My grandmother taught me two very important lessons before she passed: hold the door for everyone and always say "thank you." That means to treat everyone the same, no matter if it is the President or a homeless mother begging for food. And never forget to thank those who have helped you, whether it is the person serving you food at a restaurant or your third-grade teacher who taught you the multiplication tables.

Fighting for social justice is not about leaving the mainstream. It is about being right in the middle of it.

I am deeply inspired by the courage and achievements of young people who didn't have the safety nets I had growing up.

Let us not aspire to four-year goals but rather forty-year goals.

We must change the culture of politics first.

When a young person is not eating three meals a day but still getting perfect grades at school, or when a young person deals with trauma at a young age yet still makes it to college, these are the things that inspire me.

I believe that it is my job to fight for the rights of others to have the same rights that I take for granted. As a white, American male, I have had it quite good. I recognize that and fight every day for everyone to have the same opportunities that I have had.