We have learned so much from our political experts about the upcoming election.

Today, we will hear from a representative from the White House, Jaron Smith, the deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy and a proud Howard University alum.

Jaron will share his journey from Howard to the White House.

Hello, my name is Dr. Wayne Frederick and you're watching The Journey.

NARRATOR: Make the choice to begin anywhere in your life and the journey has started and along the way, be inspired.

Listen to the stories by joining the president of Howard University, Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick on The Journey.

So welcome to The Journey.

I just want to step back a bit and talk a little bit about your upbringing.

You're from Cleveland, Ohio originally.

So why don't you tell our audience a bit about what it was like growing up in Cleveland?

Okay, so I'm born in Cleveland on the east side, blue collar background.

My dad worked for the division of streets.

Meaning he did all the plowing of snow and snow and repairing the streets.

You know, my family, you know, like many families was hit hard by the crack cocaine pandemic, and so I was lucky to have my dad and then also be able to spend time with my mother on the weekends.

So they did some co-parenting, but many of the young men I grew up with did not go to college.

Many of them ended up in the system and it motivated me to really want to go to Howard and learn more about how I can be a change to the community.

And what was your high school like in Cleveland at that time?

So my high school, I got shipped to a Catholic school and so it was really my saving grace just because I had challenges with focusing in school up until I went to high school and I broke my leg playing football on my sophomore year.

It was then that I started to take school a little more seriously, but my father actually used my mother who used, who lived on public assistance.

He used her address to help me be able to pay for Catholic school and so I really wanted to go to school with a lot of my friends in the neighborhood, but my dad thought it was best that I go to Catholic school and I did that and I played football and it literally was the saving grace that changed my life because in my neighborhood, I was the only one to go to college.

WAYNE: When you played football, what position did you play?

So I played a middle linebacker and center.

Okay.

So I was a small guy playing the big guy role, but, you know, we went undefeated and went to the state final four.

So it was definitely a life-changing experience in high school.

Yeah, team sports, especially at the high school level can be so transformative in terms of your entire formation as a person, you know, being part of a bigger unit, et cetera, and I'm sure that's what you experienced in Cleveland.

Yeah, definitely.

I had a traditional football coach who was a stockbroker by day and he coached football.

He transformed our system and he was a good mentor to me.

Are you a Cleveland Browns fan?

All the way.

Cleveland Browns, Ohio state, Cavaliers, Indians.

Howard made me that way.

Actually, when I went to Howard, I was cheering for some other teams, but I didn't want to represent any other city when I was at Howard with my hometown, so I became a die-hard fan.

Right, so with that in mind, tell me about your Howard experience.

You know, what year did you come to Howard and what was your major when you came to Howard?

Sure, so I started at Howard in 2000 which was an election year.

So that was a crazy experience in itself because, you know, DC is an interesting place during an election year, and then I graduated in 2004, but also came back to Howard in 2008 and graduated with a master's in divinity in 2012.

But from 2000 to 2004, I was in the school of business and participated on power hall, was a treasurer of the student council at USSA, but it was just great to get active around campus, you know.

I was, I pledged to Alpha there, Beta chapter, and I was a head of community service for Alpha, and so just a tremendous experience and it really taught me a lot about who I am as a person.

And what was your impression of the politics as it were when you were on campus being in DC?

Because I think a lot of times when students come to Howard, they're a little bit overwhelmed by just how much politics is all around the city and can be all consuming.

What was your experience as a student around politics?

It was definitely eye opening for me seeing that I, when I came to Howard, I was a blue collar family and a registered Democrat, and voted for Al Gore my freshman year, but the uniqueness of Howard is they pushed this whole philosophy about a relentless pursuit of truth, and I went out very curious to kind of learn more about my own politics, and from my experience at Howard ended up getting the internship on the Hill.

And so half my time at Howard, I interned on the Hill while I was going to school.

And in that time also started at College Republican Chapter after learning more about the Republican party at Howard.

Who did you first intern with?

Oh, Congressman J. C. Watts.

Yeah, Congressman J. C. Watts from Oklahoma.

So he was then chair of the House Republican Conference, and so I joined the Republican conference office and that was only the beginning of, that was the summer of 2002.

He resigned at the end of that summer, and that following summer, I got another internship with former speaker Dennis Hastert and they also gave me my first job after college.

And as you look back on that time and you think about being a registered Democrat and then starting the college Republican group here on campus, what about the Republican platform appealed to you in that period of time?

Sure, well the experience on the Hill taught me a lot because I had this worldview that, you know, the Republicans were enemy and all of them were rich and racist, and so after spending time on the Hill and meeting some people who were like me and share some of my values, I thought that I could actually add some more diversity to the party.

There was a lot of African-Americans in the Republican party, but not a lot from my own socioeconomic background, and so I thought it was really important that they have a diversity of people not only from the black community, but from the socioeconomic background that I came from.

