Lonnie Bunch, Miguel Cardona, and More on Narrowing Opportunity Gaps | The Atlantic’s Equity Review
We have to have visionaries you have to have people who think outside the norm. Getting access to viewpoints and to people in connection we never ever would have. We have to believe change is possible. In order to bring about having integrity in our self we are our own leaders. We are all responsible for the change that we want to see. It’s about a broader question of representation who gets to define how we see the world. It’s the power of sharing and connecting and vulnerability. How do we intentionally rebuild a sense of community. Every single person
around the world can create a movement. >> Please welcome Atlantics Senior VP general manager of Atlantic life Candace Montgomery. >> Hello everyone. And welcome I am Candace Montgomery, I lead Atlantic life which is the team across the country. Please welcome to our final event of the year. Welcome to the Atlantics equity review. Race gender and socioeconomic status play a vital role in the opportunities afforded individual or community. Disparities in these areas can set gaps in wealth education environment and representation. By addressing these gaps with strategic thinking, sustainable solutions, and inclusivity, leaders can implement policy and
innovations for more equitable nation. Today, we will convene local leaders, policymakers, activists, and pioneers for a series of conversations explore ways to narrow
the middle of today’s program for you to stretch your legs, use the restroom, and network. Now, please enjoy the program. Here to discuss America can live up to its highest ideals, please welcome Bonnie G Bunch the third Sec. of the Smithsonian with Vann Newkirk the second senior editor at The Atlantic. >> VANN NEWKIRK II:Thank you all for joining us early on this call on this cold morning in DC. Thank you Sec. Bunch for being here with us. >> LONNIE BUNCH III:It’s my pleasure. >> VANN NEWKIRK II:I guess to start I want to ask you from
your perspective what are those ideals? >> LONNIE BUNCH III: I think the great strength of America is if you look at our founding documents, they really are the kind of deacon that everybody has used. The notion for me is America’s goal should be freedom and fairness. And so the notion is , how do you regardless of what. You’re trying to affect change, how do you push America to be more free or and more free. That’s a promise that heavy quality. >> VANN NEWKIRK II:What is the role of the Sec. of the Smithsonian in pursuing those
ideals? >> LONNIE BUNCH III:Candidly, the secretary of the Smithsonian is the minister of culture. So what I believe very strongly is that the Smithsonian’s role is to use culture, history, art, education, to both create international relations, but to really challenge America to hold up America to a mirror that says , who’s here this is you think you are and who’s who you really are, this is he can become. >> VANN NEWKIRK II:From that vantage of stewarding America’s culture and knowledge, what do you think are the biggest obstacles to those ideals? >> LONNIE BUNCH III:We got
three hours? Because basically . . I think one of the big challenges is that Americans by our nature often like simple answers to complex questions. And what we want to do and places like that Smithsonian is how the public embrace ambiguity. To understand the value to nuance, subtlety, debate, and my notion is whether it’s art, history, science, or culture, if you can get people to grapple with the edges of gray rather than simple black and white, you can change a country for the better. I also think it is crucially important for the Smithsonian to be
that kind of trusted source. Because we now know people get their information from many places. Often it’s really bad information. And so, the question becomes how do you position yourself as a trusted source so people know in all the cacophony that is out there that they can count on the science that comes out at the Smithsonian, or the history that comes out of the Smithsonian. >> VANN NEWKIRK II:So, good information, how is that going? >> LONNIE BUNCH III:You know, the good thing is that . . I think the key is to really say crafting at
the Smithsonian, exhibition, working, the great that it’s a model for places both around the world and in the United States, so I really do believe the cultural institutions have a greater role to play in grappling with these issues, and I think museums are getting bolder. They’re not as bold as they need to be but they are getting bolder to help people grapple with these questions, ultimately recognize this is a work in progress but as long as you’re struggling for you moving the nation closer to where it needs to be. >> VANN NEWKIRK II:Before this will,
he led the creation of the national Museum of African-American history and culture, it’s been seven years now?Seven years now. Since the building was opened. Kind of hard to imagine now that Smithsonian in DC without it . It feels like it’s kind of the heart of that thing. What is your evaluation of its role in that conversation? In that mission? >> LONNIE BUNCH III: Now, I worked 11 years to build that museum, and what I realized this, the national Mall is a symbolic place. It is where the world . . understand what it means to be
an American. I felt it was crucially important to have a significant Museum that really would, and we built them using, the goal was twofold. One was to be a place that helped America deal with its tortured racial past. To be a place of the great historian could cry as they ponder the pain of slavery or segregation. I also wanted them to tap their toes to the joy of Duke Ellington or somebody from the hip-hop world, have no idea who it is, but I want them to do that. But then the other side was to recognize
if I was building a museum in the 1950s, just doing that would be enough. But the reality is that African-American culture is too important just to be in the hands of African-Americans, so the goal is how you craft a museum to make sure people with regards to who they are, this is their story. And when you think about quintessential American values of education, of resiliency, of optimism, of hope, where better to let than the African-American community. The goal is to not to simply say here’s a story by a community for a community, but rather, it’s
a community story but it’s a nations journey. And I think that’s the great power of it. And it has really become is unbelievably important simple especially at a time when people say we shouldn’t talk about history. I told somebody the other day in Congress that the reality is, whatever you believe that museum will be there to challenge, to prod, to tell the story as long as there is an America . >> VANN NEWKIRK II:As you alluded, a lot has changed in those seven years since the building opened. And I wonder, is the role of the
Museum slightly different now? >> LONNIE BUNCH III:I would argue that museum has always been a site of resistance. So, the role hasn’t changed, but what has happened is there were areas that we now fight over that we didn’t expect to fight over. The notion that somehow exploring African-American history at a high school level is invaluable. didn’t expect, but I think that that great strength for me is that it’s there to be able to challenge that. Because I think the most important thing is to be able to articulate clearly why these histories are so important to
this nation , so you can begin to counter those who immediately say these are stories that are left forgotten. These are stories that don’t have a contemporary residence, but the reality is, as a historian, I know we are profoundly shaped just like real comfortable announcing we are shaped by our grandfathers, or grandmother’s DNA, were also shaped by the history they experience. So therefore, it’s crucially important to understand that history is as much about today and tomorrow as it is about yesterday. >> VANN NEWKIRK II:You come to this role in a time when I believe the
role of museums in society is being questioned and changed, and now artifacts are being returned, and museums are looking for more community participation. How do you navigate that at the head of our oldest Museum system? >> LONNIE BUNCH III:First of all, a lot of these were the issues that shape my career. Basically, arguing that when I got involved in museums museums were not interested in being part of a community. They weren’t interested . . they were interested in being the city on the hill, he became too accurate, and if you didn’t, you’re out of luck.
But I’ve been fighting my whole career to say that museums cannot be community centers. But they have to be at the center of their community. So I began to see that change. The other issues though for me, at the Smithsonian especially, is museums need to model the best ethical behavior they can. So much of what museums have done has really been driven by an arrogance of scholarship , and not really caring about the impact on other people in their communities. So for me, it was really important to say how do we return the Benin bronzes
that were really stolen and return them back to Benin. Or how do I make sure that once I discovered the array of human remains in the Smithsonian , to basically say, how do we return all those remains that we don’t have the right to have? So, for me, and I owe this child to some of my stuff, to me, it is scholarship is equal to ethical standards. Scholarship does not trump ethical standards and that is why it’s really important for me to make sure institutions feel comfortable saying that were mistakes that we make, there were
people who believed in certain things we no longer believe, and is not enough to just say that, it’s enough to return things, and make sure that you are modeling the best behavior you can expect. >> VANN NEWKIRK II:You will . . that’s an applause line I feel like. >> LONNIE BUNCH III:Good, I was wondering if anyone was out there. [*speaker3* It is early. It’s early, get the coffee in. As you all came in, you probably saw stacks of the December issue of the magazine. It’s red, you can’t miss it, does Frederick Douglass on the cover.
I think it’s a wonderful issue, and not just because I edited it. >> LONNIE BUNCH III:You but you did a great job. >> VANN NEWKIRK II:Thank you thank you. But, one of the things that kicked us off on this was talking to you Sec. bunch about what we needed to do to think about recontextualizing today. Can you tell us about your essay he wrote , the wonderful essay he wrote for us? >> LONNIE BUNCH III:I think that when we began to talk and recognize about how important it is to help the country grapple with history
but how important is to look at reconstruction itself, to look at that moment that was one of the most transformative moment in American history . 4000 formerly enslaved people have to begin the journey for freedom. And what does that mean not just for them but for the nation ? And for me it was an opportunity to say candidly to counter one thing that always bothered me when I was building a museum. There were many people that would say to me, whatever you do don’t talk about slavery. It’s kind of embarrassing. I had African-Americans tell me
that their family, they were embarrassed by it, and other saying it didn’t matter. And what I realized , when we look at reconstruction, we were able to actually humanize the enslaved, we look at the story from the freedmen’s Bureau, and suddenly they’re not enslaved people. Harriet Wilkins, and that of William Jenkins. So basically what I wanted to do is make sure we cared about these people as people, not as historical statistics, so I think as part of the beginning of long conversations. >> VANN NEWKIRK II:You wrote about your use of the freedmen’s Bureau archive. What
did you find in that archive? >> LONNIE BUNCH III:You know, unlike the shoemaker’s kids not having to choose, that such a good historian, I never did my own family history. I was doing work on how they Museum should interpret slavery and freedom, and I was in the national archives, and I was looking at the freedmen Bureau paper, this is the paper created in 1865 whose job it was to assist the transition from slavery to freedom. And as I’m looking at this material, there are millions of documents. And I thought maybe I could find something from
my own family, so I knew part of my family was from wake County North Carolina. So I looked. And I thought I would never find anything, then all of a sudden, I found a document from a woman name Candace Bunch, who is the oldest member of our family that we know, so what happened was, first of all I am stunned, in looking at this document . It talks about how much money she made from picking cotton or cleaning the house. But on the back, imagine how much money she spent for certain objects. She spent money
to buy cotton and money to buy soap. But then I saw she spent $0.60 which is more than one days work for cookie tins. My earliest memory is being a four-year-old kid in New Jersey, and my grandmother would bake cookies in the shapes of stars and hearts and moods, and in these all cookie tins to convince me to nap. When I saw that, I started crying in the national archives because I thought to myself, where the cookie tins that my mother used, the tins that this woman worked so much to get. Or even if they
were, the notion that AB that began an idea in my family that no matter how tough times are, make sure that children find joy. And so for me, that got me into this. And I thought if I discovered so much, when I do this for everybody. So we really created a kind of digital portal because the freedmen’s Bureau are great records but only scholars look at them, the hard to get at, they’re not in any real order. So what we did, we digitized millions of documents and created a portal that you can go and and
type your family name, it’s about helping people discover who they are. For me most importantly, humanizing that enslaved. Caring about their stories. And when you read the stories they experience you cannot be moved by these inspirations, by the strength, and the challenges that they faced. You have got to believe you can make a country better after reading what they went through in reading how they believed in America that did not believe in them. But they more than anything else said how do we help America live up to its stated ideals. That’s the power of the
people in the freedmen’s Bureau. >> VANN NEWKIRK II:You mentioned the fact that there is this void of history. Right. If you are black American, it’s difficult to go back , and reconstruction is, if you looking through genealogical records, it’s a time when your history goes from commerce to people. That’s a big shift. And this archive, as far as I know, correct me if I am wrong is probably the earliest sort of comprehensive from their perspective archive of black Americans in the country? experts, what is an archive having to say to us today? >> LONNIE BUNCH
