U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ): Hope is Expanding Empathy and the Moral Imagination

In this episode of the Hopecast, Dr. Jane Goodall speaks with Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), U.S. politician, attorney, and author. Over the course of his career serving as Mayor of Newark, New Jersey from 2006 to 2013, serving as U.S. Senator from 2013 to present, and running for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2020 election, Senator Booker has developed, sponsored, collaborated on, and passed legislation supporting LGBTQ+ rights, animal rights, climate action, racial justice, women’s rights, voting rights, food justice and system reform, while also addressing the racial wealth gap and other injustices. In this conversation, Senator Booker shares his experiences living with the community he served in New Jersey, and how elders and mentors he met along the way shaped his ethos around seeing the humanity in each of us. He also shares experiences connecting with those with opposing viewpoints and how these interactions have helped him not only as a politician but as a person. This conversation is filled with stories and moments of empathy and hope from both Jane and Senator Booker that will stick with you well after you’ve finished listening. Senator Booker poignantly sums up why hope is such a critically important tenant to enacting change and ultimately, to the work he does every day: “Hope is the active conviction that despair will never have the last word.”

At the End of the Rainbow: Stay to the end of the episode to listen to a 2016 archival clip of Dr. Goodall from a series of walking interviews in Gombe. Hear her speak about why we must return to a sense of prioritizing future generations and the world we leave behind - a wisdom she feels we have lost.