- 18 hours ago
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00change also starts on the local level right which is why our next panel is so important our next
00:16panel is focused on the work of our mayors coming to the stage to introduce and moderate our mayor's
00:21panel is Emmy award-winning journalist host and presenter Rachelle Carey thank you Tamika and
00:43hello everybody and thank you essence I'm really happy to be part of this wealth and power stage
00:50for day two so this panel that I'm going to bring out I was just having a discussion with them
00:55backstage and I'm glad that you're going to be able to hear this so let me introduce the three
00:59local leaders who are going to be coming to sit with me obviously the betterment of their cities
01:03is their focus but also specifically the betterment of the African-American community so our first
01:09guest you've seen her before you will know her in May 2018 she made history as the first female mayor
01:17and the 300 year history of New Orleans during her first term she led her administration through
01:22the pivotal negotiations to pass fair share legislation that secured 200 million dollars
01:27over five years for infrastructure since being inaugurated to her second term in January 2020
01:33she remains focused on the issues of public safety affordable housing and improving the quality of life
01:38for all New Orleans residents please welcome back to the stage mayor LaToya Cantrell all right also
01:51whichever you choose married is your home all right also the 62nd mayor of Buffalo New York who also
01:58happens to be the first black mayor in the history of that city having began his term in 2006 he's the
02:05city's longest serving chief executive as well over the course of his tenure he has successfully led
02:11Buffalo through a renaissance that has generated over 8 billion dollars in economic development investment
02:17please welcome mayor Brian W Brown and our next guest is the 45th mayor of her native San Francisco she's
02:30working to create a more resilient and equitable city for all along with investing more than a billion
02:36dollars in affordable housing she has prioritized policies and programs to address other crucial issues
02:43basing the city including workforce development public safety climate change and of course recovering
02:49from this pandemic which we're all still trying to do please welcome to the stage mayor London Breed
03:00and thank you all for being here I want to start with you mayor Brown and with a both a personal and a
03:13professional question in the weeks since the horrific shooting in your community at tops grocery store how
03:20are you personally doing and how is your community doing I mean it's not top of the news anymore because
03:27unfortunately there was another mass shooting but when the cameras aren't there what is it that you
03:32all are still having to deal with it's been very difficult for our community of course very painful to lose 10
03:42precious members of our community to have three others injured still healing from from their wounds and to know
03:51that a white supremacist filled with racial hatred came to our community traveled over three hours with
04:03the stated purpose of killing as many black people as possible we are still grieving still in mourning but we
04:14have pulled together in amazing ways we're lifting each other up we're staying strong as a community we've
04:22wrapped our arms around the families of the lives lost and are focused on building our city and our black
04:33community better and stronger than ever you know you said in one of the interviews after the shooting
04:41and somebody asked you about safety and you said are any residents safe in the country anywhere
04:51where do we go from here when it comes to gun violence does it feel to you that sometimes the mayors who
04:58are down on the local level see and feel and have to process this differently than maybe state legislators
05:06or federal regulators who get to be more removed from the immediate impact of gun violence mayors i do
05:13think feel it differently see it differently we are on the ground we deal with gun violence all the time
05:23and it's clear that there are too many guns on the streets of american communities and they are too easy
05:33for people to obtain it's too easy for guns to fall into the wrong hands and guns that started out
05:41as legal weapons oftentimes find their way onto the streets of our cities as illegal weapons so sensible gun
05:52reform is required certainly mayors are not being silent on this issue mayors are lifting their voices
06:02all across the country and one of the things that we have committed in buffalo new york in the aftermath
06:10of this terrible tragedy to honor the lives of the precious people that we lost we will not be silent
06:20we will keep pushing we will keep fighting to make sure that there is sensible gun reform
06:27so what we're seeing with these mass shootings doesn't continue to play itself out again and again and again
06:38when you talk about uh not being silent um the the mayor to your left and your right have not been
