My mother, with a Master's in English Literature, taught me to appreciate language and that words matter.
— Pramila Jayapal
Trump can embrace dictators and gulags, but we the people stand for human rights, for dignity, for keeping families together.
We have to take our anger and rage and channel it into building, growing, loving, holding each other up.
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.
Those who have the most power - whether famous TV anchors, rich Hollywood moguls, judges, Members of Congress, or the president of the United States - must decide how to exert that power: for corruption or for good.
Compromise for compromise sake is never good, unless it is grounded in principles.
I would attend a State of the Union by a president with whom I disagree if I felt she or he was otherwise respectful and adhered to basic moral values or basic tenets of civility and respect.
I like to have my cup of green tea.
Immigration is about more than just who comes here and who is allowed to stay. It is about who we are as a country and what we are willing to stand up for.
I became an immigrant, civil and human rights advocate, then the first South Asian elected to the Washington State Legislature and the only woman of color in the Washington State Senate, and then was elected in 2016 to the United States Congress.
I have an incredibly supportive family.
My message to women - including women of color - stand strong. Refuse to be minimized or patronized. Let all the small guys out there be intimidated by you.
I never thought I would run for office.
If you're an opposition party, you are actively using the power you have to oppose the ideas of the other party.
I've been told to go back to my country so many times, I can't even count.
Policy is about real people and real stories, and sometimes we forget that.
I have a little yoga ritual that I do just to move my body around. Whatever I do, it's usually very fast because often I don't have the kind of time that I would like to.
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.
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.
Having a strong race lens means you understand racism is threaded through and institutionalized in all of our systems and our very perceptions, threaded through how someone looks at you, treats you, thinks about you and your potential.
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 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.
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.
The American people expect their leaders to condemn white supremacy in unambiguous terms. President Trump not only failed at condemning white supremacists and neo-Nazis, he stood up for them - for that, he must be censured.
I usually wake up really early because I keep myself on East Coast time.
What makes America great is our commitment to our values of inclusivity and opportunity for all.
I actually had a number of different careers. I worked on Wall Street; I was a Master's in Business. I left that to work in the public sector.
I'm the first South Asian woman to be elected to the House of Representatives.
I've always believed that immigration is really about who we are as a country and what we're willing to stand up for.
People who think that the immigration system is easy and people should just apply legally - it just isn't that easy.
I think what I learned is that just because somebody says you can't talk to them or just because somebody says they don't have an answer for you, you don't stop.
Some people have called me the anti-Trump, and I'm so proud.
As an immigrant, I have lived, in a way, the American dream, and I want to make sure that opportunity is available for everybody.
I'm not a complainer. I'm a doer. So if I see something is wrong, then I feel like I have to get in there and try to fix it.
I am not a woman on Monday, an immigrant on Tuesday, a worker on Wednesday, and a mom on Thursday, I am all of those things all of the time, and I am going to fight for all of those things all of the time.
Regardless of who is elected president in 2016, we all still live together. Each of us has a different role to play, but we all have to hold the collective space for movement-building together. It's the only way we move forward.
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.
When women are told that sexual harassment is 'part of the job' or when assistants of both sexes enable harassing behavior, they have bought into the culture that says such behavior is not just permissible, it is a desirable expression of power.
I am grateful for my family, friends, and all those who send constant love and support - you are my energy and my hope. You teach me, love me even when I'm wrong, and let me ride the challenges and come out whole.
History has always judged silence and complicity harshly in these times of moral consequence.
I like being on a plane with no phone service because I get so much work done.
I really get my best work done in the morning, so if I have to edit speeches or comments, that all happens before I get to work.
President Trump has harnessed the fear and prejudice that have accompanied every wave of immigrants in United States history, and stoked those fears to further his own agenda.
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.
Racism, sexism, and age-ism are all alive and well in the U.S. House.
Diversity is not just about the fact that the pictures look better. I mean, they always do look better!
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?
Sometimes when really terrible things happen, something beautiful emerges out of it.
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 always thought of the United States as a place where so much was possible and so many opportunities were out there.
