Rediscovering Togetherness with Senator Jon Ossoff

Togetherness is not a warm slogan, it’s the only way we meet the scale of what’s in front of us. From the start, we press on a simple question: how do you remember the past honestly without letting it turn into bitterness? 

In this episode, Bishop Wright has a conversation with Senator Jon Ossoff about faith, leadership, and what it takes to build a better world when the headlines feel like a steady stream of bad news. Ossoff traces his moral education through the legacy of Congressman John Lewis and the civil rights movement in Georgia, including the historic alliance between Black and Jewish communities in the South. He shares the powerful symbolism of being sworn into the US Senate on scripture belonging to Rabbi Jacob Rothschild, the Atlanta rabbi whose temple was bombed in 1958 for supporting Dr. King and the SCLC. They discuss what interfaith coalition building looks like when it’s real, not performative, and why serious faith traditions should pull us alongside each other when the stakes are high. Listen in for the full conversation. 

Born and raised in Georgia, Senator Jon Ossoff serves as our Senior United States Senator. Since his election, Sen. Ossoff has built bipartisanship in the Senate to achieve meaningful legislative results for Georgia — even in a divided Congress. In his first two years in office, Sen. Ossoff passed into law more standalone bills than any other freshman Senator. Sen. Ossoff’s legislative achievements include laws to protect children online; to strengthen public safety; to tackle the opioid epidemic and prevent fentanyl trafficking across the Southern Border; to investigate unsolved lynchings and Civil Rights murders; to strengthen mental health care services for veterans; and to fight corruption and improve security in U.S. prisons. Mentored by civil rights legend Congressman John Lewis, Sen. Ossoff previously led a small business that produced investigative journalism exposing war crimes, public corruption, human trafficking, and organized crime. Sen. Ossoff lives with his wife, Dr. Alisha Kramer, and two daughters in Atlanta.

Transcript

Why Togetherness Matters Now

Senator Ossoff 0:00

You know, in order for us to meet the extraordinary challenges of this moment in history and seize the opportunities of our time, we've got to rediscover togetherness. We've got to rediscover a sense of mutual love, mutual respect, recognize that we're all in this together and that our power when we work together and come together is so much greater. Our power to build a better world.

Bishop Wright 0:40

Hi, everybody. This is Bishop Rob Wright. Uh, and uh we've got a special guest today. We've got Senator John Ossoff with us. Senator, welcome. Bishop Wright, thank you so much for the opportunity and the privilege. How have you been? How's your family? Everybody's well. Thank you so much. Thanks for asking. I know you've got a busy day and uh we've got a lot to get to, so let's just jump right in. If you don't know, Senator Ossoff is born and raised in Atlanta. Uh he and I both went to school in Washington, D.C., though at different schools, and he and I both did some schooling in England. Uh and uh he's married and he's a father. Uh and he's been our U.S. senator from the state of Georgia since 2021. Uh, and so it says that uh, Senator Ossoff, you were uh the youngest senator at the time. Is that still true?

Senator Ossoff 1:25

That's still true. I was uh elected at 33, and uh and I remain the youngest member of the Senate.

Mentors And A Shared Legacy

Bishop Wright 1:34

You're you've had some pretty incredible mentors uh and teachers, John Lewis uh and Madeline Albright. Uh tell me about what they instilled in you and what sort of fuels you to do this work.

Senator Ossoff 1:47

You know, it's amazing how so much history has echoed uh in our recent past in the state of Georgia when Senator Warnock and I were running together and alongside each other for the Senate.

Bishop Wright 2:02

Yeah.

Senator Ossoff 2:03

A black pastor who holds Dr. King's pulpit at Ebenezer Baptist Church and the young Jewish son of an immigrant. We reflected at the time on our shared connection to Congressman Lewis because Congressman Lewis had been my boss and my mentor, and Congressman Lewis had been Reverend Warnock's parishioner. Yes. And he passed away in the middle of that campaign. Uh, but you know, I'll never forget the very first real in-depth conversation I had with the Congressman. What he wanted me to understand as a very young Jewish man working in his office, what he wanted me to understand was the historic alliance between Jews and blacks in the South during the civil rights movement. He was concerned that younger generations weren't as connected to that history and weren't as aware of that history and that that memory might be lost. And then you fast forward, and uh there Senator Warnock and I are campaigning together in in in some way reviving and revitalizing that alliance. And so when I entered the Senate, I was sworn in, Bishop, on a book of scripture that had belonged to Rabbi Jacob Rothschild. Yes, had been the chief rabbi at the temple in Midtown, where I was Bar Mitzfood. He was the chief rabbi in the 1950s and 1960s when, as you know, in retaliation for his support of Dr. King and the SCLC, the temple was bombed by the Klan in 1958. And so I was sworn in, uh, standing alongside Reverend Warnock on that Tanakh that had belonged to Jacob Rothschild, both of us holding Congressman Lewis uh uh in our hearts as we took the oaths of office and entered the United States Senate.

