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Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, it's spilled Courtney with an army of normal folks,

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Speaker 1: and we continue with part two of our conversation with

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Speaker 1: Melvyn Cole right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors.

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Speaker 1: You're running back. Yeah, so running your junior year.

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Speaker 2: So junior year, we go to the state championship. We

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Speaker 2: play against bg an Academy and if everybody no freeze,

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Speaker 2: he got all these fancy players. I mean, listen, he

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Speaker 2: was the same guy back then, and he trying all

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Speaker 2: this ship and we lose, and we on the bush

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Speaker 2: and I'm sitting I'm like, look, dude, I'm going back

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Speaker 2: to the hood, like.

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Speaker 1: Like, oh, you weren't going to go back to bar

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Speaker 1: crush your senior year?

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Speaker 2: No way? Why not? Why it wasn't beneficial to me?

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Speaker 1: Okay once you get recruited.

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Speaker 2: I came over there for one reason. That was the

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Speaker 2: Hipen Winnestate Championship.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So in my mind, we.

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Speaker 2: Didn't get it done. And I mean, so what I'm sitting.

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Speaker 1: Like, no, but I got to ask you something. You

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Speaker 1: still have to meet the at least the medial academic

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Speaker 1: standards at Briarcrest. How were you doing that?

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Speaker 2: I'm not stupid.

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Speaker 1: I didn't say you were stupid. So you were doing

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Speaker 1: the work. Yeah, yeah, don't you think you were getting

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Speaker 1: some value for that?

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Speaker 2: No? Why where was it gonna take at the time?

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Speaker 2: Where was it gonna take me?

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Speaker 1: I see? Because see here's the thing. There's this thought

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Speaker 1: about kids coming from urban areas and getting scholarships to

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Speaker 1: private schools. It happens all over our country, it does.

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Speaker 1: I am g is a huge one. But I mean

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Speaker 1: when you look at a Catholic school like Bishop Gorman

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Speaker 1: and they got these studs playing for them, you know,

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Speaker 1: their moms and daddies ain't paying for them to go

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Speaker 1: to school. But the trade off is now, in a

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Speaker 1: perfect world, the idealistic trade off is you're gonna go

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Speaker 1: play sports for the school and help them win games,

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Speaker 1: and they get to expand their profiles a school as

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Speaker 1: a result of that. But what you get is instead

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Speaker 1: of getting this a for attendance lack of education, you're

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Speaker 1: actually gonna get taught and get an education.

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Speaker 2: That's not how it's explained to you.

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Speaker 1: Fuck no, I'm holding I'm telling you that is the idealistic.

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Speaker 2: No no, no medical conversation, no no, no, listen, that's great

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Speaker 2: and those are the conversations that's being high had by adults.

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Speaker 1: What are the conversations you're having with you.

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Speaker 2: With the keys? Yeah, man, come over and play football

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Speaker 2: because at the end of it, because you gotta look

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Speaker 2: at it at the end of the day. Why are

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Speaker 2: you talking to me now because I'm fucking a great student?

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Speaker 1: Why are you talking to me because you play ball?

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Speaker 2: Because I play ball and your ass couldn't be easies.

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Speaker 2: That's why you're talking to me now because I'm some

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Speaker 2: great guy. You're not talking me because because.

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Speaker 1: Let's be honest, you're a drug dealer with a kid

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Speaker 1: at fourteen. You don't fit the.

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Speaker 2: Profile said when my kid was older than a huge

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Speaker 2: kid when we were got to school, That's what I

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Speaker 2: was goind of confused about. But I got kicked out

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Speaker 2: for pre member.

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Speaker 1: Ain't talking about that. We got to get to that.

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Speaker 1: I'm sitting there like this, all right, So after after

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Speaker 1: junior year, you're out.

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Speaker 2: I'm done.

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Speaker 1: But somebody says, no, come on back. We're gonna freeze

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Speaker 1: freeze man, So then you know, all right, coach, I'll

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Speaker 1: come back. How was your relationship with them? Were you

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Speaker 1: all right with them?

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Speaker 2: Now I'm gonna tell you this. This is what I'll

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Speaker 2: tell you. Man. I love Hugh Freeze to this day.

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Speaker 2: Like when I tell you because you know what you're

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Speaker 2: gonna get with him, like he he ain't gonna bullshit

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Speaker 2: you now, he gonna he gonna, he gonna lay it

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Speaker 2: out on it all you can ask. Yeah, that's and

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Speaker 2: I'm cool with that. I'm cool with that. I mean,

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Speaker 2: I'm great. Yeah, man, I don't have it.

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Speaker 1: So because he came to and you were cool with him,

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Speaker 1: he said, all right, I'll roll up back. Let's go

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Speaker 1: try to win a state.

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Speaker 2: Man. Because he came to me, he he told me, man,

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Speaker 2: I know I should have ran you more. He said

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Speaker 2: that we was on the bus, Man, I know I

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Speaker 2: should have ran you more. Have you come back. We're gonna,

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Speaker 2: I'm I'm gonna do this. We're gonna we're gonna win.

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Speaker 2: I'm gonna help you go off to.

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Speaker 1: College and so and so your senior year. This can so.

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Speaker 2: I So I trained all that year going through the summer.

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Speaker 2: Senior year came around and and I got to be

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Speaker 2: honest with you, Freeze did his part. I mean that

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Speaker 2: was that was college coaches at the game. I mean

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Speaker 2: I was getting recruited like I didn't. My recruitment wasn't

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Speaker 2: short by any by any sketch of imagination, you know,

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Speaker 2: old miss Mississippi State, Louisville Bowling Green. I mean, I

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Speaker 2: was actually gonna go to Misssippi State before Jackie Sheriff

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Speaker 2: fired his whole coaching staff if we had the Memphis

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Speaker 2: Maniacs during that time. So Kippy Brown was great friends

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Speaker 2: with Hugh So, I mean he held his end of

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Speaker 2: the bar.

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Speaker 1: Again.

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Speaker 2: I mean, that's one thing I would openly say that.

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Speaker 2: I mean, that's why to this day, if I got

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Speaker 2: a player that he wants and the player wants him,

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Speaker 2: I mean, I'm endorset, you know what I mean. But

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Speaker 2: so that was the whole thing, like all right, I mean,

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Speaker 2: but for me, it was the fact that I was

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Speaker 2: wanted and I was needed Because walking through the school

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Speaker 2: and dealing with them kids, Man, you you ain't really

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Speaker 2: wanted and needed.

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Speaker 1: I mean, but you're still dealing drugs, yeah, because you

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Speaker 1: got to feed your back. You're going to this high end,

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Speaker 1: wealthy kids all around you. Man, I'm getting kids showing

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Speaker 1: up in the parking lot having cars nicer than you've

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Speaker 1: ever seen.

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Speaker 2: Man, I'm getting picked up from White Haven and I'm

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Speaker 2: going to Briar Chris and I'm looking. I'm like, damn,

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Speaker 2: these kids got this, this and this, and in my

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Speaker 2: mind I just will figure like all right, well I'm

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Speaker 2: gonna get this one day doing what I do. But yeah,

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Speaker 2: like that shit.

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Speaker 1: Was haf but and you're doing that. But this other

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Speaker 1: life is you're dealing drugs take care of everything. So

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Speaker 1: you're still in in that life. You're living a double life.

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Speaker 2: I've deal living double life my whole life.

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Speaker 1: This is an extreme. This is an extreme in terms

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Speaker 1: of the culture you're going to school in versus the

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Speaker 1: culture you live.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, not and day and you win a state championship

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Speaker 3: and we win to stay championship and then there's a party.

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Speaker 2: There's a big time party. Tell me about that. Man.

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Speaker 2: To me, I thought it. So here's the thing about it.

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Speaker 2: I've never went to any All Canvas parties or anything

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Speaker 2: like that. I've never been associated with.

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Speaker 1: Well, you're going back to the hood because I'm going

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Speaker 1: back every day right that you ain't staying out near Briarcrosh.

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Speaker 2: That was my It was just like work. To me. Hey,

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Speaker 2: I get picked up, I get dropped off, I get

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Speaker 2: picked up I get dropped off. Listen, I know I

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Speaker 2: ain't these people kind.

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Speaker 1: Hey, I got to ask you about that. Real talk here, bro,

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Speaker 1: The people that are picking you up and taking you

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Speaker 1: out there are white, right, Nah?

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Speaker 2: I had a black guy.

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Speaker 1: What they hire a black guy to ride you around?

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Speaker 2: Now you want to hear the crazy part about it.

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Speaker 2: It was another black kid that was on broad crist

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Speaker 2: team too, that lives where I lived it but they fit.

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Speaker 2: But those kids couldn't get it freeze over the edge.

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Speaker 2: So this kid, he would come and pick me up

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Speaker 2: and then we'll ride to the school together and then he'll

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Speaker 2: drop me off.

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Speaker 1: All right, Well, then my question, I asked it wrong.

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Speaker 1: This is my question. You got to school and you're

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Speaker 1: surrounded by white teachers, white administration, white everything, right, the

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Speaker 1: exact opposite of what I was when I went to

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Speaker 1: an assist. My question is to you, I know what

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Speaker 1: you said earlier about the reality of your life and

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Speaker 1: what's right first wrong when you're in that environment, but

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Speaker 1: you certainly know there's a different set of rules and

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Speaker 1: standards and briercusts because, like you said, you ain't stupid,

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Speaker 1: and you know you're dealing drugs when you're at home.

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Speaker 1: But you know that doesn't go down. I mean, you

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Speaker 1: can't be down with that at Briarcrest, So you can't.

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Speaker 2: Huh, White can't because those kids get high too.

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Speaker 1: I'm getting there. Don't get that question is did you

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Speaker 1: work your hustle with Briercrests?

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Speaker 2: No? I wish I could have.

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Speaker 1: But weren't you working a hustle? By not working the hustle?

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Speaker 1: You feel what I'm saying.

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Speaker 2: The second, the second part of it, because see you

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Speaker 2: got to understand is being a drug dealer wasn't the

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Speaker 2: ultimate goal. The ultimate gold was the National Football League.

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Speaker 2: Drug dealing was second.

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Speaker 1: What's helping you get there?

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Speaker 2: That's all it was. I said, it wasn't. It wasn't

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Speaker 2: who I was. It was just a means to an end,

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Speaker 2: to get me down the road to the next stop sign.

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Speaker 2: That's all I was looking.

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Speaker 1: You look back on that and you don't now how

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Speaker 1: just pervertedly wrong all of that is.

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Speaker 2: But that's all you had. Why is it wrong? Considering

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Speaker 2: pharmaceuticals is the number one industry in America right now? No,

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Speaker 2: hurt I got appeal your arm. Hurt I got appeal.

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Speaker 2: You're told hurt I got appeal. You coughing, I got appeal.

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Speaker 1: It's wrong, is because or in jail.

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Speaker 2: No tax invasion.

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Speaker 1: Okay, tax evasion too. My point is this is not

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Speaker 1: what you're teaching kids today, correct because okay, let me

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Speaker 1: say it a different way. It is so common in

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Speaker 1: your life, fit in the lives of people that grew

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Speaker 1: up in places like you and still do today this

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Speaker 1: very minute, this is happening. Do you ever hear yourself

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Speaker 1: talk about it now and think, you know.

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Speaker 2: Wow, not while uh, it's an inner struggle.

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Speaker 3: Tell me about that, because just like you said, now

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Speaker 3: I realize in the sense of what I what I

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Speaker 3: deem is wrong, not about going to jail or that

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Speaker 3: part in terms of man, we're tearing down communities, we're tearing.

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Speaker 2: Down families, like that's what I'm talking We're tearing it down.

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Speaker 2: So to be a part of that for so long

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Speaker 2: and then be a part of bringing it back when

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Speaker 2: you have your struggles, because then you have those people

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Speaker 2: that say, man, how you gonna say this and do this?

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Speaker 2: You was a part of this for so many years.

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Speaker 2: Look what you and your family did to the city.

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Speaker 2: So that's the struggle that you go back and forth

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Speaker 2: because you know what I once was the problem we

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Speaker 2: once rule. I mean it's no secret with my family,

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Speaker 2: with Bobby and Craig, we arguably had the largest roughest

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Speaker 2: cocaine run out West Tennessee history. I mean, our organization

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Speaker 2: operated in twenty nine states.

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Speaker 1: We'll be right back. The party at Broadcress.

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Speaker 2: Life changing. It was a house party, which you don't

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Speaker 2: normally go to. I don't want to go to. Kids

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Speaker 2: will drink.

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Speaker 1: Hey, we gotta state championship.

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Speaker 2: We gotta stay championship. Let's have some fun. The team.

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Speaker 2: The teammates didn't convince me. Come on, come on, Melvin,

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Speaker 2: come on, you never hang out with us, which is

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Speaker 2: kind of cool and listen. And it was so I thought, So,

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Speaker 2: I mean, we're having this party.

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Speaker 1: I mean, did you ever think you'd be hanging out

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Speaker 1: having a party a bunch of white kids from suburban Memphis.

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Speaker 2: No, I never crossed my mind. Yeah, because the whole

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Speaker 2: thing was teammates and teammates. I went home every day.

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Speaker 2: So we went and state we want to stay championship.

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Speaker 2: I got the guys on the team because now what

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Speaker 2: I will say is those guys that played on the

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Speaker 2: team with me and brid Christ, they didn't see white

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Speaker 2: and black like those I can genually say those were

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Speaker 2: some of my dudes, like like I still talk to

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Speaker 2: some of them to this day, like like those are

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Speaker 2: my dudes, white and black. So we never the football

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Speaker 2: aspect of We never looked at it like that.

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Speaker 1: It's weird how football breaks down that barrier.

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Speaker 2: And that's one thing.

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Speaker 1: When you hurt and bleed together.

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Speaker 2: It's totally different. It just doesn't matter. And Freeze was

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Speaker 2: good at that. He was good at blending everybody together.

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Speaker 2: So in my mind, all right, teammates want.

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Speaker 1: So the party was safe, That's what I'm trying to say.

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Speaker 2: In my mind, it was. It was safe. It was

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Speaker 2: it was sanction I mean, you gotta think about you

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Speaker 2: got a bunch of kids with alcohol. Shit we didn't buy,

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Speaker 2: you know what I mean.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so it was sanctioned.

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Speaker 2: So you know, girls, she won't have sex. I mean,

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Speaker 2: she was hot, she looked good to me. I'm like,

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Speaker 2: all right, cool, you know what I mean. It wasn't

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Speaker 2: out of us. It wasn't like I was the only

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Speaker 2: guy in the house having sex, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 2: It was it was a few of us, you know

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Speaker 2: what I mean.

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Speaker 1: A high school party full of seventeen eighteen year old

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Speaker 1: teenagers and alcohol feeling good about themselves after state championship.

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Speaker 2: The state championship, well, I mean we didn't gonna.

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Speaker 1: Have especially for a guy with a two year old

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Speaker 1: at home.

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Speaker 2: So this particular room, me and the girl was in,

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Speaker 2: some guys bust opening the door. You know, we were

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Speaker 2: young or shit, we don't stop. We just seventeen years old.

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Speaker 2: What you're gonna stop for? Y'all know how to? I

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Speaker 2: mean everybody's and man, I didn't think anything of it.

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Speaker 2: And what I didn't think anything of it?

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Speaker 1: Yeah?

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Speaker 2: Man, it was it was fun. I mean she was

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Speaker 2: cool with it. I was cool with it. It was fun.

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Speaker 2: So we get back to school and I'm coming out

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Speaker 2: to cafeteria and all the guys started clapping. I don't know,

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Speaker 2: so I'm like, I'm like all right, So you know,

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Speaker 2: at the time, principal and everybody wanted to know, like

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Speaker 2: where is everybody clapping around? So I tell the story

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Speaker 2: of what happened?

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Speaker 1: So you tell who?

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Speaker 2: So I tell the principal, I tell Freeze. You tell

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Speaker 2: them what I'm lying about? Like what am I lying about?

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Speaker 2: The girl didn't scream rape? Like what am I lying about?

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Speaker 2: It was, it was nothing to lie about.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you do you realize.

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Speaker 2: I got a two year old?

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Speaker 1: You know what, I'm fucking do you realize the the

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Speaker 1: profundity of that blatant honesty about what am I gonna

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Speaker 1: lie about? But also the naivet tell you of it.

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Speaker 2: How naive at that.

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Speaker 1: Time for you to not recognize the danger and that

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Speaker 1: story profoundly honest, but equally naive. And the reason I'm

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00:15:53,720 --> 00:16:04,640
Speaker 1: saying that is without mentorship, up, without coaches, without somebody

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Speaker 1: who truly cares about you. When you're in an environment

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Speaker 1: like that to win football games, but you don't have

290
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Speaker 1: the full proper support, you're bound to fall into a

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Speaker 1: football yep. So in my mind, you really didn't do

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Speaker 1: anything wrong. But at Briarcrest Christian School, so and.

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Speaker 2: That was the thing. So they says, well, you know

294
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Speaker 2: that's pre matter sex.

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Speaker 1: I said, I got a two year old.

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Speaker 2: I said, dude, y'all knew I had a fucking two

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Speaker 2: year old? Like what what? Huh? And he looks at

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Speaker 2: me and says, you know, hey, it's some things you

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Speaker 2: just don't do. And right then I knew black boys

300
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Speaker 2: ain't sposed to as white girls. I learned that lesson

301
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Speaker 2: that day, and I was kicked out, and I got

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Speaker 2: that very clear.

303
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Speaker 1: All right, So let's talk about that for a second.

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Speaker 1: I've heard you say that before. First, I want to

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00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:12,000
Speaker 1: make it really clear, Lisa and I raised our children

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Speaker 1: based on our faith and based on my steadfast belief

307
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Speaker 1: as a father that you need to wait to have children,

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Speaker 1: you need to preserve yourself. And I want to be

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Speaker 1: careful not to sound like a prude, because I didn't

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Speaker 1: do that when I was in high school. I was

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Speaker 1: just like you. I didn't have a kid. But I

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Speaker 1: guess what I'm saying is, I don't want anybody to

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Speaker 1: think I condone having children out of wedlock at fifteen

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Speaker 1: and all of that. I think that's dangerous and bad

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Speaker 1: and destructive in most cases, and I don't want to

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Speaker 1: condone it. However, hearing your story, you certainly understand it.

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Speaker 1: But to hear you say that's when I learned black

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Speaker 1: folks ain't supposed to have sex with white girls. Are

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Speaker 1: you saying that if a white kid had not admitted

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Speaker 1: to having sex at that party, that they also would

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Speaker 1: not have been kicked out.

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Speaker 2: This is what I'm gonna say. They knew I was.

323
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Speaker 2: I wouldn't only one having six at that party.

