons in the federal system; I want to see them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hillary-clinton/we-need-to-have-more-second-chance-programs-i-m-glad-that-we-re/) [Hillary Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hillary-clinton/) > [You can look at the West Bank. Cities are like prisons. They can be closed quickly by the Israeli forces, and everything stops in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hassan-nasrallah/you-can-look-at-the-west-bank-cities-are-like-prisons-they-can-be/) [Hassan Nasrallah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hassan-nasrallah/) > [The federal prison population increased by almost 800 percent between 1980 and 2013, often at a far faster rate than the Bureau of Prisons…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-yates/the-federal-prison-population-increased-by-almost-800-percent-between/) [Sally Yates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-yates/) ## More by Ibram X. Kendi > [“When men oppress their fellowmen, the oppressor ever finds, in the character of the oppressed, a full justification for his oppression.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/when-men-oppress-their-fellowmen-the-oppressor-ever-finds-in-the/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“assimilationists constantly encourage Black adoption of White cultural traits and/or physical ideals.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/assimilationists-constantly-encourage-black-adoption-of-white/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“Enlightenment ideas gave legitimacy to this long-held racist “partiality,” the connection between lightness and Whiteness and reason, on the one hand, and between darkness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/enlightenment-ideas-gave-legitimacy-to-this-long-held-racist/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“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/) > [“From the beginning, it has been a three-sided battle, a battle of antiracist ideas being pitted against two kinds of racist ideas at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/from-the-beginning-it-has-been-a-three-sided-battle-a-battle-of/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“newspaper reports of rape constructed white defendants as individual offenders and black defendants as representative of the failings of their racial group,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/newspaper-reports-of-rape-constructed-white-defendants-as-individual/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“Racist intentions—not policies—became covert after the 1960s.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/racist-intentions-not-policies-became-covert-after-the-1960s/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“Donald Trump’s economic policies are geared toward enriching White male power—but at the expense of most of his White male followers, along with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/donald-trump-s-economic-policies-are-geared-toward-enriching-white/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“individualizing White negativity and generalizing Black negativity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/individualizing-white-negativity-and-generalizing-black-negativity/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“Racially discriminatory policies have usually sprung from economic, political, and cultural self-interests, self-interests that are constantly changing. Politicians seeking higher office have primarily created…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/racially-discriminatory-policies-have-usually-sprung-from-economic/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“The vicious housing cycle had already begun. Racist policies harmed Black neighborhoods, generating racist ideas that caused people not to want to live next…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/the-vicious-housing-cycle-had-already-begun-racist-policies-harmed/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“For Jefferson, power came before freedom. Indeed, power creates freedom, not the other way around—as the powerless are taught.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/for-jefferson-power-came-before-freedom-indeed-power-creates-freedom/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“To justify Black enslavement, Barbados planters actually “preferred” the polygenesis theory over the curse theory of Ham,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/to-justify-black-enslavement-barbados-planters-actually-preferred-the/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“With this law in place, White enslavers could now reap financial reward from relations “upon a negro woman.” But they wanted to prevent the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/with-this-law-in-place-white-enslavers-could-now-reap-financial/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“Our education has filled us with strong prejudices against them,” Hopkins professed, “and led us to consider them, not as our brethren, or in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/our-education-has-filled-us-with-strong-prejudices-against-them/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) [Explore all 140 Ibram X. Kendi quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) ## More Prisons quotes > [The federal prison population increased by almost 800 percent between 1980 and 2013, often at a far faster rate than the Bureau of Prisons…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-yates/the-federal-prison-population-increased-by-almost-800-percent-between/) [Sally Yates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-yates/) > [You can look at the West Bank. Cities are like prisons. They can be closed quickly by the Israeli forces, and everything stops in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hassan-nasrallah/you-can-look-at-the-west-bank-cities-are-like-prisons-they-can-be/) [Hassan Nasrallah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hassan-nasrallah/) > [We need to have more second chance programs. I'm glad that we're ending private prisons in the federal system; I want to see them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hillary-clinton/we-need-to-have-more-second-chance-programs-i-m-glad-that-we-re/) [Hillary Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hillary-clinton/) > [Challenging schools to treat their students as customers with a choice, instead of inmates serving time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-warlick/challenging-schools-to-treat-their-students-as-customers-with-a/) [David Warlick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-warlick/) > [Obama and the Democrats were so critical of what Bush did, the interrogations, the secret prisons, Guantanamo and all of that, and even the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/obama-and-the-democrats-were-so-critical-of-what-bush-did-the/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [There's no straight line between closing the mental institutions and filling the prisons but there is some sort of relationship. And it's hard to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-moskos/there-s-no-straight-line-between-closing-the-mental-institutions-and/) [Peter Moskos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-moskos/) > [There are worse prisons than words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-ruiz-zafon/there-are-worse-prisons-than-words/) [Carlos Ruiz Zafon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-ruiz-zafon/) > [Keeping them behind bars does little to reduce crime, but it does a lot to tear apart families, our prisons and our jails are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hillary-clinton/keeping-them-behind-bars-does-little-to-reduce-crime-but-it-does-a/) [Hillary Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hillary-clinton/) > [Prisons where people can't even work is the worst punishment you can think of. And I don't think we should put all convicts in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-putin/prisons-where-people-can-t-even-work-is-the-worst-punishment-you-can/) [Vladimir Putin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-putin/) > [It appears that the murder rate inside prisons is ten times higher than that outside prisons. It must be due to all those Kalashnikov…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-cooper/it-appears-that-the-murder-rate-inside-prisons-is-ten-times-higher/) [Jeff Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-cooper/) > [Are the prisons overpopulated, or is the population over-imprisoned ?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/are-the-prisons-overpopulated-or-is-the-population-over-imprisoned/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [If we try to 'protect ourselves', our nation-states begin to look like prisons.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohsin-hamid/if-we-try-to-protect-ourselves-our-nation-states-begin-to-look-like/) [Mohsin Hamid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohsin-hamid/) > [The U.S. prison system, over all, disproportionately affects black and brown people, but people of color are overrepresented to a greater degree in private…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clint-smith/the-u-s-prison-system-over-all-disproportionately-affects-black-and/) [Clint Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clint-smith/) > [“Prisons are about addictions. Most prisoners are casualties of their own habits. They have all created victims, some in cruel and callous ways, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-reid/prisons-are-about-addictions-most-prisoners-are-casualties-of-their/) [Stephen Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-reid/) > [My earliest memories are going into prisons. Going through metal detectors, getting searched by guards.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chesa-boudin/my-earliest-memories-are-going-into-prisons-going-through-metal/) [Chesa Boudin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chesa-boudin/) [Browse all 327 Prisons quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prisons/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Slavery was as customary as prisons are today. Few could imagine an ordered world without them.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ibram X. Kendi" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/slavery-was-as-customary-as-prisons-are-today-few-could-imagine-an/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Prisons" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/slavery-was-as-customary-as-prisons-are-today-few-could-imagine-an/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15d/ibram-x-kendi-3080_quote_slavery-was-as-customary-as-prisons-are_945354.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15d/ibram-x-kendi-3080_quote_slavery-was-as-customary-as-prisons-are_945354.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15d/ibram-x-kendi-3080_quote_slavery-was-as-customary-as-prisons-are_945354.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Slavery was as customary as prisons are today. Few could imagine an ordered world without them.” — Ibram X. Kendi", "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": "Ibram X. Kendi", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Slavery was as customary as prisons...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/slavery-was-as-customary-as-prisons-are-today-few-could-imagine-an/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/slavery-was-as-customary-as-prisons-are-today-few-could-imagine-an/#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 } } ] } ```