Linda Sarsour Quotes

We show up to fight racism, anti-black racism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, misogyny, patriarchy, anti-Semitism, because after Donald Trump is out of office, there will still be all those things here.

I was the head of fundraising for the Women’s March, and I chose not to take money from corporations.

Being a Muslim American activist, I’ve been targeted by the right wing in a way that is very dangerous.

Jared Kushner is the last person that should be trying to bring peace to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The Palestinian people were governing themselves before the creation of the State of Israel.

You can’t be a feminist in the United States and stand up for the rights of the American woman and then say that you don’t want to stand up for the rights of Palestinian women in Palestine. It’s all connected.

It makes me sad that our kids are growing up in a country where they are American but, in a sense, have to prove it. They can’t just be who they are like everyone else. Who they are is something suspicious, something scary, something misunderstood.

I’m not going to hide my positions to make anyone else feel comfortable.

BDS has been used as a tactic to raise awareness for Palestinian people, including women and their children.

The way you raise the profile of an issue is by making the issue cool and relevant in pop culture.

Dan Donovan was the district attorney at one point who could not indict NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo, who choked Eric Garner on video, for the whole country to watch, for the whole world to watch. And he actually, immediately after that, won a seat in Congress. He beat a Democrat to get into Congress.

Time and time again, organizers have proved that when we work together, when we organize together, that we can win.

There are plenty of Muslim women who are backbones of the community, but they aren’t usually at the forefront. There just aren’t a lot of me out there – women in hijabs, doing what I do.

I think Bernie Sanders is a realist.

Dissent is the highest form of patriotism, and I intend to continue to push my country to respect the rights of all its citizens. I will not be silenced.

There’s a conflation between the critique of the state of Israel and their policies with anti-Semitism, which I think is really flawed and inaccurate.

I care about affordable housing. I care about bus routes. I care about small business. I care about schools. These are not Muslim issues. Even protection of civil rights – that’s not just a Muslim issue. That is for everyone.

When I stand up here, and I’m fighting for your rights and the rights of all people in these United States of America, I am a true patriot.

I’m Muslim. I’m Palestinian. I’m a woman in a hijab.

We are rooted in Kingian nonviolence.

I’m a Palestinian-Muslim, but I’m also a progressive.

I will not walk away from the people and communities whom I love deeply. I will continue to raise my voice for justice and equality for all, organize communities who want to defend the rights of black people, stand against policies that target and marginalize Muslims, and advocate for health care for all people.

Wearing hijab made you know that I was Muslim.

I am the most optimistic organizer in this country.

My work has always been rooted in nonviolence, as espoused by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

I didn’t wake up one morning and become some important person.

Our number one and top priority is to protect and defend our community. It is not to assimilate and please any other people and authority.

When you’re trying to inspire individuals across the country, you have to have a reflection that people can see themselves in.

I hope that we when we stand up to those who oppress our communities that Allah accepts from us that as a form of jihad.

Alleviating suffering of the most marginalized communities must begin with assessing the needs of entire communities and allowing the most marginalized to lead the strategy. My belief is those closest to the pain are closest to the solution.

I have no problem with people challenging my views and my positions. I want to be clear that I’m not asking anybody to stop challenging me. But I will not accept being called an anti-Semite.

I haven’t given up on my country. I believe in the potential. I believe in the Constitution.

I have a very resilient Brooklyn personality that allows me to stay thick-skinned and focused on my mission and goals.

It is powerful to know what it feels like to be in community with people who will show up and fight for each other.

We are taught to attack the forces of evil and not those doing evil. That is what we are trained in.

None of us live single-issue lives… That is why intersectionality is a strength, not a weakness.

I’m not just a token Muslim.

I’m the national co-chair for the Women’s March on Washington.

You have to understand when you’re organizing with women of color, you can’t use words like ‘marginalized’ and ‘second-class citizen’ loosely.

We would never ask any other faith community to stand up and condemn acts of violence committed by people within their groups. The fact that this is only directed at the Muslim community is something that I personally can’t accept.

One of the areas that many of us, including the Women’s March organizers, are focusing on is starting mass voter registration and voter engagement.

We, as Palestinian-Americans… will not change who we are to make anyone comfortable.

I’ve been working with Jews for over 20 years.

We will continue to organize. You have seen consistent organizing since the Women’s March on Washington in every corner of this country.

We at the Women’s March tried intersectionality, and we were the group that said we’re going to do it right, and we’re going to defy our women-of-color elders who told us, ‘We did this with the white woman before, and it doesn’t work.’

There is no country in this world that is immune to violating human rights.

Minister Farrakhan absolutely says anti-Semitic, misogynistic and homophobic remarks. And we have unequivocally rejected all forms of racism and hate, including anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia, etc.

Since when can somebody tell me a time or a case where there has been a Syrian refugee in this country who has committed an act of terror?

As an activist, organizer, Palestinian, and a Muslim-American woman, I have faced many obstacles in the industry I work in. I often have to fight for my seat and representation for the communities I represent.

It’s not enough just to elect people of color and women of color and progressives. We need to make sure that they have a work plan and that they are – continue to align with the communities that helped get them to where they’re at.

My American side makes me fearless.

I believe in the liberation of the Palestinian people.

This idea of me being anti-Semitic is the most ludicrous of them all.

We have to, as a progressive movement, organize climate justice and reproductive rights and racial justice. We’ve got to do this. We can’t continue to organize in silos.

Women need to find the courage to demand what they rightfully deserve. Women should be paid for the same work as their male counterparts, ask for promotions, and stand in their power in their place of employment, whether they are in a boardroom or in the movement.

I’m impacted by my women’s reproductive rights.

Reading a teleprompter is not what makes you presidential. It’s your actions that you take, and it’s democracy.

People see whatever the media first reports.

I was on the steering committee of the New York City Coalition on Muslim School Holidays.

When you talk about feminism, you’re talking about the rights of all women and their families to live in dignity, peace, and security. It’s about giving women access to health care and other basic rights.

We have our own agency; we should be judged by our own work.

You’ve probably seen that any visible Palestinian-American woman who is at the forefront of any social-justice movement is an immediate target of the right wing and right-wing Zionists. They will go to any extreme to criminalize us and to engage in alternative facts, to sew together a narrative that does not exist.

There are no perfect leaders.

My family is originally from Palestine, who came here to the United States, you know, from an occupied land to find a better life and find security and safety.

My Pandora station is Boyz II Men.

I think the Women’s March is actually reflective of this idea that you can create a big tent, but that doesn’t mean the people inside of the tent are going to agree on everything. In fact, they might have very public fights about the things that they don’t agree with.

I wish that more of the celebrities, who are multi-millionaires, probably, are able to say to themselves, ‘Wow, my communities are under attack, and I need to give back to my community.’

I have been part of fights where we have been told, ‘You will not win,’ and we have won.

I have my own support network of other organizers, activists, and attorneys.

The progressive Left is sometimes very uncomfortable for staunch pro-Israel supporters, but what’s very clear to me is that the progressive Left does not make Jews feel unsafe.

I began my work as director of the Arab American Association of New York in the wake of the horrific attacks of 9/11.

I believe that this is the land of religious freedom and that that applies to Muslims. And if I have to make it apply to Muslims with the work that I do, I’m going to do that.