Ayanna Pressley Quotes

I hope that a lot of the men and women who feel forgotten in this country really see that they have in me a champion.

It is feasible for someone who comes from a privileged background to understand the privilege they have had and to use the formal political arena in a way that would disperse power and engage with people in their own lives.

In America, the dreamers, the disabled and the disadvantaged are not left to defend themselves, alone in their struggles.

My big lesson from Gamergate is asking the men in charge to do the right thing does not work. So we need women, we need people of color in positions of power not just in the game industry but at social media and tech companies and in Congress.

When marginalized people gain voice and center their own experiences, things begin changing. And we see this in all kinds of grassroots movements.

Alleviating suffering of the most marginalized communities must begin with assessing the needs of entire communities and allowing the most marginalized to lead the strategy. My belief is those closest to the pain are closest to the solution.

I'm trying to appeal to the disenfranchised everybody, not just specifically gay.

Believing that our greatest need is for the general public to be able to get better information, to have an opportunity to learn better the real issues of the less fortunate, we centered the activities of the Fairness Project on that.

Collectively, we activists are essential to advancing U.S. policy to help empower marginalized people to lift themselves and their communities out of poverty for good.

As a white woman with a privileged education, I'm keenly aware that I founded an organization that can only realize its goal if it enlists many more leaders who share the backgrounds of the students and families we work with.

Our party has always been the voice of the powerless and the voiceless.

I've not given the poor people of Bihar heaven, but I have given them a voice.

The purpose of influence is to speak up for those who have no influence.

Speak up for the people that nobody speaks for.

I think as more women are in positions of power, more people of color are in positions of power, the stories become more inclusive; the casts become more inclusive.

We, as communities that are marginalized, need to open up our minds and realize that we should be asking and advocating for more of everyone. Let's get more gay black men; let's get more trans women.

There's a part of me that's trying to represent kids that don't necessarily have the same outlet that I have. I'm not looking towards a new demographic. I'm looking towards the demographic I came from.

If we don't center the voices of marginalized people, we're doing the wrong work.

Special things happen when you center people who haven't been centered before.

I think our work as movement leaders isn't just about our own visibility but rather how do we make the whole visible. How do we not just fight for our individual selves but fight for everybody?

Intersectionality has given many advocates a way to frame their circumstances and to fight for their visibility and inclusion.

I want to be a champion for the people I have fought for all my life - regular people.

In my work as an actress and an activist, I've spent many years working with low income communities and people of color who don't always have a voice in our political process.

It matters whether women sit at the table. No one speaks up for you when you are standing outside with your nose pressed up against the glass. You cannot window-shop for power.

We cannot reform institutional racism or systemic policies if we are not actively engaged. It's not enough to simply complain about injustice; the only way to prevent future injustice is to create the society we would like to see, one where we are all equal under the law.