WEBVTT - Mitch Landrieu: Facing History 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:05.720 Hi, Brian Hik. Now, this is very exciting. We're on location, 0:00:05.800 --> 0:00:09.360 which we don't do that often, but we're in Aspen, Colorado, 0:00:09.520 --> 0:00:14.040 beautiful Colorado, at the Aspen Ideas Festival. And when we 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:16.400 found out that Mitch Landrew was going to be here, 0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:20.919 we immediately thought, what a great podcast guest, because he's 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:23.160 very much been in the news of late, not only 0:00:23.239 --> 0:00:26.080 because he's head of the U S Conference of Mayors, 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:29.680 but also because that incredible speech he gave about taking 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:32.800 down the Confederate statues in New Orleans. And he comes 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:36.680 from a really storied New Orleans and Louisiana family. His 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:40.760 dad was the last white mayor of New Orleans. Before him, 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:43.880 he was known as a real progressive on civil rights. 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:48.040 He desegregated the city. His sister was a senator from 0:00:48.040 --> 0:00:51.320 Louisiana for many years. He's the fifth of nine kids. 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:53.560 He's got a lot of interesting stuff to see. He's 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:58.320 a music of theater nuts. So he had me at 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:01.720 Jesus Christ Superstar. So we have so much fun talking 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:03.760 to Mitch. He told me I could call him Mitch 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:06.680 instead of Mr. Mayor. Honestly, you were a little disappointed 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:08.720 that he didn't go full man of La Manchro No 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:11.240 I really wanted that. You know, I made up for 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:14.800 his shyness by belting out a few of those songs myself. 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:17.199 But we talked to him about life in the big easy, 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:19.480 and we talked to him about climate change, and of 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:23.399 course we talked to him about that incredibly well received, 0:01:23.440 --> 0:01:28.200 an eloquent speech. So here he is, Mitch landru I 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:31.600 became the president of U S Conference of Mayors yesterday. 0:01:31.640 --> 0:01:35.480 Congratulation so much. And but I'm really intent in this 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:38.280 time of getting people to think that although we think 0:01:38.319 --> 0:01:40.440 about Washington all the time, and it's appropriate that we 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:44.480 do so, the national policy doesn't just get set in Washington. 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:47.199 Mayors across the country really doing innovative things. We're learning 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:51.800 from each other and we're creating national policies from local 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:55.560 action and that's really exciting. And before we talk more 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:59.160 about the Conference of Mayors and about that extraordinary speech 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:03.360 you made on May nineteenth about Confederate memorials coming down 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:06.240 in New Orleans, I want to give our listeners a 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:09.240 better sense of who you are and where you come from. 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:13.400 Is that from the greatest place in where all New Orleans, Louisiana, 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:16.480 The soul of America. You're you're the fifth of nine kids. 0:02:16.560 --> 0:02:20.600 Your dad was the story real quick. My father was 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:24.440 one of two children. His mother had a third grade education. 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:26.640 His father worked as an employee of the city in 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:29.680 the public service building. He turned the lights on and 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:31.799 off in the city. He grew up in a house 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:34.600 that was seventeen feet wide, literally slept in a storehouse. 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:37.880 He he found a way to get himself through Jesuit 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:39.760 High School and then Loyola Way. He met my mother 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:42.960 and uh, they fell in love and they wanted up 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:46.160 getting married, and they went right away to the Pentagon 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:49.639 when my dad served, and in the next eleven years 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:52.560 they had nine children. So my oldest sister is Mary, 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:55.680 who people remember is now as the United States Senator, 0:02:55.720 --> 0:03:01.880 but sure appreciates she's bossy. But there were nine of 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:05.360 us and we grew up in the first integrated neighborhood 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:08.680 in the city of New Orleans. My dad got himself 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:11.200 into the state legislation, didn't know anybody, and this first 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:14.560 act in office was to vote against the governor's plan 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:17.239 to keep the schools segregated in the state. He was 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:19.840 one of two people and uh, on that day that 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:23.040 he voted for that Leander Perez, who was a great racist. 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:26.040 Shaff suck his finger in his chest and said you're dead. 