1 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:07,000 Speaker 1: Hey, everybody is Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks. 2 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:10,400 Speaker 1: And we continue now with part two of our conversation 3 00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:14,560 Speaker 1: with Robert Hill. Right after these brief messages from our 4 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:29,680 Speaker 1: general sponsors, I kind of want to recap. I think 5 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:36,000 Speaker 1: it's important to collect thoughts here and I have a lot. Well, 6 00:00:36,479 --> 00:00:40,720 Speaker 1: one of the biggest things that I have learned is 7 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:44,600 Speaker 1: one of the more difficult situations for a black person 8 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:50,479 Speaker 1: enter the middle class and trying to enter into a 9 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 1: world of entrepreneurism is access? Is access? Tim Russell? Did 10 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:00,600 Speaker 1: you ever meet Tim Russell? Pastor in Memphis? He died 11 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:05,039 Speaker 1: from COVID anyway, He came from up in Philadelphia and 12 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:09,360 Speaker 1: started was the first president of Dcottz, the Memphis Center 13 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:14,039 Speaker 1: for Theological Seminary. He was an associate pastor at Second 14 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:19,600 Speaker 1: Presbyterian Church. By church, just think James Earl Jones. That's him, 15 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:28,039 Speaker 1: all black, proud, big as hell. I still miss him. 16 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:33,200 Speaker 1: He was my friend and my pastor, and there were 17 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:35,679 Speaker 1: a number of times I called on his council about 18 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:38,360 Speaker 1: a number of different things in my life and he 19 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:41,160 Speaker 1: he meant a lot to me. And I've had a 20 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:43,839 Speaker 1: lot of friends now at my age, come and go, 21 00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 1: but I missed Tim Russell on a daily basis. He 22 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:57,400 Speaker 1: and I had a lot of racial conversations, candid, open, thoughtful, honest, 23 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:01,919 Speaker 1: sometimes painful only as my pastor, but as my friend. 24 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:05,080 Speaker 1: And one of the things he said to me early 25 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:07,760 Speaker 1: in our conversations I'll never forget as he looked at 26 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 1: me and he said, have you ever been to a 27 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:17,200 Speaker 1: black dentist? You laugh? Just the question is funny. Why 28 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:19,639 Speaker 1: would a white man go to a black dentist? Right? 29 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:24,840 Speaker 1: Have you ever been to insurance? Have you ever been 30 00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:27,799 Speaker 1: to a black doctor? Have you ever had a legal 31 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 1: problem and gone to a black attorney? And he said, 32 00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:34,800 Speaker 1: if you think about, have you ever had a black accountant? 33 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:37,520 Speaker 1: And he said, Now you've got dentists, you've got doctors, 34 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:40,600 Speaker 1: you've got accountants, got and now one of them are black. 35 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:44,040 Speaker 1: And he said, and in fact, you could have in 36 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:51,800 Speaker 1: Memphis chose from over two hundred at a minimum, dentists, doctors, accountants, 37 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 1: and any professional service you need, and not one of 38 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:00,600 Speaker 1: them on the list that you were choosing from. What 39 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 1: I'm black. 40 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:04,280 Speaker 2: Well, that's why you see how your teeth? What that's 41 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:05,600 Speaker 2: probably why how your teeth? 42 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:12,760 Speaker 1: Then he said, then he said a black man cannot 43 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:22,639 Speaker 1: say that. One it's just about access. And two, when 44 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:28,119 Speaker 1: you think about the term privilege, just take white privilege 45 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:31,520 Speaker 1: out of it, because that seems to upset everybody. Let's 46 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:34,280 Speaker 1: just talk about privilege in general, and let's call it 47 00:03:34,639 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 1: social privilege or call it cultural privilege. Let's not call 48 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 1: it white privilege. Just just put a He said, that's 49 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:45,080 Speaker 1: that's really bad marketing calling it white privilege, because you 50 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:49,040 Speaker 1: immediately put white people on the defensive when you say 51 00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:51,880 Speaker 1: white privilege. So forget it. Call it social privilege or whatever. 52 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:55,960 Speaker 1: He said. It is absolutely the fact that it is 53 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: a privilege that you can go to get any professor 54 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:02,440 Speaker 1: service you need in your whole life, and you never 55 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:08,600 Speaker 1: have to go outside your culture or your world. Black 56 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:12,000 Speaker 1: people can't say that that in and of itself is 57 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:16,080 Speaker 1: a lack of privilege, but more importantly, from an socioeconomic standpoint, 58 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:20,920 Speaker 1: it's also points to a lack of access. So when 59 00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:25,839 Speaker 1: you talk about why black people got involved in the 60 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:28,640 Speaker 1: post office and the all of those things, it's because 61 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:31,080 Speaker 1: it was access. It was access to a pension, it 62 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:33,920 Speaker 1: was access to a good job, it was access to 63 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:41,040 Speaker 1: a an environment that allowed you or allowed black people 64 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:44,680 Speaker 1: an opportunity at the middle class, which is great and 65 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:50,400 Speaker 1: I get it. But the problem is where's the access 66 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:53,960 Speaker 1: to then raise out of the middle class. Very limited, 67 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:57,839 Speaker 1: very difficult. And then I want to before we go 68 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:00,960 Speaker 1: to friends after five. That's one thing I would like 69 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:03,279 Speaker 1: our listeners keep their mind on. The second thing is 70 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:09,000 Speaker 1: something you said that I find just poignant. We have 71 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:12,960 Speaker 1: now shifted. No, I'm gonna say it a different way. 72 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:20,640 Speaker 1: We are now seeing a shift away from this. And 73 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:23,680 Speaker 1: when I use the word conservative, I don't mean it politically. 74 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:27,520 Speaker 1: I more mean it socially and inside the family. This 75 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:34,880 Speaker 1: black conservative approach to family and advancement, largely that in 76 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:38,559 Speaker 1: the South was fostered by the church, as in your case, 77 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:42,720 Speaker 1: and that you said, somehow that's getting reversed, and as 78 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 1: to the Dutchman of the black community, it is. And 79 00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:49,440 Speaker 1: so I did this on my own a couple of 80 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 1: days ago, and I thought, what are the top ten 81 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:56,600 Speaker 1: issues in Memphis? And if I went down the list 82 00:05:57,279 --> 00:06:01,560 Speaker 1: top ten issues in Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, this pick one 83 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:05,400 Speaker 1: and it's number one is crime and two, three, four, five, 84 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:08,640 Speaker 1: sixty seven, eight, nine, ten is crime. But then if 85 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:11,600 Speaker 1: you do crime, do subsets next to crime. So if 86 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:16,279 Speaker 1: one's crime, two is crime poverty, poverty leading to crime, 87 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:19,960 Speaker 1: and then three is crime poverty education, a poor education 88 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:23,480 Speaker 1: leading to poverty leading to crime, and then you can 89 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:29,520 Speaker 1: do crime poverty, education access. And the point is, if 90 00:06:30,279 --> 00:06:34,120 Speaker 1: crime seems to be the most prevalent problem we see 91 