Building Future Entrepreneurs Featuring Denise Berkhalter-Miller

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Welcome. I'm Erik Fleming, host of A Moment with Erik Fleming, the podcast of our time.

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I want to personally thank you for listening to the podcast.

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If you like what you're hearing, then I need you to do a few things.

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truth to power, and to expand and improve the show.

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Second, leave a five-star review for the podcast on the streaming service you

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listen to it. That will help the podcast tremendously.

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make this moment a movement.

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Thanks in advance for supporting the podcast of our time. I hope you enjoy this episode as well.

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The following program is hosted by the NBG Podcast Network.

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Hello, welcome to another moment with Erik Fleming. I am your host, Erik Fleming.

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So today I have one guest and she is going to talk about her career and the

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connection that she and I have and about entrepreneurship.

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So it's a brief conversation, but I think you will find it fulfilling.

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And then I'm going to get to talk about some stuff that's going on.

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I think we need to acknowledge.

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If you are a black podcaster, it's award season for us.

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I know you probably have gotten postcards or emails from a bunch of groups,

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but the one I want you to pay attention to is the Black Podcasters Association.

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That's basically the only one I try to compete in because it's about us.

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And not only do they give out awards, but they also give out positive feedback.

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You know, after each award presentation, you can go to their website and look

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and see how you scored, if you got nominated or not.

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And it's really, really helpful. There's some things that you can adjust,

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then they kind of give you those pointers.

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If it's something you can't really handle, don't worry about it.

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Just take it as constructive criticism and, you know, you never know.

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Luck may have it that the next year you may get further consideration.

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But I promote it every year. I've been nominated twice by this organization.

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I have not won, but just the recognition that these are our folks that know

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about the work that we're doing.

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So I always try to promote them because they don't have the big sponsorships

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like some of these other groups yet, but that's coming as long as we,

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the Black Podcasters, keep supporting them.

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And speaking about support, please go to www.momenterik.com.

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As always, I appreciate y'all listening. I would appreciate even more support,

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whether it's a donation or a subscription or whatever the case may be,

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or just some positive reviews.

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Anything to show that you support an independent podcaster like me would be greatly appreciated.

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All right, so let's go ahead and kick this program off.

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And as always, we kick it off with a moment of news with Grace G.

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Thanks, Erik. Tulsi Gabbard resigned her position as Director of National Intelligence.

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Thousands of activists gathered in Selma and Montgomery, Alabama,

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for a National Day of Action to protest congressional redistricting efforts

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that will dilute the Black vote. The U.S.

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Supreme Court rejected a request by Virginia Democrats to reinstate a voting

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map approved by the state's voters in a recent referendum.

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Two teenage gunmen shot and killed a security guard and two other men outside

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the Islamic Center of San Diego before turning their weapons on themselves.

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Search and rescue operations in Morocco recovered the remains of Specialist

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Mariah Simone Collington and First Lieutenant Kendrick Lamont Key Jr.,

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both of whom died after falling off a cliff during a multinational military exercise.

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President Trump seeks to dismiss multiple lawsuits against the federal government

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in exchange for creating a $1.7 billion fund to compensate individuals who claim

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they were targeted by the Biden administration.

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Ed Gallrain defeated vocal Trump critic Thomas Massey in Kentucky's 4th Congressional

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District Republican primary.

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In the Georgia gubernatorial race, Burt Jones and Rick Jackson advanced to a

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Republican primary runoff, while former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms decisively

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secured the Democratic nomination.

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Dr. Bill Cassidy, the Republican senator who voted for President Trump's impeachment,

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lost his re-election primary in Louisiana.

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Colorado Governor Jared Polis granted clemency to former county clerk Tina Peters,

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commuting her nine-year prison sentence for voting machine tampering to time served.

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A Kansas City district judge temporarily blocked a state law banning gender

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transition treatments for minors.

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Minnesota prosecutors have charged an ICE agent with assault for the January

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shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant in Minneapolis during a federal immigration crackdown.

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And former Congressman Barney Frank died at the age of 86.

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I am Grace G., and this has been a Moment of News.

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All right. Thank you, Grace, for that moment of news.

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And now it's time for my guest, Denise Berkhalter-Miller.

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Denise Berkhalter-Miller, APR MSM, is National Director of Communications for

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Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship.

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NFTE brings the power of entrepreneurship education to learners,

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educators, and decision makers so all young people can own their futures.

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Mississippi native, Denise has three decades of experience in mass communication

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fields, including as a longtime digital news editor, newspaper editor,

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reporter, freelance writer, graphic designer, and public relations professional.

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She is president of the No Fear Finances Board of Directors,

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a small business tax support nonprofit in Alabama, and a member of the Public

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Relations Society of America, Alabama Ethics Chair,

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the National Association of Black Journalists, and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.

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She is a summa cum laude graduate of Troy University, Montgomery,

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where she earned her Master's of Management degree, and Jackson State University,

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the I love, where she obtained a bachelor's in mass communication with a public relations emphasis.

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She is one of the first African-American women in Alabama to become nationally

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certified in public relations.

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The former national president of the Council of School Board Communicators has twice judged the U.S.

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Chamber of Commerce's CO100 America's top small business list.

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Ladies and gentlemen, it is my distinct honor and privilege to have as a guest

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on this podcast, Denise Berkhalter-Miller.

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All right, Denise Berkhalter-Miller. How you doing? Yes. You doing good?

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Doing well. Doing great. Happy to be here. Well, I know I'm holding you up from

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something very important.

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Today is election day for y'all as we're recording this in Alabama and in Georgia.

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And we're getting out the vote today. Yeah. It's very important.

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It's very important. So I'm glad that you took your time out to talk to me for a minute.

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What I want to do is start

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off with a couple of icebreakers So the first icebreaker I do is I ask the guest

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to respond to a quote So this is your quote No one will tell your story as authentically

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as you can Live your life aware that you have the starring role in it,

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Absolutely. You are the star of

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your story and far too often we let other people tell our stories for us.

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No, it's the same thing about your home. No one will take care of you the way you do.

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No one will tell your story the way you do.

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You do it best and you should own your story. Okay.

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All right. Now the next icebreaker is what I call 20 questions.

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So I need you to give me a number between one and 20. Three.

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I'm nervous.

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Don't be nervous. How should we balance rights, freedoms, and responsibilities?

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Rights, freedoms, and responsibilities, they all go hand in hand.

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But I think it's true that your sort of freedoms end where my rights begin and vice versa.

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So I think it's important for us to be respectful of each other's rights,

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to be respectful of each other's freedoms and, you know, and to honor what we

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what I call the golden rule.

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But I think it's the rule that rules everything, which is do unto others as

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you will have them to do unto you. It's really simple.

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I'm a believer in God and God tells me that I should, above all things,

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love one another. And I think if you do those things, then all three of those

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things that you mentioned will be held to high esteem.

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Yeah. See, that wasn't that bad, wasn't it? No, it was easy. It was easy.

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So look, one of the things that I love is that I get to talk to people smarter

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than me when I do this podcast.

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But it's even more thrilling when I can get one, somebody from Mississippi to

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come on, and then somebody that went to Jackson State University to come on. This.I. Love.

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Thee.I. Love. So let's start with the Mississippi part. Tell the world about Prentiss, Mississippi.

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Prentiss, Mississippi is one of those towns you think you've heard of because

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you've driven through it.

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Otherwise, most people don't have a reason to be there. But it's a fantastic

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little alcove in the South where everybody knows everybody.

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Family looks after family.

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You know, a lot of the traditions are still alive for not just African-American

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traditions, but just those old Southern traditions.

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Southern charm really is a real thing down there.

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And so there's a lot I love about my little town, but there was a lot about

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my little town that I thought could be a lot better.

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And I still think it's a place where growth and development needs to exist.

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But yes, tiny town, I think we have, well, when I was there,

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I think there were two traffic lights.

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I don't even know if there are two traffic lights anymore.

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But it was that kind of place, that kind of place. It's sandwiched in between

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Hattiesburg and Jackson, Mississippi.

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So close enough to Hattiesburg, close enough to Jackson that you still could

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live what I would call a semi-urban life if you wanted to. Yeah.

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You know, one of the cool things that I did when I ran for U.S.

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Senate was being able to travel the state.

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I remember going to Prentiss and they were playing Bassfield that day.

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And I had to go to the football game so I could get to a crowd and talk to folks.

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That's where everybody in the

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whole town was. Everybody was there for that Prentiss-Bassfield game.

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And so the PA announced and let me say who I was on the intercom.

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The people clapped and all that stuff. It was like, it was pretty cool.

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Now it's one school system. So it's Prentiss and Bassfield are one

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Jefferson Davis County School System now. Yeah, it's now one big.

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The robbery has joined forces and now we're one big force. Okay.

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All right. Yeah. That's interesting.

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That was something that we were

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looking at when I was up there in the legislature about consolidating.

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I think the only one we got, well, we basically got rid of the superintendent

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of Issaquena County because there wasn't a school in Issaquena.

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So we were like, why are we paying this guy money?

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The same thing is the rolling fork. We were like, what was going on with that?

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And then we consolidated Bolivar County.

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Ah, okay. They had like four or five school districts and they only had 40,000

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people in the whole county.

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So we were like, I can make this work. Anyway, why did you choose Jackson State University?

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Why mass communications as a major? And what was your college experience?

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So I attended Prentiss High School.

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I was in a band. Our band was known as the Baby Sonic Boom, and you know Jackson

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State is Sonic Boom of the South.

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But our band director, Ronald Wesley, had attended Jackson State University,

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but so had also my aunt and my uncle.

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Both are graduates of JSU, and my mother attended briefly.

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But JSU sort of was never a doubt for me.

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I knew right away that I wanted to go to Jackson State University.

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I had heard great things about it my whole life.

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I had been on college tours to Jackson State when I was in high school.

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I've been to many universities and colleges because I was part of the beta club

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and all these other things, you know, the nerdy things that the nerds do. I did them all.

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But Jackson State always stood out to me as a place where I could find home.

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You know, it just really felt like home.

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And that was true when I made it there. In fact, I remember one of my high school

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counselors because I graduated third in my class and there was like 0.001 difference between our GPAs.

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That's a story for another day. But I graduated third in our class,

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and I remember my high school counselor telling me, you should go to an Ivy League college.

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You know, she wanted me to go to Harvard. She wanted me to go to Yale,

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and I only wanted to go to Jackson State.

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And when I got there, like I said, it was absolutely the right place for me.

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The Honors College dean became almost like a second mom to me,

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Maria Alvarez Harvey. Dr.

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Harvey has since passed, but she was like a mother to me the entire time,

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always looking out for me.

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She's the reason why I became a Thurgood Marshall scholar, made sure that I

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did what I needed to do to qualify for that scholarship.

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And, you know, and so mass communications, the story there is kind of funny.

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I cannot remember her name, but the dean of the college at the time was a former

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editor of Ebony magazine.

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And we had that freshman orientation. We all knew we wanted to be in the mass

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comms field, but I didn't know which area. I honestly didn't.

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I just knew I wanted to be a storyteller.

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And so they divided the room into three. And they said, everyone who wants to

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be a broadcast journalist, go to that side of the room.

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Everyone who wants to be in print, go to that side of the room.

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And everyone who wants to be in public relations, go to the center.

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Well, the people on the left, there was a large number of people over there.

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When they said broadcast, like over 75% of the room went to that space.

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And there were like 10 people left.

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And I looked around. I said, hey, this is going to be my competition.

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So I'm going to go to the center.

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I went to the smallest number because I always wanted to be unique.

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But I felt like God was leading me to that space of relations because,

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you know, again, I wanted to tell the story of people who can't tell the story for themselves.

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I wanted to amplify the stories of people who often are in the shadows.

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And so mass communications was the best way to do that.

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And public relations has proven to be a wonderful way to do that.

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And Ebony Magazine editor, who was our dean, she told me, she said,

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start in journalism because you can always make the transition from journalism

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to public relations, but it's so hard to make it in the other direction. And that's what I did.

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13 year journalism. Yeah. Cause I was trying to think who that was. Cause I know Dr.

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Anthony was over at the end when I was, when I was there. Yeah.