And so that's what made me start a college Republican chapter or restart a college Republican chapter at Howard after doing an internship.

And I used to joke, I was like, you know, when Republicans are in charge, we'll always need some black person to be at the table, you know?

So that's why I did that.

Little did I know, almost 20 years later, I'll be playing a role in reality advising the president.

And you are deputy assistant to the president on domestic policy.

What do you see as the president's primary domestic policy wins as it were, especially in this cycle where obviously his tenure is under scrutiny as he has, is in the middle of his bid for reelection?

Sure.

So the primary piece was allowing for opportunity and jobs for all Americans specifically like the blue collar communities where I came from or areas in the south where you lost manufacturing and a lot of the jobs went overseas, and so I think his biggest policy win is renegotiating NAFTA and focusing on a strong, vibrant middle-class economy.

We were able to see a wage growth in the lower segment of America, a lot higher than the higher segment of America over those the last three years, and so I think that's his number one policy achievement.

I would say number two is making sure those type of goals stretch to communities of color.

So when you're looking at the African-American community, you saw the lowest unemployment rate, you saw the lowest poverty rates, I mean, you saw the gap between blacks and whites when it relates to wealth disparity start to curve a little bit and get closer together.

And then lastly, making sure that this is a country of second chances.

Participating in the first step back and on reforming our criminal justice system and allowing for 14,000 people to come home and get a chance to the American dream was a monumental reforms, and I think paired together is setting the stage for all Americans getting access to the American dream.

So the president's words don't always match some of those achievements that you just mentioned.

So for instance, as you mentioned about wealth and you talk and you look at healthcare disparities, there's concern about people being able to have insurance, being able to be covered, and especially with COVID disproportionately affecting African-Americans, I think there's a concern about pre-existing conditions and it's loosely debated, but probably not in the way that it should, and then on the issue of criminal justice reform, as you pointed out through the first step back, you know, one of the concerns is trying to end what seems to be a longstanding history of a distrust in the African-American community around law enforcement and the way we see some of the images on television that brings it home.

Sure.

What do you think needs to be done to close that gap between sometimes I think what the president is out speaking to, and then what somebody like you is actually working on.

Sure, well one thing I can tell you, it takes bipartisanship.

These issues that we talk about are non-partisan.

These are issues that all Americans care about and you brought up the issue of preexisting conditions.

That's the most bipartisan part of healthcare reform.

I think everyone wants to cover preexisting conditions.

Both sides are just trying to figure out how to best cover and pay for those with preexisting conditions and what we've seen at least through some of the president's leadership is the ability to bring Republicans to the table on issues they traditionally don't work on, and you saw that with criminal justice reform and you saw in criminal justice reform, law enforcement supported in a unique way that they hadn't before, and so we were able to create a coalition that hadn't been created before, and the same thing happened with NAFTA.

We were able to bring bipartisan consensus, work through a long haul of differences between the two parties, and I think we can do the same on around healthcare, but it has to be done in a bipartisan manner, and I think the president has a track record of doing that.

As it relates to police reform, we had a bipartisan way for it, and we exemplify that in our executive order.

Tomorrow, we're going to make an announcement on the executive order that's going to talk about how 4,000 new police departments are now accredited, and we'll have rules around use of force, show code, deescalation training, some of the core elements that would further make trust between the police and the community better.

We want to make that statutory.

And I think if he was allowed a second term, we probably, he would likely have one of those be one of the number one things that would be put into law, but that's been the work, you know.

You know, a lot of talk during the election year, but I can honestly tell you that just some of the things we've done factually and it's been a blessing to be a part of it.

And obviously you're an African-American in the White House at a very unusual time in our nation's history, and you are trying to further some of these causes along.

As you look out into the nation, what do you think are some of the issues right now that need to be addressed so that we don't seem as fractured a nation as we seem now in terms of not being able to come to the table and discuss these important issues in a way that would be helpful to all.

It seems that there is a lot of rhetoric around the concerns but a lot of partisanship in terms of people not being able to speak to each other, not being able to have a conversation about tough issues.

Sure, so I'm hopeful.

You know, when I worked on criminal justice reform, I worked closely with Hakeem Jeffries and Cedric Richmond and also Dick Durbin to get reform there, but I've also been around the country to over 60 different cities and I've done panels and worked with local mayors who are the Democratic party, and we found consensus and started revitalizing those communities.

What I think what people want most is action, you know.

Real jobs in their communities, real access to healthcare and a real opportunity.

And the only way that we can do that is if we work together and it's not just on the federal level.

We need local leadership as well.

So we need federal state, local leaders, as well as the private sector, and that's to me is what I think is on the horizon regardless of how anything ends up in the election.

