September 26, 2025 • 17 mins
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-OH) talks about the power of Black women in American society, and how she fears they are being marginalized under the Trump Administration.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Good afternoon.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm Andrea Coleman with the Black Information Network at the
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's fifty fourth Annual Legislative Conference, and
we are talking with I don't even know what word
could possibly describe who you are in the hearts and
the minds of Black America right now, but the Aana Presley,
who represents Massachusetts seventh District, the first black woman elected
(00:23):
from that state to Congress, and it is just always a.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Pleasure to speak with you. It's so good to be
with you.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, So tell us a little bit about what's on
your mind. You had a panel yesterday on Black women
and the movement.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
For reproductive freedom.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Where are we in that?
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Well, the point of yesterday's panel was really just a
highlight into underscore the role that black women have played
throughout history and every movement, but in particular the movement
for reproductive of freedom and for reproductive justice, which is
really an intersectional issue. It's one of racial justice. Uh,
(01:02):
it's one of economic justice, it's one of health care justice,
it's one of you know, human rights fundamentally, because health
care is a human right. And so where we find
ourselves in the in the moment is a very challenging time,
you know. I have to say I was very heartened
at our panel yesterday that the room was packed. I
(01:24):
had been fearful that as a country, since the Dobb's
decision in the fall of Row, that perhaps the country
had so normalized the death of women seeking abortion care,
either to manage a miscarriage or an ectopic pregnancy, and
these incredible stories of uh women uh their bodies turning
(01:45):
sepsis and dying in the parking lots of hospitals or
in emergency rooms because doctors are also being criminalized and
have a fear of providing that essential care. I was
so fearful that the suffering of black women, the death
of black women, death that could have been avoided, had
(02:08):
become so normalized, so unremarkable, that people would not be there.
But the room was packed, and that says to me
that people understand this is a matter of health care,
which is a human right and also a matter of freedom,
because that begins with your bodily autonomy, and a woman
(02:28):
should decide if, when, and how to grow their family,
and no one should be denied that essential health care
based on their zip code, based on their immigration status,
or based upon how they pay their insurance and under
a Republican majority in partnership with the Supreme Court that
(02:49):
have been enlisted as accomplices in this extremist march toward
authoritarianism and a nationwide ban on abortion, which is really
a nation of forced birth. Think of that, a nation
of forced birth. What that means in terms of this
is a racial justice and an economic justice a racial.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Justice issue, an economic justice issue, and a healthcare justice issue.
So it's a very uh sobering time.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
I'm going to continue in my role as culture the
Reproductive Freedom Caucus, UH, to sell the alarm.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
To share these stories because it is a matter of
life and death.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Well, what would you like to see done? I know
there's legislation that has been introduced that would actually give
the federal government control again over abortion rites nationwide, uh,
and take it back from the states.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
It's so there's a suite passed in the House, but
it hasn't passed in the Center. So what would you
like to see going forward today?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Well, I mean there are a suite of bills, and
I think what they all would accomplish. So one, we
have to repeal the High Act because it is racist
and discriminatory. And again, if you pay your insurance through Medicaid,
and we know the salt that Medicaid is under, you
should not be denied.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Abortion care, which is health care.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
There's also the Women's Health Protection Act, which would restore
ROW and that you know, federally, but it's important to
note that even when Roe was the law of the land,
there were still women that were being denied that health
care and the Black maternal morbidity crisis which has only
(04:26):
grown since the dab's decision in the fall of Row.
So the Women's Health Protection Act, the Each Act, the
Abortion Justice Act. What I want is for a woman
to have the full agency and bodily autonomy to determine if, when,
and how to grow a family and to never be
denied care, to be able to access it regardless of
(04:46):
zip code, regardless of how you pay your insurance, whether
you live in an urban community or rural community, to
be able to access that health care.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, you know, it's such a difficult time for black
women right now. It seems as though reports that continue
to come out along with the changes that are taking
pace place federally, but even you know, us getting those
reports are the report from the US Labor Department where
three hundred thousand plus black women have lost their jobs
since February, that home ownership for black women is on
(05:19):
a decline.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
There's so much there.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
What are you seeing and what possibly can you speak
to the black woman today to encourage her about where
we are? And this is after we heard Mantra's last
year about it being the year of the Woman and
the year of the Black woman and us really feeling
as though we really were turning the corner and that
there was hope and change and prosperity was before us.
