DeRay Mckesson
The Catalyst
Ideas with a spark, energy, range and the ability to start things.
DeRay Mckesson is a prominent activist focused on racial justice and education reform. This interview reveals his ability to energize and persuade audiences around critical social issues, emphasizing the need for systemic change and community empowerment.
“While I was in high school, and then I helped lead Baltimore's only youth-led grant making organization. So it was 20 young people, 10 adults. We gave out money every year to youth-led community projects. And I read for all the major funders in Baltimore for after-school programs.”
“She has now. Yeah, yeah. I'm 31, so we've missed a lot of time together So, trying to figure that out. And she actually is close to my grandparents on my father's side, or my grandmother on my father's side.”
“So they've said the apologies for that. What I'm looking for is like how that shows up in policy and practice, right? So in pushing her on those three things, that was my way of saying, like, show me that you've actually changed your thinking. And I think the platform shows that she's going to undo those things.”
“Yeah, so I think she spent a lot of time in this. You know, we don't have a super close relationship. I have a sister, so my sister is a year and a half older. She remembers my mother leaving in a way that I don't. I just know what it's like to grow up without a mother around. But me, my father, my sister really close.”
The Axe Files with David Axelrod — Ep. 93 - DeRay Mckesson
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