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Speaker 1: The feedback from the director at that time was David o'

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Speaker 1: yellowell is not Doctor King. Three years went by and

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Speaker 1: it was a phone call from Nate.

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Speaker 2: Have you heard of this film, Selma.

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Speaker 3: I've been asked to audition, and I really think you

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Speaker 3: should go up for.

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Speaker 4: This the director and he had reached out through someone

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Speaker 4: to me and I said, do you know David o' yellowell.

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Speaker 4: I can remember him just kind of pausing, because rarely

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Speaker 4: will someone be talking about a role and ask him

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Speaker 4: if they know someone else, And I said, you really

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Speaker 4: should be David.

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Speaker 1: When I finally got the meeting, he sent me a

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Speaker 1: book called nineteen sixty five, Selma, just research for the audition.

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Speaker 1: I'm emotional about it because I've never experienced anything like

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Speaker 1: this before.

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Speaker 5: Since Hella Loves I'm Andrea Waters King. That was David o'

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Speaker 5: yellowell reflecting on a pivotal moment in his journey to

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Speaker 5: playing Doctor King, a moment shaped by the unwavering support

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Speaker 5: of his best friend Nate Parker. And today, during Black

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Speaker 5: History Month, David and Nate's story of brotherhood, faith, and

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Speaker 5: breaking barriers takes on even greater meeting. It's about the

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Speaker 5: power of standing together in a world that too often divides,

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Speaker 5: because legacy isn't just what we accomplish, it's the people

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Speaker 5: we lived up along the way. This is My Legacy,

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Speaker 5: a podcast hosted by me and my husband, Martin Luther King,

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Speaker 5: the oldest son of doctor Martin Luther King Junior and

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Speaker 5: Coretta Scott King. Together we're caring forward their iconic legacy

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Speaker 5: of equality, peace and justice. Plus we're joined by our

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Speaker 5: good friends New York Times bestselling authors Mark and Craig Kilberger.

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Speaker 3: Let's begin.

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Speaker 6: Welcome to My Legacy Podcast, where we help you create

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Speaker 6: a living legacy and live a fulfilled life. One of

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Speaker 6: the things that makes this podcast special is that we

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Speaker 6: don't just meet extraordinary individuals. We meet the people who

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Speaker 6: know them best. These are the ones who shared their

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Speaker 6: high There are loads and everything in between, giving us

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Speaker 6: deeper insight and understanding into what truly shapes who they

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Speaker 6: are and the legacy they want to create. David o' yellow,

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Speaker 6: you brought someone remarkable with you here today, Nate Parker.

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Speaker 6: Would you do us the honor of introducing him to

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Speaker 6: our audience and who he is in your life?

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Speaker 1: Yes, Nate is my best friend in the world. We

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Speaker 1: met over a decade ago doing a film called Red

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Speaker 1: Tales Together, and I found in him a kindred spirit,

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Speaker 1: not just as as an actor and an artist, but

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Speaker 1: also as an advocate for others, as someone who is

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Speaker 1: deeply invested in community. I learnt the phrase we not

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Speaker 1: me from him, and that's something he absolutely lives by.

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Speaker 1: He has five kids. I have four, so he's one

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Speaker 1: of the few people I know.

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Speaker 2: Who beats me.

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Speaker 1: The way he really beats me is that he has

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Speaker 1: five daughters and I have three sons and a daughter.

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Speaker 1: And my gosh, the fact that my daughter has on

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Speaker 1: my heart. I just don't know how you manage it

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Speaker 1: with five daughters. He's just someone I deeply admire, has

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Speaker 1: been incredibly impactful in my life, and yeah, as I say,

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Speaker 1: one of my favorite people on the planet.

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Speaker 6: We want to get to know both of you and

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Speaker 6: your relationship, but David, can we take a little bit

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Speaker 6: of a step back to get to know you better? Yeah,

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Speaker 6: you have a remarkable origin story, and I love the

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Speaker 6: fact that, if I'm not mistaken, your last name actually

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Speaker 6: means king. Yes, so I love that mister King and

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Speaker 6: mister King. But what impact does that have in your

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Speaker 6: sense of legacy when you can trace your roots to

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Speaker 6: your grandfather, who was a tribal Nigerian king.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, the full meaning of a yellow actually means a

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Speaker 1: king deserves respect and it's an extraordinary thing to be

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Speaker 1: born into a family. Where as you say, that is

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Speaker 1: the legacy, in fact, a very touching moment for me,

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Speaker 1: where you can take that for granted when it's something

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Speaker 1: you've had since you were born. But Nate came to

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Speaker 1: the memorial service of my mother when she had passed away,

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Speaker 1: and my cousins were there, who are more like uncles.

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Speaker 2: They're quite a bit older.

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Speaker 1: Than me, and they were talking about the meaning of

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Speaker 1: not just our last name, but our.

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Speaker 2: Names in general.

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Speaker 1: And Nate came up to me afterwards, very very emotional

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Speaker 1: and saying, I really was impacted by what we as

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Speaker 1: African Americans have lost in terms of our names, the

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Speaker 1: fact that our names are not necessarily steeped in the

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Speaker 1: history that or the likes of the history to which

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Speaker 1: you have our names are rooted in something more painful historically.

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Speaker 1: Like I say, I take my name for granted, but

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Speaker 1: there is something about the disposition you walk in knowing

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Speaker 1: that your grandfather was a king and I lived in

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Speaker 1: Nigeria from the age of six to thirteen, and I

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Speaker 1: lived in a society, in a culture, in a country

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Speaker 1: where I was part of the majority, not the minority,

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Speaker 1: and that had an enormous impact on me. When I

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Speaker 1: then returned to the UK age thirteen and now living

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Speaker 1: in America for the last seventeen years, something that happened

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Speaker 1: for me which was a real blessing. Between the age

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Speaker 1: of six and thirteen, when I lived in Nigeria, what

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Speaker 1: was eroded in me was a minority mentality, and that

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Speaker 1: meant that no matter the environment I go in, I

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Speaker 1: don't see myself as a minority, regardless of whether that

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Speaker 1: is one of the definitions that is attributed to me.

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Speaker 1: I walk in in the center of my own life.

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Speaker 1: I apply that to the stories I want to tell

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Speaker 1: and how I choose to live my life. And so

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Speaker 1: that was really formative for me. Only my name where

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Speaker 1: I'm from, but having a time of living there and

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Speaker 1: then being able to apply that, you know, as I

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Speaker 1: move forward in my life.

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Speaker 5: Well, it's interesting because I can also see a connection

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Speaker 5: with that and with Martin's father because the name and

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Speaker 5: taking the power back of your name, because most people

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Speaker 5: don't know that Martin Luther King Junior was born Michael

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Speaker 5: Michael King, and that his father, his grandfather, was so

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Speaker 5: inspired by the German reformer Martin Luther, that well, I

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Speaker 5: don't want to tell your story, Honey.

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Speaker 4: You're doing a good job.

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Speaker 5: Can I keep that on loose?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 7: My grandfather changed his name at about thirty maybe he

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Speaker 7: was thirty five and Dad was six or seven. So

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Speaker 7: he came back from Germany after an experience and seeing

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Speaker 7: the influence of Martin Luther, and he just came back

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Speaker 7: to Atlanta said I'm no longer Michael, I'm Martin Luther King,

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Speaker 7: a senior, and my son is going to be Martin

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Speaker 7: Luther King Jr. So you think about the fact that

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Speaker 7: all of that says something about who my grandfather was

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Speaker 7: and indirectly impacting who my father became. So Martin Luther

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Speaker 7: King Junior saw injustice like all of us did. But

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Speaker 7: he saw his father stand up against a system that

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Speaker 7: was in just and say we're not going to tolerate that.

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Speaker 7: And so it prepared Dad for in existence to constantly

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Speaker 7: challenge a system to become right. The system we all

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Speaker 7: knew was wrong. But what do you do about it?

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Speaker 7: You can choose an I want expecific example going into

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Speaker 7: a department store in the front door where everyone would

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Speaker 7: come to buy shoes, and Dad took his sons in,

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Speaker 7: and the clerks had looked, Reverend King, if you could

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Speaker 7: come in the back, we'll be happy to serve you.

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Speaker 7: My grandfather grabbed his sons and he said, if we

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Speaker 7: cannot buy shoes and come in and be treated with

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Speaker 7: dignity and respect, we will not shop here. And I'm

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Speaker 7: going to tell my three thousand members not to come here.

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Speaker 7: So Dad, seeing this at a young age was one

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Speaker 7: of the many examples that he saw that helped him

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Speaker 7: ultimately become a change maker.

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Speaker 5: And you have to understand too, even more so like

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Speaker 5: the power of the Black Church. So you were the

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Speaker 5: minister of one of the largest congregations. You're not going

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Speaker 5: to refer to me this way anymore. This is who

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Speaker 5: I am, and all of you all must refer to

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Speaker 5: me now as Martin Luther. And not only that, you

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Speaker 5: know my son is now. Can you imagine going back

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Speaker 5: to school and telling his teachers I'm no longer Myael.

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Speaker 5: You know, you know I'm Martin Luther. You know just

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Speaker 5: that power. And I'm also curious what type of is

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Speaker 5: there are any childhood experiences from both of you all

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Speaker 5: that have really impacted legacy and how you view legacy

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Speaker 5: and what you all are sharing with your kids and

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Speaker 5: how you've moved.

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Speaker 3: Forward with that.

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Speaker 1: Well, you know, I would say the thing that has

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Speaker 1: been said here just now that really comes home to

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Speaker 1: me is you cannot be what you cannot see. And

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Speaker 1: you know, for your grandfather to decide that I recognize

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Speaker 1: my position in this community, and I am going to

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Speaker 1: redefine how I am seen based on the legacy of

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Speaker 1: someone else who is more in line with the legacy

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Speaker 1: I want to have, and then that goes on to

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Speaker 1: be the legacy of your dad and then you and

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Speaker 1: then we all know what that has meant for the world.

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Speaker 1: Tied to Martin Luther, the original who was the inspiration

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Speaker 1: for the change of the name, I think that in

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Speaker 1: and of itself really demonstrates not only the power of

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Speaker 1: a name, but the power of intention. A lot has

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Speaker 1: been done to try and break people by changing the

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Speaker 1: definition of who they are, whether it be their name

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Speaker 1: or racial epithets that are used, or just ways of

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Speaker 1: recalibrating how they should see themselves and the people who

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Speaker 1: do that know that there is power in doing that,

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Speaker 1: power in denigrating a people, whether it be how they

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Speaker 1: are referred to as a group or their names in particular.