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And then I forgot who took over after her.

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And then I knew Anthony Dean had it for a minute.

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And then Bobbie, Bobbie Walker, she wasn't the Dean, but she was,

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you know, she was on TV and,

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If I loved her because, you know, she was she handled pretty much the radio and TV part of it.

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Yes, I remember her. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So that was pretty cool.

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So I had a my thing was I didn't have that JSU connection other than Walter

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Payton because I grew in Chicago.

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You know, Walter Payton was like a god just like Michael Jordan is now.

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And and so that was my only real connection to Jackson State.

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But I became Dr. Harvey baby, too.

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Yeah. And so that's how I got there. And they told me I didn't have to pay for

00:19:22.269 --> 00:19:24.849
anything. I didn't have to pay for books. I was like, yeah, sold.

00:19:26.189 --> 00:19:29.409
Because Princeton was like, you in, but you've got to pay this first year.

00:19:29.509 --> 00:19:34.389
My dad was like, oh, yeah, I'll make that happen. I was like, really? Yeah.

00:19:36.129 --> 00:19:38.849
No, man, you're not going in debt just for me to go to college.

00:19:39.089 --> 00:19:42.729
When people are, my mom's alma mater was West Virginia State.

00:19:43.449 --> 00:19:47.589
And they offered me a scholarship too but then they also sent me a bill saying

00:19:47.589 --> 00:19:52.569
I had burned a room up so Was that true sir?

00:19:52.889 --> 00:19:59.649
No I hadn't been there it was a guy who spelled his last name F-L-E-M-O-N-S,

00:20:00.409 --> 00:20:04.809
but they sent me the bill saying I had burnt a room up and I was like I hadn't

00:20:04.809 --> 00:20:09.769
even been to West Virginia The station identity I was like this sounds like

00:20:09.769 --> 00:20:12.869
that's going to be a bad rap My mom was not happy about that, being an alum.

00:20:13.129 --> 00:20:17.809
But, you know, so I mean, and I felt that, you know, once I got there to Jackson

00:20:17.809 --> 00:20:23.689
State, when you talk about being home and it gave me a chance to meet a lot

00:20:23.689 --> 00:20:24.789
of my Mississippi relatives.

00:20:24.889 --> 00:20:28.569
A couple of them was working on the faculty down there and all that.

00:20:28.689 --> 00:20:30.529
So it was really, really cool.

00:20:30.709 --> 00:20:33.869
And I wouldn't have traded it for anything else in the world.

00:20:34.569 --> 00:20:40.089
So you have been a member of the press and a public relations profession.

00:20:40.089 --> 00:20:45.069
In the world we live in now, which profession is the most challenging to you?

00:20:45.889 --> 00:20:50.669
So I just recently hosted, I'm chair of the Alabama Public Relations Society

00:20:50.669 --> 00:20:56.289
of America's chapter and chair of the ethics committee.

00:20:56.569 --> 00:21:01.649
And so I hosted an event with local journalists and public relations professionals

00:21:01.649 --> 00:21:03.989
to talk about something very similar to that.

00:21:04.289 --> 00:21:10.529
And honestly, I think both of those professions now are being called on to fill

00:21:10.529 --> 00:21:13.769
an important need for our country at this moment.

00:21:14.129 --> 00:21:18.149
You know, ethical, factual, accurate.

00:21:18.809 --> 00:21:25.969
Meaningful conversations and discourse and information sharing and reporting

00:21:25.969 --> 00:21:31.609
is more, all of that is far more important than it's ever been in the history

00:21:31.609 --> 00:21:33.769
of our country, in my opinion, right now.

00:21:34.269 --> 00:21:39.689
You know, particularly with the advent of AI, you know, that whole fake news

00:21:39.689 --> 00:21:46.369
mantra has gone from somebody's philosophy to an actual reality in our country right now.

00:21:46.489 --> 00:21:50.509
And so I just think both roles are crucially important at this moment.

00:21:51.109 --> 00:21:54.769
Yeah. Yeah. That's interesting. I didn't, I didn't know if you were going to

00:21:54.769 --> 00:21:58.829
have a preference or you were going to say both.

00:21:59.049 --> 00:22:05.089
So it's, it's real interesting you being real, real deep in that field and in

00:22:05.089 --> 00:22:08.969
high esteem in that field that you would say that both.

00:22:09.449 --> 00:22:16.189
Yeah. Yeah. I've been on both sides of the table and I can see how both roles,

00:22:16.489 --> 00:22:21.509
you know, are important, like I said, to factual and accurate storytelling.

00:22:22.149 --> 00:22:28.889
Yeah. All right. So what is NFTE and how did your professional journey lead you to work with them?

00:22:29.433 --> 00:22:36.093
So the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, NFTE, has been around since 1987,

00:22:36.693 --> 00:22:39.793
40 years, coming up in next year.

00:22:40.013 --> 00:22:45.173
And the organization is a global nonprofit that helps young people learn how

00:22:45.173 --> 00:22:46.253
to start their own businesses.

00:22:46.373 --> 00:22:50.053
And we do that through teaching the entrepreneurial mindset.

00:22:50.433 --> 00:22:53.673
These are skills, durable skills. Some people call them soft skills.

00:22:53.673 --> 00:22:59.733
We call them durable and important skills that every young person needs to succeed in life.

00:23:00.513 --> 00:23:04.673
Mass communications has brought me to this space because I've always been a

00:23:04.673 --> 00:23:08.633
mission-driven employee, even when I was in journalism, mission-driven.

00:23:09.093 --> 00:23:15.693
And so the mission matters to me. And as the National Director of Communications for NFTE,

00:23:15.913 --> 00:23:21.693
I'm given the blessing and the pleasure of serving these young people and helping

00:23:21.693 --> 00:23:27.053
them activate within them and ignite within them something that they already have,

00:23:27.213 --> 00:23:30.993
which is sort of that, you know, that hustle energy that we had at Jackson State

00:23:30.993 --> 00:23:32.873
University, that thing that got us,

00:23:33.153 --> 00:23:36.493
that honestly, most people in the HBCU world have.

00:23:36.493 --> 00:23:43.213
You know, we know that we have to have that drive and that vision, those goals.

00:23:43.793 --> 00:23:48.113
We have to grind. We have to use our grit to get ahead in life.

00:23:48.273 --> 00:23:54.073
And we don't just settle for good enough. We want excellence.

00:23:54.393 --> 00:23:57.973
You know, excellence was a word I heard all the time at Beyond Love,

00:23:58.073 --> 00:23:59.133
at Jackson State University.

00:23:59.253 --> 00:24:05.513
And it sort of resonates with me. And working in the nonprofit space gives you

00:24:05.513 --> 00:24:07.453
an opportunity to sort of exercise

00:24:07.453 --> 00:24:11.893
the excellence that they taught us at Jackson State. Yeah, yeah. Dr.

00:24:12.373 --> 00:24:18.633
Hefner was, let's see, my freshman year, Dr. Peoples was still the president. Yeah.

00:24:19.153 --> 00:24:26.273
And then I had Dr. Hefner's first three years and he had that commitment to

00:24:26.273 --> 00:24:27.413
excellence and we were like,

00:24:27.939 --> 00:24:31.759
Doc, you know, that's like the writer symbol. I don't know if we can just take that.

00:24:32.439 --> 00:24:38.259
He was like, but we're just as committed as they are, Mr. Fleming. Yes, sir. Okay.

00:24:38.439 --> 00:24:41.099
All right. I just thought I'd bring that up to you.

00:24:41.785 --> 00:24:46.105
Why is teaching entrepreneurship important? You talked about,

00:24:46.105 --> 00:24:50.945
you know, the tapping into the hustle aspect and all that.

00:24:51.065 --> 00:24:53.865
But just why is teaching it important?

00:24:54.425 --> 00:24:58.045
So I believe teaching entrepreneurship shouldn't be an elective.

00:24:58.205 --> 00:25:02.725
I believe entrepreneurship education should be a requirement for all kids.

00:25:02.925 --> 00:25:04.965
Let's think about when we were in school.

00:25:06.185 --> 00:25:10.565
I don't remember having a class that taught me how to balance a checkbook.

00:25:10.565 --> 00:25:15.805
I don't remember having a class that taught me how to make my money work for me.

00:25:15.945 --> 00:25:20.105
I don't remember having a class that taught me how to communicate and collaborate

00:25:20.105 --> 00:25:22.705
with other people, how to be flexible.

00:25:23.025 --> 00:25:27.525
You know, it was all about don't make mistakes rather than taking calculated

00:25:27.525 --> 00:25:32.665
risks and learning lessons from those mistakes and sort of adapting to,

00:25:32.845 --> 00:25:36.265
you know, the environment of what's new and what's on the horizon.

00:25:36.265 --> 00:25:40.905
You know, all those things that are really important to, you know,

00:25:40.985 --> 00:25:44.365
we don't know what jobs are going to exist tomorrow. We really don't.

00:25:44.465 --> 00:25:47.525
Some of these jobs that exist today just didn't in the past.

00:25:47.665 --> 00:25:52.125
Some of the jobs that kids are going to school for now are in question whether

00:25:52.125 --> 00:25:54.905
or not those jobs will exist by the time they graduate high school.

00:25:55.045 --> 00:26:01.485
I'm sorry, graduate college. And so you have to have the skills that allow you to be future-proof.

00:26:01.785 --> 00:26:07.445
And entrepreneurship education and teaching that gives a whole generation,

00:26:07.665 --> 00:26:11.605
generation after generation, the skills that they need to apply to whatever

00:26:11.605 --> 00:26:14.885
pathway they choose to go on in life.

00:26:14.885 --> 00:26:18.885
And so, you know, and I think educators are seeing that.

00:26:19.085 --> 00:26:22.285
Really, most of the people who bring us into their school systems,

00:26:22.545 --> 00:26:24.765
they are the educators. They hear it from another teacher.

00:26:25.105 --> 00:26:29.405
They learn from another former student or they were former students of ours,

00:26:29.425 --> 00:26:34.065
and they see the value in it. And that's why they teach NFTE. Yeah.

00:26:34.845 --> 00:26:38.425
So it's funny you should say that, because when I was in the legislature,

00:26:38.425 --> 00:26:43.285
I introduced a bill to make teaching entrepreneurship and financial literacy

00:26:43.285 --> 00:26:45.845
required high school curriculum in Mississippi.

00:26:46.511 --> 00:26:51.251
That ended up being legislation to allow outside organizations to teach financial

00:26:51.251 --> 00:26:54.531
literacy in high schools at no expense to the school district.

00:26:54.991 --> 00:27:00.991
Wow. And that was like the Mississippi Association for Realtors got behind that.

00:27:01.951 --> 00:27:08.371
So is NFTE currently looking to require high school nationwide to teach entrepreneurship?

00:27:08.371 --> 00:27:14.711
So there is a coalition, NFTE is part of a coalition of like-minded entrepreneurship

00:27:14.711 --> 00:27:21.731
education organizations who truly support the idea of bringing what we see as

00:27:21.731 --> 00:27:27.551
a successful mindset and battery of skills to all kids, no matter where they are.

00:27:27.551 --> 00:27:35.191
So the answer to that is, are we educating decision makers, people like you who are in the space?

00:27:35.331 --> 00:27:40.511
Are we gathering those like minds around the concept of teaching entrepreneurship

00:27:40.511 --> 00:27:46.271
education in every school, regardless of what your zip code is? Absolutely.

00:27:46.511 --> 00:27:49.871
Absolutely. We are supporting that move. In fact, that's our,

00:27:49.971 --> 00:27:51.151
you know, that's our purpose.

00:27:51.431 --> 00:27:56.151
Our purpose is to start this global movement for equitable access to entrepreneurship

00:27:56.151 --> 00:27:57.771
education, no matter where you are.

00:27:57.771 --> 00:28:03.591
Well, that's good to hear because, you know, when I was in legislation,

00:28:03.851 --> 00:28:06.971
was doing that kind of, you know, pushing that legislation,

00:28:07.831 --> 00:28:11.511
NFTE did step in and, you know, write letters and stuff saying,

00:28:11.651 --> 00:28:14.011
hey, blah, blah, this, that, and the other.

