Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: Hi, my name is Annie. Welcome to a special episode of the podcast where music podcast and how past music history have teamed up.
Today, we're bringing you a very special episode with a distinguished guest that is going to talk to us not about music, but about democracy. We have Senator Roxanne Persaud here. She is the senator for where we go to school, Brooklyn's District 19. We'll be talking to her about democracy and how we kids can get involved. Hi, Senator, welcome to the podcast.
[00:00:47] Speaker A: Well, thank you, Annie. Thank you for having me here. Not only am I the senator for School District 19, I. I am the Senator of Senate District 19.
[00:00:58] Speaker B: We're so glad you could join us. My name is Isaiah. Let's start with an icebreaker question, Senator. We normally talk about music. So which musician, dead or alive, inspired your work as a senator?
[00:01:13] Speaker A: Interesting. So, you know, I'm gonna go mostly with the Caribbean style of music, even though I like lots of genres of music. But, you know, there's a. There's a person, she's a Calypsonian, that says, I hold myself high, high, high.
And that inspires me because you want to hold yourself high all the time.
So the genre this time, that inspires me to continue holding myself high and moving forward is a calypsonian.
[00:01:46] Speaker B: Hi, Senator. My name is Jafar Sen. What is a senator and why did you want to become a senator?
[00:01:52] Speaker A: Hi, Jafari. I did not want to become a senator. I became a senator because I was actually enticed to do so. I was higher education administrator, but I was always involved in political activities, community activities, and along the way, people would always say that I would be in office, and I would say, no, no, no. And then the opportunity arose for me to run for the Senate. For first, not just the Senate, but for the New York State Assembly. And I won that seat. And then, lo and behold, in less than a year, the Senate seat became vacant, and I was asked to run for that also. So I left the Senate and became. And ran for the. Sorry. Left the assembly and ran for the Senate. And here I am, 10 years in. I'm still in the state legislature.
[00:02:45] Speaker B: You're originally from Guyana. When did you move to the United States?
[00:02:48] Speaker A: I moved to the United States in 1984, way before any of you were born. Right. And so actually, my parents were here first. I remained in Guyana through high school, and then I joined them here.
[00:03:04] Speaker B: We're all citizens, but since we're kids, we can. We cannot vote yet. So how can we contribute to democracy even though we can't vote your kids.
[00:03:15] Speaker A: But you still have a voice. When you see things that are affecting your school, that are affecting the larger community, you can point it out to the adults who are around. You can speak to your parents, telling them what are the things that you see lacking and what are the things that you know that you need? And then they have the right to bring it to the attention of the people who can make the difference, Meaning they can take it to the community board, the precinct council, the commander of the precinct, your principal, the elected officials. All of these people are people who your voices will be, your comments will be taken to, but not because you're a kid. Means you do not have a say. You do have a voice in it, in the outcomes of things.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: It's good to know there are ways we can make a difference even without voting.
Right, audience, let's give Senator Prasad a round of plusas for all that great evidence.
We can all do our part, even as kids. Now, moving on to a question that's been on many of our minds.
You are very, very important. You have access to the money.
You budget for things that matter to us students. How do you decide what gets budgeted and what doesn't?
[00:04:37] Speaker A: Well, we're all very important people, first of all. And do I have access to money? I have access to using my voice to the people who ultimately decide on how the money is spent. And so it's about advocating for the needs of the community and for the needs across New York State in particular.
I chair the Senate Social Services Committee, and that's a committee that affects the lives of many people across the state of New York, whether it's about helping someone receive food benefits, helping someone who is homeless and needs transitional housing, all of those things. So that's where my voice comes in. I advocate to the agencies that has jurisdiction over those issues and let them know that what are the things that I support and in terms of the community, I'll look around and ask the schools and everyone else to send us their needs. And then we put that in as a request. The budget is ultimately, the final budget is ultimately finalized by a group of people who represent the Senate, the Assembly, and the governor. And then the final budget is voted on by everyone. And then, you know, not everything that you ask for or you advocate for is ultimately in the enacted budget, but we continue to fight and ask for those things.
[00:06:04] Speaker B: We would really like some changes in our school, like improving the school lunches and getting an elevator and bringing back dance classes. How can we ask you for those changes.
[00:06:14] Speaker A: There are some things that we cannot fund. We can advocate for you with the Department of Education dance class and those things. You know, there are programs that your school will have to request grants for, but there are certain things. Not everything that the school needs can be funded from the state government, for example, it has to have a certain lifespan for us on a state government to fund it. On the other hand, the city council has more access to. To funds that will. That they can allocate to you for the things that you're advocating for. Elevators. Yes, we work with the Department of Education and, you know, highlight the need for elevators in schools, but not every building can have an elevator based on, you know, the time the building was built there. Sometimes there are constraints as to whether they can do some changes in a building, but we advocate for that within to the Board of Education.
[00:07:11] Speaker B: Lastly, what makes you proud of District 19?
[00:07:15] Speaker A: Students like you. Because you. Students like you who are speaking up. And that's what we want across District 19.
Not just in School District 19, but across the district in general. We. I tend to hold activities that are led by students because I want to hear their voice and hear the. About the things that are affecting them and solutions that they have. Not because you're unable to vote because of your age, but you can offer us solutions and we can take that into consideration. So again, thank you all very much.
[00:07:51] Speaker B: Thank you so much, Senator.
Thank you so much, Senator Pessard, for joining us today and talking to us about how we can, about how democracy work, your role as a senator, and how we can make a difference even as kids.
[00:08:10] Speaker A: Well, thank you for having me. And absolutely you can make a difference. It doesn't. Again, it does not matter that you're kids. You all have a voice and you need to use that voice to ensure that we as elected officials are hearing what you have to say. And we take that seriously because you do matter.
[00:08:28] Speaker B: Yes. Thank you. Thank you. We hope for other kids and our listeners feel inspired and know how to start making a difference in their communities. Don't forget to talk to your parents and teach us about how you can get involved in democracy and make change happen. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time on music podcasts and hall pass to music history.
