Michelle Wu Quotes

Freedom is not a thing that we have, but a thing that we do.

There is no statute of limitations on addressing wrongs that we have the ability to make right.

A city that's scared is not a city that's safe. A land ruled by fear is not the land of the free.

What we need to just connect all the dots is leadership that has that sense of bold aspiration, urgent action, and community-based vision.

Every young person deserves to grow up in a city with wide open spaces that coax our legs into running—that remind us to breathe deep and look up at the sky.

Our movement is a continuation of that activism and community, showing everyone what’s possible when we all dig in and push for what we truly deserve. And what we deserve is a Boston where all of us are seen, heard, treasured, and valued — a Boston for everyone.
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We are ready for every Bostonian to know that we don’t have to choose between generational change and keeping the streetlights on; between tackling big problems with bold solutions and filling our potholes; to make change at scale and at street level. We need, we deserve, both. All of this is possible. …These things are possible. And today, the voters of Boston said all these things are possible, too.
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I want to be clear: It wasn’t my vision on the ballot. It was ours, together. Over 10 years in City Hall, and in every neighborhood, connecting with all of our residents I’ve seen and experienced just how big an impact local government makes in people’s lives. And I’ll never stop fighting to make our systems work for all of us.
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And although we put in a lot of work to get to this day, our movement does not end here. We have a lot of work to do. So let’s dig in.
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Thank you for placing your trust in me to serve as the next mayor of Boston. So let’s celebrate tonight and tomorrow we’ll continue the work together. Thank you everyone.

My family and so many others were able to come to this country to raise their kids in a land where they believed we'd have a shot at leading better lives than they'd ever had because of generations of Black leaders. Leaders who gave their lives to the pursuit of freedom and justice for everyone—and many who had their lives taken by people who feared that equality for all would expose the mediocrity of some.

If we want Boston to be a thriving, competitive, global city...we can’t continue to sabotage ourselves by taking a piecemeal, reactive, bare-minimum approach to public transit.

Here in Boston, in Massachusetts, we will do what we do best: We will fight back, fiercely—for our freedoms and for each other. This moment does not belong to the far right. It belongs to us, like our bodies. And we decide what to do with it.

And as we marched through Dorchester that day, I saw in the eyes of every proud coach, and teammate, and day-one supporter—the spirit that burns bright in every corner of Boston…The grit, & courage, and deep sense of community that drives us to overcome the impossible—for the people we love and the place we call home.

Boston is not a city that takes our rights lightly. Here in the birthplace of revolution, we have always, always fought for each other. We're damn good at it.

We are proud to have the oldest police force anywhere in the country to have been known nationwide for innovations that focused on community, building community trust, and shifting the dynamic away from arrests and punitive measures and more towards community relationships... We should be demilitarizing the Boston police in weapons and tactics, and interactions with community. We should be reining in ballooning overtime for the police — a part of the city budget that has been eating into other necessary investments. And we know this is tied to the underlying contract, and it’s not just about slashing a line item because that has failed. It has been a show, a political statement, but then ended up setting up the city to overspend, because overtime hours must be paid out by contract and by law, no matter what the budget line item is. And we also need accountability for misconduct or misuse of force, and again, this is tied into the underlying police contract.

If there's anything more exhausting than having to battle for our basic human rights, it's letting them go without a fight.

For me, the decision to run was driven by an internal motivation to break down barriers for families that were going through similar struggles to the one my family had gone through.
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City government is the level of government that has the greatest impact on your day-to-day life. It is what effects the quality of schools that you are going to send your kids to, it affects the jobs that are available, it affects the cleanliness and safety of our streets, and it is also the level of government where you can innovate the most quickly. As city councilors, my colleagues and I are the first and last resort for residents when they are struggling with issues and problems. To be that direct link to services and programming is incredibly rewarding.
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Please consider running for office and reach out to others in the community. It’s a very strong network and don’t be afraid to ask for advice. Most important is to know what drives you as a person and follow that. Public life comes with a lot of scrutiny, it comes with a lot of criticism. It can be a tough environment, and it’s a long time away from family. But as long as you’re doing what you think is right and following what feels authentic to you, that’s all that matters at the end of the day.

Boston is the birthplace of public education—founded on the belief that knowledge belongs to everyone. But we have yet to deliver on that vision.