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Speaker 1: You were the only one that admitted it.

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Speaker 2: The kids were mad. Matter of fact, one of the

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Speaker 2: teachers told me, ma'am, I wish you had a lie.

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Speaker 1: There's the nave at tea part.

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Speaker 2: That's what one of because at the end of the day,

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Speaker 2: I was never a bad person. I did bad shit,

330
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Speaker 2: but I was never a bad person. So I never lived.

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Speaker 1: Were causing trouble to school?

332
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Speaker 2: No, that's not who I am. I've never been that guy.

333
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Speaker 1: But it is a horrible thing that from that experience

334
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Speaker 1: you took from it. Well, that's what happens to black

335
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Speaker 1: guys that have sex with white girls.

336
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Speaker 2: I mean, twenty years ago, there was the case.

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Speaker 1: Look, man, I get it. I just want our listeners

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Speaker 1: to get it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, twenty two years twenty five years ago, that was

340
00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:30,720
Speaker 2: that was the case here in Missis, Tennessee. Now you

341
00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:32,959
Speaker 2: guys still think about where we're at. We still got

342
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Speaker 2: a street downtown called Auction.

343
00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:38,640
Speaker 1: No, they changed it two years ago. Oh well great, yeah,

344
00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:40,760
Speaker 1: you talk about the bridge. Yeah, but when I was

345
00:19:40,760 --> 00:19:43,239
Speaker 1: in school, what it was called Auction. When I grew up,

346
00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:47,160
Speaker 1: it was Auction, and for everybody to listen. The Auction

347
00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:52,160
Speaker 1: Street Bridge connects Front Street with what is Mudd Island

348
00:19:52,640 --> 00:19:55,640
Speaker 1: and it goes over what's called the Marble Bayou right

349
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Speaker 1: next to the Mississippi River. And the reason it's called

350
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Speaker 1: Auction Street Bridge is because that's where the barges rolled

351
00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:07,320
Speaker 1: up to the backside of Front Street and unloaded the slaves,

352
00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:11,359
Speaker 1: and that's where they had their slave auction. And until

353
00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:13,879
Speaker 1: four or five years ago, we still had that street

354
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Speaker 1: called Auction Street and that was Auction Street Bridge because

355
00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:19,840
Speaker 1: that's where black human beings were sold.

356
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Speaker 2: So you got that to just change four five years ago.

357
00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:28,280
Speaker 2: And my experience was over twenty years ago. So let'sen talk.

358
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Speaker 2: Let's and learn.

359
00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:34,000
Speaker 1: So you get by hook or crook, you get back

360
00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:36,880
Speaker 1: into Whitehaven, you're able to graduate, and now you've got

361
00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:39,359
Speaker 1: your scholarship and you go play college ball. Yeah so

362
00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:41,919
Speaker 1: I was, but you still got that kid and that

363
00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:45,840
Speaker 1: baby mama. So you still dealing drugs, still hustling. So

364
00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:47,200
Speaker 1: tell me how the hustle went.

365
00:20:48,560 --> 00:20:51,320
Speaker 2: It was simple. When I wasn't playing football, I was hustling.

366
00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:53,920
Speaker 2: When I wasn't working out, I was hustling.

367
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Speaker 1: Where did it lead?

368
00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:01,760
Speaker 2: Just started thinking.

369
00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:06,639
Speaker 1: There was a night you were in a car and

370
00:21:07,359 --> 00:21:08,240
Speaker 1: things got bad.

371
00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:17,119
Speaker 2: I was in college, so I was dealing out of Chicago.

372
00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:23,600
Speaker 2: And I originally met these two brothers when we first

373
00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:26,800
Speaker 2: set up the deal, and I had gave him about

374
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Speaker 2: three four pounds a week and I was going to

375
00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:34,760
Speaker 2: swap it out again, give him more, get the money,

376
00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:39,639
Speaker 2: swap it out. And I'm in the car with the

377
00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:41,360
Speaker 2: brother and he says, my brother be on the way.

378
00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:44,760
Speaker 2: You know we did. So we're doing small talk and

379
00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:49,800
Speaker 2: he changed the conversations to crack. So I'm thinking to.

380
00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:53,480
Speaker 1: Myself, oh shit, you think he's law.

381
00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:56,879
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think he's face all day long. Right, So

382
00:21:56,920 --> 00:21:58,960
Speaker 2: I'm thinking I'm trying to figure out how I'm gonna

383
00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:01,960
Speaker 2: kill him, kick him out my car, and get back

384
00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:02,440
Speaker 2: out of here.

385
00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:04,560
Speaker 1: Now, let's speak clear. You ain't never shot or killed

386
00:22:04,560 --> 00:22:08,000
Speaker 1: nobody before this before what before this night?

387
00:22:08,359 --> 00:22:09,680
Speaker 2: Now that's part of the game.

388
00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:12,119
Speaker 1: No, But you're thinking I'm gonna have to kill this

389
00:22:12,119 --> 00:22:14,040
Speaker 1: guy and dumping by my car so I can get

390
00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:17,080
Speaker 1: out of here. Correct, But up until this point, I mean,

391
00:22:17,119 --> 00:22:23,520
Speaker 1: you ain't never killed nobody. Okay, maybe I'm wrong.

392
00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:27,840
Speaker 2: Part of the game. Let me ask you. So, let's

393
00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:32,600
Speaker 2: say when you go to work, you grab your briefcase.

394
00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:35,520
Speaker 1: Right, yeah, yeah, it's just all the.

395
00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:38,480
Speaker 2: Shit that comes with the game. You don't like. You

396
00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:41,240
Speaker 2: don't pick and choose what you do in a drug game,

397
00:22:42,119 --> 00:22:43,239
Speaker 2: because that shit come os.

398
00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:47,000
Speaker 1: So you're literally just making a value determination that this

399
00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:47,800
Speaker 1: guy's got.

400
00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:51,280
Speaker 2: To go because he's the face. It's me and him, okay,

401
00:22:51,359 --> 00:22:54,520
Speaker 2: because if you don't go, I'm jammed up. I'm selling

402
00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:55,200
Speaker 2: to an undercover.

403
00:22:57,720 --> 00:23:15,320
Speaker 1: We'll be right back. Turns out he's not the Fens,

404
00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:16,439
Speaker 1: it's not the Fax.

405
00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:19,479
Speaker 2: So as I'm hesitating on the decision to kill him,

406
00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:23,720
Speaker 2: all I hear is so once I turn around, now

407
00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:26,280
Speaker 2: his partner got the barrel of the gun in my face.

408
00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:30,320
Speaker 2: So I reached for my gun and he hits me twice,

409
00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:32,840
Speaker 2: once in the shoulder and once in the back of

410
00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:35,879
Speaker 2: the head. They take the money, they take the gun,

411
00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:43,520
Speaker 2: take the weed. They take off, and I remember I'm

412
00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:45,440
Speaker 2: sitting in the car and I go, damn. I thought

413
00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:48,680
Speaker 2: I was gonna go out and the shootout. So I

414
00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:53,000
Speaker 2: crossed my arms across my legs and I laid there

415
00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:58,200
Speaker 2: and I'll never forget. The police and the ammulams come

416
00:23:58,359 --> 00:24:03,560
Speaker 2: and everybody and this is this lady and I tell her, says,

417
00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:09,320
Speaker 2: where's my phone, reach and grab my phone. So she

418
00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:11,879
Speaker 2: gives my phone and she puts it right here, And

419
00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:16,359
Speaker 2: during the whole ride to Cook County Hospital, she's like, baby,

420
00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:20,000
Speaker 2: fight for your life, Fight for your life. And I'm like, nah,

421
00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:21,760
Speaker 2: she's let me die.

422
00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:22,359
Speaker 1: I'm tired.

423
00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:27,080
Speaker 2: I've been doing this shit for so long. I'm tired.

424
00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:31,400
Speaker 2: So she's like, nah, baby, nah, baby, fight for your life.

425
00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:36,080
Speaker 2: Fight for your life. And the whole way, I'm trying

426
00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:40,760
Speaker 2: to convince this lady that I'm tired, and she's convincing

427
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:46,240
Speaker 2: me to keep fighting for my life. So we make

428
00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:50,320
Speaker 2: it in Cook County Hospital and I'm covered in blood

429
00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:53,360
Speaker 2: and all that, and the doctors come in and then

430
00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:57,680
Speaker 2: after my vitals and everything is stable, they come back

431
00:24:57,680 --> 00:24:59,480
Speaker 2: and say, your cousin is here to see.

432
00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:02,560
Speaker 1: You us in Chicago. You ain't got no cousin in Chicago.

433
00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:06,040
Speaker 2: I said, no way. I said, hey, don't let anybody

434
00:25:06,119 --> 00:25:07,840
Speaker 2: come back here. I don't have a fucking cousin.

435
00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:11,240
Speaker 1: So I called my friend. Do you think they're coming

436
00:25:11,280 --> 00:25:11,719
Speaker 1: to finish?

437
00:25:12,119 --> 00:25:14,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, because they know the consequences if I'm alive.

438
00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:20,119
Speaker 1: Because they feel like you're gonna talk. No, no, no,

439
00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:22,520
Speaker 1: My band. You ain't gonna talk. I'm gonna get my

440
00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:25,120
Speaker 1: getting back. I'm gonna get my lick back. I get it.

441
00:25:25,280 --> 00:25:26,399
Speaker 2: You hit me, I'm gonna hit you.

442
00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:29,920
Speaker 1: I understand that's football, but that's also apparently the gang world.

443
00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:33,399
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that's I mean, it's not even the

444
00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:34,439
Speaker 2: gang world. That's life.

445
00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:35,879
Speaker 1: I get it.

446
00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:37,760
Speaker 2: I'm gonna get my lick back if you If you're

447
00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:39,560
Speaker 2: a lawyer and you lose a case, guess what, I'm

448
00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:41,600
Speaker 2: gonna get my link back when I see that attorney again.

449
00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:43,679
Speaker 1: Yeah, they ain't worried about your talking. You know what.

450
00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:46,680
Speaker 1: I never even got that until sitting there looking at you.

451
00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:50,040
Speaker 1: The law was not the problem. You probably the problem.

452
00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:52,399
Speaker 2: Me and my family was the problem. I see, if anything,

453
00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:56,920
Speaker 2: you want the law to come gonna help you out.

454
00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:03,119
Speaker 2: So from there, I took off and my friend picked

455
00:26:03,119 --> 00:26:05,480
Speaker 2: me up, and he came out.

456
00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:06,720
Speaker 1: They didn't operate.

457
00:26:07,119 --> 00:26:07,680
Speaker 2: No, I left.

458
00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:12,080
Speaker 1: You're still bleeding. You got bullets in here, and you

459
00:26:12,119 --> 00:26:13,040
Speaker 1: get up and roll.

460
00:26:14,119 --> 00:26:20,320
Speaker 2: I leave shoot out. My friend picks me up. He

461
00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:23,920
Speaker 2: tied me in his girlfriend's apartment. I called my mom.

462
00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:27,280
Speaker 2: I say, mom, the drug deal went wrong. I need

463
00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:32,320
Speaker 2: a flight out of Chicago. My mom books the flight

464
00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:34,520
Speaker 2: for me the next day, and this is where my

465
00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:39,960
Speaker 2: body starts to shut down as I'm getting back to Memphis.

466
00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:43,720
Speaker 2: So at this time I had a connecting flight from

467
00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:49,359
Speaker 2: Chicago to Atlanta, Atlanta to Memphis. Well, they end up

468
00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:51,399
Speaker 2: having some weather and some other so so get we

469
00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:55,639
Speaker 2: get stuck in Atlanta and my body's still shutting down.

470
00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:57,320
Speaker 2: They put us in this hotel. So I go to

471
00:26:57,359 --> 00:27:00,000
Speaker 2: the front desk and I tell the lady, I said,

472
00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:03,760
Speaker 2: it is that anyway I can charge my phone. I'm

473
00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:06,320
Speaker 2: about to die and I just want my mom to

474
00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:11,040
Speaker 2: know where she can come pick up my body. So

475
00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:13,800
Speaker 2: they let me use the phone. I call my mom.

476
00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:16,639
Speaker 2: I told hers say hey, I said, I'm stuck here.

477
00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:19,080
Speaker 2: They say the plane supposed to come at this time.

478
00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:20,960
Speaker 2: I said, but I'm not sure if I'm gonna make it,

479
00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:23,960
Speaker 2: and I just want you to know where to come

480
00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:30,840
Speaker 2: and get me from. So made it through the night,

481
00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:35,160
Speaker 2: the whole the hotel. They shut us back to the airport.

482
00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:38,320
Speaker 2: I'm in a wheelchair. They are you bleeding? I'm still

483
00:27:38,359 --> 00:27:40,399
Speaker 2: covered in blood, so the blood is dropped by there.

484
00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:42,879
Speaker 1: They're putting you on an airplane with us on or

485
00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:43,639
Speaker 1: are you hiding it.

486
00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:45,080
Speaker 2: No, I'm just like it.

487
00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:45,639
Speaker 1: My mom.

488
00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:48,439
Speaker 2: My mom bathed the blood off of me when I

489
00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:48,920
Speaker 2: got home.

490
00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:51,560
Speaker 1: Wow.

491
00:27:52,359 --> 00:27:56,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, so my mom bathed when I get When I

492
00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:59,320
Speaker 2: get to Memphis, my brother picks me up. And if

493
00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:03,400
Speaker 2: anybody knows my brother, he's the ultimate hard ass talking

494
00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:08,040
Speaker 2: about I've seen him one cry one time in my

495
00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:09,879
Speaker 2: whole life, and that's when he was picking me up

496
00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:12,120
Speaker 2: from the airport, and I knew I was fucked up

497
00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:17,680
Speaker 2: because he don't cry. We got home, my mom bathed me.

498
00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:21,040
Speaker 2: All my gang members and family that they came over

499
00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:29,560
Speaker 2: and we talked, but it was my father that night.

500
00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:34,600
Speaker 2: My father's arguing with my mom. He said, Roberta, I'm

501
00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:37,600
Speaker 2: telling you something else wrong with that boy. He too tough.

502
00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:40,440
Speaker 2: There's no way he'll be acting like this if he

503
00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:43,680
Speaker 2: got shot on the shoulder. Some else is wrong with

504
00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:46,760
Speaker 2: that boy. I'm telling you something else is wrong with him.

505
00:28:46,960 --> 00:28:51,480
Speaker 2: He's too tough. The next morning, you have seen those

506
00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:56,080
Speaker 2: little pocket flashlights. Yeah, he shines, He said, boy, the

507
00:28:56,120 --> 00:28:58,240
Speaker 2: same holes in your head as in your back that

508
00:28:58,360 --> 00:29:00,880
Speaker 2: you get shot in the head. I said, man, I

509
00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:03,760
Speaker 2: don't fucking know. I reached down for my hammer and

510
00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:07,760
Speaker 2: the motherfucker wasn't dumping. I said, I don't know. They

511
00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:11,080
Speaker 2: took me to the hospital, fractored skull, bullet and the

512
00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:16,360
Speaker 2: opsipital load. That's when I was rushed to the med

513
00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:19,840
Speaker 2: and I stayed in the mid about fourteen days. I

514
00:29:21,040 --> 00:29:24,440
Speaker 2: lost the ability to read write a lot of that

515
00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:26,880
Speaker 2: because so the opposit, the load, it's the most sensant

516
00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:29,920
Speaker 2: part of the brain. It's where your memory center is,

517
00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:32,640
Speaker 2: it's your vision, it's your everything, and that's where the

518
00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:35,920
Speaker 2: bullet was lodged. And I grew pitched.

519
00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:37,520
Speaker 1: Man.

520
00:29:37,560 --> 00:29:41,400
Speaker 2: I had a conversation with my uncle and he was like, man,

521
00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:44,560
Speaker 2: look at the dope game that did to you, like

522
00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:48,040
Speaker 2: it done took any fucking thing from you. So and

523
00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:51,440
Speaker 2: from that day forward, I made avengance to get back

524
00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:54,440
Speaker 2: on the dope game from everything it took from me,

525
00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:58,480
Speaker 2: from my grandma to my family, to my football career,

526
00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:02,640
Speaker 2: my hope, and I just raised war on the drug

527
00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:05,080
Speaker 2: bas is it. After that, I said, I'm gonna put

528
00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:07,880
Speaker 2: the game down so hard that they even gonna have

529
00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:09,560
Speaker 2: to kill me. I'm gonna do life in prison.

530
00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:16,320
Speaker 1: For those of you listen, there may be some background noise.

531
00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:21,880
Speaker 1: It is a absolute dropout thunder rain. Behind me, which

532
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:25,400
Speaker 1: the irony of ironies is the skies opened up and

533
00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:33,400
Speaker 1: dumped while Melvin told that story. You survive it about

534
00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:36,920
Speaker 1: a grace of God and then you get you finally

535
00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:40,560
Speaker 1: get arrested. And what you've said is drug Dane leads

536
00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:42,240
Speaker 1: two things, death or jail.

537
00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:45,240
Speaker 2: I tell kids all the time, you cheated death. That's

538
00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:46,240
Speaker 2: the ultimate reward.

539
00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:49,800
Speaker 1: That you cheated one of them, but you couldn't cheat

540
00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:50,080
Speaker 1: the other.

541
00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:54,960
Speaker 2: Cup lack a discipline.

542
00:30:55,640 --> 00:31:00,520
Speaker 1: Lack of discipline and.

543
00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:04,200
Speaker 2: For people to that know me, that's that's not who

544
00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:04,560
Speaker 2: I am.

545
00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:07,280
Speaker 1: We had a weak moment one day.

546
00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:12,360
Speaker 2: I did what happened. We was running drugs back and

547
00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:15,640
Speaker 2: forth through the Greyhounds. I had created a found out

548
00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:20,160
Speaker 2: a system how you can run from Dallas to Memphis

549
00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:24,360
Speaker 2: to Memphis to Ohio through Louis Villa, and if you

550
00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:27,520
Speaker 2: did it at certain parts of the night, the Greyhound

551
00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:33,880
Speaker 2: was closed, so it was no security, just basically busses

552
00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:40,840
Speaker 2: transferring people. And that was our route. And for years

553
00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:45,360
Speaker 2: I never got off that route. And at this particular time,

554
00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:48,240
Speaker 2: I was dating this girl who I had kind of

555
00:31:48,280 --> 00:31:52,120
Speaker 2: got sought for and I hadn't seen her in probably

556
00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:54,480
Speaker 2: about two weeks. As we was hustling and kind of

557
00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:57,280
Speaker 2: getting to going and I and at this time, I

558
00:31:57,280 --> 00:32:01,240
Speaker 2: was supposed to just make a quick trip and go

559
00:32:01,360 --> 00:32:04,880
Speaker 2: back because the load was like and she begged me.

