Transcripts For CSPAN2 Symone Sanders No You Shut Up 20240712

Senior adviser Simone Sanders who offers her thoughts on how americans can use their voices for change. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining tonights virtual political page turners event hosted by institute of politics at the Mccourt School of Public Policy. My name is ashley poll articled, and i am a 2020 graduate where i receive my masters in Public Policy. Throughout hi time at georgetown, ive had an opportunity to participate both in person and virtual like fellow happy hours and speaker events. This spring i took a course with ted johnson titled 2020 path to the presidency where we dove into political theory and primary campaign strategy. Im looking forward to connecting topics explored in professor johnsons class with our discussions tonight. I am pleased to introduce our guest tonight, Simone Sanders, author of no, you shut up, as a fellow woman of color, i am encouraged by symones political leadership, passion for social change and representation in a space that has historically excluded women of color. She is a seasoned political strategist who, at 25, became the youngest president ial press secretary on record while working on u. S. Senator Bernie Sanders 2016 president ial campaign and was named to Rolling Stone magazines list of 16 Young Americans shaping the 2016 elections. Symone unapologetically fights for Justice Reform and paves the pathway for millennials to fight. We are thrilled to have her with us to discuss her new book, career path. During tonights event, please share your thoughts on social media and by tagging gu politics at gu politics. Tonights political page turners event will be moderated by executive director Moe Elleithee who is going to kick us off. Thanks so much for the introduction and congratulations on your graduation from the Mccourt School just like, what, 48 hours ago . Welcome to the gu alumni community. I want to welcome everyone whos tuning in. Everyone whos. Tuning in via social media platforms, twitter, facebook, youtube and to the members of the Georgetown Community who are participating via zoom. Im looking forward to getting to your questions as quickly as possible. Thats going to be an interesting conversation, itll be a fun conversation with probably one of the more interesting speakers weve had here. One piece of housekeeping before we get started, for those of you who are in the Georgetown Community participating via zoom, youll get a chance to ask your question. If you look at the bottom of the window, youll see the q a button. Click on that, and you can start to type in your questions, you can start to type them in now. As we transition to the student q and a portion, someone from the team will let you know when you are up, so keep an eye on the chat. Thats where youll, theyll tell you, and then once they tell you youre up, as we say in the business, be camera ready. Were going to make you famous. So with that, lets get started. I am very pleased to welcome back to gu politics Simone Sanders. By my count, i think this is your third time addressing [laughter] the first time on campus a couple years ago and most recently a couple days before the iowa caucus. Welcome back. Absolutely. Thank you, thank you. Im glad to be here. You know, i have yet to have the pleasure to be a fellow at gu politics, maybe i will, i will get that on my card post this election are. But i will have to tell you [inaudible] are you with georgetown . Were all one big, happy family. Im always glad to be here. These are busy days for you. Just slightly. Well get to that shortly. All right. You wrote a book. How the hell you wrote a book in the middle of a president ial campaign [laughter] and are out there, which its released tomorrow, so were one yes. Of the first to get a preview here tonight. So tell us a little bit about what motivated you to write the book. And im particularly interested in the title. [laughter] because, honestly, i cant imagine anyone telling you to shut up. I feel like id be tied the under my desk if i ever tried to say that to you. Well, moe, you are wise. Im really happy to be here with the gu politics family. I will tell you, i never thought of myself as a writer, you know . Im represented by united talents when i was a commentator on cnn, and someone from the Book Department came to me and theyre like people want to know if you wallet to do a book. I dont know want to do a book. I dont know what i would write about. But i ended up speaking with harpercollins, and a woman named sarah is my amazing ed editor. You would to have. She was like i think you need to write this book. I was like, sarah, i dont know. This was middle 2018, by the end of the year we settled on we were doing this book. We had a very ambitious timeline, they wanted a draft by spring 2019. And at the end of 2018, november 2018, i didnt think i was going on the campaign trail [laughter] obviously, in april i diseased to go and i decided to go and work for Vice President bidens president ial campaign. Most of my book was actually done, but i tell a couple stories about why i joined the campaign, my first disastrous tv interview. [laughter] im sure many people saw. But the title of the book is, no, you shut up. And the title comes from an interview i did on cnn. It was postcharlottesville, so we were having a conversation on cnns new day, and this was back when chris cuomo was on the morning show, so this was a while back. Now everyone knows chris has a 9 p. M. Show. This was in the morning around 7 30ish, it was the former attorney general of the virginia, Ken Cucinelli, and chris cuomo. We were having the conversation, you know, Ken Cucinelli was saying things that were not correct, and im like, thats not true. And chris cuomo said, well, explain what you mean, ken. And he started explaining, and he was talking about charlottesville and saying that, you know, it really just started because some people wanted a permit, and other folks were trying to make it something that it was not. This was after the images of neonazis, White Supremacists marching on the streets of charlottesville, virginia. And i jumped in and said now someones dead. And Ken Cucinelli and said, will you just shut up and let me speak. How do you get them to stop talking . They keep