WEBVTT - Wonder Woman: Rep. Maxine Waters 0:00:05.280 --> 0:00:08.480 Hey, Brian, Hi Katie, and hello listeners. Now, Brian, you 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:11.840 grew up right here in l A, on the main 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:14.440 streets of Brentwood, and I know you've been obsessed with 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:17.840 politics as long as you've been able to talk practically 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:22.040 guilty as so tell us about today's guest, our latest 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:27.160 wonder woman, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who represents California's forty three 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:32.000 congressional district. Well to start, her career has certainly had longevity. 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:35.120 She's been a fixture in the California political scene since 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:38.200 before I was born. She was elected to the California 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:43.199 bragging Yes, I'm so youthful. She was elected the California 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:47.240 State Assembly in the late seventies, then to Congress. She's 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:50.400 represented l A through some very notable and difficult moments 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:53.600 in its history, including, for example, the riots that followed 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:56.400 the Rodney King verdict. And while she's been in politics 0:00:56.400 --> 0:01:01.040 for a long time, lately she's really captured the public imagination. 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:05.200 This is Maxine Waters moment. She's a big head among 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:09.679 millennials who call her Anti Mazine. They get t shirts 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:13.000 and coffee mugs with her now famous slogan, which we'll 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:16.399 talk about, and she is not mincing words these days. 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:19.760 She recently said that quote, the United States of America 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:23.120 is being represented by the most despicable human being that 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:27.040 could possibly ever walk the earth. That's pretty clear. Tell 0:01:27.120 --> 0:01:29.680 us what you really think, Maxine. So I suppose now 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:32.160 is the time to mention Katie that the idea with 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:36.200 our Wonder Women's series is not to endorse a particular viewpoint, 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:39.920 but instead we're having meaningful conversations with women who have 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:43.080 made a big impact in their particular fields. That's right, 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:46.880 And as I alluded to earlier, Congresswoman Waters certainly made 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:50.400 a huge splash last summer in an exchange with Treasury 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:53.560 Secretary Steve Venuchin. Will get to that as well, but 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:56.920 we started by asking her about President Trump's recent comments 0:01:56.960 --> 0:02:01.080 to crying immigrants from what he called shiphole Country. Her 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:09.560 reaction to what he said. When you heard that, Maximi, 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:12.799 I call you maccine by absolutely. When you first heard that, 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:15.720 what was your reaction, Well, you know, it was just 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:20.200 a feeling of disgust. You know, I have been watching 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:24.120 this president and paying a lot of attention to what 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:27.359 he said, how he acts, and his tweeting, and I've 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:30.880 known for a long time that this was a dishonorable 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:34.440 human being, that this was a person with no good values. 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:37.880 And I thought, you know, I'd heard just about everything 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:40.440 that you could possibly hear from him, and when I 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:47.360 heard this statement about shiphole countries, I thought, this is it. 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:50.880 You know, we have got to put the pressure on. 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:53.800 Not so much to the people of Congress. They know 0:02:54.720 --> 0:02:57.160 and they should be doing more, but we've got to 0:02:57.240 --> 0:03:00.239 keep saying to the American people, this is your country. 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:03.520 You have got to make sure that you put pressure 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:06.320 on your elected officials, that you show up that we 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:08.799 do everything that we can to get this man out 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:11.080 of office. So what do you think is the recipe 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:14.080 for doing that? I mean, you know, we've heard this before. 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:19.760 You were saying impeachment a few months ago, and people 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:24.720 hear this, they're mortified. But what is the path forward? Well, 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:29.440 you know, I have hope that our special counsel Moller 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:33.160 is going to connect the dots in a way that 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:37.240 people cannot deny it, that you can easily see that 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:41.160 he's been involved in collusion, that he's obstructed justice, that 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:44.240 he's been involved in money laundering, and when you add 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:47.760 all of that to what he's revealed about his character, 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:50.160 I don't know how members of Congress are going to 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:51.960 be able to stand with him. So I have a 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:56.560 lot of hope that Mueller is going to reveal information 0:03:56.600 --> 0:03:59.600 about him that will make people understand and believe how 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:03.000 danger he is. So clearly to me at least, the 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:06.600 remarks were racist. Do you think that Donald Trump is 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:10.119 a racist? Donald Trump is a racist? And I said 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:13.920 at this morning on MSNBC, I wanted to be known 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:17.880 by everyone that I am not unsure about how I 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:21.239 feel about him and what I've seen and what I've heard. 