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Zanu Project Rethink - The Black Narrative — Transcript

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0:00[music]
0:11[music]
0:13Hello and welcome to ZPR Zanu Project
0:16Rethink and my name is Frank Zanu. I'm
0:18in the studio today with a wonderful
0:20guest. Uh we started talking over the
0:23phone. Uh wrote to me as usual and the
0:26topic caught my attention right away and
0:27I could tell that this is going to be
0:29something really exciting that we think
0:32we should share with my audience. But
0:34before we get to the topic, please
0:36always what keeps us going is having
0:39little funds in our account. So please
0:41look next to the comment uh section
0:44there is a super thanks icon and make a
0:46donation to ZPR so that we can get these
0:49discussions to you. You know, we are
0:51different on YouTube. This ZPR, the only
0:54place you come and you say, "I never
0:56thought about it that way." My name is
0:58Frank Zano. I have in the studio with me
1:00Derek James. He drove all the way from
1:02Boston to Connecticut. And that tells
1:05you how much he's passionate about the
1:07topic he's going to discuss. Derek is a
1:11science teacher in the public schools in
1:14Boston, uh, sixth grade all the way to
1:178th grade. We need teachers that looks
1:19like James. We need teachers in our
1:21classrooms. And so I'm so happy to have
1:25in the studio with me Derek James who
1:27told me that his problem which he wants
1:30to discuss. He believes that the
1:33advancement of black and brown people is
1:36stunted because we live in in his words
1:40false narrative. Derek,
1:44>> well welcome to the studio.
1:45>> Thank you for having me.
1:46>> Yes. and thank you for the conversation,
1:48the emails and the back and forth and
1:50driving all the way here.
1:51>> So, you believe that African-Americans
1:54and other people who look like us,
1:57>> our growth or advancement is stunted
1:59because we live in a false narrative.
2:01>> Correct.
2:01>> I will leave that for you to define for
2:03the audience. What do you mean the false
2:06narrative?
2:07>> So, uh seeing young people uh quite
2:10often, I've been teaching for nine years
2:12now. A lot of the way that they view
2:15themselves is through like a media lens,
2:19what they see on TV, things like this.
2:23And that lens is
2:26very skewed to some of our lower nature.
2:30It doesn't really give the full picture
2:32of who we are. Um, and I think that just
2:34leaves a lot of young people, young
2:37black people, searching for who am I?
2:40and they fall into these, you know,
2:43super aggressive kind of uh archetypes
2:48or promiscuous archetypes. There's
2:49certain archetypes that you can kind of
2:51fall into, but it's limited. Um, and I
2:54think a these are things that mentally
2:57trap us to that will stop us from going
3:02out and doing the things we need to do.
3:04that includes like having a strong
3:06family um taking care of our communities
3:11uh and embracing responsibility. I think
3:13there's just been a there is a push to
3:18make us victims and for us to grab on to
3:22that narrative of victimhood. Um and
3:26it's just it's very destructive. You
3:29cannot build with a victimhood
3:32mentality. Uh, I can't read. I can't do
3:35that. Like, of course you can. I, as a
3:37teacher, I hate the word I can't. I hate
3:40those words. Like, of course you can.
3:42You just have to try. Or is a or is it
3:45do you want to do the thing? And that's
3:47that's another conversation. But, um,
3:50the the I can't
3:52sitting inside that inner voice. That's
3:55that's the whole that's the whole thing
3:57right there. Um, I think a lot of people
3:59are are waking up out of that. Um
4:01especially with the times I woke up out
4:04of that um out of co during the co time
4:07I had a lot of time to just sit um
4:09>> and reflect
4:10>> and reflect and actually look at the
4:12things that people were saying because
4:15if you look at the narrative it's like
4:17oh if only these white people would
4:19figure it out. It's like
4:21you got to keep looking for when and
4:23where that could ever happen. And it's
4:25actually not that. I found um Thomas
4:28Soul. I don't know if you're familiar
4:29with him. Have you read my comments? 80%
4:33of my comments are saying I'm the new
4:34Thomas S.
4:35>> Oh, look at that.
4:35>> And people are saying they want to see
4:37me and him have a conversation.
4:38>> That would be awesome.
4:39>> He's a man I discovered when I came to
4:42this country.
4:42>> Read one book, saw his interview, Afro
4:45Harvard University when he was leading
4:47the sociological economic.
4:49>> This man has a way of cutting to the
4:51chase.
4:52>> Exactly.
4:53>> And give you just things you should use
4:54to consider.
4:56>> Reconsider. So when I named my my
4:58platform rethink, I think it was because
5:01he got me to read
5:03>> a lot of the things. Now you must
5:05understand
5:06>> coming from Africa.
5:08>> Mhm.
5:08>> You have only two ways to go.
5:11>> In Africa, we never had our elders and
5:15the media poison us against any other
5:19external forces. Like you hear it from
5:21only politicians when they fail they
5:24said it's because of neoc colonization
5:26the colonizers never left they did this
5:28to me and that
5:30>> but as from family no we never told that
5:33foreigners were bad white are bad so we
5:35came to this country you know we just
5:38free
5:39>> but when you get here it's only where
5:41did you go which state which city
5:43>> you can be poisoned immediately so I
5:45became a democrat right away off the bat
5:47okay
5:47>> exactly
5:48>> I'm going to go back to what you said
5:49from the beginning By the way, you'll be
5:51the second person. There's a gentleman
5:52who also came from he he now works at
5:55Yale.
5:57>> Really wonderful dude. And he said
5:59similar thing. So I'm going to just play
6:01the devil's advocate and you have to
6:02explain and the audience would benefit.
6:04So you said two things. That's
6:06>> you said one that the media is the one
6:09feeding our people with a false
6:11narrative, right?
6:13>> Second, you said the victimhood also
6:15that we've been forced to become
6:17victims. So, you have to explain to me
6:19or to the audience. One,
6:22I'm a I'm a media guy. That's my
6:25background.
6:26>> And we have a saying,
6:29art imitates life.
6:31>> Mhm.
6:32>> So, wouldn't you agree with me that what
6:33they see in the media is actually the
6:36media imitating what it's feeding back
6:38to them? I would say even how we just
6:41talked about Thomas Soul like that is
6:43not a person that would get like a
6:46highlight or an award named after him or
6:48something on like a bet or something
6:50like this, right?
6:51>> Uh and I think
6:53>> those are the parts where
6:56>> it's like it there are sections of our
6:59lives as black people that that is what
7:01it is. There there are these pookies,
7:03there are these, you know, shootouts,
7:05there are these things that are
7:06happening. Do you think the media would
7:08imitate something that is exceptional?
7:10It's not popular, the art, it wouldn't
7:13imitate what is not popular. The reason
7:15arts
7:17>> wins at the box office and people flawed
7:19to go and watch it when it's released is
7:21because people want to see what already
7:23they know is inside them on the big
7:25screen. Thomas soul is an exception.
7:28>> So trying to sell something that is an
7:30exception, people won't buy it.
7:33>> I think Ben Carlson is an exception.
7:36cond exception
7:38>> and if you sell something that is not
7:40popular something I see all the time why
7:42must I buy it
7:44>> I think back to my childhood of uh the
7:47Cosby show
7:48>> yes
7:48>> and that was a very successful show
7:51maybe it was exceptional people that are
7:53not realistic
7:54>> but that was a family that
7:56>> had a big impact on my life and I think
7:58a lot of the lives of other people
8:00>> if there was social media
8:01>> Mhm. Cosby show would have flopped.
8:04>> You think so?
8:05>> Well, I know so there was nothing you
8:08would things were affect to you because
8:10it's the only form of entertainment
8:11electronically.
8:14>> It's a boring show that was unrealistic.
8:18>> How did it make it uh how many seasons
8:20it had?
8:21>> NBC because you don't have cable visions
8:24and cable channels and Netflixes and
8:26where you can change the channel and go
8:28to something else. So you got only one
8:29place you can watch a black guy in a
8:31family. Really very funny.
8:33>> There was that. There was Family
8:34Matters. There was uh
8:37>> Living. Yes. There was those.
8:40>> Those were all you can watch on just
8:42control channels in your home. It's the
8:44only form of electronic entertainment.
8:46There was no phone in your hand.
8:47>> Mhm.
8:48>> Okay. So you're forced to say, "Well, I
8:49have a television. I have to turn onto
8:51something."
8:52>> Mhm.
8:52>> So you're not going to be watching some
8:54uh uh pooky hookie, which is some
8:56southern white show. Mhm.
8:58>> So the only black guy who happened to be
9:01very funny. He's a comedian first of all
9:03of course.
9:03>> So the show actually was not educating
9:06the people of what he's trying to
9:08portray. It is
9:09>> more of his comedy. Everything that
9:11comes out of his mouth, his facial, his
9:13body movement. It was entertainment than
9:15educational.
9:16>> So how come he has not given birth to
9:18every one Cosby who imitated after them?
9:22>> Because
9:23>> NBC was huge. And then you took the
9:26first black man, regardless of what he's
9:27saying, people just says, "Whoa, there's
9:30a black fellow on NBC." He happened to
9:32be a comedian, so he just makes jokes.
9:37>> Entertainment and uh comedy is huge in
9:40getting people to understand something
9:42and for it to sit on their spirit.
9:44>> Um, and I think there are other people
9:48who are doing these shows. It may not be
9:50as big, but I think that goes back to
9:52taste makers and what the media is
9:54deciding. Look at it this way. I was
9:55telling somebody recently,
9:59somebody was asking me, and this is very
10:01important for people to listen because
10:03I've been asked this so many times. And
10:05somebody was asking me recently, why is
10:07it that the Caribbean kids and African
10:09kids when they come to this country do
10:11so well academically
10:13>> and African-Americans don't? Mhm.
10:15>> And I said, "It's simple."
10:18Because when we were growing up in
10:20Africa,
10:21>> Mhm.
10:21>> you don't become rich as a musician.
10:24>> You don't become rich as a footballer.
10:27>> You don't become rich as a boxer.
10:29>> You don't become rich as a comedian.
10:32>> No, you don't. Those jobs are reserved
10:34for those who couldn't make it. Quote,
10:38>> parents discourage their children from
10:40becoming dancers. You come home and tell
10:42your dad you want to become a musician.
10:43M
10:44>> we've never seen anybody who was rich
10:45from that.
10:47>> Davidido tells the story of how the
10:48father said no.
10:50>> Mhm.
10:50>> Unless you promise me that you will
10:52remain in school until you graduate.
10:54That is the only way I would allow you.
10:57And this was in the '9s.
10:58>> Mhm.
10:59>> You understand?
11:00>> Okay. So we did not see anybody
11:05basketball player, a football player, a
11:07soccer player.
11:09Ghana had one of the best soccer players
11:11on the continent. Babayara and all these
11:14people, right?
11:15>> But we saw their life. They all died
11:17poor.
11:18>> It is not something you go in there
11:20because you have a skill.
11:23>> But they showed us in Africa all the
11:26successful people were all educated.
11:30So we thought that education makes you
11:32successful, respectful and prominent.
11:34Mhm.
11:35>> Starting from our first president
11:36himself Kuma of Ghana who attended Penn
11:39State University, Oxford, Boozia who
11:42attended Oxford as a best economics you
11:45know so all Kenyata Julio Ner all the
11:49people who became independent
11:52uh winners
11:53>> they all went to school.
11:56So we saw that
11:58suss sex on the continent always for the
12:01child it's school
12:04>> and there's no reason that that can't be
12:06put into media.
12:08>> No,
12:08>> those are things that have actually
12:09happened.
12:10>> Well, it was in media.
12:11>> Yeah.
12:12>> Now you go to the Caribbean, the same
12:13thing.
12:13>> Mhm.
12:14>> Okay. But when you come to the United
12:16States, the media only shows you what
12:20makes people successful, black people,
12:23which is sports,
12:25>> entertainment,
12:26>> entertainment, NBA, uh, NFL,
12:29>> you name it,
12:29>> comedy,
12:30>> isn't Chris Chris Rock is richer than
12:33most corporate CEOs in this country.
12:36>> He's richer than Ben Kasm. He's richer
12:38than Thomas. He's richer than Condisa
12:42Rice. He's richer than majority of black
12:45Americans who are in the academia
12:48>> by being a comedy.
12:50Comedy
12:51>> sit stand on stage and curse for two
12:53hours.
12:56>> Kevin Hart.
12:57>> Mhm.
12:57>> Richard Prior.
12:59So if you grew up seeing that what makes
13:02people successful is this industry, why
13:05would you go and sit in a class and
13:07waste four years of your time and have
13:09financial aid loans on your head when
13:11the media is telling you and your people
13:15are celebrating the very people I have
13:17just talked about.
13:18>> The NAACP gives awards
13:22>> to these people I've just mentioned.
13:26Michigan Detroit took down the name of
13:29Ben Carson from a school building.
13:31>> Oh wow. I didn't know that.