560
00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:06,760
Speaker 2: She's like, just see me, baby, just see me, Just

561
00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:09,920
Speaker 2: see me, just see me. And I fell weak and

562
00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:14,640
Speaker 2: I opted to get off the bus in Cincinnati and

563
00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:17,840
Speaker 2: have her drive the rest of the ways, and I

564
00:32:17,880 --> 00:32:20,600
Speaker 2: call one of my homeboys. I said, put your cruise

565
00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:23,280
Speaker 2: control on sixty five and I'm gonna call you in

566
00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:24,600
Speaker 2: an hour. Wherever you are.

567
00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:28,080
Speaker 1: That's where I'm That's how you could track him.

568
00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:30,280
Speaker 2: No, No, that's how I knew. He could never set

569
00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:31,080
Speaker 2: me up at this That's.

570
00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:33,440
Speaker 1: What I'm talking about. You tracked his time in this miles.

571
00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:37,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you don't know where exit. I'm gonna say, hey, Bill,

572
00:32:37,320 --> 00:32:40,160
Speaker 2: this is where I'm at. So you just drive and

573
00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:41,560
Speaker 2: I'll call you an hour.

574
00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:42,480
Speaker 1: I got it.

575
00:32:44,840 --> 00:32:48,360
Speaker 2: In between that time, I'm hanging out with her. We

576
00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:51,080
Speaker 2: in the car, we're getting jiggy. I'm doing all the

577
00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:54,720
Speaker 2: shit I'm not supposed to do. I call him. He

578
00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:58,680
Speaker 2: finally pull up well shortly after the police pulled up too.

579
00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:03,600
Speaker 2: Police said, we got to call two suspicious cars back

580
00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:09,160
Speaker 2: her dumping trash, said man, trash, fucking trash on the ground.

581
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:14,040
Speaker 2: So then the police asks for everybody's license and identification.

582
00:33:15,280 --> 00:33:19,440
Speaker 2: He said, can I search the car? Said nah? He

583
00:33:19,440 --> 00:33:20,800
Speaker 2: said if you ain't got none of high, I can't

584
00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:24,160
Speaker 2: search the car. Said I'm kind of a rush. I

585
00:33:24,280 --> 00:33:27,200
Speaker 2: got somewhere to be. He said, oh, he won't take long.

586
00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:29,640
Speaker 2: Then my partner said, man, it's a fucking tahoe. I

587
00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:33,400
Speaker 2: won't take that long. Please step out of the car.

588
00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:36,760
Speaker 2: I knew it then, so I thought. I said if

589
00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:40,080
Speaker 2: I run, I'm leaving them and all they gonna do

590
00:33:40,120 --> 00:33:42,680
Speaker 2: is snitch on me. I said, might as well eat it.

591
00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:45,959
Speaker 2: And I told him don't search the car. So I

592
00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:49,880
Speaker 2: got a chance in court. So we step out. He

593
00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:53,480
Speaker 2: found the first brick that was wrapped up in clothes.

594
00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:58,440
Speaker 2: What's this, man, I don't know shit. You put it there?

595
00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:04,040
Speaker 2: He plew the second brick out. I said, all right, man,

596
00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:07,840
Speaker 2: those are myn He don't know nothing. She don't know nothing.

597
00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:09,640
Speaker 2: Go ahead and take me down so I can make bond.

598
00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:13,200
Speaker 2: Because in my mind it was a small order. The

599
00:34:13,239 --> 00:34:16,759
Speaker 2: police had violated my rights, and I thought I was good.

600
00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:21,239
Speaker 2: I mean, that's partially why I'm smiling on my mugshot

601
00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:28,799
Speaker 2: and boy kind of took a turn from there, so

602
00:34:28,880 --> 00:34:34,640
Speaker 2: I mean, I was. I get in there and they

603
00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:36,560
Speaker 2: move in in the middle of the night and they

604
00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:38,920
Speaker 2: think they got this big fish because it's this small

605
00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:43,360
Speaker 2: town Sydney, Ohio, and they thinking they got this big fish.

606
00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:45,880
Speaker 2: And I'm thinking, like, man, my lawyer is gonna beat

607
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:50,680
Speaker 2: this like and I remember, we get ready for breakfast.

608
00:34:50,680 --> 00:34:53,080
Speaker 2: The next morning, I'm on the news and the guy says,

609
00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:56,440
Speaker 2: that's him right there, and I tell him, I said, y'all,

610
00:34:57,520 --> 00:35:01,520
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna eat lunch with y'all. I said, whatever

611
00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:05,239
Speaker 2: bun he give me, I'm gonna make it. I'm'a be

612
00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:08,600
Speaker 2: out of here. Said this same one I do. I said,

613
00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:14,279
Speaker 2: I'm I'm feed. I ain't no state guy fed. And

614
00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:17,839
Speaker 2: as I'm walking back to my cell, that was this

615
00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:21,239
Speaker 2: old guy and he said, young blood, come here. He said,

616
00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:24,879
Speaker 2: you really got that money like that said, my money

617
00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:29,239
Speaker 2: long longer than train smoke. So he slid me this number.

618
00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:30,919
Speaker 2: He said, well, if you really got the number, called

619
00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:34,759
Speaker 2: this guy and he'll help you out. So that's when

620
00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:37,200
Speaker 2: he gave me. My lawyer, Patrick mull against super lawyer

621
00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:37,600
Speaker 2: of the year.

622
00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:38,600
Speaker 1: That's how you got it.

623
00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:42,520
Speaker 2: That's how I got pack. So we went to court.

624
00:35:42,719 --> 00:35:45,560
Speaker 2: They gave me. They gave me the hundred thousand cash,

625
00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:49,440
Speaker 2: and sure, bun. My my family has a Bill's bum here.

626
00:35:49,560 --> 00:35:52,799
Speaker 2: Willie Harper, that's how Bell's bun. He beils everybody out.

627
00:35:53,239 --> 00:35:55,120
Speaker 2: He belt shaw out. He was the first guy to

628
00:35:55,239 --> 00:35:57,600
Speaker 2: bill a million dollar. He came and got shot for

629
00:35:57,600 --> 00:36:01,160
Speaker 2: a million dollar bun off of murder in Atlanta. So

630
00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:04,520
Speaker 2: we bonded out and I told him. I told the

631
00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:06,680
Speaker 2: guys in there, I said, hey, listen, this what's gonna happen.

632
00:36:07,719 --> 00:36:10,920
Speaker 2: I said, they gonna call my name, and y'all can

633
00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:14,200
Speaker 2: look out that wonder and you're gonna see a blue truck.

634
00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:16,520
Speaker 2: And I said, when I get in there, she's already

635
00:36:16,520 --> 00:36:18,839
Speaker 2: gonna have my blunt rolled up and I'm gonna blow

636
00:36:18,840 --> 00:36:23,359
Speaker 2: the smoke cap. That's exactly what I did. So when

637
00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:25,880
Speaker 2: I got out, I called Pat. He said, ma'am, when

638
00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:29,359
Speaker 2: I was expecting your call, how soon can you get here?

639
00:36:29,719 --> 00:36:31,799
Speaker 2: I said, how far are you away from? He said

640
00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:35,960
Speaker 2: about ninety minutes. I said, I'll beat here. I went

641
00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:39,480
Speaker 2: in with Pat and told him what happened. He chopped

642
00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:42,120
Speaker 2: it all up and he said, all right. Well, during

643
00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:45,160
Speaker 2: that time, we was just thinking it was one case.

644
00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:48,480
Speaker 2: So while I'm out on bond fighting this case, I'm

645
00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:52,600
Speaker 2: sitting at home and man it, it probably was a

646
00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:57,240
Speaker 2: million fucking police there was. I thought they was crawling

647
00:36:57,239 --> 00:37:01,400
Speaker 2: out the ground or so many. I'm like roaches. Who's

648
00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:04,719
Speaker 2: they about to come pick up? Like it? Yeah, they

649
00:37:04,760 --> 00:37:07,880
Speaker 2: busted in. They wanted no mailvine and I'm all right,

650
00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:10,520
Speaker 2: that's me and they snatched me up and I'm trying

651
00:37:10,560 --> 00:37:14,279
Speaker 2: to figure it out. And there was a secret indictment.

652
00:37:15,520 --> 00:37:18,040
Speaker 2: So one of the guys that I moved from Memphis

653
00:37:18,560 --> 00:37:21,799
Speaker 2: to Ohio to help me run the cocaine ra and

654
00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:24,000
Speaker 2: he spoke for eight minutes and thirty eight seconds on

655
00:37:24,040 --> 00:37:28,239
Speaker 2: a none of them is called launched the investigation. So

656
00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:35,320
Speaker 2: now here I was sitting without a bond on this case.

657
00:37:36,239 --> 00:37:38,359
Speaker 2: So what a lot of people. What I learned was

658
00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:42,399
Speaker 2: so the fish created what they called the Rico Act

659
00:37:42,440 --> 00:37:43,640
Speaker 2: to break up the mafia.

660
00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:46,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Rico Act was all about the Bob, all.

661
00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:50,840
Speaker 2: About the mob. So every state set up their own

662
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:55,640
Speaker 2: version of the Rico Act to break up inner city organized.

663
00:37:55,080 --> 00:37:59,920
Speaker 1: Crime, which is a lot of gangs and drug dealer.

664
00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:02,560
Speaker 2: And the crazy part about it, so the way they

665
00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:07,040
Speaker 2: consider a criminal enterprise is four more people doing the

666
00:38:07,080 --> 00:38:12,399
Speaker 2: same thing, and you're creating over five thousand dollars. So

667
00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:21,000
Speaker 2: there I was facing conspiracy to corrupt activity and five

668
00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:27,840
Speaker 2: cocaine chargers. I was facing more years than I've been living.

669
00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:35,280
Speaker 2: But at that time it didn't matter to me because

670
00:38:35,320 --> 00:38:38,920
Speaker 2: I knew I was in my early twenties. If I

671
00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:41,279
Speaker 2: did twenty years, i'd come home at forty. I still

672
00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:43,279
Speaker 2: be king. If I did forty years, I come home

673
00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:46,480
Speaker 2: in sixty and I still had the rest of my life.

674
00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:48,520
Speaker 2: So I was cool with it.

675
00:38:50,640 --> 00:38:53,479
Speaker 1: And did they senence you or you took a play?

676
00:38:54,080 --> 00:38:57,320
Speaker 1: So I took a play. That was god fifty eight months.

677
00:38:57,440 --> 00:39:01,480
Speaker 2: I got sixty eight months, and that was.

678
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:03,399
Speaker 1: Just under six years, right.

679
00:39:03,719 --> 00:39:07,560
Speaker 2: And the crazy thing about it is if we wasn't

680
00:39:07,560 --> 00:39:10,560
Speaker 2: so scared, we could have we probably could have beat it.

681
00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:14,319
Speaker 2: So Pat ended up filing a motion to suppress the

682
00:39:14,400 --> 00:39:18,480
Speaker 2: evidence because if police found it the wrong way and

683
00:39:18,640 --> 00:39:24,040
Speaker 2: blocking the car and it was an unlawful detainment. But

684
00:39:24,120 --> 00:39:28,600
Speaker 2: my co offender, he wasn't scrown, and Pat says, and

685
00:39:28,719 --> 00:39:32,399
Speaker 2: mayver we put him on the stand, and.

686
00:39:32,400 --> 00:39:37,000
Speaker 1: You lose, you're doing twenty or forty, you out of here.

687
00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:42,480
Speaker 2: So going through that, the first case, they gave me

688
00:39:42,520 --> 00:39:46,200
Speaker 2: twenty four months. Pat talked to the prosecutor. On the

689
00:39:46,239 --> 00:39:50,319
Speaker 2: other case, he got the big charge to corrupt activity

690
00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:54,440
Speaker 2: thrown out completely. So I end up eating four charges

691
00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:58,040
Speaker 2: of trafficking cocaine. So they gave me a total of

692
00:39:58,040 --> 00:40:01,560
Speaker 2: forty four months from this case, twenty four months from

693
00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:03,719
Speaker 2: the other case where we got ranted together with a

694
00:40:03,760 --> 00:40:05,239
Speaker 2: total sixty eight months.

695
00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:06,200
Speaker 1: So and the.

696
00:40:06,239 --> 00:40:11,439
Speaker 2: Agreement was I paid the drug firm, I stayed out

697
00:40:11,440 --> 00:40:14,359
Speaker 2: of trouble, and I agreed to do all the classes.

698
00:40:16,440 --> 00:40:18,399
Speaker 2: And they wanted me to do the search program because

699
00:40:18,400 --> 00:40:20,439
Speaker 2: I was adamant about not having a job.

700
00:40:22,320 --> 00:40:24,480
Speaker 1: So and what do you do your time?

701
00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:28,400
Speaker 2: Dating correction institution that's Ohio in Ohio.

702
00:40:29,560 --> 00:40:33,240
Speaker 1: So for our listeners, they're like, where's the redemption? Because

703
00:40:33,280 --> 00:40:37,200
Speaker 1: this is a wild story. Your life is wild, but

704
00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:41,040
Speaker 1: the redemption's coming. But all of this was important to

705
00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:48,600
Speaker 1: lead up to prison and what changed your life?

706
00:40:48,640 --> 00:41:02,400
Speaker 2: And why tell us? One night it was normal getting

707
00:41:02,400 --> 00:41:07,879
Speaker 2: ready for lockdown, you know, just nothing different. As I'm

708
00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:12,040
Speaker 2: walking back to my cell, I'm witnessing this young boy

709
00:41:12,080 --> 00:41:15,400
Speaker 2: get brutally raped. I'm telling how he yelling, he's screaming,

710
00:41:15,880 --> 00:41:18,560
Speaker 2: he got blood skating out his ass. I mean, is

711
00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:23,600
Speaker 2: it's something I've never been I've never even seen.

712
00:41:24,239 --> 00:41:27,600
Speaker 1: Your You witness a guy getting raped in the jail

713
00:41:27,800 --> 00:41:33,000
Speaker 1: six someone. I have a question. Where are the I

714
00:41:33,040 --> 00:41:37,200
Speaker 1: hear this. I have been told by numerous guests and

715
00:41:37,239 --> 00:41:41,160
Speaker 1: stuff I've read. I mean, the gangs and the drug trade,

716
00:41:41,360 --> 00:41:43,480
Speaker 1: and there's as much happening in the jail is out.

717
00:41:43,840 --> 00:41:45,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, the jail run the streets.

718
00:41:45,800 --> 00:41:48,120
Speaker 1: I get it. Where are the guards?

719
00:41:49,320 --> 00:41:49,800
Speaker 2: Whatever?

720
00:41:50,800 --> 00:41:54,839
Speaker 1: Do the guards? Are they aware and turning their back

721
00:41:54,960 --> 00:41:56,560
Speaker 1: or they're just so few of them they don't even

722
00:41:56,600 --> 00:42:06,520
Speaker 1: know both. And so there's this inmate getting gang raped. Yeah,

723
00:42:06,640 --> 00:42:08,359
Speaker 1: and you saw this man.

724
00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:11,960
Speaker 2: They were killing that boy. They were killing that boy.

725
00:42:12,320 --> 00:42:14,200
Speaker 1: Was it a was it a gang thing?

726
00:42:15,080 --> 00:42:18,680
Speaker 2: It wasn't my business, That's what it was.

727
00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:21,080
Speaker 1: You just keep your head down and keep walking. Listen,

728
00:42:21,360 --> 00:42:22,360
Speaker 1: don't be part of it.

729
00:42:22,560 --> 00:42:26,040
Speaker 2: I immediately went to my cell and I dropped down and said, God,

730
00:42:26,760 --> 00:42:32,319
Speaker 2: that cannot happen to me. Period. I'm killing all of them,

731
00:42:32,680 --> 00:42:36,960
Speaker 2: and then I'm killing myself that right there. Nah, they

732
00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:39,880
Speaker 2: can't happen to me period.

733
00:42:40,040 --> 00:42:44,080
Speaker 1: Because if it doesna get your look back, I'm gonna

734
00:42:44,120 --> 00:42:46,399
Speaker 1: kill every single one of them. I'm gonna be able

735
00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:49,040
Speaker 1: to face nobody after it happens, and yourself.

736
00:42:49,480 --> 00:42:51,400
Speaker 2: So I told God right there and I said, listen,

737
00:42:51,719 --> 00:42:55,040
Speaker 2: if you can protect me in here when I get out,

738
00:42:55,120 --> 00:42:58,360
Speaker 2: I buried all my money and I commit my life

739
00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:01,360
Speaker 2: to saving young boys that look like I said, but

740
00:43:01,520 --> 00:43:03,759
Speaker 2: that that shit can't happen to me.

741
00:43:04,640 --> 00:43:09,319
Speaker 1: So you're telling me after the trauma of a crackheaded

742
00:43:09,760 --> 00:43:14,319
Speaker 1: and mean drunk grandmother, an absentee father getting shot in

743
00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:20,400
Speaker 1: the head, getting shot in the shoulder, Daridine in Atlanta hotel, uh,

744
00:43:21,880 --> 00:43:25,239
Speaker 1: being in gunfights and the gang and the life and

745
00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:32,720
Speaker 1: seeing everything you saw after all of that, and how

746
00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:36,719
Speaker 1: hard you must have been, there was still something so

747
00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:38,440
Speaker 1: hard it even would have broke you.

748
00:43:38,800 --> 00:43:41,840
Speaker 2: Absolutely. And it was that for you because you're going

749
00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:44,359
Speaker 2: to think about it everything that you see before then,

750
00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:46,440
Speaker 2: And I was prepared for They.

751
00:43:46,360 --> 00:43:49,239
Speaker 1: Told me that, but nobody told you about that.

752
00:43:49,360 --> 00:43:52,000
Speaker 2: Nobody told me about this ship. You know what I mean?

753
00:43:52,040 --> 00:43:54,040
Speaker 2: He ain't coming home, Hey, man, ain't know they fucking

754
00:43:54,040 --> 00:43:57,319
Speaker 2: in prison now that that ain't what they coming home

755
00:43:57,480 --> 00:44:01,960
Speaker 2: saying that ain't what they say in the raps. Now,

756
00:44:02,719 --> 00:44:06,319
Speaker 2: didn't nobody know that shit? I didn't, and.

757
00:44:06,239 --> 00:44:07,960
Speaker 1: So you dropped on your knees and you made a

758
00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:08,520
Speaker 1: de with God.

759
00:44:08,880 --> 00:44:11,279
Speaker 2: Period. Dude, I can't go listen. I'm trying to tell

760
00:44:11,280 --> 00:44:20,040
Speaker 2: you a real man knows his limitations. That shit. I

761
00:44:20,080 --> 00:44:24,400
Speaker 2: ain't no coming back from that. In my mind, I

762
00:44:24,440 --> 00:44:25,600
Speaker 2: ain't no coming back from that.

