-
So I know for sure there's at least
one thing I have in common with dentists.
-
I absolutely hate
the holiday of Halloween.
-
Now, this hatred stems
not from a dislike of cavities,
-
nor was it a lifetime in the making.
-
Rather, this hatred stems
from a particular incident
-
that happened nine years ago.
-
Nine years ago, I was even younger,
I was 20 years old,
-
and I was an intern in the White House.
-
The other White House.
-
And my job was to work
with mayors and councilors nationwide.
-
November 1, 2010
began just like any other day.
-
I turned on the computer, went on Google
and prepared to write my news clips.
-
I was met with a call from my mother,
which isn't that out the norm,
-
my mom likes to text, call,
email, Facebook, Instagram, all that.
-
So I answered the phone expecting
to hear maybe some church gossip,
-
or maybe something from WorldStarHipHop
she had discovered.
-
But when I answered the phone,
-
I was met with a tone that was unlike
anything I had ever heard from my mother.
-
My mother's loud.
-
But she spoke in a hush,
still, muffled tone
-
that conveyed a sense of sadness.
-
And as she whispered, she said, "Michael,
-
your cousin Donnell
was murdered last night,
-
on Halloween,
-
at a house party in Stockton."
-
And like far too many people
in this country,
-
particularly from communities like mine,
-
particularly that look like me,
-
I spent the better part of the year
dealing with anger, rage, nihilism,
-
and I had a choice to make.
-
The choice was one
between action and apathy.
-
The choice was what could I do
to put purpose to this pain.
-
I spent a year dealing
with feelings of survivor's guilt.
-
What was the point of me
being at Stanford,
-
what was the point
of me being at the White House
-
if I was powerless to help my own family?
-
And my own family was dying,
quite literally.
-
I then began to feel
a little selfish and say,
-
what's the point of even trying
to make the world a better place?
-
Maybe that's just the way it is.
-
Maybe I would be smart to take advantage
of all the opportunities given to me
-
and make as much money as possible,
-
so I'm comfortable,
and my immediate family is comfortable.
-
But finally, towards the end of that year,
-
I realized I wanted to do something.
-
So I made the crazy decision,
as a senior in college,
-
to run for city council.
-
That decision was unlikely
for a couple of reasons,
-
and not just my age.
-
You see, my family
is far from a political dynasty.
-
More men in my family
have been incarcerated than in college.
-
In fact, as I speak today,
my father is still incarcerated.
-
My mother, she had me as a teenager,
-
and government wasn't something
we had warm feelings from.
-
You see, it was the government
-
that red-lined the
neighborhoods I grew up in.
-
Full of liquor stores
and no grocery stores,
-
there was a lack of opportunity
and concentrated poverty.
-
It was the government and the politicians
-
that made choices,
-
like the war on drugs and three strikes,
-
that have incarcerated
far too many people in our country.
-
It was the government and political actors
-
that made the decisions
that created the school funding formulas,
-
that made it so the school I went to
receive less per pupil spending
-
than schools in more affluent areas.
-
So there was nothing about that background
that made it likely for me to choose
-
to be involved in being
a government actor.
-
And at the same time,
Stockton was a very unlikely place.
-
Stockton is my home town,
a city of 320,000 people.
-
But historically, it's been a place
people run from, rather than come back to.
-
It's a city that's incredibly diverse.
-
Thirty-five percent Latino,
35 percent white,
-
20 percent Asian,
10 percent African American,
-
the oldest Sikh temple in North America.
-
But at the time I ran for office,
-
we were also the largest city
in the country at that time
-
to declare bankruptcy.
-
At the time I decided to run for office,
-
we also had more murders
per capita than Chicago.
-
At the time I decided to run for office,
-
we had a 23 percent poverty rate,
-
a 17 percent college attainment rate
-
and a host of challenges and issues
beyond the scope of any 21-year-old.
-
So after I won my election,
-
I did what I usually do
when I feel overwhelmed,
-
I realized the problems of Stockton
were far bigger than me
-
and that I might need
a little divine intervention.
