Quotes from Jamaal Bowman

The school-to-prison pipeline - the disproportionality that exists in handing out school discipline in schools to Black and Brown students for simple infractions - pushes kids out of classrooms and into our ever-growing system of mass incarceration.

I see myself as a person who is pushing back and fighting against oppression in all its forms, centering racial and economic injustice very explicitly.

Our response to crises cannot be adding more and more police funding.

I'm going to be the kind of congressperson where I'm going to be at rallies with the people, fighting for justice and being present and showing them that they have a fighter and a champion in Congress with them and for them.

I am endorsing Joe Biden. He has to be our president. Donald Trump is a racist and a fascist, and we have to do everything in our power to make sure Joe Biden wins.

Democracy, as a governing system, is built on the foundational concept that when you cast your ballot, that ballot ensures your voice, will, and perspective will be accounted for in the direction of your city, state, or country.

As we deal with a devastating climate crisis caused by decades of unchecked corporate greed, we need to center our children and their future.

We can have a political system that works for the people and allows for the economy to thrive. It doesn't have to be either.

Without a holistic care infrastructure to support us, our economy and society simply cannot thrive.

I believe with all my heart that bold, public investments in care for people, communities, and the environment can anchor the rebirth of our country and secure our future.

Hip Hop is the rebirth of civilization. For people who were disconnected from their continent, from their language, from their culture, and from their ancestry, Hip Hop represented a step toward rediscovering what it means to be a Black American, or to be a Latino American.

To reimagine our country, we must first rebuild our infrastructure with community priorities at the center.

We need to rebuild our nation with a new foundation. A foundation rooted in love, and care, and equality. Where justice is truly real for all of us, regardless of race, class, gender, orientation, or religion. I fully believe we can.

What we badly need in this country is a National Truth and Reconciliation Commission, like what we've seen in other nations that have tried to turn the page on injustice.

Defund the police does not mean abolish the police. It means a dramatic reduction in the number of police in our poor communities and particularly our poor Black and Brown communities.

Our foreign aid to other nations should never be used to harm.

Violence begets violence, and hate begets hate. Both hate and violence beget a society that harms, and makes impossible the healing necessary for us to reach our full potential.

We must work together to unlearn the biases that make our foundation week, and rebuild a foundation of collective care, love, and cooperation.

When we condemn hate, when we condemn antisemitism, we also must commit to working together to eradicate the biases within all of us that allow hate to spread, unfettered.

My background is: I'm a Black man in America, victim of police brutality, victim of institutional racism, working-class from working-class roots.

We need to invest in our people and a livable planet if we want to build an economy that works for everyone.

We need to end qualified immunity at the federal level, where police can violate a person's civil rights with impunity, which we've seen happening time and time again.

We need to ask ourselves what kind of systems and structures we want in place - not only for people to survive, but also to thrive and reach their full potential.

As we continue our fight to advance civil rights and racial justice, we need to not only recognize but celebrate how Hip Hop and Black Americans have given so much to our culture and our country.