WEBVTT - Two Men Talking 0:00:01.160 --> 0:00:04.720 This is How Men Think with Brooks and Gavin de 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:10.600 grab and I heard radio podcast. Welcome to another episode 0:00:10.600 --> 0:00:12.640 of How Men Think. My name is Brooks like and 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:15.200 unfortunately we do not have Gavin, We do not have 0:00:15.360 --> 0:00:18.599 Rick Dmitri or Ryan with us today, but we do 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:23.599 have an incredibly special guest to have a really poignant, 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:31.040 um current and necessary discussion. And I want to welcome 0:00:31.040 --> 0:00:33.080 to the show. He's a friend of mine. We've only 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:36.040 met a few times, but the times I have met him, 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:40.000 he is a man field with grace, grace and intelligence 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:43.800 and integrity and vibrates. This man has energy and I 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:46.239 want to welcome him to the show. He is the 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:51.120 host of Access, Hollywood, Access Daily, All Access and also 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:54.320 NBC's hit series World of Dance. Undoubtedly you have seen 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:58.640 his beautiful face on television. Mr Scott Evans, have you 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:01.760 ever heard of ac Man blush? If yeall? Have you? 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:03.160 If you, I don't know, maybe it's just maybe it's 0:01:03.160 --> 0:01:05.720 just me, But rather think it is so good to 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:09.800 be here, so good to thank you for for um, 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:12.480 for initiating this conversation. You know what I mean. I 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:15.120 think there's there's something even to be said in the 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:20.759 um in the unknowing how to perfectly um or or 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:24.800 what to say exactly, but the initiation UM, taking that 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:28.040 first step. Brother, I, I appreciate you for for for 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:32.560 miss an opportunity to really have the kind of conversations 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:37.560 that are uncomfortable perhaps UM, but I said, are so necessary, 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:42.080 especially where we find ourselves right now. By one, we 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:46.400 just spoke before we started this podcast. But we just spoken. 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:49.560 I just said, I commend you, um one, I just 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:51.480 sent you love. This is what I've been doing with 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:54.400 all people of color in my life. I have just 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:57.000 been reaching out and just saying I love them. I 0:01:57.040 --> 0:02:00.120 love them as friends, as human beings. I love the 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:02.600 impact and service that they have given to my life 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:05.320 and how they have touched my life. UM. And then 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:09.000 also I commend you as well for coming on to 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:12.640 have this discussion. Like you said, this is a very 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:17.320 sensitive issue, but it's a very necessary issue. It's a 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:21.760 vital issue. It's one that we must address, UM and 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:26.880 I'm looking forward to one listening to you, Scott. I. 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:29.080 I've also been doing that, reaching out to people. As 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:32.120 I understand, I'm a white I'm a I'm a Canadian, 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:34.880 and I'm a white man. I'm a white male from Canada. 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:38.880 I grew up in rural Canada. We maybe had two 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:43.200 or three Native Americans living in our town, but the 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:46.120 nearest the nearest black person would have been about two 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:48.240 hours from me. So I didn't grow up with any 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:51.640 kind of I didn't even know racism where I grew up. 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:55.440 But my parents taught me to love everybody, and so 0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:57.760 when I didn't look to a bigger center, my hometown 0:02:57.840 --> 0:02:59.720 was only six d people. And when I did move 0:02:59.800 --> 0:03:02.520 to a bigger center, I was very easily able to 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:06.760 adopt any person into my life because they have a heartbeat, 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:11.720 they are of the human race. I never saw them 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:15.639 as different. I loved our diversity and celebrated our diversity, 0:03:15.720 --> 0:03:17.960 but they were a brother and a sister to me, 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:22.200 and I've always lived my life like that. Um And 0:03:22.360 --> 0:03:25.800 I want to say, just off the top, that I 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:32.000 am vehemently opposed to any and all forms of racism. 