We can never be afraid to stand up for what is right, no matter what others may say. And sometimes, if that means taking a lonely road, if what we are standing for is true, then perhaps moonlight or sunshine will light our way and make it less lonely.
Pramila Jayapal
I'm an organizer at heart. Organizers know that giving information, being in front of people, talking to people, to build our movement for the kind of country that we see is the most important thing.
History has always judged silence and complicity harshly in these times of moral consequence.
Every hour that goes by with family separation policies in effect is another hour that mothers weep thinking of their children, another hour that kids are fearfully wondering where their parents have been taken, another hour that trauma deepens.
My big idea is that democracy can only work properly if you have truly representative people at the table.
When I was a little girl, my dad always said to me that I was going to be this great businesswoman, that I was going to be the CEO of IBM. So that's what I came into the world thinking, that I was going to go into the business world and make my mark there.
Sometimes when really terrible things happen, something beautiful emerges out of it.
We have to take our anger and rage and channel it into building, growing, loving, holding each other up.
My grandmother was whip smart as well as an incredible athlete. She played tennis in her sari, cheered on the Indian team in cricket matches, and tried to convince us that her made-up words were real so she could win a Scrabble game.
Statistics are just a compilation of people's stories put on paper, and legislation is our attempt to address those real challenges for people.
I've been told to go back to my country so many times, I can't even count.
We have to remember that disagreeing with people is fine; it is dehumanizing people that is not, and when that happens, we have to be ready to speak up.
I came to the United States by myself when I was 16 years old. My parents had about $5,000 in their bank account, and they used it all to send me here because they truly believed that this country was where I was going to get the best education and have the best opportunities.
The vast majority of immigrants - regardless of the conditions of war and poverty that may wrack their home countries - come and contribute to their new home country: building our roads, caring for our homes, children, and elders, and serving as doctors, lawyers, employers, and innovators.
Some people have called me the anti-Trump, and I'm so proud.
If you're an opposition party, you are actively using the power you have to oppose the ideas of the other party.
I'm the first South Asian woman to be elected to the House of Representatives.
Corporations and special interests have their voice in Congress, and they have too many members scared of their power. What Congress needs is a progressive voice who is unafraid to take on these powerful interests - who is willing to fight for all Americans, not just the wealthiest 1 percent.
I've always believed that immigration is really about who we are as a country and what we're willing to stand up for.
There were not that many people who were willing to come out and stand up for Muslims or stand up against the abuses of the Bush administration. That was post-9/11, so I think there was a lot of fear at the time about exactly what that meant - were they unpatriotic if they stood up?
I was on the committee that helped raise the minimum wage here in Seattle. I introduced a statewide bill to raise the minimum wage in Washington state my first year in the state senate, and I really believe that raising the federal minimum wage, while not the answer to everything, addresses a lot of the issues at the very bottom.
I've always thought of the United States as a place where so much was possible and so many opportunities were out there.
For immigrant women, the very act of immigration is about opportunity, equality, and freedom. Women immigrants come to America to care for their families, escape gender-based violence, or express their sexual identity.
We need to expand the idea of choice to be about all the choices we make in our lives: including which country we choose to live in so we can be whole and full women.
I have an incredibly supportive family.
We must be clear: Donald Trump is lying when he conflates immigrants coming across the border with MS-13 gangs.
Districts are really different across the country, but the more that people on the progressive Left show power at the ballot box - and reclassify some of the ideas that we've called 'progressive,' but that are really mainstream ideas, like college for all - the better.
Gays and lesbians gained rights in this country though activism and organizing, creating political space and demanding change so that lawmakers and justices could do what they knew was right. That organizing allowed Americans to get to know gays and lesbians as our daughters and sons, our neighbors, and our friends.
I have my chops in organizing, and I know how to create political space through movement building.
Individuals whose asylum claims have been accepted have gone on to become professors, soldiers in our military, artists, and more.
Trump has hated Amazon for a long time, and I think that that came out in many interviews that he's done with 'Vanity Fair' and with others.
Certainly there are many Congress members who have been arrested in the past on immigration issues and will continue to because we all understand that staying silent is not an option.
I'm conscious of my race and ethnicity in the legislature - it's hard not to be.
When bosses, leaders, and powerful men and women ignore or deny the accounts of harassment victims, they reinforce the idea that harassers are playing the game as they should and that the rest of us should fall in line.
Getting a college degree used to be free or low cost because, as a society, we saw providing higher education to young people as an investment - in them and in the future of our own country.
Civil rights icons, famous journalists, big-time movie producers may all have credits to their name that we can recognize and be grateful for, but their record of good works cannot excuse their harassment of women.
We the people are sick and tired of the criminalization of immigrants, sick to our hearts to see Trump's family separation policies rip families apart across our country.
The fact that the immigration issue was the first thing Trump took aim at was a good thing for me, because it's what I spent my life working on. It became a place to see what we've become as a country, and how overreach can actually serve to bring those of us on the Left and Democrats together.
Rather than name-calling and arguing about whether it is appropriate or not to employ radical tactics, we progressives need to start listening to each other.
My mother, with a Master's in English Literature, taught me to appreciate language and that words matter.
There is no question that we, as a country, need to deal with economic inequality across the country, and we need to make sure we have good-paying jobs for everyone.
Immigrants contribute more than they take. It is a lie that they take public benefits, because they don't qualify for just about every benefit.
It is always easier to have somebody to blame, but immigrants are not the cause of the country's economic woes.
I am on the side of the working person across the country.
We on the Left are very good at criticizing people, but we need to build the base to pull people to the Left.
Can you be a progressive if you're anti-immigrant but pro-choice? No!
If you look at the future of the Democratic Party, things like raising the minimum wage - Democrats need to get behind raising the minimum wage and be clear on where we stand on trade deals.
As we say we fight for working people, we have to make sure our policies reflect that.
I want to remind women of color out there to stand your ground, and don't ever be afraid to speak up.
After 9/11, I had just become an American citizen, and I remember sitting in front of my TV set watching the news of the attacks, in tears. I remember thinking to myself, 'Nothing is ever going to be the same in this country for people who look like me.'
