Cory Booker for
President 2020 Announcement
Video Transcript
I grew up knowing that the only way we can make change is when people come together.
When I was a baby, my parents tried to move us into a neighborhood with great public schools, but realtors wouldn’t sell us a home because of the color of our skin.
A group of white lawyers who had watched the courage of civil rights activists were inspired to help black families in their own community. Including Mine.
And they changed the course of my entire life.
Because in America, courage is contagious.
My Dad told me “Boy, never forget where you came from or how many people had to sacrifice to get you where you are.”
So over 2o years ago, I moved into the central ward of Newark to fight slumlords and help families stay in their homes.
I still live there today and I’m the only Senator who goes home to a low-income, inner-city community, the first community that took a chance on me.
We are better when we help each other.
The history of our nation is defined by collective action by interwoven destinies of slaves and abolitionists, of those born here and those that chose America as home, of those that took up arms to defend our country and those who liked arms to challenge and change it.
I believe that we can build a country where no one is forgotten, no one is left behind, where parents can put food on the table, where there are good paying jobs with good benefits in every neighborhood, where our criminal justice system keeps us safe, instead of shuffling more children into cages and coffins, where we see the faces of our leaders on television and feel pride, not shame.
It is not a matter of can we, it’s a matter of do we have the collective will, the American will?
I believe we do.
Together, we will channel our common pain, back into our common purpose.
Together, America, we will rise.
I’m Cory Booker and I’m running for President of the United State of America.
I grew up knowing that the only way we can make change is when people come together.
When I was a baby, my parents tried to move us into a neighborhood with great public schools, but realtors wouldn’t sell us a home because of the color of our skin.
A group of white lawyers who had watched the courage of civil rights activists were inspired to help black families in their own community. Including Mine.
And they changed the course of my entire life.
Because in America, courage is contagious.
My Dad told me “Boy, never forget where you came from or how many people had to sacrifice to get you where you are.”
So over 2o years ago, I moved into the central ward of Newark to fight slumlords and help families stay in their homes.
I still live there today and I’m the only Senator who goes home to a low-income, inner-city community, the first community that took a chance on me.
We are better when we help each other.
The history of our nation is defined by collective action by interwoven destinies of slaves and abolitionists, of those born here and those that chose America as home, of those that took up arms to defend our country and those who liked arms to challenge and change it.
I believe that we can build a country where no one is forgotten, no one is left behind, where parents can put food on the table, where there are good paying jobs with good benefits in every neighborhood, where our criminal justice system keeps us safe, instead of shuffling more children into cages and coffins, where we see the faces of our leaders on television and feel pride, not shame.
It is not a matter of can we, it’s a matter of do we have the collective will, the American will?
I believe we do.
Together, we will channel our common pain, back into our common purpose.
Together, America, we will rise.
I’m Cory Booker and I’m running for President of the United State of America.