[music]

Brian Lehrer: It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone. Is this the Marie Kondo democratic convention? Do you know what I mean by that? Do you know Marie Kondo, the decluttering guru who says, only keep the things that spark joy? At this time of widespread pessimism, cynicism, anger, and despair, the DNC speakers are leaning into the word joy. Bill Clinton did it last night.

Bill Clinton: Take it from a man who once had the honor to be called in this convention, the man from Hope. We need Kamala Harris, the president of joy to lead us.

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: Bill Clinton did it last night and Oprah Winfrey did it last night.

Oprah Winfrey: Let us choose truth, let us choose honor, and let us choose joy.

[applause]

Because that's the best of America.

Brian Lehrer: Oprah Winfrey did it last night and Hakeem Jeffries did it last night.

Hakeem Jeffries: In the Old Testament book of Psalms, the scripture tells us that weeping may endure during the long night, but joy will come in the morning.

[applause]

Here's how we do it. Strategize on Sunday, meet the moment on Monday, take it to him on Tuesday, work it out on Wednesday, thank the Lord on Thursday, fight the power on Friday, set it off on Saturday, get a few hours of sleep, wake up the next day and do it all over again until joy, joy, Joy comes in the morning.

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: House speaker and Brooklyn congressman-- Not House speaker, he hopes to be House speaker. He's minority leader and Brooklyn Congressman Hakeem Jeffries at the DNC in Chicago. Who would have guessed a few months ago, right when many Americans were decluttering their lives of politics with the dreary seeming choices of Biden or Trump and maybe not even planning to vote, maybe even decluttering their lives of that, that one of the big themes of the DNC, one of the keywords and one of the big emotions they would be trying to instill in their viewers, and the time was right for would be joy. There it is.

We'll see tonight if Harris goes there in her acceptance speech as explicitly as the rest of the week's speakers, we'll see if she can keep inflating the mood while convincing voters she can deflate the cost of living. Listeners we'll open up the phones on this as we invite your calls again today and your texts with your reactions to anything you saw or heard at the Democratic National Convention last night. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Any of the speech moments or ideas or policy positions or laugh lines or Stevie Wonder, who still totally got it, or anything else. 212-433-WNYC.

What about all this talk of joy? Is it resonating with you? Is it sparking actual joy in you? Does it meet the moment for this country and this world at this time, given everything else that's going on? Is it the role of a president to spark Joy? 212-433-WNYC or anything else about the DNC so far. 212-433-9692. Let's go to Chicago now and talk to Rachel Green. She comes from Deptford Township in South Jersey. She's been president of the Deptford Board of Education, president of the Gloucester Federation of Democratic Women.

She's a Gloucester County NAACP executive board member and more, and a New Jersey delegate to the Democratic convention. Rachel, thanks very much for getting up to be with us after another late night. Welcome to WNYC.

Rachel Green: Oh, thank you for having me. I have to do a big shout-out to my Millville and Cumberland County family and friends as well. [chuckles]

Brian Lehrer: You bet. Before we get to DNC content and some of the issues, would you introduce yourself a little more including to our many listeners in Jersey who may not know you, what's the essence of the work you do, and the goals you have in doing it?

Rachel Green: Oh, thank you so much. I appreciate the opportunity to do so. I am Rachel Green. I am a South Jersey girl as they say. My lifelong work has always been advocacy and relational organizing within the community anywhere from making sure folks have resources whether it's housing, food for their tables, or it's registration, and making sure they're registered to vote. Education is a key big part of a lot of the work that I do with the various organizations that I'm involved in.

Brian Lehrer: I see you were a New Jersey delegate to the convention in 2020 as well. How would you compare the feeling or the content of the two conventions in the Biden-Harris era?

Rachel Green: Oh, my goodness. Both were absolutely wonderful experiences. Also, both uniquely different in essence. We were in the heart of COVID at the time and we all had to do this work confined to our homes basically. We used the Internet a lot to make that happen.

This election cycle is just different now. Now that President Biden, who is always the true statesman and selfless to step back and to ascend, which if everyone remembers he did, always said he would hand the torch to the next generation and he did by giving it to our fabulous Kamala Harris. With that came this new energy. People say it's reminiscent of the Obamas. You know what? I beg to differ that yes, that error was absolutely wonderful, and I so love and adore the Obamas but this time, this cycle, this particular place in time is completely different.

This is Kamala 1.0 and it's a whole other feeling of wonder and joy just like the keyword that they were using last night. We're joyful right now. Her delegation is bringing folks together as you saw from all walks of life at the convention, whether you're independent, undecided, a Republican, a Democrat, we're all going to come together to show who we are as Americans and show the best of who we are as a country.

