little representation to help share these stories. i m curious your thoughts on the lived experience here and what needs to change to make sure we have more representation across the landscape. intellectual curiosity about our fellow country men. tiffany, first of all, good morning. thank you for having me. you understand better than all of us in the room right now, the two of us, what this is all about. you have reported on the aapi community over the years you ve been in the business. the idea that we don t have representation. we don t have representation in media, in culture. we need more people that look like this. we also need more people leading in organizations and corner offices that are in board rooms, in politics and we just don t have good representation. representation is super, super important. when you look at those people who don t know necessarily what aapi means, that certainly is, it s not an easy asian-american
we sometimes don t get the respect we deserve. like there is no culture in d.c. any time a new person is in d.c., i try to tell them the history of the city because so many people don t know. they don t understand why we don t have representation. they think it s because the government is here, but when black people moved here after the reconstruction period, white people did not think we were smart enough to govern ourselves. we don t have representation because of racism. she ain t lying. 25,000 africans moved to town because it was pro union and they had a growing infrastructure of black businesses. they had a greater percentage of black folks that led to many black politicians. locally they empowered themselves this is by invitation only. it has been a battle for the
history of the city because so many people don t know. they don t understand why we don t have representation. they think it s because the government is here, but when black people moved here after the reconstruction period, white people did not think we were smart enough to govern ourselves. we don t have representation because of racism. she ain t lying. 25,000 africans moved to town because it was pro union and they had a growing inf infrastructure of black businesses. they had a greater percentage of black folks that led to many black politicians. locally they empowered themselves this is by invitation only. it has been a battle for the people of d.c. who didn t have the right to vote for president until 1961. this week i m going to try to get to the bottom of some of this. i m going to start with the place that defines d.c. to me.