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:36,480 Speaker 1: in social media and everywhere else because it's in your 92 00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:38,680 Speaker 1: face and season to put on the news at six o'clock, 93 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:45,080 Speaker 1: what leads to it? And it's a poor education, a 94 00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: lack of access, poverty, all of the things that happen 95 00:06:48,839 --> 00:06:50,840 Speaker 1: with kids that are too hungry to go to school 96 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:53,080 Speaker 1: and study and learn, that get stuck in a cycle 97 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:57,000 Speaker 1: of poverty, generational poverty, all of it eventually leads to 98 00:06:57,040 --> 00:07:02,040 Speaker 1: the disintegration of our culture. Are sciety, crime and all 99 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:06,160 Speaker 1: the things that the freaking out urban cities. And then 100 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:11,320 Speaker 1: I ran into you and you're like, it's about the 101 00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:14,640 Speaker 1: middle class. It's about access to the middle class. It's 102 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:18,800 Speaker 1: about what you just said, home ownership, rather than what 103 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:20,760 Speaker 1: you say, clothes and hose. 104 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:21,360 Speaker 2: Clothes and hose. 105 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:26,280 Speaker 1: I mean, it's a it's a mental change. And so 106 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:30,800 Speaker 1: now as we transition to what you were doing and 107 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:33,880 Speaker 1: what it's about, the reason I wanted to go through 108 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 1: everything we've gone through for is I want our listeners 109 00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:39,720 Speaker 1: to have perspective that this is a black guy that 110 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:45,400 Speaker 1: came from a hard working mom and dad, who who 111 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:52,400 Speaker 1: came up the black middle class experience and understands that 112 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:57,840 Speaker 1: that's the answer, and that's the strength of of of culture. 113 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:03,040 Speaker 1: Is that middle class? And you're not here trying to 114 00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:06,360 Speaker 1: There's no ads here, there's no sell out here, there's 115 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:09,320 Speaker 1: no Uncle Tom. You are clearly a proud black man 116 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:13,160 Speaker 1: from a proud black upgringing. There's no there's none of 117 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:16,520 Speaker 1: that sell out. This is you saying this is the 118 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:18,080 Speaker 1: way we make us better. 119 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:22,880 Speaker 2: Well, I want to unpack something you said. See, we 120 00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:25,320 Speaker 2: don't have a cram problem, and we don't have an 121 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:28,320 Speaker 2: education problem. We have a middle class problem. 122 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:29,440 Speaker 1: That's what I mean. 123 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:32,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, and so when you look at the history of 124 00:08:32,920 --> 00:08:36,760 Speaker 2: how blacks moved into middle class, many of them came 125 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:40,640 Speaker 2: out of rural areas, out of well I call it 126 00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:46,679 Speaker 2: putting down cotton secs and started driving Cadillacs. So yeah, 127 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:50,640 Speaker 2: and so from the backwoods to Hollywood, from the house 128 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:56,320 Speaker 2: and so little girls with pigtails now sporting French nails. 129 00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:59,840 Speaker 2: I mean, the history of how we have come from this. 130 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:04,320 Speaker 2: It is very simple. So historically the black woman was 131 00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:07,559 Speaker 2: the one who went to college. The black man ended 132 00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:10,280 Speaker 2: up going off in the army. Most cases, he served 133 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:14,400 Speaker 2: in the Korean War or he served in Vietnam, so 134 00:09:14,440 --> 00:09:16,920 Speaker 2: when he came home from the service. Back then, they 135 00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:21,040 Speaker 2: really valued veterans, so most veterans were hired at civil 136 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:24,320 Speaker 2: service jobs like the post office, the VA, the police department, 137 00:09:24,360 --> 00:09:26,840 Speaker 2: the fire department. So they had the backdrop of it 138 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:29,720 Speaker 2: on mlgn W mess like yes water because they were 139 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:33,360 Speaker 2: electricians in the navy and stuff like that. So he 140 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:37,240 Speaker 2: would yield and then continue to send his woman to school, 141 00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:40,880 Speaker 2: so they would go to HBCU's like Lane College and 142 00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:44,680 Speaker 2: La morn One and Rust and m I or any 143 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:51,120 Speaker 2: southern school valley to the Loo Jackson State and she 144 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:53,760 Speaker 2: would be at home to where she worked a job 145 00:09:53,880 --> 00:09:56,800 Speaker 2: to where she could teach, be home by three or 146 00:09:56,840 --> 00:09:59,440 Speaker 2: four o'clock to raise the children. He would get off 147 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:01,679 Speaker 2: from the post office or the police department wherever he 148 00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:03,360 Speaker 2: had to work, and didn't go work on a second 149 00:10:03,400 --> 00:10:05,839 Speaker 2: job in order for them to move into the middle 150 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:08,839 Speaker 2: class and then stay there, which is why the black 151 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:10,440 Speaker 2: man most in cases died when he was in his 152 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:13,600 Speaker 2: early sixties from heart disease and stress and everything else 153 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:15,839 Speaker 2: could hell. He worked itself to death in order to 154 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:19,680 Speaker 2: provide for a family. And so then gave the black 155 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:21,480 Speaker 2: woman the opportunity to be at home to raise the 156 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:24,480 Speaker 2: children and to help rear them and you know, help 157 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:29,560 Speaker 2: with the homework. So and we didn't really have the 158 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:33,280 Speaker 2: greatest quality of education back then, but at least you 159 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:35,479 Speaker 2: can learn how to read, write, and do basic arithmetic, 160 00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:36,720 Speaker 2: and then you could pick up the rest of it. 161 00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:38,960 Speaker 2: And the encyclopedias if the man came to your house 162 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:42,040 Speaker 2: to sell them to you. And uh, before we had 163 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:44,120 Speaker 2: the internet, and that's where we had the encyclopedias. And 164 00:10:44,160 --> 00:10:45,679 Speaker 2: then some of us would only get one or two 165 00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:48,320 Speaker 2: books and then we would share them on the street. 166 00:10:48,559 --> 00:10:50,120 Speaker 2: So many of us say, hey, do you have A 167 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:52,280 Speaker 2: through Z? I mean A through B, And we go 168 00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:54,000 Speaker 2: and get the A through B to But they're finally 169 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:54,400 Speaker 2: do a home. 170 00:10:54,480 --> 00:10:56,920 Speaker 1: Are you saying in the neighborhood this family by A 171 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:00,160 Speaker 1: and B, this family that's right, that neighborhood would have 172 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:01,760 Speaker 1: it's like run around. 173 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:06,000 Speaker 2: Yes, on that whole street. And we didn't have any 174 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:08,320 Speaker 2: grass that went uncut if you was old and sick 175 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:10,760 Speaker 2: and fell on hard times, we would go cut your grass, 176 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:13,200 Speaker 2: were spread with msm A, which I used to call 177 00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:16,240 Speaker 2: endzar Den. We'd spray with ansar and put some trip 178 00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:19,280 Speaker 2: with thirteen down on the trimo shrubs. Your house didn't 179 00:11:19,280 --> 00:11:21,160 Speaker 2: go unpainted, we'll go to series and buy seis was 180 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:24,319 Speaker 2: a beater and we'd all pitch in and paint your house. 181 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:26,920 Speaker 1: Sounds like a black Amish village. 182 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:29,520 Speaker 2: Well, it was just what the Jews have been doing 183 00:11:29,559 --> 00:11:30,520 Speaker 2: for years, and we did. 184 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:33,679 Speaker 1: It because that was the black middle class experience. 