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:35.400 And I want to also say that I'll never understand 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:43.280 what somebody who experiences racism really goes through, but I 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:47.040 will say I want to listen more in this conversation 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:50.280 than I speak. I am here to listen to you, Scott, 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:52.400 to share, to open this up to have this to 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:56.240 be a platform for you to share your experiences, your 0:03:56.320 --> 0:04:01.080 outlooks and educate me on how I and assist and 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:07.080 support the movement to drive lasting change. Yeah. Well, first, 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:11.560 I think first, even without necessarily being asked a question, 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:13.360 I think there are a couple of things I would 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:16.280 just want to like point out and maybe just just 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:19.480 I don't know, necessarily, maybe the rhetorical questions, maybe the 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:22.599 questions you um are prepared to answer could answer. I 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:25.320 don't know, but um, you know, we I think that 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:27.520 we keep coming to this conversation. We keep coming to 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:31.960 these kinds of conversation with this underlying feeling of like, 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:34.680 you know, this is a sensitive topic and I want 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:37.000 to be sure to say the right thing, so I 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:39.919 maybe won't say exactly And this is not certainly not 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:43.839 saying necessarily to you Brooks, but like, um, I want 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:46.120 to make sure to say the right thing. I want 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:48.039 to make sure I don't say the right thing, And 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:50.440 so sometimes that prevents us from saying the thing that 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:53.880 we're actually thinking, the thing that so many others are thinking, 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:56.680 the thing that could probably probably or possibly lead to 0:04:56.920 --> 0:05:02.080 some real groundbreaking kind of uh peeling back up some 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:05.000 layers of some some programming even that we've all kind 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:10.520 of um uh fall fall under. And so I want 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:14.039 to say like that it's really not that sensitive. I mean, 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:18.279 it's it's it is significant, it is important, it is 0:05:18.560 --> 0:05:23.039 um potentially even hopefully impactful in some sort of way. 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:26.320 But we gotta get past the sensitivity. You know what 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:30.599 I mean that the city is it's like we can 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:34.640 continue to shield our our sensitivities and our insecurities and 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:39.280 our our life so under right or from miss speaking 0:05:40.000 --> 0:05:42.680 um or for saying the thing that leads us to 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:48.320 some higher thought, or we can really breakthrough, you know 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:52.680 what I'm saying. Um. And so I think one of 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:54.719 the one of the one of the things I heard 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:58.560 you say was like, while while black people weren't necessarily 0:05:58.600 --> 0:06:02.120 a part of your every day growing up, when you 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:07.200 encounter people of color, your heart was human, not necessarily 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:13.200 Native American, not necessarily black, not necessarily um, Middle Eastern 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:18.919 or Puerto Rican or Asian. Right the crazy part. I 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:20.640 know that this is gonna sound crazy, but like the 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:24.200 that's not the majority of us, right, that's not the 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:27.839 majority of that's not the that's not that's a rarity 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:34.440 that um a white person living in a pretty homogeneous 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:40.640 experience doesn't have hang ups around um, black people, and 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:44.560 so like, thank you for just being existing, you know, 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:50.000 like thank you for being out there. Um, I'm just 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:52.599 saying because because we we we we need you, we 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:54.599 need you more, we need you more than ever. And 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:57.320 and I don't I don't mean just black people. I 0:06:57.320 --> 0:07:00.159 don't mean black people. I mean we humans need to 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:04.080 know that that is like this should be the default. Um. 0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:06.440 You know, I've had some conversations with my mom lately, 0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:09.080 and she's like, I don't know how I feel about 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:13.720 necessarily feel necessarily taking on the responsibility of teaching people 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:18.960 how to not be racist, right, or teaching people how 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:22.080 to treat me better. It's it's really is as simple 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:23.640 as like, treat me the way that you would want 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:29.240 to be treated, you know. Yeah, I mean, it's it's 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:31.680 really that, it's really that basic. It's really that basic. 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:34.600 It's like if if if when if you were walking 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:39.000 to it's from things as small as if you were 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:44.360 walking to a the first class cabin of a plane 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:48.120 and you wouldn't say and you wouldn't want someone to say, hi, 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:51.960 excuse me, or you lost? This is first class Yeah, 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:55.080 then perhaps that's not the thing you as a as 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:58.080 a white person say to a person of color. You know, 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:00.760 oh well I just thought you were lost. Why it's 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:05.360 a plane. Yeah, I'm just trying to get to my seat. 