(05:45):
And now it seems like all of that is just
shutting down and we're getting a really harsh slap in
the face.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Well, let me just say history has shown us that
the only way to beat a dictator is with defiance.
Does not work, and so it's important that we are
active in the work of resistance and of obstruction and
sounding an alarm every time a black woman is disrespected
(06:14):
is degraded. You know, as black women, we occupy very
unique dichotomy. We are hyper visible, which is why we
are surveyed, targeted, criminalized in every way from how we
show up in the world to our.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Bodies, our hair.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
But we're also hyper invisible people working actively to deny
our contributions or to relegate them as a footnote, or
to erase them entirely. And our pain is often ignored
and delegitimized. So that's the dichotomy that we walk in
and we stand in as black women. We are hyper
visible and also invisible. And I'm going to center that
(06:50):
lived experience, our brilliance and our contributions and everything that
I do.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
And it's important to note this.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
I'm here to do the work of liberation, and I
can't do that without the black man. So anything I'm
doing for the black woman is for the black family.
This is about black women, This is about Black families,
and this is about black futures, and they are all
under assault and under attack when Black women are the
backbones of our communities, often up to almost seventy percent
(07:20):
of the primary breadwinters in their family. And that's whether
you're married or not. That we are often at the
center of the ecosystem of the needs of our family
as a caregiver or caretaker. As a primary breadwinner. We're
also the most educated and the most burdened by debt,
so we are dealing with a layered assault. But to
speak in the affirmative, if Black women, which are the
(07:42):
fastest growing constituency of entrepreneurs, if black women were getting
access to those VC dollars and investments, what does that
mean for wealth generation and growth? What does that mean
for job creation? What does that mean for innovation? If
Black women were turned to their jobs in the federal workforce,
(08:02):
of which we comprise twelve percent, the agencies that were
attacked or the agencies that Black women are overrepresented in,
it was a black woman that was processing your FASPA
application of the Department of Education. It was a black
woman at USAID that was using this country's soft power
in that way to combat disease, malnutrition, and hunger. Is
(08:22):
a black woman working at Health and Human Services researching
the next cure to save lives. It was a black
woman at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau making sure after
your grandmother was victimized by a predatory financial product, that.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
She got justice.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
And so this is doing a disservice to the entire
nation and to the communities that we serve, along with
disrupting the livelihoods and lives of black women. When you
layer that with the degrading, dismantling, and defunding of diversity, equity,
and inclusion in the private sector.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
So in the same way the black girls.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Were criminologist for how we show up and pushed out
of the classroom, black women are being pushed out of
the public sector, being pushed out of the public sector,
and if that fool Donald Trump has his way, we
will be pushed out entirely. It is giving obsessed. He
is obsessed the Black women.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
He must have tried to talk to somebody that turned
him down and broke his heart. Or maybe he's just
afraid of our power. I really don't know, but it
is giving obsessed. From Governor Cook to my little sister,
congress Woman Crockett, to Maxine Waters before then to Lamonica McIver,
I need folks to pay attention and call this out.
It is anti blackness on steroids. It is massogyn war
(09:30):
on steroids. He is obsessed with the attacking and the
degrading and the targeting of Black women, and we cannot
be complicit in our silence.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
We have got to speak up every time right now.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
You recently wrote a letter to fed cheer Jerome Powell
asking him to address this issue of unemployment among black women,
as well as to also deal with the issue regarding
doctor Lisa Cook.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
We'll get to in a little bit.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
What exactly did you ask from Chairman Powell and where
are you stand in his response?
Speaker 3 (10:04):
That's probably too nice to say that I asked, I
demanded using the power of congressional letterhead in my pen,
in my platform, really just calling on Chairman Powell and
the FED to do their job. They have a statutory
mandate of maximum employment, and that's actually something I've been
challenging the FED to do in my seven years in
(10:26):
Congress serving on the Financial Services Committee, inspired by the
work of the first black woman to earn a PhD
in economics, Sadie Alexander, doctor Manthan King Junior Credit Scott King,
Bard Rustin, and others who advocated for a federal job guarantee.