00:28:14.611 --> 00:28:20.111
And, you know, I just, I think people caught wind of what I was trying to do.

00:28:21.051 --> 00:28:26.491
The majority of the kids, you know, at least in the Mississippi public schools were black.

00:28:27.147 --> 00:28:33.887
I just felt that, you know, in Illinois, we had to take, they didn't call it

00:28:33.887 --> 00:28:36.747
financial literacy, they called it consumer education.

00:28:37.787 --> 00:28:40.987
And so we had to take a class to graduate.

00:28:40.987 --> 00:28:46.607
It was like public law and then first semester and then the second semester

00:28:46.607 --> 00:28:48.547
of senior year, we had to take consumer ed.

00:28:48.547 --> 00:28:55.367
So consumer ed was being able to write a checkbook, balance a checkbook,

00:28:55.547 --> 00:28:58.847
write a check, train schedules, all that stuff.

00:28:58.987 --> 00:29:03.327
We literally had to take a test and they gave us like a train schedule that

00:29:03.327 --> 00:29:05.507
nobody else would ever get like.

00:29:05.907 --> 00:29:11.207
And we had to figure out what bus we needed to catch and what time and all that

00:29:11.207 --> 00:29:12.887
stuff in order to graduate.

00:29:13.147 --> 00:29:16.687
They called it the functional literacy exam back in the day. Yeah.

00:29:17.007 --> 00:29:24.287
But but I just believe that it made sense to teach young black folks how to

00:29:24.287 --> 00:29:25.267
start their own business.

00:29:25.467 --> 00:29:30.527
And even if they don't start their own business, they would be better employees

00:29:30.527 --> 00:29:33.907
because they would understand the dynamics of business.

00:29:34.087 --> 00:29:36.687
Right. Correct. We call those entrepreneurs.

00:29:37.227 --> 00:29:41.907
Yeah. Entrepreneurs. You're using that entrepreneurial mindset within the job

00:29:41.907 --> 00:29:45.247
to create a better outcome, not just for yourself professionally,

00:29:45.247 --> 00:29:47.407
but for your employer. you.

00:29:47.647 --> 00:29:52.727
The example I used to use was like, say, for example, you're working the drive-thru

00:29:52.727 --> 00:29:57.087
at McDonald's and your friend comes up and says, hey, man, let me throw in some fries.

00:29:57.647 --> 00:30:01.287
And it's like, well, I would, brother, but it's like, you know,

00:30:01.347 --> 00:30:04.647
that's going to affect our inventory and our profit and loss and all that.

00:30:04.767 --> 00:30:08.387
That might mean I don't get as much of a paycheck or raise and.

00:30:08.972 --> 00:30:11.812
It ain't worth all that. You know what I'm saying? That's right.

00:30:12.132 --> 00:30:17.332
That's right. And so they said, that'd be kind of deep for high school to get to say that.

00:30:17.392 --> 00:30:21.272
I said, hey, that's what teaching entrepreneurship would do for them.

00:30:21.412 --> 00:30:24.432
So I really commend y'all's work.

00:30:24.512 --> 00:30:29.832
And I'm glad to hear that y'all are still pushing to try to get that into the everyday curriculum.

00:30:31.092 --> 00:30:36.452
So let's go ahead and close this out. When Denise Berkhalter-Miller's authentic

00:30:36.452 --> 00:30:40.192
story is told, what will be the summary of it?

00:30:41.497 --> 00:30:45.277
You remember that, well, there's a poem that is often read at,

00:30:45.277 --> 00:30:51.017
this is getting a little dark here, I'm sorry, but a poem that's often read

00:30:51.017 --> 00:30:54.817
at funerals, it's called The Dash. Yeah.

00:30:55.097 --> 00:31:03.377
And yes, I love that poem because that dash between our birth year and the year we move on,

00:31:03.877 --> 00:31:13.337
that dash between represents all the things that we were, we are in this moment when we're living.

00:31:13.337 --> 00:31:23.077
And I want that dash to represent someone who loved people, who elevated and

00:31:23.077 --> 00:31:28.037
uplifted people, who spoke with truth and honesty,

00:31:28.357 --> 00:31:36.457
who fought to the very end, and who wants the world to not only be a better

00:31:36.457 --> 00:31:38.757
place, but left the world a better place.

00:31:39.337 --> 00:31:43.537
However I do that, however I do that, if it's through others, so be it.

00:31:43.797 --> 00:31:48.137
If it's in a small way, so be it. But that's the dash I live every day.

00:31:48.657 --> 00:31:55.497
Yeah, yeah, that's cool. Finish this sentence, I have hope because.

00:31:56.397 --> 00:32:02.737
I have hope because I am the lucky mom of two, and I listen to the dialogue

00:32:02.737 --> 00:32:06.997
of my children, particularly my son right now who is in college.

00:32:06.997 --> 00:32:10.477
And I listened to him talk about a world.

00:32:11.421 --> 00:32:17.801
He's passionate about a world where you talk about rights and freedoms,

00:32:18.181 --> 00:32:20.601
a world where rights and freedoms are respected.

00:32:21.881 --> 00:32:27.641
I look at him and his friends and I see the diversity of that friendship.

00:32:27.641 --> 00:32:31.201
I see them working together toward their dreams.

00:32:31.681 --> 00:32:37.221
I see unity. I see unity through my children.

00:32:37.641 --> 00:32:41.101
And I want more of that. I want more of that, not just for our kids,

00:32:41.241 --> 00:32:43.501
but I want it for our whole country. I want it for our world.

00:32:44.180 --> 00:32:48.880
So, Denise, if people want to learn more about NFTE or want to,

00:32:48.880 --> 00:32:52.640
you know, reach out to you, how can they do that?

00:32:53.420 --> 00:33:00.500
So you can find us online, Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship at nfte.com.

00:33:00.600 --> 00:33:08.840
You can also contact me directly at marketing at nfte.com.

00:33:09.100 --> 00:33:13.080
And you can follow me on LinkedIn. Best way to catch up with me.

00:33:13.080 --> 00:33:17.800
I'll see you there How do you think Jackson State is going to do in football this year?

00:33:18.960 --> 00:33:23.540
Look, Jackson State has always been a winner And I feel like we're going to

00:33:23.540 --> 00:33:28.900
be a winner this year too Yeah, well, you know And that's part of the tradition,

00:33:29.440 --> 00:33:35.220
You know, because not only on the football field But I think Jackson State should

00:33:35.220 --> 00:33:39.720
take a lot of pride In the fact that they produce winners in every field,

00:33:40.280 --> 00:33:44.420
Every field And you are a classic example of that.

00:33:44.600 --> 00:33:49.300
And so it was really an honor to to take some time out of your day,

00:33:49.780 --> 00:33:54.760
election day, for you to come on and talk to the audience.

00:33:55.380 --> 00:34:02.040
And I have a standard rule that once you've been on, you have an open invitation to come back.

00:34:02.260 --> 00:34:05.340
So if there's something pressing that you want to talk about,

00:34:05.520 --> 00:34:11.280
whether it's with NFTE or anything else, just just reach out and we'll we'll we'll make it happen.

00:34:11.460 --> 00:34:13.600
We'll get you on. So Denise.

00:34:14.500 --> 00:34:20.020
Yes, ma'am. I'm really, really happy that you came on and I'm honored that you

00:34:20.020 --> 00:34:24.580
that you came on the podcast. It has been an absolute pleasure. Absolute pleasure.

00:34:24.900 --> 00:34:30.500
And right back at you, man, I am so proud of the work that Jackson State University

00:34:30.500 --> 00:34:36.480
is doing to produce not just good citizens, but good people. We are good people, man.

00:34:36.780 --> 00:34:41.680
Let us shine and revel in that. And I appreciate everything you're doing for our community.

00:35:07.384 --> 00:35:14.704
All right, we are back. And so I want to thank Denise Berkhalter-Miller,

00:35:15.044 --> 00:35:22.784
for taking the time out on Election Day to come on a podcast.

00:35:22.784 --> 00:35:27.204
We recorded that she was literally in the parking lot of the polling place.

00:35:27.464 --> 00:35:32.184
So I really, really appreciate that. And it's always great to talk to somebody

00:35:32.184 --> 00:35:37.424
from Mississippi, especially one that went to Jackson State University, the I love.

00:35:37.944 --> 00:35:44.304
You know, I can't tell y'all enough. You have to experience it yourself.

00:35:44.724 --> 00:35:52.184
You have children of age to go to college or even if they want to get a master's

00:35:52.184 --> 00:35:55.684
or a Ph.D., please consider Jackson State University.

00:35:55.684 --> 00:36:00.224
It is one of the top historically black colleges in the nation.

00:36:00.544 --> 00:36:05.284
And I would make the argument that I would put any of our alumni up against

00:36:05.284 --> 00:36:08.404
any alumni of any institution in the United States.

00:36:09.044 --> 00:36:12.784
People underestimate Mississippi a lot. I do not.

00:36:13.164 --> 00:36:17.664
My friends, I definitely do not. And my enemies, I definitely don't underestimate.

00:36:17.964 --> 00:36:19.184
They come from Mississippi.

00:36:21.404 --> 00:36:26.144
Because if there's anything I know about Mississippi, is that Mississippi folks

00:36:26.144 --> 00:36:27.924
know how to fight. They know how to survive.

00:36:28.804 --> 00:36:34.804
And if you have some intelligence behind you, it's, you know, you're a weapon.

00:36:37.406 --> 00:36:43.566
You're a weapon. And again, that could be a good or a bad thing.

00:36:44.046 --> 00:36:48.626
But everybody I know from Mississippi is a fighter.

00:36:49.006 --> 00:36:56.506
And those who I fight alongside with, I couldn't think of any other better people to stand with.

00:36:57.086 --> 00:37:02.986
Like I said, I grew up in Chicago. I will always love Chicago. I am here in Georgia.

00:37:03.606 --> 00:37:10.606
I'm learning to love Georgia. That's been a harder sell, but not necessarily the Georgian's fault.

00:37:13.666 --> 00:37:20.886
You know, but I mean, this might be the place where I end up retiring and living the rest of my life.

00:37:21.066 --> 00:37:26.506
So I think the love will come, but nothing will compare to my experience at

00:37:26.506 --> 00:37:28.806
Jackson State and Mississippi.

00:37:29.606 --> 00:37:35.066
So, yeah, it's always good to connect with folks, and especially on this platform.

00:37:36.626 --> 00:37:43.726
So, I do want to send out prayers and condolences to the families of Specialist

00:37:43.726 --> 00:37:46.446
Collington and 1st Lieutenant Key.

00:37:47.426 --> 00:37:54.346
Those were the, if you remember from the news, those were the two soldiers that

00:37:54.346 --> 00:37:59.066
literally fell off a cliff during a training exercise in Morocco.

00:37:59.586 --> 00:38:04.866
We have this, I don't know if it's annual, but it's a pretty frequent exercise

00:38:04.866 --> 00:38:10.446
where we coordinate with some African allies,

00:38:11.086 --> 00:38:16.266
primarily the Moroccans, and have a training exercise with them.

00:38:16.446 --> 00:38:23.526
And the details of why they were on the cliff or how they fell or whatever has

00:38:23.526 --> 00:38:30.046
not been released, but we do know that they recovered their remains,

00:38:30.426 --> 00:38:35.406
which was very fortunate considering they fell in the water.

00:38:36.682 --> 00:38:40.942
And so their families will have closure on that. But, you know,

00:38:41.102 --> 00:38:47.722
none of the major news outlets cover that, I guess, because there wasn't a war attached to it.

00:38:48.122 --> 00:38:53.042
But thank goodness I was able to keep up with that.

00:38:53.482 --> 00:38:59.042
And again, to the Collington and Key family, on behalf of A Moment with Erik Fleming

00:38:59.042 --> 00:39:02.522
podcast, I send my condolences to them.

00:39:02.522 --> 00:39:10.062
And I'm, based on what I was able to read, they're very special people and you

00:39:10.062 --> 00:39:15.842
have to be a special person, especially during this time, to volunteer to serve your country.

