Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Pete good Judge and this is the Deciding Decade.
Speaker 1: A few weeks ago, we spoke with director John Chew
Speaker 1: about the importance of diverse representation in film. We discussed
Speaker 1: why it's so significant for younger generations to see themselves
Speaker 1: in the images and the stories. Before there's a parallel
Speaker 1: conversation to be had about what kids growing up and
Speaker 1: learning about the world are reading. As they start diving
Speaker 1: into books, are there characters who have similar backgrounds, characteristics,
Speaker 1: and experiences to them? Do they see their families and
Speaker 1: neighborhoods reflected in what they read? In short, to children
Speaker 1: of every background see themselves on the page too often,
Speaker 1: as you can imagine, the answer is no. But my
Speaker 1: next guest, part of our series of conversations with youth leaders,
Speaker 1: is a next generation advocate who has already done a
Speaker 1: lot to change that. Marley Dias is a fifteen year
Speaker 1: old activist and author. In November, she launched the hashtag
Speaker 1: thousand Black Girl Books Drive with the goal of collecting
Speaker 1: a thousand books featuring black female protagonists. She not only
Speaker 1: collected and delivered one thousand, six hundred books within that
Speaker 1: first year, but has also collected over twelve thousand to date.
Speaker 1: Since then, she has served as an editor in residence
Speaker 1: at l dot Com, published a book called Marley Das
Speaker 1: Gets It Done and So Can You, was named a
Speaker 1: Forbes thirty list for Media and Times twenty five most
Speaker 1: Influential Teens, and was a speaker at the first night
Speaker 1: of this year's Democratic National Convention. She's also an executive
Speaker 1: producer for and host of Netflix's Bookmarks series, which features
Speaker 1: children's books written by black authors about the black experience,
Speaker 1: and each episode shows the books read aloud by black
Speaker 1: leaders and activists. Welcome, Marley. It's so good to have
Speaker 1: you with us today. Thank you for having me. I
Speaker 1: really appreciate you joining and cited for the conversation that
Speaker 1: we're going to have. Especially interested in learning more about
Speaker 1: your great work with the book Drive and other projects.
Speaker 1: But first I want to learn a little more about
Speaker 1: your background. I understand that you grew up with a
Speaker 1: love of reading, and I was curious what things you
Speaker 1: read as you were growing up that had the biggest
Speaker 1: impact on you and sparked that love of reading for you.
Speaker 1: I'm only fifteen, so I don't have, you know, a
Speaker 1: long history ahead of mirror behind me, but I've always
Speaker 1: been a lifelong reader. My mom is a sociologist, and
Speaker 1: even though she doesn't necessarily love to read, she's done
Speaker 1: research and understand the importance of making sure that books
Speaker 1: and curiosity is involved in every household and every family.
Speaker 1: My dad's kind of like a magazine guy, so they
Speaker 1: would always, you know, push me to do something that
Speaker 1: they wish they had done as a kid, and I
Speaker 1: think it really helped in the development of my vocabulary,
Speaker 1: my understanding of my sense of self and of other people.
Speaker 1: And one book that I really motivated me not only
Speaker 1: to start the one thousand Black Girl Books campaign, but
Speaker 1: hopefully read more and to encourage more kids to read
Speaker 1: is Ground Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson. She is one
Speaker 1: of the most prolific Black authors of all time. She's
Speaker 1: now I consider her a family friend after five years
Speaker 1: of one thousand Black Girl Books. But um, it's actually
Speaker 1: a memoir about her life written in verse, and I
Speaker 1: had never felt that there was really a story about
Speaker 1: kind of the people that were the in between the
Speaker 1: teacher's daughters, the bus driver's daughters, the people that don't
Speaker 1: necessarily stand out as always needing help, but the people
Speaker 1: that sometimes need the most, that they're not the most
Speaker 1: privileged or resource, but they're not the least. UM and
Speaker 1: kind of struggling with feeling like it's hard to ask
Speaker 1: her help or hard to feel like you're exceptional, but
Speaker 1: not to feel like you're terrible. UM. And I really
Speaker 1: loved that book and I think it helped me a
Speaker 1: lot in my own personal confidence and giving it to
Speaker 1: other kids to read. So you described your your upbringing,
Speaker 1: your parents as a big influence on your reading life,
Speaker 1: And am I right that it was a conversation with
Speaker 1: your mother that helped lead to you launching the Thousand
Speaker 1: Black Girl Books initiative. Yes, it was. I was sitting
Speaker 1: in a dinner with my mom. We used to go
Speaker 1: to the dinner every single weekend an elementary school and
Speaker 1: middle school, and she asked me, when I was in
Speaker 1: sixth grade, what I wish I could have changed about
Speaker 1: my elementary school experience, and I told her that I
Speaker 1: really liked to read, and I thought my teachers did
Speaker 1: a great job of like having us read interesting books,
Speaker 1: but a lot of them did not have black girls
Speaker 1: as the main character. And my fifth grade year, I
Speaker 1: read three books, all of which had white boys and
Speaker 1: their dogs as the main character. So I read Old Yeller,
Speaker 1: I read Where the Red Fern Grows, and I read
Speaker 1: the Shiloh series all about hunting dogs and blonde hair,
Speaker 1: blue eyed white boy playing with them. So as much
Speaker 1: as I like to read, I thought that there was
Speaker 1: an issue with that, you know, kind of repeated pattern,
Speaker 1: and she encouraged me to do something about it. And
Speaker 1: how was that received when you were talking with classmates
Speaker 1: or teachers or others who were introducing these books to you.
