Welcome once again to $27 Quotes — a weekly place where you can sit back, relax, enjoy some inspiring quotes and good music, and (most importantly) spend time gazing at a picture or two of foresterbob’s cat Noble Fur.
Once again I only have time to do an abbreviated $27 Quotes. Apologies to the many inspiring speakers whose words I was unable to fit in tonight.
Let’s start with a little music...
Recently there was a comment thread where lots of inspiring music videos were posted, including Billie Bragg’s version of Woody Guthrie’s song Union Maid. It’s a great song, well worth listening to again while reading tonight’s quotes, so here’s one of my favorite musical renderings of it, is courtesy of the New Harmony Sisterhood:
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If you’re not familiar with the Mississippi State Prison located in Parchman, here’s a link to a PBS news story, Inside Mississippi’s notorious Parchman prison, which can help fill you in a little.
Eight men have died in Parchman Prison in just a few weeks. Eight. We cannot look away from this. It’s time to stand with those working to shut down Parchman, ~ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Eight men have died in Parchman Prison in just a few weeks. Eight.
We cannot look away from this. It’s time to stand with those working to shut down Parchman,
~ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
What is happening in Mississippi is inhumane. It is the definition of cruel and unusual. Parchman Prison is a torture chamber and we cannot afford to be robbed of one more human life at the hands of Mississippi's state’s corrections system. Shut down Parchman! ~ Ayanna Pressley
What is happening in Mississippi is inhumane. It is the definition of cruel and unusual. Parchman Prison is a torture chamber and we cannot afford to be robbed of one more human life at the hands of Mississippi's state’s corrections system. Shut down Parchman!
~ Ayanna Pressley
We need a bold, radical transformation of our criminal INjustice system. It is our mandate to make good on our promise of justice for all. ~ Ayanna Pressley
We need a bold, radical transformation of our criminal INjustice system. It is our mandate to make good on our promise of justice for all.
I stand in solidarity with those of us who are treated as second class citizens. I stand in solidarity with the activists fighting for justice for all. We must stand up and fight back. We must transform the entire criminal legal system. We need a People's Justice Guarantee. ~ Ayanna Pressley
I stand in solidarity with those of us who are treated as second class citizens. I stand in solidarity with the activists fighting for justice for all. We must stand up and fight back. We must transform the entire criminal legal system.
We need a People's Justice Guarantee.
(If you’d like to learn more about Ayanna Pressley’s vision for a People’s Justice Guarantee, click here. Here’s the start of what you’ll find there:
Today [November 14, 2019], Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), introduced a comprehensive, people-centered, decarceration-focused legislation H. Res. 702, The People’s Justice Guarantee. Congresswoman Pressley’s resolution lays out a bold, new vision for justice in the American criminal legal system. The resolution aims to outline a framework that will transform the U.S. criminal legal system to one that meets America’s foundational yet unfilled promise of justice for all. Currently, more Americans live in jails and prisons than in Phoenix, Philadelphia, or the state of New Mexico. Additionally, the American criminal legal system is disproportionately decimating Black and brown communities, who unjustly make up 31% of America’s population but 56% of the incarcerated population. “You cannot have a government for and by the people if it is not represented by all of the people,” said Congresswoman Pressley. “For far too long, those closest to the pain have not been closest to the power, resulting in a racist, xenophobic, rogue, and fundamentally flawed criminal legal system. The People’s Justice Guarantee is the product of a symbiotic partnership with over 20 grassroots organizations and people impacted by the discriminatory policies of our legal system. Our resolution calls for a bold transformation of the status quo - devoted to dismantling injustices so that the system is smaller, safer, less punitive, and more humane.”
Today [November 14, 2019], Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), introduced a comprehensive, people-centered, decarceration-focused legislation H. Res. 702, The People’s Justice Guarantee. Congresswoman Pressley’s resolution lays out a bold, new vision for justice in the American criminal legal system. The resolution aims to outline a framework that will transform the U.S. criminal legal system to one that meets America’s foundational yet unfilled promise of justice for all.
Currently, more Americans live in jails and prisons than in Phoenix, Philadelphia, or the state of New Mexico. Additionally, the American criminal legal system is disproportionately decimating Black and brown communities, who unjustly make up 31% of America’s population but 56% of the incarcerated population.
