African American Policy ForumVarmennettu tili

"Truth be told, I was quite cynical about elected officials. Over the course of my two decades of organizing, I saw too few who were willing to use their positions to exercise leadership, particularly when an issue was seen as 'controversial.'" -@PramilaJayapal

Rep. Jayapal shares an excerpt from her new book: "As an activist, I had even taken on President Barack Obama for being the 'Deporter-in-Chief,' a still unpopular but in my view necessary critique of an otherwise extremely popular president."

Rep. @PramilaJayapal on her path from activist to politician: "What if we began to think about running for office as a way to organize more people, to connect people to the government, to bring organizing from the outside to the inside, to have the proverbial seat at the table?"

Rep. Jayapal describes how the incredibly painful but necessary and inspiring uprisings across the country have been an awakening; a mass movement that is using its power to demand changes that were almost unthinkable only two or three years ago.

Rep. Jayapal reminds us that voters elect politicians to lead, not to only follow the polls and do what's politically safe. Politicians have an obligation to use their platform to shape public opinion. Trump does that to cruel effect, but progressives can do that to good effect.

Rep. Jayapal names Shirley Chisholm and @RepBarbaraLee as some of the progressive politicians who inspired her.

Kimberlé Crenshaw (@sandylocks) on how she feels seeing progressive leaders such as Rep. Jayapal and "The Squad" in Congress: "It's a refreshing way of reimagining what representation actually looks like."

Rep. Jayapal doesn't pull any punches: "It's been Democratic presidents who have really suppressed and oppressed people of color and low-income communities." Both parties have been responsible for building our racist and unjust criminal legal system.

Rep. Jayapal reminds us that George Bush's administration was responsible for building the post-9/11 national security state, but Democrats did not stand up and instead bought into the idea of national security as a justification of incursions on privacy and civil liberties.

"Trump is both a symptom and a cause." We can get rid of the cause in November, but we also have to address the deep inequality that has build up over the course of American history. We have to address the conditions that allowed President Trump to come to power. -@PramilaJayapal

Rep. Jayapal takes about how it was hard voting against the HEROES Act, but that was necessary due to the Act's shortcomings. Congress should've subsidized workers' paychecks. "Mass unemployment is a policy choice. A bad policy choice."