13:32>> He hasn't gotten an NAACP award yet made
13:35being black and good popular around the
13:38world. The first surgeon ever to
13:40separate
13:41>> joint twins.
13:43>> Condalis Arise the first youngest black
13:45woman to become a provos of Sanford
13:47University. The youngest ever to become
13:49a national security adviser. The
13:51youngest first black woman to become
13:53secretary of state. The NAACP hasn't
13:55given any award.
13:58>> Thomaso
14:00why?
14:02>> I think
14:02>> so it's not a media.
14:04>> Is that not a choice to what you can
14:07create what you can put out there?
14:09That's not a choice.
14:10>> No, I'm not saying it's not a media.
14:13>> It is the people. We make the wrong
14:16people.
14:19>> Right.
14:19>> We do because we want to live
14:21vicariously through these people. Mhm.
14:24>> Kodak Black is far more popular than Ben
14:26Carson. We made him popular. George
14:29Floyd is far more popular. They will
14:31keep a statue of John Floyd and they'll
14:32take down a statue of Ben Carson
14:35>> because black people celebrate that
14:37which is popular and they think in the
14:39fastest way with no guardrails. So this
14:41is what I meant about archetypes. These
14:44are archetypes that get put out there
14:46and celebrated. And there are archetypes
14:49that are not those that you may deem as
14:52exceptional, but those are the
14:53archetypes to see. And just as the
14:56educator, my impact in the room, I can
14:58see that, oh, he behaves a certain kind
15:01of way. He is outside of this
15:03archetyped.
15:04Maybe I can also be out of this certain
15:06archetypes.
15:07>> No.
15:08>> So,
15:09>> I know what you mean. You're saying that
15:10it's a choice you can make
15:13to be this type of archetype, to be like
15:15Derek James, to be like Thomas. You're
15:18saying
15:18>> Yeah. As a young person, when you're
15:20looking at who who are your role models,
15:23who are the people that you can shape
15:25parts of your life around? Uh that is a
15:28choice you
15:29>> Why would I shape myself around somebody
15:30who is not celebrated?
15:33You can look at the fruits of their life
15:35and see like, oh, this guy
15:37>> I don't see it. I see the house of Shaki
15:39O'Neal, 9,500 [clears throat]
15:40square ft with fleet of cars.
15:43>> Why would I be
15:45>> modeling myself after somebody
15:48>> who doesn't have that? I think uh a a
15:52successful or happy family,
15:55>> I think that's the biggest success you
15:57can have. And I think young people are
15:59still looking for that family peace and
16:02some consistency there. I see that. And
16:05I think they they are hungering for
16:07that. And they're looking how do I how
16:09do I interact with let's say the
16:11opposite sex? How do I do those type of
16:13things? They are still looking um and
16:16they will be some of those pieces where
16:17they'll look at the songs and they'll
16:19say, "Oh, this is how you supposed to
16:20you're supposed to call her this and do
16:22that to her and whatever." But they also
16:24look at the men in their lives and they
16:26look and okay that's how okay so there
16:29are the the celebrity class but there's
16:33other types of people that you can be
16:34pushed and I think that is what's
16:36something that we need to move on to and
16:38I think people are trying to do that
16:41>> people are trying to do that people try
16:43to do many things in their lives in
16:45different pockets
16:47>> some like you you may have uh a very
16:50strong uh background because of your
16:53parents, you know, they were there or,
16:55you know, but it's not going to be for
16:58African-Americans or black Americans or
17:00even we the Africans who live in this
17:02country,
17:03>> it's never going to be the standard.
17:07I I would push back on that. I think
17:09there's a lot of people, especially in
17:10my generation, who grew up on some of
17:12the shows that I mentioned, that that
17:14shaped their mind, and you're seeing
17:17more and more black couples getting
17:19married. you're seeing more and more
17:21black fathers saying, "I want to be in
17:24the life of my child." And that I I
17:27don't know if that's for a, you know, a
17:29majority of them, but if you didn't have
17:31that, like I had a broken home. I didn't
17:34see it always together, but I did have I
17:37did get a a glimpse, you know, for 30
17:40minutes a day to see, okay, that's
17:42that's a family. That's how they
17:43interact together. I want that. That is
17:46And then over time, things start getting
17:48cut down. you start saying I don't want
17:50the house I don't want the fancy car I
17:52don't want all these other things and
17:54you start to say what matters and that
17:55was another thing that uh a
17:57transformation for myself was realizing
17:59what actually mattered and it wasn't all
18:02this make sure white people are behaving
18:04properly it was [snorts] how do we build
18:06stronger families
18:07>> I like that not waiting for the white
18:09person to behave properly [snorts] okay
18:13>> and you and I are in the same boat
18:15>> the conversation is important really
18:17important what I think you're saying and
18:19what I understand is you are saying what
18:22we must start talking about
18:25>> so that the young ones out there would
18:27say oh that this gentleman actually
18:31>> can can be my my cheerleaders if I want
18:35to be like them or I want to be like
18:37Derek James a science teacher
18:40>> who says I say no to victimhood
18:44>> I don't want to listen to victimhood
18:46that is a conversation I we should have.
18:49>> But go on YouTube and look at the
18:50platforms owned by black people.
18:53>> The Breakfast Club,
18:54>> you have Bloody. That's that was started
18:56by a black person.
18:57>> 2.8 million for or 6 something million.
18:59What is on the Breakfast Club? Who comes
19:01on the breakfast club? Smoking weed and
19:03drinking alcohol at 8:00 a.m. in the
19:05morning and it attracts a lot of Gen Z's
19:08are the ones who made the breakfast
19:10club, but they come there to to beef and
19:14Okay, you still have you still have the
19:15Ben Shapiro that show up. You still have
19:17people that show up, Larry Elder that
19:19shows up there and sets the record
19:20straight. So if people want to see the
19:22truth,
19:23>> but when people think about that show,
19:24they're not thinking about two gentlemen
19:27trying to talk about what we should
19:28think of becoming, what we should think
19:30of doing.
19:32>> Um John has more platform. He's been
19:34featured on that show more than anybody.
19:37>> Okay, I I used to say something on my
19:39show. Yeah,
19:40>> a a society the level of intellect of
19:43any society is known by the people to
19:46whom we give platforms.
19:48>> Um Johnson has been featured on that
19:51breakfast club more than anybody Larry
19:53Elder. And when Larry Elder is there,
19:56no, they don't push him to spit venom.
19:58No, they question him trying to make him
20:01ship to their side.
20:03>> Okay. Yeah.
20:03>> So, we got to talk about what is it that
20:06has influenced the young ones. It's not
20:08the media. The media is simply copying
20:10what you're already doing.
20:13>> Otherwise, why did it survive the media?
20:17Why did it make money on it? Why did it
20:20continue? If you want some problem to go
20:23away, you simply starve it. Meaning you
20:26stop talking to it and you stop giving
20:28platform to it. It will go away. Any
20:31problem, it will go away when you starve
20:33it. We keep our stories alive. Our
20:37movies are keeping our stories alive. 12
20:39years in slavery
20:42can't wait to get her hands on the next
20:44>> opportunity. It will never be anything
20:47about you.
20:48>> Mhm.
20:48>> It will be about 12 years in slavery.
20:50Some white man. So we the ones keeping
20:53it alive
20:55>> and we are so many that it is alive.
20:59>> So for you and I and the stomach soul
21:02>> Mhm. Well, you need maybe an arsenal of
21:09people
21:09>> for sure.
21:10>> Okay. So, we got what I'm trying to do
21:12is we got to [clears throat] be
21:14>> we we have to look at it
21:16>> more realistic and stop saying that oh,
21:19we think some of us are coming up. No,
21:20we're not.
21:22>> We're going to remain the minority
21:23because what we are is not what sells.
21:27>> Look, during the campaign, the
21:30Democratic convention
21:31>> Mhm. How many type of Ben Carson and
21:34Thomas Wilson did you see there? No, you
21:36saw Cardi B. You saw Leiso, you saw
21:38Beyonce, you saw Michelle Obama, all the
21:41bad actors we should not showcase today.
21:44Why is Jasmine Crockett still stumping
21:46every corner of this country bad actor?
21:48We feed them. Ilon Omar should be called
21:51out by us and by No, no, no, no, no. We
21:53feed them. I said something. Okay, we
21:55think once I am wronged, I will never be
21:59wrong. I should never be wrong.
22:02I think that feeds back to what I said
22:03about the victimhood and I think
22:05>> by the way when you said about the
22:06victimhood who is feeding us with the
22:08victimhood
22:09>> when you talk about the Democratic party
22:11I think that's something that a lot of
22:13us go towards eventually and that
22:16definitely
22:17>> elevates it amplifies it and puts it on
22:19stage.
22:20>> That's correct.
22:20>> And you can see it right there. Um the
22:22move towards the the right people are
22:25trying to do it. They're trying to be
22:26more independent. I made my own try to
22:28move to the right, but the right doesn't
22:30always embrace
22:32>> people talking about uh my local
22:34politics in Massachusetts. I tried doing
22:36that, but there wasn't really much
22:38movement.
22:39>> Um so I I can see how there will be
22:41people who say, "I don't really know
22:44where to go. If I don't go with the
22:45Democrats, where do I go?"
22:47>> Uh but you do see more people becoming
22:49independent. Yes. And I think we do need
22:51to move towards more independent um
22:54politically because if we stay with
22:57Democrat that is their angle and that is
22:59the angle that they use to get power
23:02over all other people. That's how the
23:04size of government gets bigger. That's
23:05how all these problems arise is because
23:07they say look look at these problems of
23:10these poor people. We're going to come
23:11in and save them. And black people we we
23:14want somebody to help us out. That
23:15sounds nice.
23:16>> Yeah. if it was actually true and I
23:18think that when we get to Africa I think
23:20that's going to be a part I want to get
23:22to because
23:24>> before we move on you see I am rethink
23:28I [snorts] am trying when I meet someone
23:29like you very intellectual to say let's
23:32inform our our viewers
23:35>> so that somebody can walk away with an
23:38understanding
23:40we must first and foremost ask the
23:42question why has it become so easy
23:46for us to keep feeding the negative.
23:51>> It's clear there is no argument about
23:53it. We feed the negative. Puff daddy had
23:56a problem. It wasn't a conspiracy. Do
23:59you know how many black people camped
24:00outside that courthouse for weeks upon
24:02weeks and cheering him and his mother
24:05when the mother comes out?
24:06>> We did.
24:10Okay. We did.
24:13>> Why? That's the question we need to ask.
24:15Otherwise, if we approach this
24:17situation, we just say, "Oh, people just
24:20make the choice to be then Derek, then
24:24you and I, we fail because too many have
24:26made a choice and there's no way we can
24:27turn them around." We got to ask, why is
24:30it that we make it is easy for black
24:32people to buy into this? Check this out.
24:34Kamala Harris lost a former first lady
24:38who held the most prestigious position
24:41any woman could ever have. Michelle
24:45Obama
24:46>> went on her podcast to say that
24:51we failed as a nation, especially black
24:55people, for not voting for Kamala
24:57Harris.
24:59>> Obama waved his finger.
25:03Did anybody look at Kamala Harris and
25:05really think that this person should
25:06become president? Now in her position as
25:08a DA, a lawyer, I think she's a
25:10brilliant woman. Oh, I believe if you
25:12sit with this woman, you would have
25:13great conversations if you know
25:14something about law.
25:16>> I believe so. I don't think she's a bad
25:18woman. No, no, no.
25:19>> She was picked by Biden in order to
25:22garner both women and black vote.
25:24>> Sure.
25:25>> That as simple as that. Not based on
25:27qualification. If the person could not
25:29get 0.2% 2% during the primaries. How is
25:32she popular enough to become a vice
25:33president? But Joe needed someone which
25:36they do all the time, the Democratic
25:38party, in order to gather support. And
25:39it failed because people have woken up.
25:42They look at the job she did and they
25:44said, "No, no, not this one." And yet
25:46Obama and his wife
25:48>> insulted this country.
25:50>> Mhm.
25:51>> And claim that we are lying. We need
25:53some growing up to do. Therefore, nobody
25:55should waste her time by asking her to
25:57run. as if she thought really that she
25:59could stand a primary.
26:00>> The question I'm asking, why do we feed
26:02the negative?
26:04>> When you talk about those folks, um I
26:07think once you get to a high enough
26:09level, you just kind of have to feed
26:10into that what what people the taste
26:13makers want you to say. I don't know. I
26:15don't think they have as much control
26:17over what narratives they believe once
26:20you get to a certain level. Um
26:22>> actually, there is no narrative. I think
26:24the narrative of the harmed black
26:27person, the narrative of the victimhood,
26:29that that feeds right into it. Why
26:31didn't she win? Of course, she didn't
26:32win because of all the racist and misog.
26:35It goes right into victimhood. It feeds
26:37all of that. But what you said is very
26:39important that it failed. And the reason
26:42it failed is because there's nothing
26:43behind it.
