they’re morning Rucker’s crap it’s great
to be back at the high school of this
building certainly didn’t exist when I
first started to learn what it meant to
embrace people’s differences it was my
time here and then I’m college campuses
at the University of Vermont and a Case
Western Reserve University well I
started to understand what it meant to
view life through other people’s lens to
get their point of view and though
that’s that education started in the
classroom
it wasn’t until 2013 when I walked into
the board of elections in Cuyahoga
County Ohio and pulled a petition to run
for local office that I truly went on a
journey of what it was like to see the
world from others and their point of
view I spent the better part of that
next year 9 months knocking on every
single door in the city and the friends
that you meet the stories that you hear
alter the way that you view the world
but I’ll take a step back because how
did I get to the point where I decided
that I was going to pull that petition
that I was going to run for office and
put my name on the ballot and that was a
decision that I made when I was a high
school student here it was my junior
year of high school I was on my way to
school in the morning and as some of you
in the audience might know our school
bus flipped over on the way to school
and and I broke my neck and my back
fractured c5 and c6 which controls your
movement your ability to move I spent
the better part of the next year
recovering and Rehab in a surgical
procedure at John Hopkins in Baltimore
Maryland where they fused my vertebrae
together and allowed me to be here today
moving walking talking running and I’m
thankful every day for it but when I was
in that bed recovering you have a lot of
time to watch TV and the news was on and
George W Bush
just signed a few months earlier an
executive order to ban all stem-cell
research using embryonic stem cells and
there was a debate going on on live
television with scientists and doctors
who were using those embryonic stem
cells to potentially cure paralysis
among many other things
and that was my lightbulb moment of
decisions that are being made in
Washington or in state houses or in City
Council’s
or school board’s across this country
have massive real-life impact from both
positive and negative in people’s lives
and and though it was a journey between
that moment and when I walked into the
Board of Elections to get to that point
the thought process started back when I
was in high school so after I pulled
that petition and I started knocking on
doors you wind up meeting people who
become great friends close allies who
were strangers just a few minutes before
that one of the first stories that I
knocked on was a couple named Roman and
Elaine Freeman and I got to their door
and you could tell Roman was so
disappointed that his his blinds were
open and he made eye contact with me so
he he he felt he felt obligated to come
to the door at that point so so he did
and he opened the door and they were
clearly about to go off to the pool and
and I said to them let me just talk to
you for a few minutes
about my vision for the city and what I
would like to do we spent the next 30 40
minutes in their kitchen talking about
his journey to America Roman was a
Holocaust survivor he was 16 months old
when the Nazis invaded his town in
Poland Germany they were moved first
into a ghetto and then he was smuggled
into a work camp with with his with his
mother his baby brother who was born in
the ghetto was murdered by the Nazis and
in the middle of the night when he was
an infant he was smuggled out in a
suitcase
and taken to the home of a a Catholic
polish woman named Maria Belle go via
who took Roman in from 1941 to 1945
risked her life risked her family’s life
to save his life she also took in Romans
mother and Merman didn’t know that his
mother was living in the basement for 4
plus years as Roman was upstairs after
the liberation they were reunited and
they came to America together Roman
moved to Ohio and he has spent the
better part of his adult life telling
that story to future generations so that
that memory those stories could always
live on we went from a moment where he
didn’t want to answer the door to we
talked to each other on a regular basis
and he wants to know when my baby’s
coming over and and these are
experiences that you could only get if
you’re willing to put your name on a
ballot and run for public office you
know another couple whose door I knocked
on was a Peter Smith and Lisa Gaines and
they had a very open conversation with
me about living in a city as black
Americans represented by seven white
members of City Council five white
members of a school board a white mayor
and the challenges that that entailed
and I called Peter yesterday to ask if I
could talk about our first conversation
together here today
and he was shocked that I even
remembered it but these stories affect
the way that you view the world because
his story to me was talking about what
he taught his children as they became of
driving age in the state of Ohio and
what struck me about that conversation
is it was massively different than any
conversation that my father had had with
me or any conversation that I would have
thought in my head I would have liked my
daughter which was you’re going to get
pulled over when you get pulled over
make sure that your hands never leave
the steering wheel wait till the officer
approaches
make sure he seized you open the window