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Speaker 1: And so to see your grandfather do that and for

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Speaker 1: it to go on to have such incredible impact, just

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Speaker 1: that change from Michael to Martin, there's not much difference

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Speaker 1: when you look at those names, but the origin of

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Speaker 1: the name, the reason for changing the name, and then

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Speaker 1: the legacy of the name. It goes to your spirit,

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Speaker 1: It goes to your mindset, and it gives you a

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Speaker 1: fuel and an engine that you towards wanting to ascend

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Speaker 1: to the power of that name. So that's why I

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Speaker 1: talk about you cannot be what you cannot see once

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Speaker 1: you've seen it, once you have been able to redefine

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Speaker 1: the nature of what it is you are here to do.

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Speaker 1: And what also I was so inspired by is your

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Speaker 1: grandfather talking about you will not have access to my

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Speaker 1: three thousand strong congregation if you do not choose to

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Speaker 1: refer to us or treat us in a rightful way.

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Speaker 2: That's power.

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Speaker 1: So it's a recognition of who you are and the

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Speaker 1: power you actually have, and the combination of those two

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Speaker 1: things are incredibly impactful. And so to your question about

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Speaker 1: a childhood memory, you know, I go back to living

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Speaker 1: in a country for a time where every opportunity on

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Speaker 1: offer was mine for the taking, and how different that

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Speaker 1: is than when you then are living in a country where,

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Speaker 1: by definition, by example, in reality, and by perception, that

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Speaker 1: is not necessarily the case. And I call it the

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Speaker 1: Sydney Poitier syndrome. There is a reason why he had

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Speaker 1: the kind of outsized success here in America that even

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Speaker 1: today we as black actors, are trying to get to.

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Speaker 1: It's because he grew up in an environment as a

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Speaker 1: child that didn't have the same pressures as it pertains

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Speaker 1: to the redefinition of him. He grew up in the Bahamas.

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Speaker 1: He grew up in a place where he was part

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Speaker 1: of the majority, and so he also didn't have that

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Speaker 1: minority mentality. So by the time he came to America

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Speaker 1: and people were constantly trying to deny him opportunities, he

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Speaker 1: sort of had an attitude of I don't understand why

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Speaker 1: you do that. I'm going to continue to walk in

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Speaker 1: my truth. And that truth. You know, there's a saying

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Speaker 1: people treat your home the way you treat it he

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Speaker 1: treated himself the way he expected other people to treat him,

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Speaker 1: and that meant that doors opened for him differently, I think,

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Speaker 1: And so that childhood he had, I think helped him

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Speaker 1: move through the world in a certain way. Mine certainly

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Speaker 1: did as well.

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Speaker 6: Stay with us as David and Nate share more of

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Speaker 6: this powerful journey and inspiring friendship. We're back with David

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Speaker 6: oh Yelo and his best friend Nate Parker on the

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Speaker 6: My Legacy podcast.

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Speaker 1: And so much of my friendship with Nate has been

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Speaker 1: really looking at who we are as men, as black men,

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Speaker 1: considering the platform we've been afforded. Not unlike your grandfather

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Speaker 1: with that three thousand congregation, we have an audience who

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Speaker 1: are invested.

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Speaker 2: In the things we may.

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Speaker 1: You know, I fought seven years to get the privilege

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Speaker 1: to pay your play your father. I watched Nate fight

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Speaker 1: so hard to get the story of Nat Turner told.

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Speaker 1: And one of the extraordinary things that happen is I

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Speaker 1: desperately wanted him to be in Selma, and I remember

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Speaker 1: calling him up, and I think it was the part

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Speaker 1: of John Lewis that I was actually quite keen for

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Speaker 1: him to play. And he said, David, I've made a

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Speaker 1: vow to myself that I'm not going to be on

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Speaker 1: another set unless it is to make Birth of a Nation.

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Speaker 1: And even though we were best friends and I was

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Speaker 1: reaching out to him to say, look, come have a

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Speaker 1: good old time making this film with me, I deeply

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Speaker 1: admired his conviction to be like, no, this is one

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Speaker 1: of the things I've been put here on the planet

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Speaker 1: to do. And he stuck with it, and that was

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Speaker 1: I can't remember the years long. I know is many

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Speaker 1: years a long journey for that to come to fruition,

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Speaker 1: but that conviction is just so inspiring to me.

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Speaker 8: Thank you tell us about that. And I know you're

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Speaker 8: asked about legacy and what that means to you in

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Speaker 8: terms of your childhood, but that was an incredible story.

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Speaker 8: How do you feel about hearing that and how do

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Speaker 8: you share that with our audience?

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Speaker 4: Well, I'll try to speak speak to all of it.

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Speaker 4: I think we underestimate as a people programming language. I

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Speaker 4: have a you know, a computer technology background before I

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Speaker 4: became an artist. A lot of people don't know that

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Speaker 4: about me, but I remember having a professor and he said,

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Speaker 4: you know, a program will only do what it's coded

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Speaker 4: to do, no matter what you tell it to do,

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Speaker 4: it will only do what the code says. So if

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Speaker 4: a program didn't work and we came to it's not working,

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Speaker 4: so we'll check the code. But it's right. Well, if

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Speaker 4: it's right, then it will perform. It will execute, and

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Speaker 4: if it doesn't, there's something in the code. So we

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Speaker 4: think about our behavior as a people, specifically people who

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Speaker 4: are of the legacy, legacy of the enslaved in this

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Speaker 4: country so much, and this speaks to being brought up.

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Speaker 4: I was in Norfolk, Virginia, so so much of what

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Speaker 4: I desired to do with my life, what I wanted

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Speaker 4: to do, what how I deemed success as a man,

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Speaker 4: as a black man, as a as someone who was

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Speaker 4: you know, a part of my family name. Very little

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Speaker 4: of it, as I look now at forty five years old,

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Speaker 4: was healthy. You know where I come from. Your goal

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Speaker 4: is to get the money, no matter what, just don't

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Speaker 4: be poor. Escape, you know. So when you have an

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Speaker 4: entire community and their goals are set on escaping rather

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Speaker 4: than renovating or changing or improving, then problems will follow.

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Speaker 4: We're speaking from from you know, degradation, speaking from what

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Speaker 4: we've been told about ourselves. But it's a we're speaking

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Speaker 4: from teachers who tell us. I remember teacher sitting me

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Speaker 4: down saying you're gifted. You can get out of here,

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Speaker 4: literally looking in my eyes, telling me I could escape

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Speaker 4: from those around me if I just kept working hard enough.

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Speaker 4: And so all of a sudden, you look around identifying

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Speaker 4: your peers as problems, as people you do not want

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Speaker 4: to be around. So then when you escape, you celebrate

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Speaker 4: yourself as someone who escaped, and then you speak to

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Speaker 4: the fact that you've escaped. We hear it in all

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Speaker 4: the conversations I got out. I made it out. In

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Speaker 4: northern Virginia, there is no pro team, so there was

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Speaker 4: no aspiration to be a football player. There's no aspiration

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Speaker 4: to be a basketball player. You will either be in

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Speaker 4: the military and be in the naval shipyard, or you

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Speaker 4: will sell drugs, or you will in some other way

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Speaker 4: fall by the wayside or be in service forever. And

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Speaker 4: so my upbringing was not so different than many that

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Speaker 4: come from the South. So and I say that as

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Speaker 4: a contrast to being able to walk in the room

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Speaker 4: and say this is my room, we would walk into

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Speaker 4: the room and say, if only I can get away

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Speaker 4: from them, I may be able to shine in a

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Speaker 4: way that I could have a success where I could

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Speaker 4: have a position in this country that programming language without

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Speaker 4: being able to go to Germany in getting a new

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Speaker 4: line of code or somewhere else. You're kind of destined

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Speaker 4: to be to live at the ceiling that has been

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Speaker 4: designed for you. And it wasn't till even though I

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Speaker 4: went to college that I learned about that Turner, which

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Speaker 4: is why it became my obsession. Any room I came

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Speaker 4: into and they say, well, who's your hero before they

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Speaker 4: could finish, I'd say that Turner one, because I was

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Speaker 4: so inspired by the sacrifice, because I think that is

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Speaker 4: a theme that I'm sure we'll touch on. But also

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Speaker 4: I was so enraged by the fact that in all

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Speaker 4: of my schooling in Norfolk, Virginia, thirty five miles from

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Speaker 4: Southampton County, I never heard of the man only in whispers,

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Speaker 4: in ways that it was clipped before it could make

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Speaker 4: it all the way out of the mouth of the

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Speaker 4: person who's saying it. And that is problematic. So when

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Speaker 4: I left and learned, my goal was not to escape anymore,

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Speaker 4: but to come back with that story to remind people

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Speaker 4: that there was another side to that. There was someone

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Speaker 4: that said we will not tolerate this behavior. We were

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Speaker 4: put here by the God that we're looking up to,

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Speaker 4: who created the heavens and earth, that has a purpose

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Speaker 4: for us. That is not to be your mule, that

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Speaker 4: is not to be your animal. And so that became

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Speaker 4: my mission, which is why I switched very quickly away

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Speaker 4: from a computer. I didn't want to be an engineer.

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Speaker 4: I ended up being an actor because I said, you know,

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Speaker 4: I always asked. I asked David this, and I asked friends,

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Speaker 4: you know who has had more impact on medicine, Ben

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Speaker 4: Carson or you know a guy from Er.

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Speaker 2: You know what I mean?

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Speaker 4: The reality is more people went to medical school from

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Speaker 4: Mere than Ben Carson. Ben Carson is a genius. The

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Speaker 4: power of storytelling is so evident. But the storytelling is

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Speaker 4: just programming. We're teaching people how to be. If you

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Speaker 4: don't see it, you can't be it. So, you know,

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Speaker 4: to answer your question. Growing up in Virginia, the programming

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Speaker 4: language was very clear on what I would be able

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Speaker 4: to achieve. But it took me leaving. You know, college

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Speaker 4: was my Germany to get what I needed to do come

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Speaker 4: back and to change the people that were around me

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Speaker 4: and to change my mindset on the art of the possible.

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Speaker 4: When it came to came to people who look like

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Speaker 4: me now for natur for telling that story, I had

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Speaker 4: to make a decision, you know, Paul Robison said, the

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Speaker 4: artists much must decide whether he will fight for freedom

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Speaker 4: of bondage. I've made my decision, and it was so

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Speaker 4: inspiring to me that I said I need to. There's

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Speaker 4: there's only far, so far.

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Speaker 2: You can go.

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Speaker 4: Holding out in your hand what someone else has made

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Speaker 4: for you before you drop that and decide who you're

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Speaker 4: going to be. And I said, I've made my choice.