185 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:36,280 Speaker 2: Well because it was taught that in the rural areas. 186 00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:39,160 Speaker 2: Because when you came out of Mississippi. In these rural areas, 187 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:42,280 Speaker 2: everybody share food. You share food, and we had hog 188 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:44,480 Speaker 2: killing day that kept fifteen to twenty hogs and everybody 189 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:48,320 Speaker 2: had meat for the whole winter. No one went hungry. Well, 190 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:51,240 Speaker 2: you know, you'd have four or five acres of purple peace. 191 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:53,960 Speaker 2: People would blanch them, go down from the city to 192 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:55,800 Speaker 2: the country and bring back bushel bags of them and 193 00:11:55,800 --> 00:11:57,800 Speaker 2: give them to everybody on the street. You can blanch 194 00:11:57,840 --> 00:11:59,560 Speaker 2: them in hot water and put them in freezer bags 195 00:11:59,840 --> 00:12:02,520 Speaker 2: and freeze it, so no one went hunger. We didn't 196 00:12:02,520 --> 00:12:06,920 Speaker 2: have welfare and food stamps. We didn't do that. And 197 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:11,800 Speaker 2: so somewhere in our culture we had a generation that 198 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:15,080 Speaker 2: was given too much too soon, like prodigal sons, some 199 00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:18,200 Speaker 2: prodigal children. And when you give a child so much 200 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:20,320 Speaker 2: to live on, that child now has nothing to live for. 201 00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:23,480 Speaker 2: It takes the hypoxic drive out of him. It takes 202 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:24,520 Speaker 2: the hunger away from them. 203 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:26,640 Speaker 1: Say that again, that is profound. 204 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:29,080 Speaker 2: Well, I mean does too much too soon? If you 205 00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:32,440 Speaker 2: give a child, you give, If you give if they 206 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:34,880 Speaker 2: don't have. What if you give a child too much 207 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:36,440 Speaker 2: to live on, a child to have nothing to live for. 208 00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:39,680 Speaker 1: If you give a child too much to live on, 209 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:42,600 Speaker 1: he ain't got nothing to live that's right. I mean 210 00:12:42,679 --> 00:12:43,000 Speaker 1: you didn't. 211 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:46,320 Speaker 2: You don't bought him his first car, and you don't. 212 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:48,640 Speaker 2: You don't keep wearing sporty clothes, you don't know about 213 00:12:48,679 --> 00:12:52,559 Speaker 2: no work, liveing in White Haven, modest middle class income 214 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:56,079 Speaker 2: and house. I mean he didn't understand how to cut grass, 215 00:12:56,480 --> 00:12:57,839 Speaker 2: so you didn't make him get off his butt and 216 00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:00,560 Speaker 2: go cut no grass, use out to cut grass at 217 00:13:00,559 --> 00:13:02,280 Speaker 2: the working two jobs because you wanted you y'ad to 218 00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:04,520 Speaker 2: look a certain way. Well, hell if you mess it up. 219 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:07,480 Speaker 2: He got to learn. I made my boys cut it. 220 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:11,000 Speaker 2: If they scalped it, y'ad they scalped it, it'll grow bad. 221 00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:15,960 Speaker 2: You have to work around here, if not all coming 222 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:20,680 Speaker 2: off my belt. I'm believe in that. So we have 223 00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:23,640 Speaker 2: this weak generation because we thought our parents are too 224 00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:27,840 Speaker 2: hard on us, and as a result, we became slack 225 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:30,959 Speaker 2: and lexa days ago. With this generation that we see now, 226 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:34,640 Speaker 2: and it has ruined us. It has ruined us to 227 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:38,880 Speaker 2: take government subsidies because now you've been inoculated with warfare 228 00:13:38,920 --> 00:13:42,880 Speaker 2: and food stamps and and wick instead of learning how 229 00:13:42,920 --> 00:13:44,280 Speaker 2: to just sacrifice and work. 230 00:13:48,480 --> 00:14:02,320 Speaker 1: We'll be right back. Chevis Daniels, who played football at 231 00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:06,120 Speaker 1: me from a Nasses, spent time in jail, came from 232 00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:11,920 Speaker 1: rough Hubrand. We were coming back from an event we 233 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:14,719 Speaker 1: did in Little Rock, driving and we got on this 234 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 1: very conversation. And now Chavis this time was twenty years old, 235 00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:23,640 Speaker 1: and we got on wick and food stamps and conversation 236 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:27,560 Speaker 1: about it. And he looked at me and he said, 237 00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:31,600 Speaker 1: I've eaten and existed on some of that stuff. And 238 00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:34,760 Speaker 1: he said, and I hate it. And that was near 239 00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:37,440 Speaker 1: floored me, because a lot of kids from a nasses. 240 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:40,920 Speaker 1: That's just reality, you know, for whether it's whether it's 241 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:44,680 Speaker 1: right or wrong. That's how they grew up. And I said, really, 242 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:47,480 Speaker 1: you hate it? And he said, it's a crutch to 243 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:52,440 Speaker 1: my people. And first of all, the whole my people conversation. 244 00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:58,760 Speaker 1: I don't even like that because I want I yearned 245 00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:02,640 Speaker 1: for a day where my people are your people and 246 00:15:02,640 --> 00:15:05,320 Speaker 1: it's we people. But I got where it came from. 247 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:08,560 Speaker 1: I certainly understand it. I don't want to be over idealistic. 248 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:12,800 Speaker 1: And I said, what do you mean and he said, man, coach. 249 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:16,840 Speaker 1: He said, if you got a crutch, you walk with 250 00:15:16,840 --> 00:15:18,960 Speaker 1: a limp. And if they give you a crutch for 251 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:22,040 Speaker 1: rest of your wife, you always gonna limp. And he said, 252 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:26,760 Speaker 1: when you provide them with a crutch, you are building 253 00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:29,640 Speaker 1: a limp into their existence. And he said, I hate 254 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:32,920 Speaker 1: this stuff and I will never forget this. Nineteen to 255 00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:34,720 Speaker 1: twenty old kid saying that to me. A fly damn 256 00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:36,360 Speaker 1: near drove off the road in the ditch. When I 257 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:38,480 Speaker 1: heard it, I couldn't believe I was hearing that out 258 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:41,480 Speaker 1: of a young black man's mouth from the hood who 259 00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:52,880 Speaker 1: recognized what the systems did in terms of limping his community. 260 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:56,520 Speaker 1: But on the other side, understood that many in his 261 00:15:56,560 --> 00:15:59,200 Speaker 1: community had come to a point that they couldn't. 262 00:15:58,920 --> 00:16:01,840 Speaker 2: Exist without it. You get caught in this horrible catch 263 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:04,479 Speaker 2: twenty two, Lynda Bane Johnson. He's the one who implemented 264 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:07,640 Speaker 2: it on his war on poverty, and we fell for 265 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:11,880 Speaker 2: the okidoe. And so my mother, who grew up doing 266 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:14,840 Speaker 2: a great depression, they wouldn't take commodities. They raised their 267 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:18,320 Speaker 2: own food. My grandfather was born eighteen ninety five and 268 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:21,600 Speaker 2: gave certain World War War. When it came back, they 269 00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:23,840 Speaker 2: allowed them some VA money, so they brought about thirty 270 00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:25,600 Speaker 2: seven acres then by Hay in Mississippi. 271 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:26,120 Speaker 1: He farmed. 272 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:31,080 Speaker 2: And so when men who died in the community, the widows, 273 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:33,600 Speaker 2: all of them would pitch in and they wouldn't take 274 00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:37,000 Speaker 2: subsidy from USDA. They wouldn't take it. They said, the 275 00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:39,360 Speaker 2: grits that you could boil wouldn't even fit for a 276 00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:42,480 Speaker 2: dog deed because they wouldn't break down. It was, of course, 277 00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:48,280 Speaker 2: and so once you get inoculated with social services, it 278 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:52,560 Speaker 2: takes away your hypostic drives to thrive. And I've never 279 00:16:52,720 --> 00:16:57,440 Speaker 2: have ever taken any subsidies ever. We never didn't allow it. 280 00:16:58,640 --> 00:17:03,400 Speaker 1: But what you're saying, is that also destroys the ability 281 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:05,400 Speaker 1: to get to the middle class for the black. 