Marian Wright Edelman

And Harding late in his life, maybe when he was 80.

In fact, I think at his 80th birthday, he was at an event with the Children's Defense Fund with Marian Wright Edelman.

And he was asked a question not unlike what you just asked about how do you commit to a country like this? And his answer off the cuff was, actually, I'll read some of what he said.

He said, I am a citizen of a country that does not yet exist.

So Children's Defense Fund is a 53-year-old organization that was born out of the, the fire and fierceness of Mississippi Freedom Summer.

Um, our founder and president emeritus, Marian Wright Edelman, the incredible champion of children, um, wanted to ensure that the myth that America tells itself that we are a child-loving nation could actually finally one day become reality.

So now it's being led by my good friend and brother, Reverend Dr. Starsky Wilson, and it is a place where my faith background, my education background, my organizing background, my comms and media background can all come together again in this puzzle that I didn't understand why it was being put together in the way that it was.

But in this role, I feel so complete-

Yeah.

When you went down there, you met Marian Wright.

That's true.

Uh, an African American woman who'd gone to Yale Law School.

I mean, Hillary Clinton.

Yes.

Marian Wright Edelman.

Yes.

that I'm blind to.

There's a lovely quote from Marian Wright Edelman, and she says, you can't be what you can't see.

Those women physicians, I don't want you to only step into that leadership room for yourself, but for the women behind us so that they can see what a leader in medicine looks like and think to themselves, oh, I can actually do that too.

Yeah, I've heard that quote before, you can't be what you can't see.

But there's definitely been a backlash against this move to make different sectors more inclusive.

And, you know, the Geena Davis Institute, the Be It, See It tagline is riffing off of Marian Wright Edelman, who was an advocate and an educator talking about role models.

You can't be what you can't see.

And she's taken it to this next level.

And I am grateful for that opportunity.

I then went on to work at Wellstone Action, which is the nonprofit that grew out of the late Senator Paul Wellstone's campaign, was there for almost a decade, and then was recruited by Marian Wright Edelman to run the Children's Defense Fund here in Minnesota.

And then on to the legislature and then obviously on to the ticket with Governor Walz.

You know, when you're looking at that career and the U.S. Senate, I mean, why the Senate and why now? Does that make sense for you?