“I live in Brick Towers, a public housing project in Newark's Central Ward. I mov…” — Cory Booker

If you grew up where I grew up, you would experience a very different criminal justice system than Camden, New Jersey.

The richness of America is that we are diverse. We're not Sweden. We're not Norway. We are a great American experiment. And as soon as we start trying to forget race or turn our back on race, number one, we don't confront the real racial realities that still persist.

I have never articulated a specific number, but I think a nation as great as we are, that professes to favor freedom and liberty, that we would find a way to evidence that in our criminal justice system by achieving what we know we can achieve: a reduction in crime, a reduction in taxpayer expense, and a reduction in the prison population.

Innovators reimagine our world in so many areas. We need them to help reimagine what government can and should be.