Speaker 1: Did they see the issue right away or did you
Speaker 1: feel like you had to be kind of explaining and
Speaker 1: educating those around you on why you know that there's
Speaker 1: more to childhood than white kids with their dogs. It
Speaker 1: was difficult for me, It really was, because I was
Speaker 1: nervous that my teacher would have thought that I didn't
Speaker 1: believe in his teaching or the style of teaching. But um,
Speaker 1: I actually didn't really even talk to him about it
Speaker 1: when I launched the campaign because I was afraid that
Speaker 1: he would hate me, or like once he started to
Speaker 1: go viral, that he would be upset. But talking to
Speaker 1: him within those six months where it started to grow,
Speaker 1: he was very happy that, you know, someone was willing
Speaker 1: to openly challenge something that he really thought was great,
Speaker 1: and I think it really helped my teachers in my
Speaker 1: school develop a new understanding. But for a lot of
Speaker 1: kids who may have live in low income household or
Speaker 1: have less resources and go to our public libraries, they
Speaker 1: don't necessarily know what they don't have. So if they
Speaker 1: are not having parents that are actively buying them diverse books,
Speaker 1: they're not going to know that stories about black girls exist,
Speaker 1: that we can hear about black people's experiences other than
Speaker 1: the civil rights movement or an enslavement story. Um. And
Speaker 1: I think it was super interesting to realize that so
Speaker 1: many people are open to that idea, but they don't
Speaker 1: know where these books exist, They have never read them,
Speaker 1: they don't think that they're out there, and they normally
Speaker 1: see the white narrative, associational narrative. So tell us about
Speaker 1: the process, now you now, where do you go? Is
Speaker 1: you decide that you want to collect these books? Are
Speaker 1: you are you rooting around the shelves at home, are
Speaker 1: you googling black girls leading in books on online? Or
Speaker 1: you're pouring through the library. To take us through that process.
Speaker 1: So the first thing I really had to do after
Speaker 1: I kind of watched that can play with my mom
Speaker 1: was I had to understand if this was just my
Speaker 1: school's problem or if it was a like American school
Speaker 1: problem or a world school problem. Um. And kind of
Speaker 1: through more research and my mom making me sit and
Speaker 1: watch documentaries and read graphs and all these things, we
Speaker 1: understand that it's an issue that exists on a nationwide
Speaker 1: and kind of global basis of not having diversity within books,
Speaker 1: uh and particularly having mainly white characters or animals before
Speaker 1: having stories of Latin X people, black people, LGBTQ people, um.
