Transcripts For CSPAN Discussion On Race Gender Equity Hosted By The Hill 20240711

Hello and welcome. Im steve comments, editor of the hill. Thanks for joining us to a diversity and inclusion. Over the course of the day were going to discuss what it will take for diversity, inclusion, and equity to be more than just buzzwords. Id like to thank our sponsors. International Franchise Association and the association of realtors for the support of todays program. And thank you for supporting this particular session. Under 50 years after its founding, americas more diverse than ever before. However, stereotypes are beginning to fade, significant barrier still exist. Justice, equal opportunity, continue to be out of reach for many black, hispanic, lgbtq and other minority populations. This is a real problem. Were policy initiatives can be put in place to address these gaps and barriers. With politic for the rapper a should have pisces, perceptions, and bigotry in our institutions. Fair and equitable opportunities opening up across the port and across institutions. Were going to discuss all about it more and im going to discuss with some of my colleagues in the hills room. The heel staff writer is keeping me company this hour. Hes a great guy and i look forward to him intervening any way he wants. You can tweet us at at the hill, events using the hashtag, has tug hill diversity. Has to kill diversity were broadcasting live. Well take your questions for the program and if you spurs any problem reflects the, page they say it will be a quick fix, i dont believe it but i hope it will be for. You our first guest is Veronica Escobar who represents shes the first woman elected to the seat and the first latinx to be elected. Good to see you. Congrats on the next round of elections. Youre gonna see that they keep coming way too often. Let me ask you, because i know that youve been working very hard on the National Defense authorization act to get this dimension of diversity, of minority inclusion, refight in the system. And i want to ask you what is on your mind and to believe that our institutions like the pentagon and whatnot are places where essentially discrimination is still running to rampant . First of all, good morning, and thank you so much for including me in the conversation. Its great to see you again stave. I feel like, none of us have connected in any real way except electronically so its always good to see you. So yes, the National Defense authorization act which is a very important tool obviously for creating change inside the National Defense space, this year include some really good work that my colleagues and i did on increasing diversity. You know i just visited a military installation recently, and on that visit i spoke with groups of women. When we think of diversity we frequently think of racial issues, and the racial challenges that exist within institutions. But youve also got to think about women as well of course. So i want to remind everyone that diversity includes the need for you know, pathways to leadership for women as well. Those conversations that i had with met were incredible, about all the blind spots that the military has when it comes to women in service. And really, in many ways, sort of the really significant limitations that are placed on your ability to advance. As a member of the house representatives committee, we have here until all the time. And its so obvious when you have those hearings, of higher level leaders. Leaders, at the absolute height of their career. Height of power. Those at the leadership table. They are frequently white men. And ive asked the question before, of what the military is doing to create a pipeline for leadership that is diverse. Ill give you an example, many of my constituents have wanted to go into the military. Many of them are firsttime members of the military. Theyre children of immigrants. So now they are now part of generations of folks whove been in the military. They dont always know the best route to ascend through that leadership pipeline. So we need mentorship programs, especially for our first Time Military service members. We need to make sure that those mentorship programs are not just, kind of surface, programs. Or there to build relationships so that the people who are committed to the military see that we are committed to their success as well. So very excited about that. And with ask you another question, and then ill turn it over to my colleague, rafael. I want to ask you, helen cooper, a friend of mine at the New York Times to this expose on the command staff of the military services. White guys abound. Very few. We see an exception. A female general or admiral. A person of color in that staff level. The next iterations. Its very clear that this is a structure that has been dominated by white guys. So when they sit in front of you at the committee, what do they say that theyre going to do to change that pattern . Its very clear that nothing has worked at the command staff level at a level to make you know, i would like to see a day when people at that level are not an exception. And they acknowledge that theres a challenge. They all say they want to address this. But its clear whatever were doing that for women and people of color in the military is not working very well. Its not working effectively. And that is why we have to put infrastructure in place. One of the things that i heard from the groups of women that ive spoken to is that when they have had a mentorship program, it has made all the difference in the world. Unless we are actively setting those programs up. Unless we are funding them. Unless we are you know, basically creating a permanency for them, you know, theyre not sustained. Everyone wants to fix the problem. Theres no doubt. But its clear that we need serious intervention in order to fix this. I briefly want to switch over to politics because i have that bad habit. You are in the running to lead the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. This has been a tough election for the caucus. Just in texas you are looking to expand have the first ever latino from texas, and that didnt happen. Its generally, you know, democrats have relied a lot of the try caucus and the unity of sort of the diverse caucuses, to have a lot of their wins over the last two and four years. How is the sea agency and then try caucus is going to change now that you took a beating in this election . We did. We did. You know i was hoping that we would exponentially row that congressional, hispanic caucus. And i was heavily invested in those races. Not just financially, but i was invested in terms of relationships. Trying to help who i thought would and could be new colleagues. So Election Night was pretty depressing when i saw that so many of the, especially latinos, the women, who i was hoping would help grow the caucus would did not make it past the finish line the way we wanted them to. We really have to be far more unified as a caucus. As you mention, im running for Congressional Hispanic Caucus chair. One of the things that i shared with my colleagues is should i be elected, i would want to have Strategic Planning session immediately, before the end of the year, so we can define our priorities. But also, talk through, kind of whatever play will be Going Forward to push our agenda and how best