jumping in. Who is them and who is they . I never forgot being told to shut up before people had their cocoa puffs in the morning. I was embarrassed. I was incensed because i knew if i was, you know, 35 and, you know, my name was tommy, i probably wouldnt have been told to shut up on National Television by anyone, let alone a former attorney general of virginia. And so i always carried that with me, and i think that a lot of times [inaudible] the proverbial shut up. So that is what i talk about in the book, talking about so many of us have been given the proverbial shut up and now is a time where we need to speak up and not shut up. Is so i guess thank you, Ken Cucinelli, because without him, i would have not had a book title. Who would have thought you would say Ken Cucinelli was your inspiration. Who knew . I was doing the math this morning, when i did my first president ial campaign, you were, i think, in grade school. [laughter] probably. And i think back to how i was when i was in my early to mid 20s getting started. I was young and i was hungry, and i wanted to get into the game. When i kind of followed the steps that they say youre supposed to follow x what i really found i wish id read your book, you know, back then, because i think you give a lot of good advice to young people, and anybody who really hasnt had the opportunity to have their voice raised, advice on how to have it heard or at least how to set themselves up. And you do it very thematically. I want to touch on a couple of those themes today and then let you just kind of run with it. But one of the things that i thought was really interested, and this is later in the book, so im going to start later in the book and work my way back is this notion of get out alive. Yep. [laughter] yes. And i think you can read that chapter five. Chapter five. I think you can realize that a couple of way realize that a or couple of read that a couple of different ways. Talk about that a little bit and what that meant to you. You know, i think ive always been a habitual line are jumper, if you will. Im originally from omaha, nebraska, and its the second Congressional District that gave obama the blue dot in 2008. But the rest of nebraska is not necessarily a bastion of Democratic Politics. And so i knew for a really long time that i wanted to work in politics. I realized early on, shortly after i graduated, that im not going to, you know, get into National Politics staying in omaha, nebraska. I had you know, i didnt have the opportunity to participate in any of the programs that people get to participate in. I never interned for my congressman or my senator. I wasnt a boot camp fellow, so i had no in into, there were no natural avenues for me to really get into d. C. Politics. And so get out of line, that chapter, is really all about taking unconvention always like stepping out of lines. It could apply to politics, to education if you want to do something in your community. But i think especially for young people like me if you are a young person of color, someone who doesnt come from a lot of means, a woman, you have to be willing to you can be the best, you can be the smartest, you could, you know, have the best ideas out of everyone in the class, but whoevers the proverbial they is, and i literally waited in my career for somebody to pick me, we wouldnt be having this conversation, i wouldnt have written a book, and i wouldnt be super active. So getting out of line, i think, is necessary especially for young people. Its about taking a risk. So often times in that chapter i talk about how dr. King took risks. And i think a lot of times we gloss over how we remember reverend dr. Martin luther king jr. But the reality is he was a risk taker. He understood if he wanted to turn the tide of white people in the north to what was happening in the south and the fight for the right to vote, he had to make sure that they saw what was happening. So dr. King had black folks dress up in their sunday best and go down to the courthouse on a friday or a thursday and try to vote knowing that they would be beaten, that hoses would be siccedded on them, dogs would be siccedded on them. And had cameras there and the radios. It was the strategy. Dr. King had to take a risk. He had to get out of line in order to gain attention for his movement. So im all about getting out of line when necessary, ladies and gentlemen. But i just, i think it is absolutely pertinent especially for young people that want to, you know, do this its cool to be a changemaker now. When president obama got elected, everybody wanted to be a community organizer. Now everybody wants to be an activist and a changemaker. The reality is if you really want to create change, help move mountains, you have to be willing to use unconventional methods. When i give career advice to georgetown students, i always tell them, you know, youve got to be willing to put in the hard work, do the grunt work. Do the clips. Ive been the clips weave but at the same time, know what you want. You talk about that, knowing what i you want and asking for it. Even when you dont think its i attainable, to ask for it and to go get it. And i was really struck by the story you tell in the book about your first meeting with senator sanders when you were really new in the business. [laughter] i was fresh, okay . I had never worked a senator sanders was my first president ial. I think id worked maybe 4, 15 campaigns 14, 15 campaigns, but not a president ial, not a National Campaign at all. Talk about what that was like walking in and kind of getting the call out of the blue from jeff weaver saying that they wanted to talk, and you go in and you meet with senator sanders. What was that like . [laughter] you know, i tell in the book, yall have to read the book and catch the leadup, but i somehow find myself on my way to senator sanders office. Luckily, i had a blazer in my car. I was running around on the hill that day doing other meetings, no blazer. Senator sanders wants to meet you. Oh, grab the blazer. I go over to his office, i go into his office, and its just he and i. Were sitting down, you know, i crack a joke about the same last name, and then we talk about everything that you could imagine we talked about x. This was the summer of 2015. He asked me about nebraska, he asked me about