415 329 4231. 415 4354231 and you can text the word donate to that number. The club would like to than the osha foundation for supporting todays good live even i like the name of that, good let event and its my pleasure rightnow, my just overwhelming , deep, i cant even tell you how much i love this woman but its my pleasure to welcome my very dear friensunny hostin, awardwinning legal journalist and cohost of the view. Ve worked with sonny ny years and we have talked about so much, were like sisters andbrothers, we fight but its all love. Her new book is called, here it is. I am these truths. Its a memoir of identity, justice and living between worlds. Its a revealing look at her incredible story. Sonny grew up in the south bronx and through hard work, through determination and the support of her parents, her family she obtained a laundry. She went on to become a federal prosecutorand was soon recognized for her prostituting crimes against women and children she is a fighter , shes in it to do good and to help people. After reading the book she went to notre dame. After the courtroom sonny became the Television Analyst and one of the First National reporters to cover Trayvon Martins death. She continues to be an advocate for social justice and provide a voice for voicelesspeople of this world , really. Im thrilled to be here to discuss this story, were going to dig into the timely themes she explores throughout her book. One more word, just a quick reminder were going to be taking your questions and we may do it at the end or we may do it throughout just woven in. It depends on if something is related to what were talking about so submit your questions in the chat box. Sunny hostin, welcome. We have so much to talk about, how are you . Im happy to be here with you even though its very short, i wish we were there in the same room but im happy to be on this journey with you. Thank you so much so tell me, why did you decide to write i am these truths . Ieel the truth of it all is that yodo hold the power to be thedifference. You know that ive always believedhat and i think that at this time were in thmiddle of a pandemic, and ecomic crisis, a National Debate over policing. A delayed, what i think is delayed reckoning with systemic racism. And i have been journaling for so long and i had been writing and i thought, if not now, when . And i have spoken to justice sotomayor, that sods like a huge name drop but its the uth. Ive spoken to her about sharing my story and my story as you know donhas more ilures than success. And i thoug, is it time to share that . Warts and all because my story is painful. You grow up in thsouth bronx object with teenage parents and do youant to share all of that . Is it hopeful enough, ist aspirational enough and she said youe got to share it because it is read and it can be story for otr people and prise me one thing, you do it in spish and in english beuse its so important for those people that ybe sharing english as a second language and english as no doubt is my second language with everything thats going on ithe world do that though the little girl or little boy would rd it in spanish and hassle. Imure you thought what are going to people going learn from me cause everyones writing this book they do that and especially when you have the humility, when youre as humble as you are you will you wonder is anyone going tocare about wh i write . You said you have more failures than y have successes. But people dont realize its nd of like those, you take thosfailures those are building bcks to the success. Why did you el that way . Why did you feelou had all these failuresr whatever and did you struggle with thinking no ones going to care . Absolutely. Its the age of socialedia so i get immediate feedbac on the show. And i tried to be a way for the voicelessbecause that seat on the view is so important. I would get these messages that just talking about income inequality and youre talking about poverty and youretalking about the struggles. Youre sitting on the view. Youre wealthy, you dont know anything about it and i just remember thinking they dont know. Like, people dont know my story. They dont know how hard its been. They see you on the view and they think overnight success. Ive been working at this for decades. Ive been a lawyer for 25 years. Ive been on television for a long time area this is just the success youre seeing but youre not seeing the failures and theres just so many of them. What did you learn from those failures, what did you learn from that . I like to use my haters as motivators and my failures as the building blocks, what did you learn from those . I learned a tremendous amount of resilience. Ive learned, my father used to say you have to be twice as good to go half as far. Ive learned that no one can take excellence from you. So every time, there have been many times, the timey contract wasnt renewed. I knew that i hamy best that i had an excellent. And so i could lead with my head up. And i certainly len that. And i learned that there would be another day. I learned to use my voice that it was okay. I learnethat hility is okay. I actually also learned recently that im not as good at sticking up for myself i am at sticking up for other people. Who told you that . My husband told me that, you did. Our offices used to be right across from one another andwe go to each other for advice and comfort and feedback but go on. Youve often said leaning in,sunny. You dont stick up for yourself and its so true. And i write in the book how it really is easy to stick up for other people, to tell other peoples stories. It certainly was hard for me to tell this story. So that was kind of mystory. I tell the story of my parents, i was telling my mothers story and my mother didnt me for a week after he read the book. But i talk about addiction, i talk about Mental Health and there are a lot of features in that sense. I found that my bigness, i do not want to talk about discrimination. I did not want to raise my hand and say this is happening to me. Dont treat me this way. I should be valued more. I didnot want to do those things. And i found that out about myself. So its just a little bit shocking that i talk the talk and i can defend other people and stick up for victims, but it was really hard for me to do it for myself. Let me ask you because i want to ask you about the title of the book but i have