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:25.159 And the interesting thing is now it seems that even 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:29.640 in the media, print media, you know, electronic media, etcetera, 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:33.240 you're hearing others say it more and more and more. 0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:36.200 And so yes, I'm sure that he's a racist. And 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:39.080 what do you make of that change in tone and 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:43.760 change in sort of characterization of the president? Well, first 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:47.120 of all, for me, I cannot help but think, why 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:50.560 did it take him so long to understand what I 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:53.520 think I have known for a long time, going back, 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:55.919 even taking a look at his history where he and 0:04:56.040 --> 0:05:00.520 his father denied rental units to African or Americans and 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:03.240 had to settle that. And there are other kinds of 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:06.960 incidents that has helped me to come to this conclusion. 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:10.880 But I think for those who are willing to say 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:14.640 it for the first time is that they can't doubt 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:19.920 themselves anymore. They can't say, uh, maybe uh, you know, 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:23.200 people are Russian to judgment about him, maybe he didn't 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:26.359 really mean it. I think now more and more people 0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:30.160 are saying, oh, no, he has demonstrated without a doubt 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:32.279 that he is a racist. Why do you think Donald 0:05:32.320 --> 0:05:35.039 Trump says these things? I mean, he's with a lot 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:37.359 of members of Congress when he does it. It's not 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:40.640 as if he says it even privately. So what is 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:44.559 motivating him to do these things? Do you think he's 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:48.280 got mental issues or do you think he's a jerk? 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:52.000 Or what? What do he why? Why is he doing this? Well? 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:54.400 You know, I've had some people say to me, oh, 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:56.919 you know, he's strategic, he knows what he's doing. I 0:05:56.920 --> 0:06:00.400 don't think he can help himself. I think this something 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:03.920 about his basic character. I think this is something about 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:07.880 the way that he has learned to deal with the world, 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:11.120 in the business world, with his family and all of that. 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:14.159 I think it's the way he's been socialized, and I 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:16.440 think it's the way he's been able to win in 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:21.440 certain ways. Uh. And so I think that he can't 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:25.840 help himself. It comes out and I really believe that 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:29.400 because sometimes he tries to so called walking back, you know. 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:32.480 So I think he is out of control. It's just 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:36.080 very it's unfathomable to me that he does this. It's 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:40.520 so self sabotaging. Yes, yes, well, let me just say this. 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:44.080 I think one of the most recent denials he's made 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:47.920 is with the Wall Street Journal, and he is basically 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:51.640 saying that he did not say what they're saying he said. 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:56.599 But this period of his uh, this year that he's 0:06:56.600 --> 0:07:00.000 been in office, is replete with that kind of stuff. 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:04.520 Don't forget Billy Bush and the recording that was made 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:08.080 where he talked about grabbing women by their private parts, 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:11.680 and now he's trying to say that really wasn't my 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:15.920 voice on tape. So I think he can't help himself. 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:20.480 I think that he's dangerous. Uh. And what bothers me 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:24.680 is that number one, he is negotiating with other countries 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:30.400 and representing US, and he's alienating other countries. Do we 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:32.320 do you think that any of the sticks, you know? 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:35.120 I wonder if it all becomes white noise. And I 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:39.640 wonder if people become inured to this kind of rhetoric 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:42.440 and this kind of behavior. Well, could you imagine if 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:46.440 any other president had, if any other president paid off 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:51.920 a porn star to keep quiet about their extramarital relationship. 