26:44>> And I think we're getting to the point
26:46where this this conversation of black
26:48fatigue, I haven't looked into it too
26:50much. Yes. But the fatigue of what's
26:51going on that that is something that's
26:53building because it's like how long does
26:55this happen? How long do we let this go
26:57on? And I think people are looking for
26:59truth. So you have to be able to
27:01>> and the truth is to explain to us.
27:03>> Mhm.
27:04>> That what we're doing is not wrong. It
27:07is the it is the only option we have.
27:11>> It is only then you can make a change.
27:15It's the only option we have is to
27:18>> if you don't have any frame of
27:19reference, how do you do something
27:21different? Take the look at the
27:23African-American population and ask
27:25yourself,
27:26>> what is their frame of reference?
27:29Asians in this country came from
27:31somewhere.
27:32>> They have a frame of reference.
27:35>> Middle Eastern people in this country
27:36came from somewhere. They have a frame
27:38of reference.
27:40>> Same to do with European Jews, Italians.
27:42Mhm.
27:44So the population we're talking about,
27:45what is the frame of reference?
27:47>> I think one of the things I also put in
27:49the email was Quanza and having uh
27:53cultural touch points where we can come
27:55together and learn some of that. You
27:57hear a lot of black Americans say, "I'm
27:58just black American. I'm just I'm just
28:00American." Like they don't they don't
28:02think about their connection.
28:04>> Why do you think that we needed?
28:07It's important for us to have a place
28:10[snorts] where the diaspora, the
28:12continent has a okay natural melding
28:16point. And that's what I see Quanza as
28:19being. It's a natural point for us to
28:21say black Americans, here's some here is
28:24some uh
28:25>> something that can unify us,
28:26>> some history and some culture
28:27>> as a frame of reference.
28:29>> Exactly.
28:29>> So that is the point I'm trying to make.
28:31Have you seen any Jew go somewhere and
28:33come home with some fake tradition to be
28:35celebrated or any Arab done that? No.
28:38Because they naturally have a link to
28:40where they came from
28:41>> and they can still tap into that to
28:43guide their current uh environment.
28:46>> Correct.
28:47>> So somebody had to travel to Tanzania
28:49and bring home Quanza.
28:54Is that where the doctor I thought he
28:55figured he created that in LA?
28:58>> No. No. Quanza is a Swahili word.
29:01>> Correct.
29:02>> It is celebrated only in Tanzania. Not
29:04even by the entire Tanzania. No, by a
29:07small farming uh uh community in
29:12Tanzania.
29:13>> Well, are you you're familiar with the
29:15Kwanza in the States though?
29:16>> Oh yeah, that's what I mean.
29:17>> Yeah.
29:18>> It's a professor who traveled in Africa.
29:20>> Oh, so you learned that from
29:21>> he came upon this community.
29:22>> Okay.
29:23>> Which was first founded by Julius Neri,
29:25the first president of Tanzania. founded
29:28the jamano moa.
29:31>> The jamano moa means socialist economy.
29:36>> Meaning that farmers should stop farming
29:38individually and farm as a group and
29:41during harvest they bring all the fruit
29:42to the center of the town
29:45>> collective
29:45>> collective and sell it whole and then
29:47distribute. That is Kwanza celebration
29:49is not for Tanzania. No, it's one little
29:52tribe in Tanzania. Hm.
29:54>> So he saw that he liked it and so he
29:57brought the seven pillars or whatever it
29:59is of
30:00>> to LA and started teaching it. He wrote
30:02books about it and that's where he got
30:03the names from also.
30:05>> But you must understand Tanzania alone
30:07has 124 tribes.
30:09>> Yes.
30:10>> Okay. Quanza is not for Tanzanians.
30:13>> It's just for one little corner of
30:14Tanzania.
30:16>> That is a that is somebody's desperation
30:18to find a point a frame of reference.
30:23So what we are describing what is
30:25happening here even though it's going to
30:27sound controversial some people are
30:28going to call me names when I said black
30:29Americans don't have a culture they
30:31didn't even bother to engage me to
30:32understand I'm talking about that frame
30:34of reference is not there
30:37>> so what is left
30:40if we continue just saying oh people are
30:42making choices to be what they are then
30:43why so many why so many it means like
30:48they say that is the easiest path they
30:50can make
30:55>> for me I have options. I look back and I
30:58see my origin not Beni. Beni is a
31:01country with 51 tribes. My origin is the
31:03Aja tribe where I got my first wisdom,
31:07knowledge, traditions and customs and a
31:09worldview from my grandfather, my
31:11village.
31:13>> So now I'm here in America. So you see
31:15I'm in between two.
31:16>> Mhm.
31:18I compare
31:20then I forge.
31:22How about the African-American?
31:24Where does he look before he decide what
31:27to be? He happened to be in a country
31:31which he didn't understand what the
31:33American the white American meant by the
31:36American dream.
31:38He didn't understand it.
31:40>> Mhm.
31:41So for them in the 70s and 80s
31:45the word was respect.
31:47The African-Americans believe that he
31:49just needed respect.
31:52What gives you respect? That is why when
31:54he leaves the ghetto and he buys his
31:55first brand new Mercedes, he goes
31:57straight to the ghetto because people
31:58will surround the car and his bling and
32:01make him feel like yeah and they call
32:02him names. He needs that. He needs it
32:06because he's seen how others were
32:08treated with a blame.
32:10>> Well, we're tired of it.
32:11>> We're not tired of it. You You changed
32:14from it or you didn't pick that path
32:16because if you explain your background
32:18right now, you can see your influence is
32:20different. You're from Panama and Haiti,
32:22born in America.
32:24>> Mhm.
32:25>> That is a root. That is a reference
32:27right there cuz you were raised by a
32:29Panameanian Haitian household. That is a
32:32reference. H I I think referencing with
32:37uh travel, I think that's a big part of
32:40it and being able to tie yourself to and
32:43see a bigger perspective. Um but I I do
32:48believe people are getting very tired of
32:51the bling the you know the those old way
32:55of looking at what success is and I
32:57think people are looking at what is
32:59success. we're getting closer and closer
33:01to changing that. Uh, and I I hear what
33:05you're saying about like why do people
33:06still make the choice to do those
33:07things? Um, but it's not the same flavor
33:11now either, right? Like the whole when I
33:14was coming up, I could have gone the
33:16whole gangster rap thing, super baggy,
33:18whatever.
33:19>> Could have
33:20>> uh if let let's say um I'm just looking
33:23at the people who were also around me
33:25and that's something that they walked
33:26in. That was a life that they walked in.
33:28>> Why did you walk in? Uh, like you said,
33:30you know, the the whole family piece got
33:32me to look at it a little bit different.
33:33>> Frame of Have you been to Panama?
33:35>> Correct.
33:35>> Have you been to Haiti?
33:36>> Yes.
33:36>> You went there as a visitor or you went
33:38to your roots?
33:39>> I was a young kid. I was just I was
33:41happy to be there.
33:42>> Your home place. Your roots.
33:44>> I was happy to be there. Yeah,
33:44>> that's correct. My mom can say I lived
33:46here.
33:47>> You know how different that is. Now ask
33:48yourself and say where would the general
33:50African-American go and say I went to my
33:52roots.
33:53>> I mean with the Jewish people, right?
33:55They go and they do I forgot
33:57>> pilgrimage. Is it birthright or
33:59>> Yes. passage?
34:00>> Yeah, they have that. Why do they have
34:01that?
34:02>> Because they kept it as a culture.
34:04>> It's something that could be developed.
34:06>> No, you can't develop it out of the blue
34:07like that, man.
34:10>> I I wouldn't see it as an out of the
34:12blue.
34:12>> Traditions and customs are formed by a
34:15collective.
34:16>> Mhm.
34:16>> Because they know what it does do.
34:18>> The tradition is the display of what
34:21makes us collective.
34:24>> Mhm. So those are external activities
34:26just to remind the people that we are
34:28collective
34:29>> right
34:29>> collective means we have one goal
34:31>> that's it the traditions are just
34:33external manifestations of what makes
34:36people to remind them constantly the
34:39traditions are like a constitution
34:41>> the word constitution means what
34:43constitute what we are not something you
34:45write to become
34:47>> so American constitution is just
34:50a document reminding the founding
34:52fathers this is what we uh and we must
34:54continue to be it so our children can
34:56read and understand and remember then
34:58you have external activities like
35:00customs and traditions and uh bizaar
35:02which you have you know to remind the
35:04Jews
35:07>> and what does the African-American have
35:09to remind them of what
35:11>> I think it's our responsibility to
35:14create that
35:15>> okay so who is who is the hour
35:18>> uh
35:18>> when you take a an author Jewish
35:21community
35:21>> you have a rabbi
35:23>> Mhm. Mhm.
35:24>> Okay.
35:24>> Mhm.
35:25>> The young kid from 14 start going to the
35:27rabbi.
35:28>> When you take the Michigan, Detroit,
35:29Michigan, the Islam community,
35:32>> huh?
35:32>> Mhm.
35:33>> They have the uh Malibu or Imam.
35:36>> Mhm.
35:36>> Young kids go there and sit down and
35:38listen to him.
35:40>> We have pastors, we have preachers,
35:43>> dude. TDJs and these people, do you know
35:45what the church stands for? Is a
35:47prosperity of church. They have they
35:50have private jets and expensive $4,000
35:53suits in order for you to contribute
35:54money so they can live their lives.
35:56Let's not fool ours as pastors.
35:57>> That is part of it.
35:58>> When you say an orthodox Jew, you
36:00talking about one tradition
36:02>> that grooms their children. So you want
36:04to
36:05>> Ke dollar preaches what your child
36:07should go and listen to and his
36:09lifestyle or TD Jake who hangs out with
36:11Puff Daddy.
36:12>> Is that what you want a child to go and
36:13listen to? Which of the pastors are you
36:15talking about?
36:16>> So forget about the pastors. Ashton said
36:18he's a he's a reverend. Is that what you
36:20want your child to listen to? [laughter]
36:23So you see you are fragmented
36:27>> already. So that is not what we're
36:29talking about here as a rabbi or an imam
36:33uh and on and on and on.
36:35>> Even the Asians have temples uh
36:38Chinatown flashbook in the Japanese uh
36:40community in LA where they go there
36:43because they want to keep the link
36:45alive. My question to you before we
36:48start demonizing the lifestyle, what is
36:51the Africanameans's link to? What you
36:54say? We should credit it. We, but who is
36:56the we?
36:58>> Families.
36:59>> That's correct.
37:00>> Yeah.
37:00>> It start with units, my friend.
37:02>> Correct.
37:03>> If you wait for the whole to change,
37:06you're going to be frustrated.
37:08So the reason I said the media piece is
37:11important is if you have some type of
37:14media that families can now say all
37:16right this is our good form a frame of
37:18reference here
37:19>> this is something
37:20>> I call upon you
37:22>> to start your own media.
37:23>> Oh for sure.
37:24>> That's correct.
37:24>> For sure.
37:25>> Media is there to make money. Media is
37:28not a nonprofit organization. It's there
37:29to make money.
37:31>> And so it takes what is popular already
37:34seeing that people are around it.
37:37So a French gume restaurant is not going
37:39to open in a ghetto in Harlem back in
37:41the days.
37:43>> It would open a China restaurant or
37:45McDonald's because he's seen you already
37:48that that is what you're attracted to.
37:50>> Mhm.
37:50>> That's as simple as that. What did what
37:54did Jay-Z and his wife put in uh uh uh
37:57Brooklyn? Yeah. 44, whatever they call
38:00it. Club 44. Yeah. Come and dance
38:03because we are in music and you guys
38:04like it. and spend $800 on a bottle of
38:07whiskey.
38:09Yet your child is stuck in some private
38:11a public school sitting a yellow bus
38:13every morning. But his children go to
38:16school with white bodyguards. Private,
38:18>> right?
38:19>> We go to what is popular, what we can
38:22understand because that is what gives us
38:25that respect, the fulfillment of what we
38:28think is the American dream. Mhm.
38:30>> We did not start life in America where
38:33black people, okay, on it just community
38:37and not wealth. Some would reject you
38:42for just the number of cars you buy and
38:45the blame and the pimping of your women
38:47and the gang and the drug, but we don't.
38:51We don't. That is why we burn down a
38:54city in the celebration of the death of
38:56a career criminal.
38:58That alone should cause you to think
39:01this is not just choices we make.
39:04>> I think about like Kendrick Lamar. You
39:08have certain artists that can paint a
39:10picture that gives you
39:13that can say this this is these are the
39:15ugly parts of who we are. May not
39:17necessarily glorify it but also tell you
39:20the importance of family and the
39:22importance of
39:23>> Give me an example of his lyrics. What
39:24did he say?
39:27Um, I like to think about the
39:32album where he had humble on there.
39:35>> Mhm.
39:36um
39:38thinking about
39:40how his journey of his father I I don't
39:44have like specific lyrics but like for
39:46the album when you look at the the the
39:48whole length of the album how the
39:50journey of his father him having to come
39:52up through uh the environment that he's
39:56in
39:56>> um and still making the choice of like I
39:58could be that other guy not making that
40:01choice. People are quick to say I could
40:02have made a choice to be. Why what
40:03didn't you made a choice to be?
