Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Mazer and Jason
Speaker 1: Kelly on Bloomberg Radio. All right, so let's kick off
Speaker 1: this next hour with a conversation that Carol and I
Speaker 1: have very much been looking forward to. And as I
Speaker 1: think most of you can imagine, we're sort of partial
Speaker 1: to mayors around here. We admire what they do, and
Speaker 1: we also have seen in these successive crises that we've
Speaker 1: been living through that mayors are on the front lines
Speaker 1: in every conceivable way. So we're delighted to have with
Speaker 1: us Michelle de la Isla. She is the mayor of Topeka, Kansas.
Speaker 1: She joins us on the phone from that city. Mayor,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining us. It's it's really
Speaker 1: nice to have you, especially at a time when I
Speaker 1: know you are extraordinarily busy. Well, thank you very much
Speaker 1: for having me and anything to support the flow of
Speaker 1: positive information and um to continue giving a voice to
Speaker 1: what our mayors are doing across the nation. So tell
Speaker 1: us what's going on in your backyard, in your front
Speaker 1: yard there, because as you know, as I alluded to,
Speaker 1: mayorcy everything in many ways, and you're in touch with
Speaker 1: so many people in your community. What has the last
Speaker 1: week and we'll get to the multiple crises, but just
Speaker 1: the last week to ten days, what's it been like there? Wow,
Speaker 1: UM to tell you our community has Let's start with
Speaker 1: the history of the city, and the city of Topeka
Speaker 1: is the home of brown by Board and I think
Speaker 1: it's one of the things that I'm extremely proud of
Speaker 1: and have seen our citizens speak up very loudly about
Speaker 1: the injustices that we have been seeing in our nation
Speaker 1: occur UM with regards to African Americans being spoddered UM
Speaker 1: not only by by the hands of regular citizens, but
Speaker 1: also by a scene the death of George Floyd, UH
Speaker 1: that has left our community completely heartbroken. I think I
Speaker 1: shared a few days ago. I think it was last week.
Speaker 1: The days become hours and in years, you know. But
Speaker 1: I remember, after seeing those events I shared without my
Speaker 1: community that I just cried myself to sleep. UM. A
Speaker 1: mod robbery, Brianna Taylor, UM, George Floyd are just three
Speaker 1: of the examples of so many things that have happened
Speaker 1: in our community that I know also well, because as
Speaker 1: soon as I became elected, we had UM the fatal
Speaker 1: shooting of a young man called dominiqu White UM who
Speaker 1: later on was found to have a firearm on him,
Speaker 1: but regardless, it was the death of a young man
Speaker 1: who happened to be African American, and and we had
Speaker 1: our Caucasian officers in that situation in our community also
Speaker 1: well understands our community having an outcry and and asking
Speaker 1: for action, UM, and it's been beautiful to see that
Speaker 1: the work that we have done in our community since then,
Speaker 1: UM has started creating a positive ripple effect. As part
Speaker 1: of the protest that we've had in our community have
Speaker 1: been extremely peaceful with police involvement, so much so that
Speaker 1: I was privileged to bend my knee with my police
Speaker 1: chief side by side and having our police officers UM
Speaker 1: support a lot of the rallies that we've been having. However,
Speaker 1: we also had just Monday, UM, one of our peaceful
Speaker 1: protests have a secondary protest that became violent. So the
Speaker 1: same thing that is happening in the nation is happening
Speaker 1: here in Topeka, Kansas. So I read UM, I was
Speaker 1: reading some press coverage of what's been going on in
Speaker 1: your in your city, and I believe something you said
Speaker 1: was I think that people have a lot of anger,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of pent up frustration, in regard to
Speaker 1: the inequities that we've been having in this country. So
Speaker 1: the anger and the injustices we know mayor Delisa is
Speaker 1: not They're not new, right, So how do we take
Speaker 1: this and how do we take this and turn it
Speaker 1: into actions that make a difference, really make a difference.