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Speaker 4: And so when he called me, I don't know. I

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Speaker 4: don't know if I have enough time in this podcast

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Speaker 4: to explain to you all what this man means to

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Speaker 4: me as a brother and friend.

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Speaker 5: I love love stories, and I love love stories in

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Speaker 5: all different formats, and I think it's so powerful and

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Speaker 5: wonderful for us to present a love story of black men.

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Speaker 5: I think that.

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Speaker 2: Is in any ways awkward.

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Speaker 4: Yes, So you know, when he asked me, I always

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Speaker 4: tell I told this. I said, there's nothing you'll ask

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Speaker 4: me to do that I won't do, So be careful if.

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Speaker 2: You tell me to show up.

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Speaker 4: Something's happened and we need to you know whatever, we

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Speaker 4: need to build a wall to cover the I'm showing up.

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Speaker 4: He means that much to me as a brother and friend.

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Speaker 2: So when he says, hey.

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Speaker 4: We're gonna go and do this, We're going or we're

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Speaker 4: gonna do it, I'm showing up because from a spiritual standpoint,

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Speaker 4: you know, I laid my life down for this man,

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Speaker 4: and I know he'd do it for me. So when

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Speaker 4: he called and asked me, you gave me the opportunity

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Speaker 4: to say, would you come and be in this film?

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Speaker 4: It was a I've never had to tell this brother, No,

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Speaker 4: it's my brother, I said, you know as much. I

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Speaker 4: remember where I was. You were in costume me and

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Speaker 4: you were right next to Sharon. I remember like it

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Speaker 4: was yesterday. I was in New York City, I was

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Speaker 4: in I think that I was in downtown. I forget

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Speaker 4: the name of the hotel, and I remember my heart

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Speaker 4: hurting because I had to stand on my you know,

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Speaker 4: to my best friend. I said that, I told myself, brother,

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Speaker 4: the next skin I live in will be that turner.

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Speaker 4: I will never work again, and if it's the last

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Speaker 4: movie I do, I will know that I've done the

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Speaker 4: thing that God has called me here to do, and

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Speaker 4: he never questioned it again. He was like, okay, and

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Speaker 4: you know, we pray a lot. And you know, I

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Speaker 4: think the core of our you know, our love story

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Speaker 4: as brothers is our faith. It's not our careers, and

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Speaker 4: it's not even first our people, you know, because I

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Speaker 4: think that the faith element has just been lost in

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Speaker 4: many ways. We pray a lot together. I think that

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Speaker 4: that has been the thing, the common thread through how

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Speaker 4: we see the world as brothers, how we see our

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Speaker 4: purpose as artists, how we see ourselves as fathers to

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Speaker 4: our children, how we see ourselves as entertainers in public spaces.

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Speaker 4: It all goes back down to, you know, what have

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Speaker 4: we been called to do? And will we be obedient

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Speaker 4: to that thing.

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Speaker 1: But the thing that also made it easier for me

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Speaker 1: to accept the know from Nate is that, you know,

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Speaker 1: in two thousand and seven, not long after I had

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Speaker 1: moved to the States, the script for Selma hit the

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Speaker 1: doormat and I was in a time of praying and

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Speaker 1: fasting at the time, and I very clearly heard the

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Speaker 1: Lord tell me you are going to play doctor King

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Speaker 1: in this film. I wrote it in my prayer diary

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Speaker 1: on that day because it was such a bizarre notion.

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Speaker 1: I had not played anything akin to this before. I

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Speaker 1: was a British actor newly moved to the States, in

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Speaker 1: an apartment in Studio City in La This was a

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Speaker 1: crazy notion, but I do know the voice of God

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Speaker 1: and I ended up auditioning at that time for the film.

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Speaker 1: The feedback from the director at that time was David

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Speaker 1: o'yellowo is not Doctor King. That was the feedback I gotten.

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Speaker 1: I thought, oh, maybe I didn't hear God as I

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Speaker 1: thought I did, so I let that slide. Three years

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Speaker 1: went by and it was a phone call from Nate.

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Speaker 1: He called me up and said, have you heard of

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Speaker 1: this film?

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Speaker 2: Selma? Uh, They're they're auditioning.

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Speaker 3: Uh guy, guys for you know.

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Speaker 1: I've been asked to audition and and he he, I said,

440
00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:12,879
Speaker 1: I really think you should go up for this.

441
00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:16,760
Speaker 2: I was like, I know that film, and.

442
00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:18,320
Speaker 1: I don't even know if I said to you on

443
00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:20,679
Speaker 1: the phone that God told me I was gonna.

444
00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:23,240
Speaker 4: I'm gonna, I'm gonna. I'm gonna jump in and tell

445
00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:27,400
Speaker 4: a part of the story as well. So and I'd

446
00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:29,600
Speaker 4: love for you, David after to kind of come behind

447
00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:31,760
Speaker 4: with kind of the crisis we're dealing with in our

448
00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:33,760
Speaker 4: industry when it comes to there can only be one

449
00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:37,399
Speaker 4: because we've really bonded on this idea that what is

450
00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:40,560
Speaker 4: for us is for us, you know. So I was

451
00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:43,280
Speaker 4: talking to the den who had the control of the

452
00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:46,080
Speaker 4: rights the director, and he had reached out through someone

453
00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:47,919
Speaker 4: to me, and so we were in this back and

454
00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:51,439
Speaker 4: forth about like the early stages of you know, the

455
00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:52,880
Speaker 4: story and how this person.

456
00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:53,880
Speaker 2: Wanted to tell the story.

457
00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:57,919
Speaker 4: But I remembered that, you know, in our conversation had

458
00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:01,240
Speaker 4: it come up, and I said, do you know David

459
00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:04,560
Speaker 4: or Yellowell? And I can remember him just kind of

460
00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:07,760
Speaker 4: pausing because rarely will someone be talking about a role

461
00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:09,920
Speaker 4: and ask him if they know someone else.

462
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:11,760
Speaker 2: But it was just on my.

463
00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:14,160
Speaker 4: Spere, do you know David Dover yellow He's an extraordinary brother.

464
00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:15,160
Speaker 2: You should meet him.

465
00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:17,920
Speaker 4: And so I've reached out to David and I said, hey,

466
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:22,240
Speaker 4: you know, we talked about doctor King and you were like, yeah,

467
00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:26,520
Speaker 4: it was just this weird and I said, they're you know,

468
00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:28,760
Speaker 4: they're having it and it wasn't wide auditions. It wasn't

469
00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:30,879
Speaker 4: like they're seeing everyone, and so David needs to get

470
00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:35,199
Speaker 4: in line. It was very, very selective auditions and for

471
00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:37,000
Speaker 4: what I'd understand, it only been like a couple of people.

472
00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:40,880
Speaker 4: And I said, you really should meet David and called

473
00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:45,399
Speaker 4: David and connected them. Wow, and I guess you can

474
00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:48,200
Speaker 4: speak on the story, not me that.

475
00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:48,840
Speaker 2: But when you.

476
00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:51,600
Speaker 1: When I finally got the meeting, he sent me a

477
00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:56,720
Speaker 1: book called nineteen sixty five Selma and it's just you know,

478
00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:04,959
Speaker 1: just research for for the audition. I'm emotional about it

479
00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:08,440
Speaker 1: because I've never experienced anything like this before or since.

480
00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:19,359
Speaker 1: When you are from a community that is rooted in scarcity.

481
00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:27,920
Speaker 1: Nate talked about programming. You are programmed to self survive,

482
00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:31,840
Speaker 1: to hold on to your piece of the pie, to

483
00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:34,639
Speaker 1: crabs in a barrel, the whole situation.

484
00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:37,520
Speaker 2: So for him to reach.

485
00:26:37,320 --> 00:26:42,200
Speaker 1: Out to me in that way at that time was

486
00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:47,639
Speaker 1: truly profound and exemplary for me. And to cut a

487
00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:51,080
Speaker 1: very long story short, I obviously went on to get

488
00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:57,120
Speaker 1: the role, but I will never forget the fact that

489
00:26:57,520 --> 00:27:00,320
Speaker 1: something that I felt the Lord Ha told me I

490
00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:04,160
Speaker 1: would do came back around through a friend saying, Wow,

491
00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:07,600
Speaker 1: you must go up for this, and him recommending me

492
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:12,400
Speaker 1: like this is a brilliant actor. You know, anyone who

493
00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:15,040
Speaker 1: sees him as an turner in Birth of a Nation.

494
00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:19,320
Speaker 1: I remember him inviting me to a screening of the film.

495
00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:21,840
Speaker 1: I saw the film, and I had to go and

496
00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:24,679
Speaker 1: see it again the very next day because I couldn't

497
00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:28,679
Speaker 1: quite understand not only the profundity of what I had

498
00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:30,480
Speaker 1: just seen, but how he had pulled it off. He

499
00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:33,439
Speaker 1: had written it, he had produced it, he had directed it,

500
00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:36,399
Speaker 1: and he was starring in it. And the performance in

501
00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:40,560
Speaker 1: and of itself was that extraordinary, let alone all these

502
00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:43,639
Speaker 1: other hats he was wearing doing it. So this isn't

503
00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:45,240
Speaker 1: like a guy who's like, oh, I don't think I

504
00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:46,120
Speaker 1: could play doctor again.

505
00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:48,359
Speaker 2: You you know, this is not that.

506
00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:52,160
Speaker 3: This is just someone who that's his heart.

507
00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:53,840
Speaker 1: And that's why I go back to what I said

508
00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:59,399
Speaker 1: earlier about we not me, And so you know, that

509
00:27:59,880 --> 00:28:04,680
Speaker 1: was just such a profound moment that led on to

510
00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:08,640
Speaker 1: what has been the profound moments in my career thus far.

511
00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:11,280
Speaker 1: So when I called him and said, do you want

512
00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:14,879
Speaker 1: to come be part of anyone? I have to go

513
00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:18,439
Speaker 1: do this thing, I understood what that is because someone

514
00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:21,800
Speaker 1: was that for me and I wanted to support him

515
00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:22,280
Speaker 1: in that.

516
00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:26,840
Speaker 2: I felt some kind of way for a second, but.

517
00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:31,720
Speaker 1: But you know, considering what he had already done for me.

518
00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:35,000
Speaker 2: I knew the spirit from which.

519
00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:37,720
Speaker 1: He was operating in and that that of you know,

520
00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:40,280
Speaker 1: and that has been I think. I think great relationships,

521
00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:44,280
Speaker 1: great love stories, have these these cornerstone moments, and then

522
00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:46,880
Speaker 1: that was just a massive cornerstone moment for us.