282 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:07,800 Speaker 2: Fill There's a lot of things that destroyed I tell 283 00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:09,920 Speaker 2: black women this all the time. You know, I don't 284 00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:11,800 Speaker 2: care about you emailing me and see mailing me. Hell, 285 00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:14,720 Speaker 2: I don't read that stuff anyway. I'm retired now, so 286 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:16,680 Speaker 2: I don't have to answer to nobody but me the 287 00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:20,960 Speaker 2: good Lord above. And I tell folks all the time, 288 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:24,760 Speaker 2: and I tell my sons this, be careful who you 289 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:29,320 Speaker 2: lay with. The sex is expensive, it's a luxury item. 290 00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:32,159 Speaker 2: Don't live with somebody that you know you can't be 291 00:17:32,240 --> 00:17:36,040 Speaker 2: married to and have a family with. So don't appropriate 292 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:38,320 Speaker 2: and have babies all out of wed lock and then 293 00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:42,359 Speaker 2: you can't be married to them. And because it takes 294 00:17:42,359 --> 00:17:44,879 Speaker 2: a man and a woman to effectively raise a child, 295 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:47,800 Speaker 2: don't don't fall for that saying I can do it 296 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:50,160 Speaker 2: on my own. No, you really can't. It takes a 297 00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:53,159 Speaker 2: man to raise a man. And had it would not 298 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:55,399 Speaker 2: have been for those older black men and Bishop Grays 299 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:59,480 Speaker 2: Ben Hooks, I would have been a nothing, a loser. 300 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:03,160 Speaker 2: They taught me a lot about what it really meant 301 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:07,119 Speaker 2: to be a black man that was intelligent, I remember 302 00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:09,119 Speaker 2: I went to visit mister Tona and this girl across 303 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:13,800 Speaker 2: the street. She was cute and fine, and they was tonguing, 304 00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:17,399 Speaker 2: and mister Tawny was mad as hell. He saw me 305 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:19,400 Speaker 2: out there talking to her. He said, you can get 306 00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:22,760 Speaker 2: your in his house right now. He said, what this man? 307 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:25,439 Speaker 2: I said, she's cute, she's fine, she got three children 308 00:18:25,480 --> 00:18:27,080 Speaker 2: out of wed lock. If you go out there and 309 00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:28,719 Speaker 2: lay with her and she get her pregnant. And then 310 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:30,639 Speaker 2: they got to walk past all these baby daddies to 311 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:34,440 Speaker 2: get to her. You're young, you don't have any children. 312 00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:36,080 Speaker 2: Go get you a woman that you can be married 313 00:18:36,080 --> 00:18:38,520 Speaker 2: to and have your own set of babies so you 314 00:18:38,520 --> 00:18:40,960 Speaker 2: can raise your own family and have your own influence. 315 00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:44,359 Speaker 2: And I didn't understand that as a twenty year old man. 316 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:49,720 Speaker 2: Understand it now. And that's the that's the hardcore conversation 317 00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:53,760 Speaker 2: that we're not having. I mean, it's and. 318 00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:55,960 Speaker 1: You're never gonna get to the middle class with all 319 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:57,760 Speaker 1: that hanging around. 320 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:02,760 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's bad. Need you get it out of court. 321 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:06,119 Speaker 2: I mean, there's been programmed. The Asians don't do it, 322 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:10,600 Speaker 2: the Hispanics don't do it. This baby mama drama stuff 323 00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:14,720 Speaker 2: at the juvenile court is a mockery. And I really 324 00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:17,399 Speaker 2: think if you changed the laws to say, look, if 325 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:19,520 Speaker 2: whoever the custodial parents says you want to get child 326 00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:21,600 Speaker 2: supports so bad when your child cuts up in the 327 00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:23,359 Speaker 2: street and run the streets and he's not accounted for, 328 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:27,280 Speaker 2: locked the pairent up with the child, then all of 329 00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:29,600 Speaker 2: a sudden, now you're no longer the custodial parent. Now 330 00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:31,440 Speaker 2: you want to fall out, to be active in the life, 331 00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:35,840 Speaker 2: and you will see a change in how children and 332 00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:38,639 Speaker 2: this just destructive youth can can get better. 333 00:19:41,359 --> 00:19:45,200 Speaker 1: So this is the mindset, This is where the man 334 00:19:45,280 --> 00:19:49,200 Speaker 1: comes from. This is all of it. And you believe 335 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:54,480 Speaker 1: that my list of poverty, with all its subsets caught 336 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:58,199 Speaker 1: crime problems leads all subsets. You disagree with me. You 337 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:00,800 Speaker 1: say we don't have a crime problem, we have a 338 00:20:00,880 --> 00:20:03,600 Speaker 1: middle class problem. And when you said that to me, 339 00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:07,080 Speaker 1: that's when I thought this has got to be We 340 00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:10,040 Speaker 1: got to talk about Friends after Five on our show. 341 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:14,840 Speaker 1: All of what we said sets up to to give 342 00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:19,600 Speaker 1: perspective for why I'm starting to agree with you that 343 00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:24,679 Speaker 1: Friends after Five has a real opportunity to change so 344 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:30,119 Speaker 1: much of what ails us. What is Friends after five friends. 345 00:20:30,119 --> 00:20:33,560 Speaker 2: After five, we have thousands of young black men and 346 00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:38,240 Speaker 2: women who have done everything we've asked them to do. 347 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:41,320 Speaker 2: Is it in technical school or in college men and 348 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:48,040 Speaker 2: my HBCU schools. When they graduate from technical school or college, 349 00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:51,440 Speaker 2: no one is there to embrace them, to give the mentorship, 350 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:56,040 Speaker 2: and no one is there to help them build relationships 351 00:20:56,920 --> 00:21:01,560 Speaker 2: within a job market. That's the access, that's the access piece. 352 00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:06,480 Speaker 2: Because we keep operating these segregated salos and at the 353 00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:09,280 Speaker 2: end of the day, most white Americans, you know, you 354 00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:11,920 Speaker 2: got almost three hundred and thirty million people in America, 355 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:16,320 Speaker 2: forty eight million of which are black. Most companies are 356 00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:21,560 Speaker 2: ram by whites in America. Just being realistic, and if 357 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:23,680 Speaker 2: you do not have an understanding on how to get 358 00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:26,560 Speaker 2: out of your circle of where you've been programmed, then 359 00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:30,520 Speaker 2: you cannot build relationships to be able to get quality employment. 