Speaker 1: I mean, Brown v Board is what over sixty years ago?
Speaker 1: Mm hmm over six Um. I think that first of
Speaker 1: the things, the first thing that we need to do
Speaker 1: is to be comfortable with having uncomfortable conversations. UM. I
Speaker 1: think that a lot of families and a lot of individuals,
Speaker 1: especially are our Caucasian brothers and sisters, are very uncomfortable
Speaker 1: talking not about the gory of how our nation started.
Speaker 1: But we also will always want to focus on the glory, right, Um.
Speaker 1: And when I talked to groups and I talked about inclusion,
Speaker 1: I always talk about how, yes, our country was built
Speaker 1: on the premise of liberty and um, freedom of expression
Speaker 1: and freedom of worship. However, in that same breath, um,
Speaker 1: people stopped and picked up my great great great great
Speaker 1: grandmother in Africa and decided to make our slaves based
Speaker 1: on the color of our skin. And we have never
Speaker 1: talked about those inequities that have been happening, And if
Speaker 1: we really want to see change, we need to start
Speaker 1: creating conversations and spaces in which we could talk about
Speaker 1: the origins of our country, the fact that we instill
Speaker 1: slavery just based on the color of skins of individuals,
Speaker 1: that we have deprived individuals from having access to success,
Speaker 1: and that still continues in these systems. But most importantly,
Speaker 1: once we have those real conversations, we have to follow
Speaker 1: them up by having people elected that can really make
Speaker 1: a change in these policies and making sure that people
Speaker 1: who feel this enfranchise actually vote. Um, it's imperative because
Speaker 1: we wouldn't be able to have these conversations if we
Speaker 1: wouldn't have people in office. Then now are able to
Speaker 1: have these conversations without wanting to hide from them. And
Speaker 1: if we want to see change, it has to start
Speaker 1: at the polls. It has to start with us being
Speaker 1: on board decisions, with voting, and with being engaged. So,
Speaker 1: what have you seen over the last few days in
Speaker 1: in any sort of change in tone or change in
Speaker 1: rhetoric that that either gives you hope or you know,
Speaker 1: maybe it gives you a little bit of pessimism. I'm
Speaker 1: guessing you're going to lean towards hope, just based on
Speaker 1: a little bit of the of your tone and some
Speaker 1: of the things i've I've seen you say, Mayor. So
Speaker 1: here is some some examples of hope. When I first
Speaker 1: got elected, that we had an laughed the loss of
Speaker 1: dominique wiss uh life. Um. We were we were scared
Speaker 1: about having conversations on race. We were scared about standing
Speaker 1: up and saying, hey, we we don't quite understand. Because
Speaker 1: I can tell you as a woman of color, um,
Speaker 1: I do still have the sticker shock of walking into
Speaker 1: boardrooms where I'm the only person, that I'm the only
Speaker 1: female and the only person of color, sometimes in a
Speaker 1: position of leadership. But in my condition, the only bad
Speaker 1: experience that I had with a police officer was when
Speaker 1: my son, UM, who had some severe persistent mental illness,
Speaker 1: was pulling his seatbelt off. And that was at the
Speaker 1: time before I was mayor, or, a person known in
Speaker 1: the community driving a beat of Taurus with two kids
Speaker 1: in the back, and he pulled the seatbelt. And when
Speaker 1: I went to explain to the officer that I didn't
Speaker 1: have my seatbelt because I was doing the mama drive
Speaker 1: of telling my kid, get your seatbell and I get
Speaker 1: stopped right, and instead of me having an opportunity to
Speaker 1: have any legal representation, I was old, Hey, just say
Speaker 1: Nola Contendra when you're in front of the judge and
Speaker 1: it'll be fine. Um. So that's my only bad experience
Speaker 1: that I ever had. So I thought, that's as worse
Speaker 1: as it gets. Right, And all of a sudden, in
Speaker 1: seventeen I get immersed into this whole different perspective of
Speaker 1: what black men and women are dealing within their communities.