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:07.760 You know, these are experiences. These are experiences that people 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:11.080 have on an everyday basis. It's not like it's not 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:16.320 that racism or um racist acts have to be these 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:25.600 grand um gross uh uh flagrant or uh you know 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:30.600 um attacks on a person's blackness, you know what I mean. 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:35.080 It's not like the only way that you are racist 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:37.679 is if you use the N word, you know what 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:39.800 I mean. I've I've had conversations with a group of 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:44.120 a group of friends of mine on this group chat, 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:47.120 and and I had to remind them that because our 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:52.120 friends doesn't exclude them from the kind of work that's 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:56.000 required right now, that is necessary right now. Because they 0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:59.920 know me and maybe several other black people or two 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:03.920 other black people who they call friends, doesn't exclude them 0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:10.240 from the responsibility of expanding there there there notions about 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:13.719 black people, and they're there, and it doesn't exclude them 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:18.160 from from really examining how they handle and deal in 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:22.720 various situations. Yes, I agree with you. I agree with 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:24.920 you on Scott, I agree with you on everything you 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:30.319 just said there, right, I agree that it's so two things. 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:33.600 I have two thoughts in this one. I agree it's 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:37.920 not it's not enough for us to just be I 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:43.600 just want to end racism. We need to be anti racism. 0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:48.120 We need to seek we need to seek and dismantle racism. 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:50.199 It's not just enough to say I'm opposed and I'm 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:52.520 against it and have that be the end of it. 0:09:52.960 --> 0:09:57.199 We need to seek out and dismantle systemic racism or 0:09:57.320 --> 0:10:01.240 racism in any form that exists in society. What does 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:04.160 that look like for you? Like? What does that? Um? 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:08.520 How do how does that? When you're right? Like, that's that? 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:10.839 That's the idea that it is. It is more than 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:14.679 this passive I'll never say the in word right, it's way, 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:16.640 it's way more than that. But like for for you 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:20.920 in particular, this this uh notable figure, this larger than 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:25.760 life guy, Um, kind of literally and figuratively. Um, you 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:28.280 know what I mean? Anyway you are you are an 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:32.800 extract fella, you know what I'm saying. So what does 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:36.240 what does that look like for you? Your participation in 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:43.319 this anti racism shift. Yeah, that's a one, Scott. I 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:44.760 want to I just want to say thank you for 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:49.040 asking that question. That's a real and truthful and and 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:53.480 thoughtful question, and it's something I've been asking myself and 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:56.600 truthfully to be fully transparent and honest is I don't 0:10:56.720 --> 0:11:00.199 know yet exactly what that looks like, but I will 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:03.120 tell you how I have started. I have started by 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:08.640 contracting people of color that are friends, family, in my network, 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:11.480 anybody that I know that is a person of color, 0:11:11.559 --> 0:11:14.720 and just reaching out and saying I love you. I 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:16.960 love you as a person, I love your heart, I 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:19.079 love the impact you've made on my life. I love 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:22.760 your presence in the world. I love you. And then secondly, 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:28.400 can I listen? Can I just listen to what you 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:31.000 are going through? How are you, how you are feeling, 0:11:31.480 --> 0:11:34.520 how this has impact impacted your life, how you have 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:38.520 experienced any forms of racism in any way. Can I 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:41.880 just listen to you, to your story to try to 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:46.120 get a deeper comprehension of what you were going through. Now, 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:49.120 I've been doing that with people in my community, but 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:51.960 I have not yet then figured out where to go 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:54.880 with this next This podcast is coming up, so I've 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:57.839 been reading a lot, I've been digesting a lot of information. 