So I've long been pushing the FED on that statutory
mandate of maximum employment.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Now we find ourselves in a moment.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Because of the reckless and irresponsible fiscal policies of the
Trump administration and these chaotic tariffs in a situation and
the mass reduction of force and mass unlawful five rings,
where overall unemployment is at four point three percent, but
for Black women it is at six point seven percent.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
So I am sounding the alarm.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Because this is devastating for Black women, black families, and
black futures, disruptive of their livelihoods and lives. And given
the brilliance of Black women and all that we contribute
in both the public and private sector, it is a
disservice to the people in the communities and to that
work that will now go unfinished. And so I'm calling
on FED Chair Jerome pal to do his job to
(11:33):
honor that satutory mandate of maximum employment and to analyze
the data and come up with a meaningful plan by
September thirtieth, which is next Tuesday. Because if any other
group from July to August to the tune of three
hundred and twenty thousand people had been pushed out of
the public and private sector again, when Black women are
(11:53):
almost seventy percent are primary breadwinners in their family, they
would have been came up with a plan, you know.
So so I'm calling on the FED just to do
their job and to come up with a meaningful plan
of action because this is not only disruptive for black women.
This is a canary in the coal mine moment, as
black women always play, and this is a sobering indicator
(12:16):
of what this will mean for the rest of the economy.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
So black women bear the brunt.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Of everything because when white folks get a cold, we
get pneumonia.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
But the point is this harm is coming for everyone.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
So what happens on September thirty is if you don't
get the response that you want, what's what's next?
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Let me turn up the pressure. You know, you know
I often like to to send to the words.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
I will, I will advocate, I will organize, I will agitate,
I will educate and do all the things and the
hopes that you will see the light. And if you
do not see the light, then I will bring the fire.
You know, this is not a charitable pursuit. I'm not
asking for benevolence. I'm simply asking a demanding that the
FED do their job and so and I'm grateful for
(12:58):
the partnership. We had a press conference yesterday. This is
the moment Doctor King said, chaos or community.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Everyone is here.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
For c CBC f ALC has chosen community and so
in this campaign, for Black women, black families, and black futures.
I've enlisted some very good sisters and to make a
d Mallory and Brittany Pacnett Cunningham and Bishop Leah Daughtry
and Melanie Campbell and Licia Butterfield, and just as an
(13:28):
example of Alicia Butterfield actually stood up some online infrastructure
of mutual Aid because that's also something we need to
be doing in this moment. And in seventy two hours,
forty thousand black women applied for mutual Aid for relief
from that fund. And this is arranging from professors at
(13:49):
Harvard that find themselves suddenly unemployed. And this is also
exacerbating our healthcare crisis because we do live in a
country where your healthcare is directly tied to your employment.
And so when you already have this big, ugly law
that has denied healthcare for some fifteen million people, and
then you layer that with all of these black women
(14:10):
being unemployed and then no longer with health care and
Medicaid is being cut again, this is just a a
perfect storm of harm. But you know, I believe in
the resilience of black women. I believe in our superpower
to reimagine a better world. And I believe in what
history has shown us is that we also know how
(14:32):
to do the work of reconstruction.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
I think we.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Are being torn apart of the seams. But you know,
my great grandmother was a master quilter. I studied her.
And so while we're being torn apart of the scenes,
we will get to the point of reconstruction, and we
will need black women to do the work of that
repurposing and that reconstruction and to quilt together something more
beautiful than the unjustatus quo that existed before.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Yeah, and I know I'm getting a wrap here. I
guess your team is letting us know our time is up.
But one quick question, what is our response on the
community level, woman to woman, sister to sister, family to family,
community to community. What is our response right now? How
do we not feel helpless in this moment?
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Well, you know, if you're feeling helpless, that's by design.