to push that agenda. I think part of demonstrating to the American Public that you know, we clearly are the better leaders that the Democratic Party is by demonstrating that through our legislation, and through the leadership that we provide on the hill. So i want to congressional hispanic offices to be far more strategic and pro active. And thats what im focused on in my work share. Breonna escobar, thank you so much for helping us to launch the set of conversations. Its gonna be three hours. We have people talking about how were going to make diversity and inclusion real. Not just steps. I will come back and continue to talk to us about this. Thanks so much. Thanks. Stay safe. Our next guest is the first woman to serve as a representative of puerto rico. She focuses getting equal treatment to the u. S. Territories protecting health care and education i had the pleasure of speaking to the representative. It is great to see you again. Congratulations. Let me just ask you, the Republican Congress this time has more women than ever. So how is that going down . What do you think is going to happen . What are the future waves . Tell us about it. I think its a great opportunity. First of all, thanks for inviting mid day to this conversation. I think its a wonderful year for women in politics. As you just said, these numbers of republican women elected to congress. I am happy because we were so few here in the house. And now, i think that will bring a lot of diversity. Weve got a lot of new members coming from different backgrounds. Not just from the Public Sector as you can back from florida, was a staffer before but youve got physicians, youve got lawyers, people from the business area, private sector, that brings to the arena at different points of view. I think compromise is not the same thing as surrender. I think there are many views that can reach a compromise on many of the issues. I think that the women elected, that representatives like susan brooks, and many others, we are creating awareness that if we need more voices at the house. So im happy to receive it. Last year, the caucus woman, in the house, i am now more eager to have more views, and i think this will be a great opportunity not just to see one point of view but many, from california, elected to florida. You see a wide range of point of views, that may help them in academics, professionals, former military and Public Servants that were elected as well. Jennifer gonzalez, another question before i bring my colleague in. Rafael. I want to ask for a second, when we spoke last time it was in the drama of the aftermath of the hurricane. Donald trump was using puerto rico as a punching bag. You took some exception to the president s treatment of puerto rico, and framing of puerto rico at that time. And days before the election, President Trump said theres no greater friend to puerto rico than President Trump. The support packages. How does puerto rico as part of the United States feel about that treatment . And you agree with my framing . Today i was actually in florida a few minutes ago, off the boat of puerto rico, it was 52 of why is that . We have been pleading for equal treatment for many, many years. It took us 32 years to be precise. Today is the discovery day of the island. More than 400 years as part of spain. More than 185 as part of the u. S. And priscilla chapter. We are still a colony. I dont have a democratically elected delegation. Im one person representing 3. 2 million american citizens. That means you have to deal with a federal government. We have to do whatever is in your power to get things done. I will say, i dont agree with many of the comments of the president but every bill that i sent in and support, providing resources for the island was approved by the president , all of them. And we were devastated with the disaster, hurricane maria, and earlier this year we receive the highest appropriations funds ever to protect puerto rico. I think we should move on to one of the areas that im working on with the administration, and i hope that a new administration acknowledges the issues as well. In a word, 47 of puerto ricos economy is particles. Medical device industry. And we need to secure our supply chain. Natural supply chain. Medicines. So im pushing for Bipartisan Legislation in the house and the senate, trying to secure that for the whole United States of, course but puerto rico distressed sounds as a matter have tax incentives directly related to lead, creation tax property, and business creations. Again when you are elected to serve the people of the island, you need to do whatever it takes to represent them well. And get things done. Thats what i have been doing, with dealing with discrimination, were dealing with tacit discrimination with governments, with congress, many times, because we dont have senators. You are supposed to be having at least four members of congress. I dont even vote in the four. So i think we should and that kind of discrimination. I think inequality is unsustainable. I think its the right thing to do. People voted in 2012, to this in, 17 now in 2020. Theres a lot of false claims from both sides of the aisle regarding puerto rico state. And i think were part of america. America and United States it is what it is, but Puerto Ricans love government, arts, sports, communities, in every states. Our men and women are being fined across the world, and all of americas words with people all over the states, and were proud of that. Were proud as well to be treated as americans. So whoever is gonna be the president im going to be working with, and i may say that these four years were not easy. We accomplished a lot of resources for the island. And i hope and expect we can continue that. Thank you rafael. I want to stick to the situation because i know you like talking about state coulds. Will stick to that. A lot of things have to happen in this election for statehood, for the push for state had to be a realistic political environment. You had to win your election. Governor elect ruiz he had to win his election. Then there was a lot of thought that democrats would have to take control of the senate, and get rid of the filibuster. I know you probably disagree with that idea. But that didnt happen. And the legislature of puerto rico is not as for statehood as many would expect here in the continental United States. What are the chances of this congress, and this sort of legislature being the one that finally gets that across the finish line . Happy to see you again rafael. Let me say, during the last four years, youve got a governor for state, heard both governors support statehood, you have state and governor puerto rico. In 2017 i was the most devoted elected official. I ran on a state platform. And again in this election and the most voted official in the government. You know what . Statehood is bigger than any other cabinet, statehood, more votes than anybody else. More than 100,000 votes than me. That means that state is bigger than a party. Its bigger than a individual candidate. Even when the house and the senate still decide how big or how small are the minorities. The reality is that people of puerto rico directly wounded, and in a absolute, already more than 52 can pursue a statehood. And when hawaii and alaska were , they werent confronted with preconditions. They