III:I think what the archives first tell us, it forces us in a very important way to realize that history is about the history who lived in people whose lives matter. It really allowed us to move from blank statistics of 4 million enslaved to understanding your individual stories. But what it also did was , it really helped us understand , how do I say this in the right way , it helped us understand in ways that even as a historian , I didn’t, of just what the struggle really was. To read about people talking about the
day-to-day struggle of trying to raise their children. Trying to find a place to educate them. Trying to protect families from sort of the Ku Klux Klan and night writers. It really brought it alive to me in a way that even as a historian , I did not think about. And then the other piece that so important about these records is , as you said, they help us jump over the gap of 1870. 1870 is the first census that black people were named. And so usually, most African-Americans could go back to 1870, but now you can
jump past that. You can understand who these people were. Sometimes the documents even tell you who once owned them, so you can do more work on it. It really has illuminating a corner that was so dark for so long. And that’s why this is so powerful. >> VANN NEWKIRK II:In this issue also, there are a lot of other amazing pieces. We’ve got an annotation of Frederick Douglass, we ran in 1866. By David Blight. We have an amazingly from Anna Smith. And so many other great things. It seems that . the reason I wanted to do
this, it’s because reconstruction still feels like an era that is being negotiated. It feels like, even when I was a kid, reconstruction was taught in North Carolina as a mistake. Why are we still fighting that battle? What does it mean? >> LONNIE BUNCH III:Well, in some ways, the discussions about reconstruction were really shaped by sort of white supremacy. That notion was that the South was taken over by these uneducated untutored people who were formerly enslaved and suddenly they were running for office, they were teaching people , and that the way the history was taught was
that the redeemers, white Southerners candidly the Ku Klux Klan and violence was able to redeem the South. Take it away from those horrible people. And most historians believe that. There were few like WE the boys, there’s a different narrative, and what you see, his attention to this day between those two narratives. One narrative is here are African-Americans demanding freedom, building institution, making America live up to its ideals, voting, and the other narrative is, that is not important, we gotta return the South to the way it once was. And you see that narrative played out today
because there are people that say the stories are not that important. And you shouldn’t tell them. Ultimately, I would argue that reconstruction is a great idea to tell us where we are as a nation in terms of what we embrace what we are afraid of. And for me, reconstruction just like slavery is really an example that we should be angry about. We should care passionately about. But we should learn from. And we should take sustenance from . the belief that they can change a nation. So I can’t wait. >> VANN NEWKIRK II:In the online version
of your piece, we use a somewhat provocative headline. Why is America afraid of black history? I want to pose that question back to you. Why are they? >> LONNIE BUNCH III:Well, okay. I think in some ways people are afraid of recognizing that America wasn’t always the place that did right. That we have always been taught we are they good men and women, right, we rescue everybody. And the notion of saying there is an equal part of America that really was built on the backs of other people. That really was not the kind of America that
you have in your founding documents. And that meant people will have to say, wait a minute, there’s a little more ambiguity here, and we wanted a simple answer, that’s why your so many people saying, it’s about the Constitution. No, it’s really about how has the Constitution been fought over, has it been modified, how is it really been used. And I think the power of reconstruction, the power that came through these documents is what all those people are simply saying is , make of the promises of your Constitution. That’s all were asking you to do. And
that simple statement, scares the heck out of people. Because it means you will have to admit wrong , that you will have to change. And I think the other pieces that running away from history is something that Americans have often done. This is not new. Americans have a narrow view of history, and most Americans are ahistorical. So, I think this is really a moment where it’s also used around candid issues of race. It is a code word to say I am worried about African-American issues. I’m worried about America that doesn’t look like the America that
I want so I think it’s also a code word for people to say , how do we prevent the changes that are changing in a way that would allow us to keep the myths of the America we love . >> VANN NEWKIRK II:As we put the issue together, one thing we were tightly aligned on was making this something that could be educational, that could be accessible to teachers, to children in school and I think about that a lot now. As somebody who , the things I write my demand in the schools I grew up going
to. For you, as a historian, and a steward of America’s public history, how do we navigate that world in which we need to preserve, and promote this history, and yet there are more challenges that have been in my lifetime. >> LONNIE BUNCH III:I think first of all, making sure there’s amazing scholarship we can draw from. The whole notion is that that is not accurate. What is wonderful is that over the last 30 years African-American history is been the most vibrant field in the Academy so there’s amazing scholarship and we need to sort of build on
that. But also we need to demonstrate that that scholarship matters today. At one of the things historians always do, we get together and talk about why history matters but we never tell anybody why it matters, most people see history as exotic and interesting but not essential to their lives. So one, talk about why it matters, but also I think that the real challenges this is an opportunity to say as America is grappling with who it wants to be over the next 30 or 40 years, this history, if you understand it, will help us find our
way. Help us answer the tough questions. Will help us have the courage to change. Because that’s what history tells us. The courage to change in the courage to believe in an America not yet to be. >> VANN NEWKIRK II:One thing that strikes me about the current orientation of exhibits, in the Smithsonian museums , is they are also a lot of them are future facing. You got the Afro futurism exhibit and the national Museum of African-American history and culture. You’ve got a focus on this imagination. How does that fit in with these exhibits of black towns
from the 1860s? Are these things drawn from the same wellspring? >> LONNIE BUNCH III:I have crafted the notion that what the Smithsonian has to be is a place that uses our history, our culture, our art, our science to find a shared future. The argument I make is that the Smithsonian is too valuable not to help a country in crisis. To help a country find its way so for me the tension between that say and Afro futurism and a look back is not that great. What it really is saying is that there is a linkage to
this. And that we want you to be able to tap into that reservoir and use that to guide yourself to inspire yourself to basically ask the country to be all the country says it wants to be. And that’s where we use history to get us there. As a point of personal privilege, >> VANN NEWKIRK II:I have promised my daughter who is three years old and we are members of the Smithsonian zoo, . .. She wants to know about the pandas. >> LONNIE BUNCH III:I thought you were talking about the elephants or something. >> LONNIE BUNCH
III:What so powerful about the pandas candidly, it tells us that how important culture in the Smithsonian’s. The issue of the pandas, we’ve had long agreements that we have to return the pandas when they reach a certain age, we have to return the pandas from breeding. But the Smithsonian has done for the last 25 years has really led the science that is allow the pandas to go from endangered species working in China working here. So what happened as we had hoped we would continue this relationship but quite candidly the relationship between the united states and China
raises a bunch of issues. So my sense is because I call presence and say you should call the Chinese, and basically what I expect to happen is that over the next year be able to negotiate and get pandas back. So, the key is, tell your daughter to come in soon. >> VANN NEWKIRK II:I will tell her. She will be happy. Thank you. You made my day. To I think take this to thinking about the theme of this event today, history, I love history, but I just love it for history sake, and you don’t either. We
are looking at a national picture where these deficits of information these challenges are showing up in real ways, and they materialize of people. How can you and this public stewardship of science and history and information help address these real on the ground challenges? >> LONNIE BUNCH III:I think for me, all of what we do is about today and tomorrow, not just yesterday. So what I do is think about how do we bring people together through the education. For example, I created Undersecretary for education, the Smithsonian never had one before. Because I think education is so
crucial, as the sound of two teachers, I know what’s going on around the country, and I want the Smithsonian to get teachers comfort, so they can do the work they want to do. I also want to make sure the Smithsonian science is essential helping us understand climate change. I’ve got a tropical research Institute in Panama that is done amazing work for 100 years looking at the impact of climate change on forests, so I want to use that not just a scientific evidence but evidence to challenge a country to move forward so for me it really
is somebody from Congress wants it to me do you have a political agenda, is that horrible, I said I do, make the country better and if that’s a bad agenda that were in the wrong country so my goal here is to use the Smithsonian to do what we do best. She signs the art and culture. And to recognize that has an opportunity of meeting for people that can be a valuable tool and let them live their lives at the very least to challenge them to live up to what other people died for. Making the country
better than it is. >> VANN NEWKIRK II:On that note, thank you Sec. Bunch for joining us and thank you all for being here so early. >> LONNIE BUNCH III:Thank you. You make and how to discuss starting at the source, addressing inequities in education, these welcome Mikal Cardona, Secretary of Education. at Bell Atlantic. >> ADAM HARRIS:Good morning everyone, secretary thank you so much for joining us today. As we can go ahead and jump right in. A couple of weeks ago, I was down in Mississippi, and since then I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the
suppose it Mississippi miracle. The increase in test scores from 1320 to 2019 and the nation’s report card. It got me thinking about ways they did. Thinking about early literacy. And I was looking at the civil rights data collection, something like 39% of school district didn’t have that preschool offering. So I guess to start at that point, how are you all thinking about literacy in the early years in getting that education to students earlier in their lives. >> MIGUEL CARDONA:First of all thank you for having me. I love having conversations with you about the topic I
love so much, education. And without question, having a strong foundation in literacy is critical for first-year students to be successful. To me, you know, a very strong program in literacy requires focus on phonics, vocabulary, awareness, all those have to be embedded in early childhood education, we have to make sure were investing in them. We have to be intentional about it, we can be wishy-washy. We have to make sure we have highly qualified teachers teaching at those great stupid Emmy to say that again. We have to have highly qualified teachers teaching in those areas because you
can have the best programs, of the school principal for 10 years, I can have the best reading materials, but if I’m hiring substitutes and rotating substitutes to them they don’t have training, it doesn’t matter. What we are finding is, you can talk about literacy that talking about the conditions for learning and making sure we have highly qualified workforce. But also focusing on what we know best about evidence-based practices, we at the Department of taking this very seriously. We have a strategy called raise the bar lead the world. It is on Ed.gov. Check it out. Immediately,
the first thing you want to see his recovery, but also reimagining education. Back to pre-pandemic level is a very low bar, had achievement gaps in our country for too long. Literacy and numeracy is a big focus, they have over $190 million in grants just for literacy. We recognize that the foundation has to be separate . >> ADAM HARRIS:You mention highly qualified teachers, America’s expensing a teacher shortage at this moment. How are you all thinking about that teacher shortage? Is it pay incentives, what is needed to get more highly qualified teachers back in the classroom? >>
MIGUEL CARDONA:You know, the instructional corner is about student engagement high-quality materials, and highly qualified workforce, so when we talk about the materials we talk about reading, with the make sure we have to have them materials that they make sure the workforce is there they have support and training, I think that teacher shortage issue is a symptom of a teacher respect issue in this country, and part of our plan includes dollars for grow your own programs for incentives, you know the historic hundred $30 billion in the American rescue plan prevented us from being in a worse
position I think were recovering for the most part the number of teachers we lost during the pandemic but we have to do more across our country teachers get paid 24% then somebody with a similar degree, so were working with governors to help them understand that that’s an investment in their students, and were doing programs to do that, were really bringing up what I call the ABCs of teaching, making sure teachers have agency, or cheating them like the professionals they are better working conditions which means in your classroom teacher and I’m sure everyone in this room
knows someone who’s a teacher, one thing they will tell you is that I love teaching but I’m also the school social worker, muscle feeding the kid when they’re hungry which is all important, but when we talk about better working conditions for teachers, means we have enough social workers, school counselors, and the sea of ABCs is competitive salary we’ve normalized in this country that Teachers Dr., Huber on the weekend, or bartend on the weekend so they can make ends meet, we are providing public service loan forgiveness, transfer teacher development, so were doing our part that were
