We must stand together united in solidarity against the targeting, demonization, and vilification of any group of people.
— Linda Sarsour
I wholeheartedly believe that we can't organize just as women. There has to be specific messaging and an issue prioritization based on identity groups. Because when you ask a black woman what her top priority issues are versus a white woman versus a Muslim woman versus an undocumented woman, you're going to get... different answers.
Intersectional organizing is the new agenda. And if we're gonna lose, we're gonna lose together. If we win, we're gonna win together.
I wish that more of the celebrities, who are multi-millionaires, probably, are able to say to themselves, 'Wow, my communities are under attack, and I need to give back to my community.'
Our number one and top priority is to protect and defend our community. It is not to assimilate and please any other people and authority.
When you're trying to inspire individuals across the country, you have to have a reflection that people can see themselves in.
We will not be silenced by Blue Lives Matter, by white supremacists, by neo-Nazis, or right-wing Zionists.
My American side makes me fearless.
It makes me sad that our kids are growing up in a country where they are American but, in a sense, have to prove it. They can't just be who they are like everyone else. Who they are is something suspicious, something scary, something misunderstood.
I have my own support network of other organizers, activists, and attorneys.
I was the head of fundraising for the Women's March, and I chose not to take money from corporations.
People have been skeptical of the Women's March on Washington. Our legitimacy only came from us proving to the rest of the world that we're capable.
I believe in the liberation of the Palestinian people.
Donald Trump has no idea what a deal is. I mean, he's a man who has filed for bankruptcy many times, so he doesn't understand how to make any deals.
I have a very resilient Brooklyn personality that allows me to stay thick-skinned and focused on my mission and goals.
Sometimes, it seems like the whole world has already set my life out for me.
You have to understand when you're organizing with women of color, you can't use words like 'marginalized' and 'second-class citizen' loosely.
What's wrong is wrong, and that's absolutely acceptable, and I understand that people get hurt by things that people say that are hurtful, and we should be able to say that when someone says something that hurts us, that it hurts us.
None of us live single-issue lives... That is why intersectionality is a strength, not a weakness.
I'm not just a token Muslim.
The way you raise the profile of an issue is by making the issue cool and relevant in pop culture.
Do you care about climate justice? Are you about women's rights and women's reproductive rights? Do you care about civil liberties and the Voting Rights Act? There are so many opportunities for people to go back and be inspired and plug into their own community.
I'm a Palestinian-Muslim, but I'm also a progressive.
I have no problem with people challenging my views and my positions. I want to be clear that I'm not asking anybody to stop challenging me. But I will not accept being called an anti-Semite.
Americans - in general, we are very steadfast people: we know what we want; we get what we want.
I think the Women's March is actually reflective of this idea that you can create a big tent, but that doesn't mean the people inside of the tent are going to agree on everything. In fact, they might have very public fights about the things that they don't agree with.
I was on the steering committee of the New York City Coalition on Muslim School Holidays.
I have been part of fights where we have been told, 'You will not win,' and we have won.
One of the areas that many of us, including the Women's March organizers, are focusing on is starting mass voter registration and voter engagement.
I believe in a nonviolent movement of boycott, divestment, sanctions.
I'm Muslim. I'm Palestinian. I'm a woman in a hijab.
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.
There are plenty of Muslim women who are backbones of the community, but they aren't usually at the forefront. There just aren't a lot of me out there - women in hijabs, doing what I do.
Look, yes, I'm a Muslim woman and I want to bring my community to the table, but I also want to make sure that I'm not being tokenized.
We at the Women's March tried intersectionality, and we were the group that said we're going to do it right, and we're going to defy our women-of-color elders who told us, 'We did this with the white woman before, and it doesn't work.'
It is powerful to know what it feels like to be in community with people who will show up and fight for each other.
I didn't wake up one morning and become some important person.
Our obligation is to our young people, is to our women, to make sure our women are protected in our community.
If you have a march that's entirely white women or a march that maybe is entirely black women, it's going inspire those who look like them, which is fine. Our idea is that we want to inspire as diverse of a group of people as possible.
Wearing hijab made you know that I was Muslim.
There's a conflation between the critique of the state of Israel and their policies with anti-Semitism, which I think is really flawed and inaccurate.
I care about affordable housing. I care about bus routes. I care about small business. I care about schools. These are not Muslim issues. Even protection of civil rights - that's not just a Muslim issue. That is for everyone.
We have our own agency; we should be judged by our own work.
I am the most optimistic organizer in this country.
Time and time again, organizers have proved that when we work together, when we organize together, that we can win.
We would never ask any other faith community to stand up and condemn acts of violence committed by people within their groups. The fact that this is only directed at the Muslim community is something that I personally can't accept.
This idea of me being anti-Semitic is the most ludicrous of them all.
As an activist, organizer, Palestinian, and a Muslim-American woman, I have faced many obstacles in the industry I work in. I often have to fight for my seat and representation for the communities I represent.
Women need to find the courage to demand what they rightfully deserve. Women should be paid for the same work as their male counterparts, ask for promotions, and stand in their power in their place of employment, whether they are in a boardroom or in the movement.
Sharia is, for me, a personal basic set of guidelines that Muslims follow. It's about being respectful to elders. It's about praying five times a day. It's about etiquette that I have with members of my family. It's about inheritance, and it's about how we get married. Just the kind of basic things that anyone engages in in life.