the work that id done, and then he started talking about National Politics and his campaign and the news at the time. And then we ended up getting in an argument, basically. [laughter] if anyone has ever, hell often say, you know, you have a fundamental misunderstanding. And so we he told me i had a fundamental misunderstanding, and i said, well, i just with, i dont think you understand what im trying to say. And so he let me engage in a dialogue with him about Economic Policy and how it intertwines with other issues, its not just class and race. We ended up in a good place. So at the end of our conversation, i felt like we reconciled. It wasnt an argument anymore, and the senator told me that he liked me. He said i think i want you to work here. I was like i think i want to work here too. And then senator sanders asked me manager no one had something no one had asked me before, did i have an idea what i would like to do. And i said, yes, i would like to be the National Press secretary the, and i want to have a hand in some of the messaging strategy. Just like that. [laughter] and he laughed at me just like youre laughing, and he looked at me and he was like and i told him i wanted to do Cable Television. And he was like have you ever done Cable Television before . I said, no, sir, but i do believe i would be very good at it. That was a thursday. I get a call on a tuesday, and its jeff weaver telling me that i got the job. And not only do i have a job, im like whats my job title, jeff . He said National Press secretary. So i would say the lesson in that is, you know, everyone it is not every day, okay, that a sitting United States senator calls you and also happenings to be running for president and you happens to be running for president and then you go work on their campaign. So everybody does not have, like, a Bernie Sanders. But i think we all have a similar encounter. And the question is when your opportunity comes, do you have an answer. And how many times to the young people out there watching does someone can you what do you want for dinner. And you say, i dont know, im not sure. What kind of vegetable would you like for dinner. He was like, oh, i dont know. What kind of vegetables do you like . Hes like carrots and green beans and french fries. French frys not a vegetable, but he had an answer. And i think we always have to have an answer. Can ask what it is ask for what it is we want. And so many times we ask for things right up under the thing that we really want because we think that the thing we really want is just too much, moe, we cant ask for that. Its improper. Maybe we can work our way up to there. I want to shoot for the stars is so maybe i can land on the moon. So it is knowing what you want for dinner. And often times if somebody asks you what you want for dinner, you know. So just tell the people what you want for dinner. You might not get it, but maybe you will. Hey, we got some french fries today. Ask for what you want. [laughter] one of the themes in the book is, that strikes me as i listen to you talk, is this doesnt just apply to careers, it applies to making change, right . When you are out there as an advocate fighting forsome thaw yo for something that you believe in, right . Sort of shooting for the stars when it comes to making policy change or political change or, as you call chapter four, becoming a radical revolutionary yes. Right . That is about sort of shooting for the stars because otherwise you dont get this. Exactly. Exactly. I mean, look, i say this in the book, change cant wait, but change takes time. And you have to be willing our Campaign Manager says, always tells us we can do hard things. You have to be willing to do hard things. Radical revolutionaries, dr. King is a radical revolutionary. You, mo, are a radical revolutionary. There was no institute the of politics at georgetown the, okay . How did that come about . Some people got together and said is there a reason why we cannot do this too and maybe even better than some of the other people who do it in our own way with our own brand . Lets build something from the ground up. We have to figure out ways that we can be a radical revolutionary in our everyday places and spaces. Sometimes it means speak up, not letting something fly. Sometimes being a radical revolution their is about speaking somebody elses truth who is not in the room to do that for themself. Like, there are ways i wrote in the way, you know, my radical revolutionary contribution is campaigns. At one point in time i needed to be on cnn explaining to america, the world in some instances why people were on the street dying, why it was is so important that theyre doing x,y and z. Now it is my job to speak about what they can do to support these people. That thats my contribution. That might not be someone elses mission. Everybody needs to find their piece of the pie, but we try to be radical revolution nations because that is how we create change. Change cant wait, change takes time and change takes strategy. There would be no institute of politics at georgetown without a strategy. Just a reminder to the students that you can start to submit your questions by clicking on the q and a tab at the bottom of the screen. Well be moving to student questions shortly. Symone, and i want to get to those student questions soon. So, symone, one of the things that you keep coming back to in the book are some really compelling stories about these sometimes implicit, often times explicit biases that you have yes. Whether its because youre young or because youre black or because youre a woman, usually its because youre a young black woman. All of those all of the things. And so many people that are tuning in deal with these biases themselves, right . Whether its because theyre young and people dont take them seriously or because of their skin color. For me in much of my career, mo is short for mohamed, and i had to deal with a lot of challenges with that. So im curious, and tell some stories, some of them pretty harrowing, but the one that really stuck with me is here you are at not quite the apex, because youre still ascending, you finally made it big. Youre a National Press secretary for a major president ial campaign. You are traveling with the candidate, you are standing next to the candidate, and they