working the states to do their part as well. >> ADAM HARRIS:When she turned back to the civil rights data collection, because one of the things over the last several years that people pointed to as an equity issue, is that disparity in student discipline, and once again we have seen these sort of black and Latino children being disproportionately secluded and restraint black preschoolers were more likely to be expelled more disproportionately likely to be expelled. So how is the department thinking about addressing some of those disparities in the civil rights data collection ? >> MIGUEL CARDONA:Estate are
really important. What can I do the data again, because we want to do next year as opposed to skipping a year. We want to make sure we provide real-time data on what’s happening in the impacts of that pandemic. I mentioned before, I’ve been a school principal and a district leader, throughout the country, the CRTC data just reminds us that our system is not having equitable outcomes for all students. The exclusionary practices for black and brown kids, children with disabilities, is alarmingly high. Which tells me that schools are not meeting the needs of our students, and
in support but also need accountability there. With regards to black boys, I don’t think were serving black boys well in this country with the current system. We don’t have the diversity in our teaching profession that we need. Without that mental health supports and supports we need to get to some of these issues that are creating challenges in school for some of the students. In many cases, the ratio of students to teachers is really high in urban areas. Her high poverty areas. So, those data remind us of the importance of adjustment addressing achievement disparities. Through our
funding, for example title I funding, we are increasing funding for that because we know that would lead to more social workers to those schools, but is really important that we as a country don’t hide from that data and say this is an issue. It is a national issue. Not just an issue for black and brown students attend schools. For going to lead the world, if over to take advantage of the potential that exists here in this country, especially now that we know more students are identifying as students of color, we have to make sure we
meet all students need, not just some students needs. >> ADAM HARRIS:Speaking of meeting all students needs, we know the general benefits of diverse learning environments for students, and the department recently, I think in October announced the fostering diverse schools program , about $14 million to help these initiatives in state. Can you talk a little bit of what the program is to make. >> MIGUEL CARDONA:The Supreme Court is saying that affirmative action goals will be struck down, were over here trying to foster diverse communities. We know children learn best when their learning in an environment when
there was students that come from different backgrounds and perspectives, that to me is one of the benefits of schooling in the United States. Wheeler with people that are little bit different. I think that makes us stronger. I do believe diversity is one of our greatest strengths in the country. And we are trying to make sure the learning environment reflects that. We are intentional about supporting diverse learning environments. And as we look at the contrast, there are some communities that want to do away with efforts to embrace diversity, equity and inclusion, just this morning there was
another state leader who was reported to want to shut down programs that support and embrace that. So we have to be intentional to make sure students are given that opportunity. And everyone gets a high-quality education. And who you learn with, as part of the education process. >> ADAM HARRIS:Mention states trying to push back against those diversity efforts recently, is constant we just saw you know way budget that went into place for the institution that had a writer that stifled some of the efforts are. How does the department think about states that are pushing back against
those efforts? >> MIGUEL CARDONA:Records how difficult that is and I will be frank, I want to contextualize that there are many leaders that are looking to destroy public education. I will be very frank. We are trying to defend it. There are some that want to defund and destroy it. And we see that in the form of attacking programs. She had in the form of marginalizing students that are already vulnerable. We see that in the voucher programs disguised as scholarships that will take dollars away underfunded public school where the teacher starting salary is $39,000. And have
to get a Masters degree. Right , so that is just one thing to try to disrupt public education and to me public education is the reason why am sitting here, I had only what the neighborhood school had me in a community that was 80% free or reduced lunch. Because there were teachers there that believed in us and believed in me my community is able to find success. We are seeing many places across the country , the institution of public education being attacked from so many different angles, so for me it’s really important I call it
out and I look at those policies like that as a very deliberate attempt to destroy public education. >> ADAM HARRIS:Over the last several months even going back to the start of the pandemic we seen a rise in absenteeism, he has become something like 6 million students additionally are missing class at a chronic rate. So how can the federal government think about assisting states , districts in their efforts to get students back into classrooms? >> MIGUEL CARDONA:You know, attendance, school attendance is a symptom of something else attend school and all the other basic needs are being
met. When you’re not in school, there is something that’s creating a situation where that child is not going to school. There an elementary age student, typically a family issue, right? I can go into a list of what it is. So, our mentality is not only to say we have more resources to help with chronic absenteeism, but to get to the root of the issue, make sure that states and districts understand how it should be part of their work to identify some conditions for learning. Children don’t learn if they are not there. Right. It’s not just
about the academics, not the say place, sense of family, sense of community that schools provide. One strategy that we’ve used, that we done recently, maybe two weeks ago we just announced another $74 million for full-service community schools. No full-service committee school, if you’re not familiar with it , provide support and resources for basic needs. For example, there are some schools that have dental clinics there because if you get has a toothache, has anyone here ever tried to go to work with a toothache? So imagine if you are seven, you have access to a dentist .
So full-service community schools provide sometimes dental services, health services, mental health support for the family. Career advice for families. So they are addressing some of the underlying issues that lead to poor attendance and engage families differently and engage students differently. I saw an amazing and amazing school that had afterschool program , afterschool programming done at the elementary school that was run by the city, not the school. They used the school. Tickets at us a place to go after school. We find programs like that, we create a culture that’s all of our responsibility and were working
with community partners like the YMCAs and Boys and Girls Club’s to be partnered and as processes. >> ADAM HARRIS:Just thinking about, we were talking about the other things that go alongside, the other issues that can go alongside absenteeism, a big one is transportation. Alongside the teacher shortage, bus driver shortages, recently in Virginia did not have school for the day because they didn’t have enough bus drivers. Is there a program that can go towards that? How are you thinking about that bus driver shortage as well? >> MIGUEL CARDONA:At my hometown there was a strike at the
beginning of that year. Strivers have more options now. If you’re paying them 11 or $12 per hour I can work at an Amazon warehouse and make four dollars more. Let’s be real here. They need a livable wage. And what are we doing about it with the rescue plan dollars? I knew districts that use that money to help provide incentives to get bus drivers back behind the wheel to make their annual contract better so we have to be honest about making sure the ecosystem of schools is well too. What good is it if were talking about
was happening in the schoolhouse butter cafeteria staff, are bus drivers, are not being thought of so yes, when we talk about funding and increasing funding also talking about ecosystem that supports our students, let me tell you right now, you know that relationship, I mentioned by strivers because you know the extent that I’ve had with by strivers over the years , they are in many ways an extension of our school, they are the first person that they could see, and in many cases those prescribers help communicate with the school sums going on with that kid that
parent talk to that bus driver, and we can provide support, so when you think about the ecosystem, let’s be realistic about giving people livable wages. >> ADAM HARRIS:As that federal money dries up from the ARP, how are you communicating with states and districts about the ways they can . >> . >> MIGUEL CARDONA:They know some people call it a clips, so he was a drying up I say were passing it back to the states. And I say please match the urgency of the president of the united states for the last two and half years around
education funding. I was blessed to serve a Secretary of Education at a time when the president understood the importance of education. I got sworn in in March and by the end of March the American rescue plan past 132 . . $130 billion to recover our schools and if you look at our annual budgets you will see the priorities of the president still include investing in our schools. Investing in our students. So I am fortunate to say that we’ve really pushed to increase education funding. The federal government is 9% of education funding. 91% of state and
local. So my messages look, to smash the federal urgency. We find are invested in education for far too long and if we are serious every time pizza comes out every time Nate comes out obesity some articles and there’s a buzz for a little while and then we go back to the underinvestment in education where we normalize a profession was 75% women getting paid 24% less than other professions. When are we going to say it education is an investment in our country? And then we admonish educators that are advocating for competitive salaries basing that on student
centered. No, I think the health of our profession, the health of our public education depends on how well we treat those that are taking care of our babies. So it is all connected. My message as the American rescue plan dollars sunset is look at our budget , and look at the competitor’s budget, they want to/title 1 x 80% okay, so, we are fighting to make sure were providing support to address inequities, to address exclusionary practices for black and brown boys, were fighting for funding for that but we also need the same level as urgency at
the state level the state legislative level, and with mayors we are taking a very direct approach communicating the governors directly, state legislative leaders I was at a meeting with them yesterday or the day before, and with mayors to make sure that we share what resources are available, we provide technical assistance when needed but we also share the urgency of saying look, we can get to this overnight, if were serious about leading the world in giving our kids an opportunity to be successful, we have to work together and raise the bar. >> ADAM HARRIS:You talked about
affirmative action a little bit earlier, we are six months or so after that decision in the Supreme Court. Several of the outstanding issues still remain, some institutions still have legacy, some institutions still have preferential treatment for donors children, and children of faculty members, and we also know what has traditionally happened when our programs have gone away, we saw in California, beside in Michigan, how does the department monitor is next year or two of college admissions at these highly selective institutions and the ways that black and brown enrollment may happen? >> . >> MIGUEL CARDONA:It took
an hour at the decision was made to say we would step up and we will issue a report on best practices. We will communicate what the Supreme Court decision says and what it doesn’t say. We see some folks wanting to extrapolate what they are saying. folks how important it is to embrace the diversity in our country and make sure our universities reflect the beautiful diversity of our country. We have an obligation to do that. I have to say, I’ve been impressed with leaders from colleges across the country. In their efforts to be intentional about recruiting
students differently. About admissions process that is more open, where students can share how they’ve overcome adversity , students who had a tremendous value to the University we are increasing data so we know now legacy admission data, which is something that was never done before, so we are paying attention to it, lifting up the data sources that we need to lift up, and we are holding presidents and boards accountable for good leadership which includes ensuring that there is a diverse group of students answering their schools. Because the alternative is saying the black and brown students shouldn’t
be going to college. And they don’t have what it takes. So you know, I do believe in my conversations with university presidents, everyone agrees, even the Supreme Court said it, diversity does enhance the learning experience . We are really coming together around how do we do this better and let me be honest, even with affirmative action, we were not doing great. This is an opportunity for us to step it up, identify best practices and make those practices common throughout the country. >> ADAM HARRIS:In speaking of sort of diverse institutions or black and brown students have
historically gone, a couple months ago you and Sec. Bosak has sent letters to state that had underfunded HBCUs, what was the sort of idea behind the letters and where do you think steno with conversations with those states it’s important when we talk about HBCUs that we recognize what were trying to do here, so not only did this administration provide more funding for HBCUs, over $7 billion in the last 2 1/2 years, but also listening they have a seat at the table and were having authentic conversation around what the challenges are, one thing they told us
is look we don’t have science labs, we want to compete for these grants, we want to compete for these contracts, he sees contracts but we don’t have the facilities to be able to do the research needed to get these contracts. Their infrastructure has been neglected. Decades of underinvestment. So we heard them and we gave flexibility with dollars to them so they could use it on infrastructure because we heard them. We also heard them that you know, the state didn’t keep their end of the deal when the morale act was signed about matching dollars for the
