Transcripts For CSPAN2 Shaun King Make Change 20240712 : com

Transcripts For CSPAN2 Shaun King Make Change 20240712

Speakaries question, you can do so in either the chat or Comment Section of the live stream youre watching. The Commonwealth Club has suspended in person event but to keep you informed were going full speed ahead with a full sleighed slate of live online program. Mose conversations are free to the public so we ask you consider donating to the club to help us continue our work. Please visit us out Commonwealth Club. Org something or text donate to 415 3294231 during this program. You can find this information in the description becomes. Now, please join me in we canning shawnking and jane kim. I served as a supervisors here in the city and county of San Francisco, and most recently as the california and National Regional mit political director for sanders 202. And im mealed to be here today. Im so excited, shaun, what an incredible feat. Congratulations on writing your first book. Thank you. Only there are not too many things that scare me more than writing a book. And so i would love to talk but how it changed how to fight injustice, dismantle systemic oppression and own our future. Shaun will share a little bit about his journey and the book and as mentioned, if you have a question please put in the chat, and it will show up and we will reserve time at the end to have a discussion. Want to start with your bike right hear, folks can order it on the link that commonwealth put up and always encourage you to by it at an independent book store in your neighborhood. Her in the bay area we have a black owned book store in oakland. And we encourage you good there and buy the book and support people of color and black owned businesseses. Shaun i want to ask you but what the process was lick to write this book because i cant imagine anything more difficult than telling your own story. Yeah. Jane im glad to be here with you some so bummed. We had originally planned on doing this as a live event all the way back in may and my book was going to come out in april and i love the bay area and i think about moving out there all the time. I just such good energy. We would be so excited. I love the bay and so many of my closest friends there are and i was so looking forward to making the trip and in fact my wife, we have five kid all taken off work and taking off school and we were going to do that tour together. We had 30 different venues around the country, and i worked for almost a year writing the book, and for me i always have my hands in so many different campaigns and action and fighting for justice i was just about having the daily discipline of doing the research that i did for the book and then just writing daily every day for months on end, and ill never look at book on a shelf the same again because it was like a year of hard work, of its took almost as long to really edit and perfect the book as it did to write it and its a labor of love. It comes its not an autobiography. Hope one day to write a book that is just about my story, but its really about my philosophy of change, its a manifesto on how you can use your life to make change, and, jane, its really the book is really an answer to a question i got all over the country. I traveled from 2014 when he black lives Matter Movement began until right before the pandemic, i traveled to 47 different states, of course all over california, but as far north as alaska, as far west as hawaii and i travel to the deep south, the mississippi delta, south carolina, all but three states, and everywhere i would go, i would get one question and my become is an answer to that question. People would ask me from all political persuasions, all ages, want to know, shaun, im frustrated about injustice, im frustrated. About Police Brutality, how die actual i use my life to change that thing . And everywhere i would go, if i was speaking, walking on the streets, even as recently as told i get direct messages and emails, some version of that question, and theres a gap there of people being, like, really aware of what is wrong with the world, but not really clear on what exactly to do about it, and in the become im trying to close that gap. To show you here are some things you can do to use your life to make change, and change you and i know this it never just happens. You have to craft it. You have 0 hone it. You have to build it. You have to make it. And im trying to unpack what that actually means in the book. I thought you really articulated that well, in weaving that question or the answer to that question with your story, and in talking to young people who know that this is the pathway they want to pursue, im also constantly asked the question of how do i do it . I want to make a change. How do i do it . And when i was a youth organizer, the biggest lesson i learned, theres young people, youre like im never going to reach that young person, either because their too cool for school or superquiet, super shy, and i think one of the most beautiful parts of the organizing work was discovering that theres always every young person or every person wants to make a difference, every person wants to make positive in their community. Maybe its providing tool or shedding life on the pactway how to get there. School doesnt necessarily teach you that. I have this does as much education as most people. Im trying to do the math in my mind. I went to school for almost 20 years, and in all of that education there was never a place where people really unpacked here is how you change the world. And i even say why that is in the book. A lot of ways its because most of our institutions werent built to change the world, most of our institutions were built to maintain it, built to protect it, most of our even our favorite institutions, religious institutions and other organizations, even some of our favorite charities, even the nation residents leading political parties, they werent necessarily built for change. A lot of times they were built to protect the way things are and when you try to