I think at this point in time that people are ready to work together and work on solutions, but it has to actually touch people and whatever capacity I am in, you know, I'll definitely contribute to that because this is my life work and until I see the community like the community I grew up in in Cleveland, Ohio changed and revitalize, you know, I'll continue to do the work.

What messages do you have for folks who are looking at the pools, Howard students, and they look and see something like a Breonna Taylor incident and they are concerned about their safety.

I'm pretty sure you, soon to be father, you want your kids to grow up in an America where they can feel safe, and as you know, many African-Americans are sometimes unsure about that, and when you see a Breonna Taylor incident, what are your thoughts and what's your advice to the young people who are looking at those things?

Well one, you have to get involved locally.

When you're talking about things like law enforcement that deals with a lot of local laws and your ability to control who's the chief of police and how they're policing, and so that type of accountability needs to be put on local mayors and then state attorney generals.

And so we think we have the bully pulpit that can encourage best practices on how to best get there, how do we bring both sides together.

You know, when we worked on the executive order for policing, it wasn't just with the police groups.

It was with the families.

Families like Ahmaud Arbery.

Families who've been lost with senseless violence.

And I think we can fix it.

As crazy as it may sound, we were a lot worse off with these police and community relationships 20 years ago, and things are getting better, but the loss of life of one is too many, and so we have more work to do.

And I think that people, and all the different segments that I talked about state local, private sector and federal are all willing to come together to create change, and I think we'll get that.

When you were first approached about speaking at the RNC convention, which is certainly, for either party to have African-Americans on that platform is unusual, but when you were first approached, what were your thoughts and then what was the reaction that you got directly to your speech?

So, you know, I was nervous about it just because I know how a heated this election environment is, and it's a big national platform.

You know, afterwards I did get attacked a lot for supporting the president, but I thought about the million people from opportunities zones that are going to be lifted up for poverty.

I thought about the 14,000 people that have come home from prison.

You know, I thought about the 107 HBCUs that are the subject of every conversation and have historic funding and are going to be the linchpin for the next generation of leaders, and I said, "Jaron, you just have to go out there "and be a voice for those people and speak truth to power."

And so, you know, I'm honored to be asked to be on that type of platform, and it was an honor to do it, and I'll let the work of the president and the work we'd done in this administration kind of speak from the integrity of the speech that I did, but it ended up being an honor for me, definitely some nervousness, but I think it was the right thing to do.

Now I'm sure you have lots of Howard friends who, lots of Howard alum who are your friends, and I know that they could be a robust crew, and one of the things that does exist here is that you can have a difference of opinion at Howard and still have very close friendships.

Those people that are closest to you, how do they support you and how have they been supporting you through some of these issues?

Well, you know, a lot of people who don't know me came out hot on social media, you know, with reactions to me speaking at the convention.

A lot of people that I know defended me.

A lot of people that I know who didn't know me that well, that didn't know the work that I did here had concerns with it, but at the end of the day, I've just been blessed to have a good circle of friends that are encouraging, and we're all kind of motivated by the same work and so, you know, iron sharpens iron, and certainly the Howard community made me who I am today, and I'm blessed to be able to have the friendships from both sides of the aisle.

I mean, in my experience and working in politics has been some of the Howard people and some Democratic leaders across the aisle who've kept me encouraged and has been a real good friend and a partner with helping me weather the storm of any type of criticism that people may throw at me because of my position in the administration.

So it's been a blessing and I'm proud to say that I'm a Howardite as a result of it.

I recognize that you and Senator Harris have different world views on many in issue.

Having said that, you have a common thread in being both graduates of Howard University.

When she was nominated to the ticket, what were your thoughts putting aside the politics of the moment?

Oh no, it was historic.

I mean, I think the vice president said it best.

You know, it's a historic moment for our country to see a woman of color, a Howard grad be on a presidential ticket, and so I was certainly proud of that in the same way I was proud when Barack Obama was nominated president, and you can be proud and disagree with someone's policy stances because at the end of the day, we're all Americans.

We all want to see the best for America.

And so, you know, I wish her a lot of luck, you know.

I know I'm on the other team rooting for the Trump-Pence platform but, you know, I think it's a great part of American history that we've arrived to having such diversity on a national stage when it comes to presidential tickets.

And Howard University's unusual.

We've sent the first African-American Supreme Court Justice.

We've had the first elected, publicly elected Senator after reconstruction and Edward Burke, Senator Harris being on a ticket, you've been in the White House advising the president, what do you think is so special about Howard that allows for this type of kind of glass ceiling breaking activity to take place?

Well I think that diversity, you know, when people think about Howard University, oh Dr. Frederick, they think of a monolith of black people, but like you, you have a Caribbean background.

I get to meet individuals who have a Caribbean background or African background, or a person from Cleveland versus a person from Alaska.