and then say my wallets in the glove
compartment or my wallets into my right
pocket I’m just gonna reach in and get
my driver’s license for you it’s just
not something that was ever part of my
American experience but very much a part
of his and theirs and those stories
change your point of view and after I
was fortunate enough to get elected in
my first run for office you take those
stories with you every day that you walk
into City Hall and you consider
legislation I think back to the stories
from senior citizens I talk to you or
from people from different backgrounds
and walks of life that I’ve met and
ultimately that affects my
decision-making and what I want to tell
everyone here today is everyone here has
the ability to make that difference in
your local communities so often when we
talk about running for office people
concentrate on your US Senators your
governor’s the President of the United
States but in school boards and in city
chambers and in state houses across this
country there are really important
decisions that are being made and you
could get involved in that
decision-making immediately you don’t
need a large sum of money
you don’t need endorsements I certainly
didn’t have any of those I had no
support from city city council members
or the mayor’s office all you need is
the grit and determination and the
willingness to put the time in and to go
meet and listen to the people in your
community and when you do that you will
inevitably learn so much that you didn’t
already know you know it came full
circle to me one of the pieces of
legislation that I’m proud of is right
after our new president passed his
executive signed his executive order
creating a Muslim ban from from
host seven different Muslim countries I
got the council president on the phone
and I said you know what are we gonna do
I would like to craft some legislation
and we we created our own legislation
opposing the president’s executive order
and declaring our city of Beachwood Ohio
to be a welcoming city to all immigrants
and it was a big moment for me when I
went to City Hall that night for that
boat and I looked into the City Council
audience the first person that I saw was
Roman and he was sitting there because
he too was once a stranger in a strange
land and he was going to lend his voice
his support for everybody in the
community no matter where they were from
no matter what their race was or what
their religion was they too deserved an
opportunity to be a part of our American
experience and those moments are are
invaluable and and you learn from them
and whether it was the introduction of
legislation to make meetings more
accessible by broadcasting them on TV
and the Internet to people whether it
was trying to talk about an increase of
senior services because Detroit Ohio has
the second highest median age range of
any city in Cuyahoga County in Northeast
Ohio and so that comes with its own set
of challenges and and so every piece of
legislation though that comes in front
of me I often relate to a moment when I
was at somebody’s front door or in their
driveway or in their kitchen having
those conversations because it all
relates back to actual legislation
that’s being passed at city levels and
and so I would like to urge everybody to
get involved you can get involved at a
young age you know when I watched my
campaign I sent out a press release and
it was in the Cleveland Plain Dealer I
got an email the next day from a 15 year
old high school student named grant he
said I would like to volunteer your
campaign your message really connect
with me I don’t have a car yet would you
meet me for lunch at the Beachwood mall
and and I did the next day and he
knocked on more doors than any other
volunteer maybe I’ve ever seen a joke is
I only won by sixty votes that first
election and I don’t want to give the
impression that I’m not popular but when
you run for office there’s plenty of
people who also disagree with you and
make that that disagreement heard but
you know I took that I don’t know that I
win that race without grant you know
he’s gone on to become an honors
political science student at Ohio
University and he’s my campaign manager
my reelection race so he since he’s
managed statewide yeah he’s been a part
of statewide campaigns for Attorney
General he is volunteering on senator
sherrod Brown for election campaign in
the state of Ohio
so you could get started right now you
don’t have to wait and for me it’s been
the most rewarding experience of my
professional life and who here is
thinking that they might run for public
office one day all right well that’s not
a great sign for us but we got we got I
saw one hand in the back you know I I
will tell you that the good experiences
those positive conversations outweigh
any of the negative comments or
behaviors that are shown towards public
officials you have the ability to push
those aside because the majority of your
communities they want to cooperate they
want to work together we want to solve
issues so I would urge everybody to get
involved sooner rather than later
and I’m going to end because my
colleagues in City Council who pretty
much tease me for being the young young
guy up at the dais and as the only
millennial speaker today I think I’d be
doing a disservice if I did not end with
a group selfie so
you know I have to make my generation
proud of it all right smile everyone
thank you Rutgers Prep it’s great to be
back home thank you for having me today
[Applause]