763
00:44:31,680 --> 00:44:44,799
Speaker 1: We'll be right back. The very second interview I ever

764
00:44:44,840 --> 00:44:49,080
Speaker 1: did was with a guy named John Ponder, who spent

765
00:44:49,280 --> 00:44:53,680
Speaker 1: time in a federal penitentiary for bank robbery. After a

766
00:44:53,719 --> 00:44:58,400
Speaker 1: life of crime, he now is in Vegas and operates

767
00:44:58,520 --> 00:45:05,120
Speaker 1: one of the most successful reentry programs for former felons

768
00:45:05,200 --> 00:45:08,760
Speaker 1: in the country. As you know, I'll let you finish

769
00:45:08,840 --> 00:45:12,000
Speaker 1: my sins. What percent of people that were in jail

770
00:45:12,080 --> 00:45:15,800
Speaker 1: returned to jail? Eighty five percent, That's exactly right. The

771
00:45:15,920 --> 00:45:20,200
Speaker 1: national number I think is eighty seven. Now, the recidivism

772
00:45:20,280 --> 00:45:22,239
Speaker 1: rate of the people that go through his program is

773
00:45:22,280 --> 00:45:26,960
Speaker 1: only eight So instead of eighty five percent going back

774
00:45:26,960 --> 00:45:29,400
Speaker 1: to prison, only eight. So you can imagine his success.

775
00:45:29,680 --> 00:45:32,239
Speaker 1: We're not going to get in telling his story. If

776
00:45:32,280 --> 00:45:34,000
Speaker 1: you want it, pull it up on an army and

777
00:45:34,120 --> 00:45:39,240
Speaker 1: armed folks. John potter phenomenal story. He made his deal

778
00:45:40,719 --> 00:45:48,400
Speaker 1: with God in prison and ask the judge in the

779
00:45:48,520 --> 00:45:50,600
Speaker 1: robe to not be his judge, but for God to

780
00:45:50,600 --> 00:45:53,040
Speaker 1: be his judge and to judge his heart. And he

781
00:45:53,200 --> 00:45:56,160
Speaker 1: swore if he would ever get out and not have

782
00:45:56,160 --> 00:45:58,319
Speaker 1: to spend the rest of his life in jail, he

783
00:45:58,360 --> 00:46:01,319
Speaker 1: would do what he has now successful really done. That's

784
00:46:01,440 --> 00:46:05,520
Speaker 1: John Ponder's story. That's your story.

785
00:46:06,280 --> 00:46:11,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was scared simple, then you got extra set

786
00:46:12,200 --> 00:46:14,759
Speaker 2: six on one. What can you do? Hope they hear

787
00:46:14,800 --> 00:46:15,160
Speaker 2: you up.

788
00:46:16,920 --> 00:46:17,839
Speaker 1: That's what you can do.

789
00:46:18,360 --> 00:46:23,120
Speaker 2: Hope they hear the fuck up. I don't like them odds.

790
00:46:24,160 --> 00:46:27,320
Speaker 1: So you made the deal, you get out of jail,

791
00:46:28,200 --> 00:46:31,160
Speaker 1: and it never happened to you. But now you on

792
00:46:31,280 --> 00:46:33,279
Speaker 1: a hook because you done made a deal with God. Right,

793
00:46:35,760 --> 00:46:38,400
Speaker 1: Because here's the deal. You make a deal with God

794
00:46:38,480 --> 00:46:39,960
Speaker 1: and he holds up his end of the.

795
00:46:39,880 --> 00:46:43,120
Speaker 2: Bargain, you damn show a hole of yours the park.

796
00:46:43,480 --> 00:46:47,239
Speaker 1: That's right. So what's the first thing you do?

797
00:46:49,960 --> 00:46:55,239
Speaker 2: Honestly, Yeah, go look for the dude who snitched on me. Yeah,

798
00:46:55,719 --> 00:46:56,439
Speaker 2: first thing I did.

799
00:46:56,840 --> 00:46:59,120
Speaker 1: A lot of people make deals with God when they're

800
00:46:59,120 --> 00:47:01,000
Speaker 1: in jail. When they get out, they start thinking.

801
00:47:01,920 --> 00:47:07,840
Speaker 2: But The thing that got me was God immediately showed

802
00:47:07,880 --> 00:47:14,000
Speaker 2: me that same scene back in prison. The only difference

803
00:47:14,040 --> 00:47:15,839
Speaker 2: it was me hm.

804
00:47:17,880 --> 00:47:18,560
Speaker 1: So that was my.

805
00:47:20,520 --> 00:47:23,480
Speaker 2: I mean because I was I've told people I want

806
00:47:23,520 --> 00:47:28,640
Speaker 2: to angel when you first get out, nobody is that's

807
00:47:28,680 --> 00:47:31,080
Speaker 2: the biggest thing. When you're in prison. You lie to

808
00:47:31,120 --> 00:47:33,759
Speaker 2: God to try to get out, you know what I mean.

809
00:47:35,360 --> 00:47:38,160
Speaker 2: So that and that's what I first did. And I

810
00:47:38,160 --> 00:47:42,160
Speaker 2: mean it was quick God showing all right, renig on me.

811
00:47:43,680 --> 00:47:48,640
Speaker 2: And that was when I all right, let's do what

812
00:47:48,680 --> 00:47:49,600
Speaker 2: I said I was gonna do.

813
00:47:51,120 --> 00:47:53,600
Speaker 1: And you started with little league football, right, Yeah.

814
00:47:53,880 --> 00:47:58,000
Speaker 2: So actually before I even started with little league football,

815
00:47:58,719 --> 00:48:01,520
Speaker 2: I just started helping more kids that I knew. So

816
00:48:01,600 --> 00:48:04,640
Speaker 2: I opened up So I opened up a gym because

817
00:48:04,680 --> 00:48:07,800
Speaker 2: my PO, so I started off as a personal training

818
00:48:07,800 --> 00:48:10,840
Speaker 2: because my PO was all about me getting a job.

819
00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:15,239
Speaker 2: Like it was because I had this thing about I

820
00:48:15,280 --> 00:48:18,080
Speaker 2: don't want a job, like I had a bad experience

821
00:48:18,120 --> 00:48:21,719
Speaker 2: at sixteen and it's not gonna happen. So that was

822
00:48:21,760 --> 00:48:23,799
Speaker 2: the whole thing. She's like, you gotta better get a job,

823
00:48:23,840 --> 00:48:25,520
Speaker 2: but I'm gonna violate you. You don't get a job.

824
00:48:26,040 --> 00:48:28,520
Speaker 1: Let's be honest. You've been an entrepreneur since you were nine.

825
00:48:28,600 --> 00:48:32,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I'm sitting there like no like, and then

826
00:48:32,600 --> 00:48:34,520
Speaker 2: I tried the nine to five. The shit didn't work.

827
00:48:35,239 --> 00:48:38,719
Speaker 2: I mean it was right when Steak and Shake first

828
00:48:38,760 --> 00:48:42,160
Speaker 2: came on Goodman Road, and you know, I'm in there,

829
00:48:42,239 --> 00:48:45,480
Speaker 2: and if anybody knows Steak in Shake, all the baseball

830
00:48:45,520 --> 00:48:48,600
Speaker 2: teams come in, and then you got the screen jumping

831
00:48:48,640 --> 00:48:50,319
Speaker 2: and I'm trying to keep up with the burgers and

832
00:48:50,360 --> 00:48:53,960
Speaker 2: this damn manager yelling at my glove and got stuck

833
00:48:54,040 --> 00:48:54,560
Speaker 2: to the grill.

834
00:48:54,640 --> 00:48:58,439
Speaker 1: I'm like, you know what, I'm opening the gym.

835
00:48:58,960 --> 00:49:00,960
Speaker 2: I'm going this. This is when I was young. So

836
00:49:01,040 --> 00:49:04,120
Speaker 2: that's that's what pushed me back into the streets. It

837
00:49:04,160 --> 00:49:07,520
Speaker 2: was like nah, so ever since then, I vowed never

838
00:49:07,600 --> 00:49:11,360
Speaker 2: to have a job, and with me being honest, doing

839
00:49:11,400 --> 00:49:15,440
Speaker 2: my whole deal with fight my case with the prosecutor

840
00:49:15,480 --> 00:49:17,520
Speaker 2: and everybody, that's how they was gonna stick it to

841
00:49:17,560 --> 00:49:21,560
Speaker 2: me by making me getting this job. So I take

842
00:49:21,600 --> 00:49:26,239
Speaker 2: a personal training job at the French Riviere and me

843
00:49:26,280 --> 00:49:30,640
Speaker 2: and the other guys we're having like this. I guess

844
00:49:30,640 --> 00:49:35,799
Speaker 2: it's toward toial contests or whatever, and I just like,

845
00:49:38,480 --> 00:49:40,640
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go find my own like this is crazy.

846
00:49:40,680 --> 00:49:44,520
Speaker 2: And so then one day the manager comes in the

847
00:49:44,640 --> 00:49:50,920
Speaker 2: ends with my check. I said, hey, show down. You

848
00:49:51,080 --> 00:49:55,160
Speaker 2: missing some money on here, buddy, I said, if we're

849
00:49:55,160 --> 00:49:57,600
Speaker 2: doing personal training and I get a percentage, I said,

850
00:49:57,600 --> 00:50:00,400
Speaker 2: this is not a this is not enough. I said,

851
00:50:00,440 --> 00:50:02,839
Speaker 2: where's my points on the package? And then the guys

852
00:50:02,960 --> 00:50:04,759
Speaker 2: is what I said. I said, y'all, don't talk like that.

853
00:50:05,239 --> 00:50:08,400
Speaker 2: Where's the rest of my money? So then the guys was, no,

854
00:50:08,600 --> 00:50:15,279
Speaker 2: you top out at this right here. No way, I'm

855
00:50:15,280 --> 00:50:18,840
Speaker 2: going to get my own gin. It's no way. No

856
00:50:19,600 --> 00:50:22,880
Speaker 2: we get points on the package in the streets. He no,

857
00:50:23,160 --> 00:50:26,359
Speaker 2: not doing this, no way. And I wanted to open

858
00:50:26,480 --> 00:50:29,879
Speaker 2: up my own gym, and so I stuck. But then

859
00:50:30,320 --> 00:50:32,520
Speaker 2: from there I wanted to help kids, but they couldn't

860
00:50:32,520 --> 00:50:35,440
Speaker 2: afford the pay, so I said, fuck it, come on in.

861
00:50:35,520 --> 00:50:37,480
Speaker 1: I want the same reason why lots of kids in

862
00:50:37,880 --> 00:50:41,640
Speaker 1: the urban areas can't play little exports. They can't afford

863
00:50:41,640 --> 00:50:43,560
Speaker 1: the cleats, they can't afford the That's why.

864
00:50:43,400 --> 00:50:44,560
Speaker 2: I didn't play right.

865
00:50:44,960 --> 00:50:45,440
Speaker 1: I get it.

866
00:50:45,600 --> 00:50:47,440
Speaker 2: So the first thing, So when I got a chance,

867
00:50:47,480 --> 00:50:50,880
Speaker 2: I said, once I got done helping my small group

868
00:50:51,320 --> 00:50:54,520
Speaker 2: of kids, so I'm start a little League too, And

869
00:50:54,600 --> 00:50:56,560
Speaker 2: that was my whole plan. Even when I was in prison,

870
00:50:56,560 --> 00:50:59,239
Speaker 2: I was telling the guy, I'm gonna give these kids

871
00:50:59,320 --> 00:51:02,440
Speaker 2: to look at experience that I always wanted.

872
00:51:02,440 --> 00:51:06,040
Speaker 1: And never got and never got, and just maybe they'll

873
00:51:06,040 --> 00:51:09,840
Speaker 1: see a way different rug and game banging.

874
00:51:10,280 --> 00:51:13,520
Speaker 2: Maybe. But if I can provide this for them, you

875
00:51:13,560 --> 00:51:16,120
Speaker 2: never know what is gonna change in them. And so

876
00:51:16,840 --> 00:51:19,239
Speaker 2: that's why I started. I got me a Little League team.

877
00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:23,520
Speaker 2: Everything was free. I bought the kids. You covered it,

878
00:51:24,080 --> 00:51:27,520
Speaker 2: showed it past him in jersey cleat socks. I mean,

879
00:51:27,560 --> 00:51:30,160
Speaker 2: we were suited and Booty and I traveled the kids

880
00:51:30,160 --> 00:51:33,640
Speaker 2: we want. We was the first Little League team in

881
00:51:33,760 --> 00:51:37,000
Speaker 2: history to play at and T Stadium in Dallas. It's

882
00:51:37,080 --> 00:51:39,960
Speaker 2: on YouTube. It's the first team to do it. And

883
00:51:40,320 --> 00:51:42,759
Speaker 2: we traveled to kids and I wanted to expose them.

884
00:51:42,800 --> 00:51:46,040
Speaker 2: I wanted to get these kids everything that I didn't have.

885
00:51:47,280 --> 00:51:51,080
Speaker 2: And then it just from there, I'm dropping kids off.

886
00:51:53,040 --> 00:51:54,640
Speaker 2: Someone was going home to know.

887
00:51:55,239 --> 00:51:57,880
Speaker 1: Folks don't understand, Melvin. If you're gonna coach kids in

888
00:51:57,920 --> 00:52:05,239
Speaker 1: the hood, you also are gonna run actual service. Yeah, uber, Yeah.

889
00:52:05,000 --> 00:52:10,080
Speaker 2: If you care about these keids participating and having a future,

890
00:52:10,520 --> 00:52:11,799
Speaker 2: where you got to go pick them up.

891
00:52:11,840 --> 00:52:14,520
Speaker 1: That's right, just like they did for you at Brocrass.

892
00:52:14,960 --> 00:52:17,640
Speaker 1: No difference, same deal, no difference, I know.

893
00:52:18,760 --> 00:52:24,200
Speaker 2: And but from there the man in me, man, I

894
00:52:24,239 --> 00:52:27,279
Speaker 2: can't drop kids off on the porch at foot home projects.

895
00:52:29,040 --> 00:52:31,880
Speaker 1: Come on, talk about that for a second. Like foot

896
00:52:31,880 --> 00:52:35,799
Speaker 1: homes remember to national audience, Foothomes is.

897
00:52:35,760 --> 00:52:38,279
Speaker 2: One of the roughest projects in Memphis right now, is

898
00:52:38,280 --> 00:52:39,279
Speaker 2: currently torn down.

899
00:52:39,560 --> 00:52:41,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was one of the roughest projects in the

900
00:52:41,880 --> 00:52:45,560
Speaker 1: United States period. Yeah. So with me the third most

901
00:52:45,640 --> 00:52:47,200
Speaker 1: violent zip code in the US.

902
00:52:47,640 --> 00:52:50,399
Speaker 2: So with me knowing that and me being a part

903
00:52:50,440 --> 00:52:52,960
Speaker 2: of that, there's no way I can lead his eleven

904
00:52:53,040 --> 00:52:53,799
Speaker 2: year old boy out.

905
00:52:53,719 --> 00:52:57,239
Speaker 1: Here and literally when you drop them off, they they

906
00:52:57,320 --> 00:52:58,960
Speaker 1: might go curl up in a chair on the porch

907
00:52:58,960 --> 00:53:00,000
Speaker 1: because they ain't got nowhere to go.

908
00:53:00,320 --> 00:53:03,560
Speaker 2: Well, my little guy, Bobby, that's what he was actually doing,

909
00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:09,279
Speaker 2: Like you come home with me. I ain't gonna do that.

910
00:53:09,719 --> 00:53:11,480
Speaker 2: Then when you look up his mama, don college till

911
00:53:11,480 --> 00:53:14,520
Speaker 2: three days like to looking for him. So now your

912
00:53:14,520 --> 00:53:16,799
Speaker 2: mind you think three days. So now your mind you think,

913
00:53:16,920 --> 00:53:18,640
Speaker 2: like damn, if I would have left him on the porch,

914
00:53:19,400 --> 00:53:24,279
Speaker 2: he would have been there for three days. Man, I

915
00:53:24,280 --> 00:53:26,399
Speaker 2: can talk about my grandma all day long, but shit,

916
00:53:27,120 --> 00:53:32,160
Speaker 2: I came in the house. So it was one of

917
00:53:32,160 --> 00:53:35,080
Speaker 2: those things that it took a life of his.

918
00:53:35,520 --> 00:53:39,840
Speaker 1: I want to talk about something real quick, just a

919
00:53:39,840 --> 00:53:46,719
Speaker 1: little off subject. In urban areas, there's all kinds of

920
00:53:46,800 --> 00:53:54,320
Speaker 1: vernacular that's different than suburban areas. There's a whole different language,

921
00:53:54,480 --> 00:53:57,800
Speaker 1: there's a whole different dialog, there's a whole different everything.

922
00:53:58,080 --> 00:54:02,040
Speaker 1: I think we can all agree to that, just the truth.

923
00:54:02,680 --> 00:54:06,520
Speaker 1: And then there's one in Hispanic, heavily Hispanic urbinari as.

924
00:54:06,560 --> 00:54:11,799
Speaker 1: It just is one of the ones that is what

925
00:54:11,920 --> 00:54:16,160
Speaker 1: stood the test of time. Is my kids will ask

926
00:54:16,600 --> 00:54:21,080
Speaker 1: their friends where do you live? Kids in the urban

927
00:54:21,120 --> 00:54:23,560
Speaker 1: area will say where do you stay?

928
00:54:23,920 --> 00:54:25,440
Speaker 2: Yeah.

929
00:54:25,960 --> 00:54:31,560
Speaker 1: I always thought that that was really poor grammar until

930
00:54:31,600 --> 00:54:37,000
Speaker 1: I understood it's actually perfect grammar, because any of these

931
00:54:37,080 --> 00:54:39,960
Speaker 1: kids don't live anywhere. It's just where they stay that night.

932
00:54:40,040 --> 00:54:43,000
Speaker 2: Well as what I'm saying is where you stand that night,

933
00:54:43,760 --> 00:54:46,120
Speaker 2: that month, that week.

934
00:54:45,880 --> 00:54:47,200
Speaker 1: Because there ain't nothing permanent.

935
00:54:47,440 --> 00:54:53,440
Speaker 2: I ain't shit permanent. Permanent's change. That's the clicking fan Melvin.

936
00:54:54,840 --> 00:54:58,880
Speaker 1: That seems so foreign to most of the people listening

937
00:54:58,880 --> 00:55:02,600
Speaker 1: to us, but to from the urban areas, of our cities.