40:05>> Like one of the songs is like being
40:06stuck like stuck up by somebody.
40:08>> Yes.
40:08>> He could have been that guy that that
40:10stuck him up.
40:10>> Well, he didn't become that guy because
40:11he couldn't become that guy. As simple
40:13as that. So, he shouldn't he should stop
40:15using what he has become as an
40:17individual and think therefore everybody
40:18could be it.
40:19>> But that that kind of message that's
40:21what I'm saying.
40:22>> You haven't seen any group in this
40:23country who have to use a record sell it
40:25first before their their children will
40:27learn in school like the Japanese or the
40:28Korean. We are in a different
40:30circumstance. So we cannot say that
40:31we're going to do exactly what they did
40:33cuz they have a
40:34>> he plays music. They like him. They
40:35dance to it. They don't listen to what
40:37he's saying.
40:37>> People definitely listen to it.
40:39>> And so what what where where
40:40>> I mean I would say like they listen to
40:42it so much that they put him on a Super
40:44Bowl. Like he shouldn't have been on the
40:45Super Bowl. Like his lyrics put him on
40:47the Super Bowl.
40:47>> The the taste makers, the people who are
40:49in charge of the Super Bowl, they
40:51popular. Why is he popular? And even
40:53though he's telling the truth while he's
40:55doing the popular stuff. Look what I'm
40:58trying to say.
41:00>> Kendrick has become a musician and he's
41:02a good one for that.
41:04>> Obama likes him a lot because of his
41:06music.
41:07>> Mhm.
41:08>> I like some music not because of the
41:10teaching he's giving me.
41:12I just like it. That's what human being
41:14taste, sight, sound. You like it first.
41:20>> So yes, he put his story in the music.
41:25uh they're not like us and and and
41:27Serena is dancing, you know, at the
41:29Super Bowl and all that. So, but I am
41:32saying yes, he's seen something, it made
41:36sense to him what he should talk about
41:38and use himself as an example. I didn't
41:40become that. But if the problem was just
41:44your kind, then we have no problem. The
41:46problem is overwhelming. It's a huge
41:49number. So simply saying that's why I
41:51don't like people who go on stage and
41:52say if I can do you you can do it too.
41:54But if that is true then why are you
41:56here charging me money just to remind me
41:57I can do it anyway.
41:58>> I mean the beat's nice. You got to have
42:00a good time. You got to have a good
42:02time.
42:02>> We got to talk about the painful part of
42:04this. Why do black people feed into the
42:06negative? It's not because they are
42:08stupid or dumb. It's not because No,
42:09it's no option. It's one thing. Nobody
42:12makes a choice when there's only one
42:14thing. They don't have a frame of
42:16reference.
42:18So in your mind is there
42:22can a frame of reference be created
42:24>> by who
42:26the
42:27>> why don't you copy the one puff daddy
42:29has created
42:31>> I don't see that as a success
42:32>> I copy the one huge knight created
42:34>> I don't see
42:35>> how about Tupac Shakur
42:37how about Snoop Dog him he he was put on
42:39the Olympic stage for us to see a weed
42:42smoking
42:44>> almost wannabe gangster that's what we
42:46celebrate
42:48Talk about the fact, man, didn't we
42:50celebrate him? Didn't he draw a lot of
42:53first black time Olympic watchers than
42:56ever?
42:57It did. What I'm trying to point out to
42:59you, Derek,
43:00>> let's speak about why we do what we do.
43:06And that would lead us to talk our young
43:08ones the way out. But let's not just say
43:12it like they made a choice to be that
43:14way. No group of people in this country
43:16make such choices to feed into the
43:18negative. What we are calling negative,
43:21they are calling it a way of life.
43:24And that alone there's no bridge already
43:26because you're not trying to see why. I
43:30walk into this country as an African and
43:32it didn't take me long to see the
43:34worming majority of what Bridgeport was.
43:36Gangs and baby mummies and baby daddies,
43:39pe everywhere [snorts]
43:41failing schools for the last 34 years.
43:43It's not one single public school. Every
43:46graduation is always the Southeast
43:48Asians who live here. Cambodians,
43:49Laosians, Vietnamese, Africans, and
43:51Caribbeans. Top 10.
43:52>> Mhm.
43:53>> African-Americans not. And we keep
43:56saying the same thing. They don't want
43:58to be. They don't want to be. What do
43:59you mean they don't want to be? If they
44:01don't want to be, the question is why?
44:05>> What do you think black people want? If
44:08they don't want the if they don't want a
44:10frame of reference if our situation is
44:12so
44:13>> they didn't say they don't want a frame
44:14of reference.
44:15>> Okay.
44:16>> But how do you give people who've been
44:18cut from a root? Which frame of
44:20reference would you give them? Nigeria,
44:22Congo, Beni, Togo, where would you fetch
44:25that frame of reference? And number two,
44:27like they used to say, who will bell the
44:28cat? Who are you? Another black man who
44:31is bringing the frame of reference.
44:32Jesus Christ brought a frame of
44:34reference. The problem is he happened to
44:36be a Nazarene. Mhm.
44:38>> And they said, "But who are you
44:40different from us?"
44:41>> Mhm.
44:42>> You understand what I'm saying?
44:43>> Mhm.
44:44>> So if you begin to introduce a frame of
44:46reference, who are you? I'm just like
44:48you. How dare you think you're better
44:50than me to introduce a frame of
44:52reference.
44:53So the Thomas will the counter rises.
44:56That could be the frame of reference. We
44:57threw them all away
45:00because you're up.
45:03So we should ask the question why?
45:06Because there's no frame of reference,
45:08my friend. People think it comes easy.
45:12Humans have only one way to go. Humans,
45:15no matter who you are, where you are, we
45:18always make the right choices to
45:20survive.
45:23My new friend over there call it to
45:25remain positive. If that is true, which
45:28it is, and you're a scientist,
45:31>> the primal surviving, we would always do
45:34the right thing. So why are black people
45:36feeding into the negative? Because they
45:38don't have a frame of reference.
45:44That is important for our young ones to
45:46at least embrace first then the the fact
45:49that my lifestyle you are saying I made
45:51a wrong choice but you're not telling me
45:53or even asking yourself why did he make
45:56that choice and we are so many that even
45:59at the democratic convention they
46:00couldn't find any good people Dan Lizo
46:02and Kibby and Beyonce Oprah Winfrey
46:05Kamala Harris you name it interesting
46:10very interesting that is the way I look
46:13at the things my friend
46:16>> today you go to Africa my friend there
46:18was asking me before
46:21colonization
46:23we were tribes
46:25as a child you don't even need to ask
46:28anyone
46:30parenting in Africa was never anything
46:33your father told you some of us we
46:35become 14 and you have never even spent
46:38a whole day with your dad you observe
46:41him
46:41>> Mhm. And you observe the elders and you
46:43just pick it up like that of what you
46:46should be based on your skill. They know
46:48already. Are you the one who knows how
46:49to play the gongen and call people? Are
46:52you the one who knows how to plaster a
46:53war or you sing or you dance or we all
46:57know what somebody is good at
47:00>> and we prop them up on it. No, nobody
47:03should tell you there was parenting in
47:04Africa. That wasn't. You are born in a
47:06community. Anyone older than you, you
47:09just observe them and you pick it up.
47:11Now we have Benin, no more tribes. We
47:14forced to say, "Oh, I'm not a tribal
47:16member. I'm a Beninoa." Yet there is no
47:19image called Benin. And we are all
47:21confused now.
47:22>> No, we have decadence across the
47:23continent from South Africa all the way
47:26to North Africa.
47:27>> Decadence. Every girl wants to be
47:28Beyonce.
47:30>> The shorter your skirt, the better.
47:33The guys are growing beers like they are
47:35bin Laden
47:36>> because that is what people respect and
47:38have a big stomach walking around and
47:40bla and all that. I am telling you
47:42musicians who made an impact on our
47:44lives. We just listen to the words they
47:46sang. It made an impact on the village.
47:49They play the music to inspire the
47:52village. That's what musicians did and
47:55they live and die poor because they
47:58fulfilled what God gave them. Today we
48:01have Bennab Boy and Davidido trying to
48:03be like Americans because they have no
48:05value system and more to as a frame of
48:07reference. So they are all packing their
48:09garages with Ferraris
48:11in a country that has potholes. Yeah.
48:16And flooding. So they drive around their
48:18building and have people take a picture.
48:23They are boasting on television about
48:25baby mamas.
48:26>> Mhm.
48:28Two faced has just divorced his wife and
48:30married another one and he has six baby
48:32m and they talk about it proudly.
48:37You think you are the only one in the
48:38problem here?
48:40Once you take the frame of reference
48:42away from people
48:44and then they blame it on CIA, they
48:46blame it on American government.
48:49When it was tribes, you don't need any
48:52father waving his finger or anybody
48:54talking to you. You grow up in that
48:56village, you're going to be somebody.
48:58>> Okay. Everybody can tell by the time you
49:00are six.
49:02>> In your experience of traveling, have
49:04you seen that is being true for most
49:07tribes or does that just for your tribe
49:09when you were coming?
49:10>> Most tribes. Oh yeah.
49:11>> When I when I was traveling, when I met
49:13Nigerians, first thing I know is by name
49:16and oh, you're an EU. Yes. And he will
49:18greet me and I will know this is an EU
49:20boy. Okay. When I met him this morning,
49:25he greeted me and I could tell
49:28he's looking at me one first. This Zano
49:31is older than me. Now I keep pointing to
49:33somebody. So my audience, what who is?
49:35So there's a the gentleman you see there
49:38as a member of the audience. Came all
49:40the way from New York. He wrote to me.
49:43He said, "Sir, I'm from your country,
49:45Ben. I just came here six years ago.
49:47I've never seen a Benny on television
49:49who talks about things like this. I just
49:51want to be in the audience and see you
49:52face to face. So he arrived this morning
49:54before everybody and we had a long
49:56conversation. His touch made my day
49:59and we were talking about how we grew up
50:01and who we were.
50:02>> Mhm.
50:02>> He talked about his father's work, what
50:04he did growing up and he watched it.
50:09That is how we grew up. When I meet a
50:11Nigerian, I'm meeting an EU guy or a
50:13Euroba guy, aa guy, a benderite, a
50:16calaba when I'm doing my travels. And I
50:19can tell right away, yes, this man has a
50:22distinct way of relating to me.
50:24>> If he's older than me,
50:26>> the dynamic is different. If I'm older
50:28than him, the dynamic is different.
50:29That's how we grew up in Africa. You
50:31don't get taught by anybody. Role models
50:33are everywhere. You see them, you follow
50:35them. That is a frame of reference. I
50:38traveled with it. When I lived in
50:41England, I knew I was a black man, an
50:43African from Beni or my tribe.
50:46>> It became more apparent and distinct.
50:50>> I acted as one. When I lived in Asia,
50:52the same thing.
50:53>> Mhm.
50:54>> I knew I was black and I acted it as a
50:57man raised by the sensibilities of my
51:00tribe. Do you know where I got confused
51:02as a black man? When I came to America,
51:04I don't know what anymore what makes a
51:06black man. Should I wear my basketball,
51:08baseball cap backward and draw down my
51:11pants? Should I go and buy a big chain?
51:13Should I drive a car with bling? Should
51:15I drive my car loud? Is it the guy who
51:17went to school and dressed properly? I'm
51:19called uh what is the name? Goon or Epid
51:22if you you know. So I said, "Wait a
51:25minute. I see here that
51:28>> we
51:31so I I got confused. What makes the
51:32black man in America?" And I I think
51:34that's where a lot of young people here
51:36get confused. I think that's how we
51:38started the conversation about media. I
51:40think it would be uh make a great impact
51:43what you described about growing up and
51:45just seeing how people behave, seeing
51:49how oh this is my calling or this is
51:52certain kids finding their calling, how
51:54they became the plaster guy. That would
51:57do a world of difference to young black
51:59people here to see, oh, this is what
52:01it's like over there. I think that would
52:03be something quite
52:04>> the difference is uh the landscape here
52:06wouldn't allow it. Who do you prop up on
52:08television and take to the high schools
52:10to speak? You take Jahu to go and speak
52:12in his his fora high school. He's
52:14wearing a wife beater with a yellow
52:15hammer
52:16>> with a bling.
52:17>> This is what I mean about uh media. You
52:19have to create the story.
52:20>> But that is not media. The school
52:21invited him to come and speak.
52:23>> Oh, I hear that. I hear
52:24>> when when when this guy um Mark
52:28Zuckerberg, he dropped out.
52:30>> Mhm.
52:30>> Okay. It was only recent that Harvard
52:32changed when they became woke that he
52:34should come and speak. They never
52:35allowed them. Bill Gates was not allowed
52:37to come back and speak. But you're
52:39you're a bomb. You dropped out. So what?
