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Speaker 1: So I lost a car, So what. I lost an apartment,

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Speaker 1: so what? I lost friends who didn't get it. So what?

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Speaker 1: I lost family who didn't get it.

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Speaker 2: So what.

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Speaker 1: I don't care about that. But to lose a life,

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Speaker 1: something so precious as a human life, to lose a

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Speaker 1: life somebody who could potentially be the next person to

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Speaker 1: invent something, the scientists, doctor lawyer, that who might have

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Speaker 1: a cure for cancer. One of our coaches told me

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Speaker 1: one time, he said, man, the most talented is in

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Speaker 1: a graveyard. And I looked at him. I was like, man,

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Speaker 1: how true that is. Some of your greatest discoveries are

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Speaker 1: in a graveyard. Some of the guys who may have

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Speaker 1: solved the the the mysteries of the universe are in

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Speaker 1: a graveyard or sitting behind bars somewhere. When I hear

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Speaker 1: people say, man's people could play basketball better than Michael

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Speaker 1: Jordan in prison, and I say, man, what a waste.

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Speaker 1: What are we really losing by losing a car, or

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Speaker 1: an apartment or a few pounds. I'm willing to make

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Speaker 1: that sacrifice to save a life.

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Speaker 3: Welcome to an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney,

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Speaker 3: I'm a normal guy. I'm a husband, I'm a father,

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Speaker 3: I'm an entrepreneur, and I've been a football coach in

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Speaker 3: inner city Memphis. And the last part, somehow it led

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Speaker 3: to an oscar for the film about our team. That

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Speaker 3: movie is called Undefeated. Guys, I believe our country's problems

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Speaker 3: will never be solved by a bunch of fancy people

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Speaker 3: and nice suits using big words that nobody ever uses

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Speaker 3: on CNN and Fox, but rather by an army of

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Speaker 3: normal folks. That's us, just you and me deciding, Hey,

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Speaker 3: you know what, maybe I can help. That's what Kylie

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Speaker 3: Sweeney has done. As you just heard, he lost everything

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Speaker 3: except his integrity and his soul to try to save

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Speaker 3: the lives of Detroit kids from that humble start. Downtown

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Speaker 3: Boxing Gym has since served fifteen hundred kids and get this,

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Speaker 3: one hundred percent have graduated from high school in ninety

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Speaker 3: eight percent have gone on to post secondary education. I

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Speaker 3: cannot wait for you to meet Collie. Right after these

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Speaker 3: brief messages from our general sponsors.

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Speaker 2: Kylie Sweeney, man, welcome to Memphis.

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Speaker 3: Thank you for having me you, Uh, Detroit, how'd you

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Speaker 3: get down here?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? What did you did?

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Speaker 1: You?

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Speaker 3: Were you able to catch a direct flight?

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Speaker 1: Direct flight Yeah. It was direct flight. It was it

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Speaker 1: was short, got here.

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Speaker 3: Quick, good good. Did you get here last night?

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Speaker 1: Yep?

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Did you go eat anywhere? Did Alex take you anywhere

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Speaker 3: to eat? Worth a crawd?

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Speaker 1: No, we went. We went to a couple of good restaurants.

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Speaker 1: I actually have fun. The food was delicious, especially the

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Speaker 1: one we went to last night was barbecue.

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Speaker 3: And then we had McK ewansy had barbecue and yeah

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Speaker 3: Central for lunch. Yeah, and then mckwens for dinner. What's

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Speaker 3: wrong with that?

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Speaker 2: Nothing wrong with that.

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Speaker 1: Both excellent spots if you asked me, I mean I

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Speaker 1: had both excellent.

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Speaker 3: Well, and I've read that Kylie really likes the blues

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Speaker 3: and this is the home of it. Did you take

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Speaker 3: them to anywhere to listen to some blues?

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Speaker 2: I mean I had.

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Speaker 3: Okay, you're a loser, no no more talking to the

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Speaker 3: prediction last night? Yeah yeah, because somebody did their research.

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Speaker 3: You are a blues guy. Well you know you're I mean,

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Speaker 3: you're only an hour and a half north of the

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Speaker 3: Crossroads bro Okay, Okay, So I mean there are people

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Speaker 3: selling their soul down there. No, not so, Kalie Sweeney

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Speaker 3: is uh downtown boxing Gym from Detroit now called DBG,

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Speaker 3: I believe. Correct, Yeah, y'all call it DBG, right, correct,

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Speaker 3: who's uh doing some amazing work and has a crazy

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Speaker 3: interesting story. And where you are now, does it really

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Speaker 3: have context without understanding where you came from? I know

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Speaker 3: it's six weeks old. Your parents gave you away to

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Speaker 3: a woman in the neighborhood.

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Speaker 1: Correct.

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Speaker 3: I'll start there and let you take it to maybe

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Speaker 3: adolescents and give us an insight into into fundamentally how

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Speaker 3: you came up and why that's your main to what

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Speaker 3: we're doing today.

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Speaker 1: So, like you just said, my mother and father they

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Speaker 1: gave me away when I was young, when I was

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Speaker 1: a baby. They not only gave me away, they gave

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Speaker 1: my brother away too, because they were dealing with some

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Speaker 1: issues with with with narcotics, with drugs, and they.

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Speaker 3: Were dealing with the same lady by the way, or

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Speaker 3: do they not separated.

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Speaker 1: My brother went, my brother went with my biological family,

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Speaker 1: and I went to the lady down the street. I

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Speaker 1: don't know how it happened, but that's how it happened.

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Speaker 1: That's how it worked out. And you know, you know

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Speaker 1: how you feel, you feel that you feel that abandonment,

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Speaker 1: you know what I mean, you feel let abandon me

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Speaker 1: wide me. And so I had a chip on my

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Speaker 1: shoulder and I went to school. You know, I just

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Speaker 1: always had this a little chip on my shoulder. And

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Speaker 1: then when I found out I couldn't read or write

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Speaker 1: in the third grade, because I realized that myself I

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Speaker 1: couldn't read or write third grade, I knew that I

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Speaker 1: couldn't read or write at all. I knew it, and

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Speaker 1: so I developed these little strategies to get kicked out

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Speaker 1: of class. I would start cracking jokes hoping that they'll

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Speaker 1: kick me out, and just like clockwork, they would either

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Speaker 1: kick me out. And the times that they didn't kick

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Speaker 1: me out, I would just punch somebody in the face.

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Speaker 1: I'm like, they're gonna kick me out regardless, I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: start a fight or whatever. And I would do that,

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Speaker 1: and in the third grade, nobody nobody asked me the

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Speaker 1: critical question, like you know, what is the problem, what's

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Speaker 1: going on? You know? Instead, I can remember my third

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Speaker 1: grade teacher. I can remember one of my third grade

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Speaker 1: teachers and the gym teacher. The gym teacher at that

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Speaker 1: they would let me and my friend out of class

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Speaker 1: and we would go down the street and pick up

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Speaker 1: they package. And they package would be some gin and

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Speaker 1: orange juice and two packs of cigarettes. And so we

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Speaker 1: would do that, and they passed us to the next grade,

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Speaker 1: and so we would be the guys who run to

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Speaker 1: the store and get their stars up and bring it

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Speaker 1: back to school. In third grade, third grade, I would

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Speaker 1: go down to the corner store and pick up their package.

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Speaker 3: So two questions, that's a teacher, yes, doing that? Yes,

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Speaker 3: And then there's an adult at the corner store given

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Speaker 3: a third grader gin and smokes, come up with that?

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Speaker 1: You tell me. I don't know, but that was how

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Speaker 1: invested they were in my into my future. At some

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Speaker 1: point in time, they gave up on me ever being

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Speaker 1: successful because all the other adults would always tell me,

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Speaker 1: you're gonna be dead or in jail before you twenty one.