land-grant university and that HBCUs that didn’t happen in this country. So when having conversations with HBCU presidents, students, and groups that represent them, I felt an obligation to put it out there. Whether you are Republican or Democrat, you got a letter saying look, this is how much, if the morale act was followed, they would have gotten, and this is how much your state is given. The disparity is glaring. And we wonder why they don’t have science labs for their kids. So, we put that data out there. We gave a recommendation on how to start closing
those gaps, and we offered support and assistance to each one of the states to say we can work with you to try to make them whole. But, it would be gleeful on my part not to call it out. >> ADAM HARRIS:That makes sense. In terms of action, looking back at the science labs in particular, one of the forerunners to the Department of Education is the old department of health education in the workforce. And I guess it was 1979 when they sent one of their investigators down to North Carolina. He was looking at these autoclaves, high-tech
pressure cookers these to sterilize laboratory Quicken. It looks at North Carolina anti-, and central, there are three between these institutions, and North Carolina State has 40, do you think there needs to be a more aggressive civil rights actions taken on states that aren’t compliant with civil rights laws. >> MIGUEL CARDONA:I think it is something that we brought attention to for a reason. We want action to be done. Second have to have a letter signed by Sec. Bosak and me bringing up the disparities , it will require commitment. And we know you will not address over
100 years of financial neglect or not matching it the way it was supposed to be matched. We will not cover that in one year. We need to be realistic. But we need to continue to put pressure on that. And be aware students because for far too long students that have chosen to go to HBCUs, to be in that amazing environment haven’t been given the same opportunities as students that attended other universities. >> ADAM HARRIS:And finally, you all have placed an emphasis, in recent months on more career and technical education opportunities at earlier ages, why have
you place that emphasis on career intent? >> MIGUEL CARDONA:I’m really excited. And I said a little while ago, I was meeting with state legislative leaders, I was telling them that we have an opportunity that I haven’t seen in education in the last 25 years. With the investments in infrastructure, with the investments in the Chips and Science Act, with investments in climate provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, there are hundreds of billions of dollars available so you can make things here in America. Remember, I’m sure you do, seeing as barges lined up in the ocean during
the pandemic. And we had supply niche issues. And remember how expensive it was to get a car or anything that had a chip. The president came up with a plan, set will make it here. So now we have an investment to create those plants.Here. I will drill down a little bit. I was in Idaho, talking to the VP of micron, they make chips. That company invested $15 billion in Idaho. So they could build an infrastructure to create microchips. Intel set up in Columbus, Ohio, a $2 billion investment because they knew that community college in the
K-12 system is going to be there by going to a workforce. That is happening across the country. So when I say there’s an opportunity here when you talk about CTE is because , you can graduate from high school, be credentialed, article want to a two-year program and started $80,000. Teachers in Ohio started $39,000. The towns were going to have his keeping teachers to teach the kids who will make $80,000 in 19 years old. That’s real. So, we need to start earlier because the schools are designed the way they were two pandemics ago in rows facing
forward, we exploring, some of these career opportunities, and I’m a Connecticut native so, when I talk to folks, I try to be really , here’s an example, so in Connecticut this every base has contracts. 7000 openings. Some of those positions are welding. Now, you might say, a biscuit doesn’t want to go into welding. That’s fine. Get a credentialed welding he could start at 70 or 75. Per year. Which is like a midcareer teacher in Connecticut. You go on to a four-year school and learn how to code. And now you’re not welding, you’re controlling the machine
that welds. You’re making well over $100,000. And in many cases, the employer will pay for your college imagine that. No college debt. That’s what’s possible across our country. And if we don’t evolve our K-12 systems, are two-year colleges, four-year colleges to connect with their workforce partners, we will miss an opportunity, I say raise the barley that will, means we have to innovate and make sure were continuing to lead education, we talked about reading being the foundation, I totally agree with that. But our K-12 education system has to be the foundation of our country’s development, we
have a plan skull raise the barley the world putting money into it, but support into it, or we can cross the asthma this is not a red or blue issue, this is a kit issue, and I’m excited about the potential we have in this country if you take advantage of it. >> ADAM HARRIS:Sec., we can talk about this all day but thank you so much for your time I really appreciate, very fantastic. >> MIGUEL CARDONA:Great to be with you. Thank you. >> For a conversation on investing in expansion, public safety is more than policing, please
welcome Greg Jackson. Deputy Director of the White House office of gun violence prevention. And Angela Simpson, chief people and equity officer at the DC Metropolitan Police Department with the managing editor at The Atlantic. >> Thanks so much for joining us, thank you all for coming, of the session. So have your questions ready. And I without to just jump right in. I think we have a lot to cover here. And if we can. I would like to start with the bipartisan fork committees act. Which Greg, you’re very familiar with. Was put into action a year ago.
And implemented to close some of that gun law loopholes. And ultimately reduce gun violence. But Greg, can you talk to us a little bit about this act and what it means in the work that you are doing great. >> GREG JACKSON:So the bipartisan state for committees act was literally the first major bill passed on gun violence in 29 years. This was historic. In so many ways. In Mark Santa because it was passed through a bipartisan leadership, bipartisan support, and excitement. There are a couple key things I will have to highlight. One major measure is it
enhance background checks for purchasers or attempted purchases under the age of 21. And to date over 400 And to date over 470 gun purchases have been denied due to extreme flags or juvenile activity as a result of this. We see every one of those denials as a moment where we prevented future violence and tragedies. Were very proud about that first measure. This bill included $15 billion to invest in violence prevention strategies. One major high is it increased the inventory of school-based mental health counselors by 14,000. That’s a 35% increase in school-based mental health professionals in
America. In what people don’t quite know, and hopefully this will stick with you, the bipartisan state for communities act was the largest investment in school-based mental health in American history. That which is one part of this. It also included 250 million for community violence intervention programs, $40 million for families that have been traumatized by acts of violence, and the list goes on and on. We are extremely proud of this bill. We are extremely proud of this, but our office now is fighting as hard as we can to expedite every implementation point of this law knowing
that it covers multiple areas of government and frankly can save lives multiple ways that gun violence is harming our communities. >> And Angela, first, I’m glad that you mentioned mental health, and that circle back on that. Angela though, you are part of this very vibrant unique place in the District of Columbia, what does that level of federal support me for the work that you’re doing here? >> ANGELA SIMPSON:I think it helps us because were in a place where we get to leverage that every day with our federal partners. And recently, we just did a press
conference, we will have a real-time crime center. And in that space it will operate 24/7 we are able to have federal partners therewith is looking at crime real-time and addressing it right then and there. All in the same room. >> Is very important. Am curious about this initiative. My understanding of it is, it is something people study how this works in other cities. NDC is now trying to adopt its version of it. Can you say little bit more about the ways that it will work in the District of Columbia specifically. >> ANGELA SIMPSON:Absolutely. What we
found recently when our new chief Smith came into her appointment was that when you look at the crime trends a lot of times were being reactive to it. So, we want to be proactive. So as we see things happen, were they going to those spaces, if we have cameras, if we have visibility, if we can pull our resources and say we need officers to concentrate on this area, we now need then to go to that area, so pulling together all resources instead of having them in one place patrolling, you can now pull them together based
on the information we are getting real-time. And say okay, we need you to play in that area. >> And when we talk about gun violence, it is such a sweeping issue. It includes mass shootings it includes suicide, accidents, and so because there are so many facets to it, it can often be hard to diagnose the core problem here. So Greg, can you tell us a little bit about what is the root of gun violence in your work, in your perspective? >> GREG JACKSON:It’s important to remember that this is the number one cause for premature cause
for all youth in America. Gun violence is the number one cause of premature death for black men. The number two cause for Latino men and black women. And when we look a little bit deeper into what this issue is and how it’s playing out, big drivers are actually not gangs and crime, that big drivers are suicide, and what is called community violence which is violence between two people who know each other but are not necessarily family. And another major driver is domestic violence. So we are watching this, we are seeing this and as we start
to think about how we address gun violence, we have to look at this more as a public health crisis than a crime crisis. And that really requires a public health approach. Actually the president agrees, and on December 21 of 2020, he was the first president in history to recognize this as a public health crisis, and start to build out in all of government public health approach to this crisis that Lexa the risk factors, the root causes, and how do we intervene and prevent violence, not just enforcing crackdown after the crime has been committed or life
has been lost. Another major thing to recognize is that especially black communities where the media paints a certain picture, we are seeing that around 89% of homicides are not connected to another felony crime. So most of these incidents are moments of passion, or moments of crisis folks have access to a firearm . And the same thing was suicide. When looking at people who are in crisis, with easy access to firearms. And even with mass shootings, were seeing the same story, individuals who are in crisis, whether it’s mental or emotional, having access to firearms. A lot
of what we’re doing as a White House is looking at one, how do we help address and reduce the likelihood of individuals getting to that moment of crisis, and into how do we create more space and time between that moment and access to a firearm. Her already seen great results. Last year, we saw a 6% reduction in homicides across the country , and a 9% reduction in the black community, that’s only one year after implementing the largest was with Ila in American history of gun violence. Were excited about what is to come. But we are
also very sobered by the real loss that our communities are facing every day. >> And Angela we have talked about in this conversation just now different communities that are highly affected by this, black and brown communities, and in DC in particular, youth. So I am curious, are there specific prevention approaches that are being considered that really target the issues where they are in the different communities? >> ANGELA SIMPSON:Absolutely, one thing we recognize post COVID 19 is that this is a holistic approach, we can’t expect the police to be the only ones in our communities. Get
to get to the root cause of what’s happening with our children, what’s happening in our own communities, one thing we realize is that we now bring our partners to the table with the support of Mayor Bowser, Deputy Mayor and then chief, we sit around the table. We have D and Y are as involved, so when we talk about children who are violating curfew, we now have DY IRS as a resource. So now in Atchison, he will sit at a police station until your parents pick you up, we are looking at what are the issues within
the home, and what issues . . what resources can we bring. We talk about drug addiction, we now work with the Department of behavioral health, we have a stabilization and sobriety center. So again, working on a holistic approach because just arresting someone and putting them in jail doesn’t solve the problem. Were setting them back when it’s not a felony. It does not get you the root cause, but we have to be able within our community be able to say this is what we need. We don’t have our interfaith advisory Council that you started this week
with the chief. So a lot of times when I was growing up, I’m a native, proud native Washingtonian, the church was our home. So a lot of time goes on in our communities, we hear from those faith-based places. They are everywhere. And so, what are they seeing, how can they help? So were leveraging all of those aspects we talk about working with our youth. >> Can you tell me, just to ask that a very simple question, what makes your job very hard? >> ANGELA SIMPSON:Oh gosh, how much time do we have? Like I just said,
I am a proud native Washingtonian, I have two black young men who are living and working in this city, so I am passionate about the work that I do. Will makes it hard is that there is a balance because in this day, a lot of time easy the negative things that happen with the police. I know these people to be mothers, fathers, brothers, parents, and guess what when COVID 19 was going on, and things happen, they get out of their bed every day. And they come out and they take care of our communities. But when