00:39:16.162 --> 00:39:18.982
I remember when that decision, I had to make it.

00:39:20.062 --> 00:39:28.702
And, you know, made my decision to get out and I wish that they had been able

00:39:28.702 --> 00:39:31.802
to get out on their own terms I don't know.

00:39:32.487 --> 00:39:36.147
So, yeah, there's that. And also just to acknowledge,

00:39:36.347 --> 00:39:41.827
even though this is not a sports podcast, I do want to acknowledge the fact

00:39:41.827 --> 00:39:49.067
that a young man who was a legend in the NASCAR world suddenly died.

00:39:49.307 --> 00:39:53.467
Kyle Busch, he was 41 years old, so he's 20 years younger than me.

00:39:53.967 --> 00:39:59.407
He was the most accomplished driver in NASCAR history. Some of you who don't

00:39:59.407 --> 00:40:04.087
follow the sport would have no idea about that. You know, there might be some

00:40:04.087 --> 00:40:06.127
names that you associate with the sport.

00:40:06.527 --> 00:40:10.947
Jimmy Johnson, Kyle, you know, Richard Petty, people like that,

00:40:11.187 --> 00:40:13.187
that have transcended the sport.

00:40:13.627 --> 00:40:21.247
But Kyle Busch won at every level of NASCAR. I first found out about him through

00:40:21.247 --> 00:40:23.047
the truck racing circuit.

00:40:23.267 --> 00:40:26.727
He was the most dominant truck racer of all time.

00:40:27.107 --> 00:40:31.547
And there are a couple of black drivers, especially a black female,

00:40:31.747 --> 00:40:33.567
that's currently in the truck circuit now.

00:40:34.547 --> 00:40:37.727
And so all of those folks that are racing in the truck circuit,

00:40:37.887 --> 00:40:39.967
Kyle Busch was their North Star.

00:40:39.967 --> 00:40:48.147
And then he moved up to the traditional Cup Series, the NASCAR races that we

00:40:48.147 --> 00:40:53.847
know, the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600, Talladega, all those races.

00:40:54.907 --> 00:41:01.247
And he won, I believe they said 63 of those races in his career.

00:41:02.267 --> 00:41:11.007
And his dad was a driver's brother, you know, Kurt Busch, I believe his name

00:41:11.007 --> 00:41:14.887
was, or is, you know, so he came from a racing family.

00:41:15.027 --> 00:41:19.887
His son is 11 and he's already doing amateur racing.

00:41:20.747 --> 00:41:24.367
So racing was in their blood. And, you know, when I first saw it come across,

00:41:24.367 --> 00:41:25.967
I was like, oh, wow, well, did he,

00:41:26.888 --> 00:41:32.348
dying it because he died like qualifying for a race or something was he in a car wreck,

00:41:33.248 --> 00:41:35.968
and they say he just got sick he said he'd

00:41:35.968 --> 00:41:38.468
been dealing with someone with his sinuses and then the next thing you know

00:41:38.468 --> 00:41:44.988
he's no longer with us so i bring that up you know and condolences to his family

00:41:44.988 --> 00:41:51.828
and to the nascar family but i bring that up to remind us that this is something

00:41:51.828 --> 00:41:53.488
that we're all going to have to deal with.

00:41:53.988 --> 00:41:59.868
And so we need to take steps, whether it's personally or politically,

00:41:59.868 --> 00:42:03.948
to make sure that we can live as long a life as possible.

00:42:04.308 --> 00:42:09.208
This is the reason why we fight for universal health care for everybody.

00:42:09.908 --> 00:42:14.188
Because even, you know, he had the best doctors and all that.

00:42:14.828 --> 00:42:16.388
You know, it is what it is.

00:42:17.048 --> 00:42:22.008
But everybody should have access to the health care to give you a chance to

00:42:22.008 --> 00:42:26.628
fight it and to deal with all this other stuff. Ebola has come back.

00:42:27.848 --> 00:42:33.348
Measles has come back. So we really need a real healthcare system and whatever's

00:42:33.348 --> 00:42:39.468
going on in Washington right now that by 2028 that needs to be over with, right?

00:42:41.022 --> 00:42:44.042
2029, I guess, when the new administration will come in.

00:42:44.402 --> 00:42:48.662
But yeah, I just thought I'd mention that because that's something that really

00:42:48.662 --> 00:42:51.822
transcends everything.

00:42:52.882 --> 00:42:54.722
But I do have some good news.

00:42:55.822 --> 00:43:01.062
So it's no surprise that since this is a political podcast, we have people come

00:43:01.062 --> 00:43:06.762
on that's either run for office and served office or seeking a political office.

00:43:07.322 --> 00:43:14.902
And so this year, I've reached out to as many candidates as I could, and I try to do that.

00:43:15.422 --> 00:43:20.342
And it's really hard, you know, because you've got a schedule that you're trying

00:43:20.342 --> 00:43:23.142
to hit all these places and meet all these people.

00:43:23.722 --> 00:43:30.322
So I really appreciate those that blot out the time to come on and take advantage

00:43:30.322 --> 00:43:37.222
of an opportunity to discuss their platforms and why they want to be in this position.

00:43:38.102 --> 00:43:44.202
So, so far I've had three congressional candidates come on and out of the three

00:43:44.202 --> 00:43:50.502
last Tuesday, the first one lost earlier in the year.

00:43:51.627 --> 00:43:57.667
But he was running against an incumbent, George Tornado. He was running against Andre Carson.

00:43:58.387 --> 00:44:01.687
But George has been a real solid Democrat in Indiana.

00:44:02.587 --> 00:44:08.547
And, you know, we made a connection. And so I was intrigued to find out why he was going to run.

00:44:08.687 --> 00:44:11.467
And plus Indianapolis, that was my mom's birthplace.

00:44:11.907 --> 00:44:19.667
So I was intrigued by him. But Kaylee Patterson, who has been building for years

00:44:19.667 --> 00:44:24.007
a grassroots Democratic organization in Idaho,

00:44:24.367 --> 00:44:29.107
and she won the Democratic nomination officially last Tuesday.

00:44:29.627 --> 00:44:36.447
So we're hoping she's running against an entrenched incumbent in Idaho.

00:44:36.447 --> 00:44:41.987
But if there's any year where that could flip, it's this one.

00:44:41.987 --> 00:44:49.287
And she has done the work to build a network that could possibly do that.

00:44:49.527 --> 00:44:56.707
I think they had a special election and that seat flipped in a state legislative race.

00:44:57.227 --> 00:45:02.207
So the potential, the attitude, the potential is there, and we'll get into some

00:45:02.207 --> 00:45:04.507
of the other reasons why I think it's going to happen.

00:45:04.687 --> 00:45:11.547
And then the other candidate that just recently interviewed was Jasmine Clark, Dr. Jasmine Clark.

00:45:11.987 --> 00:45:17.527
Dr. Clark has been a state representative basically about the same time that

00:45:17.527 --> 00:45:22.707
I came to Atlanta, and she has been one of the legislators that.

00:45:23.918 --> 00:45:30.158
Not only caught my attention, but reminded me of my passion for serving.

00:45:32.078 --> 00:45:37.138
And based on what we were seeing in some past stuff in Georgia,

00:45:37.558 --> 00:45:42.638
past elections, I was thinking, okay, well, she would be in a runoff.

00:45:42.878 --> 00:45:45.038
I don't know, not Dr. Jasmine Clark.

00:45:45.438 --> 00:45:49.318
No, Dr. Jasmine Clark put those folks to sleep.

00:45:49.958 --> 00:45:53.998
She got 56% of the vote and there were there

00:45:53.998 --> 00:45:57.158
were at least there were three other candidates that

00:45:57.158 --> 00:46:03.478
were legitimate you had a lady who was on she was a dentist but she was on Married

00:46:03.478 --> 00:46:07.838
with Medicine or Married for Medicine or whatever the show is she was a reality

00:46:07.838 --> 00:46:14.178
TV star she ended up finishing second there was a young guy who was I think

00:46:14.178 --> 00:46:16.618
the president of the board in Gwinnett County,

00:46:17.658 --> 00:46:21.218
A lot of the influencers got behind him.

00:46:21.638 --> 00:46:24.878
He couldn't beat the reality star, right?

00:46:25.178 --> 00:46:32.158
And then you had a sitting state senator who's been there a long time.

00:46:32.418 --> 00:46:39.098
And he, you know, successful businessman and probably one of the wealthiest

00:46:39.098 --> 00:46:40.498
legislators that was in there.

00:46:40.738 --> 00:46:45.598
And it's definitely one of the wealthiest black legislators in the state. He finished fourth.

00:46:46.618 --> 00:46:48.938
So Dr. Clark beat all of those folks.

00:46:50.458 --> 00:46:55.298
And so, you know, all you got to do is just get out there and work, man.

00:46:55.738 --> 00:46:58.298
All you got to do is just get out there and let people know.

00:46:58.458 --> 00:47:02.738
And the old Bible saying, you know, let the work I've done speak for me,

00:47:03.158 --> 00:47:05.078
right? Not Bible, it's spiritual.

00:47:06.498 --> 00:47:10.378
Lyric. Let the gospel song, term I want to use.

00:47:10.878 --> 00:47:18.798
Let the work I've done speak for me. And I think the people in District 13 let Dr.

00:47:18.978 --> 00:47:23.398
Clark know that they appreciated what she's done as a legislator and rewarded

00:47:23.398 --> 00:47:26.898
her because there's a Republican running in November, but.

00:47:28.032 --> 00:47:33.092
She's basically going to be the Congresswoman. If you call her Congresswoman-elect,

00:47:33.612 --> 00:47:37.312
that would not be out of order because she's going to win that.

00:47:38.172 --> 00:47:42.592
Now, two years from now, we don't know what that district is going to look like

00:47:42.592 --> 00:47:52.832
because it is in the South. But as of right now, she's on her way to be the first Ph.D.

00:47:53.072 --> 00:47:59.092
Scientist to serve, first female to serve in the United States Congress.

00:47:59.352 --> 00:48:09.512
So congratulations to her. Now, the bonus was, it was a young lady that came on named Amanda Janu.

00:48:09.712 --> 00:48:17.772
And Amanda is a expert, if you will, or the main spokesperson for a theory called

00:48:17.772 --> 00:48:22.672
well-being economics, which some will consider like radical or whatever.

00:48:23.612 --> 00:48:28.292
But you know it's an economic scale that's based on.

00:48:29.492 --> 00:48:33.392
Instead of how the stock market is doing it's like how well are the people doing

00:48:33.392 --> 00:48:39.012
right bottom line and so Amanda lives in Vermont and.

00:48:40.284 --> 00:48:45.224
She's running for governor. And that's going to be an interesting race because

00:48:45.224 --> 00:48:49.564
the lady she's running against, some of the establishment has gotten behind

00:48:49.564 --> 00:48:54.504
her and including like Howard Dean and all that.

00:48:55.224 --> 00:49:02.284
But, you know, and she just got some legislation passed that she's been crusading.

00:49:03.964 --> 00:49:10.124
So that's going to be tough. But Amanda, if you remember, is like I said, she's an economist.

00:49:10.764 --> 00:49:15.244
Basically. She's, you know, worked with other countries. She's worked with the UN.

00:49:15.744 --> 00:49:21.844
She's been a vocal community leader. And both of these ladies are young.

00:49:21.984 --> 00:49:23.624
They're both under 40, for instance.

00:49:24.204 --> 00:49:26.844
So it's going to be a really, really interesting race up there.

00:49:26.984 --> 00:49:30.204
And I, of course, since, you know, Amanda's been on the show,

00:49:31.024 --> 00:49:35.024
you know, I want to wish her well in that.

00:49:35.144 --> 00:49:38.124
But that was just kind of out of the blue is just like, you know,

00:49:38.244 --> 00:49:42.544
bam, I just got a hit. And it was like, it was a commercial for her running for governor.

00:49:42.724 --> 00:49:45.384
I was like, that's so cool, you know?

00:49:46.124 --> 00:49:50.744
So hopefully she hears this and understand that we're pulling for,

00:49:50.904 --> 00:49:53.984
I don't have any beef with the other lady.

