DeRay Mckesson

I love Baltimore. This city has made me the man that I am. ”

Bowdoin was the first place that I fell in love with. When I visited, I just had never been to a place with that many resources and that much access to information. That was stuff that you saw in movies. I didn't know that existed in real life. ”

Most of my life's information is public. I got a text one day from a hacker who texted me all of my credit card information. ”

Being mayor is about offering a vision for the city, putting the right people in the right place, and executing that vision. ”

I think of protest as confrontation and disruption, as the end of silence. ”

Baltimore is a city of possibility, and we've got to challenge the traditional pathways of politics and politicians who lay those paths. ”

Politics is compromise, by its very nature. But we never compromise on our values and beliefs. ”

There is nothing romantic about teargas. Or smoke bombs or rubber bullets or sound cannons. ”

I think about freedom as not only as the absence of oppression but also the presence of justice and joy. ”

Black people have always been more than our pain. The joy is so much a part of how we have survived and thrived. ”