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Speaker 1: What do you see yourself? You're not gonna be able

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Speaker 1: to work at a garbage You're not gonna be able

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Speaker 1: to be a garbage man, or you're not gonna be

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Speaker 1: able to work at a fast food restaurant. So what

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Speaker 1: is the other options for me? What are you telling

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Speaker 1: me at third grade? You're at third grade, fourth grade,

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Speaker 1: fifth grade, what are you telling me. You're not giving

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Speaker 1: me any other options. You're just telling me that I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna be dead or in jail before i'm twenty one,

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Speaker 1: and I'm not gonna be able to work as a

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Speaker 1: garbage man or a fast food restaurant. So you give

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Speaker 1: up on life, you give up on dreaming. I stopped

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Speaker 1: dreaming as a kid. I didn't think about the only

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Speaker 1: thing I used to think about is what it's gonna

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Speaker 1: be like when I get killed. Are they gonna really

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Speaker 1: remember me? They already gave me away. Who's gonna be hurt?

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Speaker 3: Do you really remember at a young age thinking about

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Speaker 3: what it's gonna be like when you get killed? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember that. I remember everything. I remember my

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Speaker 1: first day of school. I remember a guy shooting at me.

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Speaker 1: I remember all of that. I remember walking down the

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Speaker 1: railroad tracks, getting shot at and screaming and chasing the

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Speaker 1: person that was shooting at me because I thought this

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Speaker 1: person was the person I was supposed to look up to.

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Speaker 1: So I remember all these things.

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Speaker 3: I don't forget it when the guy you're supposed to

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Speaker 3: be looking up to as like a gym teacher, supposed

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Speaker 3: to be a mentor, and you're rolling to pick up

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Speaker 3: smokes and gim for him.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: I mean at that age, at that impressiable age, were

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Speaker 3: you cognizant of how dysfunctional that was? Or do you

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Speaker 3: not think that was the world?

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Speaker 1: No, not at all. I didn't. I didn't that that

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Speaker 1: didn't it didn't FaZe me. I didn't. I didn't think

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Speaker 1: about that at all. That that didn't make I couldn't

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Speaker 1: rationalize that. I didn't understand that I was a child.

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Speaker 1: I was still trying to find the words to ask

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Speaker 1: for help, and the way that I was asking for

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Speaker 1: help was to start a fight or crack jokes, you

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Speaker 1: know what I mean. I didn't have the language to

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Speaker 1: even ask for help from myself, to let alone know

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Speaker 1: that going to get cigarettes was wrong. I don't know that.

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Speaker 3: A friend of mine has a nonprofit organization called Coaching

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Speaker 3: for Literacy. You may have seen it. Coaches football and

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Speaker 3: basketball coaches in the pro and college level where little

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Speaker 3: Green Ribbon lapel and they The whole idea is to

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Speaker 3: raise money and bring light to the fact that there's

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Speaker 3: a lot of kids in our community that can't read.

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Speaker 3: And the reason I'm bringing this up and I hadn't

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Speaker 3: even thought about this for right, now. But you said

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Speaker 3: third grade. And one of the demographics they talk about

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Speaker 3: all the time is that if a kid is not

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Speaker 3: reading and writing on grade level at third grade, he

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Speaker 3: is seventy two percent more likely to end up in

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Speaker 3: jail then need to have a job.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I've heard third grade.

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Speaker 1: I've heard that. I heard that. I heard that here

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Speaker 1: in America, and I've heard it in Germany. I was

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Speaker 1: in Germany. When I was in Germany, they were saying, like,

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Speaker 1: by the third grade, they already know where you're going

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Speaker 1: by your test scores. And they were saying that in Germany.

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Speaker 1: And I've been hearing that a lot my whole life,

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Speaker 1: about third grade test scores. But the thing about what

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Speaker 1: I'm saying is like there was no intervention. If this

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Speaker 1: knowledge about third grade, there should have been some intervention

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Speaker 1: at that stage, but it wasn't. I made it all

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Speaker 1: the way to the twelfth grade without being able to

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Speaker 1: read or write until one day.

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Speaker 3: How does that work?

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Speaker 1: You just make it? You just keep going, You go

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Speaker 1: to class, or you don't go to class, or whatever,

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Speaker 1: somebody passed you. If your school is not going to

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Speaker 1: get what they need, if it's a fail in school, somehow,

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Speaker 1: you're going to slip through the cracks. I see it

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Speaker 1: right now today.

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Speaker 3: And what you mean and what I learned at my

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Speaker 3: time at Manassas listen man Detroit, Memphis, Chicago, Charlotte, Birmingham, Montgomery, Albuquerque, Denver, LA.

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Speaker 3: Wherever you live and you're listening from Detroit, is the

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Speaker 3: conversation we have is only a microcosm what's happening all

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Speaker 3: over our country, and that is in inner city schools.

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Speaker 3: And do not equate that with black because in some

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Speaker 3: neighborhoods in West Virginia this happens with all white kids

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Speaker 3: in inner city schools. In some areas out west it's

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Speaker 3: heavily Hispanic. But in a lot of the inner city

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Speaker 3: there are kids that get advanced because they simply get

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Speaker 3: old enough or big enough. And the reason is the

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Speaker 3: school does not get their funding if they don't show

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Speaker 3: passing grades.

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Speaker 1: Speak it, well, you said it, but like I said.

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Speaker 3: But I mean you lived it.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, you said it. So with that being said,

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Speaker 1: I don't want to ever come down really come down

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Speaker 1: on a school. It's because I know it's some teachers

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Speaker 1: there who really love their job. But at the end

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Speaker 1: of the day, if you have you don't have the resources.

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Speaker 1: You don't have the resources. I think some resources should

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Speaker 1: be poured into these school systems and pay these teachers

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Speaker 1: what they deserve, and pour some research resources into these schools,

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Speaker 1: and that way they can get things done. But a

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Speaker 1: school can't do what we do well we do in

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Speaker 1: our program. Well we do in our program. If we

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Speaker 1: have a kid, or we identify young person who is

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Speaker 1: behind grade level, we can go back and work with

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Speaker 1: that young person to get them above grade level. The

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Speaker 1: school system may necessarily can't do that. Like you just said,

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Speaker 1: I can't have a guy seventeen eighteen years old in

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Speaker 1: the fifth grade. He's not gonna he's not gonna blend

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Speaker 1: in the fifth grade. If he's seventeen eighteen years old,

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Speaker 1: he got hair on his face, he can't be in

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Speaker 1: the fifth grade our But in our program, we can

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Speaker 1: go back to the fifth grade and give him the

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Speaker 1: foundation that he needs to be successful in life.

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Speaker 3: Our listeners are probably confused hearing downtown boxing gym in

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Speaker 3: your program. We'll get to that. Spoiler alert. We will

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Speaker 3: get to that. But there's more to unpack about you.

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Speaker 3: And there's another question. This is one of the squirrels

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Speaker 3: I'm chasing up a tree, go ahead, But I agree

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Speaker 3: with you. I've again, I've worked in their city. I've

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Speaker 3: been a teacher for a living. Most teachers do not

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Speaker 3: go into it because they think they're going to get rich. Yes,

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Speaker 3: most bright eyed college student getting out of school. Teachers

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Speaker 3: are really genuinely do it because they want to teach.

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Speaker 3: And depending on the district and the school and the

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Speaker 3: administration they get with determines their ability to be successful.

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Speaker 3: A lot and the district's need for money and the

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Speaker 3: top heavy administraight of stuff that goes on in a

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Speaker 3: lot of public districts take away from the kids, and

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Speaker 3: that is one of the biggest services of our culture.

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Speaker 3: But children need to be red bedtime stories. They need

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Speaker 3: to be sung lullabis. If you aren't, if you aren't

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Speaker 3: hearing language and being read to and seeing words and

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Speaker 3: associating pictures with words when you're in third, fourth and

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Speaker 3: fifth grade, I don't care what the school does, you

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Speaker 3: are behind. So when you say what you said about

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Speaker 3: the schools, saying I want to take up for some

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Speaker 3: of these teachers, I do too. But honestly I want

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Speaker 3: to hit some of these folks in the mouth that

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Speaker 3: are having kids and don't do nothing with them.