523
00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:50,760
Speaker 6: You're listening to My Legacy, Stay tuned as we dive

524
00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:53,479
Speaker 6: even deeper with David and Nadan too this inspiring journey

525
00:28:53,520 --> 00:29:19,400
Speaker 6: and friendship. We're back with David oh Yello and his

526
00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:22,560
Speaker 6: best friend Nate Parker on the My Legacy podcast.

527
00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:27,040
Speaker 7: In line of the fact that you've known David for

528
00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:31,920
Speaker 7: over a decade, certainly as a friend and a creative partner,

529
00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:36,120
Speaker 7: how do you see his upbringing influencing him.

530
00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:42,680
Speaker 4: David very much recognizes he is a part of a

531
00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:46,960
Speaker 4: tapestry or a blanket that only exists as a sum

532
00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:51,600
Speaker 4: of its parts. If you've ever if anyone has ever

533
00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:54,000
Speaker 4: had the opportunity to see David in the presence of

534
00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:58,320
Speaker 4: his mother or in the presence of his father, they

535
00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:00,880
Speaker 4: will know exactly the type of stuff he's made of.

536
00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:07,719
Speaker 4: The integrity, the love, the care, the compassion. He is,

537
00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:15,560
Speaker 4: in my opinion, the definition of a man from what

538
00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:20,000
Speaker 4: from every example for better and words that I've had

539
00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:25,800
Speaker 4: as a measuring stick growing up in this skin. So

540
00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:30,480
Speaker 4: I think his upbringing, I would say, is less about

541
00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:35,080
Speaker 4: the lessons learned in this way, but more about his

542
00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:42,160
Speaker 4: understanding of how he fits within the clay of the Yellow,

543
00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:45,400
Speaker 4: a yellow old clan. And that is something I have

544
00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:47,840
Speaker 4: really taken into my family.

545
00:30:48,240 --> 00:30:48,440
Speaker 2: You know.

546
00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:52,080
Speaker 4: I want my family to know how I see us

547
00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:55,320
Speaker 4: from a thirty thousand foot view, how I see us

548
00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:59,040
Speaker 4: thirty thousand years from now, and how I feel about

549
00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:02,080
Speaker 4: us being the origin story of the world as black

550
00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:05,800
Speaker 4: people all those years ago. I don't think we have

551
00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:09,560
Speaker 4: the luxury to walk through life with each one teach

552
00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:10,520
Speaker 4: one perspective.

553
00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:11,320
Speaker 2: We just don't.

554
00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:16,320
Speaker 4: We matter in different ways as your father continues to matter.

555
00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:20,200
Speaker 4: On what would have been his one hundredth birthday, I'm

556
00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:24,920
Speaker 4: not sure we're celebrating him just because he was bold

557
00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:27,240
Speaker 4: enough to do the things that he did. I think

558
00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:31,160
Speaker 4: we're celebrating him because he was obedient enough to challenge

559
00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:36,120
Speaker 4: constructs that are forever changed. And I see that in David,

560
00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:40,200
Speaker 4: and it's only ironic because he played the man who

561
00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:42,880
Speaker 4: lived it in a different way. But who else but

562
00:31:43,080 --> 00:31:47,040
Speaker 4: David as someone who lives that even separate in his

563
00:31:47,160 --> 00:31:52,240
Speaker 4: own legacy. So I think it's something that is inspiring.

564
00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:56,520
Speaker 4: And I, you know, I often call myself as me

565
00:31:56,560 --> 00:31:58,440
Speaker 4: as little brother, he calls me. You know, we don't

566
00:31:58,520 --> 00:32:01,480
Speaker 4: say that often because we don't really allude to hierarchy.

567
00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:04,360
Speaker 4: But the reality is he's a little older, a little wiser,

568
00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:08,280
Speaker 4: and I call him about things that are sometimes even smaller.

569
00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:10,600
Speaker 4: You know, I'm changing the living room.

570
00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:11,200
Speaker 2: What should I.

571
00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:16,520
Speaker 4: Because I respect his process. He is someone who consults

572
00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:19,760
Speaker 4: God before he consults his ego, you know, And I

573
00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:22,160
Speaker 4: don't say I say that to say it's God then

574
00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:25,120
Speaker 4: everything else. That's how he shows up as a father,

575
00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:27,719
Speaker 4: That's how he shows up as a friend, That's how

576
00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:30,640
Speaker 4: he shows up as a colleague. You can best believe

577
00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:33,280
Speaker 4: what you get from this man is going to be

578
00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:39,560
Speaker 4: rooted in prayer rather than in some type of selfish direction.

579
00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:42,880
Speaker 4: And you can't say that about everyone. And I know

580
00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:45,560
Speaker 4: it's hard for him. He's probably squirming as I continue,

581
00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:48,040
Speaker 4: but I think it needs to be said. You know,

582
00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:50,640
Speaker 4: as we talk about what does it take for a

583
00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:53,000
Speaker 4: man to be able to publicly say I love this man,

584
00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:54,560
Speaker 4: I give my life for him, and it not be

585
00:32:54,600 --> 00:32:57,440
Speaker 4: a diety, not be God or not be I think

586
00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:00,440
Speaker 4: it's seeing in that person qualities that you hope your

587
00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:04,400
Speaker 4: children's children have, and so, you know, I think that's

588
00:33:03,960 --> 00:33:06,360
Speaker 4: the that's the highest quality of a compliment I can

589
00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:08,120
Speaker 4: give to a person. And I don't know if I've

590
00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:11,200
Speaker 4: said this, you know, in this type of setting, I'm

591
00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:14,200
Speaker 4: very private, you know, as David will tell you. But

592
00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:16,200
Speaker 4: when he says will you please show up? I say, brother,

593
00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:17,680
Speaker 4: I'm here.

594
00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:23,160
Speaker 2: So this time this is something else, like another movie after.

595
00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:29,720
Speaker 5: I'm very curious. What was the most intimidating part of

596
00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:33,520
Speaker 5: taking on the role of Martin Luther King Jr.

597
00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:36,880
Speaker 2: How long do you have?

598
00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:42,480
Speaker 1: I mean, the estimation in which he is held by

599
00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:45,600
Speaker 1: so many was the thing that was so intimidating. And

600
00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:47,880
Speaker 1: because at the end of the day, I don't care

601
00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:50,400
Speaker 1: who you are. I don't think anyone in their right

602
00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:53,840
Speaker 1: mind feels worthy.

603
00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:54,360
Speaker 2: Of playing doctor King.

604
00:33:55,800 --> 00:34:00,360
Speaker 1: All I knew is that I had to do as

605
00:34:00,520 --> 00:34:05,200
Speaker 1: much work as humanly possible, and my prayer was that

606
00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:10,000
Speaker 1: God and your Father would flow through me in a

607
00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:16,200
Speaker 1: way that I couldn't control. So the most difficult thing

608
00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:22,640
Speaker 1: about playing your Father was trusting that that would happen,

609
00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:28,680
Speaker 1: because when he was giving those speeches, anyone who has

610
00:34:28,719 --> 00:34:31,080
Speaker 1: eyes to see will know he is moving in an

611
00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:33,080
Speaker 1: anointing that is otherworldly.

612
00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:35,359
Speaker 2: It is not just.

613
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:44,480
Speaker 1: Intellectual or cerebral. He is speaking into time immemorial. The

614
00:34:44,560 --> 00:34:49,279
Speaker 1: speeches are timeless, the spirit from which he's talking is timeless.

615
00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:52,680
Speaker 1: I literally was at lunch with someone yesterday who was

616
00:34:52,680 --> 00:34:56,000
Speaker 1: talking about listening to a speech of your father's, and

617
00:34:56,040 --> 00:35:01,080
Speaker 1: he started crying. And there is a profundity to those words.

618
00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:03,960
Speaker 1: That means it's not about acting, it's about being an

619
00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:07,920
Speaker 1: instrument of service. So this wasn't like an acting exercise.

620
00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:12,000
Speaker 1: It was like a channeling thing, and you were.

621
00:35:11,920 --> 00:35:14,080
Speaker 8: In character for like three months. If I'm not mistaken

622
00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:16,400
Speaker 8: it or maybe you can help explain that to our audience, like,

623
00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:18,640
Speaker 8: how did you channel that for such a long period

624
00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:18,920
Speaker 8: of time.

625
00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:21,680
Speaker 1: Well, there were practical reasons and there were spiritual reasons

626
00:35:21,680 --> 00:35:24,200
Speaker 1: for that. The practical reasons is that we're shooting in Atlanta,

627
00:35:24,239 --> 00:35:26,840
Speaker 1: which is where he is from. I'm giving speeches to

628
00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:30,880
Speaker 1: people who had marched with him, who had heard his sermons,

629
00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:32,560
Speaker 1: who knew him personally.

630
00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:36,360
Speaker 3: If I walked in with this accent saying Hello, I'm David.

631
00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:37,560
Speaker 2: I'm going to be playing Doctor King.

632
00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:42,120
Speaker 1: I mean, like instantaneously, the confidence levels of everyone around us,

633
00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:45,200
Speaker 1: it goes way down. So I felt I had to

634
00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:49,359
Speaker 1: stay not only in the accent, but in the sort

635
00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:54,320
Speaker 1: of hemisphere of him for the shoot.

636
00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:56,160
Speaker 2: But like, this thing I'm.

637
00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:58,320
Speaker 1: Talking about was very real for me, Like when I

638
00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:00,719
Speaker 1: watched the film. Now we're literally about to celebrate the

639
00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:03,400
Speaker 1: tenth anniversary of the film, and I've seen the film

640
00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:06,319
Speaker 1: of you know, MLK Day. The film comes on and

641
00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:09,759
Speaker 1: I watch it, and I don't recognize myself because I

642
00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:13,840
Speaker 1: I can see that something was was was being channeled

643
00:36:13,880 --> 00:36:17,520
Speaker 1: through me. That is is not something I'm walking in

644
00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:23,280
Speaker 1: right now. But you know, it was tricky from my wife.

645
00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:26,400
Speaker 1: She you know, we were we moved house at the time,

646
00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:30,600
Speaker 1: and I remember once her calling me about which color

647
00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:34,240
Speaker 1: curtains we should have, and.

648
00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:34,040
Speaker 2: What did Doctor King say.

649
00:36:36,280 --> 00:36:38,960
Speaker 1: Doctor King is on the phone talking about whether they

650
00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:41,120
Speaker 1: should be gray or brown, and she was like, okay,

651
00:36:41,200 --> 00:36:42,240
Speaker 1: just stop, stop, stop.

652
00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:44,919
Speaker 2: I cannot be talking curtains with Doctor King.

