DeRay Mckesson Quotes
-
I'm a black, gay man, and I should be able to live in a world where I'm able to live in the complexity of my identity in a way that is safe and secure, like everyone else.
-
It is not a new tactic for people to use any avenue they can to silence black activists.
-
There are very few things that I don't talk about - even my relationships.
-
Twitter is half me trying to live in the world and half me processing and sharing the world. I share a lot, and some of that is to keep me honest.
-
I have a platform, and I can help. I can be in spaces that reporters will never be in because I'm a protester.
-
A lot of organizers are trying to figure out how do we create entrances for people so they can be involved in the work in a way that makes them feel is aligned to the things they're interested in and not the things the organizer is interested in?
-
I'm not convinced that stealing an iPhone is a felony or stealing a bike is a felony.
-
I think about Twitter as the friend that's always awake. It's why I tweet so much.
-
Politics is compromise, by its very nature. But we never compromise on our values and beliefs.
-
When I tweet, I'm mostly preaching to the choir.
-
The arts scene in Baltimore is really rich and very vibrant. It's one of the untold stories of the city.
-
I take statements that portray untrue statements about me seriously.
-
I am running to be the 50th mayor of Baltimore in order to usher our city into an era where the government is accountable to its people and is aggressively innovative in how it identifies and solves its problems.
-
Systemic change rarely comes overnight.
-
If anything, any success that I have ever experienced has been because people who didn't have to care about me did, and they pushed me to see things in myself that I did not see in myself at the time.
-
As a protester, I protested because I had to, not because it was exciting. I don't want to get tear-gassed again.
-
Some people are more interested in fighting than winning.
-
I think my imagination about jobs was pretty limited. There were so few jobs that I actually saw people who looked like me in, that I imagined myself in, that I think I just stopped imagining.
-
You're not born woke. Something wakes you up.
-
I think the reality is that there's a role for everybody to play in the work of social justice and that we have to organize everybody. That means that Silicon Valley has to be organized, the fashion industry has to be organized, the formerly incarcerated have to be organized, the teachers.
-
I have a big following on Twitter, and Twitter has been invaluable for mobilizing and quickly sharing information. But I'm not really sure that people are learning deep content on Twitter.
-
We question these issues of race and struggle and white privilege because we know that those issues are real and because those issues have real implications in black communities. And white supremacy is not only dangerous, but it is deadly.
-
I'm not a politician. I'm somebody who knows the world can be better, and I'm willing to fight for it.
-
I think about freedom as not only as the absence of oppression but also the presence of justice and joy.