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“It takes jobs serious because it must be intentional. The
space that I am currently in is a deviation from the
original plan. I have a role and responsibility to remember
that it’s about the work and not the title. The real
question is how I use this space to get back to my core
mission,” began Abrams.
“I actually heard about the rumor (running as vice president
on the Joe Biden campaign) from Twitter. I don’t really have
a long history with Joe Biden, but it seems unlikely that he
made up this rumor. The rumor snowballed into 14 different
editorials before I finally spoke with his (Joe Biden) team.
My honest answer is, I won’t run for second place. If I’m
going to run for the Senate than I will run. Who says that
the current Georgia governor will have another term, that’s
always an option? But if not, I won’t run for second place.
No one runs for vice president,” explained Abrams.
The next round of discussion topics allowed Abrams to expand
upon her views on her campaign, women in power and people of
color. “I learned from the governor’s campaign that I am
more resilient than I realized. Keep in mind that I didn’t
run this campaign alone, I had volunteers and voters. My
name was simply on the ballot, but I allowed people to own
their space. I had to spend time during the aftermath of the
election that it’s not about me. When you make decisions
about you, you forget the purpose about it. I represented
someone else’s dream, someone else’s dreams were on the
line,” began Abrams who received a standing ovation.
“As a woman of color, we’re not supposed to acknowledge that
we want power or have power. Early on, when I was younger, I
never understood why that was a problem. Power isn’t worthy
of the holder if you don’t benefit others,” Abrams
explained.
The subject of current President Donald Trump and the media
received stern comments from Abrams, “I am not a fan of
Donald Trump. He’s a failure, has lost important
international positions for the United States, and just mean
spirited. These are terrible times that we live in, which
make this situation worse when a political party doesn’t
stand up. When abuse of power happens, we have a mechanism
to deal with it. We often forget that as Americans we have
individual and collective power. As for the media, I can
speak from my experience that the media was too skeptical
about the leadership abilities and behaviors of a black
woman. I wish journalists understood it’s about the erosion
of our democracy, not about one person winning or losing,”
explained Abrams.
Abrams’ book is titled, Lead from the Outside: How to
Build Your Future and Make Real Change. She was born in
Wisconsin and raised in Gulfport, Mississippi. In 1995, she
earned a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies,
magna cum lauda honors, with a concentration in political
science, economics, and sociology from Spelman College.
Her service-oriented choice was influenced by her parents
who, after the family moved to Atlanta, pursued graduate
degrees and later became Methodist ministers. While
attending Spelman College, Abrams worked in youth services
in the Atlanta mayor’s office.
In 1992 she took part in a protest on the steps of the
Georgia Capitol. She went on to become a Harry Truman
Scholar and studied public policy at the University of Texas
at Austin’s LBJ School of Public Affairs where she earned a
Master of Public Affairs degree in 1998.
In 1999 she earned a J.D. degree from Yale Law School. In
2002, she was appointed the Deputy City Attorney for the
City of Atlanta. Then from 2007 until 2017 she served in the
Georgia General Assembly.
In 2018, she won the Democratic nomination for governor,
making her the first black woman in the U.S. to be a major
party’s nominee for governor. She ultimately lost a close
gubernatorial contest to then-Georgia Secretary of State
Republican Brian Kemp – a contest marred by the controversy
that Kemp had actively suppressed votes as the Secretary of
State, a position he declined to resign during the campaign.
She also delivered the Democratic Party response following
the State of the Union address on February 5, making her the
first African-American woman to give the rebuttal to the
address, as well as the first and only non-office holding
person to do so since the SOTU responses began in 1966.
The Toledo Lucas County Public Library’s Authors Authors
series is presented by the Library Legacy Foundation, The
Blade, Buckeye Broadband, Buehrer Group, HCR ManorCare and
Friends of the Library.
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