US Rep. Ayanna Pressley talks upbringing, activism at Brown Dems event – The Brown Daily Herald

U.S. representative Ayanna Pressley (D-MA 7th District) discussed her upbringing, activism and response to the war in Israel and Palestine at a Brown Dems event on Wednesday. Pressley was the first African American woman elected to the Boston City Council and the first African American woman elected to represent Massachusetts in Congress in 2018. Pressley is a founding member of “The Squad,” a group of progressive Congress members, and has championed legislative efforts around Medicare, housing rights, the Green New Deal, student debt relief and abortion access.  She visited campus on Wednesday as a recipient of the John F. Kennedy Jr. ’83 Award for Inspiring Youth in Politics. The event filled a room in Maddock Alumni Center drawing roughly 60 attendees. Brown Dems collaborated with the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity and the Africana Studies department on the event, according to Brown Dems Co-President Cecilia Marrinan ’24, who moderated the event. ADVERTISEMENT Pressley opened the discussion with reflections on her upbringing.  “I consider myself very fortunate because I saw my mother’s humanity early on,” she explained. Raised by a single parent, she praised her mother’s community involvement and tenacity amidst trauma as precedents for her political career.  She also...