-
So as I prepared
for my first council meeting,
-
I went back to some wisdom
my grandmother taught me.
-
A parable I think we all know,
-
that really constitutes
the governing frame we're using
-
to reinvent Stockton today.
-
I remember in Sunday school,
my grandmother told me
-
that at one time, a guy asked Jesus,
"Who was my neighbor?
-
Who was my fellow citizen?
-
Who am I responsible for?"
-
And instead of a short answer,
Jesus replied with a parable.
-
He said there was a man on a journey,
-
walking down Jericho Road.
-
As he was walking down the road,
-
he was beat up,
left on the side of the road,
-
stripped of all his clothes,
-
had everything stolen from
and left to die.
-
And then a priest came by,
saw the man on the side of the road,
-
maybe said a silent prayer,
-
hopes and prayers,
prayers that he gets better.
-
Maybe saw the man on the side of the road
-
and surmised that it was ordained by God
-
for this particular man,
this particular group
-
to be on the side of the road,
there's nothing I can do to change it.
-
After the priest walked by,
maybe a politician walked by.
-
A 28-year-old politician, for example.
-
Saw the man on the side of the road
and saw how beat up the man was,
-
saw that the man was a victim
of violence, or fleeing violence.
-
And the politician decided,
"You know what?
-
Instead of welcoming this man in,
let's build a wall.
-
Maybe the politician said,
-
"Maybe this man chose
to be on the side of the road."
-
That if he just pulled himself up
by his bootstraps,
-
despite his boots being stolen,
-
and got himself back on the horse,
-
he could be successful,
and there's nothing I could do."
-
And then finally, my grandmother said,
a good Samaritan came by,
-
saw the man on the side of the road
-
and looked and saw not centuries of hatred
-
between Jews and Samaritans,
-
looked and saw not his fears reflected,
-
not economic anxiety,
-
not "what's going to happen to me
because things are changing."
-
But looked and saw
a reflection of himself.
-
He saw his neighbor,
he saw his common humanity.
-
He didn't just see it,
he did something about it,
-
my grandmother said.
-
He got down on one knee,
-
he made sure the man was OK,
-
and I heard, even gave him a room
at that nice Fairmont,
-
the Pan Pacific one.
-
(Laughter)
-
And as I prepared to govern,
-
I realized that given
the diversity of Stockton,
-
the first step to making change
will be to again answer the same question:
-
Who is our neighbor?
-
And realizing that our destiny as a city
was tied up in everyone.
-
Particularly those who are left
on the side of the road.
-
But then I realized
that charity isn't justice,
-
that acts of empathy isn't justice,
-
that being a good neighbor
is necessary but not sufficient,
-
and there was more that had to be done.
-
So looking at the story,
-
I realized that the road,
Jericho Road, has a nickname.
-
It's known as the Bloody Pass,
the Ascent of Red,
-
because the road
is structured for violence.
-
This Jericho Road is narrow,
it's conducive for ambushing.
-
Meaning, a man on the side
of the road wasn't abnormal.
-
Wasn't strange.
-
And in fact, it was something
that was structured to happen,
-
it was supposed to happen.
-
And Johan Galtung, a peace theorist,
-
talks about structural
violence in our society.
-
He says, "Structural violence
is the avoidable impairment
-
of basic human needs."
-
Dr. Paul Farmer talks
about structural violence
-
and talks about how it's the way
-
our institutions,
our policies, our culture
-
creates outcomes that advantage
some people and disadvantage others.
-
And then I realized,
much like the road in Jericho,
-
in many ways, Stockton, our society,
-
has been structured
for the outcomes we complain about.
-
That we should not be surprised
-
when we see that kids in poverty
don't do well in school,
-
that we should not be surprised
to see wealth gaps by race and ethnicity.
-
We should not be surprised to see
income pay disparities between genders,
-
because that's what our society,
historically, has been structured to do,
-
and it's working accordingly.
-
(Applause)
-
So taking this wisdom,
-
I rolled up my sleeves and began to work.
-
And there's three quick stories
I want to share,
-
that point to not that we
figured everything out,
-
not that we have arrived,
-
but we're trending in the right direction.