653
00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:48,520
Speaker 1: We're gonna We're gonna pick this up after the shoots,

654
00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:52,000
Speaker 1: you know. But but it was it was the price

655
00:36:52,200 --> 00:36:54,799
Speaker 1: of playing that role. And I was fortunate enough to

656
00:36:55,040 --> 00:36:58,520
Speaker 1: be in Lincoln that Daniel d Lewis played Abraham Lincoln.

657
00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:00,600
Speaker 1: And I was fortunate enough to be in the film

658
00:37:00,680 --> 00:37:03,920
Speaker 1: Asking of Scotland, where Forrest Whitzaker played idiot I mean,

659
00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:07,279
Speaker 1: and I watched those two gentlemen pay the price for

660
00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:10,719
Speaker 1: playing those kind of roles. And it's not just an act.

661
00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:14,520
Speaker 1: You got to stay in it. And I got my

662
00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:18,200
Speaker 1: lesson of how to do this by watching them, through prayer,

663
00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:21,759
Speaker 1: through just being in Atlanta, being in that hemisphere. It

664
00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:24,960
Speaker 1: was a truly profound experience. And I know I will

665
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:27,200
Speaker 1: not get to do anything like that ever.

666
00:37:27,239 --> 00:37:27,520
Speaker 2: Again.

667
00:37:27,600 --> 00:37:32,200
Speaker 7: What was the greatest piece of advice that anyone might

668
00:37:32,239 --> 00:37:34,760
Speaker 7: have given you that you felt this is the most

669
00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:39,920
Speaker 7: appropriate piece of advice that I embraced so that I

670
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:42,640
Speaker 7: could personify what I was attempting to do.

671
00:37:43,080 --> 00:37:45,680
Speaker 1: The thing that It wasn't a piece of advice. It

672
00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:49,720
Speaker 1: was a piece of footage I saw, and I only

673
00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:54,040
Speaker 1: saw it once. So much of the footage of your

674
00:37:54,080 --> 00:37:58,440
Speaker 1: father is him giving speeches or being interviewed by the press.

675
00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:03,040
Speaker 1: The camera is on, and so therefore to a certain extent,

676
00:38:03,200 --> 00:38:07,960
Speaker 1: he is on. There was one piece of footage I

677
00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:11,640
Speaker 1: only saw it once and I could never find it again.

678
00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:17,880
Speaker 1: It was him in a corridor. The camera is coming

679
00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:22,440
Speaker 1: towards him, and he stood there on his own, and

680
00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:26,520
Speaker 1: he doesn't know the camera is on yet, the camera

681
00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:32,920
Speaker 1: is moving towards him, and his demeanor was so different

682
00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:38,319
Speaker 1: from what I saw in speeches and press interviews. He

683
00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:44,400
Speaker 1: was entirely human. And I know that sounds like an

684
00:38:44,440 --> 00:38:48,680
Speaker 1: odd thing to say, but he just seemed like a

685
00:38:48,760 --> 00:38:53,560
Speaker 1: human being as opposed to an icon or a hero

686
00:38:53,960 --> 00:38:57,640
Speaker 1: or all of those things that we have transposed onto

687
00:38:57,719 --> 00:39:00,400
Speaker 1: him or that he stepped into when he was giving

688
00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:04,839
Speaker 1: speeches or talking to the press or meeting people, whether

689
00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:08,000
Speaker 1: it be the sanitary workers or whatever it was. And

690
00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:12,040
Speaker 1: I saw a man who he hit. His head was down,

691
00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:15,600
Speaker 1: he was being thoughtful, he was sort of swaying a

692
00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:18,560
Speaker 1: little bit. The camera was moving towards him, and then

693
00:39:18,680 --> 00:39:21,600
Speaker 1: suddenly a light came on in order for him to

694
00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:25,600
Speaker 1: be more visible, and I saw him click into something

695
00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:30,920
Speaker 1: in order to present something to the camera. And we

696
00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:34,360
Speaker 1: all do that, We all do that, And in that moment,

697
00:39:34,560 --> 00:39:37,880
Speaker 1: I got what I needed to be able to show

698
00:39:37,960 --> 00:39:45,920
Speaker 1: the man behind the iconography, the man who was reluctant

699
00:39:46,239 --> 00:39:49,640
Speaker 1: at times to lead the man who when I spoke

700
00:39:49,680 --> 00:39:52,759
Speaker 1: to several people, the fact that you and your siblings

701
00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:56,959
Speaker 1: and your mother's lives were at threat every single day

702
00:39:57,480 --> 00:40:01,400
Speaker 1: of his service, those thirteen years of his service, meant

703
00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:04,520
Speaker 1: that when he was away from you, guys, your lives

704
00:40:04,520 --> 00:40:07,279
Speaker 1: were under threat, and he, as a father, had to

705
00:40:07,520 --> 00:40:10,840
Speaker 1: carry that. So when the camera isn't on, that's what

706
00:40:10,960 --> 00:40:16,560
Speaker 1: he's thinking about. The price on the ones I love

707
00:40:16,680 --> 00:40:21,920
Speaker 1: the most is incredibly high. And so it wasn't a

708
00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:24,880
Speaker 1: piece of advice. It was that piece of footage because

709
00:40:24,880 --> 00:40:27,719
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, if I just was

710
00:40:27,760 --> 00:40:29,759
Speaker 1: good at the speeches or good at what people had

711
00:40:29,760 --> 00:40:32,200
Speaker 1: already seen, that's not revelatory.

712
00:40:31,560 --> 00:40:32,560
Speaker 2: Of who he was.

713
00:40:33,960 --> 00:40:36,359
Speaker 1: You have to be seeing something of the human being.

714
00:40:36,400 --> 00:40:40,000
Speaker 1: Otherwise go watch a documentary. And so that was a

715
00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:42,200
Speaker 1: real gift to me. And it was literally a few

716
00:40:42,239 --> 00:40:44,640
Speaker 1: seconds of footage I only saw once and never again.

717
00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:47,719
Speaker 5: And I think that's the price, which we don't talk

718
00:40:47,760 --> 00:40:52,000
Speaker 5: about that often. That not only for Martin and his

719
00:40:52,120 --> 00:40:56,759
Speaker 5: siblings and his mother, but even when I even think

720
00:40:56,800 --> 00:41:00,480
Speaker 5: about to our daughter, right because our daughter is the

721
00:41:00,520 --> 00:41:04,719
Speaker 5: only grandchild of Martin Luther King Junior and Coreta Scott King,

722
00:41:04,760 --> 00:41:08,919
Speaker 5: and you know we grew up, you know, well when

723
00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:11,799
Speaker 5: we grew up and there wasn't grandparents Day. You know,

724
00:41:11,920 --> 00:41:14,480
Speaker 5: now when our children grow, you know's grandparents Day at

725
00:41:14,520 --> 00:41:16,640
Speaker 5: school and all day you know, all the grandparents come

726
00:41:16,680 --> 00:41:19,200
Speaker 5: out if you're you know, and the fact that her

727
00:41:19,560 --> 00:41:26,040
Speaker 5: grandfather was never there, so even she understands the price

728
00:41:26,880 --> 00:41:29,440
Speaker 5: that was paid. You know, she there is when we

729
00:41:29,520 --> 00:41:33,239
Speaker 5: go to the King Memorial, there's this nook and when

730
00:41:33,280 --> 00:41:36,360
Speaker 5: she was really little, she would always want to climb

731
00:41:36,440 --> 00:41:38,480
Speaker 5: and sit on this nook. And I thought it was, oh,

732
00:41:38,520 --> 00:41:41,400
Speaker 5: that's just a cute picture, but she said, she's like,

733
00:41:41,600 --> 00:41:45,520
Speaker 5: this is the closest that I ever have to sit

734
00:41:45,600 --> 00:41:49,280
Speaker 5: in my grandfather's lap. And it was at that moment,

735
00:41:49,640 --> 00:41:52,359
Speaker 5: you know, at eight, that I realized that even for her,

736
00:41:53,160 --> 00:41:55,279
Speaker 5: that there was that you know, that there was an

737
00:41:55,280 --> 00:41:57,560
Speaker 5: aching and that you know, the price that was paid

738
00:41:57,600 --> 00:42:02,959
Speaker 5: that even through generations, we still feel. And I'm really

739
00:42:03,040 --> 00:42:06,799
Speaker 5: curious though, because when you're playing someone like Martin Luther

740
00:42:06,880 --> 00:42:10,520
Speaker 5: King Jr. There are you know, there's you know, recordings

741
00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:14,000
Speaker 5: and footage and video and speeches. You didn't have that

742
00:42:14,440 --> 00:42:18,840
Speaker 5: with Nat Turner, So how did you conjure up without

743
00:42:19,120 --> 00:42:23,879
Speaker 5: any of that embody in such a significant and powerful way.

744
00:42:25,719 --> 00:42:30,399
Speaker 4: It's a really great question. And you asked the question

745
00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:33,480
Speaker 4: a little while ago that we didn't get to about faith.

746
00:42:33,719 --> 00:42:36,120
Speaker 4: And it's not lost on me or you that we

747
00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:41,240
Speaker 4: both has happened to play men who are preachers. Nat Turner,

748
00:42:41,520 --> 00:42:45,560
Speaker 4: in my opinion, with someone who was seeking to hold

749
00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:51,239
Speaker 4: not just those around him accountable who were responsible for

750
00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:55,520
Speaker 4: his circumstance, but God to his word that was written.

