Political Quotes

“I think so much about when the gentlewoman said people talk about post-traumatic stress disorder, and there are so many people in our country who are having present-day traumatic stress disorder. In the Black community, there is this stigma to just live through it, not discuss it, and begin normalizing the kind of life that we lead, the kind of fear that many people in Black communities have, whether it is fear of being shot or fear of the police. Mr. Speaker, I think, as a Black mother having four sons, I begin to think that it is normal to be concerned for my sons out at night. That is not normal, and that is going to affect your mental state after a while. So I think of all these people and the things that they are going through. {time} 2045 Right. It should not be normal. We are, unfortunately, normalizing some things. But no, that should not be normal. Every mother worries about their child, but it shouldn't be, ``If my child is not home by a certain time, I am so worried,'' and all of these things that are going through your mind. That should not be normal for us. The other thing is, when you are stressing out about certain things, that not only affects your mental health, but it affects your physical health also. It affects your body head to toe, which is not good either. Then it gets into the high blood pressure that we face and heart disease and those kinds of things. It really does have a huge effect all over, not just on one thing or the other.”