-
The first story, about the neighbor.
-
When I was a city council member,
-
I was working with one of the most
conservative members in our community
-
on opening a health clinic
for undocumented people
-
in the south part of the city,
and I loved it.
-
And as we opened the clinic,
-
we had a resolution to sign,
-
he presented me a gift.
-
It was an O'Reilly Factor
lifetime membership pin.
-
(Laughter)
-
Mind you, I didn't ask
what he did to get such a gift.
-
What blood oath --
I had no idea how he got it.
-
But I looked at him and I said,
-
"Well, how are we working together
to open a health clinic,
-
to provide free health care
for undocumented people,
-
and you're an O'Reilly Factor member?"
-
He looked at me and said,
-
"Councilman Tubbs,
this is for my neighbors."
-
And he's a great example of what it means
-
to be a good neighbor,
at least in that instance.
-
The robbers.
-
So after four years on city council,
I decided to run for mayor,
-
realizing that being a part-time
councilman wasn't enough
-
to enact the structural
changes we need to see in Stockton,
-
and I came to that conclusion
by looking at the data.
-
So my old council district,
where I grew up,
-
is 10 minutes away
from a more affluent district.
-
And 10 minutes away in the same city,
-
the difference between
zip code 95205 and 95219
-
in life expectancy is 10 years.
-
Ten minutes away, 4.5 miles,
-
10 years life expectancy difference,
-
and not because of the choices
people are making.
-
Because no one chose
to live in an unsafe community
-
where they can't exercise.
-
No one chose to put more liquor stores
than grocery stores in the community.
-
No one chose these things,
but that's the reality.
-
I realized, as a councilman,
-
to enact a structural change
I wanted to see,
-
where between the same zip codes
-
there's a 30 percent difference
in the rate of unemployment,
-
there's a 75,000 dollars a year
difference in income,
-
that being a councilman
was not going to cut it.
-
So that's when I decided to run for mayor.
-
And as mayor, we've been focused
on the robbers and the road.
-
So in Stockton, as I mentioned,
-
we have historically had problems
with violent crime.
-
In fact, that's why I decided
to run for office in the first place.
-
And my first job as mayor
was helping our community
-
to see ourselves, our neighbors,
-
not just in the people
victimized by violence
-
but also in the perpetrators.
-
We realized that those
who enact pain in our society,
-
those who are committing homicides
and contributing to gun violence,
-
are oftentimes victims themselves.
-
They have high rates of trauma,
they have been shot at,
-
they've known people who have been shot.
-
That doesn't excuse their behavior,
but it helps explain it,
-
and as a community,
we have to see these folks as us, too.
-
That they too are our neighbors.
-
So for the past three years --
-
(Applause)
-
So for the past three years,
we've been working on two strategies:
-
Ceasefire and Advance Peace,
-
where we give these guys
as much attention, as much love
-
from social services,
from opportunities, from tattoo removals,
-
in some cases even cash,
-
as a gift from law enforcement.
-
And last year, we saw
a 40 percent reduction in homicides
-
and a 30 percent reduction
in violent crime.
-
(Applause)
-
And now, the road.
-
I mentioned that my community
has a 23 percent poverty rate.
-
As someone who comes from poverty,
it's a personal issue for me.
-
So I decided that we
wouldn't just do a program,
-
or we wouldn't just do something
to go around the edges,
-
but we would call into question
the very structure
-
that produces poverty in the first place.
-
So starting in February,
we launched a basic income demonstration,
-
where for the next 18 months,
-
as a pilot, 130 families,
randomly selected,
-
who live in zip codes at or below
the median income of the city,
-
are given 500 dollars a month.
-
And we're doing this
for a couple of reasons.
-
We're doing it because we realize
-
that something is structurally
wrong in America,
-
when one in two Americans
can't afford one 400-dollar emergency.
-
We're doing it because we realize
that something is structurally wrong
-
when wages have only increased
six percent between 1979 and 2013.
