Moving Forward: A Story of Hope, Hard Work, and the Promise of America

Summary

A moving, inspiring political memoir and progressive call-to-arms from Chief Public Affairs Officer for MoveOn.org, chronicling her own experiences, from growing up in New York’s Haitian community to working in the Obama White House, and charting a path for others to help change the face of politics.

Part memoir, part how-to and part progressive political handbook, Moving Forward takes the reader on a journey that begins in the Haitian-American enclave in Queens, New York, where I grew up. Most political origin stories have the same backbone: reading the Washington Post in elementary school; skipping school to see a presidential candidate; canvassing door to door before they can count to ten.

That story can be intimidating. It reinforces the feeling people so often have that politics is a closed system; that if you weren’t participating in debate club or Young Democrats or Model U.N. by the time you finished high school, you have no chance in politics.

That is not Karine Jean-Pierre’s story. Unlike many people in politics, she is a naturalized American citizen. She wasn’t drawn to politics until after college, when she realized she wanted to have impact, to have her voice heard in the public arena, and to speak for those who are silenced in our society.

In Moving Forward, Jean-Pierre sets out to make politics accessible to anyone who wants to take part, no matter how or where they grew up or how young or old they might be. In the age of Trump, the need for all of us to participate has never been more crucial. The progressive cause needs us if we are to rescue the nation from Trump and the evils of racism, sexism and the Koch brothers’ billions. This book will be a call-to-arms for those who know that now is the time we must act.