360 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:35,479 Speaker 2: And you should not have a a BBA walking around 361 00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:39,440 Speaker 2: working flipping burgers and frying chicken. But what a whole 362 00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:42,359 Speaker 2: purpose of going to school or you don't want to? 363 00:21:42,760 --> 00:21:46,280 Speaker 2: You know, we are are more technical school and now 364 00:21:46,320 --> 00:21:50,119 Speaker 2: you're still working in the jutting and come lucky shed 365 00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:52,200 Speaker 2: in the backyard on cars. When you should be working 366 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:54,359 Speaker 2: at Ford Motor. You should be working at GM or 367 00:21:54,359 --> 00:21:55,920 Speaker 2: somewhere that's going to pay you a pension or pay 368 00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:58,520 Speaker 2: you a quality wage or pay up a quality job. 369 00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:03,960 Speaker 2: And so we have thousands and so this isn't something 370 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:05,760 Speaker 2: that I think will work. This is something that worked 371 00:22:05,800 --> 00:22:07,080 Speaker 2: for me, and it worked for so many of my 372 00:22:07,119 --> 00:22:12,480 Speaker 2: friends who at the same halfway I've had, And so yes, 373 00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:17,000 Speaker 2: it is a challenge. This is being can be duplicated 374 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:19,719 Speaker 2: in any urban city. And what I've learned there are 375 00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:24,000 Speaker 2: some cities that really need it. Memphis needs it, but 376 00:22:24,119 --> 00:22:26,439 Speaker 2: then there are some cities who really want it. And 377 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:31,639 Speaker 2: there's differ between being wanted and wanting being needed. And 378 00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:35,320 Speaker 2: Memphis has been one of those cities who have been 379 00:22:36,359 --> 00:22:40,040 Speaker 2: reactive instead of proactive waiting to all the stuff and 380 00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:41,399 Speaker 2: board out on the stove and then we got to 381 00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:44,439 Speaker 2: clean up a mess. And some of our urban cities 382 00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:47,639 Speaker 2: like Jackson, Mississippi, they want to be more proactive. You 383 00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:52,760 Speaker 2: have six HBCUs in the state of Mississippi along and 384 00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:55,040 Speaker 2: now the workforce has changed, and so I want to 385 00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:58,080 Speaker 2: be very candid with it. So if you send Hispanics, 386 00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:01,800 Speaker 2: you bust them to Chicago on New York, Philadelphia, wherever 387 00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:05,040 Speaker 2: you're gonna bust them. And then you have young white 388 00:23:05,119 --> 00:23:07,200 Speaker 2: kids who are going to college. I can tell you 389 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:08,960 Speaker 2: right now, your white kid is not trying to work 390 00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:12,000 Speaker 2: at a blue Oval or a Ford anywhere in the warehouse. 391 00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:13,679 Speaker 2: That's not why he went to school. We went to 392 00:23:13,680 --> 00:23:16,600 Speaker 2: school to go to medical school, law school, you know it. 393 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:20,480 Speaker 2: And so your only workforce that you really have now 394 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:23,040 Speaker 2: are those black kids that are trying to go to 395 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:27,639 Speaker 2: somebody's school, and they need to have that interstitial relationship 396 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:32,200 Speaker 2: outside of their communities to make sure that they properly place. Now, 397 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:35,400 Speaker 2: I'm not superman. I'm not walking around here with a 398 00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:37,439 Speaker 2: shower cap fold up in the back of my pocket. 399 00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:40,600 Speaker 2: Every person I see, I pull it out and put 400 00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:44,880 Speaker 2: it around my neck like I'm Captain save somebody. I'm 401 00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:50,640 Speaker 2: being nice about it. That's not my intent. And yeah, 402 00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:53,120 Speaker 2: I've caught some flack on it, but I really don't care. 403 00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:57,560 Speaker 1: And so Friends after five is born of an idea 404 00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:05,399 Speaker 1: where you get these middle class young black folks up 405 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:08,919 Speaker 1: and coming that are trying to get it, and you 406 00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:12,040 Speaker 1: get white middle class and upper class folks in the 407 00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:16,480 Speaker 1: same room. After five, you have a cocktail and you 408 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:21,280 Speaker 1: try to just create relationships friends after five to create 409 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:27,320 Speaker 1: both access really access to one another, which let's be 410 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:32,080 Speaker 1: honest and social circles just doesn't happen very often. Access 411 00:24:32,119 --> 00:24:35,919 Speaker 1: to one another, but it's also access for white business 412 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:38,720 Speaker 1: owners to find the next level of talent they have 413 00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:45,480 Speaker 1: to have to run their companies' grop. We'll be right back. 414 00:24:56,840 --> 00:24:57,960 Speaker 1: Tell me about the first one. 415 00:24:58,119 --> 00:25:00,760 Speaker 2: Well, the first one was actually a house I called 416 00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:04,200 Speaker 2: eighty one people and I had almost ninety people show up. 417 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:06,880 Speaker 2: I only had one white friend to show up. 418 00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:09,840 Speaker 1: I ain't what Friends after five is supposed to look. 419 00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:11,879 Speaker 2: Well, the first one, that's what it looked like. And 420 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:15,200 Speaker 2: he showed up on my way website where he's standing 421 00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:17,320 Speaker 2: there at the fireplace in my living room with me, 422 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:20,080 Speaker 2: and so we had everyone introduce themselves and you had 423 00:25:20,119 --> 00:25:24,879 Speaker 2: everything from fireman to aircraft mechanics of fed X, to 424 00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:26,960 Speaker 2: nurse practitioners to register nurses, to. 425 00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:29,600 Speaker 1: Schooling about the black folks. These are all the jobs. 426 00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:32,000 Speaker 2: So he face turned red? 427 00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:33,600 Speaker 1: Who turned red? 428 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:35,960 Speaker 2: My friend who was white, who's standing there at the 429 00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:39,800 Speaker 2: fireplace with why then red? Because the stigmata of what 430 00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:42,240 Speaker 2: you see in the news when you see young kids 431 00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:46,359 Speaker 2: walking around their pants, hanging off their butt and doing donuts. 432 00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:48,480 Speaker 1: And he'd never been in a room for a ninety 433 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:52,960 Speaker 1: middle class black folks that were acting right care of themselves. 434 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:54,600 Speaker 1: He wasn't even aware they existed. 435 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:57,000 Speaker 2: He didn't. He wasn't even aware of the neighborhood I 436 00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:59,280 Speaker 2: live in, which is inner city, prominent, upper black, middle 437 00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:00,000 Speaker 2: class community. 438 00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:03,800 Speaker 1: By the way, also insulting, but it's a reality. 439 00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:05,240 Speaker 2: But he didn't his first time he had been to 440 00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:10,439 Speaker 2: twinkle Town, and so he's he's he's like, he says, 441 00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:14,240 Speaker 2: this got to work. I said, just thousands of us thousands. 442 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:18,760 Speaker 2: So you know, I've had some some nasty emails and phonks. 443 00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:21,680 Speaker 2: I don't pay that stuff in mind. I don't have that. 444 00:26:22,359 --> 00:26:25,400 Speaker 2: My interest isn't only kids that's not doing what we've 445 00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:28,240 Speaker 2: asked him to do. I can't. I can't solve that problem. 446 00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:31,000 Speaker 2: So I'm being candid and honest. That's not a problem 447 00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:33,359 Speaker 2: I can solve. I think a lot of it has 448 00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:36,040 Speaker 2: to do with the relationships of some of filed inner 449 00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:43,000 Speaker 2: city churches with not really practicing real ministry. But I 450 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:46,080 Speaker 2: can do something about those kids who are doing what 451 00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:49,960 Speaker 2: we've asked him to do. Getting opportunity given them opportunity. 452 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:52,679 Speaker 2: And you know, I did it with my own children. 