Cory Booker

thumb|These are not normal times in our nation. And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate. The threats to the American people and American democracy are grave and urgent and we all must do more to stand against them. Cory Anthony Booker (born April 27, 1969) is an American politician currently serving as the junior United States Senator from New Jersey, in office since 2013. The first African-American U.S. Senator from New Jersey, he was previously the 36th Mayor of Newark from 2006 to 2013. Before that Booker served on the Newark City Council for the Central Ward from 1998 to 2002. Quotes thumb|I’m a big believer that if America, if this country hasn’t broken your heart, then you don’t love her enough. Because there’s things that are savagely wrong in this country. 2012 Lets you and I try to live on food stamps in New Jersey (high cost of living) and feed a family for a week or month. U game? Fallon Kevin Cory Booker Rescues a Freezing Dog & 9 Other Things He Has Saved https://www.thedailybeast.com/cory-booker-rescues-a-freezing-dog-and-9-other-things-he-has-saved?ref=scroll 21 August 2018 The Daily Beast January 26, 2013 Via Twitter, in response to a tweet asking "Why is there a family today that is ‘too poor’ to afford breakfast?" Booker would go on to do exactly that. He later told CBS that it had been a "terrible state of human existence", and continued "I'll be honest with you. I take so much for granted, even going to Starbucks and buying a cup of coffee is more than my daily food allowance right now," as quoted in Bailey Holly Cory Booker’s week on food stamps: political ambition amid the burned sweet potatoes https://www.yahoo.com/news/blogs/ticket/cory-booker-week-food-stamps-political-ambition-amid-101008142--election.html 21 August 2018 Yahoo! News December 11, 2012 2013 The reality is we have to make sure that we have a military that’s prepared, but right now, we have more military spending than the next 10, 11, 12 countries combined, and we’ve got to start realizing that we can secure and protect ourselves, but also be responsible in the way that we do that," Booker said. And it’s not unpatriotic to say that we’re spending too much money. In fact, to me, that’s the patriotic thing to say. From Real Time with Bill Maher, as quoted in Wichert Bill Cory Booker says U.S. military spending is greater than the next 10-12 countries combined https://www.politifact.com/new-jersey/statements/2013/feb/10/cory-booker/cory-booker-says-us-military-spending-greater-next/ PolitiFact 21 August 2018 February 10th, 2013 We are brick city. We are like bricks themselves. We are strong. We are resilient. We are enduring. When Cory’s gone https://www.economist.com/united-states/2013/08/17/when-corys-gone The Economist 21 August 2018 August 17, 2013 2014 thumb|Most people think that these high-density poor neighborhoods, predominately people of color, just came about through some accident of history, but they were the conscious creation [of institutional racism]. Immediately I knew that was problematic [being paired on a television show with John Lewis]. Because the show starts with our bios, and it starts with, ‘John Lewis, hero of the civil rights movement stood on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. … He literally bled the southern soil red. And then it goes to me. ‘Cory Booker, riding his Big Wheel in affluent suburbia, falls off and skins his knee: He bled the New Jersey soil red.’ And so you are very aware if you were born after the civil rights movement, if you were born in my generation, that you stand on the shoulders of giants. Kopan Tal Black senators eye future generation https://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/black-senators-meeting-tim-scott-103928 21 August 2018 Politico February 26, 2014 We prove worthy of the privileges that we have not by paying anything back, but by paying it forward. Kopan Tal Black senators eye future generation https://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/black-senators-meeting-tim-scott-103928 21 August 2018 Politico February 26, 2014 I want to try to live my own values as consciously and purposefully as I can. Being vegan for me is a cleaner way of not participating in practices that don’t align with my values. … As soon as I said publicly that I was trying this experiment, so many vegans out there, hundreds and hundreds of people, have been reaching out to me with incredible