Top 55 Mike Espy Quotes

The DNC says they want minorities to run for office but when they actually do, we don’t get the support that we need and deserve.

We’ve got to replace the statues of Jefferson Davis and JZ George in the U.S. Capitol, and the people of Mississippi ought to have a say in it.

Thomas J. Huddleston never cast a ballot in his lifetime but he found a way to lift Black Mississippians up. And that is a legacy I will carry with me always.

As I grew older I began to realize that Mississippi really wasn’t that bad. The basis for progress has always been there. And the opportunity is limitless.

I am dedicated to expanding Medicaid in Mississippi.

No meat can ever be 100 percent sterile.

I believe a woman should have the right to make a decision about her own body.

You can’t put me in a box.

We have police officers who may devalue the life of Black people. And that’s what we have to change.

After the Civil War, Black Mississippians had economic power, voting rights, and citizenship. They used their majority to elect African-Americans to office up and down the ballot.

There are some farmers who have been terribly discriminated against by the USDA. They’ve suffered tremendous losses and pain and anguish, and they deserve to be compensated.

We made mistakes in 2018, as a candidate and as a campaign. I had not campaigned in 25 years, and people forgot me, they forgot my contributions as a congressman, they forgot my contributions as a cabinet secretary.

Democrats don’t win farm country, but I want to change that.

Just because red meat has germs doesn’t necessarily mean that it will make you sick.

Kamala has shown time and time again that she is a champion for all Americans. She is tough, principled, and fearless.

I’ve been through the fire and came out stronger and tested.

We have to do what they did in Alabama, which is a data-centric campaign that identifies black voters that haven’t voted in a while and get them registered and get them out to vote.

President Barack Obama governed with dignity and effectiveness.

While we march in the streets making our voices heard, we must also march to the ballot box. That’s where the real change happens.

I’m the proud father of three Black children.

I really don’t need anyone to come to Mississippi to generate a vote for me.

I’m very aware that oftentimes, we speak too much.

People tend to see all black congressmen as liberals with an urban twist: They’re all for gun control and against the death penalty. It’s not true, and it shouldn’t be true.

I will be a strong voice for Mississippi, and not an echo.

If you’re going to get elected to anything in Mississippi, you have to pay attention to and court the black vote.

It’s no secret that Mississippians – especially Black Mississippians – are overlooked. We are overlooked by Washington, by the Democratic Party, by the media, by national political prognosticators.

During the 1990s, I served in the U.S. Department of Agriculture as the nation’s 25th secretary of agriculture.

What we need is a good salesman for Mississippi, someone who can effectively represent our interests.

You’ve got to know what you need to correct.

Medgar Evers is a true Mississippi hero.

All meat has germs. Always has and maybe always will.

Mississippi is not California, Mississippi is not Massachusetts, and Kamala knows that. If I’m lucky enough and blessed to be a member of the U.S. Senate, we may not always vote similarly. She knows that, and I know that as well.

I didn’t give favors to any companies.

I am an African American public official operating in an environment dominated by Caucasians. That is not too dissimilar from what I had to do in Mississippi to get elected and stay elected. I try to show them we are all in this together.

We have made changes at the USDA in our personnel and in the attitude that we would like to instill in our personnel. Some don’t want to do that and some protest and some target me.

Greater transparency is the easiest and simplest solution to prevent officers who have previously been in trouble from getting new jobs. That’s why we must create a national registry of police misconduct and disciplinary actions.

I’m not into moral victories.

It’s hard to pick yourself up and go vote for a candidate if you don’t have any sense that that candidate could have an impact on your life.

We have to try to convince everybody in America, that if you eat you’re involved in agriculture. That the shirts don’t just spring up at Kmart on the rack. They’re made from cotton.

What happened to George Floyd is an abomination. Four Minneapolis policemen used excessive force to cause his death in what appears to be a tragically cavalier fashion. All four officers involved should be held fully accountable and incarcerated for their crimes.

I have a sense that the USDA and the secretary who represents the USDA has always been seen as either a stranger or adversary to the farming community and a stranger to the consuming community.

The violence against unarmed Black people – names we know, and names we don’t know – must end.

I always said I wasn’t guilty of any criminal activity.

I am disappointed my grandchildren are growing up in a country still struggling to change. But it doesn’t have to be this way. They don’t have to live in a country infected with systemic racism.

If it’s good for Mississippi, I’ll vote for it. If it comes from the Democratic side, fine. If it’s good for us, I’ll vote for it. But the converse is also true.

I want to be a senator for everyone. I’m trying to get votes from everyone, regardless of race, or age, or gender, or sexual orientation, or disability – or even party. I’m going to Republicans and Democrats talking about the issues that concern them.

If you’re on a no-fly list… you probably shouldn’t own a gun without careful vetting.

I’m someone that wants to reach across the chasm to make sure that we can collaborate with one another by race and by party.

There’s no way that I could be a congressman in a California district at 32.

I want to make the point that, even though we had a troubled experience, we moved on from that. I moved on from that, to become the first Black congressman, a cabinet secretary. I returned to Mississippi, and I’m now running for the U.S. Senate.

I’m ready to fight for Mississippians in Washington.

I’ve talked to people of every race and occupation. The bottom line is that we’re all the same.

I know Kamala will be a capable, courageous leader for all Americans.

Unlike most kids from Mississippi, I didn’t grow up hunting… But I understand that freedom to own a firearm – for recreation or self-protection – is a constitutional issue. And when government tries to infringe upon a constitutional right, we must be extremely wary and cautious.

As a teenager growing up during Jim Crow, all I wanted to do was leave Mississippi. But I came back and raised my own family here.