06:44silent about another um really earth-shattering um public issue that we're dealing with and that is
06:51the supreme court striking down roe v wade um mayor breed and mayor cantrell you've both been very vocal
06:57since that decision has come out um how is that going to if you're in a state for example it has a
07:03trigger law and then roe v wade is is um there's immediately no no more abortion allowed how does that
07:11play out on a local level for what you feel like you need to be able to do for your communities you
07:16first mayor cantrell well first of all thank you uh so much um for loving on my brother mayor buffalo
07:24we're here with you we stand with you and we are united in that in that fight against gun pilots
07:32reproductive care and freedoms of women are definitely under attack in the most unimaginable
07:39ways and so here in the state of louisiana we know um our governor moved forward with a heartbeat
07:48legislation prior to the supreme court's ruling so as i look at my community i want to make sure that
07:56the city of new orleans truly becomes that safe haven for women in louisiana but right here in new
08:04orleans and that's working with all stakeholders i am absolutely aligned with my district attorney who
08:12has publicly stated that he will not prosecute i have also supported my police chief saying hey we're
08:19going to follow suit in that and so we're going to do everything that we can to protect women in the
08:25city of new orleans and in the state of louisiana in spite of the lack of leadership and care and concern
08:32for women and at the root of this is the impacts that it will have on the most vulnerable and of
08:38course black women well first of all um yesterday i was listening to a panel with someone from california
08:50and folks from mississippi and it broke my heart that we're fortunate enough in california to have
08:58a governor attorney general and others who have already put into place protection so that we
09:05can ensure a woman's right to choose however we know that there are so many other states that are
09:12dealing with significant disparities we know that women will be probably traveling to our state in
09:18particular and we've already allocated resources to coordinate our response to be there for women
09:26from all over the country however just think about it not knowing that not understanding what you can
09:32and can't do not necessarily maybe even having the ability to travel or the resources to travel
09:39this is actually one of the most heartbreaking things that we've ever done in the united states of
09:45america it's an attack clearly on women it's not just about women who may have gotten pregnant
09:53uh because of incest or rape or other things this is really about equity as it relates to our health
10:03and our well-being and our ability to decide what is best for what is going on in our bodies and so
10:11it's what we are focused on policy changes what we're focused on too is making sure that all across this
10:18country we are helping to elect democrats to the house to the senate so that even though the supreme
10:27court made this decision we're still able to push potentially policies that are going to help with
10:33these other states this is going to have a devastating impact for decades if we don't get control over
10:40what's happening around these specific issues i'm curious um we do hear a lot um you have to vote you
10:49know elections matter local elections matter and they do but what do you say to to voters who feel
10:57deflated frustrated you know we're doing all we can or it's not just about voting when voting rights are
11:04are under attack what do you say to someone who at this moment is so angry they actually just want to
11:10disengage well clearly from what we're seeing in the country we know that voting matters and we know that
11:19every single vote counts we see that the action that the supreme court took on women's reproductive rights
11:28we see the action that the supreme court took on striking down a gun reform gun control law in new york
11:38state a law that was on the books since 1911 and the impact that that will have on communities all across
11:47the country in terms of the proliferation of people carrying concealed weapons legally
11:55that is because there was a president that was able to appoint people to the supreme court so
12:06we have to share that information with our community we have to share the education with our community that
12:14people fought and died for the precious right to vote and it does make a difference i look at my own
12:22situation where last year when i ran for reelection as mayor i lost a primary election and all of the pundits
12:33all of the observers said it's over he's politically dead he won't be able to win and i went directly
12:43to the voters i went door to door i appealed to people in my community and i won a historic write-in vote in
12:54landslide fashion never been done before in modern times in this country so i am a living walking breathing
13:05example that every single vote counts and every vote matters to not give up
13:13mayor cantrell i think that what is happening out there what is happening here is a testament to