They might be black, but they're so different, and it encourages the individual to be who they are, to celebrate your diversity, to celebrate your uniqueness, and that's why I think it's a place for growth and opportunity for so many African-Americans including myself, who I learned more about who's Jaron Smith at Howard, and I'm sure many of those individuals who have become the first learned more about who they were as a person from attending Howard University.

Now political science is now our second most popular major, and I think that's a direct result of politics has been fun and scented it seems for the past four to five years.

For those young people coming in with that major, what type of advice do you have for them as they think of their political careers, and they think of how to get started.

You obviously had the good fortune of getting an internship early on, but what other types of advice you would give them in terms of mindset and what they should be thinking about doing?

So I'm going to say something a little more traditional to that, you know, because I almost became a political science major at Howard.

However, my mentor said like, "Look, "there's too many political scientists on the Hill.

"We need people with expertise."

And so I continued with my degree in finance and it's helped me with all the economic development work that I'm doing and access to capital work that I'm hoping to bring to fruition.

I think for anyone trying to get into politics, have a niche because America is very diverse and we need to be empowered on whether it's in the healthcare arena or education.

Those niches guide public policy for the nation, and so if someone wants to get into politics, it's always better to have those niches because that expertise can help really move the needle on policy in a pragmatic way that actually touches people's lives.

Right, I think that's absolutely sound advice.

There's so much going on right now.

And then as you look at domestic policy, you focus a lot on economic development, but let's talk a little bit about social issues that are also impacting.

So for instance, the social determinants of health have really impacted us during the pandemic.

What are some of the domestic policy initiatives that you have been thinking about that you think can really change some of those social circumstances?

Sure, so as the Surgeon General Adams always says, health is wealth, you know.

So having economics does certainly help with some of the social effects on health, as you know.

You know, we are, we're gonna focus, if the president was to get a second term on allowing for more access to healthy food, more invested in some comorbidities like hypertension, you know, or diabetes.

We recently just historically signed into law more research and investment into sickle cell disease.

The first lady actually just hosted a summit or a round table around that initiative, and we're working towards having a cure for that disease that affects so many different African-Americans, but I think aside from that, we need to invest in the institutions that have experts in these areas.

It's institutions like Howard or Morehouse School of Medicine or Meharry Medical School.

One of our, as you know, one of our recommendations was to invest in that consortium so that you all can do more work outside of just your localities, but help the nation as we deal with disease and how they affect people of color, but we also would want to look at that internationally in the diaspora.

Recently, we announced a pan African Institute that would be located in Africa for health disparities, but really focused on dealing with pandemics and how it affects African-Americans or Africans globally in the diaspora.

And we want to do, we did that in partnership with these HPCUs because you all have the expertise, and so we don't have to go on far wide to learn how to solve for these issues because schools like Howard and Morehouse and Meharry have been doing it for years.

They just need more investment, more infrastructure to multiply and scale that work.

And so I think that's a way for us to close those gaps, but it's going to have to be the combination of investing in the economics, but also investing into the critical infrastructure around healthcare.

Yeah, I came to Howard University, one major reason is because I have sickle cell and how it had a sickle cell center and I tell people that that was a major part of what certainly transformed my life in general.

You know, sometimes you don't appreciate that just longevity in and of itself Sure.

is a necessary ingredient to fulfill your dreams, and so Howard certainly Amen.

gave me that in so many ways.

You know, as we're wrapping up, what is in your future as you look forward, give or take anything that comes out to the election, do you intend to stay in politics longterm?

The last time we saw a young African-American on the DNC platform, he ended up being in the White House as the president.

You've been in the White House, you're in the RNC stage.

What do you have in your longterm future?

Well, you know, the biggest job I have is being a father to twins.

I have twins coming in January, and so that's going to be my big focus over the next couple of years, making sure that they're settled and helping my wife raise them.

I, you know, it's an interesting question.

You know, when I left politics in 2005 and moved back to Cleveland and started an investment company, and then moved back in 2008, and when I moved back, I said I was going to let God take the spirit, take the steering wheel of my life, and so I still hold that to be true.

And so I got called to serve in politics and whatever I do next is in, to God be the glory.

So I'll just stay in prayer for it to try to discern how I can best serve.

Well you're certainly a true Howard alum.

You've gone out and tried to find your truth and going into service, and for that, we appreciate you.

I also appreciate the fact that while everybody doesn't always agree with you, including myself, you've always been willing to come to the table, and I still think that that's what our country needs to move forward.

Amen.

We need more dialogue and more discussion, and so I appreciate you for always having an open mind and being willing to hear that.

So thanks very much.

No problem, thank you.

Well thank you for inviting me on your show, Dr. Frederick and I look forward to continuing to build together.

Sure, absolutely.

Thanks for being here.

My guest today was Jaron Smith, deputy assistant to the United States president for domestic policy.

I'm Dr. Wayne Frederick.

Please join me next time on The Journey.

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Thank you.