Sonny hosten. They are grateful for your continued support, and their members and other members and donors. So we hope youll also a consider making a donation. You can do it online, or you can text donate to 4153294231. 4513294231. And you can text the word donate to that number. The club would also like to thank the Bernard Osher foundation for supporting todays good lift event. I like the name of that. It is my pleasure right now, my just overwhelming, deep, deeply i cant even tell you how much i love this woman, but it is my pleasure to welcome my very dear friend sunny hostin, cohost of the view. Were like sisters and brothers, we fight, but its all love. Her new book is called i am the truth, ok . It is a revealing look at her really increble story. Sunny grew upn the southronx and through hard work, through determination if andhe support of her parents, her family, she obtained a law degree. She went ono become a federal prosecutor and was soon recognized for her stellar work prosecuting crimes against women and children. She is a fighter. She is in it for, to do good and to help people. By the way, she went to note orer dame law school notre dame law schl, so shes amazing. She was one of the first naonal reports to cover Trayvon Martins death. Shes an advocateor social justice and provides a powerful voicto the marinnallized people marginalized people of this world wee going to dignto the timely themes she explores throughout her book. And just a quick reminder that wereoing to be ting audience questions. We may do it at the end, but we may do it throughout. It just depends on if something is red lighted to what were talkg about related to what were talking about. To pase submit your questions in the chat feature. Sunnhosten, how are you . Im just soappy to be here. Even tugh its virtual, i wish we were in the same room, but im happy to be on this journey with you,y friend. Im looking for my book here. Why did you decide to e write i am these truths i just feel that the truth of it all is that you do hold the power to be the difference. And you know that aye always believe ive always believed that the, and i think that at this time we are in the middle of a pandemic, an economic crisis, a National Debate over policing, a delayed, what i think is a delayed reckoning with systemic racism, and i have been journaling for so long and i have been writing. And i thought if not now, when . Right . And i had spoken to justice sotomayor, whi that sounds like huge name drop [laughter] but its the truth. I have spoken to her a lot about sharing my story. And my story, as you know, don, has more failures than success. And i thought it was time to share that, warts and all. Because my story is pain ifing, you know . You grow up in the south bronx projects with teenage parents and do you want to share all of that. Is it hope offul enough, is it aspirational enough. And he said youve got to share it because she said youve got to share it, because it is. And it can be a story for other people. And promise me one thing, you do it in spanish and in english. [laughter] because its so important for those people that may be struggling with english as a second language and english, as you know, don, is my second language. With everything thats going on in the world, do that so the little girl and little boy that will read it in spanish and have some hope. Im sure you thought, what are people going to learn from me . Everyone whos writing a book, they do that. Especially when you have humility, when youre as humble as you are, you think what can i offer . You said you have more failures than you have successes. People dont realize, thats kind of how life goes, right . Those are Building Blocks to the success. Yeah. Why did you, why did you feel that way . Why did you feel like, you know, you had all these failures or whatever, and why did you struggle with thinking no ones going to care or, you know . Absolutely. And, you know, the age of social media. I did a media playback on the show, and i tried to be a voice for the voiceless because that seat on the view is so very important. And, you know, you would get, i would get these messages that, you know, youre talking about income inequality and youre talking about poverty, and youre talking about this struggle, youre sitting on the view, you know . Youre wealthy, you dont know anything about it. And i just remember thinking they don know. Like, people dont know my sty. They dont know how hard its been. They see you on the view, and they think, oh, overnight success. Yes working at this for decades. Decades. A over 25 years. Ive been on television for a long time. This is just the success youre seeing, but youre not sing the failures, and there is have is just been so many of them. What did you learn from those failures . So as people are listening, what did you learn from that . I said that they usually i like to use my haters as tivators, as building blos. What did you learnrom those failures . You know, ive learned a tremendous amount of resill yens. Ive learnedded my father used to always say you have to be twice as good t go half as far. Ive learned that no one can take excellence from you, okay . So ever time ive been fired [laughter] and theres been many times, you know at cnn there was the time my contract wasnt renewed. But i knew that i had done my best, that i had been excellent. And so i could lead with my head up. And i certainly is have earned that. And i learned that there would be another day. I learned to use my if voice, that it was my voice, that it was okay. I learned that humility is okay. I actually also learned recently that im not as good at sticking up for myself as i am at sticking up other people. Who told you that . Myusband told me, you did. [lghter] i know manny tol you that. You did. Yeah. Suand i s offices sunny and is offices used to be across from each orr, and we would often loo to eachther for advice a comfort. Youve indiana said lean in often said lean in, sun, you dont stuck up forourself, and its so