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Tavis: Gwen Moore made history last month when she became the first African American ever elected to Congress from the state of Wisconsin. The daughter of a factory worker and a schoolteacher and, might I add, single mother of 3, will be sworn in next month as part of the freshman class of 2005. Congresswoman-elect Gwen Moore joins us tonight from Milwaukee. Congresswoman, pardon my English, but I ain't mad at you. Congratulations.

Gwen Moore: Ha ha ha! How are you, Tavis?

Tavis: I am doing well. How are you, and how are those kids?

Moore: I tell you, they're doing great. They're all adults, but they really worked hard to help bring this victory home.

Tavis: Let me ask you how, in fact, this victory was brought home. And I'm laughing inside because I was just--as I mentioned to you before we came on the air--I was just in Wisconsin not long ago as a featured speaker for your teachers union there, WEAC, And I heard your name mentioned a few times. I wanted to learn more about you, and so I started to do a little research and discovered, one, that there were black folk in Wisconsin and that there were Latinos in Wisconsin. You got a bunch of them in your district.

Moore: Absolutely, Tavis. Well, I think one of the real tributes to this community and to the people was that they elected me to this office. And they looked at my qualifications, my commitment over the course of the last 16 years as I represented them in the Legislature in both the Assembly and the Senate. And I think that even though this is a district where only 28% of the voting-age population was actually African American, I received 64.4% of the vote in the primary--a great tribute to the coalition that we put together where I was leading in all the communities, and I'm very, very humbled and very proud to be representing this district.

Tavis: So Barack Obama clearly isn't the only one--with all due respect to my friend Barack Obama, not the only one who put together a tight coalition. Let me ask you what it means from your prism, from your perspective, when we see a Barack Obama build that kind of coalition, when we see a Gwen Moore build that kind of coalition. Should I stop saying that racism is the most intractable issue in America?

Moore: No. Tavis, really, racism really is an American problem. It still is a struggle for all of us, but there are people of goodwill in all races that really are tired of our country having that as being the loss leader of politics, and people really voted their own interests. You know, it wasn't as if I put this coalition together for the purpose of running for office. For the past 16 years, I've looked out for the interests of women, for low-income wageworkers, for people of color. And when this seat became open, I think that it was a harvest of the groundwork that I had laid before.

You know, when you're an African American, when you're a woman, and when you look out for the least of these, that will in fact--and I had a very simple principle of my legislative career, and that was the focus on fairness. And I believe that that 64.4% of the vote that I received in the primary and the 70% of the vote I received in the general was a reflection of that groundwork that I have laid. No, racism is alive and well, but there are people of goodwill who will support you despite your race and the differences that are there.

Tavis: I want to move off of this 'cause I want to talk about your story. Before I move off of this issue, for those who are interested--I certainly was when I discovered this--the 109th Congress, in which Ms. Moore will be sworn in as the first African American from Wisconsin, will be the most multiracial, multicultural, multiethnic Congress we have ever had.

Get this. There'll be 79 women in this Congress, 41 African Americans in this Congress, 25 Hispanics in this Congress, 4 Asians in this Congress, and one American Indian. A lot more to be done, but clearly the most diverse Congress ever. That said, I want to get back to your story.

There's an old adage, as you know, that we say inside of black America that folk can see your glory, but they don't know your story. So we see you--we see you now about to be sworn in, in Congress, but take me back to the story that I referenced earlier, being a single mom and at one point in your career, while you were at Marquette, you found yourself on welfare to support yourself. How did you navigate your way from there to here?

Moore: Well, Tavis, I could tell you that the story is everybody's story, actually. It's a story of never giving up, of always having hope, and it's also the story of having at least one person outside of your own family that really believes in you, really can see you in the future, and for people to take advantage of the abilities that they have. And even though I was poor, I didn't succumb to a lot of the stuff that was in the streets. And, you know, by the grace of God, I was able to take advantage of the intelligence that I had, my ability to actually enjoy schoolwork and to stick with it and to stay in school and to really have the fire in my belly to give something back to my community.