Speaker 1: And it's kind of a repeated issue. So the first
Speaker 1: thing I had to do is know that it's not
Speaker 1: this my problem, but it's actually a problem that can
Speaker 1: concern so many other students. So after doing that, I
Speaker 1: used to pose with my mom and take pictures with
Speaker 1: the Black Girl books that I had in my home,
Speaker 1: and I would tell her please donate to and then
Speaker 1: we have a location where people can donate books. And
Speaker 1: it was super slow at the beginning. Then I had
Speaker 1: some more media opportunities and I finally got to talk
Speaker 1: and introduce myself to new people, and that's when books
Speaker 1: started to come in and really floor and cover the
Speaker 1: floors of our office building and stack up. What did
Speaker 1: you find as you started going through all of these
Speaker 1: titles that were coming your way, were their patterns that
Speaker 1: surprised you? Yes, there's one very unique pattern that, uh
Speaker 1: it kind of upset me a lot. Is that a
Speaker 1: lot of these books are published by independent authors or
Speaker 1: from indie or independent book publishing houses. And that we
Speaker 1: notice that when you look at the people that are
Speaker 1: really doing the work to prioritize diversity, it's normally people
Speaker 1: making books in their houses. And if you are an
Speaker 1: independent or smaller book publisher, you are less likely to
Speaker 1: end up in curriculums because a lot of the times
Speaker 1: school districts or school boards will have partnerships with a
Speaker 1: specific company. So let's say it's a really really big
Speaker 1: publishing company, They're more likely to get all of their
Speaker 1: books from one publishing house, so they're not going to
Speaker 1: the people that sell books in their trunk or the
Speaker 1: people that are on page thirty of a list of
Speaker 1: books to buy. So um, it's really difficult and in
Speaker 1: frustrating to see that these people that are really putting
Speaker 1: in the work to make sure that black gas stories
Speaker 1: are out there don't get the credit or publicity as
Speaker 1: many other authors. So who are your best partners in
Speaker 1: in changing that? You've got these fantastic authors generating wonderful
Speaker 1: books in literature. Who do you think is in the
Speaker 1: best position to, uh to fill in that gap and
Speaker 1: make sure these books reach a wider audience and get
Speaker 1: onto that that shelf in the school library or the
Speaker 1: public library or the classroom. Yeah, there's been really three
Speaker 1: great organizations that have helped me in this work. Is Scholastic,
Speaker 1: which my book is published with. And it was a
Speaker 1: tough decision to figure out who I wanted to publish
Speaker 1: a book with, because it was not only about the
Speaker 1: experience of me, you know, having a book and being
Speaker 1: able to secure things that I was interested in and traveling,
Speaker 1: but also about how can I leave a mark that
Speaker 1: exists beyond you know, an interview which I would normally do,
Speaker 1: something that will exist long, long long after all these things. Um.
Speaker 1: And one way we're really able to incorporate and to
Speaker 1: prioritize independent stories was in the back of my book,
Speaker 1: there's a list of five hundred books where black girls
Speaker 1: are the main characters. So it's kind of like a
Speaker 1: scavenger hunt to find more and to find more um.
Speaker 1: And most of these books are not published by Scholastics,
Speaker 1: so they are using their platform and putting me out
Speaker 1: there in order to promote so many other authors that
Speaker 1: they are not necessarily reaping the benefits of putting their
Speaker 1: name out there. UM. And I'd say the second one
Speaker 1: is the American Library Association, and all of those chapters
Speaker 1: kind of count as my third one. Librarians are the best.
Speaker 1: They're actually they don't get nearly enough credit in this country,
Speaker 1: and they are so supportive of me online and they
Speaker 1: can continue to show my interviews, my books and to
Speaker 1: listen to the things that I recommend, and I feel
Speaker 1: like I really have a space in their classrooms. That
Speaker 1: makes you super happy. It sounds like you're not only
Speaker 1: an ambassador for representation in the publishing world, but you're
Speaker 1: an ambassador for reading among your peers. How do your
Speaker 1: classmates and peers think about what you're doing and how's
Speaker 1: it been received? So that's a that's a tough question
Speaker 1: because I think there's definitely a mix of responses a
Speaker 1: lot of the times, because I have a larger social
Speaker 1: media following and they don't see me having to count
Speaker 1: books by hand or do excelf spreads. You's putting people's
Speaker 1: titles and putting their names in, taking pictures for hours
Speaker 1: and hours at a time, you know, meeting eight hundred people,
Speaker 1: not now but obviously, but like you know, standing in
Speaker 1: long lines. Um, people don't always see that. And they
Speaker 1: get to see when you meet a famous person, or
Speaker 1: when you get to travel to a country, or when
Speaker 1: you get your name and a headline of something, or