werent consulted that they needed to choose among other options. They were granted statehood immediately. Why we need to provide more options . Why we need to delay a decision that Puerto Ricans made in 2012 by 61 into thousand 17, by 97 of the people who voted for them. Now in 2020. I fully understand statehood is going to come. Were talking about the senate. I think theres a lot of misconceptions about puerto rican statehood. Puerto ricans are american citizens. You can see that in florida with more than 1 million Puerto Ricans. Youve got 5 million Puerto Ricans and people of puerto rican descent live on , i can tell you that that movement of citizens in the island is going to continue, unless weve got equal footing. Im not asking for benefits. Im asking for equal footing and rights. I dont think its right to have a territory for more than 120 years without voting for, without senators that can act and react in congress, that are approving all the laws from the air we breathe, to the food we eat, and the lives we live. And i think senators, republicans and democrats, because this is across the aisle. Even the health and senate. Look at whats happened now. House has been democratic, theres been a bipartisan bill since last, year supporting statehood with a range of member supporting it. And the speaker never moved it. So its not just about having democrats in the senate or house, because the bill has been there. Never has it been moved by the leadership. So i think both sides of the aisle need to understand that puerto rico like many others in the past, is reaching to a position. Its clear. It was made on november 3rd, and i think its time to move forward and allow the people of puerto rico to be respected as american citizens in the first class category. Representative, we have a question for the audience for you. This is from louise from the treasury department. For decades, hispanics have been under represented in the u. S. Court in a fulltime court and within a senior position within the u. S. Armed forces. Both sectors have 5 or less of a specs within the ranks. It suspected that within the 2020 consensus is banks will be reaching 20 or more of the total u. S. Population. But ideas to have to significantly increase the hispanic representation on those two critical sectors of influence in the United States society . I think that something that has been happening for many, many years. Its part of discrimination in many ways, for many years. And i think every time we got a hispanic or latino in leadership position, people respect that. And i think we should increase what opportunities are available. And requesting that as part of the leadership. More latinos are being elected to Congress Every year. As part of the womens caucus, we have been talking about that during the last year. And i think now with more women elected, latinos as well, most of that should move. Like in the transfer we got doj, secretary of was latino. We want to have more cabinet members of latino heritage. Not because of that as a requirement, but to open the opportunities in lower career jobs as well. In the case of puerto rico, we dont even have a lot of those posts being open. Weve got a lot of vacancies for federal agents of the island, five to ten. And theyre not even filled. The spaces are there. But they arent recruiting. So sometimes, its about why hiring when the positions are open. So i agree with you. Honestly, i look forward to a part of as well, and many hispanic organizations. I look forward to a formal proposal for that. Representative, im on the opinion side of the operation, my buddy rafael is on the news side. I can truly say that i support your efforts on statehood. I hope youll keep coming back and talking to. Us thank so much for thoughts today. Thank you for the opportunity. Our pleasure. For this next interview quantico emigrate colleague, rafael. Thank you. Steve so joe barry is a Third Generation corbyn american, a Public School math each, or and the incoming state senator for district 85 in brooklyn, new york. When he takes office he will be the first openly gay black person to serve in the new york state legislature. Welcome. Thanks for having me on. Its a pleasure to have you. My first question is on these milestones. We are a fifth of the way through the mid century, and these diversity milestones are behind schedule, we are way behind schedule, but we started at a huge disadvantage in the country. Were down to in the country as the property owners. We have a lot of people hoping to go, and a lot of work to catch up on. In your case, how is your identity and your values, have they affected your approach to politics . Or how have they affected your approach to politics . Thanks for asking that rafael. As someone who is queer and black, i have lived in many spaces where you know, i felt threatened weather because it was, black or because i was gay. When you are a marvelous person, whether its for you racial identity, your sexual identity, your gender identity, when you are in march lies person and your fighting for yourself you begin to see that you want to fight to ensure that no one should feel marginalized that way. Its influenced by my policies, my politics, thats why i am an open socialist. Thats why i fight for a universal program to make sure that no one, no one has to suffer. I want to touch on that point about marginalized people. There is a question of, sure you can support these policies. But at the leadership level, what do you want to push the people in your party and legislature, what do they need to do . How do they open their eyes to really see things from the perspective of the marginalized . Yeah, in terms of leadership. Its really about ensuring that we undo the harms the predominantly harm working class people of color, and queer people of color. So for example, people that are most likely to be harmed by housing discrimination are black people, people of color. So ensuring that we have a home guarantee cancellation of rents is a huge amount of work to do that would help black people, people of color. People of color more likely to preexisting conditions or suffer from poverty, and suffer from covid19. So ensuring that we have a universal Health Care Program would go miles towards alleviating you know, the, pain in the queer communities of color. Fighting for universal programs is the best way to uplift marshall ice people. Right now we have leadership that is too scared to do that or to under the influence of their corporate donors to do that but thats the direction we need to go in. That sounds like a pretty dramatic paradigm shift. We are all aware that theres a Political Movement that talks about how this is a Movement Toward socialism. I think when they say socialism, the mean venezuela. They dont mean norway. Different people hear Different Things when we use these key words. Give a plan to sort of get everybody on the same track . And say what youre giving to the marginalized doesnt mean youre taking away from the rest of the country. Yes, my plan is very, very transparent. Its to ensure that every Single Person has a home, because i know that housing for profit has not worked out over the past you know several hundred years of our nations history. Is it possible to guarantee something as a human right when it is also investment . Its impossible