Quote

I look at an ant and I see myself: a native South African, endowed by nature with a strength much greater than my size so I might cope with the weight of a racism that crushes my spirit.

Miriam Makeba

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Miriam Makeba
Age: 76 †
Born: 1932
Born: March 4
Died: 2008
Died: November 9
Actor
Recording Artist
Singer
Johannesburg
Gauteng
South Africa
Mama Africa
Zenzile Miriam Makeba
Miriam Zenzi Makeba
Zensile Makeba Qgwashu Nguvama Yiketheli Nxgowa Bantana Balomzi Xa Ufnu Ubajabulisa Ubaphekeli Mbiza Yotshwala Sithi Xa Saku Qgiba Ukutja Sithathe Izitsha Sizi Khabe Singama Lawu Singama Qgwashu Singama Nqamla Nqgithi
Mirjam Makeba
Strength
Crush
Greater
Racist
Spirit
African
Nature
Native
Look
Racism
Crushes
Might
Size
Endowed
Looks
South
Cope
Much
Weight
Ants

More quotes by Miriam Makeba

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I'm not a politician I am a singer. Long ago, they said, 'That one, she sings politics.' I don't sing politics I merely sing the truth.
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And I believe that it becomes a troubled continent because there are those who must always cause confusion so that we do not keep these natural resources.
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Girls are the future mothers of our society, and it is important that we focus on their well-being.
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Be careful, think about the effect of what you say. Your words should be constructive, bring people together, not pull them apart.
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In the West the past is like a dead animal. It is a carcass picked at by the flies that call themselves historians and biographers. But in my culture the past lives. My people feel this way in part because death does not separate us from our ancestors.
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I have one thing in common with the emerging black nations of Africa: We both have voices, and we are discovering what we can do with them.
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[Belafonte]'d take me to perform for Martin Luther King's cause. But when they were marching I did not take part, because I was not a citizen
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And why is our music called world music? I think people are being polite. What they want to say is that it's third world music. Like they use to call us under developed countries, now it has changed to developing countries, it's much more polite.
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Belafonte sent his people to pick me up and I went back and shook his hand, then went back to my little flat. I was very happy to have met a president of the United States - little me!
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It's a really unfair world because life is, where I am all day long we listen to American music. So I don't see why the radios in the U.S. cannot even put aside one hour a day just to play music that is not American.
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I look at the past and I see myself.
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You are damned and praised, or encouraged or discouraged by those who listen to you, and those who come to applaud you. And to me, those people are very important.
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I do not sing politics. I merely sing the truth.
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I kept my culture. I kept the music of my roots. Through my music I became this voice and image of Africa and the people without even realising.
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I have to go and say farewell to all the countries that I have been to, if I can. I am 73 now, it is taxing on me.
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I didn't have much, but I was always happy to share what I did have. It seemed like every African that came to New York City would show up at my apartment door at dinnertime, and I couldn't turn them away. I wasn't much older than any of them, but they started calling me 'Mama Africa' and the name stuck.
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He [Belafonte] was a good teacher and looked after me. He said, 'You have such great talent, you must try not to be a tornado - be like a submarine. It was good advice when I found myself speaking at the UN Committee Against Apartheid and then the UN General Assembly.
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I see other black women imitate my style, which is no style at all, but just letting our hair be itself. They call it the Afro Look.
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But if you are going to wear blinders then you do not know the world.
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It was hard to be away from home, but I am glad that I am home now.
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