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:30.200 And from that moment, from there until today. You know, 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:33.280 our family kind of grew up in the Broadmoor neighborhood 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:35.560 of New Orleans. As I said, my mother had nine 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:38.880 children in eleven years. And he was known and and 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:41.920 is known as a hero of civil He was the 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:45.280 one that integrated. That's true. Joined it's because we grew 0:03:45.360 --> 0:03:47.000 up how we grew up in Whale. We grew up 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:49.040 in a middle class neighborhood. We both we all went 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:51.760 to parochial schools, the same school. We walked to school 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:54.200 every day, we caught the bus to school. All of 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:56.520 us have gone on to you know, grow up and 0:03:56.520 --> 0:04:00.080 get married. We have thirty eight children between us on 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:05.320 the landry side of the family. You give make got 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:07.320 to make sure you get you get to the table first, 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:09.720 I would say that. And so we grew up in 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:11.480 the city of New Orleans, and we've been part of 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:14.240 the city for a long time. And uh, and it's 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:16.440 been a great experience. And politics are sort of in 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:19.360 your I mean, it's just you marry and your dad 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:23.080 because your mom Verna said, I told you, Mitchell, you've 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:27.120 got politics and the Mary Well, the reason she says 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:28.960 that is because I was a very bad little boy, 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:30.800 and as I told you, she had nine kids, and 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:33.479 I kept running outside. So she she chained me to 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:37.080 the front porch with a leash. She did, she did. 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:42.359 It's terrible and she didn't. She actually tied me to 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:44.800 the front porch and so I stood out there all day. 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:46.359 We were planning because we all played in the streets, 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:48.880 so I wasn't by myself and U she said, that's 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:50.400 what you learned how to tell people hello, Okay, you 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:51.760 kept trying to get them to let you go. Because 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:55.600 she was managed to survive and so she she's mortified 0:04:55.600 --> 0:04:57.400 by that story, but it's true. But she's otherwise a 0:04:57.440 --> 0:04:59.880 lovely woman and a great mother and a great grammar 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:02.039 as a chad of thirty eight kids. Wow. One of 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:04.760 the fun things we learned about you, Mitch is that 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:07.080 you were really into musical theater when you were in 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:12.080 high school and the East start in Anna You're this 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:19.400 does extensive research, and you were in Jesus Christ Superstars 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:21.960 and tell me who it was and what were you 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:25.039 in Jesus You were Jesus. That's the part you want. 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:29.800 You want the title because he has the best song. 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:33.240 He does. So you're Jesus Christ. You were the great 0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:36.520 Jesus Christ proved to me that you're awful. Walk across 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:40.360 by the way. You've got to sing something for us, 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:45.520 no little to dream, the impossible dream, the impossible dream. 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:49.440 I'm not saying that whole thing. I'll come on one more. 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:52.720 I know the worst to fight, Right to fight the 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:56.239 unbeatable foe. Right, that's where to bear with unbearable, Sorry, 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:58.320 to go with a brave They're not go. This is 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:02.440 my quest. Right to fight, no matter how hopeless, no 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:05.120 matter how far, to strive for the right to be 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:08.680 doing great. You're discovering a real musical theater junkie. Yeah, 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:10.799 I'll tell you like I'll tell you how this happened. Actually, 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:14.039 And in seventh grade a new nun came to St. 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:16.080 Matthias School named was Sister Jane, and she decided to 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:19.160 have a Christmas cantata. And everybody tried, I don't want bed, 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:21.200 but I had tonsilitis. I got my tonsil was taken out. 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:23.039 Would you know when I came back, I could actually sing? 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:25.640 And so she said you're in it, and I saying 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:28.320 it came upon a midnight clear and everybody thought, well, 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:31.320 he can kind of sing. And then about a month later, 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:33.600 my mother and father took me to the theater. It 0:06:33.680 --> 0:06:35.280 was right around when The Jungle Book was coming out, 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:37.960 which I was mesmerized by, and then I saw Oliver 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:40.080 and then I thought, that is what I want to do. 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:43.320 I want to be I'm going to Broadway. And I 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:46.440 actually did theater at Jazzuba for four years. I became 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:48.479 a trot out for a professional show and I was 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:51.760 sixteen and got my equity card and started doing professional work. 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:55.400 And besides Man of Flamanche and Jesus Christ Superstar, were 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:57.680 you ever in Oliver? No, I never got to Oliver. 