Speaker 1: when you get a Netflix show, and they don't understand
Speaker 1: always kind of the harder work that it takes and
Speaker 1: how I am a lot of the times when I
Speaker 1: enter a space, I'm the youngest, I'm the first, I'm
Speaker 1: the only, and how that can definitely be an intimidating
Speaker 1: experience for me. Um, nothing I nothing I do necessarily
Speaker 1: just comes naturally to me. That I obviously have some
Speaker 1: abilities that other people don't have when it comes to
Speaker 1: the way I speak or the success of my campaign,
Speaker 1: But I still have to put in so much work
Speaker 1: to keep these things alive and to keep this dream
Speaker 1: of the importance of literacy, the importance of change making
Speaker 1: within my life and my community. So for some people,
Speaker 1: they're super, super proud and they understand that maybe this
Speaker 1: is why she didn't come to this, or maybe this
Speaker 1: is why she missed out on that. Um. But other
Speaker 1: people just see it as, Oh, she got famous for
Speaker 1: this thing, and now she gets to travel and do
Speaker 1: all these amazing things. But UM, I think it's it's
Speaker 1: more the positive than the negatives. But the negatives don't
Speaker 1: bother me too much. I gotta tell you, this doesn't
Speaker 1: sound wildly different than the experience of becoming visible when
Speaker 1: you run for office. I wonder if you ever decided
Speaker 1: to do that, you'd have a huge head start. So
Speaker 1: tell me who one of the biggest things you think
Speaker 1: are different for someone who sees themselves on the page
Speaker 1: a black girl, for example, opening up a book where
Speaker 1: the protagonist is a black girl, how does she see
Speaker 1: herself differently? How does she see the text differently? In
Speaker 1: other words, how do you explain why this matters so much?
Speaker 1: So I get this question all the time from teachers
Speaker 1: and actually from a lot of students. Uh, And I
Speaker 1: think one of the reasons that it helps build confidence. Um,
Speaker 1: many white people may see it as a given to
Speaker 1: feel like, oh, I know all the experiences of what
Speaker 1: happened in Europe and what happened from these time periods
Speaker 1: to people that look like me, and it feels like
Speaker 1: something that they don't have to fight for or necessarily
Speaker 1: account for. Check out and make sure. Um. And the
Speaker 1: reason why we don't necessarily have like a White History
Speaker 1: Month and things of that sort is because it's a
Speaker 1: given within this country that white history is told. UM.
Speaker 1: So I think for a lot of people, I always
Speaker 1: want to make sure that they understand that their narratives
Speaker 1: are not something that necessarily has ever been put under
Speaker 1: like in the back burner or we'll just have to
Speaker 1: say of it for this time that, um. The experiences,
Speaker 1: the culture, the the the things that they love and
Speaker 1: prioritize are put at the front. And it can help
Speaker 1: so many young black people to feel like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: my hair is cool, or some person who said this
Speaker 1: thing to me, and now I hear it's happening in
Speaker 1: a book and I know I'm not alone in that struggle,
Speaker 1: or hearing that their accomplishments and goals are achieva because
Speaker 1: a young black person did it too. Or they see
Speaker 1: black astronauts, they see black archaeologists. Um And although race
Speaker 1: is not everything, and I get that common a lot
Speaker 1: too is that why does race matter? But it does
Speaker 1: affect the way we see the world and does affect
Speaker 1: our experiences and our access. And by showing to kids
Speaker 1: that you have the potential to be great, uh, including
Speaker 1: your race, not regardless of your race, you can do
Speaker 1: amazing things, you know. I saw you once to describe
Speaker 1: your campaign in a way I thought was really interesting
Speaker 1: and important. In your words, he said that the campaign
Speaker 1: is about creating space for all rather than pushing one
Speaker 1: group out. And that really got my attention because I
Speaker 1: think when it comes to struggles for racial equity and representation,
Speaker 1: there is often a sense of pushback among people, usually
Speaker 1: white people, who feel like they have something to lose
Speaker 1: in a context of of greater equality. And I wonder
Speaker 1: what you say to people who seem to have this
Speaker 1: this fear that something is somehow being taken away from
Speaker 1: them when everyone is fully represented. Have you encountered that
Speaker 1: and what other ways have you found for dealing with that.
Speaker 1: I definitely have encountered that or witnessed other activists for
Speaker 1: people I care about encounter that, and it definitely kind
Speaker 1: of deeply frustrates me that I feel as though if
Speaker 1: you have an issue with someone else gaining rights or
Speaker 1: gaining equity or the ability. That is a fundamental and
Speaker 1: ethical problem that you have. That's not the problem of
Speaker 1: anybody else. And it and when it comes to especially
Speaker 1: in my library where I had five books I read
Speaker 1: in one year that had white boys, is the main character.