true. And i write in the boo how its really easy to stuck up for other people, to tl other peoples stories. It certainly was really hard for me to tell this story. I wasnt only telling my story, right . I was telling the story of my parents, i was telling my mothers story. My mother doesnt speako me for about a week after she read the book, actually. I talk about addiction and Mental Health, and, you know, i are veal a l of reveal a lot of scents in that sense. Secrets in that sen. I found, my goodness, i did not want t talk about possible discrimination. I did not want to raise my hand and say, you know, this is happening to me, is this true . Dont tre me this way, i should be valued more. I did not want to do those things, and i found that out about myself which was a little bit shocking that i talk the talk and, you know, i can defend other people and prosecute cases d stick up for victims, but it was really hard for me to do it for myself. Okay. So let me ask you, because i want to ask you about the title the bk, but i have to just pick up on something that you saidbecause i think being where we are in this business theres aot of advice tha we can offer people thats not just in this business, but just in professional life anywhere. You said that you wouldnt stick up for yourself. Often times whe you get to these positions, and we knows you get up, its a pyramid. Its rarefied air there are very few of these kinds of jobs,ight . You want to stick up for yours yourself, for other people, but am i going to lose mylatform and, trefore, there wont be anyone like me, you know, with this vce . Was that part of it . It was a huge consideration. There isnt a day that goes by that i dont get an email or a tweet or, you know, ill be on the street a mothers and even young people will come up to me and say, oh, my god, thank you for being who you are, y represent me, you kno and that meant aot for me. And then i thought if itick my neck out even for myself, there wont be someone like me on the view or on television. And i remember one of the and i write about i in the book. One of the reasons that i always wanted to be a broadcast journalist because i, you know, we didnt watch it on television when i was growing up. We had one tv in the house, and i read a lot of books. What we did watch was 60 minutes. We watched it every sunday religiously. And i would pretend to be one of the reporters, but there werent any that looked like me. And my parents were like, dont do that. So i remember the power of representation. And so the thought that i would, you know, take a chance and risk being that representation for those people that would stop me on the street was nerve wracking. And i remember asking my family when i was typing the forward, i typed in like 25 minutes because 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 suicide, right in and he was like are, yeah. [laughter] possibly. And i was, like, im going to lose my josh job, right my job, right . And he was like, maybe. I did it anyway see . Leaning in. I thought, pandemic, economic crisis, National Debate over policing people of color affected more by this crisis. By everything. Yeah. And i dont have the courage to view what i talk about every day on the show . Privileged position. I was from a privileged position. I would be aup create a hypocrite. There you go. There you go, girl. [laughter] i can so relate to you because you remember when i came out, do you know how hard that was . I remember, we talked about it. I was going to lose my job and its like 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 thing to do. You were, i was living, i always tell people to walk this their own truth. So youre living in your own truth. Is that where did the name, is that where the name calm from, i am these truths . Yes. I came up with the title of the book after it was written. And, you know, in my offic i have, im in my office now, my home office at myesk where i did a lot of the writing, and i have a lot of stickies i remember. And also the cstitution. Do you remember i used to keep a cop of the constitution on my desk. The little one, exactly. Yeah. And it says we hold these truths tbe selfevident, that almen are created equal. And it should be all men and women. Thats why im doing this. Sorry, sunny, go ahead. I just started thinking about all the themes in the book with, about equality and systemic racism and pay inequity, and i was like, you know, im finally telling the truth, and these are my truths, and i hope it encourages people of not to be ashamed of where they come from. And i went, ah, i am these truths. Thats where it came from, because its very powerful to say that the truth of it all is that we are equal and that we hold the power to be the difference. And you are, you are people of color, immigrants, you are the american story. So when someone tries to categorize immigrants and people of color, its doubly insulting because of the work people of color did. No pay, slavery, all those things, building things, so when people try to make you feel like youre not an american, is that infuriating for you . Its painful. It used to make me angry, but now its painful. And one of the things that i thought about when i was writing the book, you know, like why do people still question my background . If. Yeah. My earth us inty . Why ethnicity. Why is it sod . When i was writing, we had just come up after, it had just come up again. We had interviewed a family on the show, and it was a spanishspeaking family. And one of the family members, the grandmother, didnt speak english. So i conducted the interview of her in spanish, and i would translate for the audience. I got all these on knox shut tweets on knox us tweets, sunny must be why she speaking in spanish my parents got married i 1968 just a year after the loving decision where interracial and my mother, youve met my mom, don, shes a white hispanic also of jewish descent, right . And my father was a black guy. So when they got married, it had just become legal, and i was ke a