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:03.080 I'm crushed by it. But but I attend the Catholic 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:06.040 University of American got a double degree in theater and 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:08.159 political science. We knew that. And then you went on 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:10.680 to loyal like that. Well what happened was I really 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:13.000 wanted to. When I finished, I had gone on a 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:16.520 couple of USO tours and when I finished, my father said, 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:19.240 you know, it's really a tough business. You ought to 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:21.240 think about having something to fall back on. So why 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:23.480 don't you come home and go to law school? And 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:25.400 if after you finished law school you want to go back, 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:28.400 then go. And I went to Loyola Law School, and 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:30.320 of course I met my soon to be wife on 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:33.080 the first day of law school. We got married, then 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:35.160 we had five beautiful children and the rest of this history. 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:36.840 So I'm stuck. So I really want to be an actor. 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:39.960 I don't this politics stuff is. Well, maybe maybe you 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:42.640 could have a second career. That's where I'm going. That's 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:44.440 where I'm heading too. I'm going to Broadway if they'll 0:07:44.480 --> 0:07:46.160 have me. But I think maybebe I can only mop 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:48.880 up the stage now. Well, you know, I think there 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:52.160 is some theater in politics, right because they're in in 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:55.480 a positive way. And one of the things we really 0:07:55.520 --> 0:07:57.560 wanted to talk to you about today, Mitch, is that 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:01.040 extraordinary speech that that Brian meant and that got so 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:05.240 much attention. A lovely op ed by Frank Brooney in 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:07.280 The New York Times. In fact, I was going to 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:10.720 read the uh the first part of it. The title 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:13.720 is Mitch Land who reminds us that eloquence still exists? 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:21.080 And Frank wrote it to interview. Well, listen, I I 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:24.800 believe in giving props where props are deserved, and he writes, 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:27.760 these are hard days. Of course, language of tweets and 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:29.960 cat calls that appeal to the worst in us, not 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:33.040 the best. Maybe that's why a big, sweeping, old fashioned 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:35.640 speech delivered in New Orleans on Friday made such an 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:38.720 impression on me. It was a reprieve, It was an 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:42.320 antidote at let's talk about why you gave that speech. 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:46.720 It was all about taking down four Confederate statues. But 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:49.240 can you give us the context, because this was a 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:53.720 combination of a very long process getting New Orleans to 0:08:54.120 --> 0:09:00.000 face It's not so it would careful history is that history, 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:04.160 But generally from the day that I was born a 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:05.800 couple of months later was when my father took that 0:09:05.880 --> 0:09:10.040 first vote. So really, our entire political life, aside from 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:12.360 trying to make government work well for people and trying 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:16.000 to solve difficult problems, some of which have not yet 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:17.600 been solved, around the kind of things that we talked 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:20.839 about every day, from healthcare to education to crime, all 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:23.760 that kind of stuff, race has been a very important 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:29.040 part of our need to move New Orleans. It could 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:31.040 this could be related to other places, but this is 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:33.560 where I grew up, so this is my wheelhouse, and 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:35.960 the South to a better place. So there's always been 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:38.280 this concept of the new South, and well we never 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:40.840 really got there versus the old South, and why other 0:09:40.840 --> 0:09:42.680 parts of the country were growing and why we warn't. 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:45.360 And when I became the mayor after haven't been a 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:48.920 legislator for sixteen years and lieutenant governor for six I 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:51.840 had a very strong desire based on what Mary had 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:53.720 done and my dad had done, to to really have 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:56.880 a conversation about race and for the city to think 0:09:56.880 --> 0:09:59.040 about not building the city back the way it was 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:01.840 because it Katrina didn't cause all of our problems. It 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:07.480 didn't create our education problems are raised problems problems. It well, 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:10.520 here's what it did. It made everything that was real 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:15.000 that much more noticeable. So that which was beautiful and 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:17.800 rich and deep and made it much more so. And 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:19.560 and