52:41We're not raising millionaires here.
52:43>> Mhm.
52:43>> That's a message.
52:47>> But what do who do we bring to speak to
52:49high schools? Who do we bring? Do we
52:51bring people like you?
52:53>> We bring the high school. You got to be
52:55bigger than the high school. You have to
52:57have uh just like this program is
52:59reaching people. You have to be able to
53:01have a program where young people can
53:03tune in and say hey
53:05>> this is a glimpse into
53:06>> by Jarus got a standing ovation wearing
53:09a wife beater and a yellow hammer. Do
53:12you think if they had taken Derek James
53:14and say he went to high now he's
53:15teaching a science teacher in a public
53:18school why not you they bring
53:21ex-convicts to come and speak
53:23>> with prison numbers tattooed on their
53:25arms.
53:27Okay.
53:27>> Mhm.
53:29With rag on his head, some big old
53:31sneakers and he's sitting in the
53:32classroom telling them don't go to jail.
53:35>> Mhm.
53:36>> Because you got caught.
53:39Have you seen anybody do that? That you
53:42think these kids are so low that the
53:44person you can bring here is an
53:45ex-convict?
53:47>> When he was in high school, didn't he
53:49get an exit to speak in his school? Yes.
53:51Then how come he went how did it turn
53:52out for him?
53:54We you are you you're glorifying
53:57something but you don't know you are.
54:00Today Mandani New York has picked an ex
54:03armed robbery felon.
54:04>> Mhm.
54:07>> Derek I'm saying what I have observed
54:09America. I'm not calling anybody names.
54:11>> You have picked people who should not be
54:13and you glorify them with this second
54:15chance nonsense.
54:19>> You think the Jews have second chance?
54:20They don't.
54:21>> You think the Koreans have second
54:22chance? The Chinese? No. is a one strike
54:24out of this community
54:26because once you give the second chance,
54:28you're telling people it's okay.
54:30>> Ex drug dealers are now sitting with
54:33President Obama eating dinner.
54:37There is no shame left in this country
54:39among African-Americans. No shame
54:41anymore. Everything is can go.
54:43>> I don't know about if the shame is the
54:45angle. Um I think the angle is as
54:49educator to educate to show kids or show
54:51people there are other possibilities
54:54going to what you said earlier feeling
54:56like this is the only choice you can
54:57make. So what what the victim whom came
55:01from the fact that the elders okay when
55:04the second generation came they knew
55:07very well the second generation of black
55:09Americans were going to say what have
55:10you guys built? Why come our community
55:13is like this? How come our neighborhood
55:15is trashed in graffiti and cars and baby
55:18mamas? So, you know what you do? Because
55:20you don't want them to think you're a
55:21fool, you have to create a victim to
55:24yourself by telling them we are this way
55:26because some white man misbehaved.
55:30This is this is the older people attempt
55:34not to make the younger generation think
55:35that they are lazy and they couldn't
55:37create a better home before I came.
55:40>> Mhm. So instead of you taking the
55:42responsibility to say look this is what
55:44we know we believe you will do it
55:46better. Sorry this is all we could
55:50create instead of saying so. No you went
55:53quickly to make movies and write
55:54activists BLM black lives matter to say
55:57that. So you want to tell me racism
56:00causes people to trash their own
56:01neighborhood? Are you telling me racism,
56:04somebody simply not liking you, would
56:07cause you to make your women pregnant
56:08and walk away from them? Racism can
56:11cause a man to buy a car and the wheels
56:14are far more expensive than the whole
56:15car. You spent two hours polishing that
56:18rim, but don't even know the name and
56:19the date of birth of your children.
56:21Racism can do that.
56:25>> The failure of the old, they call it
56:26failure. when they saw that the second
56:28generation of African-American kids
56:31saw the neighborhoods where they were
56:33living and there's nothing to write home
56:35about it. They have to quickly create
56:37something for the second generation not
56:39to think that they are lazy or stupid.
56:41So they started blaming somebody. Africa
56:44is the same thing. By the time the
56:46second generation came around after
56:47independence and all these so-called
56:49politicians realized that they haven't
56:51changed the country, they have to
56:53quickly say no no no it's not us. It's
56:55neocolonization. The whites are still
56:57lurking around somewhere.
56:59>> That's why we haven't built the country.
57:02Everybody does it. And when that happens
57:05and people buy into it, it delays
57:07progress. Correct. So the question you
57:10and I should continue, we should have
57:12another discussion. Is
57:15why. The why leads us to the solution.
57:21No. African-Americans would never never
57:25refuse to take quote the correct path if
57:30they knew it
57:32is because
57:34they don't have a frame of reference.
57:36That is the only thing that gives you
57:38choice to make. You have to compare the
57:41current to something else. Yeah. They
57:45are the only group in this country
57:48that don't have a frame of reference.
57:55So
57:57if we become a little bit understanding
57:59of that then the next one is to the new
58:03otherwise you make the new generation
58:05feel ashamed.
58:06>> Correct. That's what I see.
58:08>> Oh why am I making wrong? They said it's
58:10a wrong choice. My lifestyle is not
58:11good. Oh I'm stupid. You see? No.
58:15Discuss the why. There's nothing wrong
58:17with it.
58:18>> Everyone in this country is a voluntary
58:21immigrant.
58:23African-Americans are involuntary
58:25immigrants. Is that not true?
58:26>> Mhm.
58:27>> Exactly. That involuntary condition rob
58:30them of something. And for that reason,
58:33there's no frame of reference.
58:36If I call my name, my last name, you can
58:39get on a plane and go to Benny and they
58:40will walk you straight to my tribe by my
58:43last name from the airport. They will
58:45walk you to my village.
58:47>> Where will I go if if my license says
58:51Derek James?
58:53Where am I going to go?
58:55Scotland.
58:57But here is Derek James in front of me.
59:00Zanu ais directly. You're going to
59:02Benin.
59:04[snorts]
59:05I think it's important to create a frame
59:08of resonance. Uh I know you're you have
59:11your thoughts on the whole media piece.
59:13Um but keep in mind those that are uh
59:18orphaned that are not directly tied to
59:21that. Um and there is something to be
59:24said about looking at some of what are
59:29even if it's five 10 15 different
59:32tribes. You see how they interact, how
59:35they are. This is the land where my
59:37people came from. This is how they
59:39behave. This is how they do their thing.
59:41It can give me
59:42>> Okay, but who's who's the one to do
59:43that?
59:45>> I I would love to make that a project
59:47that I'm going to be working on for
59:48sure.
59:48>> Check this out. I would love to work
59:50with you on it. Check this out.
59:52>> Koreans.
59:53>> Mhm.
59:54>> They come here, they go straight to
59:55Flagbush because it's a Korean
59:57community. Language, culture, history,
1:00:01food, and people.
1:00:02>> Mhm. Japanese straight to little Tokyo.
1:00:04Chinese straight to Chinatown. Whether
1:00:06you are rich, poor, ugly or good, they
1:00:09know why community because they share
1:00:12everything. Come on. Right. Dearborn,
1:00:15Michigan the same thing. The Jews the
1:00:17same thing. Italians the same thing.
1:00:18Irish the same thing. Look at Nigeria,
1:00:22Ghana, Togo, Beni. Where have you seen
1:00:24the communities in America? Do you know
1:00:26why?
1:00:28Why? Because if you say you're Nigerian,
1:00:31there's no such thing.
1:00:33You are either Ebu, Euroba. So when you
1:00:35arrive here, you can say I'm going to a
1:00:37Nigerian community. You can create a a
1:00:39Euroba community if you want to
1:00:42>> but not Nigeria, not Ghana.
1:00:46Because once 11 people come together,
1:00:48they all speaking different languages.
1:00:50That means they their thought process
1:00:53process and worldview is different.
1:00:54Correct. Religion different, food
1:00:56different. So when I was in college,
1:00:57I've told this story so many times.
1:00:59There was an international festival
1:01:00where we went because my my college was
1:01:02predominantly international. So every
1:01:05year we put together the international
1:01:07festival. Chinese no problem. You can
1:01:09see the colors. What? Red, Japanese,
1:01:11white. Indians, Pakistanis.
1:01:14Then the Africans will spend one week
1:01:16arguing.
1:01:19What would students from Ghana put on
1:01:22the table to say this is Ghana?
1:01:26It to be a lie,
1:01:29Kenya.
1:01:30It should be a lie.
1:01:33Be it have to be from specific tribes.
1:01:35>> That's correct.
1:01:36>> And I think that's a truth that we need
1:01:38to walk in as well. I think something on
1:01:40the continent that would be helpful is
1:01:42to get out of the idea of these smaller
1:01:44like the idea that the continent is 54
1:01:47countries. That's correct. It doesn't
1:01:48really make any sense.
1:01:49>> Well, you're talking about countries.
1:01:5154.
1:01:52>> Okay. I just returned from Kenya. Kenya
1:01:54has 47 tribes,
1:01:55>> right?
1:01:57>> Distinct. What I'm saying? Distinct.
1:01:58>> Distinct. So, go ahead. Tell me about
1:02:00Yeah. You said in the email that you
1:02:02wanted to talk about Africa. What could
1:02:03help?
1:02:04>> Yeah. I I think the fact that the
1:02:07countries have these lines. You have
1:02:09tribes that are separated. You have
1:02:12tribes that are kind of put together in
1:02:14a smaller space that have to vive for
1:02:17power and that creates the problems that
1:02:19comes with that. Mh.
1:02:20>> Um, and ultimately I think the biggest
1:02:23thing the the continent is just hard to
1:02:27to master in a sense of the geography of
1:02:31it is just very difficult and the only
1:02:33way you can really do that would be
1:02:35through like big infrastructure project.
1:02:38You can't do that with 54 countries. Why
1:02:41would I work with the other countries
1:02:42around me when I can just say I can use
1:02:45it as an excuse? I can use that as
1:02:47something. It will make sure that the
1:02:49progress is not made. There should be
1:02:51train lines that get across. There
1:02:52should be major infrastructure problems.
1:02:54>> Why is this not happening?
1:02:55>> I I believe the fact that you have all
1:02:58of these countries, it it takes away the
1:03:01incentive to work with each other. It
1:03:03puts more of a
1:03:04>> but they shouldn't work with each other.
1:03:06They should work within the EU was
1:03:09possible not because they wanted to
1:03:12progress. It's because they've already
1:03:14progressed as independent autonomous
1:03:16countries.
1:03:17So when you're good and I'm good and
1:03:19he's good, I'm confident to say let's
1:03:21come together because you're bringing
1:03:23something.
1:03:24>> What what are the countries going to
1:03:25come together for? They have not even
1:03:28succeeded
1:03:30internally as a country. How can they
1:03:33trade with the other country? They
1:03:34couldn't work internally by the way that
1:03:37they were designed. They were not
1:03:39designed to be to work internally. They
1:03:41weren't designed that way.
1:03:42>> Okay. Then why did they keep it?
1:03:45It's when you have people in power and a
1:03:48vacuum is left, somebody's going to fill
1:03:49that vacuum.
1:03:50>> What I mean is
1:03:51>> there were people that came in and said
1:03:53we are we are the ones that are in
1:03:54charge. The Europeans came in and did
1:03:56that. They carved it up.
1:03:57>> Yes. And they went away
1:03:58>> of and when you indigenous, right?
1:04:00>> But when you when you do that, you leave
1:04:02a vacuum where people who are not
1:04:04accustomed to that. There were checks
1:04:06and balances before
1:04:08like it wasn't like the continent was
1:04:11world war before the Europeans got
1:04:13there. were checks and balances. The
1:04:14question is,
1:04:15>> so that could be reinstated.
1:04:18Uh, but the way that the the it's broken
1:04:21up now is just there's no way that
1:04:23that's going to happen.
1:04:24>> What am I asking you is then? Why did
1:04:25the Africans keep it the way it is?
1:04:28>> When you have this power vacuum, it's a
1:04:32lot easier to just fill it than to say
1:04:34we're going to switch things up. We're
1:04:36going to do things different.
1:04:36>> Correct. But why?
1:04:37>> So why would I change So [clears throat]
1:04:39why not if the the way you have observed
1:04:42it to see that it's not working.
1:04:44>> I think you saw one of my videos. It's
1:04:45what I have said continuously.
1:04:47>> Mhm.
1:04:50>> Why did they accept it the way it is and
1:04:52have kept it the way it is? I can even
1:04:54speak uh with my my my mother's side
1:04:58like there's not always a good
1:05:02um ed education on history about what is
1:05:06going on. And I think when you can look
1:05:07at how do we get here, it's a lot easier
1:05:10to make that decision and that doesn't
1:05:11always happen. Um, but there are a lot
1:05:15of younger people who are saying this is
1:05:16not working. You see a lot of the
1:05:17countries trying to already separate
1:05:20because they're saying we got to do
1:05:21something and you see all these cool
1:05:23[clears throat] people say we got to do
1:05:24something.
