As'Salaam Alaikum, may peace be upon you, brothers and sisters.
My name is Linda Sarsour, and I am one of the national co-chairs for the Women's March
on Washington.
I stand here before you, unapologetically Muslim-American, unapologetically Palestinian-American,
unapologetically from Brooklyn, New York.
Sisters and Brothers, you are what democracy looks like.
Sisters and Brothers, you are my hope for my community.
I will respect the presidency, but I will not respect this president of the United States
of America.
I will not respect an administration that won an election on the backs of Muslims, and
black people, and undocumented people, and Mexicans, and people with disabilities, and
on the backs of women.
Many of our communities, including my community, the Muslim community, has been suffering in
silence for the past fifteen years under the Bush administration and under the Obama administration.
The very things that you are outraged by during this election season, the Muslim registry
program, the banning of the Muslims, the dehumanization of the communities that I come from, that
has been our reality for the past fifteen years.
Sisters and Brothers, if you have come here today as your first time at a march, I welcome
you.
I ask you to stand, and continue to keep your voices loud for black women, for Native women,
for undocumented women, for our LGBTQIA communities, for people with disabilities.
You can count on me, your Palestinian Muslim sister, to keep her voice loud, keep her feet
on the streets, keep my head held high.
Because I am not afraid.
Sisters and Brothers, fear is a choice.
We are the majority.
We are the conscious of these United States of America.
We are this nation's moral compass.
If you want to know if you are going the right way, follow women of color.
We know where we need to go, and we know where justice is, because when we fight for justice,
we fight for it for all people, for all our communities.
I want to remind you that the reason why you are here today is because mothers, and yoga
teachers, and organizers, and bakers came out to organize. Ordinary people made this
happen.
No corporate dollars, no money from corporations.
This is your dollars.
This is your work.
This is you made this happen.
I am honored to stand here on this stage, as a national co-chair with Tamika, and Carmen,
who are my sisters, but also with my family, because I organize for my mother, I march
for my daughter, and all my children.
But most of all, I am my Palestinian grandmother who lives in occupied territories' wildest
dreams, Sisters and Brothers, and I'm so proud to be here with all of you.
Justice for all.