the kind of things that we saw after Katrina, 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:23.120 people helping each other just really is a is a 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:25.000 message to the rest of the country about even in 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:27.040 our darkest times, we can find unity, which is why 0:10:27.080 --> 0:10:30.120 I'm hopeful about the country. But it also put a 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:33.200 magnifying glass on a really dirty stuff and the nasty 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:36.000 stuff and the bad stuff. And so as we started 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:40.320 rebuilding the city physically, it's easy to build a city 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:43.240 back physically than to repair of city soul. And so 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:46.360 the mantra that we use preparing for our three hundred anniversary, 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:49.840 which is next year, was to build a city back 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:51.480 the way it always should have been if we would 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:53.520 have gotten it right the first time. So that's not 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:55.160 just a physical thing. So if you come to New 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:57.839 Orleans now, we've rebuilt thirty two new schools, or a 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:00.280 bunch of health care centers, were building a new airport, 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:02.880 we're building a new riverfront. The issue then got to 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:05.280 be about the public spaces, and this came from Went 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:06.839 and Went and Marcelo, So I said, Went, and I 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:08.600 need you to help me carry the three on the universary. 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:10.720 He said, do you know Lewis Armstrong left because of 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:13.199 those statutes? And I said what statutes? He said, I want, 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:15.320 I need you to think about those statutes. And I said, 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:17.400 when what statutes are talking about? He said, Roberty Lee. 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:19.360 I said, what's your problem with Roberty Lee? He said, 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:21.360 have you ever thought about who he is, what he 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:24.280 stands for, why they're there? And I said, you know, honestly, 0:11:24.360 --> 0:11:26.520 when I never really did. I was kind of like 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:29.000 everybody else. He said, well, look, you think about them. 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:31.840 So I started thinking about him, and it became fairly 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:35.720 obvious to me, fairly quickly that those particular statutes, and 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:37.600 I picked those four for a reason, will put up 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:40.439 by the same group of people over the same period 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:43.200 of time, for a specific reason, which was to send 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:46.000 a clear message that even though the Confederacy lost the war, 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:49.240 they were still in control, because what sixteen years after 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:51.280 the end of the Civil War. Yes, way, they will 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:53.880 put up substantially after, and they will put up with 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:56.640 a specific purpose. And the specific purpose was enunciated when 0:11:56.679 --> 0:12:00.480 they put them up, which was too demn me straight 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:04.240 that the South was on the right side, that even 0:12:04.240 --> 0:12:06.800 though the United States of America one, that they were wrong, 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:08.600 and that the South was not going to concede. And 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:10.280 it was to send a message to who was still 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:15.280 in control, and that white supremacy was superior, specifically to 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:19.080 African Americans. We were genetically and in every other way 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:22.800 and spiritually superior. Now in a city that six African 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:27.000 American forcing African Americans to walk by public property that 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:30.600 they own, having statutes standing above them in reverence seemed 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:33.520 to me to be perverse. It was property Lee and Robberty, 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:37.199 left Buregard, Jefferson Davis or the three. And then there 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:39.280 was another monument called the Liberty Monument that was put 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:44.520 up in the eight nineties to celebrate, no, to celebrate 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:47.000 the fact that a number of police officers were killed 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:50.480 who were trying to protect a buy Ratio police department. 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:52.720 So it was actually done to honor the people who 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:55.240 killed the police officers for the wrong reason. And it 0:12:55.280 --> 0:12:56.840 was put up by the clan. And I want to 0:12:56.840 --> 0:13:00.120 give our listeners a sense of the speech if they 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:02.960 haven't heard it. These statutes are not just stone and metal. 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:07.800 They're not just innocent remembrances of a benign history. These 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:12.760 monuments celebrate a fictional, santitized Confederacy, ignoring the death, ignoring 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:16.120 the enslavement, ignoring the terror that it actually stood for. 