453 00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:54,920 Speaker 2: My own two sons are well employed and they're young, 454 00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:57,280 Speaker 2: eighteen and twenty, and they got grown me in jobs 455 00:26:57,320 --> 00:27:00,280 Speaker 2: just you know, incomes that exceeded seventy thousand dollars a year. 456 00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:04,879 Speaker 2: And the kids almost really because of relationships, because people 457 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:07,959 Speaker 2: have seen that they've had something to emulate to mimic, 458 00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:10,840 Speaker 2: and they know the quality of the employee that they're 459 00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:15,320 Speaker 2: going to get and the opportunities that they get. And 460 00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:18,440 Speaker 2: I want to do that for as many young black 461 00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:20,600 Speaker 2: kids that's in school that I can. 462 00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:24,640 Speaker 1: So this white dude in this first meeting who had 463 00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:28,720 Speaker 1: an awakening, did what did he do about that? 464 00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:33,160 Speaker 2: Well, we had an event at his dealership or yeah, 465 00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:38,199 Speaker 2: he's a general manager for a Ford dealership and he 466 00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:41,040 Speaker 2: invited white friends. I said, oh good. So he had 467 00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:46,440 Speaker 2: about thirty white friends there. And this was the next one. Yeah, 468 00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:51,800 Speaker 2: and we had roughly about eighty five ninety blacks, middle 469 00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:56,360 Speaker 2: class blacks, and they kids to show up. Ever since then, 470 00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:58,879 Speaker 2: we've had event every every month. We have an event 471 00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:02,280 Speaker 2: here Memphis, now we have one in Jackson, Mississippi. We 472 00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:04,600 Speaker 2: get ready to start at Birmingham and Jackson, Tennessee at 473 00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:10,160 Speaker 2: Lane College. People want it now because you have these 474 00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:14,960 Speaker 2: HBCUs that do not have the relationships with a business community. 475 00:28:17,040 --> 00:28:19,800 Speaker 2: I'm dumbfounded with that. How do you have a school 476 00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:22,119 Speaker 2: that operated for almost one hundred and fifty years in 477 00:28:22,119 --> 00:28:26,320 Speaker 2: the community and you know, a white business community or 478 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:29,920 Speaker 2: Bunin's community at whole at large have not went over 479 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:33,280 Speaker 2: to pick the best out the best out of these schools. 480 00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:38,520 Speaker 1: Once again, bro access access even for an entire university. 481 00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:42,320 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's something, and so it's gonna have to change. 482 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:44,040 Speaker 1: And you want to talk about things that can break 483 00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:48,960 Speaker 1: down racial problems in our culture. Let's work together, respect 484 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:51,560 Speaker 1: one another, support one another, and all of a sudden, 485 00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:55,080 Speaker 1: RACI just doesn't matter that much anymore. 486 00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:57,880 Speaker 2: It doesn't matter once you reach a certain level in 487 00:28:57,920 --> 00:29:01,440 Speaker 2: your mind and as God has opened up some doors 488 00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:05,680 Speaker 2: for you to have a sense of achievement, Uh, you 489 00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:08,600 Speaker 2: realize it's not about black and white. It's just about 490 00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:13,000 Speaker 2: you know, God ordering his steps and then having a 491 00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:16,640 Speaker 2: purpose for your life. Because life is short and you 492 00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:21,480 Speaker 2: have to say to yourself, what kind of fingerprint, what 493 00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:26,200 Speaker 2: kind of mark will I leave on humanity when I'm dead? 494 00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:29,880 Speaker 2: Did I do anything to make this better before I 495 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:33,000 Speaker 2: left here? Or did I just suck up all the 496 00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:36,280 Speaker 2: resources and forgot there was other generations behind us that 497 00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:39,560 Speaker 2: really needed it. It only takes so much to live. 498 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:44,880 Speaker 2: I think we missed that mark. We missed it. You know, 499 00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:48,960 Speaker 2: at the end of the day, we all dust. Would 500 00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:49,680 Speaker 2: you agree with me? 501 00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:54,800 Speaker 1: I've started having the argument, did I think the uh 502 00:29:55,040 --> 00:30:00,800 Speaker 1: segregation and prejudiced of our day today it's morphed from 503 00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:04,520 Speaker 1: black white and morphed into societon cultural. 504 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:08,200 Speaker 2: I think one of the things I did when I 505 00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:11,880 Speaker 2: was directed at Chevy County, I have been to probably 506 00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:16,120 Speaker 2: more white churches than any black person you could probably imagine. 507 00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:19,720 Speaker 2: I wasn't invited. I just pop up when you set 508 00:30:19,760 --> 00:30:22,200 Speaker 2: up second prayers. I've been to second praiers at least 509 00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:24,640 Speaker 2: three times. Come on down, sit with my family in 510 00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:26,719 Speaker 2: the pew. Next time, well, I was one of them. 511 00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:28,360 Speaker 2: I went and there was a C. K Reece. I 512 00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:30,880 Speaker 2: don't know if you know C. K. And she said, 513 00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:32,640 Speaker 2: mister Hill, are you here? I said yeah, I was 514 00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:34,120 Speaker 2: just driving down the street and I said, I want 515 00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:36,200 Speaker 2: to stop so all the cars I want to see 516 00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:38,720 Speaker 2: what was going on. And I sit in the middle 517 00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:41,320 Speaker 2: of the audience. I was the only black person in 518 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:44,960 Speaker 2: there in the middle of that audience w Baptists and stuff. 519 00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:47,440 Speaker 2: So the reason why I say that is because King 520 00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:49,840 Speaker 2: said to us the most segregated hour in Americas on 521 00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:50,760 Speaker 2: Sunday morning. 522 00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:53,400 Speaker 1: Which is it's one of my favorite quotes of his 523 00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:58,920 Speaker 1: because it's profoundly true. And if we are truly called 524 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:01,840 Speaker 1: by that faith profoundly sinful. 525 00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:03,880 Speaker 2: It is because at the end of the day, I 526 00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:07,520 Speaker 2: can tell you right now, Heaven is not gonna be serogated. 527 00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:12,440 Speaker 2: Everybody's gonna have to get along just fine. And I think. 528 00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:14,520 Speaker 1: Jesus Saint God blonde hair and blue eyes either he 529 00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:15,480 Speaker 1: came from the Middle East. 530 00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:19,920 Speaker 2: Dog well, at the end of the day, we all 531 00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:21,760 Speaker 2: had to learn how to get along. And one of 532 00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:23,760 Speaker 2: my pastors used to always tell me this. He said, 533 00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:25,560 Speaker 2: we talk about when we get to heaven hell, we 534 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:29,200 Speaker 2: got to first learn how to live down here. And uh, 535 00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:32,560 Speaker 2: doctor Julius Yil Scipio, and he was adamant about that. 536 00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:35,960 Speaker 2: And so I've made it my business to get out 537 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:40,640 Speaker 2: of my comfort zones and visit people. And I've had 538 00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:43,040 Speaker 2: opportunities where I've been the only black person in the 539 00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:46,920 Speaker 2: room and a few black people that was there waiting 540 00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:49,320 Speaker 2: on tables and stuff, and they said, well looking at me, like, 541 00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:51,840 Speaker 2: what are you doing here? I had one of them. 542 00:31:51,840 --> 00:31:55,719 Speaker 2: I never forget this, and uh, he was just staring there, 543 00:31:55,760 --> 00:31:58,080 Speaker 2: standing and staring looking at me. I bore a chair 544 00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:01,680 Speaker 2: back and said, sit down, man. And he was waiting tables, 545 00:32:01,760 --> 00:32:03,480 Speaker 2: so I can't sit down. I said, yes you can. 546 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:05,680 Speaker 2: And I said, they fire you. I'm gonna find you 547 00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:08,959 Speaker 2: a job at the county. How about that? And so 548 00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:11,000 Speaker 2: the manager came. He looked I said, I asked him 549 00:32:11,040 --> 00:32:13,240 Speaker 2: to sit down, no food with him, leave him alone. 