00:49:54.684 --> 00:49:59.284
Matter of fact, we might be connected, you know, on LinkedIn or whatever, but.

00:50:00.413 --> 00:50:06.213
Yeah, I think that's cool. And another thing that's related to the election

00:50:06.213 --> 00:50:10.713
piece, Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta,

00:50:11.593 --> 00:50:16.233
she served during the pandemic George Floyd years.

00:50:16.873 --> 00:50:24.613
She only served one term, and she left, and she was an advisor to President Biden.

00:50:24.993 --> 00:50:30.253
She was a commentator on CNN. She's been teaching classes at Clark Atlanta.

00:50:30.913 --> 00:50:34.413
And I guess she came out of retirement and decided she wanted to be governor.

00:50:35.953 --> 00:50:41.993
And with seven other people running, now let me break down who she'd be.

00:50:42.653 --> 00:50:48.933
She'd be the last black person to serve in a statewide office in Georgia.

00:50:49.853 --> 00:50:54.733
She'd be a former lieutenant governor of the state of Georgia.

00:50:56.020 --> 00:51:02.160
And she beat an incumbent state senator and an incumbent state legislator,

00:51:02.440 --> 00:51:05.820
state representative, amongst the other folks that were running.

00:51:06.020 --> 00:51:11.760
But you would figure out of that group of four, that would have forced a runoff.

00:51:14.040 --> 00:51:23.000
Sister Bottoms beat all of them with basically, she was running in the 60s most

00:51:23.000 --> 00:51:26.740
of the night. I think she finally settled in at 57, 58 percent.

00:51:27.260 --> 00:51:29.880
But statewide, she won that thing.

00:51:30.720 --> 00:51:38.820
So, and more Democrats voted in the Democratic primary than Republicans voted

00:51:38.820 --> 00:51:40.760
in the Republican primary.

00:51:41.720 --> 00:51:49.940
So, like you heard in the news segment, she's got, there's two Republicans running on the runoff.

00:51:50.120 --> 00:51:52.740
So, they still haven't figured out who's going to run against her.

00:51:53.400 --> 00:51:58.420
But she is a Democratic nominee, and that was, when I say impressive,

00:51:58.960 --> 00:52:05.940
she was running in the high 60s, and none of the Fulton County votes were counted.

00:52:06.340 --> 00:52:11.680
They basically called the election before they even counted the votes in Atlanta.

00:52:12.220 --> 00:52:14.240
That's how impressive her win was.

00:52:15.180 --> 00:52:21.280
And hopefully that's a sign. You know, there's already black folks and white

00:52:21.280 --> 00:52:25.360
folks throwing shade at her because she's a black woman, right?

00:52:26.200 --> 00:52:33.620
The white folks, y'all are who y'all are, right?

00:52:34.200 --> 00:52:36.220
But for the black folks, I got to stop that.

00:52:36.840 --> 00:52:42.240
Now, you may be who you are too, but, you know, like Dr.

00:52:42.360 --> 00:52:47.260
Givens talked about people in purity tests and all that. But it's like if we

00:52:47.260 --> 00:52:50.640
try to run a purity test on every black person that ran for office,

00:52:50.860 --> 00:52:54.640
nobody black would make it out the gate, you know?

00:52:55.912 --> 00:53:02.792
The young lady who succeeded me, who beat me, she and I were opposite ends of the death penalty.

00:53:04.412 --> 00:53:09.272
But does that mean I'm not going to vote for her, considering that on the other

00:53:09.272 --> 00:53:11.592
nine out of ten issues, we agree?

00:53:12.112 --> 00:53:15.532
On that one issue about the death penalty, it's like, well, no,

00:53:15.652 --> 00:53:18.852
that's a known starter for me. That's not how that works.

00:53:19.592 --> 00:53:23.812
You know? It's just, you go with the best person.

00:53:24.652 --> 00:53:30.252
So anyway, you know, if you're looking, if you're into politics looking for

00:53:30.252 --> 00:53:31.832
perfection, you're in the wrong place.

00:53:32.272 --> 00:53:37.052
If you're into politics to look for people to actually give a damn about you, come on in.

00:53:38.372 --> 00:53:43.252
But you've got to get your mindset right if you're looking for purity in politics.

00:53:43.252 --> 00:53:50.032
That's just not how that goes. Anyway, so, you know, definitely going to be

00:53:50.032 --> 00:53:52.172
doing what we can to help Ms.

00:53:52.292 --> 00:53:55.192
Bottoms become the first black governor first.

00:53:55.792 --> 00:53:59.132
I don't think she's the first female, but she'll definitely be the first black

00:53:59.132 --> 00:54:02.832
governor to stay. And it's long overdue, right?

00:54:03.712 --> 00:54:05.912
So anyway, wanted to deal with that.

00:54:07.452 --> 00:54:11.952
So I guess real quick, I'm going to mention this whole thing,

00:54:11.952 --> 00:54:15.432
and I'm just going to do it in what I think is happening.

00:54:15.552 --> 00:54:28.112
So this whole argument about this slush fund, right, $1.776 billion, get it, 1776?

00:54:29.653 --> 00:54:37.713
Is set up to give reparations to people that went to jail for January 6th.

00:54:38.153 --> 00:54:42.733
Those are the primary people. And then anybody else that Trump has pardoned

00:54:42.733 --> 00:54:47.213
that were arrested by the Justice Department during Biden's administration.

00:54:47.633 --> 00:54:53.813
So somebody kind of joked about it, but technically, based on the qualifications, that would happen.

00:54:54.153 --> 00:54:57.993
Hunter Biden would qualify for this money. but that

00:54:57.993 --> 00:55:04.533
of Hunter's application will be looked at seriously but this is basically what

00:55:04.533 --> 00:55:11.693
it was for it's to give people like Terrio and Rhodes and all those other January

00:55:11.693 --> 00:55:15.133
6th Calais any one of those January 6th folks,

00:55:16.348 --> 00:55:20.208
that were beating up Capitol Police officers, that was tearing down barricades.

00:55:20.708 --> 00:55:25.228
Because I just want you to understand, they say, you know, J.D.

00:55:25.328 --> 00:55:29.448
Vance is back with that stupid shit about they were just protesting,

00:55:30.148 --> 00:55:35.848
still got a guy floating around here in Georgia saying they were just tourists,

00:55:36.008 --> 00:55:38.168
right? Clyde, I think his name is.

00:55:38.968 --> 00:55:44.008
But the reality is, tourists don't take down police barricades.

00:55:44.008 --> 00:55:48.588
If you've ever been to the Capitol building since 9-11, you pretty much have

00:55:48.588 --> 00:55:51.268
to go through a gauntlet of security just to get in.

00:55:51.708 --> 00:55:56.908
And it's even tighter now after January 6th than it was after 9-11.

00:55:58.768 --> 00:56:03.988
But it's not the open, when I was a young kid and my auntie took me to D.C.

00:56:04.188 --> 00:56:07.688
And all that stuff, it's not the wide open space that it was.

00:56:08.568 --> 00:56:12.428
It's not even the wide open space it was when I was active in the Young Democrats.

00:56:12.428 --> 00:56:14.548
You could have at least one meeting in D.C.

00:56:15.428 --> 00:56:18.068
You just walk around, you know, standing there.

00:56:19.028 --> 00:56:23.848
Presidential motorcade rolls through, you know, you stop traffic and going about your business.

00:56:24.048 --> 00:56:28.728
But you could just, like, get off the train and just walk up to the Capitol building, you know.

00:56:29.368 --> 00:56:34.888
You didn't have to go through security. You know, I think they might have had a magnetometer by then.

00:56:35.028 --> 00:56:37.448
But, I mean, you were in the building at that point.

00:56:38.308 --> 00:56:42.328
Now you can't even get through the building before you have to go through a checkbook.

00:56:42.428 --> 00:56:46.788
You know, they got gates and all this. They didn't have all that back in the day.

00:56:48.768 --> 00:56:51.248
So when the January 6th folks show up,

00:56:52.294 --> 00:56:56.094
They got barricades, police barricades that are up all the time.

00:56:56.254 --> 00:57:02.754
So if you were protesting, normally you'd stay on your side of the barricade,

00:57:02.834 --> 00:57:07.914
do your chants, give your speeches and all that stuff, use the capital as the

00:57:07.914 --> 00:57:09.154
backdrop and keep it pushing.

00:57:09.754 --> 00:57:14.934
If you're a tourist, you're going through the checkpoint and then you get inside

00:57:14.934 --> 00:57:17.174
the building, see what's going on.

00:57:18.134 --> 00:57:23.194
Neither one of those scenarios includes physically grabbing the barricades or

00:57:23.194 --> 00:57:25.294
physically pushing the barricades down.

00:57:25.874 --> 00:57:34.934
Once those barricades were pushed down or thrown away by this mob of people, then it became a riot.

00:57:35.474 --> 00:57:42.694
When you push past a line of police officers who are telling you to stop,

00:57:42.874 --> 00:57:46.994
do not advance, it's not tourism anymore.

00:57:47.534 --> 00:57:50.614
It's not just a protest anymore. It's a riot.

00:57:52.074 --> 00:57:56.634
And, more correctly, an insurrection because of the mission of what they were trying to do.

00:57:56.854 --> 00:58:02.514
They literally were trying to get in and do harm to elected officials,

00:58:02.954 --> 00:58:05.194
primarily the vice president of the United States.

00:58:05.734 --> 00:58:10.874
They wanted to disrupt the certification of an election that Donald Trump got his ass beat.

00:58:11.794 --> 00:58:15.874
And maybe we should just start saying that instead of saying, oh, he lost it.

00:58:16.914 --> 00:58:22.594
I guess if I was in Congress now and I was interviewing, instead of asking a

00:58:22.594 --> 00:58:24.954
question, did Donald Trump lose?

00:58:25.194 --> 00:58:28.794
It's like, did Donald Trump get his ass whooped in the 2020 election?

00:58:29.996 --> 00:58:34.336
That's really how you have to come at these folks because they're going to come

00:58:34.336 --> 00:58:37.116
at you with any and everything, you know.

00:58:37.796 --> 00:58:45.476
You got Secretary of Transportation who is getting money to go on a road trip

00:58:45.476 --> 00:58:47.456
from the people he's supposed to regulate.

00:58:48.296 --> 00:58:51.096
And when he's asked about it, he wants to run and say, well,

00:58:51.496 --> 00:58:54.456
did you do something with your campaign contribution?

00:58:55.356 --> 00:58:59.536
First of all, you don't get to ask questions. Second, you know,

00:58:59.776 --> 00:59:03.316
I'm not the one in the inquiry. You are.

00:59:03.756 --> 00:59:08.436
You did something that got our attention. So you need to address that.

00:59:09.876 --> 00:59:16.796
So like I said, it may be a stretch, but I think we need to have somewhat of

00:59:16.796 --> 00:59:22.096
a hybrid between a Nuremberg trial and a reconciliation commission,

00:59:22.096 --> 00:59:24.176
similar to what they had in South Africa,

00:59:24.736 --> 00:59:26.936
right, to deal with these people.

00:59:27.856 --> 00:59:31.936
Because they've got to pay for the damage that they are doing as we speak,

00:59:32.876 --> 00:59:34.356
right? They got to pay for that.

00:59:34.736 --> 00:59:40.176
So anyway, here's my theory about the slush fund line, and it ties in with this

00:59:40.176 --> 00:59:43.116
other fascination that the president has with this ballroom.

00:59:45.096 --> 00:59:49.016
So the Republicans are going to get the, you know, with the gerrymandering and

00:59:49.016 --> 00:59:51.276
all that stuff with the districts, all this is tied in.

00:59:51.716 --> 00:59:56.036
So they're trying to stave off the damage that's getting ready to happen.

00:59:56.036 --> 01:00:00.956
The American people, the majority of the American people, the overwhelming majority

01:00:00.956 --> 01:00:06.716
of American people in all 50 states have made a decision that this foolishness

01:00:06.716 --> 01:00:08.456
has to stop for whatever reason.

01:00:08.856 --> 01:00:11.816
You said you were going to lower the price of gas. That ain't happening.

