Aligning private development with community needs for equity and resiliency is one of the most powerful roles of city government.
Michelle WuRead
Growing up, I never ever thought that I would or could or should be involved in politics. I didn't see anyone who looked like me in spaces of power.
Interpretation
Michelle Wu reflects on her unexpected journey into politics, emphasizing the lack of representation she saw growing up.
In this quote, Michelle Wu shares her realization of how one's environment and the representation of diverse individuals in positions of power can shape aspirations and beliefs. She highlights the importance of seeing people who look like oneself in influential roles, suggesting that such visibility can inspire individuals to pursue paths they may not have previously considered, including politics.
In practice
During a speech at a community event to inspire young people to pursue their dreams.
Aligning private development with community needs for equity and resiliency is one of the most powerful roles of city government.
We can build wealth in all our communities, value public education, plan for our neighborhoods, invest in housing we can afford and transportation that serves everyone, truly fund public health for safety and healing, and deliver on a city Green New Deal for clean air and water, healthy homes, and the brightest future for our children.
When I first ran for City Council in 2013, I was told over and over again that I would likely lose, and for reasons beyond my control: I was too young, not born in Boston, Asian American, female.
During natural disasters or emergencies, the most resilient communities - places that suffer the fewest casualties and rebuild more quickly - are not the wealthiest neighborhoods or ones that have spent the most on physical infrastructure, but rather the communities with the strongest social infrastructure.
Free public transportation is the single biggest step we could take toward economic mobility, racial equity, and climate justice.
I think if we're going to be serious as a city, as a country, about addressing climate change, addressing inequality and racial disparities, we have to start taking action at the scale that matches the urgency of the problems.
The Voting Rights Act was, and still is, vitally important to the future of democracy in the United States.
In terms of election issues, the urgent challenges we face include securing reforms to de-escalate the nuclear arms race, end voter suppression, improve health care for all Americans and alleviate the climate crisis.
Sheep run to the slaughterhouse, silent and hopeless, but at least sheep never vote for the butcher who kills them or the people who devour them. More beastly than any beast, more sheepish than any sheep, the voter names his own executioner and chooses his own devourer, and for this precious "right" a revolution was fought.
Trouble is, we call politics a game, but it isn't one. There is no referee, and the teams make up the rules as they go along. You can't cry foul or offside in politics. Almost anything goes.
Ankh-Morpork had dallied with many forms of government and had ended up with that form of democracy known as One Man, One Vote. The Patrician was the Man; he had the Vote.
Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men's views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.
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