Front here and our fabulous wonderful staff, we welcome all of you to tonights event here in the Nations Capital and on the campus of George Washington university. I mention our location because, well, think about it. We are at an institution aimed for the nations first president and we are assembled on the walks from the center of american government, the white house and congress. So, what better venue for a conversation with tonights guest speaker. Senator spends her days on capitol hill, and you are not alone if you think that in a couple of years she just might be taking up residence at the other end of pennsylvania avenue. [cheering] since her election, the United States senate in 2016 senator harris has emerged as one of the most exciting and refreshing voices in the Democratic Party and national politics. Shes a california native who started her career i know im from the bay area, too. Its not often. We went to Elementary School not far from each other. She started her career as a prosecutor in the bay area and ran against and defeated a longtime incumbent to become the District Attorney in San Francisco and then she won a hardfought race for the attorney general of california and was elected a second term in 2014. Two years later he elected to the United States senate to represent the biggest most raucous most diverse constituency in the country. With her she brought to washington her legal prosecutorial and political chops. And lets just say that the Senate Judiciary committee on which he serves and the senate as a whole has never quite been the same. [cheering] thank goodness. Now, the 202 2020 president ial n already gearing up, her name appears on every list, short and long of potential democratic candidates. [applause] and why is that . She is proven throughout her career to be a joyful warrior, as she puts it, willing to take on big corporations, fight to protect the Affordable Care act, worked to raise the minimum wage, make education more accessible and reform the criminal Justice System. And who stands more sharply in contrast to the presidency of donald j. Trump. [cheering] senator harris is a woman, a woman of color, daughter of immigrants, political leader who understands better than most how the dynamics of gender, race, class and ethnicity are playing out in our society and the 21st century. You might even say that senator harris is the face, the best cat face of america in the 21st century. America, an america that values inclusion, tolerance, decency, human rights and respect for the rule of law. Someone uniquely situated to help solve the challenges and seize the opportunities of our diverse country and our diverse world today. Okay. Before i get too carried away, let me remind everyone here including myself but senator harris has not entered the president ial race. At least not yet. And besides that, the Iowa Caucuses and New Hampshire the e primary are still 13 months away and in fact, shes here tonight wearing an altogether different path than the one she wears out her day job. Shes here as an author and because shes an over achiever she could just publish one book this week, she published two, one of them being the book for children called superheroes are everywhere and if you havent gotten a copy we have them available, and in a moment she wont leave the other book she published this week which is for adults and its called the truths we hold, hot off the press also this week. Its the story of a life in social activism, civic engagement, progressive politics, Public Service and multiculturalism and family rituals like sunday dinner she still cooks every week became chile, beef stew, swordfish with toasted cumin to name a few of her favorite dishes in case you ever want to crash her dinners. I will say no more about the book and you can start reading at the first minute you get home tonight which i hope that he will do. We are alsthey are also so delid tonight that jonathan, pulitzer prizewinning opinion writer for the Washington Post and frequent Television Commentator on politics and social issues will be in conversation with senator harris. Jonathan has generously and graciously moderated quite a few other discussions for politics and prose, and the risk was really no better interlocutor than he. We are so lucky and never he sets foot on stage to share his questions and insight, and i hope that you all please join me now and welcoming senator harris anin welcoming senator harrisan. [cheering] [cheering] [cheering] could i not do that. It was a moment. [laughter] senator harris, thank you very much for being here, for choosing washington to be the kickoff of your book tour. [cheering] actually to be correct, books to her. The truths we hold, an American Journey and then also superheroes are everywhere. Im going to focus on the truths we hold, and im going to focus on something that happens before even page one, and i want to clear this up for anyone who might have done this or still is doing this despite hearing it said correctly the first time. Pronounce your name. [laughter] think of the punctuation mark and there you go. What does it mean . It is a traditional classic indian name. The idea, the symbolism is that the will lotus flower sits on water but it never gets whacked. One can be in the midst of chaos would be in the midst of something happening and be there and should be there and it doesnt necessarily need to penetrate you that one shoul vid be there and equally important, it is used in the mud meaning it is grounded and one must always know where they come from and can still be listening. [applause] now i need you to pronounce another name for me. For the life of me. Shamala. Tell us about your mom. We always called her mommy and i am not embarrassed. In many ways, she is the reason i wrote this book. My sister is here. My mother