to be back at the high school of this
building certainly didn’t exist when I
first started to learn what it meant to
embrace people’s differences it was my
time here and then I’m college campuses
at the University of Vermont and a Case
Western Reserve University well I
started to understand what it meant to
view life through other people’s lens to
get their point of view and though
that’s that education started in the
classroom
it wasn’t until 2013 when I walked into
the board of elections in Cuyahoga
County Ohio and pulled a petition to run
for local office that I truly went on a
journey of what it was like to see the
world from others and their point of
view I spent the better part of that
next year 9 months knocking on every
single door in the city and the friends
that you meet the stories that you hear
alter the way that you view the world
but I’ll take a step back because how
did I get to the point where I decided
that I was going to pull that petition
that I was going to run for office and
put my name on the ballot and that was a
decision that I made when I was a high
school student here it was my junior
year of high school I was on my way to
school in the morning and as some of you
in the audience might know our school
bus flipped over on the way to school
and and I broke my neck and my back
fractured c5 and c6 which controls your
movement your ability to move I spent
the better part of the next year
recovering and Rehab in a surgical
procedure at John Hopkins in Baltimore
Maryland where they fused my vertebrae
together and allowed me to be here today
moving walking talking running and I’m
thankful every day for it but when I was
in that bed recovering you have a lot of
time to watch TV and the news was on and
George W Bush
just signed a few months earlier an
executive order to ban all stem-cell
research using embryonic stem cells and
there was a debate going on on live
television with scientists and doctors
who were using those embryonic stem
cells to potentially cure paralysis
among many other things
and that was my lightbulb moment of
decisions that are being made in
Washington or in state houses or in City
Council’s
or school board’s across this country
have massive real-life impact from both
positive and negative in people’s lives
and and though it was a journey between
that moment and when I walked into the
Board of Elections to get to that point
the thought process started back when I
was in high school so after I pulled
that petition and I started knocking on
doors you wind up meeting people who
become great friends close allies who
were strangers just a few minutes before
that one of the first stories that I
knocked on was a couple named Roman and
Elaine Freeman and I got to their door
and you could tell Roman was so
disappointed that his his blinds were
open and he made eye contact with me so
he he he felt he felt obligated to come
to the door at that point so so he did
and he opened the door and they were
clearly about to go off to the pool and
and I said to them let me just talk to
you for a few minutes
about my vision for the city and what I
would like to do we spent the next 30 40
minutes in their kitchen talking about
his journey to America Roman was a
Holocaust survivor he was 16 months old
when the Nazis invaded his town in
Poland Germany they were moved first
into a ghetto and then he was smuggled
into a work camp with with his with his
mother his baby brother who was born in
the ghetto was murdered by the Nazis and
in the middle of the night when he was
an infant he was smuggled out in a
suitcase
and taken to the home of a a Catholic
polish woman named Maria Belle go via
who took Roman in from 1941 to 1945
risked her life risked her family’s life
to save his life she also took in Romans
mother and Merman didn’t know that his
mother was living in the basement for 4
plus years as Roman was upstairs after
the liberation they were reunited and
they came to America together Roman
moved to Ohio and he has spent the
better part of his adult life telling
that story to future generations so that
that memory those stories could always
live on we went from a moment where he
didn’t want to answer the door to we
talked to each other on a regular basis
and he wants to know when my baby’s
coming over and and these are
experiences that you could only get if
you’re willing to put your name on a
ballot and run for public office you
know another couple whose door I knocked
on was a Peter Smith and Lisa Gaines and
they had a very open conversation with
me about living in a city as black
Americans represented by seven white
members of City Council five white
members of a school board a white mayor
and the challenges that that entailed
and I called Peter yesterday to ask if I
could talk about our first conversation
together here today
and he was shocked that I even
remembered it but these stories affect
the way that you view the world because
his story to me was talking about what
he taught his children as they became of
driving age in the state of Ohio and
what struck me about that conversation
is it was massively different than any
conversation that my father had had with
me or any conversation that I would have
thought in my head I would have liked my
daughter which was you’re going to get
pulled over when you get pulled over
make sure that your hands never leave
the steering wheel wait till the officer
approaches
make sure he seized you open the window
and then say my wallets in the glove