13:20recovery um first of all just how do you feel that everybody is back in person after three years and what
13:29did you learn about leadership through this pandemic so it's exciting that not only essence is back but
13:41the city of new orleans is back no doubt about it you know we were um the hot spot coming into covet 19
13:50right after mardi gras folks emerged here and we saw the spread so i had to act very quickly shut things
13:58down uh say no to folks that had never been told no by a woman and a black one at that uh but but but
14:06but more importantly the hard work the civic trust that the residents of this community displayed got us
14:12to where we are right now so this year alone you know we started with hosting mardi gras you know we've
14:18had the ncaa championship we've had jazz festival we've had over a million folks emerge on our city
14:26and and be well when they're here and well when they go home so it's a testament again to the strength
14:31of this community but also that the our economy is coming back even stronger and we're seeing that
14:37even with the numbers of essence mirroring 2019 and even stronger in regards uh to leadership you
14:44asked me what i've learned is that you have to make the tough decisions and they're not easy but you have
14:51to do it and you stand by it and when i know for a fact that we save lives in the city of new orleans
14:58because listen when i'm getting those numbers daily my people are dying seeing the refrigerator trucks
15:06come in being morgues that's going to be for your people and they're coming in numbers but you know
15:12they're not a number that's a human life so the decisions that were made were hard but they were necessary
15:21standing by them takes a lot of strength and courage being unwavering in that and seeing that
15:27it's worth it in the end yes thank you miss mayor thank you um mayor breed i'm curious going it does
15:34obviously it seems that hopefully the worst of the pandemic is behind us we're on the way back but
15:40that doesn't mean everything is easy that doesn't mean that there aren't still lessons that we should
15:45have learned from what we've been through and things that like i said on the local level that steers
15:49mayors are still going to have to be concerned about what do you see are that are necessary in
15:53the next steps um to recover particularly as so many things are happening now gas prices inflation
16:00you know what what do you what is next on your to-do list well there's always many things on the next
16:07to-do list and and i'll just say san francisco was the first major city in the country to issue a stay-at-home
16:15order we had to shut our city down uh people thought it was crazy they didn't understand why we were
16:21doing it we're the second densest city in the country next to new york and we had one of the lowest death
16:28rates of any major city not even a thousand people in san francisco have died from covet which is
16:34significant and it showed me that we made the right decision but as we come out of covet as we come out of
16:42this pandemic economic vitality is important the economy suffered people lost their jobs during the
16:48pandemic we had to make a lot of investments in helping people to pay their rents helping them with
16:54groceries helping them with all kinds of needs and as the city comes back to life we had the pride parade
17:02the warriors won the nba championship we had a big parade one bigger i've been to san franciscan my
17:11whole life and i've never seen this kind of energy and this many people out in san francisco to
17:18celebrate the warriors it was magical we've had numerous events activities concerts and i love new
17:26orleans too it's vibrant like we have these vibrant fun exciting beautiful cities and what's next is to
17:33bring them back to life but also to get people to come back to work because we know as a result of this
17:40pandemic that there's going to now be work from home a lot of people are going to want to work from
17:44home and there's going to be schedules and i've had that same challenge with my own employees of the
17:49city and county of san francisco however it's time to come back to work it's time to come back to our
17:55restaurants our restaurants are packed the ferry building and all of our tourist locations they are
18:01packed and people are coming back to san francisco so it's time to make sure that we maintain the
18:07vibrancy of what these cities are after two years of being in the house of being shut down i'm going
18:14to celebrate every single day like it was my last because of that experience and it just makes you
18:20appreciate things more and so what's next is to continue the incredible work that we've always done
18:26around addressing many of the national issues but the local issues involving homelessness mental health
18:33substance use disorder and making sure that we create a better generation better future for the
18:39next generation of kids growing up in our city so when you talk about the next generation i'm actually
18:44glad you brought that up because my question to mayor brown was going to be how important is it to
