Zach welcomes Texas State Senator Royce West, D-Dallas, to the podcast in this very special episode! Senator West discusses why he thinks Texas is ready to shift blue and what makes him the right choice to accelerate that process, and he also shares what he believes needs to happen for the next generation to have any reasonable chance of inclusion in this new economy. Additionally, he stresses the massive importance of voting in 2020. Remember, the reality is that our vote is our voice, so make sure your voice is heard this year! 

Connect with Senator West on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and don't forget to check out his website.

Visit Living-Corporate.com.




TRANSCRIPT

Zach: What's up, y'all? It's Zach with Living Corporate, and we know. We know. It's a Saturday. Typically you're used to hearing either a Link Up with Latesha or Amy C. Waninger and her See It to Be It series. However, we have a special guest, special treat, special situation happening this time, that's right, where we actually have an elected official on the podcast, and his name is Royce West. He's a state senator representing District 23 as a Democrat. He's actually been in office since 1993. So think about 1993... I was born in 1989, right? So he's been around for a while, and he's been doing his thing for a while. This is not even an official endorsement of any particular candidate, but rather, as a platform that seeks to amplify underrepresented voices, that also means underrepresented voices in our political system, and state senator Royce West is actually a black man in Texas state politics, so a fairly unique perspective and experience. In addition to that, y'all, 2020 November is coming up, and it's important that we actually are aware of the issues and some of the things that are on the ballot this year, because the things that are passed in Congress directly impact us. And I'm saying us. I'm talking to you, black or brown person. I'm talking to you, marginalized person. I'm talking to you, non-white straight Christian able-bodied male. It's really important, I believe, that we participate and engage in this political process. I understand there are various points and opinions in terms of what it looks like to radically change or impact or create an impact. I do believe that participating in our political process and exercising our civic duties is something we should do, right? And so what you're gonna hear when we have this conversation, I tried to ask Senator West some fairly direct questions, and my hope is that this will be the first of many elected officials we're able to get on the platform to have real talk in a corporate world, and real talk in a world that impacts us everywhere, including at work, right? So the next thing you're going to hear is the conversation I had with Senator West, and after that we're gonna wrap it up. Catch y'all next time.




Zach: Senator West, it's a pleasure and an honor to have you on the Living Corporate podcast. Just to get started, many people are saying that Texas is truly the premiere battleground state, right? So goes Texas, so goes the nation regarding tilting red or blue. There's been an accelerated attempt to speed that up, right? So we've seen that with Wendy and Beto's campaign being most notable in that regard. With that let me ask you though - do you think Texas is ready to shift blue, and if so, what makes you the right choice for that?




Royce: I do think it's ready, and it's dependent upon who the presidential nominee is. When you begin to kind of look at attitudes of people here in Texas, be they Democrats, Republicans, Independents, they're more aligned, frankly, with a moderate to conservative, moderate to left-leaning Democrat. When you begin to look at gun issues, health care issues, those types of issues, which are important--women's issues, civil rights issues, [?]. Those things are important to people, and so from my vantage point I think ideologically people are ready, and then when you begin to look at the changing demographics in Texas and the uptick in voting amongst Latinos, Latinx now. We have the numbers in order to win state-wide elections now.




Zach: So, you know, what has been the greatest advantage, and maybe one of the bigger challenges, in being a black man in Texas state politics?




Royce: Well, you know, it's both ways. I mean, the fact is that racism is still alive and well - not to the extent it has been in the past. I think that, in terms of me as an individual, I am still susceptible to those racist hits, but I'm betting that most people will look at my track record in terms of things that I've done, and based on my experience they'll know exactly what I'm gonna be doing in the future concerning representing them on issues that are important to them, like health care, women's rights, education, criminal justice.




Zach: You know, one of the reasons that podcasts are blowing up as a communication medium that the guests typically who come on these types of platforms, they're unfiltered, right? Like, we're able to see who these guests are beyond the veneer of the typical talking points, and so, you know, Senator West, you're speaking to young black and brown folks, working professionals, millennials, within Texas and beyond. So, like, with that in mind, why should they believe you?




Royce: Well, I think, again, look at my track record, and let's just talk about the issues unique to the audience here. What you will see, over the 26 years that I've been a state senator, [is that] I've been very much in tune with issues concerning millennials and the audience that you have more specifically. I made sure that the college students--young people that go to college as an example that live in my senatorial district, which is the Dallas area, we've provided some internships, paid internship opportunities for them. Not just any old internship. The fact is is that we what we've tried to do, and somewhat successfully, is to match their major in college to the summer internship paid opportunity, and as a result of that, what you'll see is that I've been able to create over 3,000 internship opportunities [for] the students that live in my district, and some outside of the district. And so they've been able to develop their resume, and as a result of developing that resume in many instances landed a job with the person or the business that they were doing the internship with. And not only that, Zach, we have persons who are now elected officials. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, police officers, you name it, that will come out of that particular program. And let me just kind of reach back a little further. We don't just start right there in college. We reach back to middle school. We have a student advisory committee comprised--and some of in the audience may identify with this--comprised of student leaders, defined as student government. That's where I start off, in the 7th grade student government, and other student leaders on campus to make certain that I'm keeping my ear to the ground and using them as a sounding board for policies that I need to be dealing with. And I can tell you that some of those policies deal with issues concerning criminal justice, concerning economic development, concerning making certain that there's a pipeline so they can develop, and I've addressed those issues and will continue to do so. "What are you talking about, Senator West?" We've made certain that we've had--and there's a political issue. I don't get a lot of appointments by the governor's office because I'm a Democrat, but we've tried to make certain that we identify young persons that we can put on boards and commissions, because that's how you learn leadership abilities, okay? You sharpen your skills to become leaders. We have dealt with issues concerning criminal justice. I have been a prosecutor and also a defense attorney, and I've had some top of the notch defense cases as well as prosecutorial cases, and so what I know is this - regardless of how old you are, you want the ability to be able to call the police officers, but you don't want to have to second-guess you calling that officer. And so what I've attempted to do is to make certain that there is a third option in terms of evidence, because--you know, getting through a scrap with a police officer, it's gonna be your word against theirs. So when you look at Texas, body cameras, dash cameras, all of those things are responsive to your audience's questions and things that they want me to do, and so we've dealt with those types of things. When you begin to look at the issue concerning student debt, I've worked feverishly to reduce the cost of books, to make certain they use open resource materials--and I still haven't gotten it to the point where I want to, because when you begin to look at the books and the cost of books--all of us know they cost a lot of money, and so if you use open resource materials, all of that stuff is online. And guess what? It's more up to date than a book, and it costs less than a book. But needless to say, the book industry still has its thumb on the scales, and until we can get that thumb off the scales we won't see a significant reduction in the cost of books, but it's starting to move in that direction. In terms of the cost of education, what I've been able to do is to work in the state of Texas to get the Texas grants program, to make certain that students that graduate with at least a C average, most of them get an opportunity to get a grant--not a loan, a grant--to go to school. As long as they're maintaining their academic standing, they're able to continue to get that grant. And that's just--it doesn't pay for the whole educational experience. It pays for some. In terms of the issue concerning the cost of education and getting in and getting out of school--and I heard this from community college students. They believe in many parts, Zach, that they're taking the courses n