938
00:55:02,920 --> 00:55:05,800
Speaker 1: That's just the clicking fan. They don't even see it anymore.

939
00:55:06,120 --> 00:55:09,080
Speaker 1: It's not that they don't know English, they're saying it

940
00:55:09,200 --> 00:55:13,719
Speaker 1: right where you stay. And if you really grasp that,

941
00:55:16,880 --> 00:55:18,960
Speaker 1: how do you expect a kid to learn? How do

942
00:55:19,000 --> 00:55:21,040
Speaker 1: you expect a kid to be loved? How do you

943
00:55:21,080 --> 00:55:24,720
Speaker 1: expect a kid to read on grade level? By third grade?

944
00:55:26,360 --> 00:55:29,480
Speaker 1: He ain't thinking about getting lullabys and being read to.

945
00:55:29,680 --> 00:55:32,080
Speaker 1: He doesn't even know where he's going to stay that night.

946
00:55:33,080 --> 00:55:34,920
Speaker 1: And if he ain't got nowhere to stay, he probably

947
00:55:34,920 --> 00:55:38,279
Speaker 1: ain't eaten. And if you've taken a thirty six hour

948
00:55:38,400 --> 00:55:41,160
Speaker 1: period of time, which is a weekend, if you go

949
00:55:41,200 --> 00:55:44,040
Speaker 1: to school, you get lunch over the weekend, If you

950
00:55:44,120 --> 00:55:47,719
Speaker 1: get one meal over the weekend, you don't think you

951
00:55:47,840 --> 00:55:51,160
Speaker 1: upset and angry and irritable, and you can't sleep, and

952
00:55:51,200 --> 00:55:54,720
Speaker 1: your stomach growling and you're hungry and you're hurting. How's

953
00:55:54,719 --> 00:55:56,799
Speaker 1: that kid supposed to learn? And how does he feel

954
00:55:56,880 --> 00:56:01,280
Speaker 1: cared for, love, nourished, nurtured, any of it. It's not possible.

955
00:56:01,440 --> 00:56:04,080
Speaker 1: It is not possible. And so you weren't dropping the

956
00:56:04,120 --> 00:56:06,000
Speaker 1: skid off on the porch because you know that so

957
00:56:06,040 --> 00:56:06,879
Speaker 1: you take them to your.

958
00:56:06,760 --> 00:56:10,719
Speaker 2: House, because I know what it feels like. Man, I

959
00:56:10,719 --> 00:56:11,600
Speaker 2: ain't crazy.

960
00:56:12,800 --> 00:56:16,080
Speaker 1: You are crazy, but I know you are crazy, Melvin,

961
00:56:17,640 --> 00:56:19,399
Speaker 1: but in the best sense, the best way.

962
00:56:19,560 --> 00:56:22,759
Speaker 2: Yeah, because you know you've seen there, like, okay, you

963
00:56:22,840 --> 00:56:27,160
Speaker 2: lead his kid. He got two options, fight or flight.

964
00:56:28,800 --> 00:56:32,040
Speaker 1: It's almost the same two options that or jail. Neither

965
00:56:32,080 --> 00:56:34,080
Speaker 1: of them are very good, but it's what you got.

966
00:56:34,120 --> 00:56:36,839
Speaker 2: So then you got to ask yourself, man, what type

967
00:56:36,880 --> 00:56:38,160
Speaker 2: of man are you pulling away?

968
00:56:38,239 --> 00:56:38,680
Speaker 1: Knowing that?

969
00:56:39,600 --> 00:56:45,360
Speaker 2: Mm hmm, So that that ain't why God got you out.

970
00:56:45,239 --> 00:56:47,759
Speaker 1: Of the joint, to leave the skid up here on

971
00:56:47,800 --> 00:56:48,120
Speaker 1: the porch.

972
00:56:48,400 --> 00:56:52,400
Speaker 2: Nah. So, man, you look, me and my fiance is

973
00:56:52,440 --> 00:56:56,160
Speaker 2: sharing a downtown two being room an apartment with fifteen

974
00:56:56,280 --> 00:57:01,279
Speaker 2: kids and my daughter. They turning up ship, they turn

975
00:57:01,400 --> 00:57:04,000
Speaker 2: up the apartment pool gates, they turn up the apartment.

976
00:57:04,040 --> 00:57:05,160
Speaker 2: They running her crazy.

977
00:57:05,200 --> 00:57:08,440
Speaker 1: Your fiance deserves a special place in Heaven to even

978
00:57:08,480 --> 00:57:09,680
Speaker 1: live with your crazy self.

979
00:57:09,719 --> 00:57:12,120
Speaker 2: And no, she quit, she's probably gonna burn her hair.

980
00:57:12,520 --> 00:57:17,200
Speaker 1: Well you hear me, good lord. So, but that's going on.

981
00:57:17,400 --> 00:57:20,439
Speaker 1: And so now you're thinking, they ain't got a place stay,

982
00:57:20,480 --> 00:57:22,720
Speaker 1: they ain't got no food, they're not getting an education.

983
00:57:24,200 --> 00:57:27,520
Speaker 2: That's me all over again, even worse, ten times worse.

984
00:57:27,560 --> 00:57:29,600
Speaker 1: So you're looking at fifteen years.

985
00:57:30,800 --> 00:57:35,960
Speaker 2: There's no way, So we move them in. We end

986
00:57:36,040 --> 00:57:39,360
Speaker 2: up getting kicked out of the apartment obviously, end up

987
00:57:39,400 --> 00:57:42,200
Speaker 2: renting the house. So we rented the house for the

988
00:57:42,240 --> 00:57:47,040
Speaker 2: first year when she finally skid outled. So now I

989
00:57:47,200 --> 00:57:50,400
Speaker 2: let her keep re orchestrated where she keeps the name

990
00:57:50,480 --> 00:57:53,360
Speaker 2: on the leaves, because as a convicted villain, you can't rent.

991
00:57:53,720 --> 00:57:54,920
Speaker 2: You can't, you can't rent.

992
00:57:54,760 --> 00:57:56,600
Speaker 1: In a good area. Yeah, you're still on parole.

993
00:57:56,680 --> 00:58:00,560
Speaker 2: This time you screwed. And so it was one of

994
00:58:00,600 --> 00:58:04,880
Speaker 2: those things where I did what I was supposed to do,

995
00:58:05,320 --> 00:58:06,560
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. I knew, I knew what

996
00:58:06,600 --> 00:58:09,520
Speaker 2: these kids was going through. Every kid that I deal

997
00:58:09,600 --> 00:58:11,640
Speaker 2: with is either like me or in.

998
00:58:11,520 --> 00:58:16,440
Speaker 1: A worser situation. But it is amazing that fifteen kids

999
00:58:16,480 --> 00:58:21,919
Speaker 1: piled into a two bedroom apartment with you, a convicted fella,

1000
00:58:22,400 --> 00:58:25,120
Speaker 1: trying to do right by them, trying to keep them

1001
00:58:25,160 --> 00:58:30,080
Speaker 1: fed and taken care of, is better than what they had.

1002
00:58:30,160 --> 00:58:31,320
Speaker 2: Because they're looking for love.

1003
00:58:31,600 --> 00:58:32,840
Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying.

1004
00:58:33,400 --> 00:58:38,400
Speaker 2: Listen, it could have been an eighteen bedroom house if

1005
00:58:38,440 --> 00:58:41,680
Speaker 2: ain't no love being passed out. That don't mean shit.

1006
00:58:44,360 --> 00:58:47,000
Speaker 2: You going, man, I'm kids looking for love. When I

1007
00:58:47,080 --> 00:58:49,680
Speaker 2: hit the screech, I was looking for love. When I

1008
00:58:49,760 --> 00:58:51,920
Speaker 2: joined my gang, I was looking for love. I was

1009
00:58:51,920 --> 00:58:56,680
Speaker 2: looking for acceptance. I was looking for people that wanted

1010
00:58:56,720 --> 00:58:59,800
Speaker 2: me to be around you. Fuck if it meant selling,

1011
00:59:00,080 --> 00:59:03,320
Speaker 2: eat or blowing your ass off. I just wanted to praise.

1012
00:59:03,560 --> 00:59:06,520
Speaker 2: I wanted to feel good about myself. I wanted to belong.

1013
00:59:07,520 --> 00:59:10,200
Speaker 2: That's all these kids want. Shit, that's what anybody wants.

1014
00:59:10,400 --> 00:59:13,080
Speaker 2: That's why we journed for turning is that's why we

1015
00:59:13,120 --> 00:59:14,880
Speaker 2: get these good jobs and why we get all in

1016
00:59:14,920 --> 00:59:17,320
Speaker 2: these social groups. Because what in the end of the day,

1017
00:59:17,360 --> 00:59:23,040
Speaker 2: everybody want to fucking belong. So when a kid, when

1018
00:59:23,040 --> 00:59:24,720
Speaker 2: you're growing up and you're not getting the love from

1019
00:59:24,720 --> 00:59:27,440
Speaker 2: your momy or your dad, you gotta get it from somewhere.

1020
00:59:28,800 --> 00:59:31,640
Speaker 2: I mean, because you're gonna themed for it. That's human nature.

1021
00:59:32,080 --> 00:59:35,080
Speaker 2: You're gonna theme for love. You're gonna seek out love.

1022
00:59:37,680 --> 00:59:40,640
Speaker 2: That's how biggest thing get period. Man, Before we do anything,

1023
00:59:40,640 --> 00:59:41,440
Speaker 2: we're gonna love on you.

1024
00:59:46,760 --> 00:59:58,400
Speaker 1: We'll be right back. So you got this knowledge, you

1025
00:59:58,480 --> 01:00:06,320
Speaker 1: got these kids, you're doing this football thing, and then

1026
01:00:06,360 --> 01:00:07,920
Speaker 1: you come up with this idea.

1027
01:00:09,120 --> 01:00:11,200
Speaker 2: Actually I got pushed into the idea.

1028
01:00:11,560 --> 01:00:15,439
Speaker 1: How'd you get pushed I'm surprised anybody pushed you out? Well,

1029
01:00:15,480 --> 01:00:17,439
Speaker 1: life did, Okay.

1030
01:00:17,560 --> 01:00:21,480
Speaker 2: So the whole plan was so I created this little

1031
01:00:21,560 --> 01:00:25,280
Speaker 2: league team and I made these kids really good, to

1032
01:00:25,320 --> 01:00:30,120
Speaker 2: the point where we actually took them to FBU on

1033
01:00:30,160 --> 01:00:32,880
Speaker 2: the national circuit. So it was only two hundred middle

1034
01:00:32,920 --> 01:00:37,240
Speaker 2: school kids that were invited. Thirteen of them was mine. Wow,

1035
01:00:38,840 --> 01:00:40,840
Speaker 2: and one of the kids. Two of the kids in

1036
01:00:41,040 --> 01:00:44,280
Speaker 2: up winning MVP in they certain area. So I said,

1037
01:00:44,320 --> 01:00:47,800
Speaker 2: you know what. And at the time, I was training

1038
01:00:47,800 --> 01:00:51,320
Speaker 2: this guy's son that went to a private school, and

1039
01:00:51,360 --> 01:00:55,120
Speaker 2: they was adamant about the boys playing with him at

1040
01:00:55,160 --> 01:00:59,800
Speaker 2: the private school. So I'm like, okay, here it is

1041
01:00:59,800 --> 01:01:04,800
Speaker 2: all over again. Yeah, we're gonna send all these kids

1042
01:01:04,880 --> 01:01:07,880
Speaker 2: to the private school and they'll get their great education.

1043
01:01:08,080 --> 01:01:09,240
Speaker 2: But now they have me.

1044
01:01:09,960 --> 01:01:13,960
Speaker 1: So they got them to erase the nat naivety, to

1045
01:01:14,080 --> 01:01:17,040
Speaker 1: raise the misunderstanding, to do the very thing I was

1046
01:01:17,080 --> 01:01:19,560
Speaker 1: talking about. You needed a broadcrest that you didn't get.

1047
01:01:20,160 --> 01:01:23,000
Speaker 1: They would get the education, the unbelievable experience, but they

1048
01:01:23,000 --> 01:01:25,240
Speaker 1: would have you to mentor them through.

1049
01:01:25,120 --> 01:01:28,800
Speaker 2: That problem mental to navigate it good, like, nah, don't

1050
01:01:28,800 --> 01:01:30,320
Speaker 2: say that shit, No no.

1051
01:01:30,160 --> 01:01:32,240
Speaker 1: No, no, no, no.

1052
01:01:31,600 --> 01:01:35,200
Speaker 2: It's true, but don't you say that, YO ain't gonna

1053
01:01:35,240 --> 01:01:36,240
Speaker 2: be back in the ghetto.

1054
01:01:36,360 --> 01:01:38,080
Speaker 1: Don't you dare say that.

1055
01:01:40,480 --> 01:01:45,480
Speaker 2: And man, I thought we had a solid plan. The

1056
01:01:45,520 --> 01:01:48,120
Speaker 2: guy who came up with the idea had a pocket.

1057
01:01:47,760 --> 01:01:51,320
Speaker 1: Full of money, and big heart wanted to help.

1058
01:01:51,520 --> 01:01:55,439
Speaker 2: Big heart wanted to help his kids was involved. I mean,

1059
01:01:55,560 --> 01:01:59,480
Speaker 2: it seemed like the perfect fit. And then the guy

1060
01:01:59,600 --> 01:02:03,080
Speaker 2: understand dude, that the kids was going to need support

1061
01:02:03,760 --> 01:02:06,440
Speaker 2: outside of the school to be able to hold up.

1062
01:02:08,400 --> 01:02:11,760
Speaker 2: Perfect Well, we meet with the administration of the school

1063
01:02:11,760 --> 01:02:16,320
Speaker 2: and they say, we just need them to take this test.

1064
01:02:16,200 --> 01:02:20,680
Speaker 1: The dreaded Entry and Aptitude test, to make sure they

1065
01:02:20,680 --> 01:02:21,840
Speaker 1: can actually handle it.

1066
01:02:22,640 --> 01:02:25,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I said, yeah, I said cool. I said,

1067
01:02:25,520 --> 01:02:27,360
Speaker 2: I'm telling them a little bit behind, you know, I

1068
01:02:27,400 --> 01:02:29,640
Speaker 2: don't know how much. So, you know. So the guy

1069
01:02:29,680 --> 01:02:31,400
Speaker 2: was like, oh, no, we probably can make a special

1070
01:02:31,480 --> 01:02:34,240
Speaker 2: school inside of a school, and don't worry about it.

1071
01:02:34,280 --> 01:02:37,360
Speaker 2: Don't We've gotten these kids before. They'll be fine, coach,

1072
01:02:37,400 --> 01:02:38,400
Speaker 2: don't worry about.

1073
01:02:38,360 --> 01:02:43,080
Speaker 1: Is that your white person talking? It doesn't look like it. Yeah.

1074
01:02:43,200 --> 01:02:45,080
Speaker 1: If I start trying to talk like a black person,

1075
01:02:45,120 --> 01:02:48,760
Speaker 1: I would look as goofy as that I was. So

1076
01:02:48,800 --> 01:02:49,400
Speaker 1: I'm like, all right.

1077
01:02:49,440 --> 01:02:53,400
Speaker 2: So then he comes back and he's like, they scored

1078
01:02:53,440 --> 01:02:55,320
Speaker 2: in a zero percentile.

1079
01:02:54,760 --> 01:03:00,400
Speaker 1: And reading zero and at the time not zero point

1080
01:03:00,560 --> 01:03:01,960
Speaker 1: five zero.

1081
01:03:02,360 --> 01:03:04,439
Speaker 2: So I'm like, man, what the fuck that mean?

1082
01:03:04,720 --> 01:03:05,640
Speaker 1: They can't read?

1083
01:03:06,080 --> 01:03:10,840
Speaker 2: No, you know he did it better. They can't come here, right,

1084
01:03:11,120 --> 01:03:15,840
Speaker 2: I said, oh, hell all right?

1085
01:03:17,360 --> 01:03:28,920
Speaker 1: So now, and in fairness, they the school, those schools

1086
01:03:28,920 --> 01:03:32,560
Speaker 1: are not equipped to handle kids that are so far behind. Correct,

1087
01:03:32,680 --> 01:03:34,919
Speaker 1: where are they gonna put them, How they're gonna teach them?

1088
01:03:35,360 --> 01:03:39,400
Speaker 1: They're gonna be behind. So I mean, it's horrible, but

1089
01:03:39,480 --> 01:03:42,080
Speaker 1: the fact is they can't take them to their school

1090
01:03:42,080 --> 01:03:45,160
Speaker 1: because they're not equipped to deal with the deficiency in

1091
01:03:45,280 --> 01:03:46,720
Speaker 1: learning that they've had to that point.

1092
01:03:46,920 --> 01:03:48,600
Speaker 2: And I wasn't mad at the school.

1093
01:03:48,400 --> 01:03:51,680
Speaker 1: No, for real, But I'm just saying nobody needs to

1094
01:03:51,720 --> 01:03:53,800
Speaker 1: hear that and think, well, that damn school turned their

1095
01:03:53,840 --> 01:03:55,520
Speaker 1: back on those kids that they're not equipped.

1096
01:03:55,520 --> 01:03:56,840
Speaker 2: They weren't equipped, they wun't.

1097
01:03:57,160 --> 01:04:00,600
Speaker 1: No, But you got a problem. You got all these

1098
01:04:00,600 --> 01:04:03,360
Speaker 1: schedus you care about that needs you, and clearly they

1099
01:04:03,400 --> 01:04:04,200
Speaker 1: need an education.

1100
01:04:05,440 --> 01:04:11,040
Speaker 2: So that's how I came up the crazy idea, which

1101
01:04:11,160 --> 01:04:17,640
Speaker 2: is I said, whatever we were removing from the school system,

1102
01:04:19,120 --> 01:04:23,840
Speaker 2: create a small, nurturing environment that's conducive to learning, that's

1103
01:04:23,880 --> 01:04:27,800
Speaker 2: conducive to being caught up. And they reached their full

1104
01:04:27,840 --> 01:04:29,120
Speaker 2: potential like anybody else.

1105
01:04:30,280 --> 01:04:32,000
Speaker 1: So you're gonna make your own school.

1106
01:04:32,200 --> 01:04:33,600
Speaker 2: So at this time, so that was.

1107
01:04:33,560 --> 01:04:37,240
Speaker 1: A parolled convicted felon gonna start a school.