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:20.880 Why do you think for so long we were okay 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:25.120 with all of this Confederate celebration. Listen, I think that 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:28.920 race is really hard for us. It's hard for everybody 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:31.120 to talk about. And I've said many times on this issue, 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:34.160 we have made a lot of progress. I mean, John Lewis, 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:36.200 will remind us of that every day, who is one 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:39.960 of the great heroes of our time. But when I finished, 0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:43.959 and this whole notion of of aspiring to a more 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:47.079 perfect union is something that Americans really ought to think 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:50.760 about on a regular basis given this last election. And 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:52.880 by the way, we started this well before the election, 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:55.600 so it really didn't contemplate anything having to do with 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:59.360 the politics of what exists today. But even before that, 0:13:59.840 --> 0:14:04.040 we were really thinking about how the country could come 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:08.640 together on issues of criminal justice, equity, police community relations, 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:12.120 and just straight up racial stuff that we had. And 0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:15.520 it started it occurred to me that the way we 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:19.360 curate our public spaces either informs that in a positive 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:21.200 way or in a negative way. And if you just 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:23.960 think from a mayoral perspective, and we're all into design 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:26.160 and what our cities look like and how you build beautiful, 0:14:26.160 --> 0:14:29.240 world class cities, why would you have a public space 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:31.520 that's the most central thing sending a message that has 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:33.880 never been true about your city. And so as we 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:36.760 began this introspection, the people of the city started thinking, Wow, 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:39.280 you know, this is a new awakening that we're having, 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:41.000 so let's deal with it. So this just wasn't about 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:43.600 the statutes. The statutes are much or just kind of 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:48.040 a physical way to talk about a much deeper problems. Badly, 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:50.680 how many times we walk by things that we don't 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:54.720 notice every day. They're so symbolic and emblematic of sort 0:14:54.720 --> 0:14:56.560 of race in general. I think one of the most 0:14:56.600 --> 0:15:00.960 moving parts of the speech was when you talk about 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:06.440 a friend, uh and how he would explain this to 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:10.560 his fifth grade daughter. Let's listen to that. Another friend 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:13.600 asked me to consider these full monuments from the perspective 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:16.680 of an African American mother and father trying to explain 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:19.800 to their fifth grade daughter, why Robert E. Lee sat 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:28.480 the top of our city. Can you do it? Can 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:31.840 you do it? Can you look into the eyes of 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:35.280 this young girl and convince her that Robert E. Lee 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:39.040 is there to encourage her. How much pushback did you 0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:41.560 get for this, because I imagine there were some people 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:45.760 who were pretty hoping mat huge, huge, Well again, you know, 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:48.640 I had been thinking about this. Meant three three and 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:50.680 a half years ago was when I think I had 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:52.640 the first conversation with It might have been three years ago, 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:55.520 so as well before the election. It was well before 0:15:55.560 --> 0:15:59.920 South Carolina. The city had been engaged in racial reconciliation 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:02.600 discussions that we put together called the Welcome Table, where 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:05.400 people of color and whites met and talked in small groups. 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:07.120 So this has been kind of part of what we did. 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:10.840 But then when South Carolina happened and Nicki Haley and 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:13.400 the leaders did such a wonderful thing of taking that 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:16.800 flag down in such a beautiful way, um, I said 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:19.200 to myself, now is the time to call the question 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:22.960 publicly about these monuments and basically said something really simple, 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:25.080 which is, I think it's time for us to have 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:27.960 a conversation about this. Well you would have thought that, 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:30.720 I mean it was. It really got rough. So we 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:34.280 had a bunch of community meetings that were all very aggressive, 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:36.920 and then as soon as the legislator, as soon as 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:39.080 the city council vote had taken them down, lawsuits began. 