unicorn. There really werent peopl who looked like me. I writebout in the book about how they tried to live in georgia, and it was really crazy, and the k, kkk ran ths many out of town. And i had been otherrized my entire life. On though im onl in my 5, it was just unusual. I think that is why ive lived thatife of a struggle of identity, but it saddens me that 50 years later people sti question it because they still want to put you in this box. Category. People have to be automobile to categorize something able to9 categorize something in order to be comfortable, right . Yes. I can understand a little bit but not as much as you because i wrote about in my book, and i talk about the experience in louisiana, light skin vers dark skin. Is so in the winter i was light skinned, and then in the summer i was dar skinned. Finish. [lghter] weird color thing. But i remember when we had this conversation about, y know, don, you realize that people on cnn, they dont know that im latina. They just think in terms of africanamerican most of the countryfricanamerican and white, black and white yeah. And i said, well, sunny, let peop know that youre latina. s okay to be. But you felt stuck in that world i did. In that no mans land sort of. Am i this, am i that, am i both, do i have to choose one . I did. And it was for a lot of reasons, you know, and it was weird because our offices were right next to cnn eanol. They never asked me to do any recording. Thats kind of weird. An i think one of the reasons i write about also ithe book, one of the reasons that and i blame myself is because i changed my name. My real names iowa since on. How did it morph . Dud you morph to make it more american . Tell me about it. I know you you about it, but i want you to tell people. The story is my family calls me asuncion, my friends from back in the day all call me that. When i was in college, there were a couple of people that would say aaa and i noticed it, and i would say you can call me whatever you want. How about sunshine . Okay, so they called me sunny, sunshine. When i started doing court tv with nancy grace who is great friend of moon, she could not of mine, she could not pronounce my name. And when i say could not, the struggle was real. She would be, like, joining me is, the cohost today is [lauter] you could see the struggle. And at one of the breaks she said, can i say somethingo you . I said, yes, nancy, i knew what it was about. This is like, this name thing, i cant say it. And i said, well, what would you like me we to do about my name, nancy . And she said do you have a nickname . And i felt the pressure at that point when i have this legal legend telling me, you know, this name is not going to cut it. I said, well, a lot of people call me sunny. Right then she said change it, suy. I mean, i didnt even hav a spelling for it. She chged it,nd i just went with it, to be honest with you. I didnt like it, but i went with it. And afterhat my career kind of took off. She knows tv. She knows tv. The thing is sometimes, sunny, people get and maybe rightfully so sometimes people get offended, but sometimes people are just looking out for your, for your wellbeing, and they know she was, like, this will work for you because i know tv. Thats what he told me. Sometimes you have to just roll with it and lean in. Thats what she told me. I write about that in the book. She told me that. She said, you know, youre going to make it in this business. I havent seen anyone do this as well as you without any training. You were made to do this. But that name is going to hold you back. People cant remember it. And ive got to tell you, she was right. But i felt like i stole a piece of myself. My grandmother never forgave me for it because i was named after her sister. People would sort of stop me when i was with her and say, hey, sunny, and shed be like [speaking spanish] [laughter] and i do think at cnn if i were asuncion hostin, just like sow dad obrien Soledad Obrien obrien and if i had to do it again, i would not have changed my name. You would not have . Noings i would not have. I didnt so my first news, when i was a reporter, when i left new york and went to birmingham said she wanted me to change my name. She didnt like the last name lemon. And i knew on tv if its snappy e and something that people could remember, thats great. And im, like, don lemon, thats a name thateople change their name to. [laughter] she wanted me to be don johnson, something really simple, and i was like no one will remember that. Everyone will remember don lemon. Everyone rembers sunny. I want tosk you about this because you talk about you were too lightskinned for the black community, too darkskinned. People didn get it. This is f. Scott fitzgerald in a 1936 essay, t test of a first rate intligences the ability hold two opposed ideas in mind at thsame time and still retain the ability to funion. Why do you think itso hard for people, even intelligence people that youve worked with in the past, to understand that someone can be black and latina . [laughter] i know. Its really fascinating, isnt it . Look atarack obama, right . The president is half black and half white, but nobody can real reconcile that. I think a l of it has to do with the history of this country. The one drop rule where if you were one drop bck, you were considered black. And i think, you know, i remember growing up wait, wait, can we just talk about that for a little bit . Because you can be 99. 