Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American politician Carrie P. Meek.
Last updated on April 15, 2025.
Carrie Mae Pittman Meek was an American educator and elected official, who served as the United States representative for Florida's 17th congressional district, from 1993 to 2003. Having been elected in the September 1992 primary with no general election opponent, she was the first African American since the Reconstruction era elected to represent Florida in the United States Congress, where she advocated for the poor and for members of minority groups. A member of the Democratic Party, she served from 1979 to 1982 in the Florida House of Representatives, from 1982 to 1992 in the Florida Senate, and from 1993 to 2003, as a congresswoman in the United States House of Representatives. She was the founder of the Carrie Meek Foundation.
If we were really tough on crime, we'd try to save our children from the desperation and deprivation that leave them primed for a life of crime.
America may be slow to rise to a challenge. But our history has shown that once we make up our minds to really do something, nothing can stand in our way.
Just about every year, Congress passes another crime bill - spending billions of dollars to build more prisons, to place more band-aids on society's scars.
Let's stop pretending we can arrest our way to safety and security. Despite all the fine work that policemen and women do, we have got to find other solutions to deter crime.
We've got to stop focusing solely on the symptoms of crime, and start caring about the causes as well.
If we were really tough on crime, we'd do more to stop it from happening in the first place.
You see, you can't put joblessness in a jail cell.
Until we all start to take responsibility, until we do all we can to improve the character of our communities, we'll never break the cycle of violence and indifference.
You can't put abandonment and alienation under arrest.