to ensure that every person has access to a doctor when theres a profit motive in health care, and people are looking for ways to cut cost on peoples lives. Its impossible to guarantee a job guarantee when it capitalism insurers scarcity. These are things that people of color are very directly suffering from and socialism is really about making sure that we have Community Involvement in these industries, ensuring that we have Public Initiative in these industries and making sure that they are not run by a board of executives that couldnt care less about 99 of the people in this country. There is a mentality that sort of the needs of big cities, the needs of brooklyn, and the needs of rural kansas are very different. And its often portrayed in the press as sort of, sure socialism is fine for the city, but in the middle of the countryside you need a little bit more capitalist perspective. Does this sort of shift in regional paradigms . Oh not at all. Right. What do you think of, that and what gives it mean for people of color because it doesnt mean that there are no people out color out of kansas . Whats, funny but a lot of people dont know is that some big socialist neighbor parties were in rural parts of america in the early part of the 20th century. You know, everywhere you go, theres this notion that a profit motive hurts working class people is true whether you live in a city or whether you live out in rural areas. The fact of the matter is we have issues electrifying america, Electricity Companies dont want to billet out to the last mile into rural areas because it was on profitable. We need Government Investment and government involvement to make sure that everyone had access to electricity. You get that issue with delivery services. Telecoms and communication services. When people are looking for a profit, royal people get shafted as well. Its a matter of ensuring that we come together as communities and say were going to make sure that no one is left behind. And thats what comes when democratic socialist economy. One last quick one. How do we split this sort of political identity . A lot of howard bite it is sort of like politics is like a sports team. You put on that uniform and thats. It you are either red or blue. Is there a way to reach out to sort of say, this is sports . These are the policies that manage the way that we conduct our lives . Yes, i think the best way to bring people together is really pushing for bold, universal programs. I know i said that a lot and i sound like a broken record, literally when you say health care for all youre just ensuring that everyone has access to health care. Republican, democrat, whatever you are should be able to see a doctor. Housing a justice for all. Jobs for all. The green new deal. Fighting for a cleaner government for all. Canceling student debt for all. Ensuring that these are things that should go for everyone, regardless of your political ideology, your gender, gender identity, any of, that fighting for every Single Person and saying that no one is worth another person because of who they are and how much they make. Things for talking, to us i wish you the best of luck in the legislature. Thanks for, fail over to you steve. Now its time for the sponsored perspective portion of our program. Before you get going, one clarification. While i am conducting the interviews, and the questions are mine, this portion should not be considered editorial. With that, i would like to welcome susan armstrong. Its great to have you both here. So easy and i have long talked about this. I will set this up because i would like to just have the conversation on how to make diversity and inclusion out there, particularly for young people. But it is also for people in terms. Sometimes those barriers are just informal in terms of the advice and counsel and nudging that kids get early. I want to ask you to start with sushi for a minute. You have been very active with a program called think a bit. I remember very moving conversation i had with a young girl who happen to be African American, on a device she put together in a program. Tell us what you feel needs to be done to make Diversity Inclusion for those people aspiring, or who might choose engineering, a real thing rather than a fake course . Its great to talk to you again, steve. As you probably know, we are a company of inventors and we know the benefits of bringing these different ideas to the table. The diverse backgrounds and very perspectives that our employees have. Its also very critical that we also believe that access to technology promotes equality. If you think about it, the wireless device is the person only way a lot of people access the internet. So it can really help bring Diverse People into these companies and technologies. It can help level the Playing Field and increase access to health care and education. Specific to our programs, i will just say a couple of words about them, we focus on a lot of things. We focus on home grown programs and we focus on partnerships. I think thats really important for best practices. Think of it as our home grown program. It is practical, it is tangible, and it targets, theres a large hispanic population of students in San Diego County and other places we have lab hubs. It targets middle school girls, middle schoolers from diverse backgrounds who might not normally see themselves as inventors or in engineering careers. It has been highly successful and highly impactful. We actually took it online this year. I just want to mention something else. I think these programs, from a corporate perspective, are critical in terms of partnerships as well. We also are partnered with first robotics and a variety of other partnerships. And Organization Called venture well, you can tell im a practical engineer, also does practical and tangible programs at the universities to pull together multidisciplinary teams and diverse teams to actually go ahead and teach them how to be inventors and actually launch their products. I think sometimes that people think that inventors and diverse inventors are these people sitting in a lab and they have a light bulb moment. But it is not. Invention and invention at qualcomm is about working in teams, and the diversity in those teams is really critical to the types of ideas that come out. Before i jump over, i want to remind your our audience how cool you are. We are friends. Its ridiculous the things that you have created in patented, whatever. Years ago, you are the one who created the algorithm for how our smartphones can send pictures and surf the web. All of you doing that right now online, as you are watching, she did it. I guess my question is, and its maybe an unfair one because i think when you touch did that, you are extremely rare. We are to have a woman engineer, your stature, the access you had. I will talk to fatwa about the same thing. Why did it go so great for you and what do people would do other places have to do to change to make it great accessible for all kinds of women from different backgrounds so they can follow a track you did . I know you are modest, but im telling people she is not modest in achievement. Thank you very much. For me, i had very gender neutral parents. I had parents who encourage me to go into schooling. So i had a lot of support all along the way through poly, this