1108
01:04:37,560 --> 01:04:42,360
Speaker 2: That was the plan. So at the time, Tam and

1109
01:04:41,960 --> 01:04:45,640
Speaker 2: she was a one day a week volunteer and they

1110
01:04:45,640 --> 01:04:47,760
Speaker 2: had one out of town, and I had told about

1111
01:04:47,760 --> 01:04:50,160
Speaker 2: this great plan about them going to the private school,

1112
01:04:50,960 --> 01:04:54,160
Speaker 2: and she was calling checking in on the plane and

1113
01:04:54,240 --> 01:04:59,560
Speaker 2: I was like, ah, it didn't work out like that,

1114
01:04:59,600 --> 01:05:02,200
Speaker 2: I said, I said, the school didn't take me. I said,

1115
01:05:02,200 --> 01:05:05,880
Speaker 2: but I need your help schooling these kids. I said,

1116
01:05:05,880 --> 01:05:08,080
Speaker 2: this is the idea. She says, ma'am. But we're not educated.

1117
01:05:08,800 --> 01:05:11,800
Speaker 2: I said, I know. I said, but zero percentime, we

1118
01:05:11,880 --> 01:05:13,959
Speaker 2: know more than they know, so we can just start there.

1119
01:05:14,880 --> 01:05:16,040
Speaker 2: And I told her, I said, if we could just

1120
01:05:16,160 --> 01:05:19,440
Speaker 2: start there and just get just get some people to

1121
01:05:19,480 --> 01:05:22,720
Speaker 2: wrap their arms around, I said, because they're not dumb,

1122
01:05:23,320 --> 01:05:24,240
Speaker 2: they're just untaught.

1123
01:05:24,280 --> 01:05:27,240
Speaker 1: There's a huge difference of being dumb and being uneducated.

1124
01:05:27,280 --> 01:05:31,480
Speaker 1: The a's dumb. They just not been taught.

1125
01:05:31,640 --> 01:05:36,800
Speaker 2: They just they just hadn't been taught. So this Tammy

1126
01:05:36,920 --> 01:05:41,640
Speaker 2: dived in head first with me. She she reached out

1127
01:05:41,680 --> 01:05:44,680
Speaker 2: to a couple of volunteers. They dived head and I

1128
01:05:44,800 --> 01:05:49,000
Speaker 2: reached out to a couple and we basically did round

1129
01:05:49,000 --> 01:05:51,960
Speaker 2: the clock education with these kids. So the fact that

1130
01:05:51,960 --> 01:05:55,240
Speaker 2: they were living with me allowed us to do education

1131
01:05:55,360 --> 01:06:00,760
Speaker 2: at night. So that was the plan. We're chopping it

1132
01:06:00,760 --> 01:06:02,880
Speaker 2: this way, chopping it away. The first year we got

1133
01:06:02,880 --> 01:06:06,960
Speaker 2: a three point seventh grade level jump. Man Tammy went crazy,

1134
01:06:07,200 --> 01:06:09,080
Speaker 2: and then you know, I was like, just your first year.

1135
01:06:09,880 --> 01:06:12,560
Speaker 2: So the second year, we get a three point one

1136
01:06:12,600 --> 01:06:16,440
Speaker 2: grade level jump on our kids and now every like

1137
01:06:18,080 --> 01:06:21,640
Speaker 2: so I said, let's put them against the Act. That ain't

1138
01:06:21,640 --> 01:06:25,280
Speaker 2: nobody can say anything if they go against Act. So

1139
01:06:25,320 --> 01:06:27,920
Speaker 2: then our kids started to hit the college benchmarks and

1140
01:06:27,960 --> 01:06:30,440
Speaker 2: reading right. We had a couple of kids with a

1141
01:06:30,480 --> 01:06:34,640
Speaker 2: composite of a twenty compositive twenty one. I mean, there

1142
01:06:34,720 --> 01:06:36,800
Speaker 2: was ways away from kids that we had. When they

1143
01:06:36,800 --> 01:06:39,240
Speaker 2: first got to us, they was reading on third and

1144
01:06:39,280 --> 01:06:40,160
Speaker 2: fourth grade reading.

1145
01:06:40,280 --> 01:06:42,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, but in twenty and twenty one's you're qualifying for

1146
01:06:42,960 --> 01:06:47,040
Speaker 1: college you're qualifying for football scholarships, and you have a

1147
01:06:47,120 --> 01:06:51,280
Speaker 1: proficiency in being able to read reading comprehension math No.

1148
01:06:51,640 --> 01:06:54,200
Speaker 1: Twenty twenty one on at eight Rhodes scholars But it's

1149
01:06:54,200 --> 01:06:58,040
Speaker 1: a hell of a flock from zero percent time cooking

1150
01:06:58,200 --> 01:07:01,240
Speaker 1: a huge jump cooking. It's life changing.

1151
01:07:02,760 --> 01:07:05,040
Speaker 2: I mean, and that's when we said, that's when we

1152
01:07:05,120 --> 01:07:08,120
Speaker 2: knew we said it works. I said, y'all, I've been

1153
01:07:08,160 --> 01:07:12,200
Speaker 2: telling y'all it's the environment. The way I grew up

1154
01:07:12,280 --> 01:07:15,280
Speaker 2: is not what I wanted to do. I said. These

1155
01:07:15,400 --> 01:07:18,080
Speaker 2: kids are the same. I said, so if we can

1156
01:07:18,160 --> 01:07:20,959
Speaker 2: give them everything that they need to.

1157
01:07:20,880 --> 01:07:27,240
Speaker 1: Be successful, an education, love and nurturing environment and food, compassion,

1158
01:07:27,400 --> 01:07:32,520
Speaker 1: food and accountability, they flourish.

1159
01:07:33,120 --> 01:07:37,760
Speaker 2: So so they hit the they hit the benchmarking, and

1160
01:07:37,760 --> 01:07:41,920
Speaker 2: it was like, okay, all right, let's let's be efficient.

1161
01:07:42,040 --> 01:07:45,920
Speaker 2: Because everybody was talking about homeschool and Tammy was jumping

1162
01:07:45,920 --> 01:07:48,320
Speaker 2: through the hoops with N C. A A and turning

1163
01:07:48,440 --> 01:07:51,920
Speaker 2: in this paperwork, and of course everybody saying all we

1164
01:07:51,960 --> 01:07:56,480
Speaker 2: did was football, And I mean, so he was like, no,

1165
01:07:56,480 --> 01:07:59,800
Speaker 2: now that we know this pilot program work, let's skill

1166
01:07:59,880 --> 01:08:03,240
Speaker 2: it up. I said, because there's a million malevns throughout

1167
01:08:03,240 --> 01:08:10,600
Speaker 2: the United States, and they all need what I need, love, opportunity, accountability.

1168
01:08:11,320 --> 01:08:13,560
Speaker 2: But see it, you don't need ship else you give

1169
01:08:13,560 --> 01:08:15,840
Speaker 2: me those three things, I got it. I'm good to go.

1170
01:08:16,680 --> 01:08:23,880
Speaker 2: So we formed. We formed a school called Peer Academy.

1171
01:08:24,200 --> 01:08:25,680
Speaker 1: Spells stands for.

1172
01:08:25,960 --> 01:08:28,599
Speaker 2: So peer stands for progress and under restraints.

1173
01:08:28,640 --> 01:08:31,120
Speaker 1: And the streams were.

1174
01:08:31,520 --> 01:08:36,479
Speaker 2: Progressing under restraints and extremes. That's what I've done my

1175
01:08:36,520 --> 01:08:41,120
Speaker 2: whole life. And these kids in Memphis that's living in

1176
01:08:41,200 --> 01:08:44,559
Speaker 2: double the national average of property, that's living in double

1177
01:08:44,600 --> 01:08:47,920
Speaker 2: the national average of food hardship. That's what they're doing.

1178
01:08:49,200 --> 01:08:52,080
Speaker 2: The progressing under the most all the restraints and the

1179
01:08:52,120 --> 01:08:53,280
Speaker 2: streams you can think about.

1180
01:08:54,520 --> 01:09:00,320
Speaker 1: So now you got pure the school. And that brings

1181
01:09:00,360 --> 01:09:04,639
Speaker 1: me to where I first met you, where you guys

1182
01:09:04,720 --> 01:09:11,639
Speaker 1: bought a house on a swamp to put a school.

1183
01:09:12,280 --> 01:09:19,000
Speaker 2: You know what it was actually for us to uh

1184
01:09:20,080 --> 01:09:26,600
Speaker 2: to have a safe place. So the doing the entire organization.

1185
01:09:27,840 --> 01:09:29,880
Speaker 2: Every time somebody found out the truth, they would kick

1186
01:09:29,920 --> 01:09:33,640
Speaker 2: us out. So, like I said in the beginning, I

1187
01:09:33,680 --> 01:09:36,360
Speaker 2: had a gym. So I owned my gym for seven

1188
01:09:36,479 --> 01:09:38,400
Speaker 2: years and I closed down my gym to turn into

1189
01:09:38,439 --> 01:09:41,439
Speaker 2: a school. Well, when the landlord got w into that

1190
01:09:42,160 --> 01:09:45,800
Speaker 2: we're not gonna renew your least well the house that

1191
01:09:45,840 --> 01:09:48,839
Speaker 2: we were staying in when we got on the news

1192
01:09:49,080 --> 01:09:51,200
Speaker 2: and my landlord found out, it was a convicted feeling.

1193
01:09:52,840 --> 01:09:55,400
Speaker 2: I can't stay here, buddy. So it was at one

1194
01:09:55,439 --> 01:10:04,320
Speaker 2: point that me and the kids went homeless. We'll be

1195
01:10:04,439 --> 01:10:18,000
Speaker 2: right back. We was literally sleeping on board members couches,

1196
01:10:18,680 --> 01:10:22,120
Speaker 2: living out on my escalade. I mean, so it was

1197
01:10:22,160 --> 01:10:24,519
Speaker 2: one of those things where at the time I went

1198
01:10:24,560 --> 01:10:27,880
Speaker 2: to my board chairman, I was like, Ginaltisten, damn it,

1199
01:10:28,040 --> 01:10:30,840
Speaker 2: I need y'all help. I'm a drug dealer. Ain't had

1200
01:10:30,840 --> 01:10:33,920
Speaker 2: no paperwork. I gave. This ain't gonna I mean, I

1201
01:10:33,960 --> 01:10:36,200
Speaker 2: need y'all to do this, I said, but it's gonna work.

1202
01:10:36,439 --> 01:10:39,960
Speaker 1: Drug Dealer's make sure every buyers fans. You dropped the

1203
01:10:40,040 --> 01:10:41,280
Speaker 1: life by this point.

1204
01:10:41,120 --> 01:10:46,679
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's overWe we ain't picking that up. And man,

1205
01:10:46,720 --> 01:10:50,920
Speaker 2: they they had a hearter goal. I mean they understood,

1206
01:10:51,200 --> 01:10:53,559
Speaker 2: they had an artic goal, and they understood the mission.

1207
01:10:54,479 --> 01:10:54,800
Speaker 1: I mean.

1208
01:10:54,880 --> 01:10:58,360
Speaker 2: So, so me and Tammy was running around through the

1209
01:10:58,400 --> 01:10:59,960
Speaker 2: city trying to find a house.

1210
01:11:00,439 --> 01:11:04,160
Speaker 1: You've you've talked about Tammy Tammy gall One. So that's

1211
01:11:04,200 --> 01:11:04,920
Speaker 1: who it's Tammy.

1212
01:11:05,560 --> 01:11:09,080
Speaker 2: That's that's like miss glue man. She keep it, She

1213
01:11:09,200 --> 01:11:11,400
Speaker 2: keep it all together, you know, I mean from me,

1214
01:11:12,400 --> 01:11:15,479
Speaker 2: the boys, the donors, I mean the bridge. I mean,

1215
01:11:16,560 --> 01:11:19,840
Speaker 2: you gotta be honest. Without Timmy, I ain't getting too

1216
01:11:19,840 --> 01:11:21,400
Speaker 2: many rooms with white boys.

1217
01:11:21,560 --> 01:11:22,599
Speaker 1: She's an angel for you.

1218
01:11:22,840 --> 01:11:26,400
Speaker 2: Absolutely, like, without without a doubt.

1219
01:11:27,560 --> 01:11:31,040
Speaker 1: So now you buy the house that looks like a swamp.

1220
01:11:32,360 --> 01:11:36,439
Speaker 2: Now, so we bought it. We buy the house that

1221
01:11:36,520 --> 01:11:42,800
Speaker 2: looked like swamp. And I know zero about construction, but

1222
01:11:43,560 --> 01:11:47,040
Speaker 2: I'm so headstrong and this is what we're gonna do.

1223
01:11:47,160 --> 01:11:53,559
Speaker 2: So I end up mismanager all the construction money I'm

1224
01:11:53,600 --> 01:11:58,960
Speaker 2: talking about. Man, we looked up. Me and the boys

1225
01:11:58,960 --> 01:12:04,799
Speaker 2: are living in a house without heat, mhmm, without plumbing.

1226
01:12:06,360 --> 01:12:09,080
Speaker 2: But we had this big gate that I put up

1227
01:12:11,320 --> 01:12:14,080
Speaker 2: to keep everybody out. So then we started using loze,

1228
01:12:14,120 --> 01:12:16,519
Speaker 2: We start using the bath, throwing around the problem.

1229
01:12:16,680 --> 01:12:18,360
Speaker 1: Need no gate. Nobody wants to come in the house

1230
01:12:18,400 --> 01:12:19,280
Speaker 1: without heating, plumbing.

1231
01:12:19,439 --> 01:12:22,040
Speaker 2: But you know what we am getting Nick saving to

1232
01:12:22,080 --> 01:12:25,799
Speaker 2: come in. I never forget one of our kids, Chris

1233
01:12:25,800 --> 01:12:30,280
Speaker 2: at the time was ah At the time, he was

1234
01:12:30,280 --> 01:12:33,320
Speaker 2: like ranked the twenty eighth player in the country, and

1235
01:12:33,479 --> 01:12:37,280
Speaker 2: Nick saving comes down and he says, this is where

1236
01:12:37,320 --> 01:12:41,439
Speaker 2: y'all live. I said, yeah, coach, unless you got a

1237
01:12:41,439 --> 01:12:42,040
Speaker 2: better spot.

1238
01:12:42,160 --> 01:12:46,200
Speaker 1: Corse, you should have seen last year. You should seen

1239
01:12:46,400 --> 01:12:49,040
Speaker 1: last year you would have gonna visit us in the

1240
01:12:49,080 --> 01:12:51,400
Speaker 1: parking lot and my escalator, that's what you did to do.

1241
01:12:51,600 --> 01:12:53,320
Speaker 2: I was gonna take your call in the parking lot.

1242
01:12:53,320 --> 01:12:56,280
Speaker 1: And this is nice. You see the gate said you

1243
01:12:56,320 --> 01:12:56,840
Speaker 1: see a game.

1244
01:12:57,600 --> 01:13:01,800
Speaker 2: So then Jimbo Fisher come out. He says, you got

1245
01:13:01,800 --> 01:13:05,599
Speaker 2: the number one kids sleeping on the floor. I said, shit,

1246
01:13:05,680 --> 01:13:07,200
Speaker 2: I'm sleeping on the air mattress.

1247
01:13:07,240 --> 01:13:11,080
Speaker 1: What you want me to give him? And it was

1248
01:13:11,160 --> 01:13:14,679
Speaker 1: just I can't believe it. This is better And where

1249
01:13:14,680 --> 01:13:15,680
Speaker 1: it came from, it was a.

1250
01:13:15,680 --> 01:13:18,800
Speaker 2: Lot better than where he came because he's safe, he's full,

1251
01:13:19,240 --> 01:13:22,320
Speaker 2: and nobody playing with his booty at night, and and

1252
01:13:22,360 --> 01:13:24,960
Speaker 2: he's loved. What's all the kids need?

1253
01:13:25,960 --> 01:13:29,800
Speaker 1: And so you rip out the woods, y'all bring in

1254
01:13:29,880 --> 01:13:31,080
Speaker 1: three hundred loads of dirt.

1255
01:13:31,280 --> 01:13:34,400
Speaker 2: Man, So now, and that's what I mean another time.

1256
01:13:34,479 --> 01:13:38,120
Speaker 2: So I'm gunn home, knocking down all these trees and

1257
01:13:38,200 --> 01:13:41,040
Speaker 2: we need to feel and this, this and this having

1258
01:13:41,080 --> 01:13:44,880
Speaker 2: no idea what I'm doing, so we knocked down over

1259
01:13:44,960 --> 01:13:49,200
Speaker 2: eighty trees. Now we're sitting in a seventeen foot drop

1260
01:13:50,080 --> 01:13:56,559
Speaker 2: swamp out Like, Hi, I don't know what to do.

1261
01:13:57,439 --> 01:14:03,519
Speaker 2: I was. I was completely stuck. And I get up

1262
01:14:04,160 --> 01:14:06,639
Speaker 2: two thirty in the morning, and I started my meditation

1263
01:14:06,720 --> 01:14:09,680
Speaker 2: in my prayer and then I started my workout. And

1264
01:14:09,760 --> 01:14:14,720
Speaker 2: at this time, they was redoing the Memphis Airport concord A,

1265
01:14:15,640 --> 01:14:20,040
Speaker 2: and I'm watching these dumb trucks as I go to work.

1266
01:14:20,040 --> 01:14:21,839
Speaker 1: All that dirt.

1267
01:14:24,280 --> 01:14:27,120
Speaker 2: So I said, I'm gonna follow these trucks. I'm gonna

1268
01:14:27,120 --> 01:14:29,120
Speaker 2: figure out where they're going and where they're coming from.

1269
01:14:29,840 --> 01:14:32,920
Speaker 2: I want to know. So I followed the truck, figure

1270
01:14:32,920 --> 01:14:35,200
Speaker 2: out where they're going, where they come from. I'm clocking

1271
01:14:35,200 --> 01:14:37,599
Speaker 2: the mileage. And I called one of my buddies. I said, hey,

1272
01:14:39,160 --> 01:14:41,640
Speaker 2: you ever heard of this company? I google them and

1273
01:14:42,080 --> 01:14:43,080
Speaker 2: they're in car you here?

1274
01:14:43,880 --> 01:14:45,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know them.

1275
01:14:45,680 --> 01:14:48,759
Speaker 2: Can I have us following them because I need some dirt.

1276
01:14:50,960 --> 01:14:54,599
Speaker 2: So I'm calling, I'm calling. I'm calling. Finally say hey, listen,

1277
01:14:56,120 --> 01:14:59,360
Speaker 2: I don't track your trucks. I can save you on mileage.