Speaker 1: Where other individuals who are socio economically disadvantage, we're dealing
Speaker 1: within our communities. And it was a state of shock.
Speaker 1: State of our guest at this hour is Michelle de
Speaker 1: la Isla. She's mayor of Topeka, Kansas. She joins us
Speaker 1: on the phone from Topeka, um and and Mayor daily Isla.
Speaker 1: One thing I wanted to ask you your own story, Jason.
Speaker 1: I both have read about your background, and your bio
Speaker 1: is is certainly out there. It's one of struggles. You're
Speaker 1: born in New York, you moved to Puerto Rico, you
Speaker 1: were homeless, you were pregnant at a young age, and
Speaker 1: yet here you are and I guess you know. I
Speaker 1: think many wonder you know that's the difference between what
Speaker 1: do you have achieved against what seems to have been
Speaker 1: a difficult beginning and background, versus those who are not
Speaker 1: able to lift themselves out? How can you help us understand?
Speaker 1: It's simple. It wasn't me listening myself thought it was
Speaker 1: people listening to me. And I think that that that
Speaker 1: is a great equalizer. Um. When people come together and
Speaker 1: find solidarity and start caring for humanity regardless of somebody's
Speaker 1: socioeconomic ability. Um. And you're able to find the gifts
Speaker 1: and the talents that somebody has and you breathe life
Speaker 1: into them, magic happens. I mean, my story is not
Speaker 1: my story. My story is the story of the people
Speaker 1: who actually cared about me, the meaning who who specifically
Speaker 1: there were there were so many wonderful people like my
Speaker 1: neighbor of Rosa, who just was absolutely my mom still
Speaker 1: like call her mommy um. And she decided to make
Speaker 1: care of me while my mom was working her job,
Speaker 1: and not around my grandparents, who are phenomenal that Italian
Speaker 1: men may hear rest of the peace. He was My
Speaker 1: Nono was just absolutely wonderful. So was my grandmother. Um,
Speaker 1: there were people like father Pat that came into my life.
Speaker 1: And when I was, you know, stumbling and singing at
Speaker 1: church and I was trying to figure out as a
Speaker 1: single mom what I was going to do with my life,
Speaker 1: he encouraged me to leave Puerto Rico and come back
Speaker 1: to figure out what I was going to do with
Speaker 1: my life outside of Puerto Rico because he saw a
Speaker 1: potential in me. And there's this like a line of
Speaker 1: other people that just continually, just everyday, people who just
Speaker 1: invested in me that helped me become um person that
Speaker 1: I am today. Right, Well, Mayor you know, it's interesting
Speaker 1: and we alluded to this in the first part of
Speaker 1: our conversation. You know, we're in the midst of numerous
Speaker 1: crises that have laid bare so many things that that
Speaker 1: we were discussing earlier. And I do wonder, you know,
Speaker 1: how you take the experience that that you just described
Speaker 1: in that ethos that you just so eloquently laid out,
Speaker 1: how do you apply it, especially to the health crisis,
Speaker 1: you know, setting aside for moment at least, and you
Speaker 1: can't totally separate them, right, these crises that that we're
Speaker 1: living through. But I do wonder this health crisis that
Speaker 1: has disproportionately affected those who are less fortunate, especially those
Speaker 1: who are economically less fortunate. What can you do as
Speaker 1: a mayor? What are you doing as a mayor to
Speaker 1: combat some of those underlying economic issues? Well, I think that,
Speaker 1: especially with the COVID crisis right now, the first thing
Speaker 1: that I did so that I could be a participant
Speaker 1: was pretty much abscond of my role as mayor and
Speaker 1: become a liaison under the incident command system that the
Speaker 1: county formed. Um In most communities where you have the
Speaker 1: county leading the charge with COVID, most mayors don't have
Speaker 1: as direct access as I do to the team that
Speaker 1: helps make decisions and communicate with the community. So I
Speaker 1: don't act in my role of mayor, even though I
Speaker 1: can't separate in the horse from it. But in this role,
Speaker 1: I serve under Dustine Nichols, who is the incident commander
Speaker 1: that works for the county, and I worked with the
Speaker 1: Health Officer, Dr. John Franco Petino and with lend the
Speaker 1: Oaks from the Health Department, and my role is to
Speaker 1: specifically communicate with sections of our community that don't typically
Speaker 1: have access to information. So we do press conferences, and
Speaker 1: I do Facebook live director cameras in English and in Spanish. UM.
