--:-- Mick Hunt: A lot was said in the media about what went down in L.A. this summer. Today's episode, we're talking to my shero, Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles. And we're going to get the truth, but we're also going to get her insights on what true leadership really means and the things that she's done and turned around in Los Angeles. I promise you, you are in for a treat. This is my She-Ra. Mayor Karen Bass. Mayor Bass, how are you doing today, dear?
--:-- Karen Bass: I'm doing just fine. Thank you so much for that kind introduction.
--:-- Mick Hunt: No, I thank you. And I was telling you offline just what you mean to me for what you have done, not even just for the city of Los Angeles, but for people across the world that you probably don't know that you've touched. But you've been a voice for the voiceless, a face for the faceless. You've been a fighter for those who couldn't fight for themselves and I think not just me but I think everyone that's listening and watching just wants to say thank you and you know Mayor Bass I love starting off my episodes with that question of what is your because that thing that's deeper than your why and so if I were to say Mayor Bass like why do you do what you do why do you give what you give why do you fight the way that you fight What's your because?
--:-- Karen Bass: Well, I love that question because it definitely defines my life. I grew up as a kid, couldn't wait to be an adult so I could get out in the world and fight for justice. It has defined me. And I think it's really about the time period in which I grew up, which grew up watching the civil rights movement on TV as a child and listening to my father explain what life in the South was like. My mother was born in Los Angeles, very different, considering it was years and years before the big migration after World War II. And so I just always wanted to devote my life to fighting for justice. To me, our country offered all of the opportunities in the world with all of the capacity, all of the resources, all of the wealth. And I've never understood why certain sectors of our population had to suffer, had to suffer economically, had to face gross injustice. And so to me, when you're in the land that has everything, why can't that be shared? And that has defined my life and never, ever thought about running for office. But when I did decide to take that step, it was with the same values and frankly, the same issues in mind.
--:-- Mick Hunt: I love that. And speaking for, speaking about running for office, what was that moment that led to you saying, I need to lead the city, not just fight for the city, because it's different, right? Than saying, I need to lead the city. What was that moment for you?
--:-- Karen Bass: Well, you know, it really involved flashbacks to the 1990s. And I was at, for me, where I am now is full circle to where I started 35 years ago when I started Community Coalition in 1990. And those years were characterized by a terrible epidemic in the African American community. It was the epidemic of crack cocaine and gang violence. And elected officials, policymakers, the only response they had was to sentence, you know, young people was what eventually we would call mass incarceration. When it was happening, we didn't call it that, but I certainly knew that it was the wrong way to go, that crack cocaine was a health crisis. It was an economic crisis and it was a crisis of divestment from the social safety that and all three of those converging. And we had a thousand homicides in our city. We had people dying from crack because at the same time the crack epidemic happened, that's when AIDS exploded as well. And it wasn't called HIV, then it was AIDS. And so what I tell younger people who don't remember that time period to visualize it, think about COVID affecting one population. And that's the way it felt like. It was the desperation and the fear. And that led to me leaving a very comfortable faculty position at USC Medical School, going to the center of the crisis and starting an organization to try to shift the debate away from criminalization to a more comprehensive approach. And so the way the homeless problem exploded in our city, I had flashbacks to the 1990s, where the population of Los Angeles was angry and had tried to tax themselves twice, and the problem just got worse. And I saw us headed down criminalization road again. And I felt like I, you know, I mean, I loved being in Congress because it was an opportunity for me to work on domestic as well as international issues, which was always a love of mine. But to come home because I couldn't sit in my comfortable position in Congress and watch the city go backwards. And it's the same thing I thought when I was at the university. I couldn't stay in my comfortable position when I saw South LA going downhill. And at the time, I was leading an anti-apartheid organization and we were fighting for the freedom of Nelson Mandela. And I'm like, well, okay, that's a noble thing to do, but that's on the other side of the world. Fortunately, though, it coincided with Nelson Mandela becoming liberated and apartheid ending. And I said, I have to turn my focus to the domestic issue. I had to leave my faculty position and jump into trying to solve that problem. So my motivation in everything that I've done has really been the same. It's the same issues I've been pursuing. It's the same motivation. So coming from a city like Los Angeles, again, it has everything in the world to offer. We have so much wealth and opportunity in the city. And for a segment of the city to not be able to access that, it's the same problem of injustice in the world of plenty. And so that's what led me to wanting to lead the city.