751
00:42:57,400 --> 00:43:01,920
Speaker 4: And so I approached it from the standpoint of, you know,

752
00:43:02,440 --> 00:43:06,840
Speaker 4: if God's word is true, if we have been positioned

753
00:43:06,880 --> 00:43:10,919
Speaker 4: here as those who are the image of God, then

754
00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:15,520
Speaker 4: how are we being treated as chattel? You know some

755
00:43:15,560 --> 00:43:18,600
Speaker 4: of the things in the film that people don't recognize

756
00:43:18,600 --> 00:43:21,680
Speaker 4: as often as you know, Not Turner prayed for signs

757
00:43:21,719 --> 00:43:26,239
Speaker 4: and saw signs. You know on record he prayed said,

758
00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:30,880
Speaker 4: you know, if I am to stand against this, I

759
00:43:30,920 --> 00:43:33,760
Speaker 4: mean we were able to get the couple things happened

760
00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:35,880
Speaker 4: from that film. We were able to get the Bible

761
00:43:36,719 --> 00:43:38,920
Speaker 4: that he held in his hand, he kept in his

762
00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:42,560
Speaker 4: pocket as he fought put in the Smithsonian. We were

763
00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:46,000
Speaker 4: able to get his only remains, his skull, which was

764
00:43:46,040 --> 00:43:49,120
Speaker 4: sawed at the top with the inscription of the people

765
00:43:49,120 --> 00:43:51,120
Speaker 4: who cut his head off because they wanted to examine

766
00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:54,680
Speaker 4: his brain for the disease that made him rebel. It

767
00:43:54,760 --> 00:43:58,239
Speaker 4: was sitting on a professor's bookshelf at a college that

768
00:43:58,280 --> 00:44:00,360
Speaker 4: I'm not going to name, and we were able to

769
00:44:00,360 --> 00:44:02,239
Speaker 4: work with National Geographic get that back, get it to

770
00:44:02,280 --> 00:44:05,160
Speaker 4: the family, and they were able to lay his remains

771
00:44:05,160 --> 00:44:08,720
Speaker 4: to rest. So the approach, as you said, I didn't

772
00:44:08,760 --> 00:44:13,400
Speaker 4: have anything other than you know where he marked in

773
00:44:13,440 --> 00:44:16,719
Speaker 4: the Bible in Revelation, you know, cutting the head from

774
00:44:16,760 --> 00:44:19,520
Speaker 4: the serpent. You know, like, at some point, if God

775
00:44:19,560 --> 00:44:21,120
Speaker 4: is who he says he is, and we are who

776
00:44:21,120 --> 00:44:23,480
Speaker 4: we say we are, we need to move without fear.

777
00:44:23,520 --> 00:44:25,960
Speaker 4: And that is the thing when we talk about the

778
00:44:26,040 --> 00:44:29,520
Speaker 4: legacy of doctor King, even in the space as we're

779
00:44:29,560 --> 00:44:33,080
Speaker 4: talking about that human moment, thinking about his family, he

780
00:44:33,160 --> 00:44:36,400
Speaker 4: did it anyway. And that's the thing that I still

781
00:44:36,440 --> 00:44:41,560
Speaker 4: grapple with. To walk into sure death, sure pain, to

782
00:44:41,760 --> 00:44:46,480
Speaker 4: leave your grandchildren without a grandfather, to know that that

783
00:44:46,560 --> 00:44:50,600
Speaker 4: will be your demise, and to do it anyway is

784
00:44:50,600 --> 00:44:52,040
Speaker 4: something that all of us don't.

785
00:44:51,880 --> 00:44:52,480
Speaker 2: Have in us.

786
00:44:52,520 --> 00:44:57,520
Speaker 4: I'm an actor, you know, I have five daughters. I'm

787
00:44:57,520 --> 00:44:59,400
Speaker 4: not sure I'm walking out the door down there to

788
00:44:59,440 --> 00:45:02,560
Speaker 4: the left. I know walking out there will separate me

789
00:45:02,600 --> 00:45:05,720
Speaker 4: from my family while at the same time liberating people

790
00:45:05,719 --> 00:45:08,200
Speaker 4: that I won't be here to see liberated. Call me selfish,

791
00:45:08,239 --> 00:45:12,200
Speaker 4: but these men were really courageous. So I tried to

792
00:45:12,200 --> 00:45:15,040
Speaker 4: take the approach of what the sacrifice in the name

793
00:45:15,080 --> 00:45:18,320
Speaker 4: of God was rather than the kind of the details

794
00:45:18,320 --> 00:45:21,239
Speaker 4: of Innitia that I did not know. And I think

795
00:45:21,239 --> 00:45:22,600
Speaker 4: that is the thing that guided me, and that was

796
00:45:22,640 --> 00:45:25,360
Speaker 4: the thing that made it very difficult, you know, on

797
00:45:25,480 --> 00:45:29,680
Speaker 4: the days in between action and cut was the stakes.

798
00:45:30,440 --> 00:45:31,800
Speaker 4: You know, I don't know if you want to speak

799
00:45:31,800 --> 00:45:34,960
Speaker 4: to that, but there's the fear that you're all constantly

800
00:45:34,960 --> 00:45:37,640
Speaker 4: beating back. If I do this wrong, then that is

801
00:45:37,640 --> 00:45:38,840
Speaker 4: the thing that is studied forever.

802
00:45:40,360 --> 00:45:43,880
Speaker 1: And also just the recognition. The thing I came away

803
00:45:44,000 --> 00:45:55,000
Speaker 1: from playing your father was object indisputable recognition that I.

804
00:45:53,200 --> 00:45:57,560
Speaker 2: I am not made of what he was made of. Yeh.

805
00:45:58,480 --> 00:46:03,279
Speaker 1: To Nate's point, know that I have four kids like

806
00:46:03,400 --> 00:46:08,480
Speaker 1: he did, and I just in fact, I'm not going

807
00:46:08,520 --> 00:46:11,759
Speaker 1: to say I don't know. I know I am not

808
00:46:12,000 --> 00:46:16,480
Speaker 1: made of the same stuff. That would mean that for

809
00:46:17,040 --> 00:46:26,600
Speaker 1: over a decade I would knowingly, intentionally, willfully, obediently step

810
00:46:26,800 --> 00:46:32,799
Speaker 1: into circumstances that would jeopardize their safety every single day.

811
00:46:33,440 --> 00:46:37,319
Speaker 1: I couldn't do it, and so that's why what he

812
00:46:37,360 --> 00:46:42,400
Speaker 1: did was so incredibly heroic. And the thing that I

813
00:46:42,560 --> 00:46:46,720
Speaker 1: found so moving was that it wasn't of his choosing.

814
00:46:47,840 --> 00:46:52,040
Speaker 1: He didn't run towards this. He had those dark knights

815
00:46:52,040 --> 00:46:54,840
Speaker 1: of the soul of why me. I don't want to

816
00:46:54,840 --> 00:46:59,560
Speaker 1: do this anymore. I don't feel up to this. I

817
00:46:59,600 --> 00:47:02,879
Speaker 1: don't want to do this. I am tired of this.

818
00:47:04,440 --> 00:47:08,040
Speaker 1: And that's stuff that people don't know, maybe don't even

819
00:47:08,040 --> 00:47:10,840
Speaker 1: want to know, because we want our heroes to be perfect.

820
00:47:10,880 --> 00:47:12,839
Speaker 2: And he was, of course.

821
00:47:12,920 --> 00:47:17,160
Speaker 1: A human being who would have you caught him on

822
00:47:17,200 --> 00:47:19,120
Speaker 1: the right day, he would say, No, I don't want

823
00:47:19,120 --> 00:47:21,680
Speaker 1: to much. I don't want to give that press conference.

824
00:47:21,719 --> 00:47:24,239
Speaker 1: I don't want to give that speech. I just want

825
00:47:24,239 --> 00:47:26,279
Speaker 1: to be back with my family, or I just want

826
00:47:26,320 --> 00:47:29,200
Speaker 1: to rest. I've been on the road for twenty nine

827
00:47:29,719 --> 00:47:34,520
Speaker 1: days of this month so far, and I've given speeches.

828
00:47:34,640 --> 00:47:41,000
Speaker 1: I've given of myself for twenty nine days straight with

829
00:47:41,360 --> 00:47:47,160
Speaker 1: no rest, and I just heard that the next place

830
00:47:47,200 --> 00:47:49,760
Speaker 1: I'm going to give a speech, there's a real chance

831
00:47:49,760 --> 00:47:56,240
Speaker 1: that I'm going to be assassinated. And I'm talking about

832
00:47:56,320 --> 00:47:58,880
Speaker 1: real circumstances. I'm not making that up. This is my

833
00:47:59,040 --> 00:48:03,719
Speaker 1: research that all that stuff out. So there is a

834
00:48:03,760 --> 00:48:06,080
Speaker 1: sort of you know, these men we've been afforded the

835
00:48:06,080 --> 00:48:10,319
Speaker 1: opportunity to play. I think that the reason why Nate

836
00:48:10,600 --> 00:48:13,520
Speaker 1: fought as hard as he did to get the story told,

837
00:48:13,560 --> 00:48:18,240
Speaker 1: the reason why I just I felt called to every

838
00:48:18,360 --> 00:48:21,040
Speaker 1: single day I had to do something to move the

839
00:48:21,080 --> 00:48:26,320
Speaker 1: needle towards that film being made, because it was unacceptable

840
00:48:26,440 --> 00:48:30,880
Speaker 1: to me that the only American not African American, the

841
00:48:30,920 --> 00:48:33,920
Speaker 1: only American to have a day named after them in

842
00:48:33,920 --> 00:48:38,080
Speaker 1: the twentieth century, had not yet had a film made

843
00:48:38,280 --> 00:48:40,960
Speaker 1: about them. Remember what I said earlier, when I first

844
00:48:41,000 --> 00:48:43,000
Speaker 1: read the script of Some in two thousand and seven,

845
00:48:43,680 --> 00:48:47,840
Speaker 1: Lyndon Johnson was the protagonist, Doctor King was a supporting character,

846
00:48:48,840 --> 00:48:52,680
Speaker 1: you know, And that film went through in the seven

847
00:48:52,760 --> 00:48:55,000
Speaker 1: years before we got it made. When I first read it,

848
00:48:55,000 --> 00:48:57,560
Speaker 1: it was a white male director, then another white male director,

849
00:48:57,600 --> 00:49:00,920
Speaker 1: then an African American male director, then an African American

850
00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:04,040
Speaker 1: male director. Then it was Ava Duverna who came along,

851
00:49:04,160 --> 00:49:07,720
Speaker 1: and finally truly recalibrated it to what it always needed

852
00:49:07,760 --> 00:49:10,640
Speaker 1: to be, which was not only the man and the movement,

853
00:49:10,719 --> 00:49:15,680
Speaker 1: but the women who also supported that want something done. Exactly,

854
00:49:17,280 --> 00:49:21,439
Speaker 1: the first black woman exactly on script. I read your

855
00:49:21,560 --> 00:49:26,000
Speaker 1: mother was featured in three phone calls, none of which

856
00:49:26,120 --> 00:49:29,720
Speaker 1: had Doctor King and your mother in the same room

857
00:49:29,800 --> 00:49:30,720
Speaker 1: at the same time.

858
00:49:32,080 --> 00:49:33,040
Speaker 2: By the time it.

859
00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:36,759
Speaker 1: Was in Ava DuVernay's hands, you not only had a

860
00:49:36,920 --> 00:49:39,319
Speaker 1: role that was worthy of a Carmen a Jogo who

861
00:49:39,360 --> 00:49:42,960
Speaker 1: played your mother, but roles that were worthy of Oprah Winfrey,

862
00:49:43,320 --> 00:49:47,880
Speaker 1: Nissi Nash, Tessa Thompson, Lorraine Toussaint, you know the the

863
00:49:48,440 --> 00:49:50,360
Speaker 1: And that's to do with perspective.