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Speaker 1: So are you talking about the parents? Because I want

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Speaker 1: to be clear, because because you said.

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Speaker 3: Some of these folks no, no, no, no no, I'll be clear.

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Speaker 1: No no, no no. Earlier you said these kids need to

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Speaker 1: be they need to read other kids. That's what you

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Speaker 1: said earlier. You made a MISSA made as I got you?

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Speaker 3: When when when when children? The science and the research says,

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Speaker 3: when you read a bedtime story and children see pictures

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Speaker 3: and associating with words, when they're three, four and five

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Speaker 3: and they're hearing lullabys in the home and they see

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Speaker 3: books and reading in the home, they've got a shot.

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Speaker 3: But these kids who never see that in the home

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Speaker 3: are already against all. So I got to get to school.

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Speaker 1: So I got you. So I got you. I wanted

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Speaker 1: to be clear about it before I answered. So here's

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Speaker 1: my answer. Right, I'm gonna show you. I'm gonna show

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Speaker 1: you in real time.

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Speaker 2: Me.

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Speaker 1: I couldn't read or right at all. The guy who

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Speaker 1: adopted me, him and his wife. He came from Philadelphia, Mississippi,

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Speaker 1: picking cotton. He couldn't read or write. His father couldn't

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Speaker 1: read or write. My biological father couldn't read or write

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Speaker 1: my mother who just passed away from Mississippi. They came

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Speaker 1: up here from picking cotton. They came up here from sharecropping.

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Speaker 1: They came here from a school district that was far

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Speaker 1: different than the school districts that you see in the suburbs,

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Speaker 1: so they could barely read or write. Only thing they

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Speaker 1: did they came to Detroit. They when all of our

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Speaker 1: families came in Detroit, because most of the people that

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Speaker 1: you see in Detroit come from from the South. They

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Speaker 1: all sharecroppers and picking cotton. Them guys, that's down in

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Speaker 1: Detroit right there. They came down there to get those

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Speaker 1: jobs in the factories. My father worked at General Motors

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Speaker 1: for thirty three years. Could not read or write, and

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Speaker 1: only missed two days of work because he was in

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Speaker 1: a car accident. And by the time he left General

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Speaker 1: Motors at thirty three, he was sweeping a broom in there.

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Speaker 1: So no, he didn't read to me at home. He

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Speaker 1: heavily believed that the school system would take care of that.

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Speaker 1: And a lot of our parents who have to work

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Speaker 1: and struggle to pay rent and pay their bills, they

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Speaker 1: believe wholeheartedly that the school is the answer. But now

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Speaker 1: we're telling them that you need more than just the school.

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Speaker 1: You need after school programs, you need intervention, you need

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Speaker 1: other help youth. As the parent, you need to if

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Speaker 1: you have time, take some courses or get your kids

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Speaker 1: in some extra places for extracurricular activity, because that's what's

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Speaker 1: happening in every suburb across America. It's not just at school,

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Speaker 1: it's when they get home. They got other things to do.

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Speaker 1: And like you say, they see the parents with whole

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Speaker 1: multiple degrees. If you look at where I'm from a Detroit,

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Speaker 1: nobody holds a degree. These are first generation young people

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Speaker 1: that are going to school. This is something that happened

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Speaker 1: a long time ago. It's nothing new. At one point

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Speaker 1: in time, it was never illegal for you to learn

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Speaker 1: how to read and write. It was illegal at one

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Speaker 1: point in time for other people to learn how to

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Speaker 1: read and write. So that was passed on generation and

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Speaker 1: generation and generation. It was only fifty years ago. Sixty

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Speaker 1: years ago. That's not a long time. We're not talking

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Speaker 1: about four hundred, five hundred years. We're talking about sixty years,

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Speaker 1: fifty years, So that's the difference. So it's gonna it

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Speaker 1: is a gap. There's a gap that needs to be filled.

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Speaker 1: But it's gonna take time. It's not punching anybody in

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Speaker 1: the mouth. It's education, understanding and bringing people along for

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Speaker 1: the journey.

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Speaker 3: That would mean that you weren't the only guy going

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Speaker 3: through your school system that was graduating.

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Speaker 1: Correct.

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Speaker 2: Same problem.

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Speaker 1: Correct. I've literally had guys that I went to school

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Speaker 1: with and I'm thinking, these guys are like I'm thinking

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Speaker 1: they're crushing it. I felt alone, I felt the shit,

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Speaker 1: not being able to read as a lonely place. I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna tell you that it's lonely as it is. The

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Speaker 1: loneliest place you order food even though you don't want it.

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Speaker 1: You just say, I'm gonna have what you have. And

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Speaker 1: and after I told my story publicly, I literally had

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Speaker 1: friends that I grew up with come out there wool work, like, man,

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Speaker 1: you know I couldn't read it write either. Man, I

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Speaker 1: never learned you know what? They just passed us. And

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Speaker 1: then certain things became a joke, like, man, you know

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Speaker 1: such and such they just passed. I'm like wow, And

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Speaker 1: I found out some of the young ladies, some of

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Speaker 1: the young people, it's like it was a disservice done

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Speaker 1: to our community, and it was done. I don't think intentionally.

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Speaker 1: I really don't think it was intentionally. I think it

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Speaker 1: was financing, and I believe it was overcrowding and people

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Speaker 1: slipped through the cracks. That's the only thing I hope.

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Speaker 4: I'm hoping for the best of humanity. That's what I'm

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Speaker 4: hoping for. And now a few messages from our gender sponsors.

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Speaker 4: But first, I hope you'll consider signing up to join

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00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:56,640
Speaker 4: the army at normal Folks dot us. By signing up,

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00:17:56,720 --> 00:18:00,280
Speaker 4: you'll receive a weekly email with short episodes some reason

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Speaker 4: in case you happen to miss an episode, or if

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Speaker 4: you prefer reading about our incredible guests, we'll.

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Speaker 3: Be right back.

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Speaker 2: You know, it's interesting for.

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Speaker 3: Alex. Alex isn't gonna like what I'm about to.

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Speaker 1: Say, but I'm gonna say it anyway.

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Speaker 3: We really try. I'm gonna preface this, an army of

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Speaker 3: Normal Folks does not care if you're black, right, Asian, Latino, gay, straight, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, agnostic.

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Speaker 3: We don't care how you vote, how you love, how

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Speaker 3: you look, how you worship. If you're doing something for

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Speaker 3: people that aren't as fortunate as you in your neighborhood,

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Speaker 3: we can celebrate you, and we hope the same about

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Speaker 3: someone else from another place, and from that foundation may

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Speaker 3: be culturally we can convalesce around one really positive thing

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Speaker 3: and start seeing each other in a different light. Okay,

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Speaker 3: So set that up for our more conservative listeners who

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Speaker 3: often bristle when they hear some societal issue whose first

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Speaker 3: word is systematic, systematic racism, systematic poverty, systematic, this systematic

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Speaker 3: that you know, people want to believe in this amazing

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Speaker 3: country we have and the freedoms we have that if

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Speaker 3: you can just pull yourself up by your brute straps

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Speaker 3: and work hard, everything's going to be okay.

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Speaker 2: But what you're.

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Speaker 3: Saying to me reeks of systematic issues. Because if the

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Speaker 3: school has to have money to exist, and they have

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Speaker 3: to continue to advance and promote kids grade by grade

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Speaker 3: regardless of their ability to be able to get that

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Speaker 3: money to exist, and they're under resourced and they don't

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Speaker 3: have help at home, whether it's a parent's fault or not,

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Speaker 3: the fact is they don't have help at home. That

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Speaker 3: is a generational, decades long system that continues to fail

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Speaker 3: our children.