to seek up on something that you said because i think being where we are in this business, theres a lot of advice we can offer people thats not just in this business and professional life anywhere. You said that you couldnt stick up for yourself, oftentimes you get to be in this position, its a pyramid, its ararefied air. So you want to stick up for yourself, you want to stick up for other people but then you worry that i do that, i going to lose my platform and therefore there wont be anyone like me with this voice. Was that part of it . With the shoes consideration isnt a day that goes by that i dont get an email for eight weeks or id be on the street and even young people would come up to me and say you for being who you are. You represent me. And that meant a lot to me. And then i thought if i stick my neck out, even for myself , there wont be someone like me on the view or on television and i remember i wrote about in the book, one of the reasons that i always wanted to be, we can watch on television when i was growing and i read about a book, i watched tv t we watched 60 minutes. We watched every sunday religiously and i would pretend to be one of the reporters but there werent any that looked like me and my paren were like, dont do that. Youreot going to see yourself so i remember the power of representation and so the thoht that i would take a chance, seeing that representation for those people that stopped me on the street was nerveracking. And i remember asking my family when i was typing the forward, i typed in 25 minutes and it just poured out of me. I remember thinking is this smart . And i showed it to my husband and i said this is professional suicideright . He said yeah, probably and i was like, im going to lose my job, right . He said,maybe. I did it anyway. Ee . Lean in. I felt like my goodness, again. Economic crisis area National Debate over licing. How people of color are affected more by this crisis. Everying and if i dont have the crage to do what i talk about every daon the show. Your in a pvileged position. Im from a privileged position, wouldbe a hypocrite. Thereyou go, girl. I can so relate to you because you remember when i came out do you remember how hard that was . I remember and you ote about in your book. I sa im never going to work in this business again and i leaned in and it was the total right thing to do. It was the right thg to do. I always tell people to walk in their own truth. Youre living in your own truth. Is that where that name comes from . I came up with the title of the book after it was written. And you know, im in my office now, my home office where i do a lot of writing and i have always things on. [inaudible] de remember i use to keep a copy of theconstitution on my desk. Its we hold these truths to be selfevident that all men are created equal. Thats what idoing, im sitting here in my books sorry, go aad. And i just started thinking about one of the themes of the book about the quality. And systemic racism and pay inequity and i was like, im going to be telling the truth and these are my truths and im hoping tjust not be ashamed of where they come from. I was like, i am these truths. Thats where it came from because its very powerful to say that the truth of it all is that are equal and that we hold the power to be the difference. You are, people of color , immigrants. You are the american story. So if someone tries to other rise immigrants and people of color its a small thing because of the people, the work of people of color is no pay, slavery, all those things. When people try to otheriz, isnt that infuriating for you . Painful. It used toake me angry but w its painful. Just a year after that decision were interracial couples were allowed to be married. A white hispanic, also jewish descent. And my father is a black guy. When they got married, it had just become legal and i was a unicorn. There wasnt really people who looked like me. I write about in the book have a lives in an area that was crazy. The kkk random out of town. For me, this was my entire life. My 50s, it was just unusual. I think that is why ive lived that struggle in life my identity. It said that 50 years later most people still question it. People have to be able to categorize somhing in order to feel, to be comrtable. I can understand a little bit but not as much a you because i wrote aut in my book, the brown paper bags, in the winter i could hang out with the white skin. In the summer, i was dark skin. But i remember when we have this conversation about you realize the bill on cnn, they dont know im latino they just think in terms of africanamerican, black and white in the country. I said sunday, let people know you are latino. But you felt stuck in that world. I did. That no mans world, sort o do i have to choose one . I did. For a lot of reaso. It was weird, they never asked me to do any reporting. I just thought, thats kind of weird. I think one of the reasons i write about in the book also, one of the reasons i blame myself is because i changed my name. We called you by your real name. Di you mph to make it more american or just tell me about that. My family brought me up, my friends from back in the day all called me by my real name. When i was in college, there were a couple of people would say no and i noticed and i would say cal me whatever you want to and they would call me sunshine okay, fine. They called me sunday, sunshine. When i staed, ty could not pronounce my ne. She would beike the cohost day is. [inaudible] it was a hugetruggle. On one of the breaks, she said can i Say Something to you . Said yes, maam. She said this name thing, i cantay it. I said well, what would you like me to do about my name . [laughter] you have a nickname . I felt the pressure at that te when i have this legend telling me this name is not going tout it. I said a lot of people call me sonny. Right thenhe said change it. I didnt even have a spelling for. [laughte changed it and i just went with it, to be hont. I didnt like it but i wt with it. After that, myareer kind of took off. Sometimes people get maybe rightfully so, sometimes people are just looking out for your wellbeing and she was like ts will work for you because i know tv. You just sometim have to roll with it. That is what she told me. She also told me, i write abo this in the book, she told m that. She said youre going to make i in this business. I