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" I was a teacher. I also worked at Harlem Children's Zone. I moved back to Baltimore and opened up an after-school, out-of-school program on the west side and then worked in two public school districts, in Baltimore and Minneapolis. "

DeRay Mckesson

Teacher

Two

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

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" What we know to be true is that comfort isn't always freedom. People confuse the two. "

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

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

DeRay Mckesson

Always

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" 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. "

" We question these issues of race and struggle and white privilege because we know that those issues are real and because those issues have real implications in black communities. And white supremacy is not only dangerous, but it is deadly. "

" Expressing and loving myself is often so much more complex than 'out' affords me. "

DeRay Mckesson

Complex

" I'm a black, gay man, and I should be able to live in a world where I'm able to live in the complexity of my identity in a way that is safe and secure, like everyone else. "

" I am not naive enough to believe that voting is the only way to bring about transformational change, just as I know that protest alone is not the sole solution to the challenges we face. "

" When I tweet, I'm mostly preaching to the choir. "

DeRay Mckesson

Mostly

Preaching

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

" Too often, the elected individuals we put our public trust in disappoint us. "

" I am often asked what it is like to be on the 'front line.' But I do not use the term 'front line' to describe us, the protesters. Because everywhere in America, wherever we are, our blackness puts us in close proximity to police violence. "

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

" I have a big following on Twitter, and Twitter has been invaluable for mobilizing and quickly sharing information. But I'm not really sure that people are learning deep content on Twitter. "

" Skills acquisition is really at the heart of what it means to learn. "

" 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. "

" I've worked in two public school districts, Minneapolis and Baltimore, one as a senior leader. And while we might not always have agreed with the union, and we might have had deep differences, they came to the table. "

" I think that Silicon Valley and technology can play a huge role in redefining what community looks like and how people come together and what authentic relationships look like, but that is not only their burden. "

" It is not a new tactic for people to use any avenue they can to silence black activists. "

" As a gay black man, it's important to me to show up - that I'm able to show up as my whole self, in every space that I'm in, because that's how I'm able to be the most true to who I am. "

" What we choose to do today and tomorrow will shape our future and build our reality. "

" Some people are more interested in fighting than winning. "

" 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. "

" If anything, any success that I have ever experienced has been because people who didn't have to care about me did, and they pushed me to see things in myself that I did not see in myself at the time. "

DeRay Mckesson

Time

People

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

" It is one thing to talk about fundraising and another to do it as a candidate, and I have learned so much about how much money it costs to run a campaign and what it means to raise money. "

" 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. "

" The arts scene in Baltimore is really rich and very vibrant. It's one of the untold stories of the city. "

" I think Twitter is an incredible platform. I want to see it succeed. "