1278
01:14:59,400 --> 01:15:03,000
Speaker 2: I can save you, and I know somebody is paying

1279
01:15:03,040 --> 01:15:05,760
Speaker 2: you to dump that. I said, listen, you come give

1280
01:15:05,760 --> 01:15:07,640
Speaker 2: it all to me. I need over three hundred and

1281
01:15:07,640 --> 01:15:10,880
Speaker 2: eighty longs. You come to me. It's like all right,

1282
01:15:11,520 --> 01:15:18,040
Speaker 2: he hangs up. I'm like fucking seriousness. So I'm calling

1283
01:15:18,120 --> 01:15:21,080
Speaker 2: them back. I'm calling them back. I said, hey, listen, listen, listen,

1284
01:15:23,240 --> 01:15:27,519
Speaker 2: just come check it out. If I'm wrong, don't ever

1285
01:15:27,560 --> 01:15:31,800
Speaker 2: fucking call me again. But if I'm right, give him

1286
01:15:31,800 --> 01:15:35,519
Speaker 2: a dirt. So I convinced the guy to come down

1287
01:15:35,560 --> 01:15:38,799
Speaker 2: and see it. He pulls in with this big black

1288
01:15:38,880 --> 01:15:44,920
Speaker 2: truck and it gets out and you're right, I said,

1289
01:15:44,960 --> 01:15:47,040
Speaker 2: I know that's what I've been telling you. Now can

1290
01:15:47,080 --> 01:15:52,280
Speaker 2: I get my damn dirt? And he agreed, and boy,

1291
01:15:52,360 --> 01:15:55,000
Speaker 2: for you know it, they had all the dump trucks

1292
01:15:55,000 --> 01:15:59,519
Speaker 2: from the airport re routed and we end up filling

1293
01:15:59,560 --> 01:16:05,160
Speaker 2: in US seventeen foot drop to create our practice field.

1294
01:16:04,880 --> 01:16:07,519
Speaker 1: Which is now the pure football field is now.

1295
01:16:08,160 --> 01:16:10,519
Speaker 2: So we once we did that, and I went to

1296
01:16:10,640 --> 01:16:14,320
Speaker 2: donors and told them what we were doing. I said, listen,

1297
01:16:14,479 --> 01:16:18,120
Speaker 2: if you will buy the sad, me and my boys

1298
01:16:18,120 --> 01:16:20,360
Speaker 2: will roll it. We ain't a problem working. We just

1299
01:16:20,360 --> 01:16:23,720
Speaker 2: can't afford the sod, you know what I mean. And

1300
01:16:23,800 --> 01:16:26,840
Speaker 2: we had some foundations to jump on with us. We

1301
01:16:26,920 --> 01:16:29,599
Speaker 2: bought the sod and me and the bulls. We had

1302
01:16:29,640 --> 01:16:32,960
Speaker 2: over one hundred rolls. A saw the big rolls and

1303
01:16:32,320 --> 01:16:35,360
Speaker 2: we rolled it out. Some of it got crooked. We

1304
01:16:35,400 --> 01:16:38,920
Speaker 2: had to pull it together with a rake. And now

1305
01:16:38,960 --> 01:16:41,920
Speaker 2: we had a proud practice field that sent over twenty

1306
01:16:41,960 --> 01:16:43,960
Speaker 2: kids to college.

1307
01:16:44,520 --> 01:16:51,720
Speaker 1: So for the listeners, my first vision of this campus,

1308
01:16:51,840 --> 01:16:56,240
Speaker 1: this four acres was a house that had been cordoned

1309
01:16:56,280 --> 01:17:01,639
Speaker 1: off into classrooms with probably twenty four twenty five kids inside.

1310
01:17:01,640 --> 01:17:05,800
Speaker 1: They're going to school, but the student teacher ratio is

1311
01:17:05,840 --> 01:17:09,479
Speaker 1: probably five six, seven to one. And then behind the

1312
01:17:09,520 --> 01:17:14,360
Speaker 1: house under a tenth as a weight room, and behind

1313
01:17:14,400 --> 01:17:18,720
Speaker 1: that is another room or another building that look like

1314
01:17:18,760 --> 01:17:21,599
Speaker 1: a trailer. And then off to the right of that

1315
01:17:21,760 --> 01:17:24,719
Speaker 1: is a practice field. And then next to the practice

1316
01:17:24,720 --> 01:17:29,920
Speaker 1: field are the dormitories where the kids live. And how

1317
01:17:29,960 --> 01:17:35,719
Speaker 1: many kids live at Pure Academy typically annually twenty three four.

1318
01:17:35,680 --> 01:17:38,679
Speaker 2: Five something like that, twenty five twenty five.

1319
01:17:38,560 --> 01:17:42,080
Speaker 1: Kids that are fed three squares.

1320
01:17:42,240 --> 01:17:45,760
Speaker 2: No reference LUNs dinner, two snacks.

1321
01:17:45,479 --> 01:17:48,720
Speaker 1: Reference Lut's dinner, two snacks, and.

1322
01:17:48,640 --> 01:17:54,080
Speaker 2: They love, they get educated, they're working out, we're working out.

1323
01:17:54,160 --> 01:17:57,840
Speaker 2: We take them, We take them all throughout the United States.

1324
01:17:57,880 --> 01:18:00,719
Speaker 2: So one of the things we do the first week

1325
01:18:00,800 --> 01:18:04,000
Speaker 2: in June, we rent a charter bus and we take

1326
01:18:04,040 --> 01:18:08,440
Speaker 2: our kids throughout the country to various colleges and universities.

1327
01:18:09,160 --> 01:18:12,080
Speaker 2: They get a chance to participating in the school camps,

1328
01:18:12,560 --> 01:18:16,080
Speaker 2: interact with the coaches, look at the college campus, what

1329
01:18:16,120 --> 01:18:16,920
Speaker 2: they like, what they.

1330
01:18:16,880 --> 01:18:19,760
Speaker 1: Get exposed to the world they never dreamed of. Yep.

1331
01:18:21,360 --> 01:18:26,120
Speaker 1: So here's the thing. I was coaching football when Pure

1332
01:18:26,200 --> 01:18:30,240
Speaker 1: showed up, and I'm like, well, that was Pure, you know,

1333
01:18:30,360 --> 01:18:32,400
Speaker 1: because out of nowhere, all of a sudden, there's this Pure,

1334
01:18:32,400 --> 01:18:34,840
Speaker 1: and I'm like, man, this is gonna be this ragtag thing.

1335
01:18:34,880 --> 01:18:35,400
Speaker 1: Ain't nothing.

1336
01:18:35,760 --> 01:18:38,120
Speaker 2: I got pushed. There was another push too.

1337
01:18:38,360 --> 01:18:41,839
Speaker 1: And then I started to knowing Pure started kicking everybody's

1338
01:18:41,840 --> 01:18:47,000
Speaker 1: ass pretty good. Not only was Pure teaching kids, loving kids,

1339
01:18:47,080 --> 01:18:49,800
Speaker 1: providing for kids, they were pretty fair at the game

1340
01:18:49,840 --> 01:18:50,639
Speaker 1: of football too.

1341
01:18:51,040 --> 01:18:51,640
Speaker 2: Absolutely.

1342
01:18:53,439 --> 01:18:57,160
Speaker 1: And how many years since you moved to the four

1343
01:18:57,200 --> 01:19:00,640
Speaker 1: Acres and actually started the boarding school years ago? Was

1344
01:19:00,720 --> 01:19:07,080
Speaker 1: up five and considering twenty five kids about annually, And

1345
01:19:07,120 --> 01:19:09,040
Speaker 1: that doesn't mean twenty five in and twenty five out,

1346
01:19:09,080 --> 01:19:12,719
Speaker 1: because some of these are freshman, sophomore, senior, so they're rotating.

1347
01:19:12,720 --> 01:19:15,920
Speaker 1: So you're graduating seven eight to ten kids a year, right,

1348
01:19:17,000 --> 01:19:22,200
Speaker 1: So that's fifty kids about graduated, and you're saying twenty

1349
01:19:22,920 --> 01:19:24,240
Speaker 1: have gone under play college.

1350
01:19:24,040 --> 01:19:27,320
Speaker 2: Football full athletic scholarships.

1351
01:19:27,560 --> 01:19:30,320
Speaker 1: And the other ones are still going to school.

1352
01:19:31,080 --> 01:19:33,480
Speaker 2: Some are still going to school. I was just bragging.

1353
01:19:34,479 --> 01:19:37,479
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not just about football scholarships. They're getting educated.

1354
01:19:37,600 --> 01:19:38,040
Speaker 1: Moving on.

1355
01:19:38,240 --> 01:19:40,920
Speaker 2: No, yeah, don't. I don't care. I don't care about

1356
01:19:41,240 --> 01:19:45,320
Speaker 2: football or even the college. There's this one kid man,

1357
01:19:45,920 --> 01:19:49,920
Speaker 2: I love him to death. His name is Tick Brown,

1358
01:19:50,640 --> 01:19:52,640
Speaker 2: and we went through a lot of shit with.

1359
01:19:52,800 --> 01:19:54,439
Speaker 1: Tears, just kind of growing up.

1360
01:19:58,360 --> 01:20:01,920
Speaker 2: His stepdad thought that he could put his hands on

1361
01:20:03,360 --> 01:20:09,120
Speaker 2: the house, so we had to visit with him. Like, man, listen,

1362
01:20:10,000 --> 01:20:12,839
Speaker 2: I can't tell you what to do with your woman,

1363
01:20:13,360 --> 01:20:17,040
Speaker 2: cause I don't know what's going on. But if you

1364
01:20:17,160 --> 01:20:24,240
Speaker 2: hit Terry again, there's gonna be some serious consequences. Take

1365
01:20:24,280 --> 01:20:28,719
Speaker 2: that for whatever it's worth, I said, because you can't

1366
01:20:28,720 --> 01:20:31,920
Speaker 2: get mad at him for the shortcomings of your life.

1367
01:20:33,560 --> 01:20:40,439
Speaker 2: So let's snip that in the bud. So Terry stayed

1368
01:20:40,479 --> 01:20:45,760
Speaker 2: with us, graduated, and he didn't wanna. He decided to

1369
01:20:45,800 --> 01:20:52,520
Speaker 2: go back to Raleigh, Egypt after the football season, graduated,

1370
01:20:53,000 --> 01:20:54,160
Speaker 2: got a job at Amazon.

1371
01:20:54,880 --> 01:20:55,400
Speaker 1: Amazon.

1372
01:20:55,600 --> 01:20:58,519
Speaker 2: Amazon. I called him. I said, ter I think you

1373
01:20:58,640 --> 01:21:02,960
Speaker 2: better than that. I said, nothing's wrong with Amazon. I said,

1374
01:21:03,000 --> 01:21:06,200
Speaker 2: I think you got more than that though. I said, listen,

1375
01:21:07,439 --> 01:21:13,360
Speaker 2: you're just eighteen. Come back, come back to period. Let

1376
01:21:13,360 --> 01:21:15,879
Speaker 2: me give me, give me more time, give my staff

1377
01:21:15,920 --> 01:21:18,760
Speaker 2: more time, give us more time with you. It's a

1378
01:21:18,760 --> 01:21:21,360
Speaker 2: lot of shit we can tron out and the crazy

1379
01:21:21,360 --> 01:21:24,639
Speaker 2: boty battle. I gave him the same speech Freeze gave me. Man,

1380
01:21:24,640 --> 01:21:28,960
Speaker 2: if you trust me, I'll get you to college. Terry

1381
01:21:29,000 --> 01:21:33,760
Speaker 2: trusted me. We sent Terry to Fort Valley in Georgia.

1382
01:21:35,560 --> 01:21:40,080
Speaker 2: First year, Terry flunks out. He called me and said, Coch,

1383
01:21:41,200 --> 01:21:43,960
Speaker 2: I don't want to do this shit. I said, cool,

1384
01:21:45,160 --> 01:21:48,000
Speaker 2: So what do you want to do? He said, I

1385
01:21:48,080 --> 01:21:50,240
Speaker 2: want to drive trucks. I want to what I want

1386
01:21:50,240 --> 01:21:53,479
Speaker 2: to drive trucks? I said, guess what? Then I mana

1387
01:21:53,479 --> 01:21:56,080
Speaker 2: help you get your CDs. We're gonna figure it out.

1388
01:21:56,720 --> 01:22:00,200
Speaker 2: So now to this day, Terry Brown is made in

1389
01:22:00,360 --> 01:22:03,320
Speaker 2: sixty five grand driving trucks. He just told one of

1390
01:22:04,600 --> 01:22:08,800
Speaker 2: our staff and some more people that he's driven fifteen

1391
01:22:08,920 --> 01:22:10,960
Speaker 2: states in the last two weeks.

1392
01:22:13,479 --> 01:22:17,439
Speaker 1: It's pure, even though it does put a lot of

1393
01:22:17,479 --> 01:22:19,920
Speaker 1: good athletes out into the world because of what the

1394
01:22:20,000 --> 01:22:20,840
Speaker 1: program is.

1395
01:22:21,320 --> 01:22:24,559
Speaker 2: It ain't about that now, it's about it's about producing men.

1396
01:22:25,320 --> 01:22:31,040
Speaker 2: It's about producing more melvins, to save more melvins. That's

1397
01:22:31,040 --> 01:22:35,120
Speaker 2: what periods about football is just this. That's how we meet.

1398
01:22:35,160 --> 01:22:37,439
Speaker 1: It's the hook. The hook.

1399
01:22:37,560 --> 01:22:40,360
Speaker 2: So you think about, like this, where else were you

1400
01:22:40,439 --> 01:22:44,720
Speaker 2: gonna meet hundreds of black kids in the hood? Little

1401
01:22:44,800 --> 01:22:48,600
Speaker 2: leaf football because everybody think they're gonna be the next

1402
01:22:49,040 --> 01:22:51,200
Speaker 2: Michael Vick, Michael Jordan.

1403
01:22:51,520 --> 01:22:54,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, which we've already established earlier on ain't happening.

1404
01:22:54,520 --> 01:22:56,760
Speaker 2: Right, So you're telling me you want to be Michael

1405
01:22:56,840 --> 01:23:02,880
Speaker 2: Vick cool by four years a high school, three years

1406
01:23:02,920 --> 01:23:08,160
Speaker 2: of couch. Then we'll talk about that. But before you

1407
01:23:08,200 --> 01:23:09,880
Speaker 2: can ever do that, hey man, these are the things

1408
01:23:09,920 --> 01:23:12,839
Speaker 2: you gotta do. And then by the time you realize

1409
01:23:13,040 --> 01:23:14,679
Speaker 2: NFL is not in a deck.

1410
01:23:14,560 --> 01:23:18,720
Speaker 1: Of cards, you got to back up finally, rather than

1411
01:23:18,760 --> 01:23:39,320
Speaker 1: an ad for attendance, We'll be right back. So Pure

1412
01:23:39,400 --> 01:23:43,120
Speaker 1: saving lives, but you want to scale it.

1413
01:23:43,760 --> 01:23:45,120
Speaker 2: I do so.

1414
01:23:47,200 --> 01:23:53,479
Speaker 1: Share with our listeners the unbelievable truth about where Pure

1415
01:23:53,600 --> 01:23:55,559
Speaker 1: is going to be this August.

1416
01:23:57,800 --> 01:24:02,479
Speaker 2: So the good part about it, we just bought the

1417
01:24:02,520 --> 01:24:08,960
Speaker 2: old Memphis Health and Science Academy building in Chelsea.

1418
01:24:08,360 --> 01:24:10,880
Speaker 1: Which is a defunct school. There was a charter school.

1419
01:24:10,960 --> 01:24:12,000
Speaker 2: There was a charter.

1420
01:24:11,800 --> 01:24:14,400
Speaker 1: School before it was that it was.

1421
01:24:15,160 --> 01:24:17,559
Speaker 2: It was a Baptist college, a Baptist college.

1422
01:24:18,200 --> 01:24:20,520
Speaker 1: But it's a facility on how many acres.

1423
01:24:20,479 --> 01:24:23,800
Speaker 2: It's a facility on seven acres. Were over sixty five

1424
01:24:23,840 --> 01:24:25,520
Speaker 2: thousand square feet of building.

1425
01:24:25,720 --> 01:24:29,280
Speaker 1: That was defunct and left because of the school vacated correct.

1426
01:24:29,600 --> 01:24:34,720
Speaker 2: And it's amazing how much damage to a building was

1427
01:24:34,800 --> 01:24:39,919
Speaker 2: done in less than twelve months. I'm talking about everything

1428
01:24:40,000 --> 01:24:41,960
Speaker 2: they could took they took.

1429
01:24:43,760 --> 01:24:46,639
Speaker 1: And so you guys bought it. You your board, Pure

1430
01:24:46,840 --> 01:24:47,840
Speaker 1: Academy bought it.

1431
01:24:48,000 --> 01:24:49,880
Speaker 2: And you know the crazy thing about it, that was

1432
01:24:49,920 --> 01:24:54,400
Speaker 2: really a blessing. I got a phone call and somebody

1433
01:24:54,520 --> 01:25:00,240
Speaker 2: was sharing their good news with me and I was like, Okay,

1434
01:25:01,320 --> 01:25:03,680
Speaker 2: what the fuck does they got to do with me?

1435
01:25:04,840 --> 01:25:07,400
Speaker 2: And she says, can your air gonnass just listen for one,

1436
01:25:07,520 --> 01:25:11,000
Speaker 2: just one second, just just one. I said, hey, one

1437
01:25:11,080 --> 01:25:14,320
Speaker 2: thousand and forty minutes of the day, God need you

1438
01:25:14,360 --> 01:25:18,280
Speaker 2: to get to your point. And she says, coach, you

1439
01:25:18,360 --> 01:25:23,719
Speaker 2: can buy the high school. I said, what she said,

1440
01:25:23,800 --> 01:25:27,160
Speaker 2: go look at it? You can buy the high school,

1441
01:25:29,439 --> 01:25:34,040
Speaker 2: I said, for real. So I drive over there and

1442
01:25:34,120 --> 01:25:40,840
Speaker 2: I go wow, I said, but I gotta call the

1443
01:25:40,880 --> 01:25:42,960
Speaker 2: glue to make sure it's gonna work. Because if it

1444
01:25:43,000 --> 01:25:47,200
Speaker 2: ain't gonna work, ain't no even you said, so damn it.

1445
01:25:47,240 --> 01:25:50,760
Speaker 2: Where are you at? I'm headed, I'm headed back to town.