still try to keep you outout of the room. The state trooper. The state trooper tried to you out of the room. Your advice on how to overcome those biases. Wow. So i will i think i rarely told this story before i put it in the book because i was like what havent i told that i could put in the book. Again, folks, get the book. Long story short, we are someplace in the North Eastern part of the United States of american at a rally in 2016. Were outside, were transitioning to go inside. As were walking back in all i hear is a state trooper. I didnt know it was a state trooper, all you hear is, maam, maam move to the side. Please. Im like, i hope that lady moves. Maam, maam, move to the side, maam, move im like, theyre about to snatch this lady up. And next thing i know, the state trooper has hands on me attempting to yank me, literally pull me this way, and i am walking with the package p as we call him. Theyre trying to pull me out of the package. Our trip correcter, paul, a good friend of mind, said, excuse me, do you have an issue . This is the National Press secretary. Expect state trooper backed up and said, oh, im so sorry, i didnt know. And i look at him because i say the black girl couldnt be with senator sanders. And i turn around and everyones just aghast. My god, what is happening . They know me, so theyre like what is she about to do . Yall saw me take that protester off the stage a couple months ago. [laughter] i looked at paul, paul looked at me, paul says, what are we going to do . We go on into the building, and nobody else, you know, to this day, no one else ever has said anything to me about that. And i dont think its because they thought it was okay, i honestly think everyone was shocked. People might not even remember, but it is seared in my brain because it was something that a made me feel, that made me feel like i didnt belong. Someone tried to make me feel like i was out of place. A state trooper literally tried to pull me out of the group. Someone told me in 2016, you know, she called complaining all these things, and are you being paid . Yes. [inaudible] i will never forget. She said, you know, if you cant handle this, perhaps this is not the job for you. And i then quickly ended that conversation because i was upset. Im a millennial, you dont understand, im going through these things. And then i called her back later, a couple days later p what donna was saying was, look, sexism, ageism, racism are things we have to combat every day, you have to stand up up to them. We have to call it out, we have to fight for a better america, better workplaces, better institutions. These things are also not going away tomorrow. So while were fighting to i eradicate them, we also have to figure out how to navigate through them. And if i couldnt handle just a little bit of racism in the North Eastern United States as National Press secretary, how could i handle it as a comment tail tater on cnn commentator on cnn . Very nasty things would say on any social media. How can you handle the next thing that you do. So it is really important that we dont allow the isms to stop us. Whatever the ism is. We need to address it, navigate through it and not allow people to sweep it under the rug. The navigating through it is really important because i still had to go inside and do my job. I couldnt ugly, you know, boohoo cry about the fact that what i just experienced was, it was literally profiling. It looked like someone assessed that i did not belong, and they tried to throw me out. But i still had to go to work. Often times we still have to go to work [inaudible] yeah. Amongst the many good pieces of advice you gave and one that i wholeheartedly endorse is whatever Donna Brazile says, you do. [laughter] exactly. I want to make sure we get to the student questions. I want to talk a little bit about, you know, you talk about being sort of this radical revolutionary fighting for big things, being sort of progressive revolutionarie e s. You had to have had some of your former colleagues and supporters sort of do a double take when they heard you signed up with Vice President biden instead of with Bernie Sanders. This next time. Can you talk a little bit about that thought process and how, and how you see that move, signing on with the Vice President , as being consistent with your long trajectory of being a change agent. Yeah. Well, i would say i am really proud of the work that i did on senator Sanders Campaign in 20152016. And knowing everything that i know now, i would sign up and do it again. And again and again and again. I would do it again. But, you know, i stopped working for the campaign, i left the campaign in june of 2016. Then i went and worked the convex, then i started my own Consulting Company because nobody would hire me. [laughter] thats how i became a political commentate ther on cn commentator on cnn. We relaunched priority usa, and i was teaching classes, and i taught a class at harvard. And when it came time to decide if i wanted to go back on the campaign trail or not, for a long time i wasnt sure that i wanted to go. But i wanted i did not want to spend this election cycle, you know, sitting on a panel, frankly, talking about the work that other people were doing. For me that wasnt enough, because im a habitual campaign staffer, and i wanted to do everything that i could to get donald trump out of office, and i felt like everything that i could was not sitting on a panel. I would happily go back to my desk, okay is . [laughter] another day im happy to go back. Yeah [inaudible] [laughter] but, you know, i wanted to go get in there and do the work. And so, you know, i knew a lot of people that were running for president , there were a lot of folks. But with when i sat down with Vice President biden, it was like, it was like id known him for years, and what he was saying, the theory of the case that he or articulated, we are the battle for the soul of the nation, that charlottesville was not just an Inflection Point for all these people around america, it was one for him. What we are seeing from the white house, from the administration, Trump Administration throughout is an abuse of power. And you have to check an abuse of power. And like me, Vice President biden said he was like, you know, i dont want to spend this election cycle thinking