ROBERT REICH: I'm here with State Representative Justin Jones.
And Justin has just made a really quite extraordinary,
passionate commencement address.
JUSTIN JONES: It is our time now.
And we're moving forward together and we're not going one step back.
ROBERT: But I've got some questions for you.
I'm loaded with questions for you,
and I’m not going to take much of your time,
because you have important things to do.
But first of all, you are fairly young, are you not?
How did you get --
How did you get into politics?
JUSTIN JONES: Yeah, well, I'm 27.
I ran when I was 26.
So I'm the youngest Democratic and
the youngest Black lawmaker in our state,
and I came from community organizing.
I recognize that our generation brings this urgency
to our body of politics, brings this moral clarity.
And that's what's needed in a state,
especially a state like mine in Tennessee
to address the crises that we're facing with our economy, with democracy,
with this rise in white nationalism, with the environment.
And so, and that's what led me to run.
ROBERT: Well, let me just ask you, you said and I was quite shocked, actually,
that when you joined the legislature, you went into the elevator at one point
and there was a a legislator, an older legislator
who was there and told you what?
JUSTIN: He said, “You’re worthless.”
And this is one of my colleagues, Senator Jack Johnson.
And that was you know, that's the environment.
And that's why, you know, I told people,
ROBERT: Senator Jack Johnson, I just want to stop you there.
Excuse me Representative.
He said to you,
you had been newly elected, “you are worthless”?
JUSTIN: Yeah.
ROBERT: “You don't belong here”?
JUSTIN: That's, yep, that's what he said.
And again, it was just emblematic of the culture there,
a culture in which people who look like me are not supposed to be welcomed.
But as I said in the commencement address,
you know, I'm entering into these chambers.
I'm entering into the legislature not to make friends,
but to make change.
The change that our generation is calling for
when we see what's going on
in our communities.
And so that was the welcome we got -- or unwelcome.
But we know that really what it is for them, it's fear.
It’s fear of what we represent as a generation.
We represent multiracial democracy, something that they're fearful of.
This new energy that is coming in
unbowed and unapologetic for what we're asking
and demanding for our constituents.
And so when Senator Jackson told me I was worthless
as I was getting on the elevator the first week,
it was just a reminder that I'm in a hostile environment
that is very threatened by the vision of what we represent.
ROBERT: Well, you gave a very optimistic, upbeat
sort of speech to the graduate students,
and I just wondered if you could tell us where that optimism comes from.
I mean, the confrontations to democracy,
the challenge of democracy,
the challenge of a sort of authoritarianism,
the challenge of white supremacy,
the challenge -- well we could go through
all of the challenges that you and others in your generation are facing.
Why are you optimistic?
JUSTIN: I know for
myself and many of my colleagues and those who are
we're in the movement together that hope is a discipline.
And hope is birthed every time we resist, as we did in Nashville.
You know, we had thousands of young people,
and parents, and teachers take to our state capitol.
And it was such a powerful show of people power
that the Republican supermajority ended session early.
And so their reactions,
their overreactions, gives me hope. When they tried to expel us
and three days later, I marched back with thousands of Tennesseans to the
state capitol after being reappointed by the city council unanimously.
That gave me hope. What gives me hope is
the saying in the South that a dying mule kicks the hardest.
So they're fighting us so hard at this time
because they realize that their power and their systems are dying.
And so this rebirth, this
this resurgence of a movement led by young people gives me hope.
And this connection that we have with each other gives me hope
and this recognition that we are on the right side of history.
That's what gives me hope.
ROBERT: Well, you are on the right side of history,
and that gives me hope, too, that you are out there
and that generation that you represent is out there.
One final question, though.
When you talked to those graduate students,
or the soon to graduate students,
you also said something that I found particularly moving
about how much strength it takes for you and others
that is to be up against the forces you're up against continuously.
JUSTIN: The only thing that has sustained me is community.
The only thing that will
sustain us is community.
The opposite of oppression is community.
ROBERT: Maybe you could just talk a little bit about that.
It was moving to me
because I just -- I felt it.
JUSTIN: Yeah, I think I mean, that's just
a truth that we have to lift up in this time.
We are fighting systems that are trying to break us,
that are trying to diminish us,
and trying to harm us mentally, physically, spiritually.
And it does take a toll.
And there are no superheroes in this work.
You know, we are
we're acting as community.
But it definitely is something that we have to be cognizant of, is that we
that we must be vulnerable sometimes and be honest about the toll
that this takes, so people realize that you don't have to be beyond human,
you don't have to be outside of any type of norm to to do this work.
But it requires all of us as everyday people, you know, to lift up
the demands that we're making when it comes to our systems of policy
and structures, and so,
I think that's something I've just been very open about,
is that, you know, we have to be authentic about mental health
and talk about that.
And I think that's something that our generation of movement
activists is bringing.
You know, I don't think we talked a lot about the toll
that the civil rights movement -- these movements --
the anti-Vietnam War protests.
I don't think we talked a lot about
the psychological toll of movement,
and we have to be honest about that
because we want to -- part of liberation is being embodied as our whole selves
and is about healing justice as well as social justice.
And so I think that's a part that I, you know, I think that our generation is
bringing to the movement, and that authenticity, and honesty.
ROBERT: Well, all I can say is that you're an inspiration
Representative Johnson. Keep it up.
JUSTIN: Thank you.
ROBERT: Thank you.
JUSTIN: Thank you, my friend. Appreciate you.
JUSTIN: Thank you.