you see them on the media, we sensationalize what’s happening. Trying to get to that point where we tell the good stories. So on a part of that. I also oversee wellness. It is a big thing. We now have a staff under the leadership of Dr. K because we feel if we take care of our officers, and we make sure they are well holistically, there are better able to go out and lead with empathy and serve our community. That’s one of the biggest things that I have found that challenges us, how we fight crime and take
care of officers. As the one thing I find challenging personally. >> It sounds like were all residents of DC, so we are watching the trends, and it is concerning and alarming. And I think it sounds like both of you here take different approaches in the work that you’re doing to combat and make the city, and also with your work Greg, the country a safer place. talk to us a little bit about what inspired you to go into this work? And I’d love to hear about your story. >> GREG JACKSON:Yeah. You know, I’m not really here
by choice. I’m here my circumstance. In April 2013, while walking home in a neighborhood in DC, I was caught in the middle of a crossfire. And I was shot and the bullet that hit me hit two arteries. It was near fatal. And I’ll never forget that feeling of being in and out of consciousness, not knowing if I would make it. And arriving at the hospital looking for help, and when I got there, I was met with investigators. And I was interrogated about my innocence, while I was fighting for my life. I was also fighting for
my innocence. And that was a traumatizing challenging moment. The second big thing was frankly, turning on the TV , and I was shot days after the failed Senate vote to extend background checks, and watching leaders in our country and elected officials, refused to take action. Make excuses about why this wasn’t the time, why this wasn’t a priority. And why there are other solutions that we should explore. And laying in the hospital and watching not really lit a fire in me to pour my energy into this issue and make sure that no one goes through what
I went through. Unfortunately, a lot of other folks have gone through this. Since I was shot, nearly a million people have been shot or injured by gun violence. And for me, that also included four of my mentees and a family friend. This year alone, we lost DeMarco’s and Kevin, in Southeast DC, two cousins who were shot on their front porch at 8 PM. Both kids who were positive. You are part of peace rallies with me. Who stood on Capitol Hill and advocated for gun violence prevention legislation. But ultimately, were buried together. You know. And are
laying in caskets in a funeral home together. And so, that is what keeps me fired up is because unfortunately we are seeing this crisis steal our youth all over the country whether you are in Lewiston, Maine, Las Vegas, Nevada, Anacostia DC. Chicago Atlanta, every city, we are watching hundreds if not thousands of our youth disappearing from this crisis. And so, that’s what fires me up every day about this. But it also is a healthy challenge that we cannot afford the luxury of not being inspired by this because frankly in black and brown communities especially, this
is life or death for us every day. >> Wow. I want to talk about what you mentioned earlier. Because gun violence is a public health crisis. Public health issue , they require public health solutions. Mental health comes up often. Can you talk to me a little bit about how mental health factors in the work that you are doing? >> GREG JACKSON:Yeah so, that’s a huge part of our approach. And just pivoting back to the bipartisan state for communities act, when huge part of that bill was the finding of the 988 lifeline. And I think a
lot of folks now, that is common language that if you’re in a moment of crisis whether you’re thinking about causing harm to yourself you go to 988 that was created by this historic legislation. In addition to the 14,000 school-based mental health leaders this was literally the largest investment and youth mental health in American history but also connected to gun violence and we know that again there are two major things that are leading gun violence is the moment of crisis in the access to firearms overdoing all we can to really invest in those strategies are excited
to have partners in the Department of Health and Human Services were investing at this point billions of dollars into communities most impacted by violence. But also were looking at what can other agencies do? What can the Department of Education do? What can even our small business administration, the office of science and technology are Housing and Urban Development, how do we get all of government to lean in and help those who are most at risk to violence so were excited to do that were excited to move things forward. Our offices are already pushing out 80 different
executive actions that we are partnering with agencies on. So were fired up once and for all to created all of government approach just like we did with Tobit 19. Just like we did with automobile accidents when that was a public health crisis just like were doing across the country with the opioid crisis where everyone has a part to play and that’s what the White House has ushered in . >> In July love to hear from you about how you are factory mental health issues into the work that you are doing. >> ANGELA SIMPSON:As I spoke
about earlier, we partner with the Department of behavioral health . So we have officers who are dedicated to the work of when we respond to mental health consumers, we have that partner, that person who is trained in mental health behavior. To be able to address those needs , not just a game, will meet talk about what we can do at the federal level pushing the states to follow through with policies and adjustments to make sure that what were implementing federally can trickle down to cities and states all over the country. Beyond that I will just
say that the next big step is how do we build on those investments. >> GREG JACKSON:We know $50 billion sounds a lot, but the crisis cost our country $557 billion every year. So we have a huge huge cost that we are paying for every life that is lost so we want to build on that momentum and continue to invest in lifesaving strategies. >> We will now pay video questions. If you get introduce yourself. And I think we have microphone runners who will approach. >> I wanted to thank both of you for being here. Many many
counties as I know you know in this country have declare themselves gun sanctuary counties and even where they have red flag laws like the sheriffs there won’t even try to enforce that. So as you know, we have this political culture around guns, that is really part of why we can get commonsense regulation, or even enforcement. And I wonder how you feel about that? And what we can do about that? >> GREG JACKSON:You are spot on when he said political culture. Because what we are seeing is that over 80% of Americans believe in common sense gun
laws. They believe investing in victim services, they believe in the mental health supports that were fighting for. Right now, which is nothing the political action to represent what communities need and communities want to see. But I do think that is shifting. The bipartisan safer communities act had 13 Republican supporting it. Our office in the White House there was a bill introduced to defund our office. An eight Republicans actually voted in support of keeping our office open. It may look at the state level we see a similar echo especially in places like Maine , and Nevada
where they’ve experienced these really devastating high-profile shooting moments. And they started to see firsthand how bad these can become when you don’t take action. I think the trend is shifting, I think Avon watched a Republican Sen. About enhanced background checks at a Judiciary hearing a couple months ago. I think they are shifting. That shift will require the American people to be loud about what they want to see. Never the White House to be loud about the results that we are seeing as we implement these life changing strategies. >> I am with the . . and
part of the work that I do is a health equity fund which is a $95 million fund to address health inequities in the district. We been doing a number of community listening sessions, and what we found, first of all, let me say this, I live in Southeast DC. >> GREG JACKSON:Hi neighbor. >> Born and raised in Southeast DC. What we found as many residents say they no longer feel connected to the city. The youth don’t feel connected. They see big beautiful buildings like this. They don’t think that they will ever get there. That despair is
real. They talk about the loss of chocolate city. And they believe that is contributing to what we are seeing. So this is a much deeper issue. So, how do we address it from an economic mobility lens from a community wealth voting land so everyone in the city prospers and then lastly, for the last panel I want to ask the panel about girls. We talked about boys. We love boys. Great father great has been a great son, so not against boys. But if you talk to educators, right now, raise that. >> ANGELA SIMPSON:Thank you for that
question. Let me address your last inquiry. I oversee diversity equity and inclusion , so when we have the cadet program, a large percentage are girls. So we realize that were part of the 35/30 initiative, so we realize the need for women one in law enforcement, to make sure we offer them resources so they are not forgotten . at one of the mayors and initiatives it’s about halfway to the middle class. And what we are offering specifically is with our cadets. They get to go to school. And earn 60 credits. They are being paid $30,000 for
doing part-time. And they’re getting their education. So we want to invest in our community in that way. I agree with you. This is a holistic approach, and we are doing our part making sure were bringing our partners to the table to do their part. I believe we have to go much deeper will be talk about the education system because by the time they’re 16 or 17, and we have to do their background check, and they arty have criminal history, we have to reach much deeper and younger, so we have to invest in our communities .
When we see middle-class, I know, I think it’s about 30% of all housing going up in the city has to be left for moderate income. don’t believe is happening is that people are being educated on what is offered in a lot of cases. But, my investment is always in our young people. Making sure that they know what’s available to them as far as what we offer. Our Explorer program and are cadet program . They come out of the Academy making over $60,000 per year which is good, and when you talk about that career path for
them, it is there. Our chief, our previous chief, came from the cadet program to become the chief of police. He has a retirement, and he still works for the FBI. So, there is hope for us, but we have to make sure as all of us are invested in our community we make sure we provide resources or the snow those resources, so I encourage you all go to MPD.DC.gov and look at our strategic plan and contact us with those ideas that you have. And be a partner with us in the things we do to move Archimedes
forward. Thank you for joining us, unfortunately, it’s all the time we have for today. I really appreciate this conversation. And now for a conversation breezed by her underwriter the MacArthur Foundation, on embracing discomfort. Please welcome Juleyka with Bria Gillum at the MacArthur Foundation. >> Thank you all for being here today. Want to give a huge appreciation and applause for The Atlantic for curating this fantastic discussion. My name is Bria Gillum and I work at the MacArthur Foundation. >> BRIA GILLUM:Our initiative is called the safety and justice challenge and is looking at the misuse and overuse
of jails. And also addressing the racial inequities we know we exist across our city and county jails. And through our investment we are supporting locally driven solutions that are addressing are two twin goals. And were also thinking about different ways we can make sure we are investing in community solutions towards public safety. So, I am excited to be here today with one of our grantees who has really helped push our communications and narrative work. Juleyka Lantigua. >> JULEYKA LANTIGUA:Hi friend. >> BRIA GILLUM:Hi friend. We entitled So our team started working on this year and 1/2
ago with the understanding we were not going to debate whether reparations are needed , whether reconciliation through materials are needed , no no, they are needed. All of the statistics about the health disparities of black folks. The health and lifetime outcomes of black women. >> JULEYKA LANTIGUA:All of that tells us we need reparative justice when it comes to that. The question now is how do we do this in a way that makes sense? And we’ve got some illuminating pockets throughout the country, in Chicago, in Florida, where small cities have tried, and they are really trying
to do things according to their means, and according to their own history. It is really admirable, but it simply not enough. We need a federal level statutory signed by Congress Bill that says in education, we will do this. In health we will do this. Criminal justice we will do this. In the arts, we will do this. Because there are reparations owed across the board. >> BRIA GILLUM:I agree hundred percent. And I think at the federal level, I think they have tried many many times. I’m originally from Detroit so the lake . . late Congressman introduces
decades ago. >> JULEYKA LANTIGUA:Somebody said 1900. >> BRIA GILLUM:19 times, that is right. It is not has been successful. So why are we afraid to take that risk? >> JULEYKA LANTIGUA:Because I, you and I were doing this at our seats. want simple answers to really hard questions. Really complex questions. And so we want to treat reparations like it is a moral rights. I don’t subscribe to that belief. I don’t think reparations is a moral debate. I think reparations is a check that needs to be cut because we disabled a large percentage of our population generationally
and therefore we disabled our economy and work our potential growth. This is where . . why were behind in science and math. It all ties back to the fact that if you cripple 40% of your contributing body to the economy, what do you think that result will be. For me as somebody who is raising two black boys right now, this is no longer about whether or not we have a moral obligation. It’s about whether or not this country can move forward to be the country that my children deserve, that I as an immigrant have busted
my butt to build if we don’t repair this original sin, that’s what it’s about in the original sin is now festering and become cancerous to the point where our economy will not survive if we don’t address this. I’m a business owner, and 8/10 businesses founded every day in this country are founded by women who look like you and me. Like an Latino women. 8/10 businesses. So again is not a question of whether and if, it’s a question of how and to whom we pay the reparations. >> BRIA GILLUM:You mentioned there are some buckets of hope.