support and encouragement as well as practical tips of how to do this without having to sacrifice that much in terms of the food and what I like. I've discovered some really delicious things—recipes, stores, and restaurants—that have made this transition far easier. … There's too much judgment out there. Really what we need to be doing is just all of us finding our own paths towards living the best lives we can live as clearly and boldly in accordance with our own personal values. "Talking Tofurky With Newly Vegan Cory Booker", interview with Vlad Chituc, in The Daily Beast (26 November 2014) 2016 Cynicism about America’s current state of affairs is ultimately a form of surrender. In Booker Cory United: Thoughts on Finding Common Ground and Advancing the Common Good https://books.google.com/books?id=iFekDQAAQBAJ 2017 Random House Publishing Group 978-1-101-96518-4, as quoted in Yanklowitz Rabbi Shmuly Standing Together In the Era of National Division: Review of United by Cory Booker https://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-shmuly-yanklowitz/standing-together-in-the-_b_9359900.html 21 August 2018 The Huffington Post March 3, 2016 We make a grave mistake when we assume this spirit of connectedness is automatic or inevitable. It is not a birthright. A united country is an enduring struggle. It takes collective work and individual sacrifice. It is not enough to call on others or wait for a leader to emerge who will exalt our national values. I believe this is the question we face, as citizens of this nation: what will we do to affirm this most critical American virtue? In Booker Cory United: Thoughts on Finding Common Ground and Advancing the Common Good https://books.google.com/books?id=iFekDQAAQBAJ 2017 Random House Publishing Group 978-1-101-96518-4, as quoted in Yanklowitz Rabbi Shmuly Standing Together In the Era of National Division: Review of United by Cory Booker https://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-shmuly-yanklowitz/standing-together-in-the-_b_9359900.html 21 August 2018 The Huffington Post March 3, 2016 Most people think that these high-density poor neighborhoods, predominately people of color, just came about through some accident of history, but they were the conscious creation [of institutional racism]. In Ray Elaine Cory Booker encourages students to use their moral imaginations to work for good https://news.stanford.edu/thedish/2016/02/24/cory-booker-encourages-students-to-use-their-moral-imaginations-to-work-for-good/ Stanford University 21 August 2018 February 24, 2016, as quoted in Ross Janell Six noteworthy things about Cory Booker https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/07/25/six-noteworthy-things-about-cory-booker/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.8842f22736b9 21 August 2018 The Washington Post July 25, 2016 What would you do if you could not fail. Answer that question and do that. Quoting his mother, in Ray Elaine Cory Booker encourages students to use their moral imaginations to work for good https://news.stanford.edu/thedish/2016/02/24/cory-booker-encourages-students-to-use-their-moral-imaginations-to-work-for-good/ Stanford University 21 August 2018 February 24, 2016, as quoted in Ross Janell Six noteworthy things about Cory Booker https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/07/25/six-noteworthy-things-about-cory-booker/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.8842f22736b9 21 August 2018 The Washington Post July 25, 2016 I respect and value the ideals of rugged individualism and self-reliance. But rugged individualism didn’t defeat the British, it didn’t get us to the moon, build our nation’s highways, or map the human genome. We did that together. Drabold Will Read Cory Booker's Speech at the Democratic Convention http://time.com/4421756/democratic-convention-cory-booker-transcript-speech/ 21 August 2018 Time July 26, 2016 2018 thumb|There is great dignity in work – and in America, if you want to provide for your family, you should be able to find a full-time job that pays a fair wage. When ignorance and bigotry is allied with power, it is a dangerous force. Cory Booker blasts Republicans for amnesia over Trump's 'shithole' remark https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/17/cory-booker-blasts-republicans-for-amnesia-over-trumps-shithole-remark The Guardian Associated Press 2019-03-11 2018-01-17; Booker to Nielsen: Your Silence is