--:-- Mick Hunt: And speaking about running for office, what was that moment that led to you saying, I need to lead the city, not just fight for the city, because it's different, right? Than saying, I need to lead the city. What was that moment for you?
--:-- Karen Bass: Well, you know, it really involved flashbacks to the 1990s. And I was at, for me, where I am now is full circle to where I started 35 years ago when I started Community Coalition in 1990. And those years were characterized by a terrible epidemic in the African American community. It was the epidemic of crack cocaine and gang violence. And elected officials, policymakers, the only response they had was to sentence, you know, young people was what eventually we would call mass incarceration. When it was happening, we didn't call it that, but I certainly knew that it was the wrong way to go, that crack cocaine was a health crisis. It was an economic crisis and it was a crisis of divestment from the social safety that and all three of those converging. And we had a thousand homicides in our city. We had people dying from crack because at the same time the crack epidemic happened, that's when AIDS exploded as well. And it wasn't called HIV, then it was AIDS. And so what I tell younger people who don't remember that time period to visualize it, think about COVID affecting one population. And that's the way it felt like. It was the desperation and the fear. And that led to me leaving a very comfortable faculty position at USC Medical School, going to the center of the crisis and starting an organization to try to shift the debate away from criminalization to a more comprehensive approach. And so the way the homeless problem exploded in our city, I had flashbacks to the 1990s, where the population of Los Angeles was angry and had tried to tax themselves twice, and the problem just got worse. And I saw us headed down criminalization road again. And I felt like I, you know, I mean, I loved being in Congress because it was an opportunity for me to work on domestic as well as international issues, which was always a love of mine. But to come home because I couldn't sit in my comfortable position in Congress and watch the city go backwards. And it's the same thing I thought when I was at the university. I couldn't stay in my comfortable position when I saw South LA going downhill. And at the time, I was leading an anti-apartheid organization and we were fighting for the freedom of Nelson Mandela. And I'm like, well, okay, that's a noble thing to do, but that's on the other side of the world. Fortunately, though, it coincided with Nelson Mandela becoming liberated and apartheid ending. And I said, I have to turn my focus to the domestic issue. I had to leave my faculty position and jump into trying to solve that problem. So my motivation in everything that I've done has really been the same. It's the same issues I've been pursuing. It's the same motivation. So coming from a city like Los Angeles, again, it has everything in the world to offer. We have so much wealth and opportunity in the city. And for a segment of the city to not be able to access that, it's the same problem of injustice in the world of plenty. And so that's what led me to wanting to lead the city.
--:-- Mick Hunt: And speaking about running for office, what was that moment that led to you saying, I need to lead the city, not just fight for the city, because it's different, right? Than saying, I need to lead the city. What was that moment for you?
--:-- Karen Bass: Well, you know, it really involved flashbacks to the 1990s. And I was at, for me, where I am now is full circle to where I started 35 years ago when I started Community Coalition in 1990. And those years were characterized by a terrible epidemic in the African American community. It was the epidemic of crack cocaine and gang violence. And elected officials, policymakers, the only response they had was to sentence, you know, young people was what eventually we would call mass incarceration. When it was happening, we didn't call it that, but I certainly knew that it was the wrong way to go, that crack cocaine was a health crisis. It was an economic crisis and it was a crisis of divestment from the social safety that and all three of those converging. And we had a thousand homicides in our city. We had people dying from crack because at the same time the crack epidemic happened, that's when AIDS exploded as well. And it wasn't called HIV, then it was AIDS. And so what I tell younger people who don't remember that time period to visualize it, think about COVID affecting one population. And that's the way it felt like. It was the desperation and the fear. And that led to me leaving a very comfortable faculty position at USC Medical School, going to the center of the crisis and starting an organization to try to shift the debate away from criminalization to a more comprehensive approach. And so the way the homeless problem exploded in our city, I had flashbacks to the 1990s, where the population of Los Angeles was angry and had tried to tax themselves twice, and the problem just got worse. And I saw us headed down criminalization road again. And I felt like I, you know, I mean, I loved being in Congress because it was an opportunity for me to work on domestic as well as international issues, which was always a love of mine. But to come home because I couldn't sit in my comfortable position in Congress and watch the city go backwards. And it's the same thing I thought when I was at the university. I couldn't stay in my comfortable position when I saw South LA going downhill. And at the time, I was leading an anti-apartheid organization and we were fighting for the freedom of Nelson Mandela. And I'm like, well, okay, that's a noble thing to do, but that's on the other side of the world. Fortunately, though, it coincided with Nelson Mandela becoming liberated and apartheid ending. And I said, I have to turn my focus to the domestic issue. I had to leave my faculty position and jump into trying to solve that problem. So my motivation in everything that I've done has really been the same. It's the same issues I've been pursuing. It's the same motivation. So coming from a city like Los Angeles, again, it has everything in the world to offer. We have so much wealth and opportunity in the city. And for a segment of the city to not be able to access that, it's the same problem of injustice in the world of plenty. And so that's what led me to wanting to lead the city.
