Quote:
Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home—so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any map of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person: The neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.
Author: Roosevelt, Eleanor
Categories: human rights; oppression
Attribution: Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962), U.S. author, diplomat, and First Lady. “Statements at Presentation of In Your Hands: A Guide for Community Action for the Tenth Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, typescript (March 27, 1958).
From a speech delivered before the United Nations.