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:54.280 And that wasn't even the top story a couple of 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:56.440 days ago when it came out. No, as a matter 0:07:56.440 --> 0:07:58.440 of fact, there's not been a lot of discussion about that. 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:01.080 A hundred and thirty thousan dollar ears to the porn 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:07.520 star that was paid off by Cohen. But that's my question, 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:14.080 though doesn't matter. Well, here's what It won't matter if 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:16.720 it is sub rosa, if we don't talk about it, 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:19.400 if we don't discuss it. And it's not so much 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:24.200 about just saying I'm worried. We have to talk about 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:28.440 this in relationship to the democracy, to our country. This 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:31.440 is a man who doesn't care about the constitution, he 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:34.440 doesn't care about the protocols of government, and care about 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:37.440 anybody but himself. Really, But I think we have to 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:42.199 keep reminding people how unusual this is, how abnormal it is, 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:45.200 and not allow it to become normal. So you mentioned 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:48.880 Bob Mueller, the special counsel doing this Russia investigation. You've 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:52.040 been out front on a campaign to protect Mueller. What 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:56.000 are you protecting him from? Well, as you know, this 0:08:56.080 --> 0:09:00.240 president has demonstrated that he will cross over the line 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:03.680 in anything. I mean, when he decides that he wants 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:06.760 to punish someone, when he decides he wants to say 0:09:06.800 --> 0:09:10.480 something nasty about someone, he has no filter, he will 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:13.800 do it. And I think he was poised to fire Muller. 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:16.840 I think he still would like to do it. But 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:20.400 I think that enough people rose up. Uh, and not 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:23.120 just members of Congress. I organize one dred and seventy 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:26.800 one members. But you could hear some Republicans mumbling he 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:30.480 better not do that. And so I think that enough 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:33.720 people you know, stood in support of Mola in different 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:37.000 ways that caused him to at least back off to 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:39.000 this point, can we do one, one or two more 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:42.719 moral questions, just as long as just because I want 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:48.760 to mention her poem that did so So you recently 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:51.840 wrote a poem did very well, like the rest of 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:56.880 your social media posts, can you read it to us? Yes? Absolutely, 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:03.160 Um a message to me life, stay strong and stand calm, 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:08.320 continue to investigate them all you're indeed answering the people's call. 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:12.560 The Krimlin clan is going to fall around you. The 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:15.600 Democrats are building a wall. We look forward to the 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:21.000 day to prison. They will all be hauled. Regular William, 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:27.480 So you've asked about this investigation. What is Trump so 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:31.079 afraid of? Yes, what do you think he's so afraid of? Well, 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:35.360 I absolutely believe he certainly knows what he has done 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:38.720 and who he has been connected to, and he knows 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:41.960 what Kushner has done, he knows what Wilbert Ross has 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:44.720 been involved in, and all of the rest of them, 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:48.839 that's you know, his allies around him. And so he 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:53.320 knows if the investigation continues that they're going to find 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:57.199 out what he has done and what his connections are 0:10:57.240 --> 0:11:00.400 to Putin and to some of the oligarchs of Russia, 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:03.400 and so he would like to stop it. He has 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:06.400 put forth a lot of effort at starting out when 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:09.400 he thought he could co op Comy and get him 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:13.120 to uh not go forward with the investigation as he 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:16.200 asked him not to do. And so I think he's 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:19.480 afraid he's going to be discovered. I don't know the 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:22.840 extent to which you know he has been involved with 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:25.640 Russian and the extent to which he's been involved in 0:11:25.679 --> 0:11:29.120 money laundrying. But I believe that it is substantial. So 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:31.720 you mentioned in your poem the Kremlin clan. Yes, do 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:35.760 you believe the Steel dossier that basically says Putin has 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:39.920 some kind of blackmail on Trump? I believe that there 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:41.760 are a lot of things in that that's here that 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:45.480 are true. Uh. You know, I keep hearing from the 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:48.360 FBI and others that it has not all been vetted. 