18:49recruit that next generation of leaders to get new ideas new blood new energy into the political process
18:58it's critically important to recruit the next generation of leaders to get them into the political
19:06process to give them the opportunity to be involved one of the things that i've tried to focus on
19:13as mayor of the city of buffalo is providing opportunities for young people to work in city
19:20government through our summer youth employment program spending the most money in the history of
19:28the city of buffalo on employing our youth for the summer i'm proud that we have hired more blacks
19:37more latinos more new americans and more women to work in city government than ever before in the history
19:47of this city our young people we saw in the period of protests them taking to the streets showing their their
19:56passion and their desire to make a difference in some of the things that were impacting communities all
20:04across this country to make a difference as it relates to uh the policing of communities we have to bring
20:13them in we have to make sure that they're educated in the process uh if we do that our communities will be
20:21stronger our cities will be stronger our nation will be stronger and what you're describing it involves a
20:28lot of um mentoring and young people having somebody look to look up to so i have a the same question for
20:35all of you all tell me somebody that was um either personally or mentor or somebody that you looked up to
20:45as you were growing up and particularly when you decided you wanted to be in politics who did you
20:51who did you look to mayor control you know i never had an aspiration uh to be an elected official at all
21:01but i was raised by my grandmother who was civically engaged so i found i found myself going to
21:09you know meetings with her and next thing you know i'm the secretary of the local chamber of commerce
21:17you know at at 14 and so community organizing has just been a part of my fabric
21:27and and that's what i've stayed true to and after hurricane katrina it was that community organizing
21:33grassroots movement that i led my neighborhood through recovery which led the city of new
21:39orleans in recovery that's when i kind of started getting the attention right and i was then asked
21:47by my residents in my community to run for city council because the seat became open and they said you
21:55should run and they supported me the political machine was against me um i was in a runoff pulled it
22:02off but it was the people who i was working with on the ground that got me elected so it was that
22:09was my base and the same even with with being elected mayor so it's it goes back to how i was
22:16raised and how i embraced that and seeing the impacts that giving back to people giving back to your
22:23community it does make a difference and we all have a responsibility to do just that i believe it i'm
22:30raising my daughter the same way and um we have to do it she has a summer job now 14 i said hey i've been
22:36working 14 you know so it's how we get free rent get out the house it matters it does mayor brown same
22:45question to you as well how did you who did you look up to or how how did you decide public service
22:50is something you wanted to do like mayor cantrell my family was very active in the community uh they
22:59believed it was important to be active and when i uh came to buffalo from new york city to attend
23:05college i worked on my first campaign at 17 years old for a uh gentleman arthur o eve then a member of
23:16the new york state assembly uh who was running for mayor of the city of buffalo and he was the first
23:24african-american to win a democratic primary for mayor of buffalo so that was that was exciting uh you
23:34know that kind of uh shined a spotlight on the importance of being active in the community
23:43the importance of voting the fact that every vote matters uh and from that period of time
23:50i paid attention to what was going on um uh politically and civically met another gentleman
23:57uh by the name of bill gator he started an organization in buffalo called the build organization
24:05and they are the organization that started buffalo's juneteenth parade in 1975 i believe
24:16and buffalo's juneteenth uh celebration is one of the longest oldest and biggest in the entire nation
24:25and he was like um a father he was like a grandfather he was encouraging he was an he was an educator
24:35and when i decided that i would uh run for office i was able to enjoy the support of some of those
24:44individuals uh who had supported me when i was a college student who had encouraged me when i was
24:51a college student so it really embraces your first question on this topic about the importance of bringing
25:00young people in but also when young people come in they have to have some respect for the history they
25:09have to they have to have some respect say that again uh you know who's been been there doing it
25:16who understands it uh so that the transition uh of leadership can be smoother and can be more effective
25:24so that's a wonderful um it's a wonderful answer mayor breed same question to you what was the support
