'I am proud of our democracy. It needs some work, and so we need to be there to fix it, to fight for it, and to make sure that it actually lifts up and supports folks who look like me and you.' —leslieherod on OnTheIssuesPod
Absolutely, and there were definitely defeats and losses, and you know, what I’ll say is, you know, first, when I first graduated college, I was actually working at Macand 24 Hour Fitness, and so, I worked throughout college while being in student government, and I graduated in a recession, and I did not have a job in my field of political science and ethnic studies, couldn’t get an internship or a fellowship to save my life.
But at that point, I called up my staff and said we are going to run as real and as authentic as we possibly can because if I’m going to lose, I’m at least going to create and have a conversation about what needs to change for our communities to actually thrive, and I did that, and then, of course, I won, as you said, with the highest vote count in Colorado history and have been able to actually not only talk about that in the election but then change policy while elected.
A July 7, 2016, protest in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the evening following the death of Philando Castile at the hands of police in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. Black people are 3.23 times more likely to die when encountering law enforcement.Oh, that’s a great question, and you know, for me, the truth of the matter is, family is the priority. Like I said, what initially prompted me to run was a question from my son.
I’ll give you one example about how important my family is because it was in response to—I’m certain Leslie can associate with this—to a lobbyist coming to me, one time, with his client, sitting with me, when I was majority leader. I was at the head of my table, they were next to me, and my assistant leader was at the end of the table, and this was a controversial topic we were talking about.
You know, like I said, I’m blessed to have my sister, who’s been in her circumstance, my brother, who also failed out of college, at a junior college in Southern Colorado, only to find that he was just, you know, basically talked down to all of his life, and no one realized that he was extremely good at science and is now an anesthesiologist, you know? So, just being able to learn from all of our experiences has really helped to craft the policies that I have today.
So, can you give us some of your greatest hits, because I am just amazed by what you have been able to get through the Colorado legislature. Let’s just be clear. It’s been amazing. I was a cheerleader and a swimmer. So, I remember always struggling with my hair, right, and you know, I reached out and you know told her I understood what she was going through and commended her for her bravery because her and her mom really did push back, and then it kind of clicked in me like, wait a minute, I could actually do something about this, you know? I could actually change the law.
And so, I’m really focusing on housing, on an educational pathway, and on entrepreneurs and business owners in our communities to make sure that they thrive—not only through COVID, but the COVID dollars help, but truly beyond that, so we have that intergenerational wealth in our communities to be able to take the risks and to innovate like other communities have and to make sure that we are contributing and as thriving as we know that we can be.
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