Welcome to The Newsfeed.

I'm Paris Jackson.

We sat down with Washington State's 19th attorney general, Nick Brown, for a comprehensive conversation.

Last week, you heard Brown talk about his priorities in office.

This week, we have the second half of that talk.

You will hear his thoughts about representation in politics as a first Black A.G.

in the state's history and how federal lawsuits impact Washingtonians.

Here's more from our sit down with Nick Brown.

You're the first Black attorney general in Washington's history.

Why is representation important to you?

You know, when I come to work in Olympia, there's portraits or pictures of all my predecessors on the wall.

And, you know, you go and it's the black and white and all the white men who had the job.

And then Christine Gregoire is the first different person and then me.

And I don't I don't take that for granted.

For me, it represents a change.

But it also brings a different perspective and different voice.

You know, I'm not interested in being the first Black A.G.

simply to have a black A.G.

but to lend a different voice to the work that we're doing.

And also giving the people that we serve a different sort of accountability and access to the office.

And so, you know, I understand that me being there gives me more opportunity to directly channel the voices of the Black community, brown community, underrepresented populations across the state.

The first lawsuit that you filed against the Trump administration was over the birthright citizenship executive order.

Why is it important that birthright citizenship remain?

You know, first and foremost, the president himself does not get to decide who is an American.

That is not what our Constitution says.

That is not the power that he bestows.

And what he is trying to do is simply redefine what it means to be American based on his own decision, and not the decision of the people of the United States through their representatives.

But at a more important level, it's about, you know, continuing our precedent that has been affirmed by the Supreme Court, time and time again, that if you're born on American soil, with very few exceptions, that you are an American.

And that has brought this country the diversity that we have now and has made us a unique democracy in this world.

And we don't want the president to be able to change that simply because he has a very different view.

And, you know, I don't want to pull any punches.

I view this president as taking actions time and time again that that veer towards fascism.

I believe he has a really sort of ingrained racial animus against anybody who does not look like him.

And so there are a lot of things that are driving his policies.

And even the people that he surrounds himself with, the vitriol and the hate by which they target Black and brown communities, immigrant communities, you know, the stream of really racist comments that comes out of the president's mouth.

We should not get used to that.

And I fear that we are.

With all of the things that you're facing, what gives you hope?

And in terms of what's your message to Washingtonians?

What gives me hope is an interesting question because I think we we confuse optimism and hope a lot.

Right?

Optimism, the sort of naive belief that things will just get better.

Hope is that with action.

And I remain hopeful because I've seen the impact of our work.

I've seen how lawyers and investigators and professional staff can make people's lives better.

You know, we are one part of what I think is needed to continue to try to make Washington better.

I'm Paris Jackson.

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