9 something else, but if you had just a smidge of black in you, you were you were black. Go on. And because of that history in the country, you know, legal documents reflect that. And, you know, race is just a social construct anyway. Yeah. And so my Life Experience reflected that. And so, you know, on my birth certificate it says black, and then it also says hispanic, which is interesting, because i looked back at it. And it says mother, white. And then interesting, right . Yeah. [laughter] but we were still out, you know, any standardized death you have to test you have to choose black, white or hispanic. And i would sometimes try to circle everything. [laughter] of course you did. [laughter] thats the form. And i think, again, it just goes back to the history of our country and the way people are indoctrinated to this day. And i remember feeling if i choose one, does that mean my mother doesnt exist . If i choose, you know, the other, does that mean my father doesnt exist and who i am in all my complexity . I really believe that is unique to this country, because ive traveled a lot of places, and im expected in more complexity in those other places than i am here. Thats america. That is an american thing. So i think that is, that personifies what were going through right now, right . Theyve got to put you in a box. So even now people want to put you in a box. Everyone is so divided. Theres no nuance. Because people could not understand, sunny, when we were on cnn together, you would hold thoughts at the same time. What is wrong, why do you think that, and then we would go have a drink later. People could what is it, people cant do that anymore. What is it about the country, do you think, and society that cant hold two thoughts at the same, opposing views . I know that now it is worse than its ever been. And i remember sort of honing that skill when i from thed cases at the justice department. I write a little butt about it in the book a little bit about it in the sense that i would argue to the death in the courtroom, you know . If youre the defense attorney, you knew when i walked in i needed to win, because i was prosecuting child sex crimes, and i felt that i was on the [inaudible] and you stood in my way. And i went to the wall with it. And we would argue and then go out for drinks. And some of these Defense Attorneys were my closest friends, much like you and i are dear friends, and we would battle on cnn. Much like we do on the view, right . People are always shocked that meghan and i are friends even though we may battle it out and say all kinds of crazy things to each other on our. We can go out and drink our bourbon lauter. And, unfortunately later. And, unfortunately, i think that that kind of respect for difference of opinion is gone. Its crazy. In our country right now. Its just gone. And it requires the kind of relationship that we have, don, requires a respect for a differen of opinion. A level of forgiveness and of being cure crouseather than judgmental cuous. It definitely requires intellectual curiosity. Right. And a lot of people, fortunately, dont is dont have that, and they certainly to dont have have a respect for difference of opinion. And when you talk about intellectual curiosity, what that means in my view is why e is thiserson saying that . And wt experience has led to this person to say that and, hmm, do i see value in that . There is always value in a different opinion. And how that person got to it. Its only for you to strengthen your feelings abo something else, the opposite opinion, only to make you do that, feel that way. And for some reason weant do that anyre. And you i would point to the relatiship that ruth bade we ruth baderinsburg had with justice scalia. Tha ones hard for me [laughter] sometimes imlike, oka theyre mang they went out to lunch togeth every friday. They were so fon of each other. Yep. Listen, i think we need more of that. I do, you suld have, you know, i left out a very importantart that your dad also had to change his name in the 70s, and here you are in the 2000saving to change yr name. Did you lk to hum about that . Yeah. And i write about it. You know, he did it there are all these words for it. I know, because thats, like, you know whats weird though, sunn you talk to people and then one waynd then sunny and i, hey, whats up, you talk that way. But after a while you get to a certain position, it all kind of becomes one thing and you just do it. Like, its much more natural now i know. I find now it doesnt surprise people. Like i told chris the other night on the air, im like, youre stupid. [laughter] thats how we talk to each other, sorry. No, its true. And also i tell you, i feel like the code switching [inaudible] sometimes the, right . But my father, when my parents were coming up, again, its now the early 70s, and this interracial couple, theyre trying to get an apartment in manhattan, trying to got out of the south bronx, theyve got me, ive just been skipped a grade. My parents cant really too much me properly. Ive seen my uncle stabbed in front of me, theyre like weve got to get out of the projects. So they start trying to interview for apartments, and the minute they kind of show up, the apartments no longer available. And what my mother realizes is her name, her maiden name was rosa besa, and she realized if i change rosa to rose, i if i become raz cummings and i show up Rose Cummings and i show up with my light hair and few light eyes, im going to get the apartment. My father realizes when he sent husband resume out as an i. T. Guy, if he uses willie moses cummings, there aint a lot of whe guys named willie moses but if he chang this to bill cummings, hesoing to get the job. Is so he changed his name to bill cummings, and my mother changed her name to rose cuings. We got the apartmentn manhtan, and he got the job. Wow. And thats just the way it was. Whats sad for my dad is that we still do it today. And it shldnt be that way. But it is. I think its different theres a little bit of differce. I understand how you feel about your name, tst me, especially because of your grandmother. You know, its ownership. Theyre proud of you as, you know, as we say a blatina, right . But you didnt do it because, you know, youid it because sunny was just easy, and it was perfect and it fit, right . Fit. But i understand, i understand how now if youre looking back, you have the succes that you have, you wouldnt have to change your name. People would kw, and its a different time now. But i have do you because we always ask what would you go back and tell your younger self, right . Youve dealt