01:00:12.136 --> 01:00:14.416
You said you were going to lower the price of groceries.

01:00:15.036 --> 01:00:18.096
That hasn't happened. You said we weren't going to go to war.

01:00:18.496 --> 01:00:24.536
That definitely did happen. We are like bombing anybody in our way.

01:00:25.296 --> 01:00:30.336
Plus, you said you were going to reduce inflation, but you've put these tariffs

01:00:30.336 --> 01:00:34.036
on every nation, even a nation that has nothing but penguins.

01:00:35.361 --> 01:00:41.221
You put a tariff on every country in the world. But that jacks up the price

01:00:41.221 --> 01:00:43.281
of everything, not just food.

01:00:43.721 --> 01:00:48.061
That's clothing, that's electronics, everything, cars, whatever.

01:00:48.781 --> 01:00:53.241
And then you said you were only going after the criminals for immigration.

01:00:53.461 --> 01:00:59.841
And then the next thing we know, nobody is picking fruit in Florida and California.

01:01:00.241 --> 01:01:02.781
Nobody is building houses across the nation.

01:01:03.961 --> 01:01:09.181
And people, it's slow for people to have rebuilds from fires in California to

01:01:09.181 --> 01:01:16.681
hurricanes everywhere or tornadoes because a lot of that work was being done by immigrant labor.

01:01:17.441 --> 01:01:20.281
That says you want to run them out of town and terrorize them,

01:01:20.421 --> 01:01:23.201
not to mention to shoot Americans who protest that.

01:01:23.901 --> 01:01:27.821
And the American people are sick of that. So the Republicans are going to get

01:01:27.821 --> 01:01:30.101
their butts whooped on November the 3rd.

01:01:30.521 --> 01:01:34.001
They're going to lose the House. they're going to lose the Senate, right?

01:01:35.141 --> 01:01:40.281
And, you know, and it's not going to get any better because Donald Trump doesn't handle losing well.

01:01:41.581 --> 01:01:44.721
So he's creating a militia.

01:01:45.321 --> 01:01:49.761
My ex-wife said it before January 6th even happened.

01:01:51.277 --> 01:01:54.117
Probably the most insightful political thing she's ever said.

01:01:54.297 --> 01:01:56.777
She's probably a lot better now that she's actually elected.

01:01:56.977 --> 01:02:03.377
But she said that there was going to be a trial run.

01:02:03.537 --> 01:02:08.297
She said that Donald Trump is not going to leave that office, even after Biden won.

01:02:08.557 --> 01:02:10.997
I said, but he's going to leave. They're going to make him leave.

01:02:11.357 --> 01:02:13.037
She said, but he's going to fight it.

01:02:13.497 --> 01:02:15.917
And then January 6th happened, right?

01:02:17.277 --> 01:02:21.757
So my other friends who have had military and law enforcement training said,

01:02:21.977 --> 01:02:23.437
well, Fleming, this was the trial run.

01:02:24.197 --> 01:02:29.837
Right. January 6th was just the trial run. The C, and we've had some guests

01:02:29.837 --> 01:02:33.637
that basically acknowledge that, too. This just was a trial run.

01:02:34.497 --> 01:02:41.117
Then after that, you know, the big, so what we're doing now is we're trying to fund the militia.

01:02:41.117 --> 01:02:45.977
We're setting aside 1.7, nearly

01:02:45.977 --> 01:02:53.297
$1.8 billion for this militia to go after American citizens, basically,

01:02:53.477 --> 01:02:56.597
or anybody that defies Donald Trump.

01:02:56.597 --> 01:03:02.637
And we know that the loyalty of the seal there because two members of Congress

01:03:02.637 --> 01:03:06.817
who dared to take a stand on Donald Trump, well, three,

01:03:07.877 --> 01:03:12.497
two loss of primary elections and one's about to lose because Donald Trump endorsed

01:03:12.497 --> 01:03:20.577
his runoff opponent, who the guy that Trump endorsed makes Trump look somewhat saintly.

01:03:23.637 --> 01:03:29.997
You know, if not saintly, it's like, Donald's not as bad as that guy, right?

01:03:31.137 --> 01:03:32.397
Old Ken Paxson.

01:03:34.277 --> 01:03:38.097
So, you know, so the loyalty is still there.

01:03:38.817 --> 01:03:45.337
So, you know, if you're talking about 30%, 330 million people,

01:03:45.517 --> 01:03:47.177
that's basically 100 million folks.

01:03:48.361 --> 01:03:53.421
So he's trying to fund the militia, but then he keeps harping about this ballroom.

01:03:53.541 --> 01:03:56.361
And every time he talks about the ballroom, he's always like,

01:03:56.781 --> 01:03:58.381
you know, we're going to have a bunker down there.

01:03:58.841 --> 01:04:04.701
We're going to have like places where drones can launch and defend the White House.

01:04:04.901 --> 01:04:08.841
And, you know, it's like that whole top floor is going to be nothing but military

01:04:08.841 --> 01:04:10.501
people, blah, blah, this, the other.

01:04:11.161 --> 01:04:14.341
Now, the east wing of the White House was for the first lady.

01:04:15.181 --> 01:04:19.581
And they had the bunker, you know, instead of having it directly below the West

01:04:19.581 --> 01:04:24.261
Wing, they basically had it on the opposite side of the building for the president's protection.

01:04:24.781 --> 01:04:28.121
Because if you're going to bomb a part of the White House, you're going to go

01:04:28.121 --> 01:04:29.561
where the president's office is.

01:04:30.001 --> 01:04:34.661
So instead of building a bunker there, they put it on the East Wing side.

01:04:34.661 --> 01:04:39.621
Well, now Donald Trump wants to re-fortify that bunker, build this big giant

01:04:39.621 --> 01:04:46.721
ballroom, and then have basically a military garrison on top of the bunker.

01:04:46.861 --> 01:04:50.981
I mean, on top of the ballroom, which would be on top of the bunker, right?

01:04:52.661 --> 01:04:58.321
So don't be surprised if all this stuff goes through. Now, there's been some bucking.

01:04:58.621 --> 01:05:01.941
I think people are realizing this is a bridge too far. Plus,

01:05:02.021 --> 01:05:05.821
he's pissed off enough Republicans where now vengeance is theirs,

01:05:06.641 --> 01:05:08.061
right? They ain't waiting on the Lord.

01:05:08.601 --> 01:05:12.041
They're going after him now, right? Because they ain't got nothing to lose.

01:05:12.181 --> 01:05:13.661
They know they're not coming back.

01:05:14.541 --> 01:05:17.841
And then you got to bust him. A bunch of them have already retired or,

01:05:17.841 --> 01:05:20.561
you know, not running for re-election.

01:05:22.061 --> 01:05:27.201
So there's a group of Republicans out there that's kind of bucking some of the stuff he's trying to do.

01:05:27.921 --> 01:05:33.621
Nonetheless, the game plan is, is that by January 20th,

01:05:33.841 --> 01:05:40.981
2029, Donald Trump wants to have whatever he needs to defy the will of the people

01:05:40.981 --> 01:05:43.961
and the Constitution and stay in an office.

01:05:45.597 --> 01:05:53.337
I don't know if there's any way after November of 2028 that you can keep him,

01:05:53.617 --> 01:05:56.477
if they actually build it, right?

01:05:57.097 --> 01:06:03.577
But if in the worst case scenario, if the money is allotted and the ballroom

01:06:03.577 --> 01:06:08.817
is built, then some way, somehow, we got to keep him out of that bunker.

01:06:08.817 --> 01:06:12.417
Because he's, on January the 19th.

01:06:13.717 --> 01:06:19.357
2029, he's going, if that bunker is built, he's going in there and he's not

01:06:19.357 --> 01:06:25.657
coming out and he's going to have this well-funded militia protecting him. That's where we're at.

01:06:26.277 --> 01:06:31.157
And he's got all these other folks. Somebody done jumped on my thing because

01:06:31.157 --> 01:06:34.597
I put that Malcolm X birthday wish on my profile.

01:06:35.597 --> 01:06:39.437
Now I'm starting to get noticed by the trolls.

01:06:39.757 --> 01:06:46.157
Somebody said something about all the places I've lived at been crime-written or whatever.

01:06:46.657 --> 01:06:50.537
That's how it starts. And then it gets into more stuff.

01:06:50.697 --> 01:06:54.617
It's one thing for me to debate people I know that are MAGA folks,

01:06:54.657 --> 01:07:01.377
but now when the trolls start coming, so anyway, it's a bunch of them folks out there.

01:07:01.877 --> 01:07:07.437
So between the internet trolling and those folks coming out of their mama's

01:07:07.437 --> 01:07:11.557
basements and, you know, the militias being funded and all that stuff,

01:07:11.737 --> 01:07:13.697
he's going to have an army of people.

01:07:14.697 --> 01:07:18.957
And if you've ever seen that movie Civil War, that's what it will look like.

01:07:19.757 --> 01:07:24.497
And then the military will have to take a side, which more likely would be the

01:07:24.497 --> 01:07:28.097
Constitution, because that's what, when you go into the military,

01:07:28.337 --> 01:07:29.377
that's what you're defending.

01:07:30.177 --> 01:07:34.417
You're technically not even defending the United States. You're defending the Constitution.

01:07:35.577 --> 01:07:38.357
Of the United States. That's what you say in the oath.

01:07:40.421 --> 01:07:46.201
So, it'll be a mess. And that's a nice word for it.

01:07:47.441 --> 01:07:52.881
That's the hellscape that's in this addled brain that the president has.

01:07:53.421 --> 01:07:56.501
That's where we're at. And you got people like Stephen Miller,

01:07:56.501 --> 01:07:59.241
who's already got his lockdown base.

01:07:59.661 --> 01:08:02.201
Chrissy Noem got kicked out of hers. Steve Miller's got his.

01:08:02.621 --> 01:08:07.421
Steve Bannon's pushing that. And that's the only thing that will get some of

01:08:07.421 --> 01:08:14.641
those folks in this part of the bro podcasting world back on in the fold. Blood shit.

01:08:15.201 --> 01:08:22.081
That's why we're going to have a UFC match on the White House lawn on the 4th of July. Right.

01:08:22.561 --> 01:08:25.741
So anyway, that's my theory on that.

01:08:26.061 --> 01:08:33.321
Now, I pray that I'm in tinfoil hat mode and I'm way off the mark.

01:08:34.001 --> 01:08:39.601
But just watching how he's trying to set pieces up, how he's trying to kick people.

01:08:40.101 --> 01:08:44.761
Every day he's trying to figure out a way to get the weak out.

01:08:45.241 --> 01:08:50.461
As Homelander said in The Boys, and the Bible says, separate the wheat from the chaff.

01:08:50.581 --> 01:08:56.661
He's trying to get rid of all the people that are either opposed to him or are

01:08:56.661 --> 01:09:00.581
causing embarrassment to him or a weak link to him.

01:09:02.181 --> 01:09:06.861
And he's trying to fortify it so he'll never leave.

01:09:08.409 --> 01:09:12.909
Why he can say things like, I like to poorly educate it.

01:09:13.169 --> 01:09:18.569
That's why he can say things like, you'll never have to vote again once I get in.

01:09:19.249 --> 01:09:23.749
Or I'm not thinking about the struggles that the American people are going through

01:09:23.749 --> 01:09:26.589
right now because I got to focus on Iran.

01:09:27.189 --> 01:09:31.269
He can say that because in his mind, he believes he's never leaving.

01:09:31.549 --> 01:09:34.989
He can redecorate the White House however he wants to because he believes he's

01:09:34.989 --> 01:09:37.729
going to be there forever. That's the way his brain is working.

01:09:39.209 --> 01:09:44.109
So, those true believers are doing what they can to make that work.

01:09:44.669 --> 01:09:47.129
It's just a theory, just a thought.

01:09:48.409 --> 01:09:51.749
Excuse me. But I'm just watching the pattern.

01:09:52.809 --> 01:09:56.369
So, I hope I pray I'm wrong, but that's kind of where we're going.

01:09:56.489 --> 01:10:02.689
I pray that even if you envision that, if you're in a position where you can stop it, then stop it.