1:05:25>> Yeah, it's all emotional. There's no
1:05:27brain behind it. I I would I would say
1:05:29that yeah I I there is that part but
1:05:32there is a a hunger and like I said just
1:05:35with the black Americans there's a
1:05:36hunger to do something different and do
1:05:38something right
1:05:39>> that is a danger no every time you just
1:05:41want to do something different you're
1:05:43going to do something wrong
1:05:45>> if you if you're if you haven't learned
1:05:47the lesson you have to learn the lesson
1:05:48>> you haven't learned any lesson
1:05:49>> and the lesson for me the lesson is 54
1:05:52countries doesn't work that's a lesson
1:05:54that can be taught you can see
1:05:56>> no no no no not 54 4 countries.
1:05:59That's what it is.
1:06:01>> Each country
1:06:02>> has its own 54 tribes.
1:06:04>> Correct.
1:06:05>> So the countries, the country, the units
1:06:07they can work,
1:06:08>> right?
1:06:10>> Not the continent.
1:06:13Each country has in it 54 tribes.
1:06:16>> Correct.
1:06:17>> So that country can function
1:06:21multiply by 54.
1:06:24So first you have to start talking about
1:06:25one country.
1:06:28Do you follow what I'm trying to say?
1:06:31>> If you do one country,
1:06:34you will not because what what do you
1:06:35hear around? The government is not doing
1:06:37enough for us. They're not doing this.
1:06:39They're not doing that.
1:06:40>> What are the things that people want?
1:06:41They just want prosperity. They want
1:06:43something to be able to make a life for
1:06:45themselves. If you were able to build a
1:06:48train across from the Indian Ocean to
1:06:50the Atlantic,
1:06:51>> but who is the you able to build? Who is
1:06:53the you?
1:06:54>> Whatever government that they decide. I
1:06:55don't I don't I'm not
1:06:56>> okay let me explain let me explain
1:06:58something okay
1:07:01>> if you take Benin
1:07:04>> as a country
1:07:05>> Mhm.
1:07:06>> the problem Beni has inside is the fact
1:07:08that Beni alone has 51 tribes with only
1:07:115.6 million people I don't see there's a
1:07:14problem
1:07:16I see that the tribes are a asset this
1:07:21is where this is where the allegiances
1:07:24are. This is a a a place where people
1:07:26can come together. When you talk about
1:07:28rabbis and things like that, when you
1:07:30have these tribes, these are places
1:07:32where people come together. Explain
1:07:33something.
1:07:34>> I am part of this.
1:07:35>> Let me explain something to you.
1:07:36>> How do you think the tribes in Beni came
1:07:39together to be a country?
1:07:42>> Did Did the tribes of Benin say, "We're
1:07:44going to be a country?"
1:07:45>> Yeah.
1:07:45>> They decided to do that.
1:07:47>> I'm asking, how did they come together
1:07:48to be a country?
1:07:50>> Benin became a country. I'm assuming uh
1:07:53like a lot of the other African
1:07:55countries around.
1:07:56>> Yeah. But I'm asking the the tribes
1:07:57inside Beni, how did they win and how
1:07:59did they agree that we should be a
1:08:01country?
1:08:02>> I don't know if they ever were asked to
1:08:03be a country.
1:08:04>> Exactly.
1:08:05>> Right.
1:08:06>> That's the point I'm trying to make and
1:08:07you're saying no.
1:08:08>> What I'm what I'm saying is that instead
1:08:10of having little countries,
1:08:12>> it's not
1:08:13>> you say that we are together somehow. We
1:08:16are together. We can be states. We can
1:08:18be like the United Tribes of you know
1:08:21Ethiopia or United Tribes of whatever
1:08:23you want to call it but we are together.
1:08:25We are we are separate.
1:08:27>> Who is saying that we
1:08:28>> the the tribes would have to decide that
1:08:30we will come together
1:08:31>> but they haven't decided to come
1:08:32together.
1:08:33>> What what I'm saying what I what I'm
1:08:35trying to say is that when you have 54
1:08:37countries when you have such small
1:08:39countries what is the benefit of doing
1:08:40that? I don't have a benefit. Derek,
1:08:42>> the the what what would be what would be
1:08:44a huge benefit would be having a
1:08:46highspeed rail down the west coast of
1:08:48Africa, right? That would there's a lot
1:08:50of countries right there. Why would it
1:08:52not get built, Derek?
1:08:53>> Because of the political problems.
1:08:55>> No, no, no, no, no. Please follow me.
1:08:57>> Okay.
1:08:59>> You have put the C before the horse. You
1:09:01are describing the 54 countries in one
1:09:03continent.
1:09:04>> Mhm.
1:09:04>> I am telling you each country was forced
1:09:08to become a country.
1:09:09>> Correct. That alone is a problem.
1:09:11>> Mhm.
1:09:12>> Until that one is fixed individually.
1:09:16How do you get the people who are not
1:09:17agreeing to be even a country?
1:09:19>> The problem.
1:09:20>> Wait, wait. Listen to this first.
1:09:21>> How do you get a people in a country who
1:09:24have not yet agreed to be a country to
1:09:27even make a decision of how highways can
1:09:30be built across?
1:09:32>> You unshackle them.
1:09:34>> Who is the you?
1:09:36>> It that would need to be developed. But
1:09:38that would need to be back. Who would do
1:09:40the unshackling?
1:09:42>> The people the people there would have
1:09:44to to I get what you said. Uh I think
1:09:48that that's where the union is going. I
1:09:51don't know what the body would be.
1:09:53>> I think the body would need to be de
1:09:55developed.
1:09:56>> Uh like a a a governmental body would
1:10:00need to be developed
1:10:02>> for the whole continent.
1:10:03>> Yeah. AU.
1:10:04>> The AU.
1:10:04>> Yes. Uh,
1:10:09I know they have plans to
1:10:13I forgot what they're trying to do. I
1:10:15know they have plans to to do some
1:10:17projects as the AU.
1:10:19>> They've been doing it since 50 years
1:10:21ago,
1:10:21>> but the projects are with the lens that
1:10:24they will continue to do this 54 country
1:10:26business.
1:10:27>> Yeah. It's not going to all right. Do
1:10:30you know Echovas?
1:10:31>> Mhm.
1:10:3312 countries in just one region right
1:10:35cut away from the continent because
1:10:36they've organized. Do you know how old
1:10:38Echo was?
1:10:40>> 50 years old. They have not been able to
1:10:42build one highway to connect each other.
1:10:47>> So forget about the 54 and talk about
1:10:49Echoas. So that's 12 countries in West
1:10:51Africa.
1:10:52>> Then in East Africa they have their own
1:10:53East African Union. Okay. Of 11 or
1:10:56something countries.
1:10:57>> Nothing has succeeded.
1:10:58>> Then we have the Central Africa and then
1:11:00on and on and on. Mhm. What I'm trying
1:11:02to explain to you is this. They have not
1:11:05yet understood
1:11:07that what they were left behind as a
1:11:09country. So let me explain this.
1:11:13No African country got independence.
1:11:18They got separation from the colonial.
1:11:21>> Mhm. True independent would have been
1:11:25for them to go away from each other as
1:11:27tribes put together
1:11:30independent of each other. That would
1:11:32have been a true independent of the
1:11:34African countries.
1:11:37>> What they got was a separation from the
1:11:40colonial. See the word independent
1:11:44meant that I voluntarily depended on you
1:11:47and now I thought I can be on my own.
1:11:50That was never the case. So the word
1:11:52independent is a stupid term to describe
1:11:54what they got. They got an end of
1:11:57colonization.
1:11:59>> Mhm.
1:12:00>> You don't say that a child would say to
1:12:02the dad, I'm 18. I want to be
1:12:03independent. Because until 18, you were
1:12:06dependent on your dad.
1:12:08>> A man, a member of a a band can say,
1:12:11look, I want to go solo. Which is also
1:12:13an independence, right? Okay. But that
1:12:16is not the case of the African
1:12:18countries. What they did starting from
1:12:20Ghana 1957 and then the rest came in
1:12:231960 status 3 was a separation from the
1:12:26colonials. We ended the colonial rule.
1:12:29>> Mhm.
1:12:29>> The true independent would have been for
1:12:32each country to say we are going back to
1:12:34what we were.
1:12:38So they did not gain it. They didn't
1:12:40they don't know because they also didn't
1:12:42have a frame of reference.
1:12:45They accepted
1:12:48a forged
1:12:51country. You cannot raise a child as a
1:12:54Ghanaian.
1:12:56>> You can raise a child as an Ashanti, an
1:12:58airway, a Ghana, right?
1:13:00>> With value systems that are indigenous
1:13:03and authentic to the people, with
1:13:05language, with everything. So I did I
1:13:07did a I did an experiment when I used to
1:13:09speak around Kenya. The room was full
1:13:12with people and I said okay how many
1:13:15kikuyus are in the room? Kikuyu is the
1:13:17largest tribe of Kenya. And then hands
1:13:19went up. I say how many lures are here?
1:13:22Few hands then went up. How many mas
1:13:24hands? I called out to about seven
1:13:26tribes. The hands went up. Then I said
1:13:30how many Kenyans are here.
1:13:32[snorts and laughter]
1:13:34>> You get the picture.
1:13:35>> That's a good one.
1:13:36>> And the same hands went back up.
1:13:39Now these people are not naturalized.
1:13:43>> Okay? They didn't come from somewhere
1:13:45after Kenya has been created by Kikuyus
1:13:48and then they came to say I want to be
1:13:50in your country. That would have been a
1:13:51different thing.
1:13:53>> They forced them and somebody planted a
1:13:55flag and say look I command all of you
1:13:57to be my country.
1:13:58>> Right?
1:14:00>> When you say you want independent it
1:14:02means you are telling the colonial go
1:14:04home because I want independent from
1:14:05these tribes.
1:14:09Yeah. You see, we have self-made,
1:14:12self-imposed problems, but because we
1:14:15don't come from a race that is
1:14:17intellectually inclined, we couldn't get
1:14:19one person to spell back to us our
1:14:22problem. So, everybody started creating
1:14:27what he or she believe is the problem.
1:14:29Too many cooks in the kitchen, the broth
1:14:32is always bad.
1:14:34and too many with starting with
1:14:36African-Americans,
1:14:38they had too many people who were
1:14:40leading the conversation. Either it's a
1:14:43Malcolm X with his fist in the air or
1:14:45Stokeley Carmichael or it's Martin
1:14:48Luther King or it's Al Beny or it's
1:14:50Andrew Young or it's Al Shapton or it's
1:14:53Jess Jackson. Every corner each person
1:14:55has its own theory. M
1:14:58>> you can't lead people out of captivity
1:15:02with myriads of confusing
1:15:06road signs. Africa same thing. Then we
1:15:09have the Lumumbas.
1:15:12Then we havewam Kruma. Then we have
1:15:13Tanzania. But inside one country this
1:15:16one says no this is the way we should
1:15:18go. socialism, Marxism, communism,
1:15:21democracy, capital, everyone because we
1:15:23don't have a centralized intellectual
1:15:26academy
1:15:28among the black race.
1:15:31>> The Greeks went through several
1:15:32difficult stages, but because they were
1:15:34the first to establish the act of
1:15:36thinking, celebrity,
1:15:39they were able to come up with something
1:15:41and the whole surrounded it. The Romans,
1:15:45the Japanese, the English boys, they
1:15:49have to come up with something.
1:15:52It's our time to come up with something
1:15:55using what language
1:15:57>> we do. I think that's another thing to
1:15:59that's another project charged on us to
1:16:02figure out
1:16:03>> who bell the cap, man. I mean, true. The
1:16:06gentleman the gentleman who was you came
1:16:07to meet him.
1:16:08>> Mhm.
1:16:09>> He said something was very interesting.
1:16:11He had a conversation with uh Joseph
1:16:14Kabila, the leader of the Congo back in
1:16:16the days. He said, "Why don't you just
1:16:18put together a parliamentary system?" So
1:16:19everybody, and he said, "You don't
1:16:21understand.
1:16:22>> We have the king of the mountain game
1:16:24here. Once you get to the top, you spend
1:16:26your life pushing everybody away because
1:16:28those coming up, they're coming down
1:16:29there to sabotage you."
1:16:32>> So any country you pick in Africa
1:16:34randomly and ask one of the leaders,
1:16:37once he's a leader by name, they know he
1:16:38belong to one tribe.
1:16:41As soon as he start proposing something,
1:16:43it is viewed in suspicion because we
1:16:46know none of you has ever died for the
1:16:48sake of one of us because we didn't
1:16:51agree to be a country. We were
1:16:53forcefully put together.
1:16:56But we should ask why do you think the
1:16:58Africans kept these haphazard
1:17:00institutions called countries they have?
1:17:02because they don't have the intellect to
1:17:05understand
1:17:06that language when mixed together
1:17:09creates chaos.