25:30system that got you to where you where you are and also if you can incorporate some of what the mayor said
25:36i'm curious about how do you make sure that the the younger generation brings that new energy but
25:42respects those who've been there already well like mayor crintrell i didn't aspire to go into politics
25:49and also i was raised by my grandmother and we grew up in poverty and so part of it was my grandmother
25:55insisted she was very proud she was from texas from the south and she was very proud that she graduated
26:01from high school and she wanted me to really focus on education and so it was like you don't go to
26:06school you don't live in this house um and and she just really pushed me and encouraged me and part of
26:14how i started getting involved in politics you all know willie brown first african-american uh mayor of
26:20san francisco a legend in the world of politics um we grew up and it was like willie brown like we we saw him
26:28but it wasn't as if again there was an environment in which you felt that you could necessarily you
26:34know be a part of the political structure of san francisco which has a very small african-american
26:41population and now the population is less than six percent african-american and so it's not as if you
26:47were thinking oh i'm going to be mayor or i'm going to be in public office but my involvement in the
26:54community we sadly i had a lot of friends who were killed um and it it just was rampant in our in our
27:02city and i started getting involved by doing voter registration with the naacp and a lot of the members
27:09of my church and people were i was a secretary i had to take notes when i was a kid and do all the work
27:16go run errands and go get them food and everything else so um they just kept me involved i didn't know
27:23what i was doing i was just doing what i was told and that's another thing listening to your elders
27:28when they ask you to do something to do it because what i realized when they were making me do some of
27:34those things and including doing the whole roberts rules of order and being the sergeant at arms at
27:40the meeting they were teaching me they were teaching me about structure they were teaching me about
27:46community and so a lot of it had to do with the entire community really raising me supporting me pushing
27:52me to go to college and me coming back into the community and feeling like i want to change
27:58things i want to make things better and every step of the way it was always about getting involved but
28:04also respecting my elders and so even now willie brown and i have a very close relationship we talk
28:11regularly our vice president who's going to be here a little later kamala harris has been a friend a
28:17mentor before she was involved in public office and really pushing me and encouraging me to even run
28:23for office in the first place and so i think part of how we instill those same values in the next
28:29generation is we have to incorporate them into our lives we have to make them a part you see a young
28:35person with potential even when they mess up and make mistakes and say the wrong thing or don't write
28:39wear the wrong outfit or all of those things i've had so many discussions with young people who just
28:46want to be in this world and they're eager and they're excited we can learn from them so exactly
28:53because their enthusiasm and their fire in the belly for the work is is is is exciting and it's also
28:59contagious when you have them around you so i i try to surround myself with positive exciting people young
29:06people but part of that is not being afraid to have those conversations in order to encourage them
29:12and support them because they may not appreciate it and i realized this when i became an older adult
29:19you don't appreciate what they do when you're young and then when you get older you realize the value
29:25and then you're doing exactly what they taught you and so that's how we make sure that we get the
29:32next generation ready because it's going to be so important we can't just hold on to this and not let
29:39go because we're here in these positions you know for the time that our terms are limited and we want
29:47to make sure we cultivate the next generation of leadership so that they're prepared for these
29:53extraordinary opportunities and in the process continue that mentorship make ourselves available
29:58uh to them even though they may drive us a little crazy at the end of the day you know they're the
30:04next generation and we have to teach them how to also prepare generation after generation after
30:09generation that's how we keep the connection great let me yeah same same final question to all of you um
30:17i i i think it's an understatement to say we are living in very difficult challenging times and the news
30:23cycle it can be really intense um whether you're watching cable news whether you're on twitter um you
30:30just kind of feel like sometimes you're constantly bombarded with bad news but you still you want to
30:35stay engaged because you know it's your responsibility as a citizen to stay engaged but you're allowed to