Donald Trump is a fascist, and what they want is
for you to feel alone. They want a citizenry that
is ignorant and uninformed, that is indifferent to the suffering
of their neighbor, and that is inactive. So the antidote
to all those things is don't be inactive, be engaged,
(15:35):
don't be indifferent, be empathetic, don't be ignorant, be informed,
and pass that information along. And let's keep each other
preyed up, keep each other hydrated, keep each other moisturized,
and also support each other in our rest. You know,
we can sleep in shifts, but we do want to
(15:57):
support people in their rest. And then finally, I would
just say, because I'm asked all the time, what can
I do?
Speaker 1 (16:02):
What can I do? Bring your gift? Bring your gift
to the resistance.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
So as a congresswoman, you know I might take the microphone,
but someone else is making sure that microphone works, right.
I might deliver the speech, but someone else edited it.
You know, I might be leading the resistance march, but
someone else packed the brown bag lunch to fuel me
in that march. I might be holding a sign, but
someone else made it. And maybe I'm singing a freedom
song that someone else wrote. So just bring your gift
(16:30):
to the resistance.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Yeah, and remember this isn't the first time, right.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
No, it's we keep saying it's unprecedented.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
It's it's unprecedented in our lifetime perhaps, but it's not unprecedented,
and so we have to meet this time of unprecedented
hurt and harm. We have to meet that with unprecedented organizing,
unprecedented mobilizing, unprecedented community, and unprecedented hope and joy. So
(16:57):
I hope everyone is experiencing that in spades. You know,
this their time here, and I just thank everyone for
the intention with which you arrive.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
At this space, that you've chosen to do this.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
The fact that we are even convening, that we are assembling,
is a radical act in and of itself.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Our Congresswoman Ayana Pressley out.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Of Massachusetts always always.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Oh wait a minute, one more thing I have to
say when they are coming for black power and black
progress and black press, I do think it is essential
that we continue to support black media.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
So thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
All right, Congresswoman Iyana Pressley joining us again. We just
thank you so much. It's always a pleasure to speak
with you. I'm Andrea Coleman with the Black Information Network
at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's fifty fourth Annual Legislative Conference,
and we have been talking with Aleana Presley, the congresswoman
from Massachusetts seventh District. Always a pleasure, always uplifting. We'll
(17:54):
have more conversations from our congressional leaders and others coming up.
Good afternoon.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm Andrea Coleman with the Black Information Network at the
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's fifty fourth Annual Legislative Conference, and
we are talking with I don't even know what word
could possibly describe who you are in the hearts and
the minds of Black America right now, but the Aana Presley,
who represents Massachusetts seventh District, the first black woman elected
(00:23):
from that state to Congress, and it is just always a.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Pleasure to speak with you. It's so good to be
with you.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, So tell us a little bit about what's on
your mind. You had a panel yesterday on Black women
and the movement.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
For reproductive freedom.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Where are we in that?
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Well, the point of yesterday's panel was really just a
highlight into underscore the role that black women have played
throughout history and every movement, but in particular the movement
for reproductive of freedom and for reproductive justice, which is
really an intersectional issue. It's one of racial justice. Uh,
(01:02):
it's one of economic justice, it's one of health care justice,
it's one of you know, human rights fundamentally, because health
care is a human right. And so where we find
ourselves in the in the moment is a very challenging time,
you know. I have to say I was very heartened
at our panel yesterday that the room was packed. I
(01:24):
had been fearful that as a country, since the Dobb's
decision in the fall of Row, that perhaps the country
had so normalized the death of women seeking abortion care,
either to manage a miscarriage or an ectopic pregnancy, and
these incredible stories of uh women uh their bodies turning
(01:45):
sepsis and dying in the parking lots of hospitals or
in emergency rooms because doctors are also being criminalized and
have a fear of providing that essential care. I was
so fearful that the suffering of black women, the death
of black women, death that could have been avoided, had
(02:08):
become so normalized, so unremarkable, that people would not be there.
But the room was packed, and that says to me
that people understand this is a matter of health care,
which is a human right and also a matter of freedom,
because that begins with your bodily autonomy, and a woman
(02:28):
should decide if, when, and how to grow their family,
and no one should be denied that essential health care
based on their zip code, based on their immigration status,
or based upon how they pay their insurance and under
a Republican majority in partnership with the Supreme Court that
(02:49):
have been enlisted as accomplices in this extremist march toward
authoritarianism and a nationwide ban on abortion, which is really
a nation of forced birth. Think of that, a nation
of forced birth. What that means in terms of this
is a racial justice and an economic justice a racial.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Justice issue, an economic justice issue, and a healthcare justice issue.