1:17:12Now you think what happened to Africa
1:17:14didn't happen as well? It did. India was
1:17:18Hindu land
1:17:19>> Pakistan and Bangladesh. One was Islam,
1:17:22Muslims Pakistan. One was Hindus, that's
1:17:25why they call it Hindu land and one was
1:17:26secular Bangladesh. The British forced
1:17:29all of them together and planted one
1:17:30union jack and said this is what India
1:17:34right or the Republic of British
1:17:35something.
1:17:36>> When they get independence what what
1:17:38what did they do?
1:17:40>> They separated.
1:17:41>> That's correct. That's the real
1:17:42independence. Pakistan didn't care that
1:17:45the Hindu land was more rich. They knew
1:17:47that identity and language is powerful.
1:17:49So they went away. How about Bangladesh?
1:17:51The poorest among them. But they knew.
1:17:56Let's go to
1:17:58Singapore. Singapore was less than 5,000
1:18:01farmers. That was all they did. Farming,
1:18:05less than 5,000. But the British knew
1:18:07they were too small. So they add them to
1:18:09what? Malaysia and Indonesia and make it
1:18:11one country and name it a British name.
1:18:14When they get independence, you would
1:18:16think the Singaporeans would say we are
1:18:18too small. We are just farmers. Let's
1:18:19stay along with Indonesians. They are
1:18:21huge. Indonesia is Muslim.
1:18:24But more radical Malaysia Singapore
1:18:27broke away because they knew one thing
1:18:29through their intellectual because they
1:18:30have a language they have written
1:18:32thinking they know three languages in
1:18:35one place with three different religions
1:18:38that is a recipe for danger
1:18:39>> right
1:18:40>> they broke away in 25 years Singapore is
1:18:42a member of the G20
1:18:43>> right
1:18:44>> okay and nobody from Africa is a member
1:18:46of the G20
1:18:48>> so getting there the road map to to that
1:18:52how do you get there
1:18:53>> well That's what we're doing now. Some
1:18:55young fellow is listening and now he's
1:18:56knowing where the problem is coming
1:18:58from. It's not corrup corrupt
1:18:59politicians. No, it is not. It is not
1:19:02neoc colonization. It's not some French
1:19:04government trying to keep our leaders
1:19:06down. These are all the same excuses,
1:19:08victimhood as cooked by
1:19:10African-Americans here. We cook ours on
1:19:12the continent. It has nothing to do with
1:19:14that.
1:19:15>> You're just a bad basket of recipe.
1:19:18You're not going to make any soup that
1:19:20is drinkable.
1:19:22A lot of people are tired of the bad
1:19:24recipe.
1:19:26>> Well, they shouldn't be tired of it.
1:19:27They should think why is it so? This is
1:19:30where intellect comes in.
1:19:32>> Like when you talk about the countries
1:19:35now having
1:19:37okay everybody you're under this flag. I
1:19:40think the lesson to be learned there is
1:19:42>> the flag was gone a long time ago. That
1:19:43was the end of colonization. I
1:19:45>> I should have sprinted and those who
1:19:47agreed to be together along lingual
1:19:49lines would have been a country. So you
1:19:51would set it rightly today there would
1:19:53have been uh lesser than 54 countries
1:19:56because the lines will now be drawn
1:19:57around lingual areas and form the Euroba
1:20:01state nation state the EU nation state
1:20:03thea that's correct be like
1:20:05>> but do you know why they stay together
1:20:07they stay because none of them knows how
1:20:09to create anything so the little bling
1:20:11the colonial build in the city attracted
1:20:13all of them I want part of this cake
1:20:17>> I mean just just like you said with the
1:20:19Singaporeans has decided, hey, we we got
1:20:21to we we'll stick it out. And then they
1:20:23got to the G20. You can do it. You can
1:20:26stick through it out.
1:20:27>> You're stuck together.
1:20:30>> Look, look, internally,
1:20:34the Singaporeans maybe they know
1:20:35something we didn't know. We are two
1:20:37different people. So, it frustrates me
1:20:39when every conversation an African we
1:20:41have is use Malaysia and Singapore as an
1:20:43example. You're wrong. Two different
1:20:46group of people. Their way of intellect
1:20:49by looking at the problems and
1:20:50understanding what is a problem is even
1:20:52from the African who has no frame of
1:20:55reference internally. He knows we've
1:20:58never built anything that looks at a
1:20:59country.
1:21:01>> They don't.
1:21:02>> Mhm.
1:21:02>> What is he going back to?
1:21:06>> So this is better than anything else.
1:21:08>> That's correct.
1:21:10>> The the chaos.
1:21:11>> The chaos. They don't see that as chaos
1:21:13because they keep blaming somebody else.
1:21:16Chaos is when you are accepted.
1:21:19The Singaporeans forsaw, they knew, they
1:21:21understand. Look, America could be a
1:21:23bilingual country. They understand chaos
1:21:25that comes out of multilingualism.
1:21:27>> Yeah.
1:21:28>> So, they made English just it study it
1:21:31or hang in your own corner. Now, you can
1:21:33be in Chinatown and using Chinese all
1:21:35day long. That segregation in America is
1:21:37what makes this place relatively this
1:21:39peaceful.
1:21:40>> Yeah. Yeah.
1:21:44lets the pressure out.
1:21:45>> I say
1:21:46>> yeah,
1:21:47>> you don't have to be together,
1:21:50but you can still contribute while you
1:21:53are within
1:21:54>> correct
1:21:55>> and they will recognize you.
1:21:57>> That needs to be developed
1:21:58>> because you recognize your own
1:21:59potential. So the confidence of the
1:22:01Chinese who say no I'll be in Chinatown
1:22:03is because he knows already. So I say
1:22:06one thing and I want you to see all the
1:22:08other people the countries they come to
1:22:10Africa countries okay the Europeans the
1:22:13Asians the Middle East they come to
1:22:15Africa in order to build
1:22:21break brand new grounds
1:22:24we go to their countries
1:22:30in order to work
1:22:35They come the space is there we've never
1:22:37used it we don't know anything about it
1:22:39and they will discover it and
1:22:41immediately
1:22:47so first
1:22:50study the country you went to silon
1:22:52silon is a tiny country
1:22:55>> but it has the mandes it has clues it
1:22:58has different pocket of a small tiny
1:23:00country
1:23:02whereas Is it not building up?
1:23:05The EU didn't wait to connect to other
1:23:07countries in order for them
1:23:09independently to be good. No, they
1:23:11worked secluded and industrialized. Each
1:23:15one industrialized. Then the others felt
1:23:18confident to say, "Oh, now we can get
1:23:20together. You cannot do the same thing
1:23:22in Africa. We can't even look. South
1:23:24Sudan broke away from Sudan."
1:23:27>> Which means the countries can't even
1:23:29coexist because of the way they were put
1:23:31together. But these people did not
1:23:33understand or know anything. They kept
1:23:36the bad design. And that should cause
1:23:40you to ask who really in this world will
1:23:43keep such a glaring bad design, the
1:23:46potential for danger. And that that
1:23:48danger you've seen it from Somalia to
1:23:50Sudan to Nigeria to everywhere.
1:23:56Now the question is who fix it?
1:23:59That's the question. This discussion is
1:24:02important because Gen Z's are watching
1:24:04right already. I've got plenty from my
1:24:07last episode that kids are telling me
1:24:09this is what I didn't understand. It
1:24:11caused me but I just didn't understand.
1:24:14So one of them
1:24:17when Socrates says until you change the
1:24:20dynamics of your relationship with the
1:24:21youth how you communicate with them you
1:24:23will never have a change of the system.
1:24:25It wasn't the next person who took it.
1:24:27It took 113 years later that maybe one
1:24:30of the youngest one in his son in his
1:24:31son said this guy said something before
1:24:34>> and he introduced it today. Look every
1:24:37foundation of every well of course you
1:24:38are in academic is socratic method of
1:24:40engagement.
1:24:42So let's go back and start with the
1:24:43African-Americans as you stated
1:24:45correctly the narrative is not good for
1:24:47us.
1:24:48>> Yeah.
1:24:49>> But it's because
1:24:51they don't have any frame of reference.
1:24:53So they just simply do what they think
1:24:56relatively has given some people the
1:24:59fulfillment of the respect everyone
1:25:01deserves. So quickly let me get rich. So
1:25:04we buy more Louis Vuitton than Jewish we
1:25:07buy but they own it.
1:25:10We buy more Levvis than they will buy
1:25:12because we've come to see because we
1:25:14don't have a frame of reverence. We
1:25:15think maybe my outward appearance would
1:25:17earn me what I'm looking for. So, we put
1:25:21a lot into outward appearance.
1:25:24I haven't seen Elon Musk in any clothing
1:25:27that is more than maybe $100.
1:25:30I haven't seen Mark Zuckerberg, Bill
1:25:32Gate, Steve Jobs. I can go down the
1:25:35leaves.
1:25:35>> Mhm. Because for them, they know
1:25:37already. They don't have to tell you.
1:25:40You've seen things they built.
1:25:43But we haven't. So, don't tell me about
1:25:46Thomas Soell or Condies Arise. Who reads
1:25:49a book and become rich?
1:25:51[snorts]
1:25:55>> Yeah. I think that's where uh a story
1:25:59comes in mind where you can kind of just
1:26:01keep that and cuz the the narrative is
1:26:04what you tell yourself.
1:26:06>> Mhm.
1:26:06>> So how how does that get changed
1:26:10>> and that that needs
1:26:11>> that is a better question you've asked
1:26:13now
1:26:14>> and that is where in some societies I'm
1:26:16studying it because I'm I'm looking for
1:26:17people like you. We can put it into it
1:26:20will work.
1:26:21>> You change the story.
1:26:22>> Yeah.
1:26:23>> They used it. They told, you see, they
1:26:25don't play victim movies. Spielbeck
1:26:27spent a lifetime making Holocaust
1:26:29movies, but you see the way he made
1:26:31them,
1:26:32>> he never made them victims.
1:26:35>> He just told them never again
1:26:39>> to be careful.
1:26:42You got to end every story with what the
1:26:45people should keep in their head.
1:26:46>> Right.
1:26:47>> So when I came out of the studio, the
1:26:49movie theater watching 12 Years in
1:26:51Slavery, I said, "What is this?" Yeah,
1:26:53it's terrible.
1:26:54>> You just made me black kids come here
1:26:57with white kids in another corner. All
1:26:59of us with popcorn and the other ones on
1:27:01the right hand say see how their
1:27:03forefathers
1:27:05just treated your people for 12 years
1:27:07and you just watched it walk out of the
1:27:11theater with nothing.
1:27:13What foolishness is this?
1:27:14>> Yeah.
1:27:16>> And then the color purple. He makes a
1:27:18musical out of it with a black guy with
1:27:20muscles the size of Al Shorzik just
1:27:22shooting at his own wives.
1:27:242 hours long. Black people just beating
1:27:26each other up. Women suffering in the
1:27:28hands of other black men for two hours
1:27:32in The Color Purple made into a musical
1:27:34in 2025.
1:27:36Are you familiar with Lee Stanfield?
1:27:39>> No. He was in The Book of Clarence. Uh
1:27:43he was in Sorry to Bother You. He's a
1:27:46He's a black actor. He's in a lot of
1:27:47things that are not stereotypically
1:27:50black.
1:27:50>> I see.
1:27:50>> And I I really like his work. I like the
1:27:52roles that he chooses because they're
1:27:54not
1:27:55>> that stereotypical thing. You look at it
1:27:57and see.
1:27:58>> You see, now you have to ask me if I
1:27:59know him, right?
1:28:00>> But I'll tell you, I know Tyler Perry
1:28:02because my dear my dear went to jail.
1:28:04>> Imagine.
1:28:06>> So Derek, I am on the page with you.
1:28:09>> It can be started. I've seen it. M
1:28:11>> what you do is you don't talk about what
1:28:14is
1:28:17my grandfather used to say
1:28:19if you take a white paint and you stripe
1:28:22a goat and you sit down to watch the
1:28:24goat to behave like a zebra
1:28:29somebody's going to look stupid and the
1:28:30other one is going to be frustrated the
1:28:32goat is frustrated and you looking
1:28:34stupid
1:28:34>> I don't want to be stupid so I'm not
1:28:36going to sit and wait that the
1:28:38generation or the population we're
1:28:40talking about we're going to wake up one
1:28:41today and they've changed. I want you
1:28:43who is now a teacher young him myself
1:28:46and others you form a fraternity and you
1:28:50start the story it will still start
1:28:52attracted some people
1:28:54>> slowly
1:28:58fraternity yes not in the sense of the
1:29:01traditional fraternity you got to start
1:29:04if you have the money call a couple of
1:29:05people and start an annual conference
1:29:08where young people 26 down to 19 attend
1:29:12the topic is very attractive and it is
1:29:14to question why are we the way we are?
1:29:19>> Is there something wrong with it or
1:29:20should we accept it the way it is? And
1:29:23you'll be surprised
1:29:25what we've done here could do the first
1:29:28opening session of a conference like
1:29:30that and then leave it for the younger
1:29:32ones to go into groups and discuss it.
