While I was able to pass as white as soon as I came to America, this was not really possible while I was growing up, as it was pretty obvious that I wasn't 'all German.' So my privilege was that in America, I could conveniently withhold one of my bloodlines and avoid racism and discrimination. That is not a privilege most people of color have.
Growing up in a very rural and remote area in Colorado's San Luis Valley - one of the poorest counties in the United States - essentially created the framework of values from which I operate. I stand up for the little guy. I fight discrimination at all levels. I fight for an inclusive America.
The Supreme Court has made it nearly impossible to prove race discrimination in the criminal justice system.
It is no longer socially permissible to use race, explicitly, as a justification for discrimination, exclusion, and social contempt. So we don't. Rather than rely on race, we use our criminal justice system to label people of color 'criminals' and then engage in all the practices we supposedly left behind.
On a daily basis, I think it's really important to be conscious of gender-based discrimination - which presents in sometimes more, but often less, obvious forms - and do everything possible to defeat that discrimination.
If we stay focused on data and the real issues, we can tailor our inventions to enhance public health and safety while decreasing the likelihood of racial discrimination.
Defeating racism, tribalism, intolerance and all forms of discrimination will liberate us all, victim and perpetrator alike.
Negroes who have been so long inconvenienced and denied opportunities for development are naturally afraid of anything that sounds like discrimination.
There are gays and lesbians in every country, so there should be no discrimination against them just because of their destiny.
Many of us, particularly those of us with disabilities who have faced persistent discrimination throughout our lives, not least when trying to find employment in the first place, take enormous pride in our hard-fought jobs and careers.
The magnitude of discrimination and stigma faced by people with disability in Australia cannot be underestimated. People do not understand disability, and people fear what they don't understand.
Wherever there was injustice, war, discrimination against women, gays and the disadvantaged, I did my best to show up and exert moral persuasion.
A small pay discrepancy between men's and women's salaries for the same job may seem inconsequential. But over the years, salary discrimination adds up to a significantly smaller pension.
If there's age discrimination - and there may be - I've always felt that the person who discriminates is hurt more than the person being discriminated against, if the second person shucks it off and moves forward.
The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.
I've run into more discrimination as a woman than as an Indian.
Discrimination has a lot of layers that make it tough for minorities to get a leg up.
All I can say is I am sensitive to discrimination on any basis because I have experienced that upset.
Ending racial discrimination in jury selection can be accomplished only by eliminating peremptory challenges entirely.
My parents told me in the very beginning as a young child when I raised the question about segregation and racial discrimination, they told me not to get in the way, not to get in trouble, not to make any noise.