Evanston is one. Also living in Chicago currently so I know most about that but there are other places. And I am curious if you can sort of talk a little bit about what did those local communities do and at the same time for all of us sitting here in the audience are there some takeaways that we as individuals should be doing to make sure that reparations actually happen? So . >> JULEYKA LANTIGUA:Evanston is an interesting case but I prefer to look at Oakland, the van black mayor did an experiment with the universal income, so they
pick something like 100, it was a very small experiment so they pick like 100 families and over a period of a couple years they gave those families X number of dollars every single month and then they tracked how the children fared academically. They track how the parents fared in their economic mobility, they tracked how they fared in their mental health, they tracked all these important indicators and unquestionably having a sustained predictable monthly income in addition to their work that they themselves in the income they brought in made all the difference in addition to having medical
care and all of those additional services, so I’m not saying everybody gets universal income, what I’m please join us back here for our conversations on building generational wealth and environmental justice. . >> Please take your seats, the program will begin momentarily. Please take a moment to silence your cell phones, the program is about to begin. Here to discuss breaking the bank building generational wealth please welcome Lily Roberts, managing Dir. inclusive growth at the Center for American progress. Trevor Rozier Byrd stucco capital, Erica Williams Executive Director at the DC fiscal policy Institute. With Jerusalem’s staff writer
at The Atlantic. >> Okay very excited for this conversation. We will be taking audience conversations at the end. Feel free to log those as we talk. Let’s just jump right in. So, the racial wealth gap is worse today when the Civil Rights Act act of 1964 was passed. I want to start with you Erica. Both from a broad perspective, but also here in DC, can you tell us how we got here? Why do we have a worse racial wealth gap between rich and poor than any other major developed nation? >> ERICA WILLIAMS:Yeah, big question. To
start off with. I think the roots of the inequality we see here in the district and we see nationwide it really starts with the stealing of Native American lands. Enslavement of African people. And the centuries of racist policies and practices that found follow that to really ensure that economic dominance, political dominance, social dominance of white folks in this country and at the expense and denial of all of those things for black folks, and nonblack people of color. We have taken some steps to address some of that, but having gone there far enough for the level
of disparity that we see. I think the national wealth gap white to black wealth gap is 10:1, or ratio, and I will just note that here in the district, it is far worse. The DC area. In the DC area white households have 82 I’m sorry 81 times the wealth of black households. At about 22 times the wealth of Latin . X households, we have real disparities that are really built on centuries of policies and practices that have denied black folks and other folks of color, things like homeownership, investment income, so for the access to the
markets, that also have privileged in various ways white wealth building and accumulation. Including through our tax code, and I be happy to talk more about that. >> Please do. >> ERICA WILLIAMS:A lot of people don’t know this, some of our very early state and local tax systems were formed and built in the post-Reconstruction South. So, that is, you know, tax policy was one of many strategies used two cement white economic dominance, and to really deny free to black people their rights. So, you had these constitutional conventions happening states in the south places like Alabama, Mississippi
and so forth, where the explicit intent of those conventions was to pass a whole series of laws and policies to ensure that we would never again have a moment where free to black people united with non-landholding white elite to you know, make investments in the common good. There was swift backlash against that, I think people know a lot about voter suppression, and political suppression, to know about the state sanction that came from that. What a lot of people don’t know, is we set into place constitutional limits on things like raising revenue. Where you had to
have a super majority to be able to raise revenue, or we capped property taxes because closely only white landholding elite were paying those. At that time. And years later, we had courts overturn a lot of those laws, as unconstitutional, because tax policies , those tax policies and limitations seem to race neutral on their face, they remained in law, and they remain in law and some of those same states, and then those ideas that exported around the country, they are still the centerpiece of the antitax movement in the United States today. We have a lot of
ways we privileged wealth. And limit revenue raising. That could be invested in communities all across this country that is really rooted in that history. >> And I’m sure everyone here remembers the tax revolts. It is very very difficult to touch property taxes in this country. It’s become a political third rail. It is very hard to amend that and that brings me to my next question and lately, can you tell us a little bit about how much the story is about homeownership. And is there way toward solving this that does not run directly through changing how
we , you know, allow people to buy homes in this country. >> LILY ROBERTS:A large section of the wealth gap is attributable to homeownership. It is where many were most Americans have their major asset. In access to homeownership is both culturally something that people across the board say they aspire to. Or they value very highly but it’s also privileged by the tax code. And has historically significant exclusion of black people and other people of color well throughout the 20th century and in many cases as we look at the great recession, also included exploitive practices there.
The wealth gap , increased after the great recession because so many black households had all their well tied up in homeownership, and when they lost their home because they had been exploited by mortgage companies and other financial systems, that wealth was let go and still has not recovered. Black households , I think actually, in the 2022 data that the Federal Reserve released a few weeks ago, I believe there are no pastor 2007 levels, but is taken quite a bit of time for that wealth increased to catch up. It is important to sort of through the
way the way we calculate wealth. Also, privileges certain kinds of debt, but also ensures that people again are encouraged and the way we measure things to take on enormous debts in the homeownership process. Not super convinced that homeownership is getting we should be pushing bread that he sort of decided my policy perspective, do you want to build a system where the federal government for example HUD is doing all I can to incentivize homeownership and make homeownership accessible for communities that have been historically excluded, or you do sort of deep privilege homeownership in the first place?
And take away the advantages that people get the other tax code or property taxes. In homeownership. It is sort of a political philosophy question. That really has ramifications for how people can build wealth in this country. One of the things that was notable about the recent data from the Fed is not black households actually made improvements in their wealth, so that’s a good outcome. Part of that was attributable to the increases in income that were part of the cove it packages and the American rescue plan and unemployment insurance and unemployment insurance, but also attributable to
the fact that black homeowners have higher mortgages than white homeowners, and those mortgages, if you had a $300,000 sort of outstanding mortgage, $300,000 was worth more than 2019 then it was worth in 2022 because of inflation, is not a great reason for will to be increasing, and likely inflation has now slowed, but it’s a challenge to think about how all of these systems come together to sort of perpetuate a system that homeownership continues to be the bulk of wealth in this country. >> I’m glad that you brought up this potential debate between whether or not
to focus on expanding homeownership, or to potentially deep privilege it. It’s not something we often hear in these conversations. And we were just talking about this backstage, but HUD in an attempt to do this actually has at times ended up getting first time homeowners from minority communities into homes that were at risk of climate disaster. And flooding. And you know, that’s going to happen a lot of the time if you’re a first-time homeowner and looking for places where land is cheap, land is cheap if there’s a place where there’s an environmental catastrophe that might occur
or that is cheap because there’s a problem with the house that is structural. For some other reason the prior market hasn’t wanted it. So, I think that’s a great point. If you want to add. >> LILY ROBERTS:Think it’s important to become a . . I think one of the things people are starting to robustly agree on is we need more supply of housing in the country. And we need a range of supply at different price points for different needs and family sizes. For different disability accommodations. Also the places where we fall very short in the
housing supply. But, one of the things we need to make sure we are doing is making sure that HUD and other regulatory agencies are able to fully leverage the power to make sure those are quality housing facilities. Modular building is starting to get a a lot of buzz, but you if you are building sort of lackluster homes that fall apart after a couple of years, you’re targeting them at low income renters, they will live in substandard housing. That’s not acceptable either. So we need to be insured, and I think HUD is doing a great job
on this now of thinking through all of the regulatory levers at his disposal and that way it can find and incentivize higher quality housing, ensuring that it is mitigating against climate disaster risk. >> And turning to you Trevor, the last three years you’ve been CEO Stockwell capital. Can you point to that one conversation? >> TREVOR ROZIER BRYD:An investment platform focused on getting black and brown communities into the financial markets. The reason that we do that is because we know how powerful the financial markets are in terms of helping people to grow and amass long-term sustainable
wealth. Just look at the empirical data about the stock market, the market generally produces about 10% rate of return on average every year dating back all the way to the 1920s. Now, the fact of the matter is, only about one third of black families in this country are invested in the stock market as compared to nearly 2/3 of white families. So the lost opportunity as a result of that lack of participation . And I think there’s a lot of reasons why. Erica talked about the historical disenfranchisement that has existed across financial services. Throughout the history
of this country. But there is also very real social emotional and cultural barriers to entry that exist in black and brown communities that limit or restrict that participation grade Stockwell wants to produce opportunities and programs that are centrally focused on building community and a sense of representation in spaces where maybe historically they had not existed because with an increase in investor identity, you know, more confidence around this process, I think people will start to participate in the markets, and generate returns that will give them greater agency and control to shape and direct the outcomes across
a range of issues many of which we’ve been talking about here today. >> Can you tell us a little bit about the programs you are running that attempt to fill this gap? >> TREVOR ROZIER BRYD:Sure, this goes back to the point I made about representation. For us it was important we showed up in the communities that were most impacted by racial wealth gaps. We have programs we do here in DC. As well as individually. New Orleans, Minneapolis. We are very invested in the HBCUs community. So currently today, we judge over 40% of all the HBCUs
in this country. And through these programs, we are showing up in communities were frankly financial services companies do not go. In first and foremost, were telling people that they matter. Were telling them that they have the potential for upper financial growth and the ability and capacity to build wealth. And through these programs, due to central things, we are giving people access to capital to accelerate and catalyze their participation in the investment process. Because we know empirically, that even just a little bit of money to help somebody get started will go a long way to building
their comfort and confidence with our process. As well as will contribute to their willingness to contribute their own funds thereafter. But we are also providing financial wellness education alongside of that. The helping to provide better context around this process, helping people understand how the markets actually work and ensure they actually understand that this process is not as risky as maybe they had been told to believe in the past. And I think through these programs, but we’ve been able to do is increase participation rates, increase the confidence that people have been really set them on past
towards long-term financial growth and wealth building opportunities. Personally, I’m especially excited about the work we do in the HBCUs base, because the reality is, all things being equal, doesn’t matter how much money you have, it doesn’t matter how much education you have about the stock market or otherwise, the greatest asset that anyone has his time. So the fact that we are getting the student started 18 years old, immediately coming on campus is had a powerful thing. And will be the catalyst to stemming the tide for the next generation of people in this country. >> Turning
towards a local DC perspective. Erica, the DC office of fiscal policy Institute, have you all look at the trends in homeownership in black and brown communities here , and what are some of those that we see changing, especially in the last few years where we saw a massive increase in homebuying happening across many increase in prices, all over the country, so what was he in black and brown communities now? >> ERICA WILLIAMS:Trevor I was listening to you, and I was like saying I need all of those things, and I wish I started when I was
18. That is great. Here in DC , we have disparities across everything. That are highly racialized. And homeownership of course is one of those. You know, the black population is the single largest population here in DC. And the homeownership rate for black folks is about 35 or 36%. It’s over 50% for white folks who were not as large as a population. So we have a disparity there. There’s also disparities even among homeowners in terms of things like what your house is valued, where you live, and all of those things. We have a real history here
in the district of racial segregation that has led to that. Where we had racially restrictive covenants, I live in a house that has a racial restrictive covenants that say black people can’t live here. I do know. And we have about four years. We had blockbusting that happened where white folks were told usually leave here because black people will now move in, that these racially restrictive covenants have been outlined essentially in the 50s. You had eminent domain that literally removed black people and communities from some of the most valuable parts of land in town now. And
with the offer of subpar housing in more remote parts of town where there were fewer jobs, fewer amenities and that. You can look at the landscape today, and it has directly mapping onto that history. And so I think that means we have to be a little bit creative about , we talked about this backstage, how we are not always super creative. I do think a lot of black and brown folks really want to own homes. And that makes sense. I think were all brought up to feel like that is a safe stable thing , if
you can achieve it. I think we also need to think about what are the ways we can build wealth at the community level. So can we expand our investments in community land trust where communities own land and can build housing, and then pass it on to new owners over time. At prices that people can actually afford. Or other co-op opportunities that we can look at to increase homeownership for a broader group of people because right now, we are in a place where the average house price in that district is over $1 million. The median is
600 and something. And that very son depending on where you are in town, but these are rapidly rising housing prices, and it is sort of becoming increasingly unrealistic that anybody really will be able to buy into homes here in the district. >> Across the river in Ward 7 and eight which are the poorest and blackest wards in that district. You see increasing gentrification happening, and it’s interesting, I reported on a story there, knocking on doors talking to different people that live there, and her two different things, one is people who are maybe complaining about some
of the costs of gentrification and in others, by folks who own their homes, who are excited to see their property values increase. And I am wondering, how do we sort of bridge that gap because it is good that people want to move to historically abandoned, and that will lead to higher wealth for black homeowners. But, how do we balance that with some of the returns that people have about gentrification, and about renters in that area being priced out. >> ERICA WILLIAMS:We need a mix of housing options. My organization advocates for more rent control. For more
rental assistance. You know we also , . . we could be ramping up a couple of tools that we have in our policy toolbox that could help with bridging some of that. We have a home purchase assistance program that helps folks with a low cost loan to pay for down payment costs. That’s a big barrier for a lot of people getting into a home. You don’t come from a family with wealth. You don’t have tens of thousands of dollars in the bank that you can put down for a down payment. This is a program that
helps with that. But it is not keeping pace with the price of housing. In the could tax wealth where it is , and funnel that money into a program like that to vastly expanded so more people have access to the homes in their communities. We also . . yes, some folks who have been longtime homeowners of the fact that there saying that home values go up . But, for some folks it becomes a problem because the property tax assessment go up. Their taxes go up. And they get priced out. If you are a low or
moderate income person, you’ve owned your home for decades and decades. Yeah, you see your value go up, but you don’t have that money to pay for those property taxes. We have a program, a property tax circuit breaker or credit, basically, that we could vastly expand to make sure that it is actually reducing . . the burden of property taxes on longtime homeowners. We have a lot of black families, multigenerational families, they have a house, and if they could just hang onto it and pass it on, that could be a form of wealth intergenerational wealth transfer.