is in upsetting statistic, i would say anecdotally that 25 of my Computer Science colleagues were female asked. I think this statistics now for graduating computer scientists is Something Like 14 or 19 female. Thats not taking into account African American and hispanic populations so in some ways, weve gone backwards. But that is sort of the negative side of the story. I think there is no better time to be a woman or underrepresented person in tech and stem. There is so much good scrutiny on the problem and there are so many of these tangible and practical programs some of them will say we are not moving the needle. The needle is moving. There is so much awareness and opportunity now that i think the fact that it became about eight years ago, diversity and inclusion in stem in particular, became a National Priority and an interNational Priority. It became part of the National Conversation. I think that is what has given rise to these incredible programs starting with Grade School Kids up through universities and then retention in companies. Where it went right for me, maybe it was just serendipity, but i think these programs and the National Conversation about this situation is incredibly important. And policy matters as well. The Patent Trade Office actually has had a number of good legislative programs to make sure we can accurately count demographics in inventors. The success act, the idea act. These kinds of conversations and these kinds of policies are really critical to making it go right for other people. And i think mentorship as well. Fadoua you are in expert entranced or physics in semiconductors. You have a great background. I dont know if you are intimidated by susie. I am. Im intimidated by you both. One of the reasons i was interesting interested in meeting with you and talking with you today is qualcomm has this program called invent together. You are also part of the smart mentorship program. I would love to get your insights. What do you think matters in terms of getting a change in people of different backgrounds and color on scale . What do Companies Need to do, or schools . That you experienced in your journey. Thank you for having me today, steve. We know from the research, the summit much fewer patents than their main counterparts. Although they hold 50 or more of phds awarded in the u. S. , they are actually only listed in 13 of the patent. If i look at the computing or the i. T. Industries, qualcomm its part of this industry, the number of female only inventions drops to 3 . So its very small. Externally, qualcomm is leading these advocacy efforts. We launched recently the invent together company to collect more data and advocate and change policy. But internally, and this is actually key and important, and i think other companies, but also the academia, can do the same. So qualcomm launched last year at the diversity and innovation team. We are leveraging the diversity and innovation tool kits. Increasing Awareness Among our executives and employees about gender disparity and innovation issues. We are educating our membership about the common barriers as we hear from research, but also internally. We are collecting data on the specific reasons why women and underrepresented minorities within qualcomm actually submit your patents. This is of course done by conducting surveys and interviews. Once we have this data and we can quantify it, weekend tackle the problems went to one. We are actually offering workshops. One of the things soucie actually talked about is the mentorships and the role model. For me also, i think, i wish i had the role models growing up who were female patent inventors to actually help me submit or believe in my ideas much earlier. These workshops that we offer within qualcomm, some of them basically feature underrepresented and women inventors. Thats the importance of that for our models. But we are also conducting workshops to demystify the process of patent thing. This process is very complex. Its complex for in the corporate world, but also in academia. I have students asking me the exact same question. How can we patent . How can we come forward . How can we submit our ideas . These are a few things. Not necessarily relying on Informal Networks to navigate that process and make people really believe in their ideas and their ideas are actually worth fighting. So this is probably what i believe we need to be tackling in our communities. Awareness, awareness, awareness, but also mentoring programs. Formal mentoring programs. I want to really highlight one of the things that qualcomm does. Ive not seen it in my previous jobs here in the u. S. Or previously in france, actually. Qualcomm has a formal mentoring program, the intellectual Property Department has them, so we can reach out to ip lawyers and ip engineers to discuss our ideas. We get feedback before we submit them. Its basically increasing the chance that this idea will go through. So these are some of the few things that qualcomm has been doing successfully. Of course, to add qualcomm is in innovation company. We have a Strong Innovation culture and we are very encouraged by our management to invent and bring our ideas forward. Look, i wish we had a lot more time because susie knows i love talking about this. I will say that one of the things, after being in this business, i get frustrated when i see fig leaf where, artificial, fake efforts on this Diversity Inclusion discussion. I gravitate towards those issues where you can change the way gravity has been working because gravity has been producing in underrepresentation that we have to take seriously. Just talking to both of you, fadoua chafik and susie armstrong. I get a sense that there are things shifting those outcomes. Thank you today. Thank you for joining us. I hope you will be back. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, steve. This is the president of the marriage, an organization dedicated to recruiting and training Democratic Women for office. Shes also a host of the brown girls guy to politics, named one of the top political podcasts by Time Magazine and marie claire. Great to see you. Thanks for joining us. Im here with my friend who might want to jump in as well. He looks excited to talk to. Let me just ask you about brown girl sky to politics. What animated you i know how hard it is to create a platform and keep it going, what motivated you started and what has been the feeling youve gotten out of it . What is the impact you sense . Thank you for having me. Whats really started the brown girls get to politics is i was going to the airport one morning went back when we were flying and i had an email from a young girl who wanted advice and mentorships on how to get involved in politics. That resonated with me because i was that young girl once. I grew up in las vegas, nevada. I knew i loved politics, but i did not see a lot of women, i did not see a lot of women of color around me, and it made me wonder if this is for me. Can i actually have a career in politics . Do two amazing women, who saw things in me that i did not see in myself, they uplifted me and i really wanted to pay it forward. And make it more accessible and a little bit easier for the young women who are coming after me, and out of that, brown girls guy to politics was really born, really starting on our blog, and we did a