I always--no matter how poor I was, I always belonged to the community-based organization in my neighborhood, always went to meetings, and always cared about the politics of our neighborhood. So when I was on welfare, for example, I became a VISTA, a Volunteer in Service to America, so that I could start a community development credit union from scratch because I got tired of marching and protesting against the banks in our neighborhood for redlining. So we started our own bank, and I later became the VISTA volunteer of the decade, given an award by Sargent Shriver and U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller for my work on that project.

But it's the story of never giving up, of sticking to it, not succumbing to many of the nefarious, you know, cultural and social travesties in the community, and having that one or two people with church, school, other people who believe in you.

Tavis: Let me ask you what--or I should say how specifically your political advocacy has been impacted. Give me an example of how you fight differently, how you represent differently on these kinds of issues that are important to people who are socially, politically, or economically disenfranchised. How do you fight these fights differently, given that you have been a single mom, given that you have been on welfare? How's your advocacy different?

Moore: Well, thanks for asking that, Tavis. First of all, as an African American woman, I was the first African American woman to become a state senator, and as an African American and as a woman, I'm pretty used to being in the minority. And so, from that perspective, I realized how important it is to build coalitions without selling out. And I also, because I've come from a very simple background, I don't have a lot of needs. And so, you know, I was, you know, never really attracted to the kind of politics where I had to sell my soul and sell out, and I could just really, as the kids say, keep it real. And I worked very, very hard, built coalitions. And I think when people didn't agree with me, Tavis, they respected me. So, I got a lot done because I studied hard and I had garnered the respect for not really wanting to do this to advance my career or to get something, but because people really noted my sincerity and my hard work.

Tavis: You've been doing this inside-the-game kind of political work for years now. I think that there are two ways to be effective if you're talking about the body politic. It's like if you're gonna win an NBA championship, you need a good inside game and a good outside game, which is why the Lakers ain't gonna win this year. Oops! Anyway, having said that, you have gone from the outside, if you will, working for and with those community-based organizations to being a part of the inside now. You're in the paint now as a part of Congress. Tell me how you have found the transition over the years being an advocate on the perimeter to being on the inside?

Moore: Well, let me tell you, Tavis, I mean, what happens is, you really do stay in touch with your constituents. You know, a lot of people think that lobbyists or advocacy groups--like WEAC, for example, are lobbyists. But there are people who have a great deal of information for you. You can use them almost like adjunct staff. This is the greatest job in the world, because you have access to more information than you can absorb, and I literally am a junkie for information. And so, I read and read and read.

People think that this job is glamorous because you're on the 'Tavis Smiley Show,' but a lot of the time I spend reading and absorbing information, and these groups do provide you with a lot of information. And so, when you say you're staying in touch with your constituents, you're staying in touch with those groups who are on the ground, who know what the disability community needs, who know what elders need, who know what's the best policy for children and families, for people who are incarcerated. And so, you come off as being a very brilliant person because you have actually listened to people who are on the ground in the community.

Tavis: Let me close with this. I know that we've not gotten to the point yet where they're passing out committee assignments, but never mind committee, what do you hope to accomplish? Never mind the committee. What do you hope to accomplish as you move from being in a state legislature in Wisconsin to now being not just a representative of that district and your state, but now you're playing on the national level?

Moore: Well, thanks for asking, Tavis. I can tell you that workforce development in my district is the overwhelming problem, not only in this community, but around the country as well. And that has a lot of tentacles. Educational opportunity, employment training, trade policies, health care policies. So that if I could be effective in bringing some of the problems of workforce development and our being competitive in a global economy, if I could help solve that, I will have accomplished a great deal.

Tavis: Well, I have no doubt that in the many, many weeks and months and years ahead that we will hear your name as one who's fighting for the least among us, and I am delighted to have you on the program. Congratulations once again.

Moore: And congratulations to you, Tavis. You're a great commentator for the interests of people in the country.

Tavis: That's awfully nice of you to say. Thank you. We'll talk to you again, I'm sure, on this program.

Moore: All right.

Tavis: Take care. Up next on this program, Latino advocate Fernando Espuelas. Stay with us.