ICYMI: Congresswoman Simon Discusses Walking Out of President Trump’s Joint Address and Her Work to Fight Attacks to Our Democracy on MSNBC

Washington, D.C. - In case you missed it, Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) joined MSNBClast night after walking out of the President Donald Trump's Joint Address to Congress. You can watch the full interview HEREand read an excerpt of Congresswoman Simon's comments below:

"I am eight weeks in into my journey as an elected member of the United States Congress… I have 30 years in background as a community organizer and as an organizational leader and as [an] elected from my town. I'm a widow, I'm a mama, single mother, and I bring all of those things into my seat, and my job is to represent my folks.

"When you talk about gutting Social Security, you're talking about our aunts and our mothers and uncles who are living in care homes, who might not have care in the months to come, who can't live out their last days with dignity and respect. We're talking about an Administration that is talking about breaking down the Department of Education, an institution that creates national standards for classroom sizes and provides resources for disabled children to have aides in the classroom. There's only so much I can hear.

"Last night, you know, I talked to my mother about this. I said, 'Mom, I don't want to go.' My mother was born in the Jim Crow South, okay -- in Malvern, Arkansas. And she told me, 'No one kicks you out of your house.' So I sat down today, and I began to listen. I did my duty, but at some point, the people that I represent knew that my work would have been done better in my office planning tomorrow, the fight ahead.

"We have to fight, not only to win back the House, we have to mobilize our communities, block by block, to win an America that we all deserve."

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