blog series called being the only brown girl in the room. And we talked about how its really difficult to be in those rooms sometimes, particularly when you do have to talk about issues of race, ethnicity, sexism. And when we did that blog series, we had so many people say okay, i want to hear more of these conversations. I actually want to hear you talking about it. And the podcast was born out of that. We just finished our fifth season, where we talked about the elections. And were obviously very proud to have Vice President elect Kamala Harris, and the response overall has really been really great to see more black, brown, and Indigenous Women. Especially young, black, brown, and Indigenous Women know that theres a place for them in politics. When you look at Vice President elect Kamala Harris, and be blunt. I hear the same thing. Lots of anticipation. Lots of excitement about. That what are some things that might disappoint you that might not happen even though you have a person of color, a person of black background, a person of asian background in that rule . What goes from someone being in that role to actions being taken that you think are important . I think one of the most important things that have been said is that president elect biden has let us know that Vice President elect senator harris, shes going to be in the room. Shes always going to be talking to him. And she will have that influence on what is happening. And that is really important. That shows that hes taking her seriously. We know the fact that he chose her is releasing that this is one of the most qualified competent, strategic women in politics. So shes going to have that voice at the table, and its going to be important given everything that we have seen in the country happening around racial issues. We just had a summer of racial unrest, and shes the person who can bring the experience on those issues to the table. Because she has lived experience, and that goes back to why its key to have women of color especially in decisionmaking positions, and politics. Because we bring everything that we have to live with since birth, that weve had to deal with in our personal lives, and our professional careers to the table, in the policies that are being made. So i have the utmost confidence that Vice President elect harris is going to be extremely influential. If that wasnt going to be the case, president elect biden would never have picked her. Thank you. Rafael. There are a few races that really are interesting because of the powerful women of color that ran them on both sides of the aisle. Im thinking cori bush in missouri. Rashida carry in music she power through. On the republican side you see nikole, a Greek American in staten island, who also sort of won her race against a pretty strong incumbent. Have we reached the point where you can tell parties, both parties, you ignore these powerful political, these political powerhouses that you roam with. Have we finally passed that threshold . Heres the thing, yes. Its not a good idea to ignore us. When we look at the new american majority in particular, black, brown, Indigenous People, especially women, young women, unmarried women, lgbtq individuals, they were the most exciting candidates in the cycle, and they were the organizers and activists that helped those amazing candidates get elected. When we look at the Democratic Party, women are the base of the Democratic Party. Black women in particular are the base of the base of the Democratic Party. Its no longer i suggest driving a kate these are good to be the candidates that we are going to vote for. You are seeing these women put their name on the ballot, because the fact is if we can organize, we can run these campaigns, we can get other people elected we can do the same for us. And we know given everything that has happened in this country over the last four years out of the trump administration, that our voices are more important. Another key piece here is women, they arent willing to be asked to run for office. Especially women of color. They are stepping up and doing it. When it comes to women of color candidates, they are automatically seen as unqualified, not having the appropriate background. The education question, and its the overall will someone vote for you . Will someone vote for someone who looks like you . And i just think thats a ridiculous question. Because the fact is if people wouldnt vote for women of color we wouldnt have any women of color in office. People want candidates who are going to bring authenticity to the rule. Who are going to bring truth to the role. But most importantly, that are going to get things done. And if you look at the women who have been leading, particularly in 2020, with reid, rollins, in michigan and massachusetts, women are the ones who have been pushing the country forward during covid pandemic, during racial unrest, so isnt surprising for me to see once again a Record Number of women running and then being elected by the people of this country. Let me ask, you real quick, a last question, and it haunts me where you see. This weve just gone through this year were after George Floyds murder, arbery, breonna taylor, others, people seem to connect across racial divides in america, and we saw protests about police brutality. But more than, that it was really about Racial Justice in the country and the fact that it was not would should be. That was wrong. You have other suspects perspectives on that but thats where it is. When i look at it now, im wondering, is that still burning . D. C. Police department being reorganized . Do we see training being done differently . I just worry that, you know, has this been eight emotional spike that wont be sustained . I dont mean to be cynical but it is my job to be that . And i just want to get your perspective, what needs to be done to not lose that moment where so many people who were not black, were not brown, recognize that something was wrong . The reality is that the country really has to address its history with racism, with slavery, with all of these injustices. Its only really been since cellphones cameras became mainstream that people saw with black and brown and Indigenous People in this country dealt with. The number of conversations i had to have with people after seeing a cell phone video of someone being shot on the back, having a Police Officer neil on, them until they die. Were shot. But for us, particularly in the black community, these are things we have always known. Other people are just having their eyes open to them. And i also have to realize that there were 70 million americans in this country they were also fine with that. They were also fine with having a president who said that he didnt feel the need to understand black people. So there is still a lot of work to be done. This isnt something that happens overnight. Its a long term change. You see several City Councils taking this seriously and mayors taking this seriously. But those are also mainly majority people of color who are leading it, who are taking this issue to the forefront. So it also goes back to if we want to truly address these issues, we have to have people in elected office who want to address these issues. These conversations are heard, theyre uncomfortable, but the fact is that theyre necessary. The only reason that im