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:40.960 And so it took a two and a half year 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:44.000 process with seven different courts, federal, state, and local, and 0:16:44.080 --> 0:16:47.360 thirteen different judges to confirm that we actually had the 0:16:47.400 --> 0:16:49.080 authority to do what we were doing. Do you get 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:53.320 a lot of people angry on the streets, like, what's 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:55.880 the worst thing someone has said to you? Well, there's 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:58.520 a beautiful park, in New Orleans. I rode around on 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:00.720 my bike every morning, and it is not uncommon for 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:02.640 people in that park to yell at me, like, get 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:04.880 out of this park. This is not your park. You're 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:07.719 a dictator. We hate you. We hope that you've stopped 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:10.240 being mayor tomorrow. There's actually one particular woman that does 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:12.239 this the other day, does this all the time to me, 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:14.280 which was really curious because when I went to church 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:18.359 the other day, she was actually a eucharistic minister. What yeah, So, 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:22.760 I mean it's it really got hostile and bad. Now 0:17:23.200 --> 0:17:25.000 not everybody I have to be it just this is 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:26.680 really clol I know my city really well. Most of 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:28.359 the people in the city wanted to take these down, 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:31.640 but as you can say, this is a national issue, 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:35.200 so people came from across the country into the city 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:37.920 to use us as an example for us. So the 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:40.439 alt right was there, you know, and a couple of 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:43.600 other groups, and it got really dangerous and it required 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:45.879 us to take these things down because of security reasons. 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:47.560 Three of them at night, and then we had to 0:17:47.560 --> 0:17:49.720 take Roberty Lee down during the day for the same reason, 0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:53.360 security reasons because of the electrical wires. But it required 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:56.399 us to be very vigilant because subsequent to the election, 0:17:56.440 --> 0:17:58.320 the temperature in the country has gotten really hot. We've 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:01.040 gotten worse at talking to each other, and it wasn't 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:04.960 easy to do. But I think after the speech to 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:07.320 that credit, a lot of people have come up to 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:10.200 me and said, you know, I really wasn't down with this, 0:18:10.840 --> 0:18:13.040 but now I get it and I understand. But there 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:15.680 will be some people who will never forgive. And it's 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:18.240 one of these things that it's it's like abortion, or 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:20.680 it's like the death penalty, or it's like war in peace. 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:23.119 It is a seminal issue that if someone you know 0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:24.720 is on the other side of it, no matter where 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:27.879 you are, it's like, that's a defining moment, and you know, 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:29.560 you stole a lot history and I'll never be for you. 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:31.960 And I think for a lot of people it leads 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:34.640 to a series of questions like where do you draw 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:37.480 the line which people are okay to leave up and 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:39.160 which people do you have to take down? I mean, 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:42.680 do we do we tear down the Jefferson memorial because 0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:46.240 he was Actually I don't think it's that complicated. I 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:49.960 think that you cannot go back and relitigate whether a 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:52.680 human being was a good human being or not? Um. 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:54.960 All of us come to life with our own faults. 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:57.600 And do you just watch people to confession as Catholics 0:18:57.640 --> 0:18:59.560 health the time? Do you judge people by the standards 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:01.359 of their time or our time? Well, I don't. I 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:03.960 don't know that that's the issue either. In this instance, 0:19:04.040 --> 0:19:06.920 it is absolutely clear that you cannot rewrite history. History 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:10.560 is history. The monument to down right, but the Civil 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:13.359 War still took place, so we didn't need race history. 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:16.960 What we did do, though, is we course corrected something 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:20.480 that a mayor did in that was wrong, which was 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:24.320 to put in a place of reverence a statute that 0:19:24.400 --> 0:19:28.560 promoted a cause that denied humanity to millions of Americans. 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:33.919 That act was wrong. We've got a lot more to 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:37.160 talk about with Mitch Landrew, the mayor of New Orleans. 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:41.040 Right after this New Orleans as he says, New Orleans. 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:52.399 And now we're back with Mayor Mitche Landrew talking to 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:54.920 him from Aspen. I know Brian wants to talk a 0:19:54.960 --> 0:19:57.720 lot about cities and climate change, but I just want 0:19:57.720 --> 0:19:59.760 to put a button on this because I'm curious, Mitch, 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:04.800 have Mayorlandrew, you have other have have other Um mayors, 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:07.879 have other governors, have other leaders in the Deep South 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:12.080 contacted you? Are they wrestling with these same issues or 0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:15.879 would you like them to more? Well, you know, again, 0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:18.320 every city and every group of people take their own 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:21.000