Bernice King Quotes

When my father died, the money he left us would have dried up within a year were it not for my mother. We might very well have ended up on welfare.

People have labeled me homophobic. If I was homophobic, I wouldn’t have friends who are gay and lesbian, so that can’t be true.

Before my mother was a King, she was a gifted vocalist and musician, whose skill and academia garnered her a scholarship to the prestigious New England Conservatory for Music in Boston.

In 1985, I joined my mother in a protest against apartheid in which we were arrested at the South African embassy in Washington, D.C. And she was at President-elect Mandela’s side in Johannesburg when he claimed victory in South Africa’s first free elections.

If people want to criticize me, that’s their issue.

Daddy taught us through his philosophy of nonviolence, which placed love at the centerpiece, that through that love we can turn enemies into friends. Through that love, we can create more dignified atmospheres.

Institutionalized racism has been with us pre-Obama, and it obviously will be with us post-Obama.

I know that the absence of my father in my life had its cost.

I wrestled with anger from the age of sixteen. It’s still one of my nemeses. I have to remember that the word of God says, ‘Be slow to anger.’

Before she was a King, my mother was a peace advocate, a courageous leader, and an accomplished artist.