Kate Green
Appearances
The New Yorker Radio Hour
We the Builders: Federal Employees Stand Up to DOGE; Plus, Celebrating 100 Years: Michael Cunningham on “Brokeback Mountain”
So We the Builders is a way for people who are federal workers to get their message out, to explain what's happening to people who have less access. Like, this is why this matters. This is why this is dangerous. And that idea coalesced along with another idea that we were floating, which was to tell stories directly of federal workers, like a Humans of New York, but for federal workers.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
We the Builders: Federal Employees Stand Up to DOGE; Plus, Celebrating 100 Years: Michael Cunningham on “Brokeback Mountain”
Thursdays will still be Chloe and Shoma talking about the latest in fashion and culture, per usual.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
We the Builders: Federal Employees Stand Up to DOGE; Plus, Celebrating 100 Years: Michael Cunningham on “Brokeback Mountain”
And I was like, wait, what? Could we do a platform to explain these things, to share it with the public, share it with reporters, share it with activists to help them to figure out their messaging, what the next steps are? I love the idea of explaining technical concepts to everybody so that it's demystified.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
We the Builders: Federal Employees Stand Up to DOGE; Plus, Celebrating 100 Years: Michael Cunningham on “Brokeback Mountain”
When you're in the private sector and you're rolling a social media app, you can just keep shipping code every five minutes, every 10 minutes. I specialize in helping people do that. But when you're in government, you can't just keep shipping and experimenting directly on people without taking great care. And making that a piece of how the work gets done makes it look slower.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
We the Builders: Federal Employees Stand Up to DOGE; Plus, Celebrating 100 Years: Michael Cunningham on “Brokeback Mountain”
But in the end, it gives us a product that people love, that people... Okay, I'll take it back. They may not love it. Nobody likes filling out a government form. But it's something that's usable. It's understandable. And it's about capacity building and culture shifting. And it usually looks slower than what we're seeing right now.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
We the Builders: Federal Employees Stand Up to DOGE; Plus, Celebrating 100 Years: Michael Cunningham on “Brokeback Mountain”
I don't think want is in the equation. It's whether they feel safe to, whether they feel they'll be able to. I've heard more than once lately, I'm waiting until it's time to go back in. You know, I'm biding my time and finding other ways to help. State governments, local governments right now are asking... for us to come over. Not us like the two of us, but us writ large.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
We the Builders: Federal Employees Stand Up to DOGE; Plus, Celebrating 100 Years: Michael Cunningham on “Brokeback Mountain”
We're seeing a lot of my state, Maryland, we want you, please come work for us. But I also need to call out some of my colleagues who are still there and intend to stay. Like what respect I have for them.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
We the Builders: Federal Employees Stand Up to DOGE; Plus, Celebrating 100 Years: Michael Cunningham on “Brokeback Mountain”
I described it earlier today to somebody as like playing Jenga, the game where you stack up the blocks. And if you just start pulling things out without being cautious, you don't know what's going to happen. And unplugging stuff, plugging stuff in to these systems introduces a lot of risk. This is people's livelihoods, their access to disaster recovery, health care, payments for their children.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
We the Builders: Federal Employees Stand Up to DOGE; Plus, Celebrating 100 Years: Michael Cunningham on “Brokeback Mountain”
There are true consequences that are life or death.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
We the Builders: Federal Employees Stand Up to DOGE; Plus, Celebrating 100 Years: Michael Cunningham on “Brokeback Mountain”
Yeah. I think it's three prongs, judicial, Congress. And the third is the people. We saw it in 2020 with George Floyd and that starting a movement that stopped too soon. And we've seen it across the world over and over again. I can't say I know when that will happen and what will be the tipping point, but that's part of how we fight back.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
We the Builders: Federal Employees Stand Up to DOGE; Plus, Celebrating 100 Years: Michael Cunningham on “Brokeback Mountain”
Can I add one thing?
The New Yorker Radio Hour
We the Builders: Federal Employees Stand Up to DOGE; Plus, Celebrating 100 Years: Michael Cunningham on “Brokeback Mountain”
One of the things that we're starting to see is Doge talking about building new things. And let me be clear, if they're going to build things that are going to increase access to services that Americans have paid taxes for or are entitled to, I'm all for that.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
We the Builders: Federal Employees Stand Up to DOGE; Plus, Celebrating 100 Years: Michael Cunningham on “Brokeback Mountain”
But we need to be paying attention to where they're focusing and what they're doing and making sure that we are speaking up and holding them accountable.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
We the Builders: Federal Employees Stand Up to DOGE; Plus, Celebrating 100 Years: Michael Cunningham on “Brokeback Mountain”
Thank you.