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:51.800 I wish they would get through with the vetting so 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:55.360 that we will know which parts of it are absolutely true. 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:58.400 But I do think that a lot of it is true. 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:02.599 And Trump has never said I wasn't in that hotel room. 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:04.600 You know, I don't care what you said. He's never 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:08.319 denied that. And of course we have learned that this 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:12.480 is the way the Russians work. They blackmail, Uh. They 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:15.920 lure you into situations so that they can have something 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:18.920 on you. This is supposed to be common practice with 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:23.439 Putin in particular. You've been a member of Congress since that. 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:26.480 There was a moment last year when you really lit 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:30.800 up the national stage just to set the scene. You 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:34.320 know what I'm talking about Treasury Secretary Stephen Nuchin was 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:38.640 testifying before the House Financial Services Committee, where you're the 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:44.239 top Democrat, and you became frustrated and said these infamous 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:51.600 or famous three words, reclaiming my time. Is there some 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:54.840 reason why I did not get a response to the 0:12:54.920 --> 0:13:02.120 letter that I sent May twenty three, So, Ranking Member Waters, 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:04.520 first of all, let me thank you for your service 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:09.760 to California. Being a resident of California, I appreciate everything 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:12.200 that you can the community there. I don't want to 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:15.720 take my time. I also have appreciated the opportunity to 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:19.400 claim in my time. Claim in mind, we're doing our 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:22.439 claim in my time. The time belongs to the general. 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:29.280 Lady from California. Just say it for us one more time, vaccine, 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:34.600 reclaiming my time, reclaiming my time. I think that should 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:38.280 be the title of your memoirs, if you ever write them. Well, 0:13:38.320 --> 0:13:41.680 you know, I think that he had been taught that 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:45.400 if he could take up the time complimenting me and 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:48.199 saying nice things about me, I could not get to 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:51.880 question him about why he had not answered the letter 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:54.440 that we had sent. And in fact, those the rules 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:57.000 of the House where if he does, it takes away 0:13:57.080 --> 0:14:00.560 from your time period. You're questioning the time. That's right. 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:03.199 It takes away from our time period. And there's nothing 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:06.240 new about those words. You know, this is the regular 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:09.640 art of business, and it has been used by other members. 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:12.560 It's used from time to time, and for some reason 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:15.640 people heard it for the first time. Well, I think 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:18.640 it meant more than just reclaiming my time. I think 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:21.720 that was symbolic for a lot of things at this 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:25.440 moment in our history. Why do you think it captured 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:28.960 the public's imagination. It went viral, and it's really becomes 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:33.080 revered thing. I know, I don't know. I've thought about 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:36.520 it a lot. I think, um, one thing that happened 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:41.360 was here you had a woman who's the ranking member 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:44.200 of the Financial Services Committee, it happens to be an 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:47.880 African American woman, and you had a rich, powerful man 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:52.560 who's part of the president's cabinet, who is now the 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:57.840 Treasury secretary. And for me to just not be intimidated 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:00.800 by him, to not allow him to get away what 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:03.760 he was trying to do. I think it was inspiring 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:06.880 and I think it helped people to have hope that 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:11.320 g we've got some people there that are willing to 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:14.480 take them on and to you know, force them to 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:19.080 have to answer questions and to you know, deal with 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:21.400 the issues that are before them. So I think it 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:24.920 might have been a little inspiring. What kind of my 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:28.880 goodness all kind of being back as you know, there's 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:33.520 a man who created a song that's right, sort of 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:37.560 a remix of reclaiming My Time. And so I was 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:41.880 on the view and they surprised me with him coming 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:45.800 out of the audience sing and reclaiming My Time and 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:52.840 the audience joining in with I was shocked. I said, 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:56.120 I can't believe, first of all, and he's a good singer, 0:15:56.200 --> 0:16:09.640 he's excellent wan to talk about the things y, But 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:13.160 I tell you what, the most interesting thing about it is, 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:18.640 I have a lot of women who have decided that 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:22.120 they were going to make some changes in their lives. 