So it's a very uh sobering time.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
I'm going to continue in my role as culture the
Reproductive Freedom Caucus, UH, to sell the alarm.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
To share these stories because it is a matter of
life and death.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Well, what would you like to see done? I know
there's legislation that has been introduced that would actually give
the federal government control again over abortion rites nationwide, uh,
and take it back from the states.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
It's so there's a suite passed in the House, but
it hasn't passed in the Center. So what would you
like to see going forward today?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Well, I mean there are a suite of bills, and
I think what they all would accomplish. So one, we
have to repeal the High Act because it is racist
and discriminatory. And again, if you pay your insurance through Medicaid,
and we know the salt that Medicaid is under, you
should not be denied.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Abortion care, which is health care.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
There's also the Women's Health Protection Act, which would restore
ROW and that you know, federally, but it's important to
note that even when Roe was the law of the land,
there were still women that were being denied that health
care and the Black maternal morbidity crisis which has only
(04:26):
grown since the dab's decision in the fall of Row.
So the Women's Health Protection Act, the Each Act, the
Abortion Justice Act. What I want is for a woman
to have the full agency and bodily autonomy to determine if, when,
and how to grow a family and to never be
denied care, to be able to access it regardless of
(04:46):
zip code, regardless of how you pay your insurance, whether
you live in an urban community or rural community, to
be able to access that health care.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, you know, it's such a difficult time for black
women right now. It seems as though reports that continue
to come out along with the changes that are taking
pace place federally, but even you know, us getting those
reports are the report from the US Labor Department where
three hundred thousand plus black women have lost their jobs
since February, that home ownership for black women is on
(05:19):
a decline.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
There's so much there.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
What are you seeing and what possibly can you speak
to the black woman today to encourage her about where
we are? And this is after we heard Mantra's last
year about it being the year of the Woman and
the year of the Black woman and us really feeling
as though we really were turning the corner and that
there was hope and change and prosperity was before us.
(05:45):
And now it seems like all of that is just
shutting down and we're getting a really harsh slap in
the face.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Well, let me just say history has shown us that
the only way to beat a dictator is with defiance.
Does not work, and so it's important that we are
active in the work of resistance and of obstruction and
sounding an alarm every time a black woman is disrespected
(06:14):
is degraded. You know, as black women, we occupy very
unique dichotomy. We are hyper visible, which is why we
are surveyed, targeted, criminalized in every way from how we
show up in the world to our.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Bodies, our hair.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
But we're also hyper invisible people working actively to deny
our contributions or to relegate them as a footnote, or
to erase them entirely. And our pain is often ignored
and delegitimized. So that's the dichotomy that we walk in
and we stand in as black women. We are hyper
visible and also invisible. And I'm going to center that
(06:50):
lived experience, our brilliance and our contributions and everything that
I do.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
And it's important to note this.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
I'm here to do the work of liberation, and I
can't do that without the black man. So anything I'm
doing for the black woman is for the black family.