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Speaker 1: So what I'm gonna say is this changes need to

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Speaker 1: be made. I mean, everybody has to look at it.

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Speaker 1: As This is humanity we're talking about. We are we're

401
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Speaker 1: human beings. We're all in this together. This is one

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Speaker 1: thing that's going to affect everybody if we don't deal

403
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Speaker 1: with it, and we have to be equal. We have

404
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Speaker 1: to be fair with this thing. We have to be honest.

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Speaker 1: Everybody has to come to the table, sit down and

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Speaker 1: have dialogue and talk. We have to talk. Like you said,

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Speaker 1: it's not about politics, it's not about all the other

408
00:20:56,680 --> 00:20:58,880
Speaker 1: stuff that you said. It's about staying focused on them,

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Speaker 1: on what's most, which is our youth. Our youth is

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Speaker 1: the core to you know what I'm saying. Everybody loves

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Speaker 1: and respects and believe that our youth deserves it. So

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Speaker 1: if we truly believe that, we'll do what needs to

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Speaker 1: be done to make sure that the youth are successful

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Speaker 1: in this country. And that's all I can say about that.

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Speaker 3: And part of that is changing the broken system. Is

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Speaker 3: finding a way to change the broken system, which ultimately

417
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Speaker 3: is what I think you do. But you'll get to

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Speaker 3: spoiler alert, we'll get there. But there's still more to

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Speaker 3: your story. One thing else I want to tell you,

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Speaker 3: I can't pass by it. I was at Manassas High

421
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Speaker 3: School seven years, NASA's high school is much like the

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Speaker 3: high school youth came from. I could give you a big,

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Speaker 3: old long list of demographics that would illustrate the poverty

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Speaker 3: and the disenfranchisement, the loss, and the neighborhoods that's around

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Speaker 3: Manassas where the goods come from. The one that is

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Speaker 3: most dark is And this goes back four years, so

427
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Speaker 3: it may have changed a little, but if at all,

428
00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:11,960
Speaker 3: it's probably gotten worse. An eighteen year old male from

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Speaker 3: the neighborhoods that surround Monassis, an eighteen year old male

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Speaker 3: is three times more likely to be dead or incarcerated

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Speaker 3: by his twenty first birthday than is to have a job.

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Speaker 3: Three times more likely. And I think it's interesting because

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Speaker 3: in third grade you were told you could be dead

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Speaker 3: or in jail, be for twenty one And it feels

435
00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:40,399
Speaker 3: to me like when I hear your story and I

436
00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:46,240
Speaker 3: know that demographic to be true in some degree, this

437
00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:49,840
Speaker 3: is a structural, self fulfilling prophecy for a lot of kids.

438
00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:55,399
Speaker 1: So with me, when people were saying that to me

439
00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:58,840
Speaker 1: all the time, and when they would send me home,

440
00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:01,919
Speaker 1: and I'm seeing and the guys that I grew up

441
00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:04,560
Speaker 1: with and I'm seeing this and I'm seeing guys disappear,

442
00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:07,000
Speaker 1: and it's like, Okay, when is it gonna be my turn.

443
00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:09,840
Speaker 1: I'm seeing guys get killed, I'm seeing guys go to prison,

444
00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:12,520
Speaker 1: I'm seeing guys go to the juvenile system. I had

445
00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:16,199
Speaker 1: really just believed in that narrative, that narrative that was

446
00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,040
Speaker 1: created for me. I believed in it because the adults

447
00:23:19,119 --> 00:23:21,040
Speaker 1: kept saying it, and I was hearing so many people

448
00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:23,159
Speaker 1: say it. Even in the streets. People were saying, man,

449
00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:24,639
Speaker 1: you the way you're going, you're gonna be dead in

450
00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:27,159
Speaker 1: jail before you twenty one. And I kept hearing that narrative,

451
00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:30,719
Speaker 1: and so I bought into it wholeheartedly and I hit

452
00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:33,720
Speaker 1: the streets running for it. Yeah. So once I dropped

453
00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:36,960
Speaker 1: out of school in my twelfth grade year, I dropped

454
00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:38,479
Speaker 1: out of school. It's like, why am I even here

455
00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:40,639
Speaker 1: if I'm gonna be dead? Like I gotta live fast,

456
00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:43,440
Speaker 1: die young, And so I just started just like completely

457
00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:45,520
Speaker 1: committed myself to just being out here in the streets.

458
00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:49,200
Speaker 1: And when I did that, I seen so much different

459
00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:53,240
Speaker 1: destruction around me. It was my older brother who came

460
00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:55,960
Speaker 1: to me one day, and he came to me and

461
00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:58,280
Speaker 1: he was living the same lifestyle, living in the same thing.

462
00:23:58,280 --> 00:23:59,840
Speaker 2: The only thing about him fast.

463
00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:02,399
Speaker 1: Yeah, but at the same time, he still was in

464
00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:06,120
Speaker 1: an area that had a recreation center and they had

465
00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:08,640
Speaker 1: some kind of They had lunch trucks that would come through.

466
00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:11,919
Speaker 1: They had bookmobiles and swim mobiles and things like that. Ye,

467
00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:14,520
Speaker 1: we didn't have that. No, we didn't have that. That couldn't

468
00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:16,360
Speaker 1: come in our neighborhood. That wouldn't even that couldn't even

469
00:24:16,359 --> 00:24:19,040
Speaker 1: have came in there. And so we didn't have playgrounds

470
00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:21,359
Speaker 1: or stuff like that. I can remember we used to

471
00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:23,520
Speaker 1: put crates up. We would not cut the bottom of

472
00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:25,760
Speaker 1: the crates out and put crates up as basketball rims

473
00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:27,879
Speaker 1: and stuff. I remember flooding our street to make our

474
00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:29,800
Speaker 1: street into ice for the kids to play. So we

475
00:24:30,119 --> 00:24:31,560
Speaker 1: you know, I've done. I had a friend of mine

476
00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:34,600
Speaker 1: called me from thirty years ago. He said, Man, I

477
00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:36,679
Speaker 1: was like, who is this. He like, I'm gonna tell you,

478
00:24:37,040 --> 00:24:39,360
Speaker 1: why are you putting those long nails in that thing?

479
00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:41,480
Speaker 1: I said, so it had never come down. I said,

480
00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:43,920
Speaker 1: how you doing, Keith? Because he asked me, he said,

481
00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:45,520
Speaker 1: why are you putting those long nails in that thing?

482
00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:47,640
Speaker 1: I said, because every time we make a basketball rim

483
00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:49,680
Speaker 1: in falls down. So I went and found some long

484
00:24:49,800 --> 00:24:52,719
Speaker 1: nails and put some long nails in there, so you know. So,

485
00:24:53,359 --> 00:24:57,159
Speaker 1: But anyway, my brother he came to my neighborhood and

486
00:24:57,200 --> 00:24:59,119
Speaker 1: he walked through a whole group of guys on my

487
00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:02,359
Speaker 1: front porch and he said, Bro, you do understand that

488
00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:04,280
Speaker 1: the rest of the world don't live like this, right?

489
00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:06,960
Speaker 1: I said, what do you mean? He say, Bro, do

490
00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:09,879
Speaker 1: you understand that the rest of the world does not

491
00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:12,160
Speaker 1: live like this? He said, five minutes in any direction

492
00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:14,800
Speaker 1: outside of the trait, in any one of the suburbs.

493
00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:17,440
Speaker 1: They don't live like this. He said, Man, all these

494
00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:19,879
Speaker 1: young guys around you, they dying young and going to

495
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:23,879
Speaker 1: jail young. For real, Bro, there's no resources in your community.