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:25.640 One person talked about a divorce, and this was a 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:29.440 man really about how uh he felt, you know, he 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:32.240 couldn't go on with his life, you know, because it 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:34.640 had been so traumatic for him. But he said, I'm 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:39.280 reclaiming my time. All kind of stories like that, and 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:42.760 then of course these cute little things that happened on 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:46.840 the internet at Halloween. There was these little girls kind 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:48.840 of they had them dressed up like me, you know, 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:51.400 with the kind of a jacket suit jacket and little 0:16:51.400 --> 0:16:53.880 pearls and ear rings. And one was sitting there with 0:16:53.960 --> 0:17:00.480 the pumpkin, said reclaiming my candy. And you're are all 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:04.960 kinds of stories, like people have taken this to fit 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:09.399 situations in their lives and they are using it to 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:14.240 basically declare that something different is going to happen. And 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:16.480 so I've enjoyed these stories. It's a matter of fact, 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:18.639 I'm writing about them. Are you? Are you writing a 0:17:18.640 --> 0:17:23.040 book about this? Not yet, but I'm I'm your journaling. Yes, 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:30.040 is that what you call that? Okay, I'm good. We're 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:32.200 gonna take a quick break and we'll be back with 0:17:32.280 --> 0:17:43.360 more from Congresswoman Maxine Waters right after this. Now back 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:48.040 to our conversation with Congresswoman Maxine Waters. So, I think 0:17:48.040 --> 0:17:50.160 a lot of people have gotten to know you recently 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:53.080 as sort of a hero of the resistance movement, but 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:56.080 I don't think they really know you well. So you 0:17:56.119 --> 0:18:00.520 grew up the fifth of thirteen children in St. Louis. 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:02.680 Your dad left when you were two years old. About 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:07.440 that time, tell us about your mother. My mother, Um 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:13.920 was a really beautiful woman who uneducated. She only went 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:17.560 to third grade, and she came out of an interest 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:24.240 in history because her father was not married to my grandmother, 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:29.160 her mother, and he married someone else, and the that 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:34.080 family became pretty prominent family, and the daughters of that 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:38.040 family went to college, and the relatives on that side 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:41.600 were quite different from my mother's side. My mother's side 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:44.760 was rather poor, and I was raised partly with my 0:18:44.920 --> 0:18:48.960 great grandmother because my grandmother died pretty early and she 0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:53.560 helped my mother. My mother was this young woman at 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:57.199 sixteen years old, she married a man about thirty something 0:18:57.680 --> 0:19:00.280 years old, and I think a lot of that had 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:05.280 to do with being poor and with your grandparents saying 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:09.240 it's okay, you know. And so she had all of 0:19:09.400 --> 0:19:14.080 five or six of us by my father. And I 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:18.560 don't know all of the information about how she decided 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:21.399 to leave and go to St. Louis. I mean, I 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:26.960 don't I don't understands Arkansas. But was interesting that the 0:19:27.080 --> 0:19:30.439 first five children were all born in different states. And 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:34.159 I think it was because my father was didn't have 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:36.760 a talent or career. He was like a handy man, 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:39.600 and so I think he traveled wherever that was work. 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:43.560 So I don't know how she managed that. I don't 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:48.399 really understand how she took her children and left, but 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:53.000 he followed her at one point, I think, to St. Louis. 