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:01.720 But now I'm even myself. I'm looking for my next step, 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:04.160 as in, what can I do, like I said, to 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:09.600 seek and dismantle racism, And so truthfully, a lot of 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:13.240 people are posting on their Instagram, Um, you can donate here, 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:16.600 you can sign this petition. You know, here's some politicians 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:18.080 to look out for that maybe we want to vote 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:20.680 out of office, or here's days to vote. There's a 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:24.079 lot of different organizations and links and stuff being flown 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:26.440 out there right now, but I don't know which one 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:29.560 I wanted to vote my time and resources too, I 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:32.439 don't know which direction to go with it yet. UM. 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:34.920 And that's just being fully honest and transparent. There's a 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:37.880 lot coming at us right now, in which is great. 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:40.280 There's a lot of people trying to help, UM. But 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:43.360 I want to just let people in my community, my friends, 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:46.240 people I love, let them know that I love them, 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:50.040 I support them, I stand with them, UM, and then 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:52.480 I'll figure out what sort of action comes from here. 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:54.880 So I apologize, I don't have more to give you 0:12:54.960 --> 0:12:58.559 right now on that spot, But that's truthfully where I'm at. No, 0:12:58.679 --> 0:13:00.640 I mean That's that's the is it? This is not 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:03.040 like that wasn't meant to be. I hope that didn't 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:05.040 seem like some sort of quiz or anything like that. 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:07.959 It's just like it's It's just the thing I want 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:10.480 people to really start thinking about is like when when 0:13:10.520 --> 0:13:13.439 we talk about UM, the goals that we have, when 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:17.200 we talk about the ideal and the idea of living 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:21.600 in a UM society that is not bound by UM 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:26.920 the systems in place where one race UM succeeds by 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:34.120 the destruction or the confinement or the um uh defacing 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:38.319 of another. Right, Like, what what are we actually doing? 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:41.520 You know? One of the things that the conversations I've 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:47.320 been seeing online has to do with like, uh, you know, 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:50.000 we we keep having it's pretty to the choir, right, 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:52.360 Like we keep having the same conversations with people who 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:55.160 agree with us. We're having the same conversations with similar 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:58.960 conversations about our feelings and about our perspective with the 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:05.720 people that um um agree with us, either politically, UM, 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:10.280 you know whatever. That the part where outreach, the part 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:14.160 where growth happens, is when you start having those conversations 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:17.680 with people who are outside of your you know, of 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:24.960 your um uh um red, red or blue, um, gay 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:29.600 or straight, uh servative or liberal. Right, it's when you're 0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:32.760 able to come to one have a conversation that is 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:36.760 is meant to be one um grounded and centered in 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:42.560 love and compassion first, no matter how intense the conversation 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:46.240 may turn, or or what kind of things may bubble 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:48.000 up to the surface, because I think what you also, 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:50.160 what we also have to realize is that there are 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:55.120 people UM living with generations of hurt, not even understanding 0:14:55.200 --> 0:15:00.359 necessarily why they feel this way, why they think this way. Um. 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:03.240 And like like black people have had this kind of 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:08.040 generational programming, so have white people, right, and so to 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:12.920 pretend that it's gonna be this switch that now George 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:16.560 Floyd is gone, or now the four police officers have 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:21.720 been charged, that all of a sudden, right, we're good, right, 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:26.280 We've now we're black, we're racism is we're done. There 0:15:26.360 --> 0:15:28.800 is no racism, and it's it's just it's just not 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:33.000 the case. And so you know, I think to to 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:35.840 help that conversation along with you know, what do you 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:38.120 do now? I think one, and this is gonna sound 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:41.920 probably crazy, but like white people, I think need to 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:46.200 get okay, with being called a racist. I think that 