Orange Is the New Black (TV Series)

Sing It, White Effie (2017)

Danielle Brooks: Tasha 'Taystee' Jefferson

Quotes 

• Alison Abdullah : We get thrown into the SHU arbitrarily. We're denied proper health care, *dental*. I saw a girl with a tooth gone septic, and they *still* didn't take her to the doctor.

  Tasha 'Taystee' Jefferson : We get beat for no reason. We get cavity searched for no reason. We stuffed four in a bunk like we factory chickens. We can't get clean half the time 'coz there ain't enough bathrooms. We fed slop. We don't get paid for our labor. We denied education. We denied the chance to breastfeed our babies. We're denied basic humanity.

  [pause] 

  Tasha 'Taystee' Jefferson : And we get killed in the cafeteria for no reason.

• Tasha 'Taystee' Jefferson : Good morning. My name is Tasha Jefferson, and I'm an inmate here at Litchfield. Two days ago, our friend and fellow inmate, Poussey Washington, was murdered by a prison guard. Poussey Washington. And I'm saying her name because it can't ever be said enough. Now, as you can see, Judy King ain't injured, and she ain't a hostage. And she has a statement that she'd like to make at this time.

  Judy King : And good morning, my fellow Americans. This prison has put me through unimaginable suffering. And I am not a victim of this riot...

  Tasha 'Taystee' Jefferson : [interrupting]  She will not... she is not gonna be making a statement. Sorry. She will not be speaking for us because Judy King can't speak for the inmates of this prison. She was kept separate from us, held in a private room, with better treatment and a seltzer maker. And moments after our friend, Poussey Washington, was murdered by a guard for doing nothing wrong, Judy King was packing her bags to go home on early release. Because she's rich. And white. And powerful. Now, our fight is not with Judy King. Our fight is with a system that don't give a damn about poor people, and brown people, and poor brown people. Our fight is with the folks who hold our demands in their hands. Which you people need to read, by the way, and stop watching this fool shit comin' out of here online, and get ahold of our our demand list, because those demands are fair and necessary, and show that we intend to keep this demonstration peaceful, and focused on change. Now, Judy King is free to leave. She's not a hostage and you can have her back. Judy, get the hell out of here.

• Tasha 'Taystee' Jefferson : We need to borrow D-list Martha Stewart for awhile.

• Tasha 'Taystee' Jefferson : What the fuck did y'all do? Did you see the news? They think y'all terrorists!

  Brandy Epps : We know. We saw. And they had no right to call us bin Ladens without checking who we were under those Ewok hats. The whole thing's totally offensive.