with, you were nervous about, you miscarried, about medical, you know, fair treatment with medicine, being a woman that has kids in this business. So on and is so forth. So i wt to ask you, when you look at whats hpening now, this racial reckoning, i calm it the summer of i call it the summerf george floyd. Oh, yeah. If you could go back and tell your younger self in t wake of jacob blakes shooting, wha would you tell yoursel when you were reporting about trayvon martin, back when you were entering law sool or news television, what would you say so that sunny in. Wow. Thats a tough one, don. You know you were going to ask that. [laughter] what i tell my younger self. I would, you know, when i was younger, i definitely thought that if you did the excellent work, that you would succeed. And i think that was a very similar simplistic way of looking at things. I think, if im being honest in the seat that im sitting right now, i would advise my younger self that it isnt a meritocracy and to be ready for that. That it isnt just working really hard and being excellent those things help, but go on. They help, but they didnt just it isnt just a meritocracy and, indeed, you do have to look out for those potholes, and you do have to, in a sense, play the game and be more strategic like you were always on me to do. Always be at 100. Youve got to be strategic. You are a fighter, you are an activist at heart, and im like, sunny, thats great, but you cant youve got to be strategic. [laughter] need to be more strategic. And certainly, be more of an advocate for system for self. I think i would tell myself. I also thought that, as you know, don, because im always on 100 that its all about the work. And its just not. Its not only about the work, theres a Bigger Picture there. Yeah. You need, as we call now, work life are balance. But what i so admire about you is your activist and your fighting spirit and also your love of family and your sense of family and the kind of mom that you are and daughter. You are well rounded. I mean, you know . I dont know how i think women are the smarter and most successful of the sexes because you guys can juggle so much, take care of the how many, you can bring home the bacon, you do all that, you raise kids, you produce children [laughter] if men had to do that so, sunny, i want to go to some viewer questions, okay . Questions coming from the chat. The type really small, so forgive me. [laughter] this is from i think its [inaudible] okay. In this time of racial injustice, sunny, covid, natural disasters, how can we channel our anger and despair into positive action . So and then theres another question for both of us, which is what do you admire about one another. But first do that. How do you channel your anger and despair . People are asking how they can do it into positive action during this time. As don mentioned, i am always on 100. [laughter] i always feel like theres work to be done, and i start the book out by saying, you know, i was born in the 1968. Youve got the backdrop of the civil rights movement, youve got the backdrop of president kennedy, the assassination of president kennedy, Martinluther King jr. I was born into that unrest and unrest. I feel like i get it honest, my spirit gets it honest. I really feel like he need people to understand that you do hold the power to be the difference. And it doesnt are to be in these big ways. I think people feel powerless because theyre like, well, i dont have this big platform and i cant, you know, what do i do. If you feel angry, that doesnt mean you have to channel that anger. And that could be in many ways. That could be in being a poll worker, right in. Right. And making sure that people are not turned away inappropriaty are. It could be as simple as making sure that you g to your local meeting and make sure that your local School District i doing right by the ks in terms of the covid plan. It cou be proteing or organizing protest. Getting a group of friends togeer and virtually pnning something,ringing five people th you to vote. Theres so many ways, think, to hness that anger in a positive way to affect chang i ofn think about the stats when you think about and this is not aartisan thing, you know if lets s you were a hillary person and you decided not to vote becauseou didnt think your vote would count, you didnt new you could make a differce. Well, hillary lost michigan by 11,000 votes, and in some districts she lost by 7 votes. Seven votes. Imagine if one person thought that they made a diffence and took six friends. Right. That would have been the difference. So thats how i feel like you channel your energy in whaver, you know, you make your bag your purpos and d your passion your purpose and doomething, just something. Yeah. Finish and as you said, it doesnt always have to be 100, doesnt always have to be a fight, it doesnt always have to be something that involves the legal system or police or any of that. I had an experience recently a we were going through this george floyd thinghere i went to a store. I went to a store, and this were opening. I walked by on the sidewal and i said, o i wanted to buy somethinglike, i can tell it to you, but you cant come in because of covid. Which i certainly understood. And then as i was walking back for a bag, i saw this woman inside the store, this white lady shopping. It looked to me like it was shopping. And i said to him, um, i thought whats going on . And he said, or oh, shes training. And so i wasnt sure if she was training or not, i didnt want it to go to 100. I didnt to be like, oh, because i didnt know exactly what it was. But i asked him what was going on, and he knew from the look that i gave him and the conversation we were having, he got it. I returned the item and i said im just not comfortable doing this. I dont want it to be a big deal. He got it. Got it, yeah. He had his lesson in that moment without it being a big deal. It was just succinct. Youre right, you have to measure and figure out how t do that, right . Yeah, howo do that. The