Complicity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJeYvCZUDu0 Associated Press Archive YouTube 2018-01-21 2019-03-11 We say an oath that we are a nation of liberty and justice for all, but that’s just words. It’s a civic faith, but I’m one of these people that says before you, "tell me about your religion, first show it to me in how you treat other people." Well, how are we living our civic gospel? How are we living our civic gospel that demands for us to reject the normalcy of injustice, the normalcy of apathy, the normalcy of indifference, and rise to the higher ground of activism, of engagement, of love? Rutz David Booker: Things Are ‘Savagely Wrong’ in America https://freebeacon.com/politics/booker-things-savagely-wrong-america/ 21 August 2018 The Washington Free Beacon August 3, 2018 I’m a big believer that if America, if this country hasn’t broken your heart, then you don’t love her enough. Because there’s things that are savagely wrong in this country. Rutz David Booker: Things Are ‘Savagely Wrong’ in America https://freebeacon.com/politics/booker-things-savagely-wrong-america/ 21 August 2018 The Washington Free Beacon August 3, 2018 I’m not here to tell folk just what they should know, I’m here to call on folk to understand that in a moral moment, there is no neutral. In a moral moment, there is no bystanders. You are either complicit in evil, you are either contributing to wrong, or you are fighting against it. In Bobic Igor Cory Booker Suggests Supporting Brett Kavanaugh Makes One ‘Complicit’ In Evil https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cory-booker-brett-kavanaugh-complicit-evil_us_5b59dce2e4b0fd5c73ccbb0e 21 August 2018 The Huffington Post June 26, 2018 There is great dignity in work – and in America, if you want to provide for your family, you should be able to find a full-time job that pays a fair wage. The federal jobs guarantee is an idea that demands to be taken seriously. Creating an employment guarantee would give all Americans a shot at a day’s work and, by introducing competition into the labor market, raise wages and improve benefits for all workers. In Salant Jonathan D. 11 ways Cory Booker is wooing progressives as he eyes a run for president in 2020 https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/08/11_ways_booker_is_wooing_progressives_in_advance_of_1.html nj.com 21 August 2018 August 19, 2018 2019 The vicious attack on actor Jussie Smollett was an attempted modern-day lynching. I'm glad he's safe. To those in Congress who don't feel the urgency to pass our Anti-Lynching bill designating lynching as a federal hate crime– I urge you to pay attention. 29 January 2019 regarding Jussie Smollett You encouraging me means more to me than you can imagine (After Jimmy Carter hoped Booker run for president). Anapol Avery Jimmy Carter tells Booker: 'I hope you run for president' https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/426227-jimmy-carter-tells-booker-i-hope-you-run-for-president thehill 2019-03-11 2019-01-20; Starostinetskaya Anna Jimmy Carter Backs Vegan Senator Cory Booker for President in 2020 https://vegnews.com/2019/1/jimmy-carter-backs-vegan-senator-cory-booker-for-president-in-2020 vegnews 2019-03-11 2019-01-21 The "power of the people" is greater than the "people in power" ... Change does not come from Washington, it comes to Washington. Cory Booker Discusses Family Separations at U.S. Mexico Border Wall ... 3:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp-1d5-KTzo&t=3m YouTube The View 12 February 2019 1 February 2019 We are a part of this take-down culture where people are trying to twist your words. Sometimes you go in the pit before you go to the palace, right? You know? And that was the story of Saint Joseph ... Martin Luther King was slain, they wrote the words from Joseph's brothers when they threw Joseph in the well ... "Behold, here cometh the dreamer. Let us slay him, and see what becomes of his dream". Now, King has fallen but his dream has not died, and we are the keepers of the dream. And so, do not give up hope, do not give up faith, alright? https://twitter.com/CoryBooker/status/1096511270193414150 In South Carolina last weekend I was reminded that even in our darkest moments of despair, we can never give up hope. We can never give up faith Booker Cory Twitter 2019-02-16 2019-02-15 Working Americans would tell you that the dignity of work is being stripped ... they are working harder than their parents