The Ebell of Los Angeles hosted “An Evening With Hakeem Jeffries” on Dec. 2 at its historic campus at 743 S. Lucerne Blvd in the Mid-Wilshire community of LA.
In a rare visit, the Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives sat down with progressive commentator Brian Tyler Cohen to discuss his new book, “The ABCs of Democracy.”
Dr. Stacy Brightman, executive director of the Ebell, welcomed the capacity crowd of members and guests, giving way to the organization’s community partner and Writer’s Bloc founder Andrea Grossman’s introduction of the headliners.
The following is an edited version of the discussion by Jeffries and Cohen.
Brian Tyler Cohen: “When you first delivered the first-floor speech ‘The ABCs of Democracy’ on January 7, 2023, upon your historic elevation as House Democratic Leader, which was more pronounced: the concern for getting your ABCs correct, or knowing that if you missed any letters, you’d be attacked by Republicans for not knowing your ABCs?”
Hakeem Jeffries: “Both! I often try to use alliteration to affirm the values of our great country one letter of the alphabet at a time, such as ‘A’ for American values over autocracy, ‘B’ for benevolence over bigotry, ‘D’ for Democracy, ‘E’ for economic opportunity over extremism. I followed my instinct and thankfully got through it.
“We decided [the book] represents a blueprint for the values of the journey we’re on for the resilience of the American people in creating the greatest democracy in the history of the world,” he added. “An illustrated book for people of all ages, the young and the young at heart, who care about our democracy.”
BC: “In digging into the inspiration for the book, can you talk about who ‘Kid Fresh’ is?”
HJ: “As I grew up in central Brooklyn, I had two aspirations: To be the point guard for the New York Knicks or to be a hip hop artist. I went under the name Kid Fresh! Neither career worked out for me, but it’s been an honor to serve the people as a member of the United States Congress.”
“The House is such a special place,” he continued, “because it is the institution that the framers [of the Constitution] designed to be the closest to the American people by reflecting on the hopes, dreams, aspirations, fears, the concerns, anxieties, and passions. That’s representative democracy at its best.
“When the House was being conceived,” he added, “it was John Adams who said it would ideally be a perfect reflection of the American people. I’m sure he could’ve never imagined a Hakeem Sekou Jeffries in that room!”
BC: “Al Franken, a very well-known [Saturday Night Live] writer and actor, said that when he came into the Senate, he had to suppress his comedy background. When you came into the House, was there a sense of having to align yourself more closely with this idea of how politicians should act?”
HJ: “For many of us, we believed that you shouldn’t go to Washington and have Washington change you, you should go and change Washington for the better. For me, that’s growing up in Brooklyn, the Black Church experience, and my training in the arts and sciences of the law. But definitively, coming of age during the golden age of hip-hop in the late 80s to 90s was an important part of my journey.
“Authenticity is important,” he declared. “The people want their elected officials to be real. When I’m on [Capitol] Hill I normally wear a tie. But the first question I had to confront on my first day as House Minority Leader was whether or not to wear my sneakers to the Oval Office. In the spirit of authenticity, that’s exactly what I did.”
For more information, visit https://jeffries.house.gov/ or Twitter (X) at @RepJeffries.