0:19:53.000 --> 0:19:56.119 And that's when I was born at home without you know, 0:19:56.280 --> 0:20:01.480 we had no health insurance. I think, um, I mean why, um, 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:05.359 very poor, went on welfare and I think he was 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:08.640 there for a while, left and then came back when 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:10.680 I was about two years old. Yeah, so I didn't 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:14.280 know a lot about him. Thirteen children and very poor, 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:19.040 uh family, and yet your mother must have given you 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:22.399 all something. So she was strong. Now, she was very 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:27.560 very strong and amazingly uh kind of self educated because 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:31.359 she didn't get a formal education, wrote lovely letters, and 0:20:31.400 --> 0:20:35.840 she was a survivor. And she was married a second time. 0:20:36.400 --> 0:20:39.800 There were two children that was born in between the 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:41.960 first marriage and the second marriage, and all the rest 0:20:42.040 --> 0:20:44.240 were born to the second marriage, and like a whole 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:48.480 a different family. But she was strong and uh we 0:20:48.920 --> 0:20:51.880 you know, she raises in church. We went to church 0:20:51.920 --> 0:20:54.399 every Sunday and went to Sunday schools, a lot of 0:20:54.440 --> 0:20:59.520 hard work because don't forget, the first three were girls, 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:03.520 the first four for girls, and so we did everything 0:21:03.920 --> 0:21:07.200 we had to do it. We shovel coal, we watched wendows, 0:21:07.560 --> 0:21:10.919 we fixed broken things. I mean, we did everything. But 0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:13.520 I want to tell you I'm very grateful for it 0:21:13.560 --> 0:21:16.880 now because I depend on nobody. You know, I can, 0:21:17.320 --> 0:21:20.000 you know, whatever I have to be prepared for whatever 0:21:20.040 --> 0:21:21.840 I have to get ready for whatever I have to do. 0:21:22.480 --> 0:21:25.840 You know, we're in an old house, for example, and 0:21:26.320 --> 0:21:29.040 all of a sudden, you know, life went out. I said, 0:21:29.040 --> 0:21:31.280 where's the shields box? You know, I had to go 0:21:31.320 --> 0:21:33.439 and put I want to stow at bottom fields as 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:35.159 I put him into black My husband did quite no. 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:40.119 So she taught you how to be strong and independent. 0:21:40.160 --> 0:21:45.800 I'm curious of the thirteen kids, are are many still living? 0:21:45.880 --> 0:21:48.480 And do you still stay in touch with them? That yes, 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:51.120 I'm in touch with them. As a matter of fact, 0:21:51.200 --> 0:21:55.520 long before my mother passed three years ago, I had started, 0:21:55.760 --> 0:21:59.960 maybe twenty years ago, of having a Mother's Day luncheon. 0:22:00.920 --> 0:22:03.600 It's kind of like a family reunion, but it happens 0:22:03.600 --> 0:22:07.600 on Mother's Day, and so all of the family participates, 0:22:07.680 --> 0:22:11.159 all of the my siblings participate in this luncheon. And 0:22:11.280 --> 0:22:14.800 now you know, my nieces and nephews and great nieces 0:22:14.800 --> 0:22:19.000 and nephews. They all participate and we went on her 0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:21.800 like you know a queen and you know she would 0:22:21.800 --> 0:22:25.600 be senter focus. Well she only so she How old 0:22:25.640 --> 0:22:30.639 was she when she passed? Ninety seven years old? And 0:22:30.680 --> 0:22:33.280 that was three years ago that she passed away. But 0:22:33.359 --> 0:22:36.000 the all thirteen kids are still learning. No no, no, 0:22:36.000 --> 0:22:38.280 no no. We have at least four of them have 0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:43.720 passed along the way. So you moved here to l Ae. 0:22:44.200 --> 0:22:47.720 You worked at a factory, as a telephone operator, as 0:22:47.720 --> 0:22:52.400 a teacher at head Start, assistant teacher. What I don't 0:22:52.400 --> 0:22:55.200 want to gild the lily there. What drew you then 0:22:55.280 --> 0:22:58.879 to get involved in politics? Well, I think it was 0:22:59.560 --> 0:23:03.600 my time and head Start, the head Start program was 0:23:03.760 --> 0:23:07.160 and still is very special for me. It was doing 0:23:07.200 --> 0:23:09.159 the war on poverty. It was a new program. There 0:23:09.200 --> 0:23:12.440 was a new program under the Big War on Poverty 0:23:12.520 --> 0:23:16.440 where a Sergeant Shriver and others had been had decided 0:23:17.000 --> 0:23:19.360 that they were going to deal with poverty and they 0:23:19.400 --> 0:23:23.600 were going to put funds into creating programs that would 0:23:23.600 --> 0:23:27.480 help people get jobs, help people get job trained, help 0:23:27.520 --> 0:23:31.240 people service interns. When they elected officials, all of this 0:23:31.320 --> 0:23:34.679 was coming about. This was a very exciting time and 0:23:34.760 --> 0:23:39.120 so at that time, I would say service representative for 0:23:39.359 --> 0:23:42.560 the gas company. And I had a friend and she 0:23:42.720 --> 0:23:46.200 heard about the War on Poverty and the head Start program, 0:23:46.280 --> 0:23:48.879 and we talked about, you know, this program is going 0:23:48.920 --> 0:23:52.400 to be very important. It's gonna give little children from 0:23:52.440 --> 0:23:56.080 poor families and from working class families an opportunity to 0:23:56.119 --> 0:23:58.960 have a preschool education, which you know was kind of 0:23:59.040 --> 0:24:01.720 unheard of except for if you were rich or you 0:24:01.760 --> 0:24:05.320 had money, you were wealthy. And so we both tracked 0:24:05.320 --> 0:24:08.480 it down and we applied. Oh I got the jobs, 0:24:08.480 --> 0:24:15.640 she didn't. There's increasing scientific evidence that early childhood education 0:24:15.760 --> 0:24:19.040 is so critically important, Maxine, as we know. And yet 0:24:19.040 --> 0:24:21.679 there is a piece in the New York Times magazine 0:24:21.720 --> 0:24:26.399 talking about how preschool teachers are paid pitiful wages and 0:24:26.440 --> 0:24:31.280 really treated with very little respect and considered babysitters. How 0:24:31.320 --> 0:24:34.680 do you see that changing? Because there's such a disparity 0:24:34.800 --> 0:24:38.159 between children of means and children of poverty when it 0:24:38.160 --> 0:24:41.360 comes to their vocabularies, when it comes to really starting 0:24:41.400 --> 0:24:44.520 them off on the right track. How can how can 0:24:44.560 --> 0:24:47.479 we change that? Well, you know, at one time this 0:24:47.560 --> 0:24:52.120 country was moving towards embracing the fact that we had 0:24:52.160 --> 0:24:56.439 to invest in our very young children and provide preschool. Now, 0:24:56.480 --> 0:24:59.639 we always had a few right wingers who thought, no, 0:25:00.240 --> 0:25:03.200 they didn't want a preschool. Uh, this was putting their 0:25:03.240 --> 0:25:06.560