"[I]t seems to me that this past century has accomplished two Civil Rights movements. First, the right for blacks and Hispanics and people from all different nationalities to take their place in the middle of society and that has been achieved at great cost. It is a tremendous struggle in America, but now we think nothing of walking into an office and finding that a black person is the president of the company instead of a janitor cleaning the hallways. And then we learned that the talent that blacks and Hispanics have, always had, their intelligence, dedication and willingness to work is no less than anybody else. They have been able to persevere and finally I think we have really overcome tremendous amounts of prejudice, not only in the United States, but throughout the world. The second great Civil Rights movement was equality for women. It started at the end of the last century. Women finally got to vote. We've gotten all the way to the point now where women aren't expected to stay home and just be mothers and it's okay to be a single parent and it's okay to go out and pursue your ambition and your dreams. And that's been a very important breakthrough because there are so many areas where women are more talented and have more to offer than men do. And now we are beginning to see everybody working side by side in society and in the workplace. But, there remains one HUGE minority that is still terribly discriminated against. And that population is the disabled population. And that comprises 1/5 of the world's population. In the United States, for example, we have 54 million disabled people and the thing that's very difficult is when blacks and Hispanics and women were fighting for equal rights there was a level of discomfort. But nothing approaching what happens when "normal" people look at the disabled and are uncomfortable. That is a prejudice that they MUST overcome because we're not in a position to always look our very best or to feel our very best, or to be pleasing to the eye because we have suffered terrible debilitating diseases and injuries. But what's happening now is the kind of discrimination that is so bad and I want to tell you that it exceeds any prejudice that ever occurred before in the previous civil rights movements."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Actors from New York CityScreenwriters from the United StatesEnvironmentalists from the United StatesProducers from the United StatesHealth activists
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christopher_Reeve
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Christopher Reeve
1952 – 2004
Christopher D'Olier Reeve (25 September 1952 – 10 October 2004) was an American actor, director, producer, writer, lobbyist, and husband of actress Dana Reeve. He is most famous for playing the role of Superman in the film Superman (1978) and its three sequels.
56 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Christopher Reeve →
Related Quotes
"The key word for me on him is "inspiration." He is a leader by inspiration. He sets an example. It's quite important …"
"Somewhere in Time, while it errs on the side of pretentiousness, is an absolutely honest attempt to create an old-fas…"
"Superman is nothing more than a popular retelling of the Christ story, or Greek mythology. It's an archetype, watered…"
"So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they so…"
"I'm starting a new chapter in my life, and you have no idea how much that means."
"We live in a time when the words impossible and unsolvable are no longer part of the scientific community's vocabular…"
"When the first Superman movie came out, I gave dozens of interviews to promote it. The most frequent question was: Wh…"
"What makes Superman a hero is not that he has power, but that he has the wisdom and the maturity to use the power wis…"
"In 1984, the government spent zero dollars on AIDS research, because AIDS was thought to be a death sentence, and the…"
""Neglect - even misstatement - of recent scientific data was also evident in last year's testimony before this subcom…"