and falling further behind ... while their salaries may moderately have gone up, what has gone up more is the cost of prescription drugs ... child care ... college ... Marshall Karen Deady Brendan Cory Booker Tests Message Of Collaboration And Economic Equality In First Visit To New Hampshire https://www.wgbh.org/news/national-news/2019/02/19/senator-cory-booker-tests-message-of-collaboration-and-economic-equality-in-first-visit-to-new-hampshire WGBH News 2019-03-15 You are dipping into the Kool-aid and you do not even know the flavor (After Joe Biden criticized Booker's anti-crime work as Newark mayor). During the 2nd Democratic debate (31 July 2019); Geoff Earle. Cory Booker mocks Joe Biden during angry clash over criminal justice as former VP accuses ex-mayor running RACIST police department. Daily Mail. 2019-08-01 Urban Dictionary We cannot let these conversations devolve into the impotent simplicity of "Who is or is not a racist?" Because, if the answer to the question "Do racism and white supremacy exist?" is "yes", then the real question is not "Who is or is not a racist?", but "Who is or is not doing something about it?" Senator Cory Booker Speaks on Gun Violence and White Nationalism at Emanuel AME Church16:50 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfkRcqbnZuc&t&t=16m50s YouTube 2019-08-07 ... marijuana in our country is already legal for privileged people ... the war on drugs has been a war on black and brown people. During the 5th Democratic debate (20 November 2019) Nick Corasaniti, Cory Booker Jokes Biden ‘Might Have Been High’ When He Made Marijuana Comments. The New York Times. 2019-11-20 2020 I don’t think most Americans realize that the way we raise animals is such a betrayal of the heritage of our grandparents. I don’t think they realize that … these big companies like Smithfield Foods Smithfield and Cargill and others have our American farmers now living like Sharecropping sharecroppers in constant debt, forced to follow their rules. I’ve watched the suffering in North Carolina of minority communities who live around Concentrated animal feeding operation Cafos and can no longer breathe their air … and I’ve seen workers in the meatpacking plants and how dangerous those plants are. Everybody is losing in this system – except for the massive corporations that have taken over the American food system. 'A savagely broken food system': Cory Booker wants radical reform ... now. The Guardian, September, 15 2020 2022 I got a chance to witness firsthand what I think many people in America can relate to, is when you show up in a room qualified, when you show up in a room with extraordinary expertise and credentials, there are a lot of Americans who know that hurt, that you are still going to be treated in a way that does not respect to you fully During Ketanji Jackson senate confirmation hearings: 'This is not about racism. It's about decency’ (March 27, 2022) 2025 2025 United States federal government shutdown ... many millions of Americans are literally going to be hurt, because when they are sick, they will not be able to afford to go to the doctor. When they go to the Emergency Room, the lines will be 2 times as long. We are in a crisis. We need a president to stand up, and bring us together to help to solve the problems of the American people. ‘Just come to the table and do something to help Americans’: Booker to GOP ABC News (October 6, 2025) Record breaking 25-hour address in US Senate (31 March & 1 April 2025) Video at C-SPAN (1 April 2025) thumb|Full 25 hour address thumb|Closing remarks Unnecessary hardship is being borne by Americans of all backgrounds; our institutions are being recklessly and unconstitutionally attacked and even shattered. In just 71 days, the President has inflicted harm after harm on Americans' safety; financial stability; the foundations of our democracy; and any sense of common decency. These are not normal times in our nation. And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate. The threats to the American people and American democracy are grave and urgent and we all must do more to stand against them. Generations from now will look back at this moment and have a single question — where were you? I don’t want a Disneyfication of our history. I don’t want to whitewash history. I don’t want to homogenize history. Tell me the wretched truth about America, because that speaks to our greatness. During his record-breaking speech on US