01:10:03.469 --> 01:10:12.929
Right? All right. So, and then the last few minutes, I want to talk about the SEC boycott.

01:10:13.869 --> 01:10:23.849
So, since a lot of these southern states, all the southern states have teams

01:10:23.849 --> 01:10:28.169
in this athletic conference called the SEC, the Southeastern Conference.

01:10:28.169 --> 01:10:32.829
So Southeastern Conference is the most successful, most profitable,

01:10:33.149 --> 01:10:36.069
most competitive conference in college sports.

01:10:37.729 --> 01:10:42.949
You've got the University of Texas, University of Florida, LSU,

01:10:43.229 --> 01:10:49.389
University of Georgia, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Missouri, Oklahoma.

01:10:49.389 --> 01:10:54.429
You know, all these powerhouses in whatever respect of sport,

01:10:54.989 --> 01:11:01.649
you know, football, basketball, baseball, whatever, the SEC is always competitive. Gymnastics.

01:11:03.657 --> 01:11:10.437
Sports. Bowling, just pick a sport. Maybe not lacrosse, but just about every other sport.

01:11:10.757 --> 01:11:17.897
The SEC is, if they're not the dominant conference, they're one of the most competitive, right?

01:11:19.497 --> 01:11:23.637
Kentucky, Tennessee, right? All these Southern states.

01:11:24.397 --> 01:11:28.717
I don't think there's an SEC team from North Carolina. I know South Carolina has one.

01:11:29.277 --> 01:11:36.397
Anyway, so the NAACP and certain individuals, former athletes,

01:11:36.977 --> 01:11:44.577
all that, are asking the young men and women who either play sports for these

01:11:44.577 --> 01:11:51.337
schools in the SEC or are thinking about going to an SEC school to play sports,

01:11:51.337 --> 01:11:56.877
they're asking them to not do that.

01:11:57.077 --> 01:12:02.657
They're either asking them to go to maybe a Big Ten school or,

01:12:02.657 --> 01:12:09.897
you know, somewhere where these southern states don't have representation like Texas.

01:12:09.897 --> 01:12:14.317
I think there's like three or four conferences that would be eliminated in that

01:12:14.317 --> 01:12:18.717
category. But they're primarily focusing on the SEC because the SEC is the most

01:12:18.717 --> 01:12:21.157
profitable and most competitive.

01:12:21.837 --> 01:12:24.697
But they're really trying to convince these kids not to do that.

01:12:25.257 --> 01:12:29.217
And with the NIL money and all that stuff, people are like, yeah,

01:12:29.357 --> 01:12:31.497
right. That's not going to happen. Them kids going to go.

01:12:33.265 --> 01:12:36.785
They're trying to convince those kids, take your talent to a HBCU.

01:12:36.945 --> 01:12:40.505
If you want to go to a school in the South, go to Jackson State.

01:12:40.785 --> 01:12:42.625
Go to Alcorn. Go to Valley.

01:12:43.005 --> 01:12:46.945
Go to Talladega. Go to Savannah State.

01:12:47.665 --> 01:12:56.705
Go somewhere, Alabama A&M. Go somewhere else instead of going to one of the SEC schools, right?

01:12:56.705 --> 01:13:08.805
So, we'll see how that works because strategically, the NAACP needs to meet with the NCAA.

01:13:09.285 --> 01:13:14.885
And the reason why I say that is because the period of signing has passed.

01:13:15.065 --> 01:13:21.365
The period of transfer portals have passed, right?

01:13:23.105 --> 01:13:29.165
So if those kids that are already in make that decision, the kids that sign,

01:13:29.165 --> 01:13:31.365
they can say, yeah, I was going to go there.

01:13:31.485 --> 01:13:36.385
But kids, you know, without a political agenda, change their mind and decide

01:13:36.385 --> 01:13:37.725
to play for some other school.

01:13:38.165 --> 01:13:43.665
Right. At the last minute. I had a cousin just knew he was going to play at Alabama.

01:13:44.065 --> 01:13:46.485
Next thing I know, he's lining up for Clemson.

01:13:46.985 --> 01:13:49.645
Then he transferred and ended up in Missouri. Right.

01:13:51.306 --> 01:13:56.706
Kids do that, and especially now without the restrictions that it used to be,

01:13:57.126 --> 01:13:58.906
right? It used to be so tight.

01:13:59.206 --> 01:14:06.046
Like if you graduated from a school that you were playing sports for and you decided,

01:14:06.286 --> 01:14:09.946
well, I want to go to this other school and play sports and get my master's,

01:14:10.126 --> 01:14:16.726
the NCAA was saying, if that school has a master's program in the degree that

01:14:16.726 --> 01:14:19.766
you majored in for your undergrad, at.

01:14:19.926 --> 01:14:22.906
You can go there and transfer and play that season.

01:14:23.466 --> 01:14:26.366
If not, you're going to have to sit out a year, right?

01:14:27.346 --> 01:14:30.906
And most of the time you're trying to get your master's, it's your last year of eligibility.

01:14:32.266 --> 01:14:37.426
So even with the red shirt, so all that's out the window now.

01:14:37.906 --> 01:14:41.626
If you want to transfer, you transfer. There's some kid, I think he just got

01:14:41.626 --> 01:14:45.386
drafted. He played at four different colleges in four years.

01:14:45.906 --> 01:14:49.886
And he has six years of ability because COVID, right?

01:14:50.806 --> 01:14:57.466
So, you know, all that is fluid now. Those kids could transfer.

01:14:57.806 --> 01:14:59.826
They won't be penalized for that.

01:15:00.326 --> 01:15:06.626
If they did it during the allotted time period. Now, if they do it now, it could be.

01:15:08.126 --> 01:15:19.546
So, you know, if the NAACP really wanted to make it happen, then they need to

01:15:19.546 --> 01:15:21.486
talk to the NCAA and say, look,

01:15:21.966 --> 01:15:24.146
there's some kids that really want to do this.

01:15:24.846 --> 01:15:27.846
Let's give them the opportunity to do it without penalizing.

01:15:28.326 --> 01:15:30.406
They want to make this political stand.

01:15:30.826 --> 01:15:34.666
And the NCAA is not necessarily known for their progressive thought.

01:15:35.426 --> 01:15:39.086
It took them all these years to finally allow NIL to happen.

01:15:40.665 --> 01:15:43.645
Cases, lawsuits, all that stuff.

01:15:44.245 --> 01:15:47.465
But we are where we are. That's what I would be doing.

01:15:47.745 --> 01:15:55.145
I would be focusing in on putting pressure on the NCAA to allow these kids to make that move.

01:15:55.925 --> 01:16:01.105
And we know that it's an effective strategy because one kid did it in Mississippi, one.

01:16:02.045 --> 01:16:06.225
And just a thought that that one kid did it, that other kids would do it,

01:16:06.565 --> 01:16:07.925
Mississippi changed his flag.

01:16:08.865 --> 01:16:12.985
The star player from Mississippi State said, yeah, I'm not playing anymore.

01:16:13.285 --> 01:16:18.025
I can't continue to play if y'all not even going to consider changing the flag.

01:16:18.125 --> 01:16:22.865
When he found out that they weren't even considering it, because in his mind,

01:16:22.865 --> 01:16:26.185
he thought that they were always debating it when he was growing up.

01:16:26.285 --> 01:16:29.245
So he was like, well, maybe they'll change it.

01:16:29.825 --> 01:16:34.045
But when I guess it came to reality in his mind that it's like,

01:16:35.025 --> 01:16:37.445
these folks, they just going to do what they want to do.

01:16:38.845 --> 01:16:45.705
And he became in an age of awareness where it was like, I need to take a stand.

01:16:46.205 --> 01:16:52.105
And so he did. And so other kids were like, well, bro, I'm not even gonna go

01:16:52.105 --> 01:16:53.945
to the Mississippi school, right?

01:16:54.565 --> 01:16:58.385
Next thing we know, there's a big old magnolia on the state flag now,

01:16:58.525 --> 01:17:00.325
not that rebel bullshit, right?

01:17:01.245 --> 01:17:06.525
That was one of the mitigating factors, but it was the one that I believe tipped

01:17:06.525 --> 01:17:09.205
the scale because about to cut off some of that money.

01:17:10.225 --> 01:17:14.965
Fans stopped showing up at the games. You know, and the schools,

01:17:15.065 --> 01:17:20.365
to their credit, had been doing some things on their own, much to the ire of

01:17:20.365 --> 01:17:24.465
the future maggots, right, that were saying,

01:17:25.445 --> 01:17:28.285
you need to fly the state flag on the campus and all that stuff.

01:17:28.405 --> 01:17:32.685
You know, schools were gradually changing their tune.

01:17:32.945 --> 01:17:36.625
It took 15, 16 years, but they did it.

01:17:36.925 --> 01:17:39.365
Right? So...

01:17:41.052 --> 01:17:44.452
That one kid, I forget the young man's name, he was running back,

01:17:45.192 --> 01:17:51.512
because he did that, just the thought of a domino effect got those people to move.

01:17:52.872 --> 01:17:57.572
The president of the NAACP is from where? Mississippi.

01:17:58.232 --> 01:18:04.452
So he saw it firsthand. He saw this young kid did it.

01:18:04.752 --> 01:18:10.992
And I'm sure the Mississippi chapter of the NAACP offered some support.

01:18:11.712 --> 01:18:17.132
Matter of fact, I know they rallied around him along with other groups.

01:18:17.992 --> 01:18:26.372
So knowing that, that's why But president of the NAACP, Derrick Johnson, could confidently say,

01:18:26.652 --> 01:18:34.892
if y'all leave or if y'all decide not to play or if you don't even sign or show up,

01:18:35.612 --> 01:18:38.432
they'll change their tune about this redistricting stuff.

01:18:39.352 --> 01:18:44.672
Did I also mention that Derrick Johnson, like, he's a trained,

01:18:45.212 --> 01:18:50.372
certified redistrictor, cartographer, I guess, for a more technical term,

01:18:50.632 --> 01:18:52.412
as far as political cartographer.

01:18:54.092 --> 01:18:57.912
He was my constituent, and he'll be drawing my district, right,

01:18:58.012 --> 01:18:59.292
during the redistricting process.

01:18:59.832 --> 01:19:03.512
And I basically got what I asked for, kind of, sort of.

01:19:04.472 --> 01:19:07.972
But my map was pretty close to what we drew up.

01:19:08.692 --> 01:19:12.752
Because my vision was I was trying to keep other black folks from having to

01:19:12.752 --> 01:19:16.392
move into Clinton, and since I was the furthest west of all the black legislators

01:19:16.392 --> 01:19:18.512
in Jackson, it made sense.

01:19:19.252 --> 01:19:23.492
And how the final thing ended up, because there was other ulterior motives,

01:19:23.672 --> 01:19:30.232
but if there's anybody that is an expert on, which is why I was really trying

01:19:30.232 --> 01:19:31.492
to get Derek to come on the show,

01:19:31.872 --> 01:19:36.352
if there's anybody who's been an expert on all of this stuff that's really happening

01:19:36.352 --> 01:19:42.372
right now, all the redistricting and the history of fighting this stuff and all that.

01:19:42.612 --> 01:19:45.372
Derek is one of the point people.

01:19:46.959 --> 01:19:51.379
You need to be paying attention to. And then a Blasey P, right?

01:19:52.319 --> 01:19:58.679
I'm not going to say that it's not going to work. I'm not going to say that it's too much of an ask.

01:19:59.239 --> 01:20:03.939
All I'm trying to do is lay out, this is how you could pull this off if you

01:20:03.939 --> 01:20:04.979
really want this to happen.

01:20:05.599 --> 01:20:10.179
If you are a parent listening right now and your child has committed to one

01:20:10.179 --> 01:20:14.639
of those schools, I would ask you seriously to consider not doing that.

01:20:15.159 --> 01:20:16.919
People need to be taught a lesson.

01:20:17.779 --> 01:20:22.259
And the quickest way to get white folks' attention is to cut their money off.

01:20:22.999 --> 01:20:27.999
When you show them that they do not have a path to money, they pay attention.

01:20:29.179 --> 01:20:32.319
So I don't think it's a crazy idea.