1446
01:25:50,800 --> 01:25:54,160
Speaker 2: I just came from North Carolina. I said, can you

1447
01:25:54,240 --> 01:25:57,080
Speaker 2: can you stop by the actress before you get to

1448
01:25:57,080 --> 01:25:59,120
Speaker 2: the house, I said, I said, five minutes. I just

1449
01:25:59,160 --> 01:26:03,439
Speaker 2: need I just need you five minutes. So me and

1450
01:26:03,560 --> 01:26:07,759
Speaker 2: my security and tem you know, breaking into this abandoned builder,

1451
01:26:10,320 --> 01:26:14,160
Speaker 2: and she's like, Melvin, you're right. She's like, it's a

1452
01:26:14,200 --> 01:26:16,960
Speaker 2: hard sale. A lot of people are gonna be mad

1453
01:26:17,000 --> 01:26:20,719
Speaker 2: at you because we had already on our current campus,

1454
01:26:20,840 --> 01:26:24,120
Speaker 2: we was already one hundred and twenty five grand into

1455
01:26:24,240 --> 01:26:29,680
Speaker 2: architect fees. We already had a groundbreaking ceremony about converting

1456
01:26:29,720 --> 01:26:33,840
Speaker 2: what you had about converting with We've already took over

1457
01:26:33,880 --> 01:26:37,479
Speaker 2: four million dollars of donors money. And she's like, Mailvin,

1458
01:26:37,520 --> 01:26:40,519
Speaker 2: you we gotta do this. I said, I know, I said,

1459
01:26:40,560 --> 01:26:43,640
Speaker 2: but I needed you to see it first. Now I

1460
01:26:43,680 --> 01:26:46,840
Speaker 2: got you on board, Let's go talk to the people

1461
01:26:46,840 --> 01:26:48,160
Speaker 2: that gave us the money, because I.

1462
01:26:48,160 --> 01:26:49,920
Speaker 1: Said, if you and the people in the money, if

1463
01:26:49,920 --> 01:26:51,440
Speaker 1: you use this money for something different.

1464
01:26:51,360 --> 01:26:53,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean because because yeah, they gave it to me.

1465
01:26:53,880 --> 01:26:57,200
Speaker 2: But you know what I mean, you gotta be respectful.

1466
01:26:57,320 --> 01:26:57,639
Speaker 1: I mean.

1467
01:26:57,720 --> 01:27:00,000
Speaker 2: And one of the guys that gave me the money,

1468
01:27:00,120 --> 01:27:02,080
Speaker 2: I mean, he was a good friend. He was the

1469
01:27:02,080 --> 01:27:04,920
Speaker 2: guy that spearheaded the whole private school thing that just

1470
01:27:04,920 --> 01:27:07,559
Speaker 2: didn't work out. So the last thing I wanted to

1471
01:27:07,600 --> 01:27:09,840
Speaker 2: do was tell him, all we're doing something in white

1472
01:27:09,880 --> 01:27:13,839
Speaker 2: hen and look up and his money isn't North Memphis

1473
01:27:13,840 --> 01:27:16,080
Speaker 2: and Chills and his name is on the wall and

1474
01:27:16,240 --> 01:27:20,600
Speaker 2: North Memphis, I mean so And we told him and

1475
01:27:20,640 --> 01:27:22,800
Speaker 2: he was like, Melvin, thanks for calling. He's like, normal

1476
01:27:22,840 --> 01:27:25,320
Speaker 2: people don't even call. I was.

1477
01:27:26,520 --> 01:27:30,360
Speaker 1: And so, now your academy is going to be on

1478
01:27:30,520 --> 01:27:33,240
Speaker 1: seven acres and a sixty how many squire.

1479
01:27:33,040 --> 01:27:35,280
Speaker 2: Feet over sixty five thousand.

1480
01:27:34,960 --> 01:27:37,040
Speaker 1: Square How many kids can you house?

1481
01:27:37,400 --> 01:27:39,599
Speaker 2: So we'll be able to house over one hundred and

1482
01:27:39,640 --> 01:27:42,800
Speaker 2: seventy five kids, and we'll be able to educate over

1483
01:27:42,920 --> 01:27:45,439
Speaker 2: three hundred and fifty is a day, Melbourne.

1484
01:27:46,600 --> 01:27:51,439
Speaker 1: In six years from the back of your escalade, you're

1485
01:27:51,520 --> 01:27:58,160
Speaker 1: going to be able to house, love, nurture, educate, and

1486
01:27:58,240 --> 01:28:00,800
Speaker 1: feed one hundred seventy.

1487
01:28:00,400 --> 01:28:02,559
Speaker 2: Five kids by the blessing of God.

1488
01:28:02,920 --> 01:28:05,920
Speaker 1: And then have a day school that will throw another

1489
01:28:06,000 --> 01:28:08,479
Speaker 1: two or three hundred kids into that list.

1490
01:28:08,520 --> 01:28:10,879
Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, the three fifty is not included.

1491
01:28:10,920 --> 01:28:13,760
Speaker 2: The one seventy five, another three fifty, right, so it'd

1492
01:28:13,760 --> 01:28:15,599
Speaker 2: be like a total of like five twenty five.

1493
01:28:15,880 --> 01:28:18,120
Speaker 1: And to be clear, this is not a city school,

1494
01:28:18,160 --> 01:28:21,960
Speaker 1: nor is this a charter school. This is a private school.

1495
01:28:22,200 --> 01:28:28,120
Speaker 2: Yes, Category one accredited through the State of Tennis Department

1496
01:28:28,120 --> 01:28:35,799
Speaker 2: of Education. Private school. So right now eighty five percent

1497
01:28:35,800 --> 01:28:37,040
Speaker 2: of our fund in is private.

1498
01:28:41,600 --> 01:28:43,519
Speaker 1: This is how we break the chain.

1499
01:28:44,479 --> 01:28:49,679
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've always I've always seen to break a vicious cycle,

1500
01:28:49,720 --> 01:28:54,400
Speaker 2: you must create a vicious cycle in some way. It's

1501
01:28:54,400 --> 01:28:54,880
Speaker 2: gonna work.

1502
01:28:55,760 --> 01:29:00,320
Speaker 1: On your website as a quote that says it's far

1503
01:29:00,360 --> 01:29:05,840
Speaker 1: easier to build children, I'm paraphrasing as far as your

1504
01:29:05,880 --> 01:29:09,760
Speaker 1: build children than it is to fix broken men. Absolutely,

1505
01:29:13,160 --> 01:29:15,040
Speaker 1: what grade will this thing start at?

1506
01:29:15,320 --> 01:29:19,000
Speaker 2: So right now, we got nine through twelfth, and we wanna,

1507
01:29:19,160 --> 01:29:22,519
Speaker 2: we wanna, we want to solidify the ninth through twelfth

1508
01:29:22,560 --> 01:29:24,320
Speaker 2: and then we're going to start to reach back. So

1509
01:29:24,439 --> 01:29:28,880
Speaker 2: our whole out of the pilot program. We founded that

1510
01:29:29,320 --> 01:29:33,559
Speaker 2: the kids that we that we got younger had even

1511
01:29:33,640 --> 01:29:37,000
Speaker 2: more success. But what kind of derailed our.

1512
01:29:37,200 --> 01:29:39,280
Speaker 1: Earlier to catch them? The more success you can have,

1513
01:29:39,479 --> 01:29:41,040
Speaker 1: that seems obvious.

1514
01:29:40,920 --> 01:29:43,160
Speaker 2: But what derailed the program is when we had the

1515
01:29:43,200 --> 01:29:48,840
Speaker 2: craziest superintendent who shut down school and football with all

1516
01:29:48,880 --> 01:29:51,599
Speaker 2: sports for inner city kids.

1517
01:29:51,560 --> 01:29:53,439
Speaker 1: And the reason COVID.

1518
01:29:54,520 --> 01:29:58,360
Speaker 2: So we immediately had to grab a hold to those kids,

1519
01:29:58,720 --> 01:30:00,960
Speaker 2: and our kids that was in the programming was affected.

1520
01:30:01,360 --> 01:30:05,320
Speaker 2: So that's how we got launched into just strictly ninth

1521
01:30:05,320 --> 01:30:09,080
Speaker 2: through twelve. So our whole thing is once we solidify

1522
01:30:09,240 --> 01:30:11,160
Speaker 2: this in two or three years to make sure we

1523
01:30:11,200 --> 01:30:14,720
Speaker 2: got it, then you reach back and Pure ideally would

1524
01:30:14,760 --> 01:30:19,559
Speaker 2: build a sixty twelve school and then one day we

1525
01:30:21,000 --> 01:30:24,160
Speaker 2: maybe in year five, May year seven.

1526
01:30:24,200 --> 01:30:29,160
Speaker 1: I can't Pure. Why can't Pure exist in Baltimore and

1527
01:30:29,280 --> 01:30:34,680
Speaker 1: Little Rock and Cincinnati and Chicago and Cleveland? And it can,

1528
01:30:34,840 --> 01:30:35,519
Speaker 1: it can and.

1529
01:30:35,479 --> 01:30:40,960
Speaker 2: It will because all those places have the same problem Melvin's.

1530
01:30:42,800 --> 01:30:49,800
Speaker 1: But to scale that, that's a lot of money. Well,

1531
01:30:49,960 --> 01:30:58,120
Speaker 1: why is this not something that all of these large

1532
01:30:58,320 --> 01:31:03,200
Speaker 1: national brands that are pouring money into naming rights for

1533
01:31:03,320 --> 01:31:06,760
Speaker 1: stadiums and everything else, And I get it. Profits is

1534
01:31:06,760 --> 01:31:10,600
Speaker 1: a necessary measure of niting business success, and marketing and

1535
01:31:10,640 --> 01:31:14,519
Speaker 1: advertising promotion is part of that. And so companies are

1536
01:31:14,520 --> 01:31:16,559
Speaker 1: putting their money where they think they're going to get

1537
01:31:16,600 --> 01:31:20,720
Speaker 1: the most notoriety for their brand. I get it. But

1538
01:31:20,960 --> 01:31:26,360
Speaker 1: why couldn't this be a national brand thing?

1539
01:31:27,240 --> 01:31:32,000
Speaker 2: That's the plan, because like I said, you've action in

1540
01:31:32,080 --> 01:31:37,000
Speaker 2: the same courses that I'm accing. My board members are acing,

1541
01:31:37,040 --> 01:31:42,080
Speaker 2: supporters are excellent. If a company got eight nine hundred

1542
01:31:42,120 --> 01:31:45,920
Speaker 2: million dollars to invest in warehousing everything else, well about

1543
01:31:45,920 --> 01:31:48,000
Speaker 2: you got that same money to invest in the community

1544
01:31:48,000 --> 01:31:52,280
Speaker 2: as well. So I think it's just about having those

1545
01:31:52,400 --> 01:31:55,920
Speaker 2: uncomfortable conversations and not being afraid to have them.

1546
01:31:56,479 --> 01:31:59,559
Speaker 1: The other thing is moment. It's about people just knowing it. Yeah,

1547
01:32:00,000 --> 01:32:03,360
Speaker 1: the opportunity is there. Yeah, that's another thing. That's the

1548
01:32:03,400 --> 01:32:09,960
Speaker 1: biggest thing, because I think in the defense of those.

1549
01:32:11,479 --> 01:32:15,800
Speaker 2: Corporations, at least the ones I've dealt with, once you

1550
01:32:15,880 --> 01:32:19,479
Speaker 2: make them aware of the problem and the solution and

1551
01:32:19,520 --> 01:32:22,160
Speaker 2: the solution, they typically help.

1552
01:32:23,520 --> 01:32:32,200
Speaker 1: Melvin, you grew up a bread a born and bred

1553
01:32:32,280 --> 01:32:36,200
Speaker 1: drug dealer, and by all rights you might should have

1554
01:32:36,240 --> 01:32:41,320
Speaker 1: been dead by now. You did time, and you saw

1555
01:32:41,360 --> 01:32:45,720
Speaker 1: something horrific in prison, and you made a deal with God.

1556
01:32:46,720 --> 01:32:51,439
Speaker 1: And it started with Little League and away program, and

1557
01:32:51,720 --> 01:32:56,800
Speaker 1: by this August it will have blossomed into a full

1558
01:32:56,800 --> 01:33:00,920
Speaker 1: fledged private school that has the potential to serve five

1559
01:33:01,000 --> 01:33:03,599
Speaker 1: hundred kids that could be scaled across our country and

1560
01:33:03,720 --> 01:33:08,400
Speaker 1: literally change the face of what a private school looks

1561
01:33:08,479 --> 01:33:13,840
Speaker 1: like in our urban areas. Yep, what do you see

1562
01:33:13,840 --> 01:33:14,759
Speaker 1: when you look in the mirror?

1563
01:33:18,360 --> 01:33:23,840
Speaker 2: Just a commitment, not not no guid that's holy. It

1564
01:33:23,880 --> 01:33:29,640
Speaker 2: didn't die no better than nobody else. I just simply know,

1565
01:33:31,560 --> 01:33:34,839
Speaker 2: Guy is the last person you want.

1566
01:33:34,640 --> 01:33:39,960
Speaker 1: To reneed Melvin. Uh, We're not going to spend all

1567
01:33:40,000 --> 01:33:42,559
Speaker 1: this time telling a story and not asked, Like you said,

1568
01:33:42,600 --> 01:33:45,240
Speaker 1: you just got to ask if people are interested in

1569
01:33:45,280 --> 01:33:51,719
Speaker 1: supporting Peer, partnering with pere branding with Pure, or even

1570
01:33:51,800 --> 01:33:55,439
Speaker 1: seeing how to bring Peer to their town. All of

1571
01:33:55,439 --> 01:33:57,400
Speaker 1: our guests share their information. How do people get in

1572
01:33:57,439 --> 01:33:57,960
Speaker 1: touch with you?

1573
01:33:58,360 --> 01:34:02,040
Speaker 2: Uh? My email address is Melvin co at Peer Academy

1574
01:34:02,160 --> 01:34:05,240
Speaker 2: nine O one dot com, or you can also visit

1575
01:34:05,280 --> 01:34:08,840
Speaker 2: our website at ww dot Pero Academy nine O one

1576
01:34:10,000 --> 01:34:13,920
Speaker 2: five one three yes five O one C three Text deductible.

1577
01:34:15,000 --> 01:34:18,440
Speaker 2: We've been in good standings over the last thirteen years.

1578
01:34:18,479 --> 01:34:25,160
Speaker 1: And to be clear, you're living with and around these kids.

1579
01:34:25,320 --> 01:34:28,360
Speaker 1: This is not Melvin's get rich scheme.

1580
01:34:28,960 --> 01:34:30,360
Speaker 2: No, if I wanted to get rich, I just go

1581
01:34:30,439 --> 01:34:31,640
Speaker 2: back to cocaine.

1582
01:34:32,479 --> 01:34:37,599
Speaker 1: So the point is, yeah, this is if you hear

1583
01:34:37,720 --> 01:34:42,439
Speaker 1: the story and it's worth supporting. Understand these dollars are

1584
01:34:42,479 --> 01:34:47,160
Speaker 1: going to change the most disadvantaged among us kids' lives,

1585
01:34:47,920 --> 01:34:51,400
Speaker 1: mentored by a guy who holds them accountable, teaches them

1586
01:34:51,400 --> 01:34:54,040
Speaker 1: and loves them and requires that of the whole staff.

1587
01:34:54,960 --> 01:35:00,559
Speaker 2: That's the first thing when we're hiring. Do you love kids?

1588
01:35:02,040 --> 01:35:05,280
Speaker 2: Because if you're here for paychick, wrong plays.

1589
01:35:05,080 --> 01:35:12,479
Speaker 1: Buddy, Hopefully, hopefully some people out there listen will reach

1590
01:35:12,520 --> 01:35:16,960
Speaker 1: out to you, bro hope. So we're an army of

1591
01:35:17,000 --> 01:35:22,599
Speaker 1: normal folks. And I'll say it again. When passion and

1592
01:35:22,720 --> 01:35:26,880
Speaker 1: discipline meet at opportunity and the person with that discipline

1593
01:35:26,880 --> 01:35:30,600
Speaker 1: and that passion sees a need and takes the opportunity

1594
01:35:30,600 --> 01:35:34,360
Speaker 1: to fill it, amazing things can happen in our world.

1595
01:35:34,560 --> 01:35:37,960
Speaker 1: And we talk about those stories every week, and yours

1596
01:35:38,040 --> 01:35:40,559
Speaker 1: is good, gosh, the epitome of it. And if a

1597
01:35:40,640 --> 01:35:45,120
Speaker 1: guy from your background can do it, why can't anybody

1598
01:35:45,120 --> 01:35:48,240
Speaker 1: else if they just find their discipline and passion and

1599
01:35:48,360 --> 01:35:55,000
Speaker 1: meet it at opportunity. Man, brother, what a story, What

1600
01:35:55,120 --> 01:35:58,240
Speaker 1: an amazing thing you're doing, and if done, the lives

1601
01:35:58,240 --> 01:36:03,840
Speaker 1: you're changing. And you know, bro, I'm honored to know you,

1602
01:36:03,880 --> 01:36:07,280
Speaker 1: and at the risk of sound and condescending, and I

1603
01:36:07,360 --> 01:36:09,439
Speaker 1: hope you don't take it that way. I'm so proud

1604
01:36:10,600 --> 01:36:12,759
Speaker 1: of you. I'm proud to be your friend, I'm proud

1605
01:36:12,760 --> 01:36:16,400
Speaker 1: to know you. I'm proud you're doing this in Memphis,

1606
01:36:17,360 --> 01:36:23,800
Speaker 1: and man, brother, I can't imagine what this thing is

1607
01:36:23,840 --> 01:36:27,040
Speaker 1: going to be in ten years from now. Go be incredible.

1608
01:36:27,680 --> 01:36:30,280
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining me, Thanks for having me. I appreciate it,

1609
01:36:33,000 --> 01:36:36,120
Speaker 1: and thank you for joining us this week. If Melvin

1610
01:36:36,200 --> 01:36:39,160
Speaker 1: Cole or another guest has inspired you, in general, or

1611
01:36:39,240 --> 01:36:42,599
Speaker 1: better yet, to take action by donating to Pure, by

1612
01:36:42,640 --> 01:36:46,040
Speaker 1: starting something like it in your area, or something else entirely,

1613
01:36:46,200 --> 01:36:49,040
Speaker 1: please let me know. I'd love to hear about it.

1614
01:36:49,280 --> 01:36:53,400
Speaker 1: You can write me anytime at Bill at Normalfolks dot

1615
01:36:53,479 --> 01:36:56,960
Speaker 1: us and I will respond. And if you enjoyed this episode,

1616
01:36:56,960 --> 01:37:00,000
Speaker 1: share with friends and I'm social, subscribe to the podcast,

1617
01:37:00,240 --> 01:37:04,160
Speaker 1: rate and review it become a premium member at normalfolks

1618
01:37:04,200 --> 01:37:06,639
Speaker 1: dot us. All of the things that will help us

1619
01:37:06,680 --> 01:37:11,040
Speaker 1: grow an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney. I'll

1620
01:37:11,040 --> 01:37:11,840
Speaker 1: see you next week.