550 00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:17,080 Speaker 2: Sometimes you had to take somebody out of the conference 551 00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:18,280 Speaker 2: zone in order for them to grow. 552 00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:22,960 Speaker 1: Sure. My understanding is now some politicians have started to 553 00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:27,280 Speaker 1: see the potential and friends after five and are starting 554 00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:28,240 Speaker 1: to sports you a little bit. 555 00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:31,520 Speaker 2: Governor Haley Barber. We had to kick off last week 556 00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:36,080 Speaker 2: at Jackson State University. Doctor Marcus Thompson is the president. 557 00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:40,320 Speaker 2: They have over a thousand kids to graduate this year 558 00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:44,200 Speaker 2: from JSU, but medium have not been placed, so we 559 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:45,960 Speaker 2: had to kick off. We had almost two hundred and 560 00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:51,880 Speaker 2: forty people of police captains to Commissioners of safety, because 561 00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:54,440 Speaker 2: you know, you have kids who's majoring in criminal justice 562 00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:58,040 Speaker 2: computer science. And so we tried to have a plethora 563 00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:00,959 Speaker 2: of those who were hiring to try to retain them. 564 00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:04,479 Speaker 1: Why wouldn't Memphis needs five hundred officers, they're short, and 565 00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:08,200 Speaker 1: we got kids graduating from Jackson State with criminal justice degrees. 566 00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:11,040 Speaker 1: Why ain't Memphis down there recruiting those skills. 567 00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:15,120 Speaker 2: The lazy the lazy, and believe it or not, fifty 568 00:33:15,120 --> 00:33:18,000 Speaker 2: percent of the students it's at the HBCUs in North 569 00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:20,200 Speaker 2: Mississippi throughout Mississippi are from Memphis. 570 00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:25,400 Speaker 1: And we'll have the degree to get a job. I mean, 571 00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:29,480 Speaker 1: we can back fill up the police department. 572 00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:32,920 Speaker 2: Tomorrow, police department, school system, you name it. 573 00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:33,640 Speaker 1: Fired. 574 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:39,040 Speaker 2: But because Memphis has this mindset, you know, we're lazy, 575 00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:42,360 Speaker 2: as some of the people we elect are not competent 576 00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:44,320 Speaker 2: to run a city. And it's just not Memphis. We 577 00:33:44,360 --> 00:33:46,160 Speaker 2: see it in Chicago, we see the Detroit, we see 578 00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:49,120 Speaker 2: it in all the urban cities. And if you do 579 00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:52,240 Speaker 2: not attach to this young generation, then they won't come back. 580 00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:55,640 Speaker 2: And right now, once Blue Oval and some of these 581 00:33:55,640 --> 00:33:57,719 Speaker 2: other places open up, it's going to suck fifty thousand 582 00:33:57,760 --> 00:33:59,880 Speaker 2: jobs out of the atmosphere. What's going to be left 583 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:02,160 Speaker 2: to other people that's here, and not just in Memphis, 584 00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:03,200 Speaker 2: but in these urban cities. 585 00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:06,080 Speaker 1: What happens to tax space, Well, the. 586 00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:09,520 Speaker 2: Rate we're going now, you know, sixty percent, sixty five 587 00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:12,640 Speaker 2: percent of the home ownership now Memphis is rental property 588 00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:17,520 Speaker 2: owned by outside rental people getting sixty five percent of 589 00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:19,399 Speaker 2: all the inner city homes and two for the loop 590 00:34:20,200 --> 00:34:23,320 Speaker 2: I'm not owned by people, they're owned by companies and corporations. 591 00:34:24,200 --> 00:34:26,239 Speaker 2: And so like with some of the stuff we see 592 00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:29,600 Speaker 2: in the news of possible tax increases and board services 593 00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:34,600 Speaker 2: and potholes, you have not done anything to reinsure the 594 00:34:34,640 --> 00:34:36,000 Speaker 2: middle class growth and base. 595 00:34:36,640 --> 00:34:38,960 Speaker 1: But that's but that's to your point. If you have 596 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:42,320 Speaker 1: a robust middle class, sixty five percent of the homes 597 00:34:42,320 --> 00:34:44,880 Speaker 1: ain't no by rental properties that are owned by homeowners 598 00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:47,719 Speaker 1: who are paying into their own community. 599 00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:50,799 Speaker 2: But even though the investors are paying into it from 600 00:34:50,920 --> 00:34:53,840 Speaker 2: tax you know, property taxes. What happens is if you 601 00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:56,719 Speaker 2: allow so many people to have this sense of hopelessness 602 00:34:56,800 --> 00:34:59,600 Speaker 2: of not having home ownership, and all you're doing now 603 00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:02,799 Speaker 2: is have a mayor and a government that's running a 604 00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:07,080 Speaker 2: city that's now one large housing project, which what it 605 00:35:07,280 --> 00:35:10,320 Speaker 2: was down to, and so then you will have nothing 606 00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:14,760 Speaker 2: but a plethora and a vacuum of crime and poverty. Uh, 607 00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:15,759 Speaker 2: it will be a sodom and. 608 00:35:15,719 --> 00:35:19,640 Speaker 1: Gomorro, which speaks to the power of friends. After five 609 00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:22,160 Speaker 1: and your belief we don't have a crime problem, edu case, 610 00:35:22,239 --> 00:35:24,480 Speaker 1: probably have a middle class problem. Middle class problem. You 611 00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:26,920 Speaker 1: build the middle class and it fixes all this. She 612 00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:30,200 Speaker 1: does and banks the same way. We had some banks 613 00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:33,560 Speaker 1: that tried to merge. They had no CRA credits because 614 00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:38,359 Speaker 1: they didn't have enough participation in urban cities Memphis. When 615 00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:40,520 Speaker 1: you look at the poor zip code was the poor 616 00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:42,919 Speaker 1: zip code in America was three one o six three 617 00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:46,560 Speaker 1: one two six s eighty South Memphis, South Memphis. Right, 618 00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:48,480 Speaker 1: And are you proud of me for knowing that? 619 00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:52,040 Speaker 2: Well, yeah, you should know about BTWD the Warriors, and 620 00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:56,440 Speaker 2: but they're down to just one bank in that community. 621 00:35:56,680 --> 00:35:57,240 Speaker 2: One bank. 622 00:35:57,360 --> 00:36:03,640 Speaker 1: How many grocery stores two when you got two gross 623 00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:04,600 Speaker 1: stores on one brank. 624 00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:09,719 Speaker 2: It's back to my buzzword access success to nothing. But 625 00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:13,319 Speaker 2: a lot of it has to play into when you 626 00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:17,320 Speaker 2: hire people. You need to hire people from a community 627 00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:19,799 Speaker 2: to be managers of these stores, to be managers of 628 00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:24,160 Speaker 2: these banks, because it's all about relationships. And so when 629 00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:27,280 Speaker 2: you hire people that have graduated from JSU or TULU 630 00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:31,360 Speaker 2: whatever with a BBA or bachelor's degree in business or finance, 631 00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:33,920 Speaker 2: hire them to be the manager at a Dollar General 632 00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:36,800 Speaker 2: or our family dollar, then you wouldn't see all this stuff. 633 00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:39,480 Speaker 2: You wouldn't see all that because nobody wants to say, hey, Robert, 634 00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:41,560 Speaker 2: no little Johnny, Johnny, you better stay out here. See 635 00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:45,240 Speaker 2: does a relationship And when you have a relationship with people, 636 00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:49,120 Speaker 2: then it builds this sense of community. 637 00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:52,920 Speaker 1: Which then builds the middle class, which then builds talk space, 638 00:36:53,640 --> 00:36:56,120 Speaker 1: which then more people crawl out of poverty into the 639 00:36:56,120 --> 00:37:00,239 Speaker 1: middle class, which then reduces crime, which then means more 640 00:37:00,280 --> 00:37:04,200 Speaker 1: parents involved in schools, which builds ptas, which makes the 641 00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:08,640 Speaker 1: school a better educational system. I mean, I buy what 642 00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:09,399 Speaker 1: you're selling. Man. 643 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:13,719 Speaker 2: It's a lot of hard work, and I've been, you know, 644 00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:15,960 Speaker 2: I've had some disenchantment a little bit here in the city. 645 00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:20,600 Speaker 2: Sometimes it's hard to raise money. All of our students 646 00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:24,359 Speaker 2: between eighteen and twenty six, they come for free and 647 00:37:24,400 --> 00:37:27,000 Speaker 2: we don't turn anyone away, but it is it's very costly. 