01:20:32.759 --> 01:20:37.879
Like any protest, it's going to be hard because people have their own mindset

01:20:37.879 --> 01:20:41.679
and their own reasoning why they want to do what they want to do and they don't

01:20:41.679 --> 01:20:42.979
want to make stuff political,

01:20:42.979 --> 01:20:47.859
although everything that you do is political in this nation, in this planet.

01:20:48.299 --> 01:20:51.139
But we're just dealing with the United States right now. Everything that you

01:20:51.139 --> 01:20:57.219
do, again, just imagine you're driving at an intersection and there's no stop signs anywhere.

01:20:58.539 --> 01:21:03.579
Politics will be pretty important at that point. You turn on a faucet and all

01:21:03.579 --> 01:21:07.819
of a sudden no water comes out, but you go to the white neighborhood and water is overflowing.

01:21:08.659 --> 01:21:11.299
You'll want politics then, right?

01:21:12.259 --> 01:21:15.659
You want your trash picked up. You'll need politics for that.

01:21:16.199 --> 01:21:19.099
If you want to make sure that you don't get poisoning at the restaurant,

01:21:19.479 --> 01:21:21.039
you'll probably need politics for that.

01:21:22.644 --> 01:21:27.084
It out your mind that you don't need politics or you want to stay out of politics

01:21:27.084 --> 01:21:30.724
because the fact that you're even having a conversation is political.

01:21:31.424 --> 01:21:36.924
Because the job that you swear that you've got to keep, there's some politics involved in that job.

01:21:37.784 --> 01:21:42.984
You've got to get a business license, right? There's a reason why you're off

01:21:42.984 --> 01:21:46.684
on the weekends or you're only supposed to work eight hours a day.

01:21:47.464 --> 01:21:50.364
It's law. It's politics. Nonetheless, us.

01:21:51.384 --> 01:21:58.584
I'm down with shutting it down. If there's anything else we can do that's strictly

01:21:58.584 --> 01:22:04.764
Southern that we can shut down, let's look at and decide what we want to do.

01:22:04.964 --> 01:22:07.644
You may want to boycott Publix.

01:22:08.184 --> 01:22:12.784
I like Publix as a store. It's higher than Kroger or Walmart,

01:22:12.984 --> 01:22:16.584
but I like them. I got friends that work at Publix.

01:22:17.104 --> 01:22:23.184
But, you know, I have friends that worked at Target, and I haven't shopped there now in years, I guess.

01:22:24.004 --> 01:22:28.464
You know, we'll see. You know, we just have to figure out something.

01:22:29.504 --> 01:22:32.704
Anyway, so let me just go ahead and close out with that. I didn't,

01:22:32.804 --> 01:22:34.504
I wanted to cover some of those things.

01:22:34.644 --> 01:22:38.824
There was one thing I still didn't cover, which was the DNC autopsy.

01:22:39.464 --> 01:22:40.844
It is what it is, man.

01:22:41.544 --> 01:22:46.744
The autopsy basically said that parties, the state parties were not being funded.

01:22:46.964 --> 01:22:48.224
They were being underfunded.

01:22:48.744 --> 01:22:50.444
I think that's being remedied.

01:22:52.234 --> 01:22:58.114
Party has vacillated between stagnation and retrogression since Barack Obama

01:22:58.114 --> 01:23:00.594
won in 08. Can't really argue with that.

01:23:01.154 --> 01:23:07.774
Blame Joe Biden for failing to set Vice President Harris up for success and

01:23:07.774 --> 01:23:10.594
leaving her in a weakened position when he dropped out of the race.

01:23:11.034 --> 01:23:14.174
Can't really argue with that. I think she pretty much says that in her book.

01:23:14.314 --> 01:23:20.794
But the most damning thing is a persistent inability or unwillingness to listen to all voters.

01:23:22.054 --> 01:23:26.294
Sternly worded letters are passe. It's over with.

01:23:26.734 --> 01:23:30.534
You didn't like Jasmine Crockett, but the people like Jasmine Crockett.

01:23:30.854 --> 01:23:33.394
That means you're not paying attention, right?

01:23:34.074 --> 01:23:39.754
AOC is toned down the way that she's done it, but she's still a hellraiser, right?

01:23:40.374 --> 01:23:45.154
The reason why all these hellraisers are in your party is because this is the

01:23:45.154 --> 01:23:47.814
party that has defended the people that have been oppressed.

01:23:49.893 --> 01:23:53.253
We got our own little billionaire group class too that we got to deal with.

01:23:53.733 --> 01:24:00.513
But the Democratic Party is diverse because the Democratic Party embraces America.

01:24:01.193 --> 01:24:06.593
They don't have this white Christian nationalist supremacist mindset of America.

01:24:07.253 --> 01:24:10.593
So you look at the Republican side, Kevin McCarthy even said,

01:24:10.893 --> 01:24:14.133
you look at the Republican side, it's white men primarily.

01:24:14.653 --> 01:24:18.673
But you look at the Democratic side, it's diverse. So because of diversity,

01:24:19.153 --> 01:24:23.913
you're going to have firebrands from the black community.

01:24:24.013 --> 01:24:26.153
You're going to have firebrands from the Latino community. You're going to have

01:24:26.153 --> 01:24:27.633
firebrands from the Asian community.

01:24:27.833 --> 01:24:33.313
You're going to have firebrands from the LBGTQ community, right?

01:24:34.113 --> 01:24:35.593
You're going to have firebrands from everywhere.

01:24:37.633 --> 01:24:43.893
So you need to figure out how to embrace that. Nancy Pelosi did. Howard Dean did.

01:24:44.593 --> 01:24:48.253
If you're in leadership, Mr. Martin, you step up your game.

01:24:48.593 --> 01:24:52.333
If it's time to tell some of those folks, appreciate your service,

01:24:52.553 --> 01:24:57.873
we need to run somebody else in your state for Congress, have that conversation.

01:24:58.773 --> 01:25:02.593
If we need to call somebody a racist for trying to draw black districts,

01:25:02.853 --> 01:25:05.133
then call them out. I'm just saying.

01:25:06.073 --> 01:25:10.713
I can call it a rough draft or an unapproved manuscript or whatever.

01:25:11.613 --> 01:25:17.793
Those 197-something pages basically broke down what you need to be paying attention to.

01:25:19.233 --> 01:25:23.473
Because I'd be damned if y'all blow this opportunity that's happening this year.

01:25:24.193 --> 01:25:28.093
I've had guests that are basically saying they don't believe that y'all are

01:25:28.093 --> 01:25:29.113
going to step up to the plate.

01:25:29.253 --> 01:25:33.793
So they're looking for a third party to great to talk to the voters.

01:25:34.573 --> 01:25:39.873
And the reason why they have that latitude or that frustration is because that

01:25:39.873 --> 01:25:45.173
autopsy said that you have a persistent inability or unwillingness to listen

01:25:45.173 --> 01:25:47.873
to all voters. Persistent.

01:25:50.801 --> 01:25:55.561
You got to change that. That's what we're talking about when we say real American leadership.

01:25:55.861 --> 01:26:02.501
We're talking about paying attention and addressing the needs of all Americans. Period.

01:26:03.561 --> 01:26:08.421
Bernie Sanders says that we should have universal health care. We should pursue that.

01:26:09.361 --> 01:26:14.221
Sheila Jackson Lee, before she died, said we need reparations. We need to pursue that.

01:26:15.181 --> 01:26:20.161
If the white folks think that they should get reparations for tearing the Capitol up.

01:26:22.068 --> 01:26:26.388
Feces on the walls of the capital. They should get paid for that.

01:26:26.828 --> 01:26:32.368
Then what about my ancestors who built the nation? What should we get?

01:26:33.048 --> 01:26:35.348
Lack of representation? I don't think so.

01:26:36.308 --> 01:26:44.128
Less than living wages? No, sir. Denial of health care? Uh-uh. We deserve better.

01:26:45.268 --> 01:26:51.188
Latino community, Asian American, everybody just needs to be left alone and

01:26:51.188 --> 01:26:55.288
allowed to be great and allowed to do the things that they want to do to contribute

01:26:55.288 --> 01:26:58.768
to society and give them a chance to contribute.

01:26:59.268 --> 01:27:06.388
Not to build a prison system, not to build a military industrial complex, build a nation.

01:27:07.188 --> 01:27:12.128
That's all these people want to do. They want to live in a nation they can afford

01:27:12.128 --> 01:27:18.128
financially, spiritually, mentally, or psychologically even.

01:27:18.568 --> 01:27:22.248
Right? That's it. They want to have peace of mind.

01:27:22.908 --> 01:27:27.528
They'll deal with tragedies like death and illness.

01:27:28.008 --> 01:27:31.428
But if they get the peace of mind to know that they can fight that illness,

01:27:31.768 --> 01:27:36.928
with all the resources America has to bear, that's still peace of mind,

01:27:36.948 --> 01:27:37.968
even if they're struggling.

01:27:38.628 --> 01:27:42.328
And peace is not supposed to be just on Sunday morning when you go to church.

01:27:42.568 --> 01:27:44.868
Peace is supposed to follow you wherever you go.

01:27:45.648 --> 01:27:51.268
That's what Jesus said. He would say, peace be with you. Right?

01:27:52.808 --> 01:27:58.008
Nonetheless, I've talked way longer than I planned to, but I just had to throw that in.

01:27:58.188 --> 01:28:02.708
It's like, guys, this is our time. This is our moment.

01:28:03.708 --> 01:28:10.168
We're taught there's a reason why it was stressed to us in the Christian faith

01:28:10.168 --> 01:28:14.688
that for 20 years before Jesus started preaching, we're,

01:28:15.649 --> 01:28:25.409
17, 20, that Jesus was trained as a carpenter because it was to remind us that

01:28:25.409 --> 01:28:28.749
in order to be an example,

01:28:28.949 --> 01:28:31.869
in order to evangelize, you have to build something.

01:28:32.069 --> 01:28:35.369
You have to build something from what was broken.

01:28:36.009 --> 01:28:41.669
And Donald Trump and his administration and his sycophants are destroying as

01:28:41.669 --> 01:28:44.809
many institutions, if not the government itself.

01:28:45.969 --> 01:28:54.229
So when we get in, this is our opportunity to build something better in line

01:28:54.229 --> 01:29:00.629
with the vision that was put into that piece of parchment called the U.S.

01:29:00.729 --> 01:29:08.649
Constitution to fulfill the dream of a slaveholder who said that all men were created equal.

01:29:09.569 --> 01:29:15.129
Again, if you don't understand divine intervention, I don't know how else to explain it.

01:29:15.289 --> 01:29:19.369
A man who owned slaves said that all men are created equal. And put it down on paper.

01:29:20.349 --> 01:29:24.989
That's God working through somebody, not Donald Trump.

01:29:26.429 --> 01:29:31.749
Right? What he's doing, he's just being a gangster. That's point blank, period.

01:29:32.429 --> 01:29:36.189
The guy who wrote The Godfather couldn't envision a president like that.

01:29:36.949 --> 01:29:38.869
He created Don Corleone.

01:29:39.909 --> 01:29:44.169
Mario Puzo, ain't no way he could have thought of a president being gangster like this.

01:29:44.929 --> 01:29:51.249
But this, again, is an opportunity to rebuild and create America.

01:29:52.249 --> 01:29:57.809
It was, I'm trying to think real quick before I get out of here. The.

01:29:59.230 --> 01:30:06.070
Hughes, you know, who, I believe he said something, yeah, he said,

01:30:06.230 --> 01:30:10.490
oh, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me.

01:30:11.090 --> 01:30:16.510
And yet I swear it is, America will be.

01:30:17.070 --> 01:30:21.450
This is the moment, this is the time that Langston Hughes was talking about.

01:30:22.110 --> 01:30:25.290
We can make it the America it should be.

01:30:25.970 --> 01:30:31.490
But we got to do our part. We got to pay attention. We got to vote. We got to be vocal.

01:30:32.290 --> 01:30:36.810
Got to kick some butt. And I'm down with it. I'm down with it.

01:30:37.610 --> 01:30:41.970
All right. That's all I got. Thank you all for listening. Until next time.