Remembering Pain Without Bitterness

Bishop Wright 4:11

You bring up uh, you know, you swearing it in on Rabbi Rothschild's uh Bible. And, you know, I I wonder how you move forward with that, because it's one thing to remember the past, and some people become bitter uh about these past violence and past pains, etc. How have you decided to move forward? Of course, we have this coalition between blacks and Jews, and certainly between Christians and Jews, but how does it uh mobilize you personally to move forward, remembering not forgetting the past, but also becoming, you know, not becoming bitter about the past?

Senator Ossoff 4:44

I think that we have to draw upon the inspiring legacy of interfaith, multiracial coalition and movement building, yeah, that was essential to the movement in the 1950s, in the 1960s, and that I believe is essential to unlocking America's potential today. You know, in order for us to meet the extraordinary challenges of this moment in history and seize the opportunities of our time, we've got to rediscover togetherness. We've got to rediscover uh a sense of mutual love, mutual respect, recognize that we're all in this together and that our power when we work together and come together is so much greater, our power to build a better world. Uh, and so, you know, I have tried to be that kind of leader. And and, you know, and I so admire and respect the work that you've done, Bishop, uh, to lead toward interfaith fellowship and understanding. And I would ask you, what was the seed of that for you in the development of your worldview and your approach to your job? What has made you so passionate about building those links between faith communities?

Bishop Wright 6:05

Two things that we likely have in common. Number one, to meet extraordinary people, to be to have been mentored and be in close contact with extraordinary souls uh from lots of different kinds of traditions, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, et cetera, who understand that the stakes are too high for pettiness, um, that well-being, national well-being, the well-being of our children and grandchildren uh are really at risk. And so we've got to figure out how individually to be bigger. And the best case, uh, I think the best test of our the abiding depth of our faith traditions is that it pulls us together. It puts us alongside each other. And so I'm continually inspired. In Atlanta, we have uh just a beautiful, long history of having these extraordinary leaders and lots of lots of different faith traditions. We've had Rabbi Berg uh on the podcast previously. And so that continues to inspire me. And also, what inspires me is that they rolled up their sleeves and they did work. They didn't just talk it to death, they did considerable work uh that you and I actually have been great beneficiaries of, not only in Atlanta, but certainly uh beyond uh the state of Georgia in America. Um,

Bipartisanship And A Blunt Warning

Bishop Wright 7:11

you know, we're at an inflection point in this country right now. People we're celebrating 250 years. And at the same time, people are worried about will we have a democracy going forward? You know, there the the listenership of this podcast is pretty broad, broad. I'm I'm very pleased about that, proud of that. Uh, we've got people from every stripe, uh, religiously and politically. And so what can you say as a sitting senator to us, given this 24-hour news cycle that seems like it's full of nothing but bad news? What do you tell us uh about uh the Congress and about I mean, are our hopes misplaced? Uh, do we have the right people? Can we get the work done? Um, you know, can we restore civility? Uh and I realize that no elected official can do it all. But but tell us a little bit about you know what gives you hope right now.