This is about black women, This is about Black families,
and this is about black futures, and they are all
under assault and under attack when Black women are the
backbones of our communities, often up to almost seventy percent
(07:20):
of the primary breadwinters in their family. And that's whether
you're married or not. That we are often at the
center of the ecosystem of the needs of our family
as a caregiver or caretaker. As a primary breadwinner. We're
also the most educated and the most burdened by debt,
so we are dealing with a layered assault. But to
speak in the affirmative, if Black women, which are the
(07:42):
fastest growing constituency of entrepreneurs, if black women were getting
access to those VC dollars and investments, what does that
mean for wealth generation and growth? What does that mean
for job creation? What does that mean for innovation? If
Black women were turned to their jobs in the federal workforce,
(08:02):
of which we comprise twelve percent, the agencies that were
attacked or the agencies that Black women are overrepresented in,
it was a black woman that was processing your FASPA
application of the Department of Education. It was a black
woman at USAID that was using this country's soft power
in that way to combat disease, malnutrition, and hunger. Is
(08:22):
a black woman working at Health and Human Services researching
the next cure to save lives. It was a black
woman at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau making sure after
your grandmother was victimized by a predatory financial product, that.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
She got justice.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
And so this is doing a disservice to the entire
nation and to the communities that we serve, along with
disrupting the livelihoods and lives of black women. When you
layer that with the degrading, dismantling, and defunding of diversity, equity,
and inclusion in the private sector.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
So in the same way the black girls.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Were criminologist for how we show up and pushed out
of the classroom, black women are being pushed out of
the public sector, being pushed out of the public sector,
and if that fool Donald Trump has his way, we
will be pushed out entirely. It is giving obsessed. He
is obsessed the Black women.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
He must have tried to talk to somebody that turned
him down and broke his heart. Or maybe he's just
afraid of our power. I really don't know, but it
is giving obsessed. From Governor Cook to my little sister,
congress Woman Crockett, to Maxine Waters before then to Lamonica McIver,
I need folks to pay attention and call this out.
It is anti blackness on steroids. It is massogyn war
(09:30):
on steroids. He is obsessed with the attacking and the
degrading and the targeting of Black women, and we cannot
be complicit in our silence.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
We have got to speak up every time right now.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
You recently wrote a letter to fed cheer Jerome Powell
asking him to address this issue of unemployment among black women,
as well as to also deal with the issue regarding
doctor Lisa Cook.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
We'll get to in a little bit.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
What exactly did you ask from Chairman Powell and where
are you stand in his response?
Speaker 3 (10:04):
That's probably too nice to say that I asked, I
demanded using the power of congressional letterhead in my pen,
in my platform, really just calling on Chairman Powell and
the FED to do their job. They have a statutory
mandate of maximum employment, and that's actually something I've been
challenging the FED to do in my seven years in
(10:26):
Congress serving on the Financial Services Committee, inspired by the
work of the first black woman to earn a PhD
in economics, Sadie Alexander, doctor Manthan King Junior Credit Scott King,
Bard Rustin, and others who advocated for a federal job guarantee.
So I've long been pushing the FED on that statutory
mandate of maximum employment.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Now we find ourselves in a moment.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Because of the reckless and irresponsible fiscal policies of the
Trump administration and these chaotic tariffs in a situation and
the mass reduction of force and mass unlawful five rings,
where overall unemployment is at four point three percent, but
for Black women it is at six point seven percent.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
So I am sounding the alarm.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Because this is devastating for Black women, black families, and
black futures, disruptive of their livelihoods and lives. And given
the brilliance of Black women and all that we contribute
in both the public and private sector, it is a
disservice to the people in the communities and to that
work that will now go unfinished. And so I'm calling
on FED Chair Jerome pal to do his job to
(11:33):
honor that satutory mandate of maximum employment and to analyze
the data and come up with a meaningful plan by
September thirtieth, which is next Tuesday. Because if any other
group from July to August to the tune of three
hundred and twenty thousand people had been pushed out of
the public and private sector again, when Black women are
(11:53):
almost seventy percent are primary breadwinners in their family, they
would have been came up with a plan, you know.
So so I'm calling on the FED just to do
their job and to come up with a meaningful plan
of action because this is not only disruptive for black women.
This is a canary in the coal mine moment, as
black women always play, and this is a sobering indicator
(12:16):
of what this will mean for the rest of the economy.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
So black women bear the brunt.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Of everything because when white folks get a cold, we
get pneumonia.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
But the point is this harm is coming for everyone.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
So what happens on September thirty is if you don't
get the response that you want, what's what's next?
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Let me turn up the pressure. You know, you know
I often like to to send to the words.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
I will, I will advocate, I will organize, I will agitate,
I will educate and do all the things and the
hopes that you will see the light. And if you
do not see the light, then I will bring the fire.
You know, this is not a charitable pursuit. I'm not
asking for benevolence. I'm simply asking a demanding that the
FED do their job and so and I'm grateful for
(12:58):
the partnership. We had a press conference yesterday. This is
the moment Doctor King said, chaos or community.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Everyone is here.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
For c CBC f ALC has chosen community and so
in this campaign, for Black women, black families, and black futures.