is one of her best friends from college. My mother was a force of nature. A real force of nature. She is someone who if you met her after you walked away he would have thought she was 7 feet tall. She was a truth teller, she spoke the truth, she was probably the smartest, toughest and most loving person ive ever known. She raised her daughters with a belief that we could do and be anything. She taught us dont let people tell you who you are, you tell them who you are. She was a scientist, Breast Cancer researcher with two goals in her life, to end Breast Cancer and raise her two daughters and she would take us to the lab with her tearyeyed after school and on the weekend, and being around scientists, one of the things i realize now early in my life that i have learned is that one should see what can be unburdened by what has been because that is what science is about, it is about the pursuit of those things that will improve the condition of life that will solve problems that will make things better and that is why im attracted to anything that is about innovation, understanding that innovation we do not because we are bored with things the way theyve been, but because we should always be in pursuit of being more efficient and effective and relevant. And that is who she is and was. Your father born in jamaica, an economics professor at stanford and lets keep in mind you come from brainiac appearance. Your mom got her phd the year you were born just to put that out there so now your dad comes to the United States from jamaica. My father was equally brilliant and is he was a National Scholar in jamaica. He earned his way up and out and came to the United States and to berkeley to study economics. And my parents that when they were active in the Civil Rights Movement, and it is an interesting story, jonathan, because as you know, my mother graduated college when she was 19. And so, she said to my grandfather who was one of the Freedom Fighters in india for independence and my mother was the oldest of five children and she said to my grandparents she wanted to study science and go to what was considered to be one of the best schools and that was uc berkeley. And my grandparents looked at her and said okay we will put you on a plane and you can go to a place that you have never been at 19yearsold. This was 1959. So, this girl, this young woman got on the plane, encouraged by her parents to go and pursue her dream. This story was also fully expected she would ge get that degree and go back and have an arranged marriage. It was always about fighting for independence to make sure that all people had a say in their future and in their government, an equal say and that was in her blood that is with the Civil Rights Movement was about to go there are some funny stories i was sharing some backstage. And the eyewitnesses that there is a family sandys lawn funny family story she would tell the story when they were marching and this is when we didnt have armrest and seatbelts. [laughter] they are marching away and then my uncle freddie and look down in the stroller and it was empty. [laughter] and said where is she quex and i had fallen out. [laughter] and then my mother tells a story i was fussing its much cuter when she tells a story she will look down at me and say what do you want i looked up at her and said freedom. [laughter] i wanted to ask you because i wanted to hear you say that. I want to talk about your father as an economics professor at berkeley had you and maia and you loved going to the park and correct me if im wrong your mom and the limits but your dad would say go. Brad, brian teethree ran. Thats right do not be afraid. Let her go. Let her run you run as fast as you can you run as far as you want. And i believe his whole purpose was to say do not be afraid and be fearless and run do not be afraid of falling do not let anybody stop you. There is a question here from the audience since were talking about your parents and in particular your mother said you didnt write your name down but the person asks how has being half Indian American shaped your identity quick. I was born who i am and i would say the indian influence on my life a lot of it is based on what i describe the experiences that i had in india and the family that i come from is very active i know indy is one of the oldest democracies in the world so the idea of debating and discussing what it means to be a democracy i was the oldest grandchild he convince me i was the favorite but now i know he convinced each one of us. [laughter] but being the eldest by the time i was eight years old he had retired so we would visit and my grandfather had a routine every morning to take a walk with his friends who also were retired and would take their walk and discuss the glory days and talk about politics it was a great honor and peoples talk about he would never let anybody go but would let me. And the need to wipe out corruption. And i realize later that was the influence of a very welcoming culture without judgment and it is about understanding one of the highest callings you could have its about knowledge and thats a noble aspiration. Some i will fastforward home of your elmont matter all matter. [applause] you are also a. K. A. Sim. My fans are in the room. You are a west coast girl bay area why howard quick. A lot of my family members went to howard. And growing up i also grew up at a young age wanting to be a lawyer and the heroes among the Civil Rights Movement was the lawyers like Thurgood Marshall and those that took the passion from the streets to translate into the courtroom of our country and did the noble work of reminding folks that we need to constantly be reminded of of that point we should all be treat treated that way so Thurgood Marshall is another hero of mine and other howard graduate. And for