steps. Take stand yeah. And it could beowever small,ut do something. Yeah. Do something. N i think i said that, i told you what i admire about you, but i can answer that. I love sunnys ambition, but s not blind ambition. Its ambition in the right way. And i like that youre able to evolve. I likehe evolution that is sunny. And ive told you what else i admire you dont hav to say at you admire about me. I add muir a lot of things about you. What a lot of people dont know is don is so supportive of others, so supportive. And not just of me, because ive seen that before across the board for a lot of people. There are many days when i would get a text from don which will be as small as, you know, how you doing or i just watched the show, that was bad ass, well done. Or you could lean in here yep. You could have done this better. But i always know hes watching and hes supporting and he wants you to be your best. Yeah. And in this business a in life even, there arent that many people tt are the, like, in your corner yeah. Who nt you to be a better version of yourself. Yep. And ive aays appreciated that. Thank you, sunny, because i listen, we are s lucky, i am s lucky to have this position. And i say lucky because, yeah, i think that im talented and, you know, fine, but theres a certain degree of luck, being in the right place at the right time. But theres so few people like you and me in these positions that i think we must look out for each other. Im not in competition with you. No. I dont feel like no one can me like i can. Exaly. No one can do you like you can. But heres the thing, sunny, that i think people should know. Its not always just sweetness and flowers, oh, you look great. I say, sunny, dont get mad at me, but that lighting today rah. [laughter] yeah. And you can tell me that i lo off. Dont forget to ask this. Yeah. If you know this, ask this next. And its so helpful. A lot of people wont do that. Oh, wait, wait, wait. Listen, thats not the name of the person whos asking the question, sorry, thats the name of the person whos sending me the question. As a prosecutor who is also a person of color, how do you view policing in america . What needs to change, sunny . Thats a great question. You know, i used to got a lot of by the way, thank you for that. Sorry, go on. I used to get a lot of flak, actually, for being a black prosecutor, right . A prosecutor of color, because a lot of times people of color go into criminal law, they certainly dont go into that side of the law. They become civil rights lawyers, i they become Defense Attorneys. Even judges but certainly not prosecutors. But people need to know the prosecutor the most powerful person in the courtroom, and i write about this. Not the judge, not the defense attorney, its the prosecutor. Thats why i was so happy that you had such insight on Daniel Cameron in kentucky yeah. Hes saying i couldnt do this because of this, because of this, because of this. Youre like, know, the prosecutor has the power. Has the power. The prosecutor runs the narrative. Sorry, go on. Well, people that are upset about Breonna Taylor about the Breonna Taylor case and there not being an indictment there, be upset because Daniel Cameron was the prosecutor. He had the a power to bring the charges. He had the a power to put the narrative in front of the grand jury, and he chose a different narrative. And thats why i chose to be a person of color as a prosecutor. So whatd you yeah. And you work intimately with Police Officers. I know firsthand they have a very difficult job. They want to get back home to their families as well. The problem is multi [inaudible] but the Police Officers that i worked with and that i am still friends with tell me that they are financed into situations that they are not prepared for, nor that they want to deal with. They are sent in to school to police children. They dont want to be there. They are also sent to deal with Mental Health situations. They dont want to do that either, nor are they preparedded to do that. Theyre not trained to deal with that. They are sent into situations of sort of broken policing. They dont want to do that either. They want to Police Murder cases, they want to deal with highlevel drug cases. They want to do real application. And so when you policing. And so when you hear about this movement of defund the police whether or not you disagree with the terminology, its really about Arming Police departments across the country with the right tools to police appropriately. And that may be diverting funds to Mental Health professionals to answer the call, diverting funds is so that you have school professionals, professionals in schools that are dealing with troubled children as opposed to guidance counselors. Guidance counselors, things of that nature. And so that Police Officers can do police work, which is what theyanted to do. So i think we we are sending poe into situations where they have no business dealing with. I also think that we have overmilitarized our Police Departments. There is no reason why Police Departments have armored vehicl and these assault weapons that are used in war, bayonets in some Police Departments. Theres no reason why, you kno the Police Departments have he budgets for settlements because theyre not, because or they are killing black and brown peoe as opposed to having in their budgets must be for training money for training, bias training, how to, you know, deescalate. So theres a problem with training and resoues that doesnt seem to be fixed ever. And, you know, i also think that we need moreeople of color that are not only enrolled in police academies, but are also elevated into positions of, supervisory positions so that th can teach lower level Police Officers how eectively police i communities of color. So you think that weeed to just, as peopl say, reimagine policing in this cntry because weve gotten used to it being a certain i way, and we tnk that, well, thas the best way. I dont know, maybe it is, maybe it isnt, but its interesting to me when people a