496
00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:27,520
Speaker 1: There's nothing here. It's just kids dying. He said, Bro,

497
00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:29,960
Speaker 1: you understand that this is not real. And I remember

498
00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:32,199
Speaker 1: my answer like it was yesterday and my brother just

499
00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:34,440
Speaker 1: passed away. And I said to him, Man, go back

500
00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:38,760
Speaker 1: to where you from. This is my reality. Go back

501
00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:41,600
Speaker 1: to where you're from. Go back. And so he asked

502
00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:43,840
Speaker 1: me to come to his house. He said, Bro, can

503
00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:45,800
Speaker 1: you come to my house man help me move something.

504
00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:48,600
Speaker 1: So I went over there and He asked me to

505
00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:51,920
Speaker 1: move something, and I remember telling him, man, pick it up. Man,

506
00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:52,440
Speaker 1: what are you doing?

507
00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:52,760
Speaker 2: Stop?

508
00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:54,280
Speaker 1: Stop standing there, pick it up.

509
00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:55,560
Speaker 3: Are we moving it or not?

510
00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:57,760
Speaker 1: He's like, look at that picture, he said, that's the

511
00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:00,199
Speaker 1: picture that we took at your house when we were

512
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:03,320
Speaker 1: going Pontiac skating with my friends and your friends. He said,

513
00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:06,000
Speaker 1: let me point out your friends. He's dead. He's dead.

514
00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:09,800
Speaker 1: He's dead. He's dead. Michigan most wanted, he trait most wanted.

515
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:13,080
Speaker 1: This guy's on America's most wanted Bro, don't be the

516
00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:15,200
Speaker 1: next guy on this picture. What do you want to

517
00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:17,439
Speaker 1: do with your life? What do you see yourself? What

518
00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:19,560
Speaker 1: do you want to do? And this is my brother

519
00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:22,399
Speaker 1: had no better life than me, besides the bookmobile and

520
00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:25,199
Speaker 1: all that type of stuff, But he saw something that

521
00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:27,760
Speaker 1: the adults didn't say. He asked me something that no

522
00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:29,720
Speaker 1: adult had ever asked me. What do I want to

523
00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:32,399
Speaker 1: do with my wife? And my brother asked me that.

524
00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:34,040
Speaker 1: And the only thing I could think of was learn

525
00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:36,040
Speaker 1: how to read, because that's the only thing I was

526
00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:38,159
Speaker 1: scared of was I wasn't scared of federal indictments. I

527
00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:40,480
Speaker 1: wasn't scared to die already. I had already succumbed to that.

528
00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:43,840
Speaker 1: I already believed that it was gonna happen. I didn't dream.

529
00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:45,200
Speaker 1: I just was saying, but it's gonna be like when

530
00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:47,520
Speaker 1: I get shot. So when I got shot the first time,

531
00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:50,000
Speaker 1: I thought nothing of it. It's like I didn't hurt

532
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:51,760
Speaker 1: like they said it was gonna hurt. Didn't feel like it.

533
00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:53,879
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. I'm still alive, you know

534
00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:56,120
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So he changed my life. He asked

535
00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:58,040
Speaker 1: me that question, and I went home and said, only

536
00:26:58,080 --> 00:27:00,240
Speaker 1: thing that made me scared was a book. That's the

537
00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:02,199
Speaker 1: only thing I was scared of was a book. So

538
00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:03,920
Speaker 1: I decided to change my life that day.

539
00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:09,920
Speaker 3: You said, you said something quickly that about ten minutes

540
00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:15,159
Speaker 3: ago that I found really interesting. You said when I

541
00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:16,879
Speaker 3: went out to eat or something, I couldn't even ren

542
00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:18,639
Speaker 3: him menu, and I'd just say, man, I'm man, what

543
00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:19,120
Speaker 3: you having?

544
00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:21,040
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, that was my goats of them.

545
00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:24,120
Speaker 3: Well, let me tell you something that coaching for literacy

546
00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:29,560
Speaker 3: the whole reason. My friend that started it with his

547
00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:33,320
Speaker 3: son played basketball for the University of Memphis back in

548
00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:37,520
Speaker 3: the day when will In Bedford and Keith Lee and

549
00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:40,760
Speaker 3: Memphis Tigers were really good. Back in those days. He

550
00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:44,520
Speaker 3: was a shooting guard. And so when he got older,

551
00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:47,000
Speaker 3: he started coaching AAU basketball and his son was on

552
00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:49,720
Speaker 3: the team, and they would go off to Birmingham and

553
00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:54,320
Speaker 3: New Orleans to play in AAU tournaments and one of

554
00:27:54,359 --> 00:27:58,280
Speaker 3: his players, one of their best players, guy named Big Frank.

555
00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:02,240
Speaker 3: Anytime they went to eat lunch or dinner at Applebee's

556
00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:05,480
Speaker 3: or whatever, he would just always order what my friend's

557
00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:09,240
Speaker 3: son would order. And finally they figured out the reason

558
00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:11,160
Speaker 3: he did that is he could not read them, inn't

559
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:14,080
Speaker 3: you And for you to have said what you just

560
00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:16,480
Speaker 3: said and connect that dot. By the way, Big Frank

561
00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:20,080
Speaker 3: got educated, got able to read, and went and got

562
00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:23,359
Speaker 3: a degree from LSU playing football and is doing great now.

563
00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:26,040
Speaker 3: So I can drop Big Frank's name and all that,

564
00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:29,320
Speaker 3: But the point is that was the first time I'd

565
00:28:29,359 --> 00:28:31,159
Speaker 3: ever heard that story. And then you just said the

566
00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:35,200
Speaker 3: same thing, which tells me maybe that's not that uncommon.

567
00:28:35,359 --> 00:28:37,600
Speaker 1: It's not. I mean, I had a guy that I

568
00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:40,600
Speaker 1: grew up with. He's like, which one of these is

569
00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:43,760
Speaker 1: my prescriptions? And I was like, this is the prescription.

570
00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:45,479
Speaker 1: This was whatever you have in your hand right there.

571
00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:46,800
Speaker 1: He's like, now, which one and I was like, what

572
00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:49,120
Speaker 1: are you talking about. He's like, man, I can't read.

573
00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:52,560
Speaker 1: And I was like, man, it's like everybody. And he's

574
00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:54,440
Speaker 1: a little bit younger than me. It's like, man, like

575
00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:57,160
Speaker 1: everybody that came up in that school. It's like so

576
00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:00,800
Speaker 1: many people with the same story. And like you self conscious,

577
00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:03,840
Speaker 1: Oh yeah yeah still to this day. I can read.

578
00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:06,920
Speaker 1: I can I can read. I can read now, but

579
00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:09,080
Speaker 1: I'm self conscious. If you put something in front of me,

580
00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:11,320
Speaker 1: it's like I turned back into that same young person.

581
00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:13,880
Speaker 1: I freeze up because you.

582
00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:16,080
Speaker 3: Know that's PTSD, right, that's trauma.

583
00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:19,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, I say, that's something I need to get over.

584
00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:21,640
Speaker 3: It may be that's something I changed.

585
00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:23,280
Speaker 1: What it is, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna use

586
00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:23,920
Speaker 1: it as a crutch.

587
00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:24,200
Speaker 2: Not me.

588
00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:28,400
Speaker 3: Man, my for daddy shot at me down the hallway,

589
00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:31,520
Speaker 3: all right. I can hear the crack of a gun

590
00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:33,760
Speaker 3: and I go right back to that night. It just

591
00:29:33,920 --> 00:29:34,440
Speaker 3: is what it is.

592
00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:35,840
Speaker 1: And that's why I don't go to the gun range.

593
00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:37,880
Speaker 1: You know, I bet I've been I've been shot. If

594
00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:39,320
Speaker 1: you be like, let's go to the gun range, I'm like,

595
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:43,400
Speaker 1: you haven't been shot yet. You haven't been shot yet.

596
00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:45,320
Speaker 3: I haven't been shot, but I've been shot at and

597
00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:46,320
Speaker 3: I understand the fear.

598
00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:49,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was. I was in I was in a

599
00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:51,760
Speaker 1: situation where I was kicked out of schools in Detroit.