30:40disengage what do you all do for fun when you disengage i you live in new orleans that's an obvious answer
30:47but i'm gonna let you answer anyway but what do you all do just to carve out a little bit of space
30:52um because you have to take care of yourself to be able to help other people so where do you do what
30:57do you do well yes in the city of new orleans i love to dance i do that often but more importantly
31:07you know i reach out like to my sister mayor here london breed visited her just being able to disconnect
31:16sharing talking um building that level of of of just support yeah and that's what what really helps
31:25me it helps me decompress it helps me kind of do a gut check about how i'm feeling and you know what
31:32it's appropriate to to feel a certain way about things she gets me straight real quick girl you got
31:37to take some time you can't you laugh you have to do that exactly and so it's it's these types of
31:45engagements i say for me that really helps me keep focused take a breath decompress and do the job
31:55absolutely and i know the job for you right now mayor brown is is really probably unimaginable and
32:00there's so many people that still need things from you what do you do just to you're allowed to to pull
32:05back a little bit sometimes well let me let me first say um in the aftermath of the terrible uh act of
32:15domestic terrorism in buffalo on may 14th i heard from so many of my fellow mayors from all across the
32:23country people from all over the country uh people who sent thoughts and prayers and who sent checks for
32:31food uh for the community i just want to say thank you uh to america uh for responding and and showing
32:42its love and support for the people in buffalo that that went through that um i like to spend time with
32:49with family uh my wife of 32 years michelle my son byron michelle and i are helping to raise
32:58our uh great nephew and great niece we've had the children for a little over a year and a half that's
33:07been a beautiful experience i'm i'm almost almost feeling like a young dad again are you tired though
33:16you know it it can be a little tiring but it's also exciting and and energizing and then i have a
33:24group of of friends uh buddies uh that i went to college with and i'm almost a little embarrassed to
33:31say it uh guys that i've been connected with for 40 years uh and we have we started this at the beginning
33:40of the pandemic we have a prayer call every saturday and we pray and we talk and and we laugh
33:49and and that really helps to energize me and helps me to decompress uh and you know when you get a
33:57little big headed sometimes i usually don't but when you do okay you know your your buddies can bring
34:03you back down to earth and that's the kind of call i have uh with uh with my buddies that live in maryland
34:10and new york city and and chicago and other places in the country now mayor london breed i know what you
34:18do for fun is you go to parades parade after parade after parade but i'll tell you just like mayor
34:26control i like to have a good time and dance i just don't dance as good as she does but none of us do
34:33san francisco is very close to napa valley that is my sanctuary and i make sure that i get enough sleep
34:40i drink water i work out on my peloton almost every day and i heard tunay was here earlier so that was
34:47really cool um and i i just really take time for me especially on sundays i you know i'm like one day
34:54i get one day out of the week so that i can decompress i meditate i try to take care of my mind my body my
35:01spirit so that i'm able to support the the community you talk about the airplanes when they say put your
35:09mask on first before you assist others we have to make sure that we're taking care of one and ourselves
35:16and and part of taking care of ourselves means having this great network of mayors who understand
35:21what you're going through but ultimately i'm having a great time yes this job is hard as heck
35:28and i love doing it every single day i love impacting people's lives and the change that we see in san
35:35francisco and ultimately again it is so critical that we don't let the the work run us down that we do the
35:44things that we want to enjoy and to our constituents when you see us out there having a good time let
35:49us have a good time absolutely absolutely let us have a good time soon and the other thing i'll say
35:54is i stay off of social media as much as possible that feels like a personal attack i know i because i'll
36:01go get i'll go get coffee and it's like why are you going get coffee you supposed to be solving the
36:07homeless problem and it's like can i get some coffee first and then i'll conquer the world but it's
36:13it's been wonderful and thank you so much for this extraordinary opportunity to be here with my fellow
36:19mayor thank you all and i think that we can learn so even though none of us are mayors i think we can
36:23learn something from from everything that this wonderful panel just shared with us uh mrs mayor mrs mayor
36:30mr mayor thank you all very much i hope you enjoyed this discussion thank you very much
Comments