havent see anyone do this as well as you without any training. You are amazing. The name will hold you back, people cant remember it. Ve got to tell you, she was right, i fel like i had a piece of myself. My grandmother never forgave me for it because i was named after her sister. People would say hey, sonny. She didnt like it. But i do think that cnn, people would have known my identity. I kin of did that to myself. If i had to again, i wouldnt have changed my name. Iould not have. [laughter] i cant g back now. Everybody knows me now. My first news recd, when i was a reporter, she didnt like my last, cleme. I knew in tv, its not the end think people can remember, it great. Thats what people change their names too. She wanted to be like don clark or something really simple. Unlike no one will remember that people will remember john lemon. People will remember sonny. I want to ask you because you talk about you are too lightskinned for the black community, to dark skin, people didnt get it. I want to ask about this. In an essay, the test of a firstrate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time. I do think it is so hard for people even intelligent people in the past to understand someone cant be black and latino. [laughter] it is fascinating, isnt it . Take barack obama. Half black and half white but nobody can really reconcile that. I think a lot of it has to do with the history of this count country. The one job rule, if you were one drop blonde, you are considered black. I think, i remember growing u up can we justalk about that for a little bit . That one drop. Yocould be 99. 9 Something Else but if you have just a smidge of black and you you are black. Because of that history i the couny, legal documents reflect the. Race i just a social construct anyway in my Life Experience reflected that. On my birth certificate, is black. It also says hispanic which is intereing because i look back at it and it says mother. Intesting, right . But when youere still out o a standardized test, you have to choose black, white or hispac. I would sometimes t to circle evything. Of course you did. [laughter] and i think again, it goes back to the htory of our country and the way people a indoctrinated to this day. I remember feeling, if i choose one, does that mean my mother doesnt exist . If i choose the other,oes that mean my father doesnt est and who i am and all my complexy . I really believe it is uniqueo this country because ive traveled to a lot of places and i have more complexity andhose other places and i am here. That is an american thing. That personifies wha we are going through right now. Theyve got to put you in a box even now, people want to put you in a box, everyone is so divided. People cld not understand when we were on cnn together, we could holdo thoughts at the same time. Just go on t, what is wrong . Would go have a drink later. People cant do that anymore, what is it about the country and societyhat cant hold those opposing views at the same time . I know that now its worse than its ever been and i remember holding back when i prosecuted cases at the justice department. I read a little bit about it in his book t sense that i would argue t the death in the courtroom, if you are the defense attorney, younew. I need to win because i was prosecuted in a crime tha i felt like i was in the white side. And you stood in myay. I wen to the wall with it. We argue and then go have drin drinks. Some of my closest friends, much like you and i, our dear friends and we wou battle on cnn much like we do on the view. People are always shocked that we are friends even though we may battle it out anday crazy things to each other on air we can go out and drink bourbon later. Unfortunately, i think that kind of respect or difference of opinion is gone in our country right now. Is just gone and it requires this kind of relationshi that we have, don. Requires a respect for difference of opinion. A level of forgiveness and being curious rather than just physical. It definitely requires curiosity and a lot of people, unfortunately, dont have that. From the dont have a respect for differences of opinion. You have that curiosity, what that means in my view is why is this person saying that . Would experience to other people have to say that . Do i see value in this . Theres always value in a difference of opinion. Only for you to strengthen your feelings about the opposite opinion. Its only to make you feel that way for some reason, we cant do that anymore. The relationship that Justice Ruth Bader ginsburg and justice scalia. You read their opinions and you would think they hate each other. On is hard for me because sometimes im like okay, they are they went out to lunch together every friday. I think we need more, i left out an important part, also changed name in the 70s and here you are in the 2000, did you talk to him about that . Yes and i read about it. There are allhese words for it it. You know what is weird though . Hes like you talk to people one way and then you like hey, whats up . You talk that way but then you get to a certain position after a wle and it all becomes one thing and y just do it. Its much more natural now and i find now it doesnt surprise people. I told chris the other nig on the air, i said your stupid. [laughter] thats just h we talk to each other, sorry. Also, my father, when my parents were cing up, it is now the early 70s a they are trying to get an artment in manhattan,heyve got me, my school cant reallyeach me properly, ive see my uncle stopped in front of me, weve t to get out of the projects. Th start to interview together for apartment. The minute they show up, the apartment is no longer available. When my mother realized was, her maiden name, she realizesf i change rosa to rose and my father comes if i show up with my light hair and light eyes, im going to get the apartment. My father realized when he sent s resume out, if he uses another name, then he looks like a white guy but if he changes it to Bill Cummings to william cummings, hes going to get the job. So he changed his name. My mother changed her name to rose. We got the apartment in manhattan and got the job. That is just the way it was. With my dad, it shouldnt be that way. Is a little bit of difference. I understand how you feel about your name, trust me. Especially because of your grandmother, they are proud of you. Bettina, right . But