600
00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:53,920
Speaker 1: I was kicked out of schools on the East side

601
00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:56,360
Speaker 1: of Detroit, probably even some of the West side schools.

602
00:29:56,360 --> 00:30:01,040
Speaker 1: And I was in a house with some people, and

603
00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:04,840
Speaker 1: long story sort there was a misunderstanding and somebody who

604
00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:06,520
Speaker 1: was supposed to be real close to the family shot

605
00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:08,520
Speaker 1: at me and it hit the wall and stuff hit

606
00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:11,440
Speaker 1: me on the side of my face, and I was like,

607
00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:14,240
Speaker 1: I wasn't really phased. But I was thinking back now,

608
00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:16,720
Speaker 1: like at thirteen, I should have been terrified of that,

609
00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:18,800
Speaker 1: and it didn't really phase me.

610
00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:23,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, for a thirteen year old, do not be phased

611
00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:28,960
Speaker 3: by that. That that is actually normal and just part

612
00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:32,200
Speaker 3: of life for a thirteen year old. Yeah, maybe that

613
00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:37,600
Speaker 3: says everything anybody needs to hear right there. Yeah, yeah,

614
00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:38,920
Speaker 3: we'll be right back.

615
00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:48,840
Speaker 1: So yeah, so I changed my life. I went back

616
00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:52,000
Speaker 1: to school. I remember being in. I went to get

617
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:53,760
Speaker 1: a GED I gave it. I paid the school of

618
00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:56,600
Speaker 1: forty dollars for the GED thing, and as I was

619
00:30:56,600 --> 00:30:59,400
Speaker 1: taking the GED course, the guy came up to me

620
00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:01,360
Speaker 1: and said, hey, you can't take the GED the thing,

621
00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:02,680
Speaker 1: and I was like, man, what are you talking about.

622
00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:06,760
Speaker 1: I was highly upset and offended. He said, you seem intelligent,

623
00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:11,239
Speaker 1: you're very smart, well spoken, but you can't read. And

624
00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:13,480
Speaker 1: I was like what, I paid my money like everybody else.

625
00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:14,719
Speaker 1: And so he said, no, you need to go take

626
00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:17,840
Speaker 1: a real class, start from the beginning, because you're very intelligent.

627
00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:20,280
Speaker 1: And so I did that. I said, if I can

628
00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:22,040
Speaker 1: dedicate my life to being out here in the streets

629
00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:23,840
Speaker 1: and being a knuckle ahead one hundred percent, I can

630
00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:27,560
Speaker 1: dedicate myself myself to rebirth and doing something positive with

631
00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:30,000
Speaker 1: my life. And so I went and started over again

632
00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:32,840
Speaker 1: at school and didn't get the GED, but you know,

633
00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:35,080
Speaker 1: I started over and I got the fundamentals of going

634
00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:36,120
Speaker 1: back from the kindergarten.

635
00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:39,920
Speaker 3: Basically, you said something really profound. You said, people on

636
00:31:39,960 --> 00:31:42,240
Speaker 3: the streets will be your family if you don't have one.

637
00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:45,080
Speaker 3: But that comes to the cost. Oh yeah, oh yeah,

638
00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:47,200
Speaker 3: you can with the perspective behind that quote.

639
00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:56,840
Speaker 1: So so you know, there's a lot of when people

640
00:31:56,840 --> 00:32:00,800
Speaker 1: are all in the same situation, people get comfortable and

641
00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:03,760
Speaker 1: they're all in the same situation, people get comfortable, and

642
00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:08,360
Speaker 1: sometimes you commit yourself to the to the wrong cause,

643
00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:13,160
Speaker 1: and and there's there's nobody there to re focus that,

644
00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:16,520
Speaker 1: there's no guidance. It's the blind leading the blind. And

645
00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:17,880
Speaker 1: so that's what I meant by that when I was

646
00:32:17,880 --> 00:32:20,280
Speaker 1: talking about that being in the in in these these

647
00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:23,360
Speaker 1: quote unquote situations with gangs, cause I was I was

648
00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:25,480
Speaker 1: a former gang member, and being in a gang and

649
00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:28,360
Speaker 1: the gang whole culture is about being a family. But

650
00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:31,080
Speaker 1: this family comes with a cost because there's nobody actually

651
00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:34,240
Speaker 1: leading us in the right direction, a positive change. It's

652
00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:36,240
Speaker 1: just you're in a gang and it's just, you know,

653
00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:38,479
Speaker 1: it's us against everybody, not knowing that we all are

654
00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:41,080
Speaker 1: part of one community. So if you if you, if

655
00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:44,400
Speaker 1: you're a part of a gang with no positive goal,

656
00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:46,440
Speaker 1: you're gonna go down the wrong track. And that's the

657
00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:48,320
Speaker 1: price you'll pay, and it could be your life and

658
00:32:48,360 --> 00:32:49,120
Speaker 1: it could be your freedom.

659
00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:56,680
Speaker 3: So you know what, I'm supposed to just move on,

660
00:32:56,880 --> 00:33:01,640
Speaker 3: but I can't. I mean, I just think that's I

661
00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:05,160
Speaker 3: think we know it. The problem is we see so

662
00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:08,920
Speaker 3: much crap on TVs and movies and then the news

663
00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:14,200
Speaker 3: that I do think we get desensitized to the dysfunction

664
00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:18,479
Speaker 3: and trauma that so many kids in our communities and

665
00:33:18,520 --> 00:33:24,440
Speaker 3: our culture are living under. People in the streets will

666
00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:28,320
Speaker 3: be your family. First of all, somebody between the age

667
00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:30,120
Speaker 3: of one and eighteen ain't supposed to be need them.

668
00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:33,720
Speaker 3: Family's supposed to have one. Just the mere fact that

669
00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:37,880
Speaker 3: they're looking for a family says a lot that we

670
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:42,360
Speaker 3: need to fix. But then the fact that just to

671
00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:46,120
Speaker 3: be part of something that you can at least belong to,

672
00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:52,000
Speaker 3: i e. This street, family, gangs, whatever. Yeah, but it

673
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:56,480
Speaker 3: comes at a cost. A family's supposed to be where

674
00:33:56,480 --> 00:34:00,960
Speaker 3: you get unconditional love, and that unconditional love is what

675
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:04,920
Speaker 3: propels you to be able to be a productive member

676
00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:10,080
Speaker 3: of society. What you say is so poignant, it comes

677
00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:12,600
Speaker 3: at a cost. And my version of that is that's

678
00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:20,600
Speaker 3: conditional love, and conditional love will always end up hurting you.

679
00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:24,719
Speaker 1: I agree with that. I totally agree with that, because

680
00:34:24,760 --> 00:34:27,080
Speaker 1: I've seen it happen. I've seen, you know, I've seen

681
00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:31,040
Speaker 1: situations where you know, people expect you to move a

682
00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:33,839
Speaker 1: certain way and when you don't move that way, now

683
00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:34,960
Speaker 1: everybody's upset.

684
00:34:34,680 --> 00:34:37,560
Speaker 3: With you, you know, and you pay for that, Yeah,

685
00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:38,000
Speaker 3: you pay for that.

686
00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:39,880
Speaker 1: So you tell you tell it like if you tell

687
00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:41,040
Speaker 1: a guy like, you know what, I don't. I don't

688
00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:42,879
Speaker 1: agree with that. I don't believe in that. I don't

689
00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:44,640
Speaker 1: think that's something that we should do. I don't feel

690
00:34:44,680 --> 00:34:46,279
Speaker 1: like that, you know, that's the way that we should go.

691
00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:49,040
Speaker 1: And you'll, you'll, you know, you'll get some heavy pushback,

692
00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:51,800
Speaker 1: you might get beat up, you might get ostracized, you

693
00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:54,200
Speaker 1: might get black ball, you might be told to lead

694
00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:58,080
Speaker 1: a neighborhood whatever. Anything could happen. And so with that

695
00:34:58,120 --> 00:35:01,360
Speaker 1: being said, it goes back to having something positive for

696
00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:03,400
Speaker 1: young people to do. You have to have something for

697
00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:06,319
Speaker 1: people to do, because if you don't, things will grow.

