After two years of production, we present this incredible saga in an epic Motion Picture roots, the current number one bestselling novel is also a picture. We are a unique nomination of a library as, a special collection of archives, which are here right now and a cultural center. We are about to look at the alex haley papers. It is only a portion of his entire estate, or belongings that were auctioned off upon his death. Some of it went off to private buyers. The university of tennessee also has quite a large portion of it. The alex haley papers were actually purchased by our Library System a little over 13 years ago. Once alex haley passed away, unfortunately his estate auction off all of his belongings. And the former Library Director mr. Morrison thought it would be a good addition to try to get anything out of that auction, to bring some of alex haleys magic over here to fort lauderdale. Alex haley is known for writing roots and the subsequent tv series that was wildly popular thr
I knew him in a different context. In the 111th congress, he directed a project for the senate libraries. It was in that context that i got to know him. I will never forget the feeling of relief i had when anthony brought the experiment of the subcommittee and decided the budget to come on a tour. As the librarian, i got to give the tour. Correct me if used some very colorful language, and i walked through the library and explained to him how we were going to turn what had been a private library into a nonprofit library. It was a joy in disbelief for them to see. It was a joy to know they were supportive of what we were doing. I will always be grateful to him for that. I am equally grateful, and thats why he is here today, that he took time to write a book. He was working on this before he started working for the government. Some people go into government and then write a book. But he wrote this before. There are not many people in our country who think deeply about the Library System.
Freedom of expression. And that legacy continues after she left. So she certainly made her mark on the world. And certainly showed that shes unflappable in the face of criticism and unflappable in the face of an attempt to undo all of the work that that fine organization is doing. For me, shes a great role model of how we conduct ourselves as women, in the face of what can be a little bit of a backslide from time to time. Its nice to have people we can see who embody strength and thick skin and certainly youve talked to you wrote in your book about how much you have how far youve come in this regard in in not letting the turkeys get you down. Your personal story makes the case for Public Policy that supports women, how do we get men to be allies in the fight to fight to further these policies when they dont experience these things personally . How do we make men care about feminism . Is we share our stories. Again not to be a broken record, but humanizing these issues just as i for exa
People who are potentially mega donors to their campaigns, or to their future campaigns. This is why voter apathy is so upsetting to me. Because we do show people like governor perry that acting in ways like that will go unaccounted theyre not held to account for it. And i think that we all ought to own our responsibility to make sure were using our voices in a way that show that we are as powerful as some of these folks that can write the big checks. Right. Because ultimately politics is powerful, but we also need to change culture, and we need to change the way that we see these issues through a moral justice lens. Maybe thats the direction we need to go. So how do you determine your political platform and agenda . Who educates you on the issues that you champion . It really comes from in here. And as an elected official, i try very hard to keep an open door for people to come in and talk about things that matter to them. My work on testing the backlog on rape kits in texas came from
Things will kind of go not go away but kind of allow it . Like she said, when she was in the class with the lieutenants, they wasnt worried about oh, youre female. Maybe its more of a generation, as you said, generations before. I think i graduated the same year as you. I saw Different Things and probably the lieutenants coming out today. Thats my question. And is there research being done with maybe a generational gap as far as cultural as we change our culture . I definitely believe it is leaderships ability to change that and make a difference. Thats a great question. Anybody want to take a crack at it . Anything you researched about the generational question . I think there is research that indicates there is sort of a cultural gap and certainly with dont ask dont tell theres the same kind of indications. The problem is often that leadership is part of the generation that may be stuck in the old culture were talking about. So it may take some time for cultural change. So yeah. I ce