even sitting here having this conversation with you as a first black woman emerge is because of the people who may change. Who pushed and said all right, we are this is going to be really uncomfortable but we need to do better. And that is why i am able to be in this heat having this conversation. And it is why i will continue to push for change. So that the people after me love having a lot better than i have. But this is a long term situation that our country has to deal with. Well Ashanti Gholar i want to thank you so much. President emerge, the founder of the brown girls guy to politics. I seem that everyone can subscribe to that. Get told up and learn from. You think so much for joining us today. Thanks so much for having me. We are now joined by keith ellison, attorney general of the state minnesota, he sort of its representative for the state of minnesota and u. S. Congress for 12 years. Before that he spent 16 years as attorney specializing in the civil rights and defense law, including five years as executive director of the legal right center. A Public Interest law firm. Attorney, great to see you. Weve talked many times about the tectonics of race in this country, and where theyre going. What we need to do, and i think a lot of people after election, they have been destructed by other stuff. But i want to have a summit and a conversation with you today about what really has to happen to make this topic of Diversity Inclusion something that we dont have to continue to talk about every day. What is really needed to move in terms of racial and Economic Justice in this country . I think the first thing is to help white people understand how racism helps limit their life choices. Black and brown people know that. But i dont think that white people really understand that the only way that you can have a have little, its if there is a have not. And so often, what happens to the disadvantaged working class white people can be fixed if we create some real racial solidarity. The presidency of george w. Bush is not good. And i would say yes, it would have never occurred if somehow our society tolerated the voter purge of the year 2000. I know people of all colors who say that the treatment of immigrant children, teaching them in all the lake is horrifying. Yes but the truth is that that is fueled by the fact that immigrants, brown ones, are somehow undermining american lifestyle. So much of what we identify as racism is often used to manipulate the White Community or the White Working Class into believing that there is something that are not above them. Not the people that decided to relocate the factory. Were not blaming them for stagnating wages. We are blaming a low income person whos trying to survive like everybody else. There is a great book that i recommend to everybody, its called its not written by a person of color. Its written by a white person, who looks at number of situations in which the animated feature of racism actually stops white people from taking action that could benefit them directly. It compares for example, kentucky and tennessee. Kentucky accepted expansion of medicaid with the Affordable Care act. Said i dont want to pay any taxes for some illegals in welfare queens. Not everybody in tennessee said that there was enough representative based on focus groups that he did that he found that to be a fairly common stream there. In fact, people dying because they somehow feel that they dont want a brown person to get something. You go to missouri. Missouri, in which white male, noncollege, suicides are spiking because of overdose, depression, and guns are one of the primary instruments of that suicide, were not talking about even than the numbers have gone up. But why do we have the proliferation of guns . Everybody who studies this knows theres a undercurrent theory of crime, you have to be on the lookout for those people, this sort of thing that you have to use guns against brown people. Now thats not the only reason. Thats an oversimplification but its not untrue that much of the drive and the fascination with guns has to do with the fear of the other, the brown, other so we let guns proliferate, and white men committing suicide at tremendous rates. Were not dealing with that. Why . Because of race. Thats one of the things that we have to understand how racism has always been this thing that keeps the vertical hierarchies in place. And thats one of the things that weve got to start alluding to. Keith, Kamala Harris and joe biden just won this election. But lots of americans won this election they rolled back seven seats in the house. The republicans took those seats away from democrats. The senate as things stand now still republican controlled. So two parts. One, has come way harris is victory on this ticket broken down a important barrier that those who feel these racial tensions can celebrate for real . And secondly what was going on . I know you wanted to run the dnc. You want to be out there. What happened with the rest of the country that didnt go the direction of biden and harris . But left republicans in a very good position and other parts of government . Two great questions. Thanks for both of them. First, of course, Kamala Harris has presence on the ticket and her victory is the signal that our country in fact is going to be a multi racial democracy. It is a democracy where everybody and anybody can participate and should have an opportunity to serve. Thats a great thing. I will say, and i say this in regards to myself, Kamala Harris, barack obama, any brown person who has descended to a leadership position. Its never enough because at the end of the day, just elevating brown skinned person, a highly melon aided person to a position of leadership does not solve the overwhelming challenge that people are facing. If Kamala Harris presents on that ticket does not translate into better wages, Better Health care, better childcare somehow, then it will be less of an important thing than we would like it to be. Kamala harris, the value of her being there is she knows what its like to be a black woman in the society. She knows what its like to be a person of asian descent and an immigrant. Let me tell you about it and then that should inform policy decisions. Right. Thats what im saying. Just having a brown person is not going to be it. In fact, if you look at the difference between Thurgood Marshall and the other guy, clarence thomas, you will see its not just a question of color. Its a question of viewpoint and belief. The other question is what happened . When did the white house lose and these are the places . Interestingly enough, steve, and i love your take on this, they 50 15 dollar minimum wage winds in florida. 