But folks are getting priced out. So that’s another place we need to do more work. >> We have a couple more questions, then I will turn it over to the audience, so get that ready, and then we will have runners coming up with microphones. So if you have those. Lily, working at the Center for American progress, and you think a lot about inclusive growth, and a lot of the housing policy generation is mostly having at the state and local level. But, I’m wondering if you have one or two things you think the federal government should
really be focused on, and when you’re thinking about how do you make sure that future growth is equitably happening in all communities? >> LILY ROBERTS:I would say the federal government is not super well positioned to be the primary actor in the housing space. More of that is happening at the state and local level as you said. But there always the federal government can incentivize building and density, and the ability of different communities to take action to increase the identity they have in their community , increase the range of housing options. There is also all of
the sort of like just find section 8, I can actually find the things that already exist and have been dis-invested in for centuries, or for decades. I also think it’s important to recognize there are places where the federal government is well-positioned to take action on wealth. And, financial security and we are talking about wealth, I think sort of as a stand-in sometimes for financial security. And wealth protect you against emergencies. It protects you against a health crisis or jobless but we have other ways to do that. It is not just one big asset wrapped up
in housing. You know just increasing income is a huge thing that can help people. It obviously will not eliminate the black white wealth gap but it is crucial to helping people whether financial storms. And Erica did a wonderful job sort of walking us through many of the historical forces that created the system more than now. And one that I always point to in the wage space is that after Reconstruction, white business owners realize that a way to continue not paying employees what to create a system of tips. If you make the customer pay the employee
instead of the employer paying the employee, you don’t have that as a business expense. It is not far off from enslaving that person. But you are to shifting the cost to the consumer. We have a tip wage system in this country. We continue to exclude tip workers from the federal minimum wage because the 1938 law that created the federal minimum wage excluded tipped workers because of a legacy of enslaved people being newly free and not being paid by their employers. He now states and other jurisdictions in DC have taken really get action to phase out
that differential minimum wage but the federal government still has it on the books. We still have a 725 minimum wage on the books. That is something where it’s obviously not going to eliminate the wealth gap to get 70 from $7.25 or $2.35 which is the tipped minimum wage up to $15 per hour but it will tremendously impact their financial security and give them the chance to investing different kinds of assets whether homeownership or the stock market or other options. >> And Trevor, you mentioned that trust gap in your earlier remarks. And part of it is
rooted in, I mean even today, significantly harder for black applicants to get a mortgage that rates are much higher. I think Latino applicants 1.4 likely to be denied than white applicants. And you mentioned backstage, you have directly gone and asked people in surveys how you can actually close that trust gap? Can you tell us what people are actually saying they need financial institutions to do in order to feel comfortable getting into the investment space? >> TREVOR ROZIER BRYD:Absolutely. This is an area where I’m super excited about the work we are doing because a lot of
times when I started three years ago the feedback I got was, why are you building a company for black people to invest in the market, there are other companies out there? And fundamental in the question, it just completely misses the point because what our research tells us, and the work we do in the community as we been looking at the various attitudes needs and behaviors of black consumers, of Latin . ex-consumers, of Asian consumers as well, if there is not just a trust gap in this country, is also a respected gap that exists between consumers
in those communities and the banking and financial institutions in these communities. And unless we find ways to bridge those divides , we are never going to solve for issues of a racial wealth gap. And for me, someone who’s come out of this industry for the entirety of my career, another part of the reason I found this company is because I was disappointed in the institutions I was working in. It was as if they didn’t understand. We all knew. We know what is required to build wealth. You either need to own real estate, need to be
invested in the market, or you need to have ownership and equity in business. Full stop, that’s it. But across all three of those areas, we know there are historical reasons why people have not had the same level of access. And in 2023, almost 2024, we know better and should do better. And I believe it’s the obligation of people within the industry. People at large throughout the country to start to truly address these issues. So the research that we have done is about how do you actually bridge those divides. And what is it that people are
actually looking for in terms of their interaction with financial institutions. What products do they need? How do they want to be engaged with? It’s not enough to put brown people in your ads and expect they will show up and use their products. And this is all critically important. And for me personally and for all of us, when you think about the racial demographics in this country, like in 2045, we will be the majority minority, so there’s a business imperative for financial institutions in this country to figure how to better engage his audiences. There’s also an
imperative for socially around the ability to help those communities build more wealth. And unless we on both sides figure how to better engage, I’m just not sure how we achieve the goals and outcome were excited about. And were excited about the work we do there and the people were partnering with. >> Great, let’s give our palace a round of applause. Okay, so I know we have a couple of microphone runners. Looks like a question right up here. >> I am in the private sector. I have a question actually for you. You mentioned at the beginning
that it is very difficult to change the real estate access especially for homeowners. Now, the reason I’m asking that is because based on what Ms. Williams says, as the price of their real estate increases, taxes go up of course. And no matter how many times people can appeal to that for a reduction of tax, that never happens. The states always give you 30 million arguments why they can’t do that. Now, related to that , he’s a wino, I cannot be changed? >> I think the question of that relationship of housing prices going up in property
taxes also going up. It’s a difficult one because at the same time property taxes in this country are extremely inequitable. See white households being taxed at my pace, that black households and Latino households are being taxed. This is good research coming out of Chicago. And I think it’s really hard, because at the same time, the idea of lowering property tax across the board is a real problem for equality in America that will mostly impact higher income Americans in higher will that Americans in their ability to grow up and probably expand the wealth gap there. I
think the question is, our end goal is of course making sure people end up with the amount of money and what they need to weather difficult financial circumstances as was mentioned, and that is not to be solved through the tax code. It is important that a people are struggling to pay taxes, or pay whatever emergencies that are, that we create programs that do that. I’m skeptical of the tax code is the way we should help people do that. I think Erica mentioned, and you can talk more about ways we could have programs that actually help
alleviate poverty outside of just legislating to the tax code. >> ERICA WILLIAMS: I think we could do more to that Texel. We put out a proposal for changing DC’s raising revenue through the property tax system by making it a marginal rate structure, so making it more like the income tax, you have tax brackets of value that would let us tax high-value homes, we have lots of three, four, five $12 million homes in the district, can actually taxes at higher marginal rates , the value of those homes at higher marginal rates and hold the vast majority
about 95% of homeowners in the district harmless. And we can expand those programs that alleviate the issues that come with rapidly rising home values in property tax assessments. While also targeting the sort of accumulation of wealth at the top through a rate structure like that. So I think there are ways to do both. And to take the revenue you raise to that. And compile that back into wealth building opportunities for folks who been excluded. You back in time for one more question. For we do not read this has been fantastic. Thank you everyone , I
like to think our palace for a wonderful conversation. Let’s head out. >> And offer a conversation on the claimant gap, environmental justice for all, please welcome Jade Begay director of policy and advocacy at NDN collective. Michelle Thompson, staff scientist healthy communities program at Earth Justice. Aru Shiney-Ajay director of sunrise movement with the Atlantics . . . >> Thank you so much for joining us. We will have a moment for questions at the end. So get that ready. And that she’s jump right in. I want to start with the White House environmental Justice advisory Council which
was established to ensure that voices and perspectives , lived experiences are all heard in the White House and captured in different federal policies and ideas and decisions. So before we jump in to a larger conversation about other approaches to the claimant gap. Jade can we start with you and can you tell us about what climate justice means to you. >> JADE BEGAY:The million dollar question. Because it’s always changing. Right. Because the climate crisis is always changing. And there is new approaches. And there are new problems to solve. I think at the root of it for
me achieving climate justice , and the idea of climate justice is supporting indigenous communities to practice and live in their self determination which means those communities are able to respond and adapt to the climate crisis in ways that meet their needs. And those needs include culture, and survival leather culture, and their traditional ecological knowledge, so yeah, I think being able to thrive in ways that you are a community is able to determine for themselves. >> Thank you. Aru, I would love to hear from you. >> I will echo a lot of what Jade said, to
me it’s about when you’re thinking about the climate crisis, obviously it’s a really big threat, but there’s also an opportunity and it had a means we have to remake every aspect of our society. And in that remaking, we have a chance to undo and write historical wrongs. And that means like investing in black and brown and working-class communities, investing in the Global South . We have to overall or school system, or infrastructure, roads, our electricity grid. Every aspect of our society. And it provides a great opportunity for equity and justice. >> And Michelle, can you
help us dig into that a little bit deeper. When we think about the climate crisis we understand that there were breathing in the water were drinking , and maybe tell us the picture or share the picture of what it is on the front line for the communities facing this burden. >> MICHELLE MABSON:Yeah, I think there are so many examples both globally, especially here, I think for the groups I often work as an environmental health sciences, environmental organization, are groups that are facing the brunt of climate change right now, they are experiencing , and wildfires of
course, and I would contextualize that, and ultimately when we look at climate, we look at this as a public issue, really that’s an important frame because were trying to prevent the kinds of issues were seen, the exacerbation of the claimant but also the kinds of harm it causes in communities. And again when I look at natural disasters like hurricanes, not only does that mean people are displaced, that they might also be dealing with less access to clean water. There might even be a need for especially lung cancer alley, the petrochemical corridor in the golf self,
these facilities that are fossil fuel petrochemicals producing plastic are also impacting the air every single day. They experience harm from air pollution. And instead of it, were not necessarily seeing those effects lesson, we see them unfortunately increase. And one thing I went out another lens here, when we are looking at climate and even at a pandemic like COVID 19 , there is a lot of overlap with the same communities that are dealing with the climate crisis today, and the mortalities that they are expensive because of air pollution issues, and the way that COVID 19 affects
her respiratory health, so even saw the same communities dealing with deeper climate crises they also expense higher mortality rates from COVID 19 and a number of other issues. So we do see this compounding effect, and that is something that has to be addressed. >> And Jade, can you tell us for indigenous community specifically, what does this look like for them? >> JADE BEGAY:Sorry . . . >> The climate crisis. >> JADE BEGAY:The climate crisis. I always jumble, because I just say those two words all the time. That is such a good question. In my mind
kind of , I think of all the communities we are working with. You mentioned I work with or sit and serve on the White House environmental justice Council, but also work at NDN collective, and we are an indigenous lab organization aimed at building indigenous power. So responding to the climate crisis, we don’t brand ourselves as a claimant organization, but by investing in working to organize and move resources to indigenous communities, naturally we are supporting climate solutions across the continent. We work across North America. And a lot of those , a lot of the solutions we
are driving or snowboarding are just responses to that crisis. So, if we look at some of the work we support in Alaska that is helping communities helping move their entire town or village somewhere else because the community is sinking into the ocean because of permafrost loss. Or in Hawaii, where we are helping communities built community led funds in responses to the disaster that just happened without wildfires in Maui. Or you know, the scenarios go on and on and on. Drought, and the various issues in the Southwest. Deforestation issues. You know, pipeline and other environmental justice