offended by it. I understand when the are, like, the term defund the pice is, you know how i told you, sunny he hates it. Don hates it. We got into this little argument about it. Yeah. D you feel that people on the street were, like, crowd sourcing that term and taking it todvertising agencies and making, you know, figuring out whether or not that was an appropriate tm . This is something thats sprung up. Im sure if they took it to an advertising or marketing agency, they would have come up with something different. [laughter] but they didnt. Its not so much about theerm, its about the ideas that come from it. Yeah, i get it. But you know what . Im just saying in an election year, youve got to be you know what im saying . Yeah. Because just becau people are hyperaware and even more so, the people who dont want what you want are going to use it as a cudgel. Theyresing it its true. But you have got to realize thats not what its about. And i do write about policing and, you know, prosecuting these cases in the book you write about almost everything weve talked about. You write about it in some way in this book. Yeah. I had a birds eye view of that. Yeah. I mean, that and how to be sful, be a mom, being a prosecutor. You write about all of that stuff in the book. So speaking of, another viewer question. Sunny, what is the most significant professional learning you have experienced as it pertains to Race Relations . And theres a follow up. What ive learned where . Ive learned what is the most significant professional hearn aring you have experiences learning you have experienced as it pertains to Race Relations. So probably what is the biggest, what did you learn the most . I dont know, maybe theres one experience that you had, what was the biggest, what is the most significant professional learning you have experienced as it pertains to Race Relations. You know, i think that my recent experience at a abc, if im being honest, has been, was really eyeopening. And i start the book out with it in that we dont go ahead . Sunny had, sunny experienced someone who was, who had a big role in her career at the company and was in charge of people like sunny who is accused of making insensitive racial remarks which included sunny. Has been accused, right . An investigation, and she was fired. She was terminated. I just want to be i dont want to get too whatever. Anyway, and sunny, and it was some very harsh things, unprofessional about sunny, and sunny fought back, and she has continued to fight back. And so, and that is recent. Yeah. And it was recent. It was just this summer. And so for me professionally did i characterize it properly . Yeah. It was a person that was reonsible for contract negotiions for myareer as well as development of few of my career. And so in terms of Race Relations,ou know, what i learned was that i think we go thugh life, again, thinking that its a meritocracy, tha they cantake, people ct take excellence away from you. My father taughte that. My mother taught m that. But what i did learn are, unfortunely, is that its not just aer tock a rah city and meritocracy and that race does still play aole in our lives. Anan outsized role in this country. And w do have to spook up and speak out speakp and speak out about that. Although i was very ructant to do that. I tried to talk about it, write about i obviously, i started the book with it. Finish and what i learned is that, you know, while i thought it was professional suicide, in fact, people at least a abc were very open about, wow, thank you for telling us thi is how you felt, how you experience this, and we need to recall wrap it. And what can we recalibrate. And what can we do to make it better and how can we be better wherea i thought there was going to be this reluctance to talk about it. There was a reluctance to talk about it initially because when i first brought the book and handed it in, the response i got was, no, no, no, you cant talk about this stuff. Youve got to take it out. And i was, like, no, im not going to take it out. Youve got to take it out, im not going to take it out. I went so far as to hire a lawyer because i felt like this is my truth, this is my experience. And now that were going through this delayed sort of racial reckoning of systemic racism and people are talking about it it and protesting it, ive seen a real sea change because now the response has been how can we make it better. Yeah. And and so thats what ive learned. Thats been a real professional change for me and because you were standing up for yours. We began this conversation, you were standing up for yourself, and that is manager you wouldnt do in the beginning. What i admire about you is the evolution that youve had. And so what happened to you, unwittingly you didnt understand this at the time, you were still helping others but just standing in your own truth. I have. And ill tell you this offline because you know this person, i just got a text from seone right before we started this. Im reading your book. Thank you so much. Im experiencing the same thing, and i really needed to read it. And im going to takeome action myself. And i was just floored that, you know, what i thought would be professional suicide [laughter] turned out not to be that, and it is giving other pple the courage to speak out. But i think it is the ment that were in in thisountry. See, the power of one, that you have as an individual. You dont think you hav that power. You dont. But you do. Sunny, you do. And other people do as well. To what extent, someone wants to know, sunny, social media responsible for the demise of civility e and the abili to communicate like human beings . Oh, that is a wonderful question you know, i feel like socl mea is, its sort of like this twoheaded dragon, right . We get so much from it. I think back, don, and i think you and i both coffer a little butt of covered a little bit of the arab spring, right . Oh, yeah. It can be used for such good and then the it can be used to the detriment of so many people. My husband and