698
00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:11,560
Speaker 3: The last thing on this before we move on. You know,

699
00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:15,000
Speaker 3: all these people that are gonna ride or die with

700
00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:21,320
Speaker 3: you, your brothers, those folks that got you. You know, it's interesting,

701
00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:25,560
Speaker 3: where are they when you die? Where are they when

702
00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:26,160
Speaker 3: you in jail?

703
00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:31,399
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, that's that's a lot of things.

704
00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:33,200
Speaker 1: That's a lot of that's a lot of things. You

705
00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:35,560
Speaker 1: can say, that's your bowling team, that could be your

706
00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:38,080
Speaker 1: little league team, that could be your basketball team, that

707
00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:40,400
Speaker 1: could be a lot of stuff. You know, I always

708
00:35:40,440 --> 00:35:42,680
Speaker 1: tell that's fair, that's a lot of things. I mean,

709
00:35:42,719 --> 00:35:44,840
Speaker 1: that's your chess club, that's your club.

710
00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:48,279
Speaker 3: That's a fair perspective that people move on. People move

711
00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:48,839
Speaker 3: on with life.

712
00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:51,799
Speaker 1: That's anywhere you look, anywhere you cut it, people will

713
00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:52,880
Speaker 1: move on with life.

714
00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:55,680
Speaker 3: But ain't nobody on your bowling team talking about bowl

715
00:35:55,760 --> 00:35:58,799
Speaker 3: or die. They ain't saying we're gonna ride or die here.

716
00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:00,759
Speaker 1: So hold on, hold on, hold on, take that back.

717
00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:01,839
Speaker 1: Let's take that back.

718
00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:02,719
Speaker 2: Now.

719
00:36:02,719 --> 00:36:04,480
Speaker 1: I work security for a long time, and I did

720
00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:07,120
Speaker 1: security for a few events, and I actually did security

721
00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:10,000
Speaker 1: for a balling event and I literally seen bowling teams

722
00:36:10,040 --> 00:36:13,799
Speaker 1: of suburban nights going crazy, fighting each other, so much

723
00:36:13,840 --> 00:36:17,759
Speaker 1: so that the police department had to come in and

724
00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:20,520
Speaker 1: they were police were getting swung off. These guys were

725
00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:24,880
Speaker 1: punching police officers. I'm talking punching police officers where they

726
00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:27,200
Speaker 1: were begging us as security to help them.

727
00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:29,280
Speaker 3: You gotta understand what I'm saying.

728
00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:29,799
Speaker 1: No, I don't.

729
00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:35,040
Speaker 3: You don't understand not not this conditional pay for it,

730
00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:39,239
Speaker 3: belonging family, love, So listen comes at a cost, and

731
00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:42,799
Speaker 3: when you're paying that price, rarely are those people in

732
00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:43,240
Speaker 3: your corner.

733
00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:44,960
Speaker 1: So no, I want to say this one thing, so

734
00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:49,399
Speaker 1: that could be baseball you got. You just look, turn

735
00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:51,080
Speaker 1: on the baseball game. You see them run out to

736
00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:53,480
Speaker 1: the mound. Everybody's running out there. You can watch the hockey,

737
00:36:53,560 --> 00:36:57,000
Speaker 1: everybody's running out there. So that that right there, you

738
00:36:57,040 --> 00:36:58,520
Speaker 1: know you're gonna ride with the people that you work

739
00:36:58,520 --> 00:37:00,000
Speaker 1: out with every day. You're gonna look at those people,

740
00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:01,759
Speaker 1: view those people as family. If somebody coming to your

741
00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:04,840
Speaker 1: house right now and grab somebody in your house is

742
00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:06,640
Speaker 1: going down, I guarantee you're going to give them everything

743
00:37:06,719 --> 00:37:08,640
Speaker 1: you got. So it's the same in the neighborhood. You

744
00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:09,960
Speaker 1: grow up with these guys, You go to the same

745
00:37:09,960 --> 00:37:12,600
Speaker 1: places of worship with these guys. You you you, you

746
00:37:12,600 --> 00:37:15,720
Speaker 1: you went through four, third, second grade with these guys.

747
00:37:15,960 --> 00:37:18,120
Speaker 1: So when you it's like, it's not like the guys

748
00:37:18,120 --> 00:37:21,239
Speaker 1: in the neighborhood are not familiar with one another. Some

749
00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:23,839
Speaker 1: of these guys are family members, are related to each other,

750
00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:26,799
Speaker 1: you know, from going way back to even before they

751
00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:31,160
Speaker 1: even came to Detrait. So no, it's not that, you

752
00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:33,000
Speaker 1: know what I mean, You're gonna ride with them because

753
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:34,200
Speaker 1: they're from the same neighborhood.

754
00:37:34,320 --> 00:37:35,279
Speaker 2: I guess I get that.

755
00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:39,960
Speaker 1: But where the line is drawn at what I'm speaking

756
00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:42,440
Speaker 1: of where the line is drawn at when they say

757
00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:45,400
Speaker 1: let's do something illegal and you say, hey, I'm not

758
00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:48,560
Speaker 1: doing that, and if you say no, then some people

759
00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:51,439
Speaker 1: don't understand that. And that's where the line is when

760
00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:54,320
Speaker 1: somebody said let's do something illegal, Just like with those bowlers,

761
00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:56,840
Speaker 1: when those guys wanted to fight those other balling league.

762
00:37:57,000 --> 00:37:59,919
Speaker 1: That was they were fighting. But when the police came,

763
00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:02,440
Speaker 1: that's when it got out of control. When they started

764
00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:05,799
Speaker 1: beating up police officers, they crossed the line. And that's

765
00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:07,160
Speaker 1: when guys should have walked away from that.

766
00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:10,080
Speaker 3: Alex. I bet you never thought in a million years

767
00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:12,080
Speaker 3: in the middle of this interview we would talk about

768
00:38:12,120 --> 00:38:15,359
Speaker 3: a fight and a bowling out. This is how it goes.

769
00:38:15,480 --> 00:38:17,239
Speaker 1: Anything can happen with your two knuckles.

770
00:38:19,960 --> 00:38:22,520
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, I want to start a bowling team

771
00:38:22,560 --> 00:38:24,760
Speaker 3: that says ride or down the back of my jersey

772
00:38:24,840 --> 00:38:30,200
Speaker 3: or whatever. They got it all right. So that's a

773
00:38:30,239 --> 00:38:32,640
Speaker 3: lot of perspective of where you come from. And I

774
00:38:32,680 --> 00:38:37,080
Speaker 3: gotta be honest with you, the whole baseball bowling thing

775
00:38:37,239 --> 00:38:39,879
Speaker 3: has me rethinking some stuff I thought I had right

776
00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:42,719
Speaker 3: in my mind. And I love that, dude. I mean,

777
00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:46,880
Speaker 3: I really do appreciate that and I hope our listeners

778
00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:48,799
Speaker 3: are thinking about what you're saying, because if you want

779
00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:52,000
Speaker 3: to be real about it, that's true. That is true,

780
00:38:53,719 --> 00:38:58,640
Speaker 3: all right. So that's the perspective of where you came from.

781
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:04,080
Speaker 3: And now you took these classes to read, but now

782
00:39:04,719 --> 00:39:07,200
Speaker 3: you just a guy can read.

783
00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:09,640
Speaker 2: So what next?

784
00:39:10,880 --> 00:39:14,000
Speaker 1: So I made myself a promise, and a lot of

785
00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:15,759
Speaker 1: people who know me know that if I say there's

786
00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:17,880
Speaker 1: something that I'm going to do, is something I'm gonna do.