I've enlisted some very good sisters and to make a
d Mallory and Brittany Pacnett Cunningham and Bishop Leah Daughtry
and Melanie Campbell and Licia Butterfield, and just as an
(13:28):
example of Alicia Butterfield actually stood up some online infrastructure
of mutual Aid because that's also something we need to
be doing in this moment. And in seventy two hours,
forty thousand black women applied for mutual Aid for relief
from that fund. And this is arranging from professors at
(13:49):
Harvard that find themselves suddenly unemployed. And this is also
exacerbating our healthcare crisis because we do live in a
country where your healthcare is directly tied to your employment.
And so when you already have this big, ugly law
that has denied healthcare for some fifteen million people, and
then you layer that with all of these black women
(14:10):
being unemployed and then no longer with health care and
Medicaid is being cut again, this is just a a
perfect storm of harm. But you know, I believe in
the resilience of black women. I believe in our superpower
to reimagine a better world. And I believe in what
history has shown us is that we also know how
(14:32):
to do the work of reconstruction.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
I think we.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Are being torn apart of the seams. But you know,
my great grandmother was a master quilter. I studied her.
And so while we're being torn apart of the scenes,
we will get to the point of reconstruction, and we
will need black women to do the work of that
repurposing and that reconstruction and to quilt together something more
beautiful than the unjustatus quo that existed before.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Yeah, and I know I'm getting a wrap here. I
guess your team is letting us know our time is up.
But one quick question, what is our response on the
community level, woman to woman, sister to sister, family to family,
community to community. What is our response right now? How
do we not feel helpless in this moment?
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Well, you know, if you're feeling helpless, that's by design.
Donald Trump is a fascist, and what they want is
for you to feel alone. They want a citizenry that
is ignorant and uninformed, that is indifferent to the suffering
of their neighbor, and that is inactive. So the antidote
to all those things is don't be inactive, be engaged,
(15:35):
don't be indifferent, be empathetic, don't be ignorant, be informed,
and pass that information along. And let's keep each other
preyed up, keep each other hydrated, keep each other moisturized,
and also support each other in our rest. You know,
we can sleep in shifts, but we do want to
(15:57):
support people in their rest. And then finally, I would
just say, because I'm asked all the time, what can
I do?
Speaker 1 (16:02):
What can I do? Bring your gift? Bring your gift
to the resistance.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
So as a congresswoman, you know I might take the microphone,
but someone else is making sure that microphone works, right.
I might deliver the speech, but someone else edited it.
You know, I might be leading the resistance march, but
someone else packed the brown bag lunch to fuel me
in that march. I might be holding a sign, but
someone else made it. And maybe I'm singing a freedom
song that someone else wrote. So just bring your gift
(16:30):
to the resistance.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Yeah, and remember this isn't the first time, right.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
No, it's we keep saying it's unprecedented.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
It's it's unprecedented in our lifetime perhaps, but it's not unprecedented,
and so we have to meet this time of unprecedented
hurt and harm. We have to meet that with unprecedented organizing,
unprecedented mobilizing, unprecedented community, and unprecedented hope and joy. So
(16:57):
I hope everyone is experiencing that in spades. You know,
this their time here, and I just thank everyone for
the intention with which you arrive.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
At this space, that you've chosen to do this.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
The fact that we are even convening, that we are assembling,
is a radical act in and of itself.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Our Congresswoman Ayana Pressley out.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Of Massachusetts always always.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Oh wait a minute, one more thing I have to
say when they are coming for black power and black
progress and black press, I do think it is essential
that we continue to support black media.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
So thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
All right, Congresswoman Iyana Pressley joining us again. We just
thank you so much. It's always a pleasure to speak
with you. I'm Andrea Coleman with the Black Information Network
at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's fifty fourth Annual Legislative Conference,
and we have been talking with Aleana Presley, the congresswoman
from Massachusetts seventh District. Always a pleasure, always uplifting. We'll
(17:54):
have more conversations from our congressional leaders and others coming up.
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