864
00:49:51,400 --> 00:49:53,000
Speaker 2: And that's the power of what we do.

865
00:49:53,560 --> 00:49:58,399
Speaker 1: We can bring a perspective that is flies in the

866
00:49:58,440 --> 00:50:02,960
Speaker 1: face of the marginalization that has created the circumstances that

867
00:50:03,120 --> 00:50:07,360
Speaker 1: caused challenge for the heroes that we are trying to platform.

868
00:50:07,960 --> 00:50:11,160
Speaker 1: And even in those seven years of me trying to

869
00:50:11,600 --> 00:50:14,279
Speaker 1: get that film made alongside the folks that Plan b

870
00:50:14,440 --> 00:50:18,319
Speaker 1: and Pathay, there was resistance to it being told in

871
00:50:18,360 --> 00:50:21,800
Speaker 1: the right way. The reason why it took five directors

872
00:50:21,840 --> 00:50:24,800
Speaker 1: over those seven years, all of who to a certain

873
00:50:24,840 --> 00:50:27,040
Speaker 1: degree failed to get it made is because of the

874
00:50:27,120 --> 00:50:31,120
Speaker 1: notion black doesn't travel. The white audience don't want to

875
00:50:31,120 --> 00:50:33,120
Speaker 1: be made to feel guilty. Black people don't want to

876
00:50:33,120 --> 00:50:36,440
Speaker 1: feel black pain. All of these narratives that meant that

877
00:50:36,520 --> 00:50:40,000
Speaker 1: the truth, yet again wouldn't be told was what we

878
00:50:40,080 --> 00:50:42,879
Speaker 1: had to fight against. Let alone get to the set

879
00:50:42,920 --> 00:50:45,839
Speaker 1: and actually play the role to the degree whereby you

880
00:50:45,880 --> 00:50:48,759
Speaker 1: feel like, oh, gosh, I actually did my job. So

881
00:50:49,440 --> 00:50:53,640
Speaker 1: you know, these resistances are not imagined what your father

882
00:50:54,080 --> 00:50:59,719
Speaker 1: was pushing up against to a way lesser degree, we

883
00:50:59,840 --> 00:51:03,040
Speaker 1: have those resistances in getting these movies made.

884
00:51:03,600 --> 00:51:05,880
Speaker 6: Grab a refill in your coffee or tea because you

885
00:51:05,960 --> 00:51:08,359
Speaker 6: won't want to miss the rest of this conversation. We'll

886
00:51:08,360 --> 00:51:32,680
Speaker 6: be right back. You're listening to my Legacy podcast. Thanks

887
00:51:32,719 --> 00:51:33,759
Speaker 6: for sharing your time with us.

888
00:51:34,400 --> 00:51:37,360
Speaker 5: Now, the two of you have launched a new platform,

889
00:51:37,560 --> 00:51:42,600
Speaker 5: MANSA Correct Yes, to continue to uplift the voices of

890
00:51:42,960 --> 00:51:47,600
Speaker 5: black and brown storytellers and stories. Can you just tell

891
00:51:47,680 --> 00:51:49,560
Speaker 5: us a little bit about about that.

892
00:51:49,880 --> 00:51:52,120
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm gonna give it to David as he You know,

893
00:51:52,160 --> 00:51:54,480
Speaker 4: I think it's a great transition from you talking about,

894
00:51:54,800 --> 00:51:57,560
Speaker 4: you know, the growth and transition of the script into

895
00:51:57,680 --> 00:52:00,320
Speaker 4: the hands of the very capable and amazing Avid de

896
00:52:00,360 --> 00:52:04,160
Speaker 4: Verney and why that's important to what we're doing with MANSA.

897
00:52:04,960 --> 00:52:08,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we faced challenges not just on those

898
00:52:08,000 --> 00:52:11,440
Speaker 1: films we made, but the work we've done generally. I mean,

899
00:52:11,520 --> 00:52:15,359
Speaker 1: we met doing Red Tails together. And George Lucas had

900
00:52:15,400 --> 00:52:18,560
Speaker 1: an obsession about telling the story of the Tuskegee Airmen.

901
00:52:18,880 --> 00:52:22,960
Speaker 1: He actually said their airplane battles were the inspiration of

902
00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:24,480
Speaker 1: what you see in Star Wars.

903
00:52:25,600 --> 00:52:27,920
Speaker 3: And he was.

904
00:52:27,880 --> 00:52:32,440
Speaker 1: Obsessed with with, you know, World War two and planes, And.

905
00:52:32,320 --> 00:52:34,200
Speaker 5: I just have to say, can we also say that

906
00:52:34,200 --> 00:52:36,880
Speaker 5: that was done too with they did not have the

907
00:52:36,880 --> 00:52:40,200
Speaker 5: best equipment, Oh yeah, you know, like they were not

908
00:52:40,400 --> 00:52:43,719
Speaker 5: invested in no, you know, and then they took all

909
00:52:43,760 --> 00:52:46,799
Speaker 5: of that, yeah, and then became the best of the

910
00:52:46,840 --> 00:52:49,719
Speaker 5: best and most of the war and won the war.

911
00:52:50,239 --> 00:52:53,080
Speaker 5: Came back to more discrimination, but you know, and then

912
00:52:53,280 --> 00:52:56,920
Speaker 5: you know, forty years later, you know, Star Wars was

913
00:52:57,640 --> 00:53:00,680
Speaker 5: patterned after the battles of the time era.

914
00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:06,200
Speaker 1: Their dogfights literally inspired George Lucas in terms of what you.

915
00:53:06,239 --> 00:53:07,680
Speaker 2: See in Star Wars.

916
00:53:07,880 --> 00:53:11,520
Speaker 1: He's and that's verbatim from his mouth to our ears.

917
00:53:12,640 --> 00:53:16,040
Speaker 1: But as you say, they were marginalized, and that time

918
00:53:16,120 --> 00:53:20,960
Speaker 1: in which they were sidelined and benched, they continued to

919
00:53:22,040 --> 00:53:25,600
Speaker 1: forge their prowess in terms of what they did, and

920
00:53:25,680 --> 00:53:29,480
Speaker 1: out of desperation because of how many planes were being

921
00:53:29,520 --> 00:53:33,040
Speaker 1: hemorrhaged by the US forces. Out of desperation, they deployed

922
00:53:33,080 --> 00:53:36,880
Speaker 1: the Tusky Geemen and the Redtails, and they had a

923
00:53:36,880 --> 00:53:40,759
Speaker 1: better record than any squadron that came before them. But

924
00:53:40,920 --> 00:53:45,480
Speaker 1: that story, George Lucas, couldn't get made for thirty years.

925
00:53:46,560 --> 00:53:52,040
Speaker 1: This is the guy who instigated, initiated, created the greatest

926
00:53:52,080 --> 00:53:55,960
Speaker 1: film franchise in the history of cinema. You'd think if

927
00:53:56,000 --> 00:53:58,239
Speaker 1: there was anyone who's going to be able to tell

928
00:53:58,239 --> 00:54:00,719
Speaker 1: that story, it would be him. He couldn't get a

929
00:54:00,800 --> 00:54:04,840
Speaker 1: single studio to do it. He paid fifty million dollars

930
00:54:04,840 --> 00:54:08,799
Speaker 1: of his own money to make that film because no

931
00:54:08,960 --> 00:54:13,359
Speaker 1: studio would make it. And he said very explicitly to us,

932
00:54:14,280 --> 00:54:16,960
Speaker 1: no one was gonna make it with a group of black,

933
00:54:17,040 --> 00:54:20,080
Speaker 1: unknown actors, which it had to be because the Tuskegee

934
00:54:20,080 --> 00:54:23,319
Speaker 1: airmen were in their twenties. There were young men, so

935
00:54:23,400 --> 00:54:25,840
Speaker 1: it can't be as amazing as they are. It couldn't

936
00:54:25,840 --> 00:54:28,839
Speaker 1: be Morgan Freeman and Denzel and you know all the

937
00:54:28,880 --> 00:54:32,400
Speaker 1: people who have had time to establish a name for themselves,

938
00:54:32,440 --> 00:54:35,120
Speaker 1: so it had to be this group of young actors,

939
00:54:35,600 --> 00:54:38,239
Speaker 1: and so he had to pay the money himself. So

940
00:54:38,560 --> 00:54:40,719
Speaker 1: I say that all to say that that's the context

941
00:54:40,719 --> 00:54:44,080
Speaker 1: in which Nate and I met someone like George Lucas

942
00:54:44,160 --> 00:54:47,000
Speaker 1: advocating for us, giving us a platform to tell this

943
00:54:47,080 --> 00:54:51,320
Speaker 1: kind of story. And even when the film was made,

944
00:54:51,480 --> 00:54:55,279
Speaker 1: he still couldn't get a studio to distribute it. So

945
00:54:55,320 --> 00:54:57,840
Speaker 1: he had to go to the studio that did distribute

946
00:54:57,840 --> 00:55:02,200
Speaker 1: it essentially use their mechanism to do.

947
00:55:02,160 --> 00:55:04,400
Speaker 3: Him a favor to distribute the movie.

948
00:55:04,480 --> 00:55:06,799
Speaker 1: Now, the amount of people who come up to me

949
00:55:06,960 --> 00:55:09,279
Speaker 1: about that film since it came out and to say

950
00:55:09,280 --> 00:55:11,359
Speaker 1: it's their favorite film, or it was the first time

951
00:55:11,360 --> 00:55:13,920
Speaker 1: they knew about the Tuskegee m and all of that stuff.

952
00:55:14,239 --> 00:55:19,919
Speaker 1: So cut to over a decade later, we are by

953
00:55:20,000 --> 00:55:24,200
Speaker 1: products of that man's advocacy for us, and so we

954
00:55:24,400 --> 00:55:28,640
Speaker 1: have seen that it can. The thing that we don't

955
00:55:28,719 --> 00:55:32,960
Speaker 1: have is pipes. We make great product we make great projects,

956
00:55:33,000 --> 00:55:35,640
Speaker 1: but what we have never had is the means to

957
00:55:35,800 --> 00:55:40,880
Speaker 1: disseminate it. The thing that was genius about your father

958
00:55:41,080 --> 00:55:46,320
Speaker 1: with selma Is. He knew that it wasn't just about

959
00:55:46,360 --> 00:55:49,680
Speaker 1: a march, it wasn't just about a speech.

960
00:55:50,360 --> 00:55:52,279
Speaker 2: It was about the cameras.