what if i would have ran for president. Im like, me too . I just want to work for somebody. And i believed in what he was saying. We got it right, he is the democratic nominee. But i will say that my values [inaudible] i think a lot of have their political ideology and their political values wrapped up in a particular person whether its senator sanders or joe biden or barack obama or Kamala Harris or whoever. I actually dont find that productive because i think we have to have something that angers us. Like, what i believe doesnt change from who i work for. I still believe in equity, i believe in fairness, i believe that we have to fix our juvenile Justice System so that it is actually a system that serves young people and that does not further harm them. I believe of in equity. I believe we have to do something about the grotesque wealth inequality in this country. I believe that the president has completely mishandled the coronavirus pandemic. And what was once just a Public Health crisis now an economic crisis because donald trump was complacent. I still dont know what he was doing in january and february, okay, of 2020. Maybe he will let us know soon. My political ideology is wrapped up in my values and the things i believe. That is why i can work for [inaudible] i can work for senator sanders, i can work for joe biden, i can work for a proifg campaign. I know some people dont understand, like, it still doesnt compute for them. So i would tell, the piece of advice i make in the book is you cannot make decisions based on what other people are going to think about you. I literally would never make a move. So at the end of the day, i think i made the right decision. I feel good. Yeah, as you should. But i want to touch on that last point a little bit because you can feel good about it yourself, right . But one of the and i get it, ive been in Democratic Politics a long time. I know that one of the favorite storylines is democrats in disarray. But there is this sort of a storyline that theres till some lingering hesitation by people who were with senator sanders or maybe senator warren with signing on with the Vice President , the former Vice President s campaign, that they dont feel like he is pure enough for them. Youve been on both sides of that, right . You were with senator sanders, now youre with the Vice President. What would your message be to those people who are still harboring doubts . Is there a way to win them over . How is the Campaign Going to actually make sure that the party is fully unified . Well, i would say, i would say three things. One, i would say look at senator sanders. Senator sanders wholeheartedly endorsed senator biden. It wasnt just a paper endorsement or a tweet. They had a long and wideranging conversation about the issues where senator sanders put forward a lot of widely lauded [inaudible] and told people why he is supporting Vice President biden, why bewe need to get behind him, why we need to rally together and how they plan to work together. And i think thats very powerful. Is so people who truly believe in what bernie is saying, if you believe Bernie Sanders, Bernie Sanders is telling you why he has gotten behind joe biden. Vice President Biden believes it is going to take all of us if we are going to defeat donald trump and build on this bold, progressive vision that both senator sanders and Vice President biden have together. Secondly though ill say that Vice President biden himself has said for a long time that he needs these young people that senator sanders brought in. These folks that were maybe a little disconnected from politics, but senator sanders or senator warren or Kamala Harris inspired them. We need those folks. We need the enthusiasm, we need the ideas, and we we cannot do this without them. Our campaign [inaudible] we welcome you. And i think thats really important because leadership starts at the top. And the third thing ill say is our engagement to these folks is really genuine. You know, when we talk about progressive engagement, we have gone literally organization by organization, what i like to call meticulous, surgical precision because i think thats what it takes to truly show folks not just show, but were actively demonstrating to a number of our progressive friends that we are in this for the long haul, we want to know where it is we ahine and how we can align and how we can build and expand on that alignment. When it comes to young people, we are what is it, next week were launching, were coming out with our Young Americans program. Im very excited about it. Look out for next week, ladies and gentlemen, but that is the culmination of a project that our campaign has been working on through last summer with the input of young people across college campuses, high school students, young professional folks, from young elected officials, some who have been with us from the beginning if some people who are like, look, i care about not only beating donald trump, but progress. And whats happening now doesnt have to be this way, so lets do everything we can so we can get on the road to what were calling a biden recovery. We wont win them all, but with we do have to try, and that is what were doing. So my last question before we go to the students, look, running against an incumbent is hard, right . Theres a reason why not many are defeated, at least in the modern era. Its got to be really harolder, much harder when youve got to redefine what it means to campaign because were all stuck in our homes. Your candidate cant go out there and dorallys, and do rallies. Im wondering how you guys are reimagining campaigning if how you tackle that real challenge while still trying to get the message out. You heard Vice President biden say recently [inaudible] he says, you know, George Stephanopoulos asked him this very question. Actually, he framed it like, you know, is it hurting you that you cant get out there. Vice President Biden said we reject the notion that we are in a Virtual Campaign mode right now a due to the fact that everyone is at home, that its hurting us. He was like were doing pretty good if you look at some of these polls because were actively engaging. So Vice President bind, dr. Biden have been doing virtual travel days, if you will. Last week he was in florida. Dr. Biden was in michigan, and