648 00:37:29,920 --> 00:37:31,759 Speaker 2: But you know, I'm alright with I've put my own 649 00:37:31,800 --> 00:37:36,880 Speaker 2: personal money into it. But it's working. And at the 650 00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:40,040 Speaker 2: end of the day, I think we can make an 651 00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:45,360 Speaker 2: investment in a future, or we can make an investment 652 00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:49,960 Speaker 2: in building prisons and institutions. Because we didn't make an 653 00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:53,440 Speaker 2: investment in generations. Kind of a choice in it. It 654 00:37:54,040 --> 00:37:57,120 Speaker 2: shouldn't be a choice. Someone made a comment to me, 655 00:37:57,600 --> 00:38:00,000 Speaker 2: and I know you probably out of time can include 656 00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:02,560 Speaker 2: the time. Yeah, all right, I want to say this. 657 00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:05,520 Speaker 2: So I had a young man, he was doing some 658 00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:09,000 Speaker 2: treat work for me, and he said to me, he said, 659 00:38:09,080 --> 00:38:11,400 Speaker 2: he looked at my sons. My sons are doing welding. 660 00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:13,759 Speaker 2: If you pull up on Facebook, they were fourteen and 661 00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:16,920 Speaker 2: fifteen year old kids. And I have this closet hunt 662 00:38:16,960 --> 00:38:18,880 Speaker 2: in my backyard and had to got to rewire with 663 00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:22,480 Speaker 2: two twenty wires and made into a welding shop. And 664 00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:25,680 Speaker 2: I probably invested maated about twenty grand my savings into 665 00:38:25,880 --> 00:38:30,000 Speaker 2: all this welding equipment that they wanted and needed. And 666 00:38:30,080 --> 00:38:32,640 Speaker 2: so this man who working on my trees, who was black, 667 00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:35,320 Speaker 2: he says, mister Hill, I want to ask you a question. 668 00:38:35,719 --> 00:38:39,719 Speaker 2: I said, what is it named Roy? He says, if 669 00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:44,239 Speaker 2: they weren't your children, would you do this for other 670 00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:48,960 Speaker 2: young black boys, black women? Chunking and laughed. He walked 671 00:38:48,960 --> 00:38:52,799 Speaker 2: into it. Bill he did, I said, I've adopted a 672 00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:55,080 Speaker 2: total of I have a toll of five children. I 673 00:38:55,120 --> 00:38:58,560 Speaker 2: have three that adopted legally adopted. Only two of them 674 00:38:58,560 --> 00:39:01,680 Speaker 2: are biological. I said, I took you in children that 675 00:39:01,719 --> 00:39:05,040 Speaker 2: weren't my children because they needed somewhere to stay. I 676 00:39:05,040 --> 00:39:07,440 Speaker 2: sent him to school, sent him to private school. I 677 00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:09,239 Speaker 2: gave him a hair company they needed and asked them 678 00:39:09,280 --> 00:39:11,719 Speaker 2: when they needed, and sent him to college out of 679 00:39:11,719 --> 00:39:14,960 Speaker 2: my own money. And I said, I would rather spend 680 00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:17,640 Speaker 2: twenty thousand dollars in a closet hut for hiding in 681 00:39:17,680 --> 00:39:21,080 Speaker 2: well and equipment, or spend twenty thousand dollars keeping them 682 00:39:21,120 --> 00:39:25,399 Speaker 2: out of juvenile court. The choice is yours. And what 683 00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:28,160 Speaker 2: most black men and women are doing is choosing to 684 00:39:28,200 --> 00:39:32,000 Speaker 2: buy corvettes and buying cad of like escalades, and going 685 00:39:32,040 --> 00:39:35,600 Speaker 2: on vacation and trying to look the part to impress 686 00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:39,080 Speaker 2: people they don't know what things they don't have, instead 687 00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:41,680 Speaker 2: of making the investment back in those of their own children. 688 00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:47,080 Speaker 2: And that's the problem. So yes, I've done it for everybody. 689 00:39:47,080 --> 00:39:51,000 Speaker 2: I've sent helped kids go to school of taking them, 690 00:39:51,520 --> 00:39:52,200 Speaker 2: that's what it's. 691 00:39:52,080 --> 00:39:58,000 Speaker 1: About Friends after five building the middle class because we 692 00:39:58,080 --> 00:40:00,000 Speaker 1: can either build the middle class or we can build 693 00:40:00,160 --> 00:40:01,520 Speaker 1: more child's it's your choice. 694 00:40:01,640 --> 00:40:05,319 Speaker 2: It's your choice, Robert, Do. 695 00:40:05,239 --> 00:40:09,400 Speaker 1: You have yet, because Friends after five's fairly new concept, 696 00:40:09,560 --> 00:40:15,040 Speaker 1: do you have yet any stories of some connections made 697 00:40:15,040 --> 00:40:18,320 Speaker 1: at a fends after five that has helped some folks. 698 00:40:18,400 --> 00:40:19,719 Speaker 2: Well, there's a lot of them. I put them on 699 00:40:19,719 --> 00:40:23,680 Speaker 2: the website at ww dot Friends after in the number 700 00:40:23,719 --> 00:40:29,080 Speaker 2: five dot com. Hayley Barbara also gave a testimonial. Our 701 00:40:29,120 --> 00:40:32,440 Speaker 2: next event is going to be April twenty fifth. Butler snow, 702 00:40:33,200 --> 00:40:38,680 Speaker 2: we have a standing invitations every third Thursday or the 703 00:40:38,719 --> 00:40:42,080 Speaker 2: month will now be a Jackson State University building that community. 704 00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:45,600 Speaker 2: We'll be heading to Lane College. On Lane College now 705 00:40:45,760 --> 00:40:50,919 Speaker 2: is I certainly wanted, which is in Jackson, Tennessee, and 706 00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:54,240 Speaker 2: trying to pour together Old miss and Northwest Community colleges 707 00:40:54,360 --> 00:40:57,600 Speaker 2: for North Mississippi because you have so many middle class 708 00:40:57,600 --> 00:41:00,880 Speaker 2: blacks moving across that state line going towhere in the country. 709 00:41:00,960 --> 00:41:03,239 Speaker 2: We had invitation and we had resources that can go 710 00:41:03,280 --> 00:41:04,359 Speaker 2: into any urban city with this. 711 00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:06,440 Speaker 1: Somebody wants to get in touch with you. 712 00:41:07,239 --> 00:41:10,279 Speaker 2: Phone numbers real simple, nine, O, one, six, four, to 713 00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:13,960 Speaker 2: three fifteen seventy eight. I'm not having from nobody leave 714 00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:16,480 Speaker 2: me a message. I'm not having from no bill collectors 715 00:41:16,680 --> 00:41:20,680 Speaker 2: you can find and that is if you want to 716 00:41:20,719 --> 00:41:23,799 Speaker 2: attend to Friends after five event, if you want to 717 00:41:24,320 --> 00:41:28,719 Speaker 2: host one or just going, you want to support it financially, 718 00:41:29,160 --> 00:41:31,040 Speaker 2: going thrus Robert Friends. 719 00:41:30,719 --> 00:41:34,840 Speaker 1: After five, everybody we are. We're talking to a man 720 00:41:35,360 --> 00:41:40,520 Speaker 1: who you heard the way came up, and his belief 721 00:41:40,680 --> 00:41:44,640 Speaker 1: is you build the black middle class, you fix all 722 00:41:44,680 --> 00:41:47,520 Speaker 1: the problems in front of it and behind it. And 723 00:41:47,560 --> 00:41:50,520 Speaker 1: if you listen to his argument, it makes a lot 724 00:41:50,560 --> 00:41:54,640 Speaker 1: of sense. And this is just another great example of 725 00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:58,840 Speaker 1: a normal dude working hard, coming up, seeing a place 726 00:41:58,880 --> 00:42:02,960 Speaker 1: of need and working his off to fill that place 727 00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:08,040 Speaker 1: and need. And from both a social cultural and a 728 00:42:08,040 --> 00:42:13,600 Speaker 1: pragmatic sense, Friends after Five feels like it has an 729 00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:14,680 Speaker 1: opportunity to fix a lot. 730 00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:20,160 Speaker 2: What else is Robert, Well, pray for us. Consider if 731 00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:22,480 Speaker 2: you've want some helping some of the urban cities, please 732 00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:25,879 Speaker 2: contact me. I have capacity. I burn up a toyo, 733 00:42:25,920 --> 00:42:28,759 Speaker 2: the truck and toyo to tires on it. But no, 734 00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:30,680 Speaker 2: this is a lot of work and I need as 735 00:42:30,719 --> 00:42:31,520 Speaker 2: much help as I can. 736 00:42:32,520 --> 00:42:36,279 Speaker 1: It's awesome. Thank you, Robert Hill, Friends after Five. I 737 00:42:36,280 --> 00:42:38,560 Speaker 1: can't wait to see where this goes. Thanks for joining us. 738 00:42:38,560 --> 00:42:44,560 Speaker 1: So I'm court thank you, and thank you for joining 739 00:42:44,640 --> 00:42:48,080 Speaker 1: us this week. If Robert Hill or other guests have 740 00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:50,920 Speaker 1: inspired you in general, or better yet, inspired you to 741 00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:55,080 Speaker 1: take action by joining a Friends after five gathering, by 742 00:42:55,200 --> 00:42:59,200 Speaker 1: donating to them, by helping bring their model to your community, 743 00:42:59,400 --> 00:43:03,759 Speaker 1: or something else entirely, please let me know. I'd love 744 00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:07,040 Speaker 1: to hear about it. You can write me anytime at 745 00:43:07,080 --> 00:43:11,440 Speaker 1: Bill at normalfolks dot us and I will respond. And 746 00:43:11,719 --> 00:43:14,920 Speaker 1: if you enjoyed this episode, please share it with friends 747 00:43:14,920 --> 00:43:19,160 Speaker 1: that on social, subscribe to the podcast, rate and review it, 748 00:43:19,640 --> 00:43:23,560 Speaker 1: become a premium member at normalfolks dot us. All these 749 00:43:23,600 --> 00:43:27,560 Speaker 1: things that can help us grow an army of normal folks. 750 00:43:28,040 --> 00:43:30,400 Speaker 1: I'm Bill Courtney. I'll see you next week.