all of those reasons i wanted to go to howard and i did and thankfully i did. [applause] George Washington is also a great school. [laughter] [applause] more to the point of howard because you do right was such reverence for the university and that you would, as you were and leave as the person you aspired to be there were no false choices you werent just told me had the capacity to be great but challenge to live up to the potential. During that election cycle and early supporter of president obama do you remember that conversation if he was black enough. And this is what i would say. When you ask that question to explain your lack of exposure to who is a black person and what a black person can be and is. [applause] so i would explain what it means to stand in the yard it is covered in grass in the middle of campus and where we would go on friday afternoons everybody dressed in their best and promenade and display their feathers like a peacock but if you stood in the yard any day of the week you could look over there and see young black students in the fine arts department. And young africanamericans coming from the school and you get my point you would see the football star was also on the debate team. The homecoming queen was also an extraordinary science student. You would see that there are no limitations and there are no choices in terms of falls twice as one needs to make so you should not be limited in your view. And then to really figure out that identity and what we can be in the world the beauty of being at howard that you can be and do anything you want to be on to be of who you are supposed to be. [applause] i pledge sorority at how word alpha kappa alpha. I was on the debate team. I was on the chair of economic society. I went to my share of parties. But you didnt have to make choices. You wanted to be a lawyer when you were interning at university go to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court building and how its the most beautiful around the world and said im not just going to be a lawyer but a prosecutor folks probably thought you lost your mind. Given freedom. [laughter] but after a career in Law Enforcement i prosecuted everything i was elected da for two terms and the attorney general for two terms. And i try to live in my career as a prosecutor with the understanding that in that role how word to be the voice of the most powerful among us to give them dignity in the process and as equally important and have the power to make decisions for example to create one of the first as da and attorney general one of the first meaningful initiatives of reentry around former offenders a jobs and counseling. [applause] so you have the power prosecutors have so much power. So those there is so much work to be done to reform americas criminal Justice System dont lose sight of the power of the prosecutor and a progressive prosecutor. You want to be a progressive prosecutor. To make the decisions and it is a false choice. I will never make it excuse or an apology to say a woman is raped a child is molested there a serious consequence and accountability and i will always say that and i will say america has a problem with mass incarceration locking up black and brown men in particular. And that even as attorney general we could create the first Implicit Bias Initiative which is about Training Police officers and i had the power to do that as attorney general so i would encourage folks dont accept anyone limitations. You could be in the room at the table where the decisions are made or be equally affected but dont exclude yourself where the decisions are being made. You can want the police to stop crime in your neighborhood and also want them to stop using excessive force. You can want them to hunt down the killer and also stop using racial profiling brickle you can believe in the need for consequence and accountability especially for serious criminals and also oppose unjust incarceration. And that gets to know false choices. You can be all of those things and not anti police. So what do you say of the anti believe quick. Its just not true. [laughter] its not true. As the elected District Attorney in San Francisco. And on page 37 and you right was this really for the time for me to run i had no way to know a bit more more coming to feel agency was not an option. There is never a time in the future in which we will work out our salvation the challenges in the moment the time is always now. There were people in San Francisco who said who are you so why was it for you to jump in there for attorney general . In 2003 decided to run for district to county who comes who has been in office two terms his nickname is ko because he was a boxer knocking people out. And thought i could do the job better people said nobody like you has ever done this before. Or you are too young and i did not listen. I was all excited and in sitting in the room waiting for the first poll numbers and they were handed to me i started off at six points in the poll if you dont know that is six out of 100. [laughter] if we can get to 12 if we could double the number we would win and the optimism and a grew up learning to the families and the communities i believe the strongest politician and that the vast majority that we dont share values for what we need or what our family needs a vast majority and for the San Francisco and bay area there is equal a number for these very different demographics who came to gather in that office but they said nobody would go into community the annual income of 15000 nobody will go there they said thats why my on im putting my office there and they came from all over and would sit at this long tables stuffing envelopes at the direction of my mother. When she got sick and had cancer herself and these were the final days which i did not realize at the time