Brian Lehrer: The country, and certainly a lot of the people who you speak for are living through tough times in many ways. What do you think about the convention messaging leaning into joy as much as it is?

Rachel Green: I think it's right on target for many of us. We fall back on what we know, whether it's family, whether it's faith, whether you are a person who your body is your temple and it's how you eat and you're working out and you stay healthy. We fall back on those things to bring us joy and to keep us healthy and different and keep us basically settled in difficult times. I think last night they hit on all those key points. It's resonating. The messaging that has been done with this convention is resonating with all walks of life. With Jersey being basically one of the most diverse states in the nation, it's definitely resonating with us here in Jersey.

Brian Lehrer: How would Kamala Harris become the president of joy as Bill Clinton put it last night? What would make the American people experience joy under President Harris?

Rachel Green: To not fall into the tropes of the ugliness, the name calling, the pointing of fingers. Let's get to the facts. Let's talk about what you're going to do, how you're going to do it, and what plan is put in place to make things better for the American people. That's how we're going to get this thing done.

In the end, people want to know who you are and what you're going to do. They don't want to hear all-- That might be entertaining. It was entertaining what was it, eight years ago? It's no longer funny. No longer is it helpful. What message are we going to send to our children if we continue to engage in that type of nonsense?

Brian Lehrer: There's certainly a lot of criticism of Donald Trump, attacks on Donald Trump's character, things like that. He's even responded by saying, "Hey, they don't want me to make personal criticisms of Kamala Harris, but they're making personal criticisms of me." Have you heard that?

Rachel Green: You're always going to hear that because people will throw red herons out there to focus away from the truth. In the end, speaking the truth is not putting someone down. If you've been indicted what? Probably got the number off because of so many times, 34 plus times, that's the truth. That's not speaking ill of you. You did those acts. You were indicted for them. It's who you are is what you did. That's not putting you down.

Brian Lehrer: Seems to me there are at least three keywords from the convention and the still-young Harris-Walz campaign, Fight Freedom, as in fight for our freedom. Kamala has been saying that those words go together. Fight and freedom and joy plus the mantra, we're not going back. How do you think they all fit together?

Rachel Green: I think it resonates because folks have had enough. We want the freedom to be able to live our lives without leaders telling us how to live our lives. Women being able to control their own bodies, folks being able to love who they want to love, being able to have just one career and being able to have that one career and still be able to have time with their family. All that stuff speaks to the joy. That brings you joy. That brings you a sense of freedom and independence, as well as fighting for the lifestyle in the family and the country you want to have.

Brian Lehrer: I want to ask for your take. I see we have a caller on this too, so I could let the caller set it up. In fact, I think I will let the caller set it up. This is [unintelligible 00:11:25] in Yonkers. [unintelligible 00:11:26] you are on WNYC with Rachel Green, New Jersey delegate from Gloucester County to the DNC. Thank you for calling in.

Speaker 1: Hi, can you hear me?

Brian Lehrer: Hear you just fine.

Speaker 1: I wanted to talk about the lack of any voice from the uncommitted movement on the main stage. Not a single Palestinian American, not a single speech about what the American policy has caused in Gaza. This might not be joyful, but it's the truth. It is the truth of our policy, and it is something that is very important to young people and to the democratic electorate. It should not be ignored. It should be spoken about.

Brian Lehrer: [unintelligible 00:12:20] thank you very much. By way of background for our listeners, I've seen in multiple news organizations that what the caller says is true, Rachel. We saw from the stage last night a speaking slot for parents of an American hostage being held by Hamas in Gaza since October 7 and there certainly should be a slot for them. I don't think anybody's disputing that. I see it reported that the request to also have a Palestinian representative speak about their people's suffering in Gaza was denied. You hear the caller's language and tone of voice there. Can you defend that as a moral choice for this DNC?

Rachel Green: By no means can I put the whole back of the party on my back and defend that decision because I would have to speak to leadership to find out who organized the convention to find out if that actually was the case. I can't speak to hearsay, but I will say I do agree that we represent a melting pot and both sides should have had the opportunity to speak to the horrific things that have been going on on both sides as a whole.

I have the opportunity to speak to many delegates. We want a two-state solution and we want this to end now. We all know that it's much more complicated than making one-liner statements like that, that we have people dying on both sides and have died on both sides. There have been horrific things done on both sides, and we need this to end now. We need to protect civilians on both sides and hopefully, soon our government and President Biden and Vice President Harris, I know they're working diligently and their administration to make that happen.

Brian Lehrer: What's your own position on the demand that the US place real humanitarian conditions on military aid to Israel, which in the protesters' view would require a cutoff at least at the present moment?

