8 November 2020, New York City, New York, USA
Well, it’s easier to be a parent this morning. It’s easier to be a dad. It’s easier to tell your kids character matters — it matters. Tell them the truth matters. Being a good person matters.
It’s easier to a whole lot of people. If you’re Muslim in this country, you don’t have to worry if the president doesn’t want you here. If you’re an immigrant, you don’t have to worry if the president is going to have your babies snatched away or send dreamers back for no reason.
This is vindication for a lot of people who have really suffered. “I can’t breathe” — that wasn’t just George Floyd. A lot of people felt like they couldn’t breathe. Every day you’re waking up, you’re getting these tweets and you just don’t know. You’re going to the store and people who have been afraid to show their racism are getting nastier and nastier to you. You’re worrying about your kids and you’re worrying about your sister: Can she just go to Walmart and get back into her car without somebody saying something to her? You spent so much of your life energy just trying to hold it together.
This is a big deal for us, just to get some peace and have a chance for a reset. The character of the country matters. Being a good man matters. I just want my sons to look at this, look at this, it’s easy to do it the cheap way and get away with stuff. But it comes back around, it comes back around. It’s a good day for this country. And I’m sorry for the people who lost, for them its not a good day. For a whole lot of people it’s a good day.
Mariann Edgar Budde: 'The President did not pray when he came to St John's', Remarks to CNN about Bible photo shoot - 2020
2 June 2020, Washington DC, USA
I want to thank you for allowing me on here, to be part of this conversation
Let me just be clear,
The president just used a bible, the most sacred text of the Judaea Christian tradition, in one of the churches of my diocese, without permission, as a backdrop to a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus, everything that our churches stand for.
And to do so, as you just said, he sanmctioned the use of tear gas by police officers in riot gear, to clear the church yard.
I am outraged.
The President did not pray when he came to St John’s.
Nor did he acknowledge the agony of our country right now.
And in particular, that of the people of colour in our nation, who wonder if anyone ever … if anyone in power will ever acknowledge their sacred work, and who are rightfully demanding an end to four hundred years of systemic racism and white supremacy in our nation.
And I just want the world to know, that we in the diocese of Washington, following Jesus and his way of love, do not … we distance ourselves from the incendiary language of this president.
We follow someone who lived a life of non violence and sacrificial love.
We align ourselves with those seeking justice for the death of George Floyd and countless others who died performing the sacred act of peaceful protest, and I just can’t believe what my eyes have seen tonight.
Bishop Budde later appeared on PBS to further explain her position.
Bernie Sanders: 'Create a government that works for all of us, not just the 1 percent', CNN Democratic Debate - 2016
14 April 2016, CNN Democratic Debate, Brooklyn, New York, USA
I grew up in Brooklyn, New York...
(APPLAUSE)
... the son of an immigrant who came to this country from Poland at the age of 17 without a nickel in his pocket, never made a whole lot of money, but was a very proud American, because this country gave him and my mom the opportunity to send their kids to college.
I believe that this country has enormous potential if we have the guts to take on the big money interests who dominate our economic and political life. And I disagree with Secretary Clinton in the belief that you can get money from Wall Street, that you can get money for a super PAC from powerful special interests, and then at the end of the day do what has to be done for the working families of this country. I just don’t accept that.
What I believe is that this country, if we stand together and not let the Trumps of the world divide us up, can guarantee health care to all people as a right, can have paid family and medical leave, can make public colleges and universities tuition-free, can lead the world in transforming our energy system and combatting climate change, can break up the large financial institutions, can demand that the wealthiest people in this country start paying their fair share of taxes.
And we can do that when millions of people stand up, fight back, and create a government that works for all of us, not just the 1 percent.
(APPLAUSE)
That is what the political revolution is about. That is what this campaign is about. And with your help, we’re going to win here in New York. Thank you. Thank you.