-
We're doing it because we realize
something is structurally wrong
-
when people working two and three jobs,
-
doing all the jobs
no one in here wants to do,
-
can't pay for necessities, like rent,
-
like lights, like health care,
like childcare.
-
(Applause)
-
So I would say, Stockton again,
we have real issues.
-
I have constituent emails in my phone now,
about the homelessness issue,
-
about some of the violent crime
we're still experiencing.
-
But I would say, I think as a society,
we would be wise to go back
-
to those old Bible stories
we were taught growing up,
-
and understand that number one,
-
we have to begin to see
each other as neighbors,
-
that when we see someone
different from us,
-
they should not reflect our fears,
our anxieties, our insecurities,
-
the prejudices we've been taught,
our biases -- but we should see ourselves.
-
We should see our common humanity.
-
Because I think once we do that,
-
we can do the more important work
of restructuring the road.
-
Because again, I understand
some listening are saying,
-
"Well, Mayor Tubbs, you're talking about
structural violence and structural this,
-
but you're on the stage.
-
That the structures can't be too bad
if you could come up from poverty,
-
have a father in jail, go to Stanford,
-
work in the White House and become mayor."
-
And I would respond by saying
the term for that is exceptionalism.
-
Meaning that we recognize it's exceptional
for people to escape the structures.
-
Meaning by our very language,
-
we understand that the things we're seeing
in our world are by design.
-
And I think that task for us, as TEDsters,
-
and as good people,
just people, moral people,
-
is really do the hard work necessary
of not just joining hands as neighbors,
-
but using our hands
to restructure our road,
-
a road that in this country has been
rooted in things like white supremacy.
-
A road like in this country
has been rooted in things like misogyny.
-
A road that's not working
for far too many people.
-
And I think today, tomorrow and 2020
we have a chance to change that.
-
So as I prepare to close,
-
I started with a story from nine years ago
and I'll end with one.
-
So after my cousin was murdered,
-
I was lucky enough
to go on the Freedom Rides
-
with some of the original freedom riders.
-
And they taught me a lot
about restructuring the road.
-
And one guy in particular,
Bob Singleton, asked me a question
-
I'm going to leave with us today.
-
We were going to Anniston,
Alabama, and he said, "Michael,"
-
and I said, "Yes, sir."
-
He said, "I was arrested
on August 4, 1961.
-
Now why is that day important?"
-
And I said, "Well, you were arrested,
-
if you weren't arrested,
we wouldn't be on this bus.
-
if we weren't on this bus,
we wouldn't have the rights we enjoy."
-
He rolled his eyes and said, "No, son."
-
He said, "On that day,
Barack Obama was born."
-
And then he said he had no idea
that the choice he made
-
to restructure the road
-
would pave the way,
-
so a child born as a second class citizen,
-
who wouldn't be able to even get
a cup of water at a counter,
-
would have the chance,
50 years later, to be president.
-
Then he looked at me and he said,
-
"What are you prepared to do today
-
so that 50 years from now
-
a child born has a chance
to be president?"
-
And I think, TED, that's
the question before us today.
-
We know things are jacked up.
-
I think what we've seen
recently isn't abnormal
-
but a reflection of a system
that's been structured
-
to produce such crazy outcomes.
-
But I think it's also an opportunity.
-
Because these structures we inherit
aren't acts of God
-
but acts of men and women,
they're policy choices,
-
they're by politicians like me,
approved by voters like you.
-
And we have the chance
and the awesome opportunity
-
to do something about it.
-
So my question is:
What are we prepared to do today,
-
so that a child born today,
50 years from now
-
isn't born in a society
rooted in white supremacy;
-
isn't born into a society
riddled with misogyny;
-
isn't born into a society riddled
with homophobia and transphobia
-
and anti-Semitism
and Islamophobia and ableism,
-
and all the phobias and -isms?
-
What are we prepared to do today,
-
so that 50 years from now
-
we have a road in our society
that's structured
-
to reflect what we hold
to be self-evident?
-
That all men, that all women,
-
that even all trans people
-
are created equal
-
and are endowed by your Creator
with certain unalienable rights,
-
including life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness.
-
Thank you.
-
(Applause)