15 dollars beat trump, beat biden, beat them all. The bottom line is peoples pay is has been stagnating for 40 years. People are struggling we know that so much of what we call racism blows through the economy. If i am told i cant read this apartment, the reason might be racial, but the effect is my family budget. If i am not getting paid right because im getting underpaid because of my race, that affects my family budget. If i cannot get alone. So many things that we call racism have a direct Economic Impact that shows that this bifurcated thing of race versus class is nonsense. Its always been both, and we have to treat it like its pope. Now we get to the dnc. I will just say this. With nothing but great love for nancy pelosi, in the 12 years i was in congress, i never once heard her say we are going to give recognition to the person who increases voter turnout in their district. I got a lot of emails about how much money i need to give to the dnc. Ive got pockets of that. I got that every day. They published your name on who gave the most in who gave the second most in who gave the third most and who has not given anything. So when it came to money, they were on that. They counted that. When it comes to the things that really win elections, like what is your goal for voter turnout . Can you get 3 . Can you go up 6 . How many more people can you invite . Thats a conversation we just dont have. We act is it more dollars translates to more votes and that is manifestly ridiculous and unproven. We do know engagement us win. Ive got three things for whoever is going to be the dnc chair, and it wont be me. Number one, campaign because you need a relationship with the people who you would represent, not just to win the election. Winning the election is important, but campaigns have a relationship with the people you would represent. Number two, understand that the republicans dont have a better message than the democrats, they just have more ways to push it out. In fact, they can flood the zone in a way to democrats cannot. For example, fox news is dedicated to republican success. There is no news agency, mainstream media, including msnbc and cnn and none of them are dedicated to helping the democrats win. They are dedicated to their bottom line. Do they have a liberal point of view . Sure, but it is not what they are about. And then three, i think its super important for whoever who is going to be chair of the dnc to begin to campaign together. The dnc should convene the Democratic House campaign committee, the Senate Campaign committee, the Governor Campaign committee, the attorney general campaign committee, the municipal official campaign committee, the county campaign committee, and have a table every single week and say how can we cut costs by sharing expenses . How can we share a message . How can we have a joint program . We are about to introduce a bill in congress to increase the minimum wage. What can you do at the state and local level to enforce that . Can you eight cheese do something . I mean we need to be coordinated. We act like our point of view is so self evidently correct that it does not have to be sold. That is absolutely wrong. Right. Keep, short form this one for my people. We are out of time, but i want to get one more in. After you and i had our first conversation, which dealt with justice, the george floyd murder, was going around this country in police departments, i showed some of that to former governor chris christie. Chris christie talked about canton, new jersey. He said we had to shake that place up. We had to fire officers. We had to completely retrain them from the bottom to the top to get that done. So i thought Chris Christies comments from a republican were so powerful, but yet both in your comments and his, i do not see that happening. I do not see the discussion about what we are doing on training or what we are doing on justice, particularly over race. Im just wondering in short form, what do you think the three most important things we have to do to get that equation right . Let me first of all say, on that point, kristie is right. Cameron is a Success Story. Its not a perfect story, its a Success Story with examining. Three things. Number one, the collective Bargaining Agreement must leave Excessive Force discipline to the chief. They should be in appeal right, but you cannot have a situation where the chief says youre a thumper and youre beating up people and using Excessive Force, but you can stay on the force. Whereas the collective Bargaining Agreement, the arbitration agreement that put them back on the force over with the chief wants to say. That has to end. Number two, our training, like camden, has to be intuitive. You need to use that video not just to find out who did it, you have to use the video to do simulation training. They do a lot of simulating encampment that helps, it, works its a very positive thing. And then the third thing is you simply have to establish a system of law where nobody is beneath the law, nobody is above the law. Officers are not above the law. Are not beneath the law. Youve got to have equal justice before long, that means prosecuting wrongdoing. If we prosecuting the actual violations of law you can have all of the civil uprisings, and there would be situations where you would say to the people, hey look, i cant prosecute these cops because they didnt violate the law. I can prosecute it. Heres why. Cant do it, because we dont ever hold the police accountable. Those are three right there. Enough i have one or more, me and Safety Commission of minnesota issued a report from a working group on reducing deadly encounters with the police, its on our website. You can get here, on george floyd, please take a look at it. Keith ellison, attorney general of minnesota, thats dense and important, just kind of information that i like to have. Good to see you my friend. Hope you will come back. That brings us to the end of our four session today. But dont worry there to more yet to go. Thanks to rafael for joining me. Thank. You just bump there. A big thank you to the international Franchise Association of the National Association of realtors for supporting these really important conversations today, and thank you to the audience out there for joining us. Were going to have two more, bands come, back bring your, friends listen and participate. You were to come back here at 1 30 pm after you run around the clock for the second part of our summit where we will be breaking down why diversity is good for business. Were going to hear yourure watching cspan, unfiltered view of government. Created by americas Cable Television companies as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. On cspans washington journal friday, cnbc Business Reporter Lauren Thomas discusses how the ongoing coronavirus pandemic is affecting the Retail Industry as the Holiday Shopping season kicks off. Salvation for the defense of democracy talks about escalating tensions between the u. S. And iran in the future of u. S. Iranian relations under the biden ministration. Watch cspans washington journal, live at 7 00 eastern friday morning. Join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, texts, tweets. Has toptv on cspan two nonfiction books and authors every weekend. Coming up this weekend, saturday at 9 00 eastern, former president barack obama reflex on his life and political career and his newly released memoir. Sunday at 9 00 eastern on afterwards, Sally Hubbard and her book. By daviderviewed mcglocklin. At 10 00, George Mason University law professor doug Douglas Ginsburg in his book, examining the constitution through the eyes of judges, legal scholars, and historians. Watch book tv on cspan two this weekend and be sure to watch indepth live sunday, december 6 at noon eastern with our guest eddie brought junior. The Ronald Reagan president ial foundation and institute host their annual education summit. This portion featured a discussion on the role