say i dont like the way things are and i want to change it to look like this, the whole system in some ways kind of conspires against youve being able to do that, and for years i did the things i thought would work to make change. I tell these stories. Really a failure to of us organizing, demonstrating, protesting and all of those things im glad we did. We werent wrong to do them but i learned a painful lesson after years of organizing, protesting, demonstrating, creating hash tags, trending topics, what i learn is that this country in particular, more than most countries in the world, is fully willing to be aware of our worst problems, be it Police Brutality, mass incarceration or climate change, wealth and income disparates where, our healthcare crisis and now nearly 50 Million People in the country dent halve Health Insurance right now, some estimates have the number even much higher if you count children and our country is fully willing to say i see that problem. Even im sorry for that problem. But then do nothing about it. So theres just this awareness but often people in power want to substitute awareness for action. And im afraid im seeing that even right now of even beloved political figures, the nation residents leading corporations and brands, saying, listen, black lives matter to us and then you ask them, well, how do black lives matter . Show us the policies youre fighting for, or even if its corporations, were starting to say, hey, if black lives matter to you, show us your board, show us your senior staff. Thats right. And so were starting to say, like, hey, thank you for your awareness. But we are asking and demanding more than awareness. He were looking for action and change and theres this big gap and im hoping to give people some clear steps on how they can fill that gap in their own lives. That was one of the kind of narrowness that i heard people approach black lives matter. When you focus on reforming the police, which honestly is the end of the road. Theres so many steps before that. Oh, yeah. So mean institutions that we need to reform. How we employ people, who we invest in, how our schools are run, who we elect, that the Police Almost became an easy scapegoat if we just reform the police, then well go to mecca in terms of the post racist country we all want to live in and that actually brings me to a question that one member on our audience asks. What do you say to young people who are discouraged by the nominees of both major parties being old white men . And yep. How do you think young people the rest of the question is, how do you think young people can engage with and demand to have a seat at that enable if we talk about that reform. Yeah. I have five children and my oldest are 18 and 20, and people are surprised when i say that because the dont think im hold enough to have a 20yearold but i was almost a kid when i started having kids so ive been a father literally my entire adult life hi and oldest two daughters who are both college students, 18 and 20, are severely disappointed at the political nominees for president. Obviously it they would never have supported donald trump bus theres real pain and disappointment because joe biden was literally on every poll by every measure the last preference of every major candidate for young people. They literally preferred about nine other people over him, and so theyre learning a hard lesson very quickly that me and you and every person who has ever voted before learned a long time ago, is its actually rare that you get to vote for somebody that youre crazy about. Its way more rare than i wish. And when you do get to vote for somebody, that looks like you, or comes from your community, or, better yet, actually shares your political philosophy, you have to cherish that moment and filing for that moment because for most im 40. For most of my adult life, i actually have never been enthusiastic about the people i had to vote for, for senate, for congress, for president , and young people who are voting for the first time are learning that a lot of times you have to be i dont know if the word is pragmatic but there is disappointment in the availability of candidates and politics theres been some can dids including bernie who have ignited the imaginations of young people, of dreaming about what could be and when you have a candidate who seems to not have an imagination, who is not so hopeful but what things how things could happen, its disappointing but you can check out of our democracy. I dont even quite think abi dont think donald trump and joe biden are comparable in their politics or even in their character. Nobody has been a bigger critic of joe biden and me. I dont that i would ever be invited or welcomed into a Joe Biden White house. Have written incredibly ab we have to work on that. [laughter] i have written deeply detailed christie dumb critiques of his role in building mass incarceration. Even with that, i understand that for people i fight for, donald trump is an accidental threat in a way that joe biden isnt. For me its one of the first times im going to be voting to oust a candidate versus voting for a candidate that im really excited about. Its difficult. But it is a part of american democracy. We were really close, obviously bernie won california and we all, you, me, so many thousands of volunteers and staffers worked our hearts out and i use bernie as a guide for me in some ways. My thing is, if he is able to pivot after such a disappointing loss and he gave more to this race then anybody from his own life and his own time, if hes able to pivot, i feel in some ways i even owe it to him to be able to find a way to pivot as well and not get stuck in my frustration. By the way, i want to acknowledge that question came from lynn on youtube. I have to say that i never thought i would run for office. I was reading your story about who you are that activists with a megaphone in the bathroom past. I was that activist in college. How was radical, i didnt believe in politicians. I always saw boating as a very disempowering exercise