Senator Ossoff 7:59

Well, let me speak very bluntly about the situation that we face. Uh, you know, I I I believe and I have seen our power to serve the public interest when we work together. Yeah. I may not lead the headlines because it's not that controversial, but we passed bipartisan infrastructure law a few years ago, the most significant investment in America's infrastructure since the Eisenhower administration. It's pulling lead pipes out of drinking water systems, it's expanding broadband internet, it's upgrading seaports and airports and our energy grid, really important stuff that supports our prosperity and our health. And we did that with Democrats and Republicans in Congress. So we can achieve big things when we work together, but we also have to speak plainly about what we face right now. Yeah. And in my view, Bishop, and I recognize you have a politically diverse audience, and that's one of the reasons I was so excited to come on the show to address that politically diverse audience. Because in my view, what we're confronting right now, it's not uh the policy debate between the two political parties. It's a president who, in my judgment, styles himself and views himself as a king, who adorns the Oval Office in gold plate and wants to spend vast sums of money building a ballroom, who indulges in careless militarism abroad that undermines our prosperity and our national security, who uses the power of the federal government to persecute and target and harass his rivals and critics and adversaries, who tries to censor media whose coverage he deems insufficiently flattering of him. These are not the characteristics of a president in a constitutional republic. He behaves as if he wishes he were an autocrat. The self-enrichment. I mean, it's really obscene. A first family raking in billions of dollars from all over the world. And so what I think we need to do is unite to restore checks and balances and to rebuke these extraordinary abuses of power. I think it is vital that we come together to do that in these midterm elections. And Georgia will host the most important Senate race in the country this year.

Midterms, Voting Rights, And Mobilizing

Bishop Wright 10:35

Say a little bit about these midterms. Uh, you know, there's a there's a lot of uh talk about this right now, and people are wondering about voter suppression and and wondering that there's a lot of fear going into this midterm election. Say a little bit about this midterm election in your view. Clearly, it's important, it's absolutely critical, I think. Uh, but but you tell us why. now back to four people.

Senator Ossoff 11:15

Well, it's critical precisely because we must restore checks and balances. We must constrain the unchecked power of an out-of-control president who is abusing his office. And these midterm elections are our chance to do that. And as for these attacks on the Voting Rights Act, the ballot raid, the assaults on free and fair elections, the election denialism, still now the president obsessed with trying to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election. I'll tell you, I think that the president and his allies are making a huge mistake by bringing this attack on voting rights to the cradle of the civil rights movement in the state of Georgia. To come to Fulton County, Georgia, to come to the doorstep of Congressman John Lewis's district and attack voting rights, they may think that that will intimidate people. They may think that that will keep folks at home. What I believe it will do is galvanize an unprecedented mobilization. And the people's answer to those abuses will be overwhelming. I think the people will speak with a thunderous and resounding voice this fall, and we will start to write the ship.

Bishop Wright 12:37

Yeah, this is what some people are saying, uh, which is which is really hopeful, is that some sometimes we we find that pendulums have to swing so that they can swing back. And what I'm hoping is that uh this uh the dissatisfaction uh with the economy and abuses uh will create such an energy in uh people of all walks of faith and all walks of life, and we will get out and uh and we will actually sort of reclaim this democracy. But more than that, perhaps more than that, uh this willingness to understand that we are a complex American family and we hold these sacred things uh together: family, uh, faith, uh hard work, uh, improving the future for our families and for our children. I'm hoping we can get back to that really clearly uh and get that really uh stated really clearly. Um

John Lewis, No Despair, Keep Going

Bishop Wright 13:29

so uh I'm thinking as we wrap up uh here, um, you know, you you got a chance to spend a lot of time with John Lewis, and he'd been someone who'd been on the cutting edge of this, and he believed in America when America perhaps didn't believe in him or people like him. Uh what do you think John Lewis is saying to us and to you right now as we per move towards the midterms and beyond?

Senator Ossoff 13:52

Well, I think the congressman would have very high expectations of all of us, and he would remind us that we don't have the luxury of despair or cynicism. He would remind us that as daunting as this may seem, they face down much worse. Yeah. The man had his skull fractured for daring to demand the right to vote. Uh, and I think that he would call upon us to draw on the best of the American spirit and tradition. This is a country founded on the beautiful and the radical idea that all human beings are granted by God natural rights to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Uh, and our national story is one of despite our sins, making that foundational promise ever more real. Uh, and that is a powerful journey that we need to continue. And these midterm elections are an essential point along that path.

Bishop Wright 14:59

Indeed, a more perfect union, as we have heard. So, Senator Ossiff, I know you're really busy and you've got some votes uh left to uh left to take. And so uh thank you again for uh for making time to be with us. Uh, and uh we wish you all God's blessings, uh blessings to your family, uh, and uh to your good work and those you work uh to serve. Uh so thank you very much.

Senator Ossoff 15:23

Thanks, Bishop.