787
00:39:18,520 --> 00:39:20,680
Speaker 1: And I said, well, if I dedicated myself to the

788
00:39:20,680 --> 00:39:24,520
Speaker 1: streets and dedicated myself to this this concept that somebody created,

789
00:39:24,520 --> 00:39:27,319
Speaker 1: this narrative that they created for me, I said, let

790
00:39:27,320 --> 00:39:30,440
Speaker 1: me reinvent myself and create and and dedicate myself to

791
00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:33,759
Speaker 1: the new invention of myself. And so I said, I'm

792
00:39:33,800 --> 00:39:35,080
Speaker 1: going to get a job. I'm never going to do

793
00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:37,520
Speaker 1: anything else, and then I'm gonna make it about uplifting

794
00:39:37,719 --> 00:39:41,800
Speaker 1: everybody in our community. And so I would catch the

795
00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:43,759
Speaker 1: bus to work and go to work every single day.

796
00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:45,960
Speaker 1: All the while I would try and talk to everybody

797
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:48,600
Speaker 1: about changing their life and changing course. And I noticed

798
00:39:48,640 --> 00:39:50,920
Speaker 1: that it was falling on deaf ears because they had

799
00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:53,839
Speaker 1: already been too old, and it had already set in,

800
00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:55,799
Speaker 1: and they had already got set in their ways. And

801
00:39:55,840 --> 00:39:57,520
Speaker 1: so I was like, man, it's falling on deaf ears.

802
00:39:57,520 --> 00:40:00,000
Speaker 1: Nobody hearing me. And it's like it's like people who

803
00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:02,080
Speaker 1: or to church, they want to spread the gospel. I

804
00:40:02,120 --> 00:40:04,279
Speaker 1: wanted to tell everybody about this new freedom I found

805
00:40:04,320 --> 00:40:07,000
Speaker 1: and reading and this new joy I found and doing

806
00:40:07,040 --> 00:40:09,719
Speaker 1: things without looking over my shoulder, you know. I wanted

807
00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:12,120
Speaker 1: to spread that to everybody, and it was falling on

808
00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:13,960
Speaker 1: deaf ears because people were still dealing with their own

809
00:40:14,040 --> 00:40:18,320
Speaker 1: situations in life themselves. They hadn't got to that turning

810
00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:21,120
Speaker 1: point themselves. They hadn't had a brother like me that

811
00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:23,120
Speaker 1: came and told me to look at the world and

812
00:40:23,160 --> 00:40:25,640
Speaker 1: see what it really is. And so I was trying

813
00:40:25,640 --> 00:40:27,360
Speaker 1: to do that and it was just falling on deaf ears.

814
00:40:27,680 --> 00:40:29,680
Speaker 1: Then I said, every time I'm out in the yard

815
00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:33,440
Speaker 1: shadow boxing and and and punching at the air and

816
00:40:33,800 --> 00:40:37,919
Speaker 1: working out, I noticed the young people pay attention. I said,

817
00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:38,799
Speaker 1: that's it, right.

818
00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:42,640
Speaker 3: You mean in the neighborhood, the kids I can box too.

819
00:40:42,520 --> 00:40:44,920
Speaker 1: Man, Like, can you fight da da Da? And I say, oh,

820
00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:46,879
Speaker 1: I got them. I said, this is how I'm gonna

821
00:40:46,880 --> 00:40:49,040
Speaker 1: get them I started saying, Okay, I'm gonna use this

822
00:40:49,080 --> 00:40:51,719
Speaker 1: as an icebreaker to the bigger conversations. If you want

823
00:40:51,719 --> 00:40:53,239
Speaker 1: me to teach you how to box, I'll teach you

824
00:40:53,239 --> 00:40:54,520
Speaker 1: how to box, but you first got to do your

825
00:40:54,560 --> 00:40:57,400
Speaker 1: homework first, and you got to do your homework. And

826
00:40:57,440 --> 00:40:59,799
Speaker 1: all the guys that was like interested in me when

827
00:40:59,840 --> 00:41:03,279
Speaker 1: I exercising and working out, I say, listen, you you

828
00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:06,560
Speaker 1: went to school, helped this kid with his homework, then

829
00:41:06,600 --> 00:41:09,239
Speaker 1: I'll train you for free. And so that's how I

830
00:41:09,239 --> 00:41:11,960
Speaker 1: started my free program. My program is free, but it's

831
00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:14,839
Speaker 1: free because I had people. I'll train them as long

832
00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:16,200
Speaker 1: as you help this kid with their homework.

833
00:41:16,280 --> 00:41:20,080
Speaker 3: And now at this point, it's ain't no organization. You

834
00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:24,719
Speaker 3: just med Yeah, just normal dude in the yard. Yeah decide. Now,

835
00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:26,800
Speaker 3: I'm gonna try to help these kids if they are interested.

836
00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:29,879
Speaker 1: Because people are still dying, people still can't read it. Right.

837
00:41:29,920 --> 00:41:33,040
Speaker 1: I'm looking at little mini versions of myself every day

838
00:41:33,080 --> 00:41:34,719
Speaker 1: as I'm walking on the bus that gets the bus

839
00:41:34,719 --> 00:41:37,520
Speaker 1: to work. I'm seeing it every day. I'm walking saying

840
00:41:37,520 --> 00:41:40,040
Speaker 1: that it's still nothing around here. And then when I

841
00:41:40,040 --> 00:41:42,560
Speaker 1: looked at this, I looked at this newspaper one time

842
00:41:42,560 --> 00:41:45,160
Speaker 1: and it said only thirty percent of the people in

843
00:41:45,200 --> 00:41:47,880
Speaker 1: this neighborhood graduate from high school. I say, well, what

844
00:41:47,880 --> 00:41:50,400
Speaker 1: happens to the other seventy percent of the people? What

845
00:41:50,520 --> 00:41:53,400
Speaker 1: happens to the other seventy percent? And then I'm looking

846
00:41:53,440 --> 00:41:56,720
Speaker 1: like you said about the most dangerous neighborhoods in America,

847
00:41:56,880 --> 00:41:58,960
Speaker 1: and I'm seeing my street as the most dangerous neighborhood

848
00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:02,719
Speaker 1: in America. And I'm seeing neighborhoods around me coming up

849
00:42:02,719 --> 00:42:04,719
Speaker 1: as number two and three and then skip. Then these

850
00:42:04,719 --> 00:42:07,239
Speaker 1: go to other places, then they come back. Number five

851
00:42:07,280 --> 00:42:09,279
Speaker 1: and six is still in Detroit. It's like, these are

852
00:42:09,320 --> 00:42:11,919
Speaker 1: the most dangerous streets in America. And I'm like, man,

853
00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:14,200
Speaker 1: we got to get these kids while they're young, before

854
00:42:14,200 --> 00:42:16,160
Speaker 1: they go down that path, before they get set in

855
00:42:16,200 --> 00:42:19,920
Speaker 1: their ways, before some adult puts some nonsense in their

856
00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:22,839
Speaker 1: head and creates a narrative for them. So no, we're

857
00:42:22,840 --> 00:42:24,759
Speaker 1: gonna stop it before this narrative is put in their

858
00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:28,680
Speaker 1: head and they started living out this this death wish,

859
00:42:29,040 --> 00:42:31,480
Speaker 1: and so we changed. We're gonna change that. That's why

860
00:42:31,440 --> 00:42:32,680
Speaker 1: I did what I needed to do.

861
00:42:35,040 --> 00:42:41,400
Speaker 3: And that concludes part one of my conversation with Colie

862
00:42:41,400 --> 00:42:44,520
Speaker 3: Sweeney and you don't want to miss Part two that's

863
00:42:44,560 --> 00:42:48,640
Speaker 3: now available to listen to together. Guys, we can change

864
00:42:48,719 --> 00:42:51,759
Speaker 3: this country, but it starts with you. I'll see in

865
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Speaker 3: Part two