compartment or my wallets into my right
pocket I’m just gonna reach in and get
my driver’s license for you it’s just
not something that was ever part of my
American experience but very much a part
of his and theirs and those stories
change your point of view and after I
was fortunate enough to get elected in
my first run for office you take those
stories with you every day that you walk
into City Hall and you consider
legislation I think back to the stories
from senior citizens I talk to you or
from people from different backgrounds
and walks of life that I’ve met and
ultimately that affects my
decision-making and what I want to tell
everyone here today is everyone here has
the ability to make that difference in
your local communities so often when we
talk about running for office people
concentrate on your US Senators your
governor’s the President of the United
States but in school boards and in city
chambers and in state houses across this
country there are really important
decisions that are being made and you
could get involved in that
decision-making immediately you don’t
need a large sum of money
you don’t need endorsements I certainly
didn’t have any of those I had no
support from city city council members
or the mayor’s office all you need is
the grit and determination and the
willingness to put the time in and to go
meet and listen to the people in your
community and when you do that you will
inevitably learn so much that you didn’t
already know you know it came full
circle to me one of the pieces of
legislation that I’m proud of is right
after our new president passed his
executive signed his executive order
creating a Muslim ban from from
host seven different Muslim countries I
got the council president on the phone
and I said you know what are we gonna do
I would like to craft some legislation
and we we created our own legislation
opposing the president’s executive order
and declaring our city of Beachwood Ohio
to be a welcoming city to all immigrants
and it was a big moment for me when I
went to City Hall that night for that
boat and I looked into the City Council
audience the first person that I saw was
Roman and he was sitting there because
he too was once a stranger in a strange
land and he was going to lend his voice
his support for everybody in the
community no matter where they were from
no matter what their race was or what
their religion was they too deserved an
opportunity to be a part of our American
experience and those moments are are
invaluable and and you learn from them
and whether it was the introduction of
legislation to make meetings more
accessible by broadcasting them on TV
and the Internet to people whether it
was trying to talk about an increase of
senior services because Detroit Ohio has
the second highest median age range of
any city in Cuyahoga County in Northeast
Ohio and so that comes with its own set
of challenges and and so every piece of
legislation though that comes in front
of me I often relate to a moment when I
was at somebody’s front door or in their
driveway or in their kitchen having
those conversations because it all
relates back to actual legislation
that’s being passed at city levels and
and so I would like to urge everybody to
get involved you can get involved at a
young age you know when I watched my
campaign I sent out a press release and
it was in the Cleveland Plain Dealer I
got an email the next day from a 15 year
old high school student named grant he
said I would like to volunteer your
campaign your message really connect
with me I don’t have a car yet would you
meet me for lunch at the Beachwood mall
and and I did the next day and he
knocked on more doors than any other
volunteer maybe I’ve ever seen a joke is
I only won by sixty votes that first
election and I don’t want to give the
impression that I’m not popular but when
you run for office there’s plenty of
people who also disagree with you and
make that that disagreement heard but
you know I took that I don’t know that I
win that race without grant you know
he’s gone on to become an honors
political science student at Ohio
University and he’s my campaign manager
my reelection race so he since he’s
managed statewide yeah he’s been a part
of statewide campaigns for Attorney
General he is volunteering on senator
sherrod Brown for election campaign in
the state of Ohio
so you could get started right now you
don’t have to wait and for me it’s been
the most rewarding experience of my
professional life and who here is
thinking that they might run for public
office one day all right well that’s not
a great sign for us but we got we got I
saw one hand in the back you know I I
will tell you that the good experiences
those positive conversations outweigh
any of the negative comments or
behaviors that are shown towards public
officials you have the ability to push
those aside because the majority of your
communities they want to cooperate they
want to work together we want to solve
issues so I would urge everybody to get
involved sooner rather than later
and I’m going to end because my
colleagues in City Council who pretty
much tease me for being the young young
guy up at the dais and as the only
millennial speaker today I think I’d be
doing a disservice if I did not end with
a group selfie so
you know I have to make my generation
proud of it all right smile everyone
thank you Rutgers Prep it’s great to be
back home thank you for having me today
[Applause]
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