Quotes from Mike Espy

We've got to replace the statues of Jefferson Davis and JZ George in the U.S. Capitol, and the people of Mississippi ought to have a say in it.

I've talked to people of every race and occupation. The bottom line is that we're all the same.

We must do everything possible to protect the lives of everyone and help make sure no one in this country feels unsafe.

We are a state in need of uplift in a ubiquitous way.

People tend to see all black congressmen as liberals with an urban twist: They're all for gun control and against the death penalty. It's not true, and it shouldn't be true.

Don't look to me to support urban mass transit.

No meat can ever be 100 percent sterile.

I have a sense that the USDA and the secretary who represents the USDA has always been seen as either a stranger or adversary to the farming community and a stranger to the consuming community.

We shouldn't try to turn policemen into social workers, but they should at least understand that not all offenders belong in jail.

What happened to George Floyd is an abomination. Four Minneapolis policemen used excessive force to cause his death in what appears to be a tragically cavalier fashion. All four officers involved should be held fully accountable and incarcerated for their crimes.

I was born with chronic asthma, and when I was about five or six years old, one day I had an asthma attack so bad I began to become comatose.

I am an African American public official operating in an environment dominated by Caucasians. That is not too dissimilar from what I had to do in Mississippi to get elected and stay elected. I try to show them we are all in this together.

It's no secret that Mississippians - especially Black Mississippians - are overlooked. We are overlooked by Washington, by the Democratic Party, by the media, by national political prognosticators.

I will stand up for Mississippi like no one has done before. My voice will resonate most strongly in our struggling communities.

My brother-in-law is an African-American cop who patrols a New Orleans suburban community. He speaks to me often of his perilous duty.

I'm not for single payer. But I'm for continuation of the Affordable Care Act.

I'm not into moral victories.

I was supposed to go to art school, and my father wanted me to go to law school.