All of the great social justice advances that we ever had in this country have come not from people with big titles and not from people at the top, but just from everyday people getting together saying 'Enough is enough. I'm going to change this, and I'm going to get involved, and I am going to be engaged.'
The best way to build a house is not from the top, but from the bottom. When you go to the polls, vote from the bottom up.
Voter fraud is almost non-existent. People don't just show up on election day, trying to impersonate other people.
I am on a mission to help make this world a better place.
Whether it is access to voting rights, representation in government, or the outsized influence of money in our political system, the opportunity to interact with and participate in democracy is available to some, but blocked for many.
In a democracy, a person's vote is their voice. For much of our history, however, not everyone's voice was welcome at the voting booth.
Although she was not a politician, my grandmother gave me the most important lesson I've ever received and one I carry with me today. That all you need to be successful in life is three things: your wishbone to dream big, your jawbone to speak the truth, and your backbone to persevere through it all.
Does being practical mean we prop up a legal system that's unfair, that bears its weight down on black men and black women, and by extension if you are Hispanic or indigenous or poor? Does being practical mean you don't say to the American people you deserve better than you're getting? That's not the practical we want.
Same way we have enough money to bail out Wall Street, we need to put a down payment on Main Street.
Often in America, access to the freedoms and privileges guaranteed under the Constitution are determined by ZIP code.
We tell people to go to college, but when they cross the stage, they cross the stage with a degree in one hand and debt in the other that stifles their ability to be able to live that good life.
Women are outfundraised. Why? Because men have been doing it a lot longer. And, so not only do they have entry into the money, they have connections that a lot of women don't. Women are a lot older most of the times when they run for office because of the stigma.
The GOP will not be satisfied until women are barefoot, pregnant and back home by 5 o'clock P.M. to cook dinner.
If not for food stamps, Medicaid, and various job programs, I would never have gone on to be the first in my family to go to college, the first black woman to represent my ward on the Cleveland City Council, and, ultimately, a State Senator.
My mother raised me herself, along with my six younger siblings, in Cleveland, and life wasn't easy even in the best of times. At age 42, she died, and it fell on me, then aged 22 and working minimum wage, to take care of all of us. At the time, I was newly married with a baby son. And I was deeply afraid for our future.
A major part of living in a representative form of government is giving citizens the right to choose and be treated equally.
There is a cost for democracy. It is worth the cost when it comes to opening up access for voters.
We are the only industrialized nation in the world that does not have a Medicare for All type of program, and that's an idea whose time has come. It is the morally right thing to do.
Strong communities start at the ballot box - where every eligible Ohioan has the opportunity to make their voice heard.
My grandmother bought me a set of Encyclopedia Britannica's when I was little, and I remember sitting on the floor reading through these just dreaming of all the possibilities. My mind would always go toward me becoming a nurse or a teacher because, even back then, I knew I wanted to do my part to make the world a richer place.
