DeRay Mckesson

People in power make the path to power. It means that we will always get the same system, and it's one that is not necessarily in the interest of people's lives. ”

The student newspapers are as important to me as the 'New York Times.' ”

It will always be important that people continue to push on the system from the outside. It will also be important that people make the changes that we know are necessary on the inside. ”

People like to act like we don't have a legacy of racism here. I think people get really uncomfortable with it. We know that we can't change it unless we address that. ”

I'm not desensitized to death. ”

I think about freedom and the urgency around our imagination. If you can't imagine it, you can't fight for it. ”

I think that I, because of student government and because of working in Baltimore, knew how to be creative with very little resources. ”

I think my imagination about jobs was pretty limited. There were so few jobs that I actually saw people who looked like me in, that I imagined myself in, that I think I just stopped imagining. ”

I think the reality is that there's a role for everybody to play in the work of social justice and that we have to organize everybody. That means that Silicon Valley has to be organized, the fashion industry has to be organized, the formerly incarcerated have to be organized, the teachers. ”

For our kids to go to school, they must be alive, and for adults to work, they must not be in jail. ”