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Disenfranchised Quotes

This collection of disenfranchised quotes looks at what happens when a person or community loses its voice or standing. Some lines point to unequal access to voting and representation, others to how slowly trust rebuilds once a group has been shut out. Together they frame disenfranchisement as both a historical fact and a present feeling worth naming.

These disenfranchised quotes explore what it means to lose a voice in society, from unequal voting access to communities left to Fight for basic representation.

If anything, I feel a bit of pressure to write about less disenfranchised people, because I'd probably sell more books that way and would've already had some hot property that I could've sold to Hollywood.

Quotes by Adrian Tomine

Stopping TB requires a government program that functions every day of the year, and that's hard in certain parts of the world. And partly it's because of who tuberculosis affects: It tends to affect the poor and disenfranchised most.

Quotes by Tom Frieden

If any group wants to not be disenfranchised, then understanding that there's going to be a learning curve for people who have disenfranchised them is important.

Quotes by Shepard Fairey

I'm trying to appeal to the disenfranchised everybody, not just specifically gay.

Quotes by Sandra Bernhard

Black Quotes

For years, Lebanese have known that Palestinian camps like Nahr al-Barid and Ain al-Helwe - hopeless slums crowded with generations of disenfranchised Palestinian refugees who can't go home because of Israel, and can't work because of Lebanese laws - are...

Quotes by Richard Engel

We know that there are people in our nation, black people, who are systematically being disenfranchised in a number of spheres in our lives.

Quotes by Opal Tometi

Iraqi national identity under Saddam Hussein never truly incorporated Shiites or Kurds. Sunnis, who identified most closely with the Iraqi nation, remain in some ways disenfranchised relative to the other groups, or at least they perceive themselves that way.

Quotes by Noah Feldman

In 2004, there were more black men disenfranchised than in 1870 - the year the 15th Amendment was ratified, prohibiting laws that deny the right to vote exclusively on the basis of race.

Quotes by Michelle Alexander

The people who have been unjustly disenfranchised by our criminal justice system and the people who daily fight for them always have, and always will be, the inspiration and focus of my efforts.

Quotes by Malcolm Jenkins

Children Quotes

I don't think that the black market's a new thing. It's always been a part of history, and it's been one of the ways that immigrants and disenfranchised people move into the middle class.

Quotes by Lela Loren

I think sometimes in life we want to ignore the problems of society and just think about the good. I believe in positive thinking and affirmative living, I also think it's really important to remember all of our disenfranchised members...

Quotes by Kerry Washington

Even though the money is great and the fame is great, you still have a lot of disenfranchised young men that are participating in the NFL that are not very happy. A lot of them are very bitter. A lot...

Quotes by Jim Brown

There have been more people disenfranchised in Washington than there have been in Kuwait.

Quotes by Jesse Jackson

I'm grateful to the creative allies behind 'UnReal' who are willing to stand behind disenfranchised communities of people worldwide and help to tell their stories.

Quotes by Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman

Feel Quotes

Berta Caceres, a Lenca woman, grew up during the violence that swept through Central America in the 1980s. Her mother, a midwife and social activist, took in and cared for refugees from El Salvador, teaching her young children the value...

Quotes by Greg Grandin

The real damper on employee engagement is the soggy, cold blanket of centralized authority. In most companies, power cascades downwards from the CEO. Not only are employees disenfranchised from most policy decisions, they lack even the power to rebel against...

Quotes by Gary Hamel

The disenfranchised should be going to art school - not the franchised.

Quotes by Gary Hume

Americans feel frustrated, distanced, and disenfranchised from our elected government. We deserve more: a government in which we truly all have a voice.

Quotes by Eric Swalwell

I get so disenfranchised reading the news, because global borders and lines we've created are completely unnecessary. That's just another person on the other side, and it's his bad luck that he was born there and it's my good fortune...

Quotes by Eddie Huang

Fight Quotes

People can talk about punk all they want, but after new wave put that down, metal is the voice of the disenfranchised and that need to become unhinged. That's why it appeals to so many people when they are younger...

Quotes by Corey Taylor

Frequently Asked Questions

What does it mean to feel disenfranchised?
Feeling disenfranchised means losing your political voice or standing in society, often through unequal access to rights like voting or representation that others take for granted.
How does voting rights history connect to disenfranchisement?
One striking historical point is that in 2004, more black men were disenfranchised than in 1870, the very year the 15th Amendment banned race-based voting restrictions.
Can disenfranchisement affect health outcomes too?
Yes. Public health programs like TB control depend on reaching people every day, and disenfranchised communities are often the ones hardest for such programs to consistently reach.
Why is understanding important when addressing disenfranchisement?
Groups seeking to end their own disenfranchisement often need to recognize that those who disenfranchised them face a real learning curve before change takes hold.
Where can I read more quotes on related struggles for equality?
For more on communities pushing back against exclusion, see our Fight quotes collection alongside this disenfranchised quotes page.

For related reading, see how exclusion shows up differently in Black quotes and in Children quotes about growing up unheard.