--:-- Mick Hunt: And speaking about running for office, what was that moment that led to you saying, I need to lead the city, not just fight for the city, because it's different, right? Than saying, I need to lead the city. What was that moment for you?
--:-- Karen Bass: Well, you know, it really involved flashbacks to the 1990s. And I was at, for me, where I am now is full circle to where I started 35 years ago when I started Community Coalition in 1990. And those years were characterized by a terrible epidemic in the African American community. It was the epidemic of crack cocaine and gang violence. And elected officials, policymakers, the only response they had was to sentence, you know, young people was what eventually we would call mass incarceration. When it was happening, we didn't call it that, but I certainly knew that it was the wrong way to go, that crack cocaine was a health crisis. It was an economic crisis and it was a crisis of divestment from the social safety that and all three of those converging. And we had a thousand homicides in our city. We had people dying from crack because at the same time the crack epidemic happened, that's when AIDS exploded as well. And it wasn't called HIV, then it was AIDS. And so what I tell younger people who don't remember that time period to visualize it, think about COVID affecting one population. And that's the way it felt like. It was the desperation and the fear. And that led to me leaving a very comfortable faculty position at USC Medical School, going to the center of the crisis and starting an organization to try to shift the debate away from criminalization to a more comprehensive approach. And so the way the homeless problem exploded in our city, I had flashbacks to the 1990s, where the population of Los Angeles was angry and had tried to tax themselves twice, and the problem just got worse. And I saw us headed down criminalization road again. And I felt like I, you know, I mean, I loved being in Congress because it was an opportunity for me to work on domestic as well as international issues, which was always a love of mine. But to come home because I couldn't sit in my comfortable position in Congress and watch the city go backwards. And it's the same thing I thought when I was at the university. I couldn't stay in my comfortable position when I saw South LA going downhill. And at the time, I was leading an anti-apartheid organization and we were fighting for the freedom of Nelson Mandela. And I'm like, well, okay, that's a noble thing to do, but that's on the other side of the world. Fortunately, though, it coincided with Nelson Mandela becoming liberated and apartheid ending. And I said, I have to turn my focus to the domestic issue. I had to leave my faculty position and jump into trying to solve that problem. So my motivation in everything that I've done has really been the same. It's the same issues I've been pursuing. It's the same motivation. So coming from a city like Los Angeles, again, it has everything in the world to offer. We have so much wealth and opportunity in the city. And for a segment of the city to not be able to access that, it's the same problem of injustice in the world of plenty. And so that's what led me to wanting to lead the city.
--:-- Mick Hunt: And speaking about running for office, what was that moment that led to you saying, I need to lead the city, not just fight for the city, because it's different, right? Than saying, I need to lead the city. What was that moment for you?
--:-- Karen Bass: Well, you know, it really involved flashbacks to the 1990s. And I was at, for me, where I am now is full circle to where I started 35 years ago when I started Community Coalition in 1990. And those years were characterized by a terrible epidemic in the African American community. It was the epidemic of crack cocaine and gang violence. And elected officials, policymakers, the only response they had was to sentence, you know, young people was what eventually we would call mass incarceration. When it was happening, we didn't call it that, but I certainly knew that it was the wrong way to go, that crack cocaine was a health crisis. It was an economic crisis and it was a crisis of divestment from the social safety that and all three of those converging. And we had a thousand homicides in our city. We had people dying from crack because at the same time the crack epidemic happened, that's when AIDS exploded as well. And it wasn't called HIV, then it was AIDS. And so what I tell younger people who don't remember that time period to visualize it, think about COVID affecting one population. And that's the way it felt like. It was the desperation and the fear. And that led to me leaving a very comfortable faculty position at USC Medical School, going to the center of the crisis and starting an organization to try to shift the debate away from criminalization to a more comprehensive approach. And so the way the homeless problem exploded in our city, I had flashbacks to the 1990s, where the population of Los Angeles was angry and had tried to tax themselves twice, and the problem just got worse. And I saw us headed down criminalization road again. And I felt like I, you know, I mean, I loved being in Congress because it was an opportunity for me to work on domestic as well as international issues, which was always a love of mine. But to come home because I couldn't sit in my comfortable position in Congress and watch the city go backwards. And it's the same thing I thought when I was at the university. I couldn't stay in my comfortable position when I saw South LA going downhill. And at the time, I was leading an anti-apartheid organization and we were fighting for the freedom of Nelson Mandela. And I'm like, well, okay, that's a noble thing to do, but that's on the other side of the world. Fortunately, though, it coincided with Nelson Mandela becoming liberated and apartheid ending. And I said, I have to turn my focus to the domestic issue. I had to leave my faculty position and jump into trying to solve that problem. So my motivation in everything that I've done has really been the same. It's the same issues I've been pursuing. It's the same motivation. So coming from a city like Los Angeles, again, it has everything in the world to offer. We have so much wealth and opportunity in the city. And for a segment of the city to not be able to access that, it's the same problem of injustice in the world of plenty. And so that's what led me to wanting to lead the city.
