'We Have Been the Table Shakers': Rep. Ayanna Pressley Uplifts Black Women and Honors the Late Rep.

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'We Have Been the Table Shakers': Rep. Ayanna Pressley Uplifts Black Women and Honors the Late Rep. John Lewis in Conversation at The Root Institute

"Black women–our hair, our bodies—are criminalized. Certainly, I am not exempt from that because I have a comma and a title after my name. That is still a weaponizing experience as a Black woman, as a Black woman in congress, and certainly, as a Black bald woman in congress navigating these spaces.” —Rep. Ayanna Pressley

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley is “Black with a capital ‘B’ and a woman with a capital ‘W’” (as she profoundly said in a TEDx Talk). A light in these dark times, Rep. Pressley offers hope for those who may have lost faith in our country’s leaders. She moves through the world fearlessly, despite unrelenting forces of opposition—after all, this is what Black women have done throughout history.

Despite our fortitude and plenteous contributions to the world, the congresswoman says that Black women are described as “disruptors” rather than “innovators.”

“History will attempt to whitewash, to sanitize, to write out our [Black women’s] contributions. You cannot deny the fact that we have been the disruptors. We have been the table-shakers. We have been the truth-tellers.” Congresswoman Pressley continues, “And as the most reliably voting constituency, we have also been the preservers of democracy.”

Read More With Video At the link:https://institute.theroot.com/we-have-been-the-table-shakers-rep-ayanna-pressley-up-1844610943#_ga=2.228651102.395785576.1597442605-595754975.1596150736

So proud that she represents MA.

“Ayanna Pressley would not exist were it not for John Lewis,” Rep. Pressley tells The Root.