Speaker 1: That's simply taking out to and adding in two more
Speaker 1: diverse books. You know, it not necessarily saying that we
Speaker 1: are never going to learn about white people's experiences, We're
Speaker 1: never going to learn about boys experiences, but we're gonna
Speaker 1: add some more. We're gonna mix it up. We're going
Speaker 1: to include people who are what we normally see and
Speaker 1: people that we don't normally see um. And I think
Speaker 1: people need to understand that there's always a potential for
Speaker 1: change and that we don't need to see things as gordon,
Speaker 1: as bad, but rather as new, um and exciting. And
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people are not interested in
Speaker 1: the potential for greatness for all and people need to
Speaker 1: lose that fear and to understand that there's so much
Speaker 1: that can be gained from understanding and listening to other
Speaker 1: people and not much to lose from that experience. So
Speaker 1: we're in an extraordinary moment in American history, a black
Speaker 1: woman for the first time ever. A matter of fact,
Speaker 1: the first time a woman ever as well as a
Speaker 1: black woman as well as an American and South Asian descent,
Speaker 1: has been elected vice president of the the United States. What
Speaker 1: what does that mean to you? They meant a lot
Speaker 1: to me, And I think it's super exciting because, as
Speaker 1: she said in her speech, that this is an opportunity
Speaker 1: for so many other young girls to see themselves and
Speaker 1: and feel really empowered and motivated to be great and
Speaker 1: to achieve things that no one else has done. I
Speaker 1: have spent a lot of time being the first and youngest,
Speaker 1: and I can imagine the fears that she may have
Speaker 1: had um and not even to that level of definitely
Speaker 1: not being vice president but but vice president elect. But
Speaker 1: I definitely understand the bravery that she's taken and the
Speaker 1: steps that she's really kind of had to do that
Speaker 1: so many people have had negative and adverse feelings about,
Speaker 1: and it means a lot to me. It's super cool,
Speaker 1: and it's really amazing to think that now that I'm
Speaker 1: a teenager and this didn't happen like when I was
Speaker 1: UM four or five, when Obama was elected, that I
Speaker 1: now can remember this moment and see the election, to
Speaker 1: be a part of this and to encourage my parents
Speaker 1: to vote and to help them educate themselves. Uh is
Speaker 1: something that's super awesome because now that I'm a teenager,
Speaker 1: this will stay with me rather than when I was
Speaker 1: super super young and I didn't know the significance of
Speaker 1: some of the historical events that happened. So in your book,
Speaker 1: Marley Dayas Gets It Done, you offer tips for paying
Speaker 1: it forward, and the book shows young people things that
Speaker 1: they can do to galvanize their own power for the
Speaker 1: common good. Uh. Now, I'm I'm what you would call
Speaker 1: an elder millennial. I'm in the older range of that
Speaker 1: age group. I'm guessing a lot of our listeners are
Speaker 1: probably a little bit older than you. Um, but I'm curious,
Speaker 1: what do you recommend to us? How can all of
Speaker 1: us do something with our strengths to make positive change.
Speaker 1: I think one thing you can do, and it's simple
Speaker 1: for everybody, is to learn to listen and really listen
Speaker 1: to learn. My mom voices that to me that it's
Speaker 1: super important to take a second to understand that. Okay,
Speaker 1: I may think I know so much about one thing,
Speaker 1: but what new perspectives. Can I be a part of
Speaker 1: How can I be that person that someone says, this
Speaker 1: person supported me and now I'm able to do great
Speaker 1: things they listen to me even when I was struggling,
Speaker 1: And to try our best to show empathy and compassion
Speaker 1: for others. UM. I always believe that being hopeful and
Speaker 1: being optimistic something that's super important. And I find that
Speaker 1: especially adults that have more experience of watching things go
Speaker 1: really well and go really bad or not always this optimistic.
Speaker 1: And I feel like I've seen things go really well
Speaker 1: and really bad and and still try my best to
Speaker 1: be optimistic. So sharing in that hope and and spreading optimism,
Speaker 1: whether that's on social media, and trying your best to
Speaker 1: educate others about the potential for great things to happen, UM,
Speaker 1: And to always kind of look to the horizon that
Speaker 1: there is potential for greatness in everyday life and in
Speaker 1: everyday people. That's really good advice. What what are your
Speaker 1: greatest sources of optimism and and hope? How do you
Speaker 1: replenish that well when you need to find more reasons
Speaker 1: to feel good about the future. Well, I think one
Speaker 1: of the great moments of optimism for me is when
Speaker 1: adults invite me to come talk about how I feel.