961
00:55:53,360 --> 00:55:57,560
Speaker 1: The cameras need to be there to capture the truth

962
00:55:58,120 --> 00:56:02,680
Speaker 1: of what was happening. And on the night where John

963
00:56:02,760 --> 00:56:06,600
Speaker 1: Lewis was being beaten over the head in Selma, a

964
00:56:06,960 --> 00:56:11,400
Speaker 1: live broadcast was disrupted and all of America saw what

965
00:56:11,640 --> 00:56:16,840
Speaker 1: looked like, as they termed it, a war zone in

966
00:56:16,880 --> 00:56:19,960
Speaker 1: a foreign country, and then all of a sudden they

967
00:56:20,000 --> 00:56:25,120
Speaker 1: found out that was here in America, and it changed

968
00:56:25,680 --> 00:56:31,280
Speaker 1: the narrative. What we have never had is the means

969
00:56:31,680 --> 00:56:35,360
Speaker 1: to direct the eyeballs to the things that we create,

970
00:56:36,880 --> 00:56:41,360
Speaker 1: and so MANSA is a byproduct of a technical revolution,

971
00:56:41,520 --> 00:56:44,120
Speaker 1: which is that we didn't have to build a brick

972
00:56:44,200 --> 00:56:47,640
Speaker 1: and mortar studio. We raised enough money to be able

973
00:56:47,680 --> 00:56:50,400
Speaker 1: to create a digital one. That means we now have

974
00:56:51,120 --> 00:56:54,520
Speaker 1: over half a million subscribers to our platform, which is

975
00:56:54,560 --> 00:56:57,200
Speaker 1: going to grow, which is going to become global, and

976
00:56:57,400 --> 00:57:01,960
Speaker 1: we now have a place for margined groups whose work

977
00:57:02,040 --> 00:57:06,080
Speaker 1: is traditionally undervalued, to meet the audience in a way

978
00:57:06,120 --> 00:57:09,319
Speaker 1: that isn't being funneled through the eyeballs of people who

979
00:57:09,400 --> 00:57:13,560
Speaker 1: traditionally deem that work and those people to be lesser than.

980
00:57:14,920 --> 00:57:18,560
Speaker 4: Is often said content is king, But what we've learned

981
00:57:18,680 --> 00:57:23,240
Speaker 4: is distribution is king and kingmaker. You can make anything

982
00:57:23,240 --> 00:57:25,080
Speaker 4: you want to make, but if you have to then

983
00:57:25,200 --> 00:57:27,479
Speaker 4: go and take it to the very people who told

984
00:57:27,520 --> 00:57:29,560
Speaker 4: you you were not good enough. It is not good enough,

985
00:57:29,560 --> 00:57:31,920
Speaker 4: the story is not important enough. The chances are it

986
00:57:31,960 --> 00:57:34,439
Speaker 4: is not going to find the audience it was intended for.

987
00:57:34,920 --> 00:57:37,480
Speaker 4: So in building this platform. Mons and Mons is an

988
00:57:37,520 --> 00:57:41,160
Speaker 4: advertising supported streaming platform that brings the best of black

989
00:57:41,160 --> 00:57:46,080
Speaker 4: culture to a global audience. So we recognize if we're writers.

990
00:57:46,400 --> 00:57:51,040
Speaker 4: David is a writer, director, producer, actor, catering person if

991
00:57:51,040 --> 00:57:54,080
Speaker 4: he has to be whatever is necessary to get it done.

992
00:57:54,520 --> 00:57:55,880
Speaker 2: But once that thing is made.

993
00:57:55,960 --> 00:57:59,160
Speaker 4: He made an extraordinary film called The Waterman and was

994
00:57:59,200 --> 00:58:01,560
Speaker 4: in a situation and where and I've seen the film.

995
00:58:01,600 --> 00:58:03,120
Speaker 4: If you haven't seen it, please see the film. I

996
00:58:03,160 --> 00:58:05,920
Speaker 4: mean it was the critics loved it. It was called SPIELBERGI

997
00:58:06,120 --> 00:58:08,960
Speaker 4: and all of a sudden it was well, there are

998
00:58:09,000 --> 00:58:11,560
Speaker 4: all these reasons why it might not be able to

999
00:58:11,560 --> 00:58:14,080
Speaker 4: find an audience until you see the data. And it

1000
00:58:14,160 --> 00:58:18,600
Speaker 4: was one of the most distributed watched films globally, yet

1001
00:58:18,640 --> 00:58:22,000
Speaker 4: we had no control over getting this cup to the

1002
00:58:22,000 --> 00:58:24,720
Speaker 4: people that want to drink from it. So in building manset,

1003
00:58:24,800 --> 00:58:26,800
Speaker 4: it's about saying, in the same way that there is

1004
00:58:26,800 --> 00:58:28,400
Speaker 4: a two B, in the same way that there's a Pluto,

1005
00:58:28,440 --> 00:58:30,600
Speaker 4: in the same way that there's a Netflix, we need

1006
00:58:30,640 --> 00:58:34,080
Speaker 4: to control the pipes that control the content we create.

1007
00:58:34,160 --> 00:58:36,760
Speaker 4: When I say we, I mean anyone that understands the

1008
00:58:36,800 --> 00:58:40,160
Speaker 4: importance of black culture because black culture drives world culture,

1009
00:58:40,680 --> 00:58:42,560
Speaker 4: and being able to control how that gets to the

1010
00:58:42,600 --> 00:58:45,320
Speaker 4: hearts and the minds of the people it needs to impact.

1011
00:58:45,680 --> 00:58:49,840
Speaker 4: So if someone wanted to make a documentary about your

1012
00:58:49,920 --> 00:58:52,640
Speaker 4: life or your relationship or your granddaughter, because I'm still

1013
00:58:52,680 --> 00:58:55,560
Speaker 4: seeing her in that nook, that's important to my daughters

1014
00:58:55,920 --> 00:58:58,720
Speaker 4: to know the importance that she saw. I want to

1015
00:58:58,720 --> 00:59:00,880
Speaker 4: be close to my grandfather, though I'll never get to me.

1016
00:59:01,000 --> 00:59:03,120
Speaker 4: If my eight year old could hear that I know her,

1017
00:59:03,360 --> 00:59:06,240
Speaker 4: I know her heart, she'd be impacted by it. We

1018
00:59:06,280 --> 00:59:09,080
Speaker 4: could say okay, or a podcast where we can say

1019
00:59:09,080 --> 00:59:10,800
Speaker 4: we can get this podcast or the hearts and minds

1020
00:59:10,840 --> 00:59:12,800
Speaker 4: of the people that need to see it without having

1021
00:59:12,840 --> 00:59:15,560
Speaker 4: to beg Anyone that is opposed the idea of us

1022
00:59:15,600 --> 00:59:17,880
Speaker 4: reaching the people that are for us. We don't have

1023
00:59:17,880 --> 00:59:21,040
Speaker 4: to ask permission. We can take it directly to their eyeballs.

1024
00:59:21,240 --> 00:59:23,400
Speaker 4: So that was what mons us about. It's a streaming platform.

1025
00:59:23,400 --> 00:59:26,680
Speaker 4: You can download it now on iOS, Roku wherever. But

1026
00:59:27,080 --> 00:59:29,720
Speaker 4: the future is about access to the people who are

1027
00:59:29,760 --> 00:59:32,840
Speaker 4: looking for you, and so all of the content creators,

1028
00:59:32,880 --> 00:59:37,160
Speaker 4: all the people because sometimes that the new social justice leaders,

1029
00:59:37,280 --> 00:59:39,680
Speaker 4: a lot of them are content creators, you know, a

1030
00:59:39,680 --> 00:59:43,040
Speaker 4: lot of them didn't come up in the church, and

1031
00:59:43,120 --> 00:59:46,000
Speaker 4: they have different ways of interacting with millions of people

1032
00:59:46,040 --> 00:59:48,400
Speaker 4: who follow them. So to give them a platform where

1033
00:59:48,440 --> 00:59:52,680
Speaker 4: they can have a constant flow distributing their ideas in

1034
00:59:52,760 --> 00:59:55,200
Speaker 4: ways that enhance the lives of us, our children, and

1035
00:59:55,200 --> 00:59:58,480
Speaker 4: our children's children is the focus of our platform and

1036
00:59:58,520 --> 00:59:59,400
Speaker 4: why we created it.

1037
01:00:00,240 --> 01:00:03,760
Speaker 5: And we're just getting started with David o'yelowo and Nate Parker.

1038
01:00:04,320 --> 01:00:07,440
Speaker 5: Their story was too powerful and too important for this

1039
01:00:07,520 --> 01:00:11,160
Speaker 5: moment to fit into a single episode. Next week we

1040
01:00:11,240 --> 01:00:14,600
Speaker 5: go even deeper into the kind of friendship that's tested

1041
01:00:14,680 --> 01:00:17,640
Speaker 5: in life's darkest moments when the world turns its back.

1042
01:00:17,680 --> 01:00:20,480
Speaker 5: Who stands by you when everything is on the line,

1043
01:00:20,520 --> 01:00:21,480
Speaker 5: Who fights for you.

1044
01:00:21,960 --> 01:00:31,320
Speaker 1: When he talks about us having prayed together, We have snotty, dribbling, screaming,

1045
01:00:31,680 --> 01:00:38,000
Speaker 1: wailing prayed together over this stuff because it was hard.

1046
01:00:39,040 --> 01:00:41,959
Speaker 5: Trust me, you don't want to miss part two next week.

1047
01:00:43,160 --> 01:00:46,240
Speaker 5: Thank you for joining us. We are so grateful to

1048
01:00:46,360 --> 01:00:49,520
Speaker 5: have you as part of this journey. If you enjoyed

1049
01:00:49,560 --> 01:00:54,240
Speaker 5: today's conversation, subscribe and share the podcast with friends, family,

1050
01:00:54,280 --> 01:00:57,360
Speaker 5: and loved ones, and follow us on social media at

1051
01:00:57,480 --> 01:01:00,960
Speaker 5: my Legacy Movement. You can also sipp ksribe to our

1052
01:01:01,040 --> 01:01:05,320
Speaker 5: YouTube channel at my Legacy Movement. Produced by Legacy Plus

1053
01:01:05,360 --> 01:01:10,760
Speaker 5: Studio in partnership with iHeartRadio creator and executive producer Suzanne

1054
01:01:10,800 --> 01:01:15,400
Speaker 5: Hayward co executive producer Lisa Lyle. My Legacy podcast is

1055
01:01:15,440 --> 01:01:19,920
Speaker 5: available on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

1056
01:01:20,440 --> 01:01:24,320
Speaker 5: Until next time, may you find connection and inspiration to

1057
01:01:24,520 --> 01:01:28,840
Speaker 5: live your most fulfilled life.