lenora was making is that many good people get elected and mean well. i'm thinking about some of our colleagues in color broader sharing their experience of getting elected in having good ideas and then going to serve and a legislature that is not run on state democratic principles. it is run by two political parties. before we can change that or couple that to educating americans about the connection between the process you go through in the how come you get, our public policy remains fairly backwards, and created, not up to date with the current scientific breakthroughs happening all through the world and our country in education, in health care. i was completely apolitical as i went through my nursing education and began public service until they realized this huge disconnect between capacity and how our health care system was structured, and that delivery system was going to have to be changed to the political process. just to add to some of our conversation. [applause] >> let me make one quick point. i think there is consensus that political reform

lenora fulani. next to her is michael hardy, a civil-rights attorney in new york city, and his primary area of practice includes criminal defense litigation, not-for- profit organizations, employment, and civil rights litigation. he was a founding member of the national action network and has served as counsel to the network and to reverend al sharpton for over 15 years. michael has been in the forefront of the legal fight against police brutality in the new york city, defending victims and their families in some of this city's most high-profile cases. in 2007 we were very fortunate to have michael defending the voting rights of members of the new york city independent party in state sturbridge in state supreme court. an old friend, a longtime ally, michael party. -- hardy. cathy stewart is next to michael. known to many of you, she's the founder of the independent party of the york and tears of manhattan organization. she serves as the city wide coordinator for the new york city organization for th

[applause] >> lenora? before you answer, i just want to say we have to wrap up in like two minutes, so your comments and then for others who haven't commented, i want to ask you to keep them brief and we will wrap up. >> i mean, this takes me back to the point fred newman was making earlier today, which is there are many people who come from many different walks of life. we've been working with hundreds of thousands of kids over the last 30 years, and their parents and the community, and also key people in the business community and in the cultural worldview in new york you're interested, who are caring, who are givers. and we created solutions. the issue is getting the stage on which you can express and share those solutions beyond what we are immediately doing when you have partisan politics guarding the doors of dialogue. so lots of people care, and a lot, there's tons of thousands of young people who are not taking to the streets, which, i mean come time for the streets, but they are taking to developm