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:50.520 um um, for lack of a better word, like pussy 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:58.880 footing around or tiptoeing around um, the being called racist, 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:01.720 it's just not going to allow us to get to 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:04.520 the actual work if you're not if you're if you're 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:08.280 unwilling to own the fact that not I'm I'm talking 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:10.520 about you've never used the N word. I'm not talking 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:15.360 about you've um always been kind or or courteous to 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:17.640 two people of color. I'm not talking about that. But 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:20.920 but certainly you can you can agree that being a 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:24.120 white person, no matter how difficult your life is, no 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:27.040 matter the hurdles and the obstacles that you had overcome 0:16:27.480 --> 0:16:30.160 or the challenges that may have come your way, you're 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:36.240 being right allows you to benefit from a system that 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:42.320 boosts you right. And so that in and of itself 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:46.320 is that's that is the racism that we're up against, right, 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:52.479 And so if you can get okay with I realized 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:55.600 that that meet my being born white, my being born 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:57.680 into the family that I was born into, or adopted 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:00.360 into the family that I was adopted into, allows me 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:05.159 to move through this life with a with a certain 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:08.760 amount of benefit. And that benefit is not something that 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:12.200 people of color have. And so I am I realized 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:17.639 that my privilege, um is not something uh that should 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:22.080 prevent me or separate me from getting to this work. 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:28.399 And so yeah, okay, I might be racist now thinking 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:34.280 about the business of changing, that business of rectifying and healing. 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:50.480 That that's powerful, Scott, that's powerful. One thing I did 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:53.520 think of and one thing I have been um committing 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:57.800 time to is because they said earlier in the show 0:17:58.200 --> 0:18:02.520 that my parents told me to love heart, you know, 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:04.800 just that a person has a heart and to love there. 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:07.040 And God bless my parents, Jane and Harold. I have 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:10.040 wonderful parents. Then so much of my life is just 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:13.159 is just a result in the product of them. So 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:14.959 I don't even pay credit for it. They are just 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:19.360 They're exceptional examples to me. Um. But one thing I've 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:22.119 been I've been really trying to do is I'm trying 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:28.840 to bring awareness to any of my actions that maybe 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:33.560 in any way could have even slightly been a form 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:37.760 of discrimination or like, is there are I'm trying to 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:40.080 find areas of my life thing like even just what 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:42.840 you said that somebody asking you are you looking are 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:46.720 you looking for first class? Like that's not a huge 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:52.240 racist action, but it's it's a discriminatory action. And so 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:56.159 I'm trying to I'm trying to really look at my 0:18:56.240 --> 0:19:00.280 life and and replay conversations and friendships and if there 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:04.160 ever been any way where I have inadvertently, unknowingly, maybe 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:10.720 subconsciously implemented or or or had anything to do with 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:13.960 discriminating somebody. And just hearing you talk about how the 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:18.480 system being white the system boost us, I've never known 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:21.760 being black, So I've never known somewhat of a I've 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:24.480 only ever known my struggle. I've never which is just 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:27.080 signed the speed and just like we're all trying to 0:19:27.119 --> 0:19:29.680 do our best in the world. The world's a competitive place, 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:33.160 but I've never known a struggle based on my race 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:39.359 and then a struggle against the competition. And so like 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:42.399 I'm I'm trying to bring more awareness, and I'm listening 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:44.600 to you talk and I'm like, wow, I don't know 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:49.359 that other side. I don't know how hard that is. 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:51.960 I don't know that I don't know that maybe I 0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:55.679 have benefited. I've never looked at it that way, you know, 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:57.239 And so I want to I want to bring more 0:19:57.280 --> 0:20:00.680 awareness in my life like that and really deep dive 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:03.840 into me and and then see how I can be 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:09.560 a voice of impact and of service and really make 0:20:09.640 --> 0:20:13.600 sure that myself first before I'm speaking to anybody else, 0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:16.399 make sure that myself first, that I am leading with 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:19.879 love and doing all that I can to help bring change. 