“You cannot have a government for and by the people if it is not represented by all of the people,” said Congresswoman Pressley. “For far too long, those closest to the pain have not been closest to the power, resulting in a racist, xenophobic, rogue, and fundamentally flawed criminal legal system. The People’s Justice Guarantee is the product of a symbiotic partnership with over 20 grassroots organizations and people impacted by the discriminatory policies of our legal system. Our resolution calls for a bold transformation of the status quo - devoted to dismantling injustices so that the system is smaller, safer, less punitive, and more humane.”
No one should have to watch a loved one die because they don't have health insurance. I don't understand what is so radical about that. ~ Bernie Sanders
No one should have to watch a loved one die because they don't have health insurance. I don't understand what is so radical about that.
~ Bernie Sanders
Health care should not be a privilege. It must be a right. ~ Pramila Jayapal
Health care should not be a privilege. It must be a right.
~ Pramila Jayapal
here’s a short (40 seconds) video in which Bernie Sanders addresses the question of whether his agenda is radical, with help from the audience:
What some call radical, Bernie Sanders and I call common sense. ~ Pramila Jayapal
What some call radical, Bernie Sanders and I call common sense.
Making health care a right. A living wage for all. Reproductive rights. Immigration reform. Criminal justice reform. Addressing climate change. Making higher education tuition-free. These are not radical ideas — they are what the American people want. ~ Bernie Sanders
These are not radical ideas — they are what the American people want.
Our immigration system must live up to our ideals as a nation. Unlike Trump, we will welcome refugees and those seeking asylum, including those displaced by climate change. ~ Bernie Sanders
Our immigration system must live up to our ideals as a nation. Unlike Trump, we will welcome refugees and those seeking asylum, including those displaced by climate change.
We can’t sit around and use the high school history version of Dr. King. King’s life did not end because he said ‘I have a dream.’ It ended because he was dangerous to the core injustices of this nation... If we want to honor him, we have to be dangerous too. ~ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
We can’t sit around and use the high school history version of Dr. King.
King’s life did not end because he said ‘I have a dream.’ It ended because he was dangerous to the core injustices of this nation...
If we want to honor him, we have to be dangerous too.
No one ever makes a billion dollars. You take a billion dollars. ~ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
No one ever makes a billion dollars. You take a billion dollars.
You don’t win by being safe and stale and uninspiring. You need to be big and bold and honest. ~ Mark Pocan
You don’t win by being safe and stale and uninspiring. You need to be big and bold and honest.
~ Mark Pocan
This campaign is not just about me. It is about building a movement of human solidarity and saying that when one of us hurts, all of us hurt. ~ Bernie Sanders
This campaign is not just about me. It is about building a movement of human solidarity and saying that when one of us hurts, all of us hurt.
The climate crisis is an existential threat, putting at risk our very existence. I have proposed the most aggressive, comprehensive plan to address this crisis. Why? Because we have no other choice. ~ Bernie Sanders
The climate crisis is an existential threat, putting at risk our very existence. I have proposed the most aggressive, comprehensive plan to address this crisis. Why? Because we have no other choice.
I considered using “We have no other choice” as tonight’s title quote, but i decided instead to use a line from the lyrics to a song from 1973, one which carries a very important message. It’s a key message which the Sanders and Warren campaigns have been expressing in recent days, which is why i thought this would be a good time to share it. The message is that we need to care for all those around us in the world — not just the people who look like us or who come from similar backgrounds as we do or who share our political or religious or other beliefs but for all people.
Stand together for what you believe Work for what must be done Love each other in all that you do Till all my people are one.
Stand together for what you believe
Work for what must be done
Love each other in all that you do
Till all my people are one.
This song comes out of a religious background, at a time when there were still many religious people who believed in the message of loving and caring for others all around us.
Today it may be somewhat harder to find religious people who believe that, as their voices are being drowned out by religious people whose top priorities include supporting Donald Trump, stopping women from being able to use birth control or get abortions, depriving poor people of food and shelter, and driving away those who seek refuge and asylum.
But the message of this song transcends religion. Like “Union Maid” at the top of tonight’s diary, this is one of my favorite songs. I hope you’ll enjoy it too.
Here’s “Till All My People Are One”:
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