she was in pennsylvania. Were prioritizing local media, were still doing national media, were doing round tables. He did a snapchat interview yesterday, plus it doubled as a piece for vanity fair magazine. So weve had to get creative, but we fully believe actually that Vice President biden, one, is breaking through but, two, his message of his campaign is a message and a campaign that people are [inaudible] because joe biden is talking about a biden recovery that would benefit folks. Joe biden is highlighting and elevating the voices of frontline workers. Not just talking about what he would do as president right now, but talking about what he will do when he is elected. And people want to see a forwardlooking, forwardthinking vision. Thats what Vice President bidens giving them. Now, would question we like to get out there and would we like to get out there and campaign in the world . Absolutely. Hes chomping at the bit to get out. But we will go when it is safe. We will be informed by the scientists when its safe unlike the people that work at the white house, namely the president. All right, lets except to a question. We have a question by one of the students you met on the gu politics trip to iowa. So, mckenzie, youre up. Just a reminder, tell us what school year you are, where youre zooming in from. Hi oh, i remember you, mckenzie. Yes, hi. Its so nice to see you. Or crazy that were three, four months out. Im a senior now, and you talked a little bit about the struggles you faced regarding your race and your gender in the political arena. I was wondering if you could speak more to the problem of being tokennized for your identity, when you had to face that or what is your experience in coming to terms with that . Thats a good question, mckenzie, thank you. You know, i think when i, first time i traveled on the Sanders Campaign, i think a lot of people looked at the headlines and said, oh, hes you know, senator sanders or having some issues with africanamerican protesters, so he hired an africanamerican press secretary, and that fixings fixes it. Many timings throughout the campaign and each post2016 people have assumed that i am somewhere because that im a young person and not necessarily assume that i have a job because i earned it, i worked for it, i was good for the environment. But, again [inaudible] im navigating through it. And so the best way i think to combat things like that is show up every day and be ready to go. Whatever your job is. If youre interning, ladies and gentlemen, your summer experience, your fellowship, you know, your first job, show up every day and be really good. I myself am a problemsolver. Sometimes there are problem indicators. I like to be a problemsoever. I see whats wrong, and then im going to come with some suggestions. So if its an interview, if its engagement, i do a lot of senior advising, i help our Political Team now, so im doing a lot with our engagement and what not. So you have to, you know, people value folks that can fix things, that can be additives at work, so im always an adtive. You might think im over here because [inaudible] but im actually here, you know, wherever here is because i am very adept and good at solving problems. Last thing ill say is when i was 16 years old, i finish. Finish [inaudible] thats what lame 16yearolds like myself do. And my Business Card said i specialize in results. I would hand my Business Card to someone, and they would read it, and theyd say, oh, what kind of results . People that know me around town its like, oh, thats e the young girl with cards. When they called on me to do things, i executed. So for young people, i think it is really important, especially young people of color, its very important to be able to back up what youre saying. Theres always going to be someone who says you dont know what youre talking about. The Pew Research Center said what i said. Back up what youre saying and just be confident. Often times we arent confident at work or wherever we are because were unsure about what it is that were saying. But if we get sure about what were saying, we do the research, we come prepared, we get the data, we can be more confident in our delivery of it. So i can be confident because i know i did my research, i know what im talking about. All right. Thanks for the question, mckenzie. Next up, and i apologize in advance if i mispronounce it concern. [inaudible] did i get that even close . Its [inaudible] tell us school year, where youre zooming in from. Awesome. Im from san diego, california. Its north, is so instead of north omaha, i totally get it. People will say youre not really from here. So im in the college, im a rising sophomore, and so one of my questions that i was wondering about is that you recently were tapped to be in the criminal Justice Reform task force which i thought was really great, is so i wanted to talk about how the recent not so recent, but how the, just the upheaval for Ahmad Aubreys depth has really shifted the focus depth has really shifted the focus to [inaudible] i wanted to ask you how do you think this upheaval will change how democrats address criminal Justice Reform . Yes, thank you for the question. You know, i think about the case of ah mauled around berry who e only talking about it because the wheels are turning because we saw the video. They had it for 7. 5 days, the Prosecutors Office down there. We know their names, trayvon martin, like, the list goes on. Like, the list goes on. We could sit here and, unfortunately, name a hundred folks, philando castillo. Who our elected officials are matter. Who the Prime Minister is matters the president is matters, because the president has the power to appoint an attorney general. We have people who currently run the civil leadership conference. Eric holder, former attorney general in the Obama Administration whos also on our task force. Eric holder, department of justice is the department of justice that went and entered into a Consent Decree with places like ferguson and baltimore. Its the reason change is lasting change. Sometimes change is not enduring. That is the reason we have real change in some of these places, because people cared, they cared about communities, they cared about justice for a all people. They were doing the work. I think that over the course of the