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:22.119 So it's a journey for me. I'll say that, Scott, 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:27.840 I love listening two the discussion, and I'm on my 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:31.080 own journey to make this better in any way I 0:20:31.160 --> 0:20:35.359 possibly can. But yeah, it's really it's really such a 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:39.280 it's really such an important time in our lives. Man. 0:20:39.320 --> 0:20:41.600 It's like, I just thank you for being honest the 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:44.399 president in this phone call. You know, I want to. 0:20:44.400 --> 0:20:46.040 I want to. I want to give you an example. 0:20:46.080 --> 0:20:49.280 I want to give you an example of like not 0:20:49.400 --> 0:20:52.320 even you may not even know right the um I'm 0:20:52.320 --> 0:20:56.439 in the third grade. It's the it is the the 0:20:56.520 --> 0:21:01.680 point in learning math that you start doing long division 0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:04.800 and you know the carrying over and the remainders and 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:08.080 all that stuff. Math has never necessarily been my strong suit, 0:21:08.320 --> 0:21:11.440 much stronger as an English student, much stronger even as 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:15.080 a science student. UM. But that some of the technical 0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:19.439 like the formulas, the memorization of math, I just couldn't 0:21:19.480 --> 0:21:23.920 connect the memorize, the memorization and the actually showing your work, right. 0:21:24.359 --> 0:21:27.280 So I was talking to was remember raising my hand, 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:30.440 and I went to a school that was pretty mixed, 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:36.280 predominantly white, but but I would say probably white and 0:21:36.720 --> 0:21:43.600 um uh white and percent black and then the rest 0:21:43.680 --> 0:21:47.359 was kind of mixed, right, So it was a pretty 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:50.600 good mixture of students when it goes when you go 0:21:50.680 --> 0:21:54.159 through schools. So I raised my hand to to to 0:21:54.280 --> 0:21:58.159 signal my teacher. My signs to sign my teacher's attention. 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:00.359 And he comes over and he's like, hey, what's going on. 0:22:00.480 --> 0:22:03.040 I was like, I'm having a hard time with the 0:22:04.840 --> 0:22:09.040 fractions also have remainders and carry over with the having 0:22:09.040 --> 0:22:12.240 some problems. And he said to me, Wow, all the 0:22:12.240 --> 0:22:16.159 black kids seem to be having problems with this. That's crazy. 0:22:16.560 --> 0:22:23.080 And then, um, I've never told this story before. Um. 0:22:23.119 --> 0:22:27.480 And then like I remember trying to think about math, 0:22:27.560 --> 0:22:31.119 and all of a sudden, I'm thinking about black people 0:22:31.160 --> 0:22:35.680 don't do math well, like I didn't. I Hey what 0:22:36.040 --> 0:22:40.639 in the third grade? And so I like, I'm not 0:22:40.800 --> 0:22:45.000 a small personality. I'm not that sunken kind of kid. 0:22:45.040 --> 0:22:47.240 I'm not a kid who like pouts and walks around. 0:22:49.000 --> 0:22:53.080 But later in the class, another young girl and I 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:56.120 can see it like I happened, like like just minutes ago. 0:22:56.480 --> 0:22:59.240 Another girl raised her hand and was having some issues 0:22:59.280 --> 0:23:03.520 with whatever, and he walks over to her, bends over 0:23:03.600 --> 0:23:07.920 to hear her question, and then he goes Scott look 0:23:08.560 --> 0:23:13.840 another one. And I remember how like crushing that was, 0:23:13.960 --> 0:23:16.960 but not really knowing what to do with it, because 0:23:17.040 --> 0:23:22.159 I don't believe Mr Lloyd this teacher was a mean guy. 0:23:22.560 --> 0:23:25.119 In fact, he was one of the most beloved uh 0:23:25.119 --> 0:23:28.359 he's since passed away, but one of the most beloved 0:23:28.680 --> 0:23:32.399 teachers in our school. UM. He and his wife both 0:23:32.440 --> 0:23:37.639 taught at this particular elementary school. And while there's maybe 0:23:37.680 --> 0:23:42.040 nothing necessarily wrong with as a as an instructor identifying 0:23:42.119 --> 0:23:45.640 that there is a there is, there is more needed 0:23:46.160 --> 0:23:51.880 with this group to tell a third grader that that 0:23:51.920 --> 0:23:55.160 way was just I remember being like, this isn't right, 0:23:56.600 --> 0:23:58.680 And so I went to my science teacher, who was 0:23:58.720 --> 0:24:03.040 a black woman, and said to her, I didn't know 0:24:03.119 --> 0:24:05.000 that black people we weren't I didn't know that we 0:24:05.000 --> 0:24:06.320 weren't good at math. And she was like, what are 0:24:06.320 --> 0:24:08.919 you talking about? And I shared with her the conversation 0:24:09.040 --> 0:24:13.919 and what would lead to Mr Lloyd being UM a 0:24:13.960 --> 0:24:17.600 disciplinary action against him. I remember my mom talking about 0:24:17.600 --> 0:24:21.600 it with my science teacher because he said, should I 0:24:21.640 --> 0:24:26.119 have said the African American kids? He just didn't quite 0:24:26.200 --> 0:24:30.280 get He didn't understand his actions at all. He just 0:24:30.320 --> 0:24:33.000 didn't quite get it. And our our principle was also 0:24:33.040 --> 0:24:36.679 a black woman. Um uh. And so it just was. 0:24:36.760 --> 0:24:39.320 It was one of those situations where it's like, at 0:24:39.400 --> 0:24:43.840 some point, I think, you just gotta you gotta, you 0:24:43.960 --> 0:24:49.200 gotta read right, you gotta understand that your experience isn't 0:24:49.240 --> 0:24:51.720 the only kind of experience in this country. I was 0:24:51.760 --> 0:24:56.040 listening to this conversation with UM. This girl that she 0:24:56.080 --> 0:24:58.680 posted it blew up on social media. I think last night, 0:24:59.240 --> 0:25:02.720 this girl on social media talking to what seems like 0:25:02.920 --> 0:25:06.720 her parents. I think her name is Haley, and she's 0:25:06.760 --> 0:25:14.640 explaining to them the the glaring pitfalls in her parents 0:25:14.640 --> 0:25:18.200 thinking about around the Black Lives Matter movement as a 0:25:18.200 --> 0:25:23.639