Soundbites: Policy Talks @ the Ford School - spring 2024 | Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

Soundbites: Policy Talks @ the Ford School - spring 2024

April 24, 2024

Even though we aren't interpreting the law, we bring our lived experiences to the table, and that might be in a way that we run our chambers, that might be how we interact with individuals.”

The Honorable Kyra Harris Bolden, Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. “Justice Across Generations,” November 13, 2023.

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The question we began with was, is there something else we can do? We’re not here to advocate for a particular position, but we did feel that there was a phenomenon happening in this country that wasn’t fully understood. ... That’s our job, to expose the consequences and to explain the causes. ... We also wanted to identify where the public policy debate stood. Were there possible solutions to the violence?

Peter Wallsten, senior national enterprise editor at the Washington Post. “The AR-15—The Gun that Divides a Nation,” January 24, 2024.


 

I think part of the challenge is that we are dealing with power in so many different ways and who gets to claim it? Who gets to hold on to it? Who gets to assert it? History can be used and misused as we’ve seen. And demagogues oftentimes actually know just enough history to get people to follow them. It’s not that they’re ignorant of history, it’s how they use and misuse and abuse history for their own whims.”

Earl Lewis, Thomas C. Holt Distinguished University Professor of History, Afroamerican and African Studies, and Public Policy; director, Center for Social Solutions. National Humanities Medal Celebration, January 31, 2024.


I knew what my value system was, what my North Star was ... I just wasn’t going to let the noise move me away from the things that I knew were important to impact the lives of people who were growing up in families like mine. That’s why I ran. I ran to help ... the people that I knew in my neighborhood that were working class and just wanted to live their life in peace and happiness and have a future and be able to pass it down to their kids and build wealth.

The Honorable Lori Lightfoot, 56th Mayor of Chicago. “Challenges of Leading in Crisis,” February 5, 2024.


We tend to overestimate our leaders and underestimate everyone under them. ... At the end of the day, it’s us that has to change it. You have to go out and vote and organize. Stop pretending like losers are winners. It is within your power. As young people, you have a lot of choices here as opposed to many other countries.”

Kara Swisher, award winning journalist and co-founder and editor-at-large of Recode. In conversation with Mary Barra, March 18, 2024.


More in State & Hill

Below, find the full, formatted spring 2024 edition of State & Hill. Click here to return to the spring 2024 S&H homepage.