last couple of years because of [inaudible] i had to watch the ah mawed around berry video, but it hurt me to watch it [inaudible] we shouldnt have to see black and brown bodies be murdered on video. It should not be that way. But i think the fact that people are seeing these videos, that we are having these frank conversations, Vice President biden spoke out on Ahmaud Arbery and spoke antibiotic a number of times. It about it a number of timings. It helps bring awareness. The criminal Justice Task Force between the Biden Campaign and the Sanders Campaign, what will come out of this is a report, drafting committee. So im excited about the conversations were going to have. I know some people who are like how are you on criminal justice . Because i am a former member of the [inaudible] committee on juvenile justice and the coalition for juvenile Justice National young and emerging leaders. So im very excited about the work were going to do, a lot of the work congressman bobby scott is one of the cochairs, and i know hes going to put us to work. But hopefully, im very hopeful and i know what will emerge will be ad good foundational document where we can go forward and do the work and put what we all say we believe on paper. Thanks so much for the question. Ill try to squeeze a few more in. Well bring back ashley pollard, who we spoke with earlier. Ashley. Hi again, symone. Im ashley poll articled, 2020 graduate of the Mccourt School of Public Policy. [inaudible] thank you. So you mentioned earlier that change takes strategy and that it takes time, and im wondering as a radical revolutionary if youve ever felt like youved had to compromise on your passions or your mission because of the strategy and because of time, and if so, how you dealt with that. Thats a good question. I dont think ive ever felt that i had to compromise because in the book i talk about having a personal, like, a line, personally and professionally. And i think everyone should actually have a line. And the line is like you know, like, when someone does x, x has gone too far whether its personal or professional. And when x happens, you need to know what youre going to do. So i have a personal, professional line. I dont care who you are, you cannot can me to do. My boss cannot ask me to lie. All i have is my world, and the moment i tell a lie, my word is no longer my bombed. It is im a liar, okay . I look add some of at some of these people that work at the white house for donald trump at the podium, okay . [inaudible] so i dont feel like ive ever had to compromise on my values or the things that i believe, but i have had to pick my ballots. I think in battles. In my work life i have to pick my battles, okay . I cant go into the meeting with guns blazing every day. I have to pick my battles, and i have to be strategic about how i bring things up. You know, sometimes you may not be the best person to raise, you know, the topic in the meeting. You might need to let sue raise the topic. You know, i find it interesting that you said that. And you and are now a tag team that are going to get these people together under this particular tent. So i think with we really want to see a change, if we want to be effective, we have to be willing to be strategic, and that takes a little extra thought power, a little extra brain power. And sometimes people dont want the strategy. They want to tear the building down, flip the table over and say what are you going to do for us. And i just thats not strategy. That is not how any of the effective people that came before us got thing done. I have a photo in my apartment of Fannie Lou Hamer and ella baker, and i posted that picture the other day. Fannie lou hamer and ella baker were strategic. They had issues with the system, but they were strategickic about how they went strategic about how they went about addressing those issues. Ella a baker wrote the strategy. They went to ella baker to put together the strategy. I think about them when im trying to work through something. Thanks, ashley. All right. I want to try to squeeze a couple more in. Lets go to allie. Hi there, im allie hi, allie. Im here in college calling from los angeles. My question has to do with the new vote by mail measures that your campaign is recommending. Just wondering how your strategies have changed in, like, get out the vote efforts when youre trying to mobilize people from their homes rather than getting them to go to the polls. I know, right . Great question. Who knew that one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime we would have to get creative and rely on voting by mail in some places but still push for voting options because we know that, you know, theres literally not a way to scale up vote by mail everywhere so that it will be 100 , so how can we insure that the cornerstone of our democracy, free and open elections Still Available to people in the midst of this pandemic . Its complicated. I am not a democracy scholar by any means, but we have some very smart people who are thinking about ways that we can do this. We are, were talking about what can i say here . Were talking about some policies that we might be unveiling sometime soon as it relates to what we, you know, want Vice President biden to do when he is elected because the reality the coronavirus has just laid bare issues that have long been there in our Community Across the country whether its the health inequalities, whether its the issues with how we conduct elections in this country. So weve got some plans in the works but its something that, frankly, democrats and republicans have to think about. This isnt a partisan issue. Like, when we say, you know, when we say, you know, protecting the ballot box, protecting the vote, thats protecting the vote for everybody whether youre democrat, republican, independent or otherwise. So all right. Thanks, allie. But i will say some people dont want to protect the vote, mo. Some people is have actively been trying to make it harder for people who look like me, young people, black people, to vote. We also are going into that. Lets try to get a question in from rhonda craig. Rhonda . Youre up. Mo, symon everything, thank you so much. Im rhonda based in l. A. Currently but heading back to [inaudible] at the end of the month. I just graduated from the Mccourt School