Rachel Green: I will not profess to be an expert on this subject, but I'm sure the government and President Biden-Harris having that 360 view and that firsthand information of the full picture, the 360 view of everything that's going on, is going to do everything they can and whatever policy they put in place, I fully support.

Brian Lehrer: One other thing on this. You represent groups of New Jersey women. The news organization, the Independent reports that the group Muslim Women for Harris-Walz has announced that it is disbanding because of the refusal to have a Palestinian speaker. Were you aware of that?

Rachel Green: I was not aware of that.

Brian Lehrer: Do you have any reaction to it?

Brian Lehrer: I'm always a person who like to talk to people first and find out again what the full story is and that 360 view of what actually happened. I would like to hope that we all could sit down and have a conversation at the table and discuss it. I know those ladies are going to stand firm for what they believe in, and I support them in whatever decision they make as Americans here in this country and able to voice their own opinions.

Brian Lehrer: Let's take another caller. Bill in Bayone, you're on WNYC. Hi, Bill.

Brian: Morning, Brian. I just wanted to talk about the joy and where I think it emanates from. I think up until about a month and a half ago that we believed we were going to be stuck with another four years of Trump. Now that it turned around, it looks like we might have a chance and without being insulting to Joe Biden, I think that's where the joy comes from.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. It's a fair question to at least ask. How different do you think the vibe would be? How much talk of joy would there be as opposed to other ways of presenting the Democratic Party to the viewers around the country if Joe Biden was the nominee? You were originally a Biden delegate until he withdrew.

Rachel Green: You're absolutely right about that. I supported President Biden the first time around, and I definitely was wholehearted, 100% in the second time around as well. I believed his level of statesmanship experience was second to none. He had Kamala Harris as his vice president in waiting, making sure that she was able to step forward and she has. I always repeat and say he always said he would hand the torch over to the next generation, and he was selfless enough to do it at the right time.

Brian Lehrer: On the absence of a Palestinian speaker, by the way, a number of texts coming in. One of them that's representative notes, the Jewish family on the stage spoke about the devastation in Gaza. I know that might not be enough for people who would want a Palestinian voice there, but a number of people are pointing out that they did do that. Someone else writes, "Blinken has tried. What else can the USA do to that?" I guess the protesters would say they could be cutting off arms shipments, at least for the moment. Another one says, "Why should the uncommitted movement get a speaking slot? Speaking slots are for people who are enthusiastic supporters." Any one last reaction to that stream of texts in response to our previous exchange?

Rachel Green: As always, I always like to thank my fellow Americans for always fact-checking and being on point, and I appreciate them calling in and letting us know. Like I had said earlier, I always like to get all my facts straight in the 360 view of things before commenting. Thank you for sending that in because I really do think we overall have had a very fair convention that represented everybody. Absolutely right. As they text in it does spark my memory that that family did speak to the casualties on the Gaza side, as well as having to be able to be strong and stand on that stage knowing that their son is still being held hostage.

Brian Lehrer: Before you go on a sad local note, New Jersey congressman Bill Pascrell, as you know, passed away yesterday after a long illness at age 87. You're from South Jersey. He was from Paterson in North Jersey but I'll invite you to say a word about him, which I know you'd like to do after we play this clip of Senator Cory Booker from the convention last night.

Senator Cory Booker: Tonight is about freedom. First, I want to acknowledge a loss today, a man who always fought for freedom. Today we lost Congressman Bill Pascrell, who passed away early this morning. Now he's a Jersey legend. He is a powerful pugilist, a prince of Patterson. He served in our state assembly. He served as our mayor, and for 27 years he served in Congress. He never forgot where he came from in Patterson, and he never stopped fighting. He could push some pachyderms. He fought for the people. Today, while we're heartbroken, we all are people who can hold loss and joy in our hearts because we are sad for his loss, but we celebrate his life. Let's give him a round of applause.

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: There's that word joy again, even in that context from Senator Booker. Rachel, did you know Bill Pascrell or have thoughts on his service?

Rachel Green: Of course, just through my work, I've had the opportunities to be in the room with such a great statesman. What I can say is to have given your life to the service of others, I think speaks volumes to the man that he is and was his life to be about his community, his constituents to the very end. Again, I think speaks to the great statesmen, especially coming out of New Jersey that that's what they're about. It's always about their community and their home state in the nation.

Brian Lehrer: Rachel Green, a Jersey delegate to the Democratic convention. She's been president of the Deptford Board of Education, president of the Gloucester County Federation of Democratic Women. She's a Gloucester County NAACP executive board member and more. Thank you so much for giving us a few minutes from the scene of the convention, Chicago, Illinois, this morning.

Rachel Green: Thank you for having me. It was a joy.

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC, more in a minute.

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