Nina Turner Quotes (1967-)

“I don’t bend, that I come from the Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm school of Democrats, and that is unbought and unbossed.”

“It makes no sense that the voices of everyday people, like you, me, your viewers and listeners, are being drowned out by money.”

“What is it about saying “black male” that causes a frenzy, where people decide they will shoot first and ask questions later?”

“The same politicians that cut the $45.5 billion tuition-free community college plan just gave the Pentagon $45 billion MORE than they requested.”

“These type of mass shootings leaves everybody vulnerable, no matter their age; from an infant to the most seasoned person in this nation is left vulnerable.”

“If Manchin and Sinema can push their wheel on the entire U.S. Senate and president, then the progressives almost 100-strong should damn sure be able to push their wheel too.”

“This is a centuries-old problem, that African Americans, and particularly African-American males, are seen as more criminal. Nowhere in America should a 12-year-old boy be gunned down in the way that he was.”

“Folks don’t have a problem with us investing our money to help the wealthiest people in this country—corporate welfare, if you will—but folks seem to have a problem with us investing our money in the working poor and middle class in this country.”

“I’m just sick and tired of Republicans across this country talking about smaller government, but they want government to be big enough to fit into a woman’s womb. And so, that “GOP—Get Out of My Panties” T-shirt was a pushback against that kind of stuff.”

“The heaviness of the trauma of this moment, between the pandemic, between all of these mass shootings, between inflation and people not being able to afford to live. This a traumatic situation. And this problem calls for big policy pushes, such as having Medicare for All, so people can get the services that they need.”

“These people are pouring in this kind of money because they want to be able to control the outcomes that happen on the congressional level. This is it, plain and simple. You don’t invest that kind of money without expecting a return...They are investing in corporatist-type Democrats because they want a return on their investment.”

“West Virginia is the sixth poorest state in the United States of America and Manchin is pretending like he's helping them. But this is not about the makeup of the state. Look at the polling, even West Virginians agree with a lot of what is both of these bills. This is really about Manchin being bought and sold and choosing the owner-donor class over his constituents. He's not doing the will of the people and neither is Sinema.”

“The agenda that is being put forward by those on my side of this movement — Medicare for All, living wages, making sure people can unionize, protecting voting rights — the overwhelming majority of people believe in it. What is missing is intestinal fortitude on the side of the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party as a whole have to make a decision: Is this the party of the corporatists, or is it going to be the party of the people? So far, it is failing and proven that it is the party of the corporatists.”

“the oligarchs — because that’s exactly what they are — when you have cryptocurrency billionaires, oil baronesses, other corporate interests infusing or injecting themselves into these local races, it is a problem, because what they do is they drown out the voices and the will. We don’t truly know what the will of the people would be if these super PACs would not jump in in the way that they do. And they seem to — not seem — they particularly target women of color and, going even deeper than that, Black women.”

“As a little girl, I would always ask my grandmother what it would take to be successful in life. ... She said all you need are the three bones: the wishbone, the jawbone, and the backbone. The wishbone would keep you hoping and praying because hope is the motivator, but the dream is the driver. The jawbone will give you courage to speak truth to power, lift your voice — it should matter that you’re in the room, that you’re in that space with that voice. The backbone ... will give you courage to stand through all of your trials and tribulations.”

“We have almost 100 million folks in this nation who are either in poverty or on the brink of being in poverty. Seventy percent of those 100 million are women and children. And for people in the Legislature to be focusing in on Planned Parenthood or to be focusing in on women’s healthcare choices really makes no sense, when what we should be doing is putting people back to work, making sure that we make the requisite investments to educate our children, rebuilding our infrastructure. But yet and still, we have members of the Legislature all across this country who are not only cutting funds to Planned Parenthood, but really are trying to dismantle Roe v. Wade.”

“We as a nation have not dealt with racism and xenophobia, you know, antisemitism, anti-Blackness. We just have not dealt with it in this country. And the chickens are coming home to roost, certainly starting with the election of President Donald J. Trump, but all of this was happening in the United States of America before that man was elected. So we cannot sit here and say that it is just because he was elected. We have neglected to deal with a violent past and a violent present in the United States of America, wrapped in white supremacy, wrapped in bigotry in all of its forms, wrapped in sexism, and certainly wrapped in anti-Blackness. And until we are willing and able to deal with that, we’re going to continue to have these problems.”

“In 2014, I was asked to help ready for Hillary, and that’s exactly what I did. But when it came time to endorse, I have endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders. He has the type of heart-soul agreement that I believe that we need in this country. He has been a constant champion for civil rights, women’s rights, voting rights. His plan to make sure that we have universal healthcare in this nation, as a right and not a privilege, really speaks to me... directing our public will towards making sure that we change the model in this country to a pre-K-to-college model, that speaks to me, especially because I am a first-generation college graduate and I understand, from a personal perspective, the power of higher education to help somebody change the trajectory of their life.”