All of the great social justice advances that we ever had in this country have come not from people with big titles and not from people at the top, but just from everyday people getting together saying 'Enough is enough. I'm going to change this, and I'm going to get involved, and I am going to be engaged.'
Nina Turner
I am on a mission to help make this world a better place.
Voter fraud is almost non-existent. People don't just show up on election day, trying to impersonate other people.
In a democracy, a person's vote is their voice. For much of our history, however, not everyone's voice was welcome at the voting booth.
We tell people to go to college, but when they cross the stage, they cross the stage with a degree in one hand and debt in the other that stifles their ability to be able to live that good life.
A community belongs to those who take ownership of it.
I've proven myself a champion of workers' rights, particularly teachers.
Often in America, access to the freedoms and privileges guaranteed under the Constitution are determined by ZIP code.
More than my political affiliation, I consider myself a hellraising humanitarian. Hell raising in the sense that I don't just go along to get along.
Although she was not a politician, my grandmother gave me the most important lesson I've ever received and one I carry with me today. That all you need to be successful in life is three things: your wishbone to dream big, your jawbone to speak the truth, and your backbone to persevere through it all.
Women are outfundraised. Why? Because men have been doing it a lot longer. And, so not only do they have entry into the money, they have connections that a lot of women don't. Women are a lot older most of the times when they run for office because of the stigma.
My grandmother bought me a set of Encyclopedia Britannica's when I was little, and I remember sitting on the floor reading through these just dreaming of all the possibilities. My mind would always go toward me becoming a nurse or a teacher because, even back then, I knew I wanted to do my part to make the world a richer place.
A major part of living in a representative form of government is giving citizens the right to choose and be treated equally.
I'm a Democrat, and that's worth fighting for.
Does being practical mean we prop up a legal system that's unfair, that bears its weight down on black men and black women, and by extension if you are Hispanic or indigenous or poor? Does being practical mean you don't say to the American people you deserve better than you're getting? That's not the practical we want.
People are human. People have failings. It's unfortunate people want to keep piling on people's failings.
The truth is, our democracy is stronger when more people participate and when everyone's views are heard. More participation not only leads to a more representative government, but also more thoughtful policies that better leverage the strengths - and better address the challenges - of the American mosaic.
We live in a country that sent people to the moon. This accomplishment, along with other bold leaps of faith, required political will, determination and imagination. Providing health care for all of our citizens requires the same force of will.
My mother raised me herself, along with my six younger siblings, in Cleveland, and life wasn't easy even in the best of times. At age 42, she died, and it fell on me, then aged 22 and working minimum wage, to take care of all of us. At the time, I was newly married with a baby son. And I was deeply afraid for our future.
If a mother or a caregiver does not have a job that pays a living wage and they cannot afford child care, that is unacceptable. I've talked to my constituents over the years, and child care can almost bankrupt a family, even a two-parent household in which both parents are working.
Cleveland has been my life.
Real change begins with citizens registering to vote, becoming active and engaged in their communities, and casting their ballot at every election for those who will fairly and accurately represent them.
People don't wake up to go to vote and then have their ballot not counted.
The best way to build a house is not from the top, but from the bottom. When you go to the polls, vote from the bottom up.
A government reflects the views of those who select it, and if people are unable to cast their ballot because the voting hours aren't convenient for them or because other hurdles have been raised too high we get a less representative government as a result.
I think I have a lot to offer.
I don't want our white working class sisters and brothers to feel as though their pain is not important because it is. But at the same time, I want my white sisters and brothers to understand that when we talk about income and wealth inequality, that disproportionately African Americans suffer a little more.
I was 22 when my mother died; my baby sister was 12. We had nothing. We had each other, but we had nothing.
Any new venture, you gonna have some bumps in the road.
The men in our lives, including members of the General Assembly, generously devote time to fundamental female reproductive issues. The least we can do is return the favor.
Every step of the way, life was hard. I was supposed to be a statistic.
Working class men and women deserve a champion. They're tired of people just telling them what they want to hear to get elected and they don't necessarily follow through.
Whether it is access to voting rights, representation in government, or the outsized influence of money in our political system, the opportunity to interact with and participate in democracy is available to some, but blocked for many.
We have a problem with our democracy when you have election officials deliberately trying to take away the fundamental right to vote in this country in the 21st century.
You know, women not making dollar for dollar the same as a man is not new. It's been that way since day zero, since the founding of this country. And when you put African-American women and Hispanic women into the mix it's even worse than that.
We can do it all and have it all. That's what I want young women to know. Make their own music. If nobody's making music for them, make your own. Do what you are passionate about and don't let anybody or anything stop you or convince you that you are not worthy.
Campaigns end, revolutions endure.
Nobody talks about the poor. Everybody talks about the middle class and just kinda want to ignore that the poor exist. And you cannot ignore that they exist if you want to help them.
There is a cost for democracy. It is worth the cost when it comes to opening up access for voters.
Same way we have enough money to bail out Wall Street, we need to put a down payment on Main Street.
People want to see you be genuine.
We are the only industrialized nation in the world that does not have a Medicare for All type of program, and that's an idea whose time has come. It is the morally right thing to do.
It is un-American, it is unjust to target any group of folks whether they are African-American, Hispanic, poor or elderly when it comes to access to the vote.
If not for food stamps, Medicaid, and various job programs, I would never have gone on to be the first in my family to go to college, the first black woman to represent my ward on the Cleveland City Council, and, ultimately, a State Senator.
The folks in this counrty need somebody that will stand up for them.
Environmental justice is vitally important to the mission of Our Revolution.
Never did I think I would live to see the day Jim Crow was resurrected, making repeat appearances in the South. And he has packed his bags, and he has moved North. Something is wrong.
I stand up for what is right even if it puts me in a political conundrum. Supporting Senator Sanders was one of those moments when the status quo said 'Uh uh, bad girl.'
Most men that run for office wake up in the morning and say, I am worthy to be the president of the United States of America. I want women to channel their inner man and say, Oh yeah, I am worthy.
The GOP will not be satisfied until women are barefoot, pregnant and back home by 5 o'clock P.M. to cook dinner.