--:-- Mick Hunt: And speaking about running for office, what was that moment that led to you saying, I need to lead the city, not just fight for the city, because it's different, right? Than saying, I need to lead the city. What was that moment for you?
--:-- Karen Bass: Well, you know, it really involved flashbacks to the 1990s. And I was at, for me, where I am now is full circle to where I started 35 years ago when I started Community Coalition in 1990. And those years were characterized by a terrible epidemic in the African American community. It was the epidemic of crack cocaine and gang violence. And elected officials, policymakers, the only response they had was to sentence, you know, young people was what eventually we would call mass incarceration. When it was happening, we didn't call it that, but I certainly knew that it was the wrong way to go, that crack cocaine was a health crisis. It was an economic crisis and it was a crisis of divestment from the social safety that and all three of those converging. And we had a thousand homicides in our city. We had people dying from crack because at the same time the crack epidemic happened, that's when AIDS exploded as well. And it wasn't called HIV, then it was AIDS. And so what I tell younger people who don't remember that time period to visualize it, think about COVID affecting one population. And that's the way it felt like. It was the desperation and the fear. And that led to me leaving a very comfortable faculty position at USC Medical School, going to the center of the crisis and starting an organization to try to shift the debate away from criminalization to a more comprehensive approach. And so the way the homeless problem exploded in our city, I had flashbacks to the 1990s, where the population of Los Angeles was angry and had tried to tax themselves twice, and the problem just got worse. And I saw us headed down criminalization road again. And I felt like I, you know, I mean, I loved being in Congress because it was an opportunity for me to work on domestic as well as international issues, which was always a love of mine. But to come home because I couldn't sit in my comfortable position in Congress and watch the city go backwards. And it's the same thing I thought when I was at the university. I couldn't stay in my comfortable position when I saw South LA going downhill. And at the time, I was leading an anti-apartheid organization and we were fighting for the freedom of Nelson Mandela. And I'm like, well, okay, that's a noble thing to do, but that's on the other side of the world. Fortunately, though, it coincided with Nelson Mandela becoming liberated and apartheid ending. And I said, I have to turn my focus to the domestic issue. I had to leave my faculty position and jump into trying to solve that problem. So my motivation in everything that I've done has really been the same. It's the same issues I've been pursuing. It's the same motivation. So coming from a city like Los Angeles, again, it has everything in the world to offer. We have so much wealth and opportunity in the city. And for a segment of the city to not be able to access that, it's the same problem of injustice in the world of plenty. And so that's what led me to wanting to lead the city.
--:-- Mick Hunt: And speaking about running for office, what was that moment that led to you saying, I need to lead the city, not just fight for the city, because it's different, right? Than saying, I need to lead the city. What was that moment for you?