i were just watching this dumentary, the social the social network. No, not the socl network, its new. I saw it, its on netflix, right . Yeah. I know what youre talking about. Itll come to me. Social something, yeah. We immediately changed screen time for the kids because we were like, wow, it is that destructive. And i think the reason its destructive, and it goes t some of the themes in the book, is because peopleill say things to each other that they would never say in person, right in or they wouldnt even say it li this, vir chuly virtually are, since we can see each other. People become anonymous, and now all of a sudden they have these twitter thugs in their mamas basements and they have this fake and faux courage. And it emboldens people to lose all decorum. And it just sort of just keepses on replicating. And i think its led to the mise of true civility. D weve seen it from the t. I mean,here hasnt been in our history a president who is willing to insult people on social media. No qualms about it. The social dilemma, by the way. The social dilemma its kind of remark b and i thinkocial media has given everyone permission to say these nasty things. I mean, if i read to you the things that people say about me [lauter] on social media oh, i know. Im, hike aughter] you know, im from the projects, so ive hard it all, but every now and then im like, oh w. [laughter] i have limited my comments on certain social media sites just to people i follow or who we know. Yeah. I didnt know you could do that. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, you can. Especially on instagram. And you can do it on twitter as ll, especially the ones that you see. You can set it with not everybody can respond to something you tweeted. Oh, i didnt know you could do that. I called twitter to hook me up. Yeah [inaudible conversations] i love the ideas. I lov the feedback. But it just, it has ledo this incivility that i never thought that i would see. You want to hear t love and the hat from the people you respect. Yo dont have to hear it from e people you dont know or respect. So you can, you know, you dont have to you know everyone loves you. You want to see those comment because you want to see, oh, few god, this person loves me because if im gettingt wrong, right . And iant to know tt. Ill tell you, sunny. [laughter] b i want to know that. Im such a you know this, don, im such a fir believer in the freedom of speech. I want to hear from people, but i am always shocked,gain, at the css and vitriol. Just the sheer incivility of it. Yeah. Okay, sunny, can we do a lightning round . Because we literally have just a couple minutes left. Oh, no okay you believe that . Sunny, why dud you want to become a lawyer . If there is one question that you could ask President Trump, what would it be . , first of all, whyd you want to bece a lawyer . Oh, i wanted to fought for people. I wanted to to fight for people. I wanted to be someones superhero, and i thought that would be the best wayed to do it. Is there one question that you would like to ask President Trump . What wouldt be . What the first thing you would do to restore the soul of this country . Wow. Those are good questions. One is why are you so jealous of barack obama . It is because barack has more money than he hasnt. The question was if you had to get the truth it is like a truth serum, how much taxes that you really pay or didnt pay . After writing this book and sharing such personal experiences, it was there anything that surprised your you learned about yourself . When i wrote the chapter on motherhood which was the hardest chapter for me to writ because i share that i went thugh in fertility, five miscarriages and almoslost my son in the pregnancy and i hadnt told my children they were ibx bies so i had to share that with them before the book came out. I learned because i nrated the audiobook i sobbed in the booth and i knew that had a really tough time when i was going through all of this but i fell into a deep depssion and i realized that about myself because im generally such a happy person. Very happy person. You are too happy. Always happy. In a bad mood. But i learned that about myself, that have a new found empathy for people that deal with mentaillness. I really felt all t pain that i felt when i narrated that part of the book. Last question for you. This is the qution i always ask. Who doou think you are . I think that i am the beneficiary ofy parents sacrifice and the love and dreams of my ancestors. Love you. Thank you. We have to get together when we are ofof limited whatever it is we are on. More than a virtual hug. I would like to thank sunny, every one who can applaud where you are, the author of i am main street, memoir of identity juice and living between worlds. We encourage you to support our local bookstor your local bookstore and pick up a copy of sunnys new book today and if you uld like to watch more virtual programs, support the Commonwealth Club visit this, www. Commonwealthclub. Org. My name is don lon and i thank you for being here. I thank sunny for everything she does, you are amazing, stay safe, everyone, see you soon, bye, everybody. The current bestselling nonfiction books according to politics and prose bookstore in washington dc. Topping the list in First Principles journalist thomas riggs look at how greek and roman philosophy and politics influenced americas founders. Built a prizewinning author Isabel Wilkerson explores what she calls the hidden caste system in the United States followed by actor Matthew Mcconaugheys memoir green lights. The best of me, collection of stories and essays by author and humorist david ceder us. Wrapping up a look at some of the bestselling books according to washington dcs politics and prose bookstore, Alice Georges biography of the late astronaut and senator john glenn in the last american hero. Some of these authors have appeared on booktv. You can watch their programs online, booktv. Org. Delighted to be on this panel with three fantastic colleagues and thinkers