Rep. Ayanna Pressley Shares a Reminder Ahead of the Election: "Joy Is an Act of Resistance"

From Oprah Magazine

Ahead of Election night 2020, it's safe to say that tensions are high across America.

And perhaps no one understands that more than campaign surrogates who are hitting the road and virtual outlets to send an important message: Vote. That includes Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, who has served as the U.S. Representative for Massachusetts's 7th congressional district since 2019. But she's also been a vocal supporter of the Joe Biden and Kamala Harris ticket, working to not only get out the vote but to also share this truth: If you want to see change in your own life and community, it starts with using your voice—at the ballot box and beyond.

"The power of the people is greater than the people in power—that has always been true. Very few politicians lead, most are pushed," she says. "So this is about voting for who will lobby for you—this is about voting for who will be your partner."

As the nation gears up for one of the most historic elections in history, the Congresswoman shared why she's supported the Biden-Harris ticket, plus how she's finding calm in the chaos—with a little help from a special purple lipstick.

Watch the full video or read highlights from our interview below.

Thank you so much for joining us virtually. First of all: How are you? It’s been a crazy couple of months.

You know honestly, in the midst of these crises—the pandemic, the economic hardship that has brought a national reckoning on racial relations...I’m so inspired by the collective care and mutual aid that has emerged from community. I’m so inspired by the unprecedented turnout, because people are clear-eyed about the stakes of this most consequential election in our history. I am feeling actually emboldened, I am feeling determined, really inspired.

I love the words "emboldened" and "inspired." There’s a lot of anxiety and negative energy going around, so hearing that is uplifting for me.

The thing is, joy is an act of resistance. So when you’re drinking from this firehose of insult and assault for four years...when the Trump administration and those who carry his water have been coming for our democracy, our healthcare, our humanity, our planet, our civil rights, our very peace of mind...we can not give them our joy, too. And so I went and early voted and cast my ballot for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris so that we can have an administration that will lead with compassion, be thoughtful, committed, accountable partners for progress. That gave me great joy.

You’ve been actively campaigning and working through Get Out the Vote. Why did you want to put all your energy behind this moment?

Well this pandemic has really laid bare the inequities and disparities that have persisted for a long time. And under this administration, because of their willful criminality and science denials, all of that hurt has only been worsened. And democracy is not a spectator sport, so I would never be one to sit on the sidelines. But I represent already an unequal district that is 53% people of color, 40% foreign-born, almost 40% single female-headed households. Arianna, these are the folks who are on the precipice of eviction, who are dealing with unprecedented food insecurity, who are currently unemployed—and that is because of the failures of this administration.

And I’ll just say for Black and Brown folks—in the midst of this national reckoning on racial injustice, layered with the coronavirus with which we’ve been disproportionately impacted by—I mean the coronavirus is now the third leading cause of death amongst Black Americans. We’re three times more likely to contract it, three times more likely to die from it. Police brutality is the sixth leading cause of death amongst Black men. This administration has allowed this pandemic to rage out of control, and they don’t believe systemic racism even exists.

So in Donald Trump, we have someone who emboldens white supremacy and will not disavow dangerous white terrorist supremacy organizations. And then in Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, we have people who will affirm that my life matters. People who see me, who see my pain, and then are developing responses legislatively to that. And policy is my love language. Because policy has created hurt and harm, but it can also create equity and justice. That’s what we deserve, and that’s what we’re going to need in order to recover from all the hurt that has been caused the last four years.”

Many of our readers are women, and you’ve been vocal about the fact that there are many issues at stake for women specifically in this upcoming election. Can you elaborate on that and why you feel women voters should vote for Biden-Harris?

Well I believe that the failures of the Trump administration—which I think leads with cruelty, corruption, and callousness—are all on the ballot. What is also on the ballot is healthcare justice, reproductive justice, climate justice, housing justice. Again, I represent a district that’s almost 40% single female-headed household. They are on the front line to be devastatingly impacted by this eviction tsunami. And that is happening again because of unprecedented unemployment and the hurt caused by this pandemic.

So we see that instead of this GOP-led Senate passing a comprehensive relief package to mitigate the hurt, instead they had a sham of a SCOTUS confirmation process. Their nominee is someone who has a long record of being anti-choice, anti-worker, anti-immigrant—and who also wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. And I know millions of Americans, and so many women including myself, who live with pre-existing conditions. So again healthcare justice, reproductive justice are all on the ballot.

Now I want to say this Arianna, because I see some folks in the comments that are saying ‘But I’m not betting my whole future on the election of anyone.’ Nor should you! The election of myself, anyone. Joe Biden, Kamala Harris—they are the door, they are not the destination. What you are voting for in this moment is who you will lobby. Who will be your partner? We don’t elect saviors, we elect partners. So ultimately what happens is not only left to them.

If you look at the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act—every major piece of legislation that has been passed—Medicare, all these things happen because of the power of movements. I’m not going to sit here and pretend that everything you want will be accomplished under a Biden-Harris administration. But I know for sure that nothing that you want and nothing that you need will happen under a Trump administration, because I don’t have selective amnesia about what the last four years have been.

Something I hear so often is "I don't know enough about policy to care about voting." For anyone who says I don’t think I’m educated enough to vote, where can people start?

Well first I want to say: You are qualified to participate based on your lived experience. That’s all the qualification that you need. So if your water is not clean to drink and your air is not clean to breathe, and you and your family have experienced intergenerational poverty, trauma, poor public health outcomes....do your research, do your homework on where the candidates that are on the ballot, where they are on those things.

But I also need to say this Arianna: it’s not just about the top of the ticket. This is also about, on that ballot, you will have an opportunity to vote for someone for the United States Senate. That matters, because this United States Senate has stood in the way of our reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act. This United States Senate is why we haven’t passed an anti-lynching bill named for Emmett Till. This Senate is the reason why we didn’t pass a justice in policing act to ban chokeholds and no knock warrants, which are the very things that took the lives of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, respectively. So the only homework you need to know is your lived experience, and vote your condition. And please, go and vote not only for top of the ticket—I’m supporting Biden-Harris—but you have the opportunity to cast a ballot for the United States Senate, for your U.S. House of Representative, for your state legislature.

Before I let you go, as we were talking about earlier, you mentioned joy as an act of resistance. How do you manage to stay hopeful in this time? How are you keeping up that positive energy no matter what happens tomorrow?

Talking to people like you Arianna, that are just staying at it. And let me just give a shoutout, because you’re digital director. You know, we’ve had to be so innovative and nimble and organize in new ways because of COVID. And I hope that some of this innovation...that we will keep that after we have weathered this storm. But the only way that we weather this storm is to elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, because they’re going to make the pandemic and our response to that—with national testing strategy, contact tracing, once a vaccine is available ensuring that it is equitably distributed—that is what is causing the greatest tsunami of hurt right now. So what’s giving me hope is the power of the people, and the power of this movement.

That, and herbal teas. And this purple lip I’m wearing because my mother, may she rest in peace and power, that was her favorite color. And whenever I want to feel joyful and close to her, I put on a statement lip and anything purple. So that is giving me some joy.”

I was just going to ask: What is that lipstick shade? I need to know—it is everything!

Oh my goodness…this is NYX. You can get this at CVS y’all! I’m all about a drugstore. And you’re not going to believe me, but the name of this is STFU. I think something in that name is about getting out the vote, okay!

Thank you Congresswoman. This has been such a lovely chat.

Thank you Arianna. It was a pleasure.

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