--:-- Karen Bass: Well, you know, it really involved flashbacks to the 1990s. And I was at, for me, where I am now is full circle to where I started 35 years ago when I started Community Coalition in 1990. And those years were characterized by a terrible epidemic in the African American community. It was the epidemic of crack cocaine and gang violence. And elected officials, policymakers, the only response they had was to sentence, you know, young people was what eventually we would call mass incarceration. When it was happening, we didn't call it that, but I certainly knew that it was the wrong way to go, that crack cocaine was a health crisis. It was an economic crisis and it was a crisis of divestment from the social safety that and all three of those converging. And we had a thousand homicides in our city. We had people dying from crack because at the same time the crack epidemic happened, that's when AIDS exploded as well. And it wasn't called HIV, then it was AIDS. And so what I tell younger people who don't remember that time period to visualize it, think about COVID affecting one population. And that's the way it felt like. It was the desperation and the fear. And that led to me leaving a very comfortable faculty position at USC Medical School, going to the center of the crisis and starting an organization to try to shift the debate away from criminalization to a more comprehensive approach. And so the way the homeless problem exploded in our city, I had flashbacks to the 1990s, where the population of Los Angeles was angry and had tried to tax themselves twice, and the problem just got worse. And I saw us headed down criminalization road again. And I felt like I, you know, I mean, I loved being in Congress because it was an opportunity for me to work on domestic as well as international issues, which was always a love of mine. But to come home because I couldn't sit in my comfortable position in Congress and watch the city go backwards. And it's the same thing I thought when I was at the university. I couldn't stay in my comfortable position when I saw South LA going downhill. And at the time, I was leading an anti-apartheid organization and we were fighting for the freedom of Nelson Mandela. And I'm like, well, okay, that's a noble thing to do, but that's on the other side of the world. Fortunately, though, it coincided with Nelson Mandela becoming liberated and apartheid ending. And I said, I have to turn my focus to the domestic issue. I had to leave my faculty position and jump into trying to solve that problem. So my motivation in everything that I've done has really been the same. It's the same issues I've been pursuing. It's the same motivation. So coming from a city like Los Angeles, again, it has everything in the world to offer. We have so much wealth and opportunity in the city. And for a segment of the city to not be able to access that, it's the same problem of injustice in the world of plenty. And so that's what led me to wanting to lead the city.
--:-- Mick Hunt: And speaking about running for office, what was that moment that led to you saying, I need to lead the city, not just fight for the city, because it's different, right? Than saying, I need to lead the city. What was that moment for you?
--:-- Karen Bass: Well, you know, it really involved flashbacks to the 1990s. And I was at, for me, where I am now is full circle to where I started 35 years ago when I started Community Coalition in 1990. And those years were characterized by a terrible epidemic in the African American community. It was the epidemic of crack cocaine and gang violence. And elected officials, policymakers, the only response they had was to sentence, you know, young people was what eventually we would call mass incarceration. When it was happening, we didn't call it that, but I certainly knew that it was the wrong way to go, that crack cocaine was a health crisis. It was an economic crisis and it was a crisis of divestment from the social safety that and all three of those converging. And we had a thousand homicides in our city. We had people dying from crack because at the same time the crack epidemic happened, that's when AIDS exploded as well. And it wasn't called HIV, then it was AIDS. And so what I tell younger people who don't remember that time period to visualize it, think about COVID affecting one population. And that's the way it felt like. It was the desperation and the fear. And that led to me leaving a very comfortable faculty position at USC Medical School, going to the center of the crisis and starting an organization to try to shift the debate away from criminalization to a more comprehensive approach. And so the way the homeless problem exploded in our city, I had flashbacks to the 1990s, where the population of Los Angeles was angry and had tried to tax themselves twice, and the problem just got worse. And I saw us headed down criminalization road again. And I felt like I, you know, I mean, I loved being in Congress because it was an opportunity for me to work on domestic as well as international issues, which was always a love of mine. But to come home because I couldn't sit in my comfortable position in Congress and watch the city go backwards. And it's the same thing I thought when I was at the university. I couldn't stay in my comfortable position when I saw South LA going downhill. And at the time, I was leading an anti-apartheid organization and we were fighting for the freedom of Nelson Mandela. And I'm like, well, okay, that's a noble thing to do, but that's on the other side of the world. Fortunately, though, it coincided with Nelson Mandela becoming liberated and apartheid ending. And I said, I have to turn my focus to the domestic issue. I had to leave my faculty position and jump into trying to solve that problem. So my motivation in everything that I've done has really been the same. It's the same issues I've been pursuing. It's the same motivation. So coming from a city like Los Angeles, again, it has everything in the world to offer. We have so much wealth and opportunity in the city. And for a segment of the city to not be able to access that, it's the same problem of injustice in the world of plenty. And so that's what led me to wanting to lead the city.
--:-- Mick Hunt: And speaking about running for office, what was that moment that led to you saying, I need to lead the city, not just fight for the city, because it's different, right? Than saying, I need to lead the city. What was that moment for you?
