Alicia Garza

How do we stop violence, looting, and riots? The way that we stop that is by making sure that people have the things that they need to thrive.

The police are not taking accountability for the violence that they enact in our communities, and yet there isn't as much outrage about that as there is about some broken windows and lost property.

For me, it's clear Beyonce sees herself as a part of the movement for black lives and believes that black lives matter - and ultimately, that's what matters.

We need to make sure we're creating spaces to create new leaders and new types of leadership.

Sometimes you have to put a wrench in the gears to get people to listen.

I need to create an environment where I can be my best self, and that means being unapologetic about saying no to things that don't serve me or move me closer to my purpose and the things that I care about the most.

It's not lost on me that every single person who told their story about Harvey Weinstein talked about how they were silenced, how they were encouraged not to speak up, how they were embarrassed or ashamed to speak up.

I think that we are all deeply, deeply committed to the liberation of black people. And so, when you put people together who have and share that commitment, the sky is the limit.

Every successful social movement in this country's history has used disruption as a strategy to fight for social change. Whether it was the Boston Tea Party to the sit-ins at lunch counters throughout the South, no change has been won without disruptive action.

We want to see a world where black lives matter in order for us to get to a world where all of our humanity is respected.

We are clear that all lives matter, but we live in a world where that's not actually happening in practice. So if we want to get to the place where all lives matter, then we have to make sure that black lives matter, too.

This country was created from stolen land and stolen labor. And from a moral perspective, but also from a practical one, everybody knows that when you steal, you're always looking over your shoulder because you know that somebody may steal it back.

We all lose when bullying and personal attacks become a substitute for genuine conversation and principled disagreement.

Although police terrorism plays a specific role on behalf of the state, it is not the totality of what state violence looks like or feels like in our communities.

One of the beautiful things about a movement is that there are many strategies and many tactics contained within it. Not every participant in a movement is required to do exactly the same things.

I think that building political power has to come from the outside and from within. Meaning, we have to build political alternatives to the existing system, and we have to try to impact what is happening in the existing system.

All in all, Donald Trump appeals to people who want to be seen the way that Donald Trump sees them.

The biggest misconception about Black Lives Matter is that BLM is just one entity; Black Lives Matter is an organization and a network. We are a part of the movement, but we are not the movement.

Find an organization that you want to support and get involved. You can give money or give time.

Black Lives Matter was created as a response to state violence and anti-black racism and a call to action for those who want to fight it and build a world where black lives do, in fact, matter.

My definition of feminism is a social, political, economic system by which all genders are valued, respected, and can live dignified lives.

When we sit and think about what the world needs to looks like in order for black lives to actually matter, there is a debate: What is going to make our communities safe? How do we deal with harm? How do we solve problems that come up in our communities?

It's actually OK to be unique and have your own contributions, to celebrate what it means to be black, how we've survived and thrived through the worst conditions possible.

'Socialism' became this weird household word partially because right-wingers call Obama a socialist, which he is the farthest from.

It's hard to be a leader when you have to make hard choices and when you have to do what's right, even though people are not going to like you for it.

I think that there is an element where leadership is lonely, but I also believe that it doesn't have to be like that.

I think race and racism is probably the most studied social, economic, and political phenomenon in this country, but it's also the least understood.

The reality is that race in the United States operates on a spectrum from black to white. Doesn't mean that people who are in between don't experience racism, but it means that the closer you are to white on that spectrum, the better off you are. And the closer to black that you are on that spectrum, the worse off your are.

Growing up in a school that was majority white, my understanding of the world was that I was different but that differences shouldn't be talked about because it's uncomfortable.

I grew up in Marin County, which is a wealthy suburb of San Francisco.

It took me a long time to figure out that I didn't have to do everything, that it was actually a lot more helpful if I did a couple things really, really well than a whole bunch of things really badly, or nothing at all, because the whole thing was overwhelming.

The open source nature of the Internet is both a blessing and a curse, because just as much as we can watch what's happening around the world, we can also be watched.

The Clintons use black people for votes but then don't do anything for black communities after they're elected. They use us for photo ops.

Protest is best used when it's part of a strategy that involves escalating tactics that build pressure on targets.