because i always thought it was voting between the lesser of the two. I was never excited about anyone i was voting for. Only as an organizer i got involved i started going to the local School Board Meeting and local City Council Meeting and started to realize the boston atomic and parking are elected represented to do is determine how to spell spend our dollars. We should have a seat at that table. A lot of my friends didnt understand but when i served on the board we did it had a 10 billion budget i would tell my friends. I work for a 10 billion foundation. My board isnt one wealthy individual or family, its everyone because everyone paid into that. Millions. Should be voting on the down ballots race because they are determining how to spend our money back into our community. That budget how much we pay Teachers Police officers, parks, streets, in which neighborhoods we invest them in, that budget is a document that reflects values and priorities its not just line numbers and so im always encouraging folks to think about down dollar if youre not excited about biden, Kamala Harris, thats actually the second question, start organizing for those local races because theres a lot happening in your community and grassroots law you are trying to do and activating folks in a variety of cities we know these Police Departments, its not the federal government or even the governor, i would love to hear a little bit more about grassroots and then i want to come back to the book. First you said something a few minutes ago about the goals and objectives even of the black lives Matter Movement that policing is just a fraction of what we are fighting for. It reminded me of when i first moved ive lived in california on two different occasions, i lived in Southern California twice for almost 5 years and when i first moved to california we moved to irvine and heres how we ended up at irvine, we never lived in california before and we literally googled safest cities in Southern California. Irvine that year, which i think was 2013, was actually listed as the safest city in america. When we moved out to irvine, ive been there three weeks and something dawned on me, i had never saw a police car, not parked on the road, not driving on the road, we are there for four weeks, five weeks, six weeks, i was there almost 8 weeks before i saw the first police car, mind you, this is in americas safest city so i literally asked a friend of mine, i saw the police car parked in the parking lot of the grocery store. I asked my friend, is there a Police Department in irvine . He said yes he took me and showed me the Police Department, the jail, it was tucked behind somewhere. Here irvine is the safest city in america, irvine is not safe because there are police everywhere, thats how they want to define safety for particular communities, irvine was the safest city in america because everybody had not only a job but a wellpaying job, everybody was covered with Health Insurance. I saw something that had irvine was like 99 insured. They had hospitals that were as beautiful as shopping malls, parks on every corner, all the schools were well resourced. Irvine was safe for very different metrics, it wasnt safe because it was over policed. It was safe because it was built to be safe it was built and fashioned and funded and supported in a way that safety was just part of the fabric of the town. It wasnt because there werent drugs in irvine, my daughter started ninth grade there the year we moved there the first day she got there she came home and she was alarmed, she had been homeschooled for six years she said kids all over the school were not only talking about drugs that they were giving drugs to each other, selling drugs to each other and when kids got caught with drugs at irvine their parents sent them to treatment. They didnt get arrested. They were treated as if they had Substance Abuse problems. It was a function of their privilege that instead of being arrested over and over again, kids in her school were given outpatient treatment, sometimes they werent even suspended from school. So all of a sudden you realize, this place was designed to be safe from the way they do their math, from the way they factor in safety so its very different in the black lives Matter Movement you mentioned budgets thats what dean informed the police is about. When we talk about defunding the police to translate for those who might be watching now or who might watch later when we say defund the police what we are saying is we just want to look at the police as budget, want to see in cities like los angeles where policing is now over 50 of the citys general fund to the tune of billions of dollars in subsidies. We are saying i think its a Smart Evolution of the black lives Matter Movement to say, if black lives matter, let me see it matter in your budget, let me see how black lives matter on the line items you mentioned and its important for us to understand as doctor king said, that budgets are moral documents. They show intention so if you love children, show me in your budget how you love children. Whatever it is you say you love, i was a christian pastor for many years and in the bible there is a scripture that says, where your treasure is, they are your heart will be also. In other words, your money shows where your heart is and what we are saying is, a budget sure shows you are priority. Right now in america, budgets show that cities value mass incarceration, they valued policing at all costs and you and i talked earlier when you actually ask the people what you prefer, thats not really what people want to be the highest priority they want to be safe but there is safety all around the World Without millions and millions of Police Officers. Theres a real path to doing it. In the grassroots law project what we are trying to do is organize people, just as you said, on the city level because as much as the president ial Campaign Matters and it does matter. 95 of all the people arrested are arrested through their local

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