--:-- Karen Bass: Well, you know, it really involved flashbacks to the 1990s. And I was at, for me, where I am now is full circle to where I started 35 years ago when I started Community Coalition in 1990. And those years were characterized by a terrible epidemic in the African American community. It was the epidemic of crack cocaine and gang violence. And elected officials, policymakers, the only response they had was to sentence, you know, young people was what eventually we would call mass incarceration. When it was happening, we didn't call it that, but I certainly knew that it was the wrong way to go, that crack cocaine was a health crisis. It was an economic crisis and it was a crisis of divestment from the social safety that and all three of those converging. And we had a thousand homicides in our city. We had people dying from crack because at the same time the crack epidemic happened, that's when AIDS exploded as well. And it wasn't called HIV, then it was AIDS. And so what I tell younger people who don't remember that time period to visualize it, think about COVID affecting one population. And that's the way it felt like. It was the desperation and the fear. And that led to me leaving a very comfortable faculty position at USC Medical School, going to the center of the crisis and starting an organization to try to shift the debate away from criminalization to a more comprehensive approach. And so the way the homeless problem exploded in our city, I had flashbacks to the 1990s, where the population of Los Angeles was angry and had tried to tax themselves twice, and the problem just got worse. And I saw us headed down criminalization road again. And I felt like I, you know, I mean, I loved being in Congress because it was an opportunity for me to work on domestic as well as international issues, which was always a love of mine. But to come home because I couldn't sit in my comfortable position in Congress and watch the city go backwards. And it's the same thing I thought when I was at the university. I couldn't stay in my comfortable position when I saw South LA going downhill. And at the time, I was leading an anti-apartheid organization and we were fighting for the freedom of Nelson Mandela. And I'm like, well, okay, that's a noble thing to do, but that's on the other side of the world. Fortunately, though, it coincided with Nelson Mandela becoming liberated and apartheid ending. And I said, I have to turn my focus to the domestic issue. I had to leave my faculty position and jump into trying to solve that problem. So my motivation in everything that I've done has really been the same. It's the same issues I've been pursuing. It's the same motivation. So coming from a city like Los Angeles, again, it has everything in the world to offer. We have so much wealth and opportunity in the city. And for a segment of the city to not be able to access that, it's the same problem of injustice in the world of plenty. And so that's what led me to wanting to lead the city.
--:-- Mick Hunt: And speaking about running for office, what was that moment that led to you saying, I need to lead the city, not just fight for the city, because it's different, right? Than saying, I need to lead the city. What was that moment for you?
--:-- Karen Bass: Well, you know, it really involved flashbacks to the 1990s. And I was at, for me, where I am now is full circle to where I started 35 years ago when I started Community Coalition in 1990. And those years were characterized by a terrible epidemic in the African American community. It was the epidemic of crack cocaine and gang violence. And elected officials, policymakers, the only response they had was to sentence, you know, young people was what eventually we would call mass incarceration. When it was happening, we didn't call it that, but I certainly knew that it was the wrong way to go, that crack cocaine was a health crisis. It was an economic crisis and it was a crisis of divestment from the social safety that and all three of those converging. And we had a thousand homicides in our city. We had people dying from crack because at the same time the crack epidemic happened, that's when AIDS exploded as well. And it wasn't called HIV, then it was AIDS. And so what I tell younger people who don't remember that time period to visualize it, think about COVID affecting one population. And that's the way it felt like. It was the desperation and the fear. And that led to me leaving a very comfortable faculty position at USC Medical School, going to the center of the crisis and starting an organization to try to shift the debate away from criminalization to a more comprehensive approach. And so the way the homeless problem exploded in our city, I had flashbacks to the 1990s, where the population of Los Angeles was angry and had tried to tax themselves twice, and the problem just got worse. And I saw us headed down criminalization road again. And I felt like I, you know, I mean, I loved being in Congress because it was an opportunity for me to work on domestic as well as international issues, which was always a love of mine. But to come home because I couldn't sit in my comfortable position in Congress and watch the city go backwards. And it's the same thing I thought when I was at the university. I couldn't stay in my comfortable position when I saw South LA going downhill. And at the time, I was leading an anti-apartheid organization and we were fighting for the freedom of Nelson Mandela. And I'm like, well, okay, that's a noble thing to do, but that's on the other side of the world. Fortunately, though, it coincided with Nelson Mandela becoming liberated and apartheid ending. And I said, I have to turn my focus to the domestic issue. I had to leave my faculty position and jump into trying to solve that problem. So my motivation in everything that I've done has really been the same. It's the same issues I've been pursuing. It's the same motivation. So coming from a city like Los Angeles, again