Senate floor as quoted in "Cory Booker Rails Against Trump & 'Disneyfication' Of U.S. History As Epic Floor Speech Nears Senate Record" Deadline News (April 1, 2025) Quotes about Cory Booker You have to learn to be black, and we don’t have time to teach you. Sharpe James to Booker in 2002, as quoted in Cobb Jelani Cory Booker: The Dilemma Of the New Black Politician https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/cory-booker-the-dilemma-of-the-new-black-politician 21 August 2018 The New Yorker May 22, 2012 Cory Booker has dedicated his life to the work of building hope and opportunity in communities where too little of either existed. Barack Obama, as quoted in Ball Molly Why Do Liberals Hate Cory Booker? https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/08/why-do-liberals-hate-cory-booker/278992/ 21 August 2018 The Atlantic August 23, 2013 He has done lots of stunts designed to make people aware of poverty, or at least to make people aware of Cory Booker's awareness of poverty. Alex Pareene in Pareene Alex Don’t vote for Cory Booker today https://www.salon.com/2013/08/13/dont_vote_for_cory_booker/ 21 August 2018 Salon August 13, 2013, as quoted in Ball Molly Why Do Liberals Hate Cory Booker? https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/08/why-do-liberals-hate-cory-booker/278992/ 21 August 2018 The Atlantic August 23, 2013 The contrast between the Republicans’ laser-focus on creating jobs, allowing workers to keep more of their hard-earned paychecks, and the safety of our communities, and the message of big-government socialism and open borders folks will hear at Netroots Nation from coastal elites like ... Cory Booker ... could not be more stark ... While Senator Cory Booker called the policies that created this windfall for workers “reckless, unjust, and just plain cruel,” Americans everywhere are seeing more money in their paychecks and new opportunity to achieve the American Dream. Steve Scalise, in Netroots Nation Highlights Democrats’ Extreme Liberal Agenda https://www.majoritywhip.gov/news/netroots-nation-highlights-democrats-extreme-liberal-agenda/ majoritywhip.gov 21 August 2018 If Cory Booker is the future of the Democratic Party, they have no future! I know more about Cory than he knows about himself. Senator Cory Booker Refuses to Hate Donald Trump ... 6:30 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRoGR3AYads&t=6m30s YouTube.com 2018-05-04 Donald Trump via Twitter, as quoted in Usborne David DNC 2016: Cory Booker dazzles as a star of the future with soaring evocation of the Democratic Party's values https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/dnc-2016-cory-booker-dazzles-as-a-star-of-the-future-with-soaring-evocation-of-the-democratic-partys-a7157146.html 21 August 2018 The Independent July 26, 2016 He responded, "I love Donald Trump. I don’t want to answer his hate with hate. I’m going to answer it with love. I’m not going to answer his darkness with darkness." https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/26/politics/cory-booker-donald-trump-speech-tweets/index.html Cory Booker responds to Trump speech tweets Eugene Scott CNN CNN February 20, 2019; Booker Responds to Trump: 'I Love You, Donald' https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/politics/Cory-Booker-Donald-Trump-Tweet--388279632.html NBC4 Washington 20 February 2019 I miss Kamala, I miss Cory. Though, I think Cory will be back! Andrew Yang in the 6th Democratic debate (19 December 2019) Axelrod, Tal. Yang gives shout out to Booker. The Hill. 2019-12-19 When asked about the message sent to the voters by the field of candidates who are overwhelmingly white. External links Senator Cory Booker official U.S. Senate website Cory Booker for Senate Regional/North_America/United_States/New_Jersey/Government/Federal/US_Senate/Cory_Booker_%5BD%5D Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century African-American people Category:American football players from the United States Category:Baptists from the United States Category:Democratic Party (United States) politicians Category:Lawyers from the United States Category:Mayors from the United States Category:Members of the United States Senate Category:Politicians from New Jersey Category:Politicians from Washington, D.C. Category:Stanford University alumni Category:United States presidential candidates, 2020 Category:Vegetarians Category:Yale University alumni Category:Shorty Award winners