of Public Policy also on saturday. I love this notion of get out of line. So prior to coming to Mccourt School, i worked in tv journalism, i consulted in racial equity, and now im wondering as a career professional that has never worked a campaign a today in my life, how do i go about the process of pivoting into the world of politics in 2020 . Well, rhonda, what you do is you send some people your resume, like me, like mo, and mo can send it to me, and then we put your resume out there to people that are looking for talent. Look, i mean, the reality is if we only ever hire from the pool of people that have only ever done president ial campaigns, that have only ever worked in National Politics and were not letting nutall leapt in the door, like, if that was the case, i wouldnt have a job. Somebody had to take a chance on me. And right now there is a want and a need for people who are rative and innovative. Creative and innovative. There are senate races all across this country right now that the democrats need to win, okay . We need good, strong talent to go to these battleground races. The georgia race is in play. Have yall seen the polling . We can elect a democrat into the senate in georgia. I mean, mark kelly in arizona. There are races in play, house races that we have to defend in order to keep our majority in the house, and we want to get to a majority in the senate. Theres, yes, president ial campaign. We have a coordinated campaign that will be run. We are staffing up across the country, but i think the best entry into politics for people that, you know, maybe havent done it before is to find someone whos in it and then literally ask them, you know . I told you i went on 29 interviews before i got my first actual political job. Some would have stopped by interview 5. Im like, no, no, im good. So youve got to be tenacious about it but, you know, i think thats why the institute of politics at georgetown really a great resource for the students because you have i know the people that have been fellows in this program, okay . Any one of these people what they signed up for was to be a member of the network. Okay, the network [inaudible] thanks, rhonda. So i usually end, were running out of time, i usually end with a, you know, a brilliant question, but rhonda just asked my brilliant question about how young people can get involved. So i think well just end it there. Symone, thank you so much for coming back and visiting with us at gu politics, and hopefully the next time it will be on campus. Right. Whenever we can get back on campus. [laughter] congratulations on the book, no, you shut up. Thank you. Its on sale starting tomorrow, right . On sale starting tomorrow but you can preorder today anywhere where books were sold, amazon, its everywhere, its on audible, wherever audio books are sold. And you can go to my web site, www. Symonev sanders. Com book, and you can find it there. Thank you, mo. Yall are doing the lords work over there at the institute of politics. I really think its amazing that youre creating a space for young people regardless where they sit on the political spectrum to get introduced. Youve got reporters, youve got operatives, its great. So just thank you for what yall are doing and keep it up. And particularly the folks that just graduated, i know these times are tough, let me just say its raggedy. Yall should not have had to experience the last month of your senior year like you did, but yall are going to help change the world. Dont give up, dont be displayed, get out there. Displayed. Get out this. It will not always be like this if you do the work. Everybody is very proud of you, i know i am. Symone, thanks very much. Thanks, everyone, for tuning in tonight and for the students who participated and asked questions, and follow us on all of the social media platforms gu politics to find out about our next event. Thanks so much, everybody. Heres a look at some Publishing Industry news. Former National Security adviser john bolton is prepared to release his memoir on his time in the Trump Administration regardless of whether he receives permission from the white house. His book, the room where it happened, is scheduled to be released june 23rd. The New York Times reports that books on race have seen a major upswing in the last week as protests against Police Brutality have swept across the nation. Both amazon and Barnes Nobles bestseller lists have been dominated by such titles and many independent bookstores have reported running out of books on the subject. Jason reynolds is coauthor of the book stashed which is currently stamped. Which is currently the best selling young adult book. He reacted by is saying, quote, i mean, its a wonderful thing to say im a New York Times bestseller, but it would be more wonderful to live in a world that is a little more antiracist. Several bookstores across the country are offering reading lists to customers or donating a portion of their sales. Many supporters of the protests have asked that books be purchased from blackowned bookstores such as source booksellers in detroit, or mahogany books in washington d. C. Also in the news according to npd book scan, print book sales were up almost 8 president compared to the same 8 compared to the same time last year, and according to a recent survey, one of the large Book Publishers in new york city expect to reopen their offices before september 1st. Many cite concerns about the safety of Public Transportation and the need to develop staggered schedules for returning workers. Booktv will continue to bring you new programs and publishing news. You can also watch all of our archived programs anytime at booktv. Org. Youre watching booktv on cspan2, television for serious readers. Here are some programs to watch out for this weekend. Tonight, fordham universitys chester finn and michael pa trelly discuss how to improve k12 education in america. And at 8 p. M. Eastern, settle in to watch several hours of awardwinning historian doris kearns good wen. And on goodwin. And on sunday, an argument against the expanding powers of the presidency. Find more Schedule Information at booktv. Org and on your program guide. Also a social crisis, the struggle for racial equality and human equality and very much of this moment and forces us to confront challenges that