Speaker 1: We have a group of people that reaches out specifically
Speaker 1: into the black churches and into the community where people
Speaker 1: typically don't have access to the information that they need.
Speaker 1: We have a group of pastors that we meet with
Speaker 1: that passed on that information to those areas in the
Speaker 1: community that typically wouldn't get information, as well as with
Speaker 1: the Catholic priests and the nonprofits and the superintendent. So
Speaker 1: those are the realms that we worked through. And in
Speaker 1: addition to that, we finally got access to a little
Speaker 1: bit more testing and we're doing testing for free in
Speaker 1: one of our predominantly black UM and uh impoverished UM
Speaker 1: neighborhoods in our community. So I wonder, you know, when
Speaker 1: you look at kind of what's been going on the
Speaker 1: last twelve weeks, three months, you know, roughly because of
Speaker 1: the virus, what's happened in the last week, because of
Speaker 1: what happened in Minneapolis, what is your you know, advice
Speaker 1: to leaders on on how we you know, really bring
Speaker 1: about change, lasting change that lifts more So, the first
Speaker 1: thing that I would say is it's too prong um
Speaker 1: if you are a leader, and you are a Caucasian
Speaker 1: listening trying to figure out what to do. I would say,
Speaker 1: lean in and don't allow shame to lift up. When
Speaker 1: you're trying to understand the issues that are happening in
Speaker 1: your community. There's things that you have never experienced that
Speaker 1: are happening right there in your backyard to your neighbors
Speaker 1: that you would never imagined. And now is the time,
Speaker 1: more than ever, to be willing to be vulnerable to
Speaker 1: say I don't get it, but I want to understand
Speaker 1: and lean in UM to those of us who are
Speaker 1: leaders of color, UM who have been watching, learning, and
Speaker 1: lived through these experiences and and haven't lived like I
Speaker 1: had not lived through some of the challenges as some
Speaker 1: of my UM African American Black counterparts have been struggling with,
Speaker 1: stand up and speak UM. It's time for us as
Speaker 1: leaders to to to understand that there's inequality happening, that
Speaker 1: there's systems that are that are continuing to have the
Speaker 1: same effect that they've had for over two hundred years,
Speaker 1: and it's time for us to stand up and make
Speaker 1: changes in policies, have difficult conversations so that these things
Speaker 1: don't continue occurring. Well wise words, for sure, and we
Speaker 1: really appreciate it. Michelle dayla Is she is the mayor
Speaker 1: of Topeka, Kansas. And I go back to something that
Speaker 1: she said in the earlier part of the conversation, and
Speaker 1: it echoes something that I heard from one of our colleagues.
Speaker 1: Uh And in fact, the deputy your chief of New York,
Speaker 1: Chartia Brantley, who you've worked with before, and she was
Speaker 1: talking with me about this notion we've got to have
Speaker 1: uncomfortable conversations, just that simple. So hearing the mayor say that,
Speaker 1: I think is really revelatory for me because that is
Speaker 1: exactly where we need to go. Get comfortable about being uncomfortable, right,
Speaker 1: because we need to understand more, especially if we haven't
Speaker 1: you know, experienced these things firsthand. Alright, great conversation.