Speaker 1: I think for a lot of teenagers, they feel like
Speaker 1: adults don't understand, they lack the compassion for teenage curiosity
Speaker 1: or wild ideas or tenacity. Um, And when I get
Speaker 1: opportunities to have conversations with adults, it means a lot
Speaker 1: to me because I don't always like that feeling that
Speaker 1: I am only going to be able to appeal to
Speaker 1: one audience, or that there's only one type of person
Speaker 1: that's going to want to hear me speak. But UM,
Speaker 1: it's really awesome when I get those chances. And I
Speaker 1: hope that as I grow older and I become a
Speaker 1: person that can vote and can be cypically engaged in
Speaker 1: new ways, that these kind of platforms and conversations continue
Speaker 1: to grow for me and other young people. So this
Speaker 1: podcast is called The Deciding Decade because I like thinking
Speaker 1: about what the twenties are going to be, like, what
Speaker 1: it would mean for them to go well or for
Speaker 1: them to go poorly, and what's at stake when we
Speaker 1: get to the year twenty thirty and we're looking back
Speaker 1: on and everything that's gone between, and what it would
Speaker 1: take to believe that that has set our country and
Speaker 1: our planet on a better course. So I'm wondering, you
Speaker 1: know that year twenty thirty, you'll be about twenty five
Speaker 1: years old. Where do you hope to be then? And
Speaker 1: what do you think it would take for us to
Speaker 1: be able to have a conversation in twenty looking back
Speaker 1: on the decade that started in and to believe that
Speaker 1: that decade set us up for a better future. Well,
Speaker 1: I think the first thing we have to do, although
Speaker 1: it's not really related to my campaign, is to protect
Speaker 1: the environment and to make sure that we have an
Speaker 1: earth that still works and and can inhabit all these
Speaker 1: people by I'm really concerned about that. And I know
Speaker 1: some other young activists that exists in the climate space,
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of pressure um to make sure
Speaker 1: that they can do things that can help the environment
Speaker 1: and to protect our world. We don't get another copy,
Speaker 1: we don't get a replacement. It's not like you know
Speaker 1: where I do stuff a books, where if a book
Speaker 1: gets a copy staying on it, I could just buy
Speaker 1: another book. It's not the same with climate activism. So
Speaker 1: I want to make sure that those things are protected.
Speaker 1: And I think a huge thing that's really important is
Speaker 1: investing in public education and public educators. I have gone
Speaker 1: to public school my whole life, and I think a
Speaker 1: lot of people may see me as someone that has
Speaker 1: greatly benefited from the public school system, which I have,
Speaker 1: but I am not the experience, nor am I the
Speaker 1: metric of so many other kids. Going to online school
Speaker 1: is super hard for me, and the reason why I
Speaker 1: am unnecessarily above average or more intel is through the
Speaker 1: investment of my parents, not through the investment investment of
Speaker 1: my schools um and I think it's super important that
Speaker 1: we prioritize helping to mobilize kids to be curious, to
Speaker 1: invest in their passions at a young age and not
Speaker 1: wait until they grow up to pursue their interests or
Speaker 1: their dreams, because these things can happen now, and the
Speaker 1: earlier they happen, the more time for mistakes, the more
Speaker 1: time to correct, and not feeling like you waited too
Speaker 1: long to try something you really cared about. I'm definitely
Speaker 1: going to hold in mind what Marley said, learn to
Speaker 1: listen and listen to learn. The decade ahead will benefit
Speaker 1: hugely if we can all work and live based on
Speaker 1: that mantra. And this is a good time especially to
Speaker 1: listen to the wisdom of younger generations. Marley mentioned the
Speaker 1: power of what happens when adults asked her to join conversations,
Speaker 1: and there could be a lot more of that. What
Speaker 1: we must not do is make young advocates and activists
Speaker 1: feel like they're shouting in to avoid. They have too
Speaker 1: much at stake and they have too much wisdom to
Speaker 1: offer for us to push them into cynicism by not
Speaker 1: allowing them to be heard enough. There's no doubt that
Speaker 1: when they are heard, we're all better off for it.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I
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