issues that exist in the plains and everywhere else. And now mining issues. It is really a lot. But, again, we are here to center indigenous leadership. Move resources to those communities so they can scale their solutions. >> So now that we have a sense of how this looks on the front line. Aru, can you tell us a little bit about the next approach to this which is how are we closing the gap . And I understand the sunrise movement has been a huge advocate for the green new deal. Can you maybe start with a high
level set the stage of what is important about this especially as we are looking at you know, we are zooming out from the individual level. >> ARU SHINEY-AJAY:Absolutely, I love talking about the green new deal. The green new deal is at its core, it’s a policy framework, a vision for how society can exist. And it spans a lot of issues, but it says that in this huge project of tackling the climate crisis, perhaps the biggest project we’ve ever encountered as humanity, there is actually an opportunity to create jobs, to invest in equity, to build systems
where we can build healthier and happier lives. That’s the vision of the green new deal. I have been so inspired in the last few years seeing how this idea has taken root and shaped many different context. I worked very closely this year with high schoolers who are talking about how we need a green new deal for our schools, and our educational system is to be overhauled to face the climate crisis. One chapter in Philadelphia is talking about a green new deal now interacts with gun violence, and how many community centers and public spaces where people
can spent time in both 2D carbonized, but also to have community and be healthy and happy. That’s a little bit about the vision of it. And it’s really about saying how to retake a crisis and turn it into an opportunity. >> And for these opportunities, there is a level of government involvement that is really important. How can we strengthen and increase government involvement? >> ARU SHINEY-AJAY:This is one of the core things of the green new deal. It needs us to move out of the neoliberal consensus of the last 50 years that says government must be
small small small. The reality is, you cannot face the climate crisis without a government that is active. I think for us, we have been really vocal about saying that. Articulating the role of the federal government. And we have actually seen that payoff in large amounts. If you look at climate policy and how it was talked about five or six years ago, versus now, five or six . . you know, in 2008, there’s literally called something called the no climate tax pledge, or hundreds of politicians would never vote for politicians that increase taxes for anything to
do with climate change and now we had a place where there is federal legislation and a lot of local led legislation that actually directs billions of dollars of investment once stopping climate change. There’s a really far way to go, I don’t want to say it solved. But I really see that consensus about the role of government shifting. I think the next place for that, I now there is consensus, the government needs to do something. There is still a little ways to go. And they government meeting to actually create a social safety net as the effects
of the climate crisis get worse and worse. And investing in the public sector because we know that government led public sector initiatives are really crucial for addressing the crisis at this scale and speed needed. >> Michelle, can you tell us about the EPA and the initiatives that break and I am interested in understanding what you’re most excited about. >> MICHELLE MABSON:I think maybe I’ll start with some policy work especially related to that historic investment that Aru has talked about. I think putting it in perspective, this was a claim to me recently, and it was mind-boggling
that less than a decade ago for communities to receive environmental justice grants it was maybe about $1 million in that particular budget to go across the entire country whereas now that investment is something closer to $2 billion. There is just much more access . . the beginnings of axis, right, back to talk a bit about process, and how that resources are rolled out to set the table who makes the decision, who’s at the table to make sure there’s assistance for those two have access to those resources. There may be another conversation. We do see this
investment especially the accretion of executive orders from the administration and trickling down to other bars of the federal government way that investment is happening. I would say especially, I would be remiss not to talk a little bit about an issue that is actually forthcoming from the Environmental Protection Agency , looking out for . which is the particulate matter will. If folks are not familiar, particulate matter is all around us. It is soot and dust. We often find it in combustion sources, so cars, wildfires certainly increase the particulate matter in our era. And it is very
devastating in communities. It causes mortality. It causes stroke. It causes heart disease, neurological and reproductive harms. Truly that gamut of diseases are associated with this exposure. And unfortunately, it disproportionally impacts communities of color. Even standards we anticipate the Environmental Protection Agency will come out with later this month related issue, the fight will have to continue because the reality is this is a type of pollution that is not only exacerbated by climate change, so we will likely see an increase if we do not have stronger commitments to reducing our use of fossil fuels. Also moving toward
electrification. Really lowering our climate, our carbon footprint. So if we do not see that we will continue see this compounding effect as I described from this public health plans that were singing communities today. Again there hit worse by climate something called particulate matter that is causing harm. What us folks in the room, I know this may not be an engaging say, how many folks know someone who has asthma , either know someone , subsidized majority of the room. I is well known people who have asthma. An particulate matter of causes and exacerbates asthma. So I
think again, as we think about how ubiquitous both climate is and our spaces, as well as we can experience. We can see the investment we see from the administration. >> Thank you. I want to take a step to acknowledge that top 28 and I be very curious to hear from you Jade , do you feel like that conclusion of that goes far enough. From where we are right now. >> JADE BEGAY:These loaded questions. I’m sure you have read the headlines and seeing the summaries for now. There is a lot to digest. Hundreds and hundreds and
tax that come out of the conference of the parties. But for now, I think we all know that the big outcome was that the countries, I believe 200 countries have agreed to transition away from fossil fuels. And that was I would say, there is some agreement here. That it is not enough. The big fight for the last two weeks, I just got back from Dubai. I’m a little jetlagged. But the big fight for months leading or phased down. What we really boil down at these conferences, is a battle of language. And what is being written
in these negotiations. Because that text is what we can hold these governments and nations accountable to. So a transition while, I do want to acknowledge that is a step red never in the history of these 28 climate negotiations has there been a mention of fossil fuels in any of the negotiating text. So we’ve done something, and I want to credit youth and EJ movements and climate movements were doing that. That did not happen because of benevolent policymakers. That happened because of action and civil society, and just that galvanizing of our frontline communities. So yeah, it
is not the end-all be-all. These conferences never are. But I want to quote a dear mentor, Bill McKibben. They are giving us a tool , and we can use that tool in the coming year and years to hold them accountable to push that down language, I’m sorry, phaseout language that we really need to address how we get the emissions down. I also want to say that that tax in these negotiations fail to include human, tend to historically and this time again, do not include enough human rights mentions or indigenous rights mentions. And that is something
that is truly detrimental because you can say transitions, but how, and how are people protected. Because what fossil fuel industries will do, they will transition blazing carbon technologies. If we don’t have rights in place, the status of projects, or the solutions, can then hurt our communities. We need to strengthen how we come to these conclusions from a rights-based framework and approach so we can get these into the final stages. >> Can you tell us Aru what happens next? What is the next big movement or initiative we need to be focused on to help close that
climate . Significantly. >> . >> ARU SHINEY-AJAY:If you zoom out and make out what is stopping us from solving the climate crisis, the way I see it amount, obviously we need to stop the use of fossil fuels. And I think it is seeing the number of fossil fuel lobbyists at comp 28 was really alarming to me. It’s a step forward, but it is ridiculous, it is kind of like if you are drowning in a ball and night maybe I should stand up and stop sticking my face in the water 28 years later. It is kind
every day because it took that long to get here. So that is one thing. And I think it is the role of the public and social movements to actually stigmatize fossil fuel executives, and say it is eggs that these people have so much influence over our lives. And spreading propaganda over what were doing. And I think the other, I think we often underestimate the scale of the project we are taking. Just this year and amount of things we will need to build , it’s just a lot. And because of that it’s really essential that our
politicians are actually willing to break president a little because it’s an unprecedented crisis. So what I’m looking forward to as a young person looking at the election next year. I need to see my politicians being willing to take action at the scale needed which means pulling out the stops. And right now sunrises running a climate emergency campaign to declare a climate emergency to unlock all its executive powers. I think that’s one thing. But really it’s across the board. Being like the scale is huge. Let’s fumble visionary campaigns for politicians to act on that skill because
the steps were taken right now, they’re good, but they are not enough. >> Will help to audience questions in a minute but first, Michelle, as a scientist, and as a human, how do you kind of , how do you stay optimistic and positive, about the nature of our climate crisis. There is so much anxiety that is very obvious when looking at all the data seeing the real-life effects. Can you talk to us about how you keep pushing forward? >> MICHELLE MABSON:That’s a great question. And it’s often overwhelming in all honesty. To think far ahead. But
I do think that’s where it’s important to I think as Jade said, there is so much movement and support for climate solutions because of the people being brought to the table and so in some ways that’s a step process, we say we need to take much more bigger steps, that it is in some ways, I think for me being realistic about what are some of the day-to-day challenges that folks are facing, how do we mitigate some of those . . making sure policies have access to resources so they can address a number of different issues.
But really it’s also the community in this phase I think, within the climate space and environmental justice base, there are mavericks and Vanguard leaders people that have been a part of this for decades including folks from my own family. But then there are also so many young people who are galvanizing, you are charged up about this. That is support coming from both his legacy and generations seeing what they been able to accomplish and then knowing the urgency of this moment , it’s almost that even though it’s overwhelming, I know I’m not alone in this. So
it’s really important. Just knowing how much bigger this is than myself. Not to put into a moral perspective necessarily, but meeting the challenge at this time is so important that motivates me regardless of being overwhelming or tired or anxiety and building community with folks. >> Began up to questions, if you could, be sure to introduce yourself. And I think we are microphone runners . >> Hello. Thank you all for the work that you do. I work in technology. As someone who considers myself and advocate for technology, but cares about sustainability, climate. Policy as far as
technology and sustainability is not really the area as far as addressing that issue. And as we see the need to push technological advances, data centers, and all the energy consumption that comes with that, are you guys poised to handle that NextWave unintended consequences. >> MICHELLE MABSON:I will just use an example. We have not talked about crypto currency, money we are seeing is a Renaissance is the use of major inputs for energy so I bring that up because for coal powered . . coal-fired power plants that have been sunset it or shut down , some are
actually experiencing a resurgence of their use because it is a huge carbon input needed in an energy for those types of technologies to work for them to get the large scale that they are at. So I think when you’re talking about unintended consequences, that is something , they are very deeply invested in. Because seeing us take certain steps forward, if we don’t pay attention will take massive steps backwards. Until that is just one example but I think there are others with his ideas of unintended consequences that have to be addressed. Especially as we think about
energy input or technology. >> Aru, do you have an answer to that. >> ARU SHINEY-AJAY:Two pieces I’m thinking about, one is two types of values and direction are you popularizing in society. I think it’s very easy for technology solutions are important, and they’re easily used as an excuse to not transition in a way from Pok fossil fuels. And you actually not invest in equity injustice and that’s really a question of how are you running campaigns talking about things I put the public on the right side so were collectively able to see that. And I think
we are actually are somewhat poised to do that. I think we are really seeing this after the past Inflation Reduction Act. There is a scramble to be like now there’s a huge influx of money but how are we actually going to put it in their right hands making sure it goes to the right places. I think you’re pointing to a really important piece of it. >> That puts us at the end of time. So very well done. Thank you everyone for joining us and for this really wonderful conversation. >> Please will come back to the
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