1:29:34And that's how you begin to slowly
1:29:37you're building a whole new lineage
1:29:42because
1:29:44I asked someone recently why do they
1:29:46call primary school the word primary
1:29:49means prime that which is more important
1:29:52isn't it?
1:29:53>> Why did they call the university
1:29:54primary?
1:29:56They call the primary school primary for
1:29:58a reason because that is where the seed
1:30:00needs to be sold.
1:30:03is the prime you the universal prime
1:30:06force the first that gives momentum
1:30:11for the future it's primary school you
1:30:14miss that it forget about the secondary
1:30:17and the and the university
1:30:20same with the country doesn't start
1:30:22without a family is a primary school
1:30:24>> right
1:30:25>> you miss that foundation forget about
1:30:27the community forget about the national
1:30:30>> so what you're describing what I'm
1:30:32describing This conversation is to talk
1:30:34about what is it or was it that formed
1:30:36the primary school of African-Americans
1:30:39in this country.
1:30:43>> That's where it all
1:30:44>> I want to change that.
1:30:45>> I want I want that to be strengthened.
1:30:48>> So now you
1:30:49>> pruned.
1:30:50>> Yes. You look for likeminded and start a
1:30:54primary school. Not academic,
1:30:57not school,
1:30:59but a primary fraternity.
1:31:02that allows for conferences for this
1:31:04kind of conversations to happen.
1:31:07>> Okay? And they see also activities that
1:31:10you're doing.
1:31:13And I promise you when I started Heroes,
1:31:16the Heroes program where I took the high
1:31:18school students from Bridgeport that I
1:31:20was told when I started the Heroes
1:31:22program, Frank, oh Zano, these kids are
1:31:25not going to go to North Africa with no
1:31:26electricity, running water, paved roads.
1:31:28They're not going to go. They're used to
1:31:30sitting in front of a fridge and then
1:31:31the TV they want. But I went to the
1:31:33schools anyway. There was no social
1:31:35media back then. 2004, no social media,
1:31:39no phones in people's hands. I roll my
1:31:41thing. I go to the schools. I talk to
1:31:43them
1:31:46and they came along.
1:31:49Inner city black kids came along with
1:31:51me.
1:31:53And then the next group said, "I'm going
1:31:55to." And I said, "Listen, there's no
1:31:57pizza."
1:31:59Okay. There's no McDonald's in my
1:32:01village. No, in the city. Yes. Not in
1:32:02the village where we're going to go.
1:32:05>> There's no running water. Yes, I want to
1:32:08go. I said, why do you want to go?
1:32:11Because I want to change the world. I
1:32:12said, eh, out.
1:32:14That's not the reason I'm bringing you.
1:32:16It's a boot camp for you to realize
1:32:18yourself. Break away from America for
1:32:21two weeks.
1:32:21>> Yeah.
1:32:22>> And slowly, dude, I'm telling you now,
1:32:24people are waiting locally for
1:32:26television. When they come back, they
1:32:27are interviewed. What? You went to
1:32:29Africa backpack. They have never seen
1:32:31JFK
1:32:33and now they are all surrounding me.
1:32:35Some of them have come on the show. They
1:32:38still meet. They meet with me. My
1:32:40students still meet. They are now 30. I
1:32:41met them when they were 15. Some of them
1:32:43are 3. They're PhDs or they're teaching
1:32:45in universities and they still call me.
1:32:47We still meet. We still talk about. We
1:32:48still watch the video. So yes. Did I
1:32:51wait for the LeBron and and the Jarus
1:32:54and No.
1:32:55>> No. I just approached a certain group of
1:32:58people from the same background we've
1:33:00described this morning who have no frame
1:33:02of reference now they have one which is
1:33:04what what they discovered of themselves
1:33:06while they were in this village
1:33:08>> and I told them don't come with any used
1:33:10clothing and drop it for the kids no
1:33:14this is not to go and give benin people
1:33:16anything
1:33:18this is a boot camp for you so I don't
1:33:21allow any gift when you go Yeah.
1:33:26>> Okay. And they began to see things
1:33:30and today they have a frame of
1:33:32reference. It's internal. Their children
1:33:34are going to have it.
1:33:35>> Right.
1:33:35>> So there's one living in New York who's
1:33:37become a celebrity chef and her daughter
1:33:40is now six and she said, "So I'm waiting
1:33:42for her to be eight and you're going to
1:33:44help me. I wanted to come and see the
1:33:45school. I wanted to see it and see the
1:33:47video."
1:33:50She's now 37 a professor. Look at that.
1:33:54>> She has a frame of reference from
1:33:56within. So start something like that.
1:33:59But let's remind people that don't say
1:34:02this person is wrong or what we are
1:34:04doing is wrong. It's not wrong.
1:34:06It is what they know.
1:34:15>> I like that. Thank you. Yeah. I think
1:34:18that program is uh something that more
1:34:22people should have. I I remember going
1:34:24to Haiti myself as a young person and no
1:34:27water, no running water.
1:34:29>> You got to put the generator on. That
1:34:31was like once a trip.
1:34:33>> Uh maybe for like a special occasion,
1:34:36but
1:34:37>> you have to just
1:34:39What is life like without all the
1:34:41American comforts? And it's different.
1:34:43This is where my mother grew up. This is
1:34:45where my this side of my it it does a
1:34:49lot to you when you can do that. And
1:34:51I've had even people who they've
1:34:53traveled to Europe and they've only been
1:34:54in Boston and then they say, "Oh, wow."
1:34:56Like I I really appreciate what I have
1:34:59as an American going to I think she went
1:35:02to Spain or something. Like being
1:35:04traveling gives you a lot more of a
1:35:08wider window as to like what's going on
1:35:10and who you are. Um
1:35:12>> so this this these kids so in Benin in
1:35:16the village 5:00 p.m. the day is over.
1:35:18Yeah. The sun is going down. There's no
1:35:20place to go to, no pizzeria, no ice
1:35:22cream. So, we form um a round table
1:35:25talk. And that's when I got to hear
1:35:27their stories from their homes. You
1:35:28know, some of them were born when my
1:35:30father is in jail. We used to visit him
1:35:31in jail. My mother is this and I came to
1:35:34understand more and more and I began to
1:35:35respect them as they have not made any
1:35:38wrong choices.
1:35:41What is always dangerous is we tell
1:35:43people that they are making choices and
1:35:44then they begin to question themselves
1:35:46because they don't know where it's
1:35:47coming from. They don't know
1:35:51because if he could he would do the
1:35:54right thing, you know. So I began to
1:35:57know how to talk with them because I
1:35:59don't say you're wrong. I brought you
1:36:01here, you know. And I I say to them also
1:36:04cuz one of the things they all come back
1:36:06here to talk about they would say when
1:36:07we were in the village there was no
1:36:09single police car for two weeks man we
1:36:11didn't see a cop but these kids don't
1:36:13hurt each other and every morning they
1:36:15are happy they are singing for us they
1:36:18are fetching water for us and I used to
1:36:19ask my kids why do you think the kids
1:36:22were happy because nobody has told them
1:36:26that the condition in which they are is
1:36:28wrong. Yeah. Yeah. Now, if you had come
1:36:32with your youth closings and sneakers
1:36:34and all that and came here and said,
1:36:35"Oh, I brought this." You've changed the
1:36:37dynamics of the relationship, you've
1:36:39made them helpless, and you've made
1:36:40yourself, okay, you've told them that
1:36:43what they are is wrong.
1:36:46>> You've sewed the seed of discord. That's
1:36:48what we've done to the African-American
1:36:50community
1:36:51by continuous telling them what they are
1:36:53is wrong.
1:36:57But how did you know what you are? Which
1:37:00school did you learn go to to learn how
1:37:02to be what you are? No, you didn't.
1:37:05You don't even have the method. You
1:37:07can't teach anyone to become what you
1:37:09are.
1:37:12So what what is it we proud of?
1:37:15Yes, I am what I am. And I like what I
1:37:18am.
1:37:19>> This is what I am. I'm not making it up.
1:37:24Yeah, the travels could have made it. I
1:37:25don't know. But I've seen many people
1:37:27who traveled wider than me. They dumb
1:37:29like a doorbell.
1:37:31>> So it's not necessarily the travels.
1:37:33I've seen many people more educated than
1:37:35me and you can't speak for 2 minutes.
1:37:39>> So we
1:37:41are an anomaly
1:37:43and if you impose that on people, you've
1:37:45created a problem because what you've
1:37:47told them indirectly is that you are the
1:37:50problem for not making what I have made.
1:37:53But you've changed the dynamics already.
1:37:57Hm. But every American black who thinks
1:38:00they have one thing, Michelle and Obama
1:38:03and and look, I'm going to make a whole
1:38:06show about it. Do you know that in 2008,
1:38:10the first nonwhite couple to occupy the
1:38:13White House, Obama and Michelle?
1:38:17>> Okay.
1:38:18>> What did you say?
1:38:18>> The first non-white couple
1:38:20>> nonwhite. Okay.
1:38:21>> To occupy the White House, Obama and
1:38:23Michelle.
1:38:24>> Mhm.
1:38:26You've been here long enough. I've seen
1:38:28four
1:38:29former first family four.
1:38:35And it is the first that non-white
1:38:37couple who occupy the white house as
1:38:40also the first to have a strange
1:38:42relationship
1:38:44where we don't know who lives in whose
1:38:46house.
1:38:48And the former first lady is complaining
1:38:49on podcast and wearing hairstyles like
1:38:52some juvenile from high school.
1:38:54>> Yeah. Okay, check it out. That first
1:38:58non-white couple also were the one who
1:39:01delayed their portrait, official
1:39:03portrait for the White House. Everybody
1:39:04paints a simple thing in a suit. No,
1:39:06they had to find members from the LGBT
1:39:08community to paint their pictures. Obama
1:39:10was buried in a leaves like a kid from
1:39:13Kentucky, Ohio or somewhere who's
1:39:15playing in
1:39:18okay
1:39:19>> the first couple non-black non-white is
1:39:22the first one who cannot complete a
1:39:24library in 10 years.
1:39:28I was here when George Bin's library was
1:39:30opened three years salad after he left
1:39:33office it was opened
1:39:36junior Clinton 3 years a sir it was
1:39:40opened George Bush Jr.
1:39:443 years in Crawford, Texas. It was
1:39:46opened.
1:39:49Obama
1:39:5010 years.
1:39:54Do you see a pattern?
1:39:57The first couple to occupy that White
1:40:00House, their children, never seen with
1:40:02them anywhere, and now they are changing
1:40:04their names.
1:40:08That is interesting. Do you have any
1:40:10theories behind any of that?
1:40:13Yeah.
1:40:15>> What's your theory? Why did they do
1:40:16that?
1:40:18>> They're the first non-white couple.
1:40:20>> That's it.
1:40:20>> Well, then why did it happen?
1:40:24>> I mean, they're estranged
1:40:27uh marriage. I don't know if that was
1:40:29because that they are non-white.
1:40:32>> I don't know who it happened to. It
1:40:33happened to them,
1:40:35>> right?
1:40:35>> Everything I've described,
1:40:38everything.
1:40:39>> Laura Bush started reading and creating
1:40:42reading programs around Texas.
1:40:46Laura Bush and George Bush went to
1:40:47Uganda twice to paint an offage. They
1:40:49didn't even broadcast it. Clinton
1:40:52started a Clinton Foundation. Yeah, you
1:40:53can say anything you want about it, but
1:40:54they did and went to India and Africa to
1:40:56say, "Look, this is what we want to do."
1:40:58The wife never wrote books and complain
1:41:00about anything.
1:41:04M
1:41:04>> Nancy
1:41:06Rean lived her life working with women
1:41:09and then finally started supporting
1:41:11people with Alzheimer.
1:41:12>> Mhm.
1:41:14>> Like that. Barbara Babra Bush supported
1:41:17her sons who were now running for office
1:41:20and started a first first uh uh first
1:41:24lady, you know, uh club or something
1:41:27like that. And then uh Jimmy Cara's wife
1:41:32they went to Nigerian to promote
1:41:34agriculture.
1:41:36The first non-white couple to occupy
1:41:38that white house are now complainers in
1:41:40chief where the f former first former
1:41:44first lady is now the former president.
1:41:46And the former president we don't know
1:41:47where he's he is.
1:41:50>> He's gone three times.
1:41:52Jimmy Car's funeral, Dick Cheney's
1:41:54funeral, the inauguration,
1:41:58and the wife is complaining that white
1:42:00people should understand that she wear
1:42:03her hair just to satisfy their beauty
1:42:04standard and complaining and complaining
1:42:07something. She is not crazy. She's not
1:42:11stupid. She's not dumb.
1:42:13We got to be empathetic to understand.
1:42:16>> She's suffering from the imposer
1:42:18syndrome. She doesn't know what to do
1:42:19with it. Be careful when people are
1:42:22asking for something. They should be
1:42:24careful when you give it to them.
1:42:27She doesn't know what to do with it. It
1:42:29is not in her system.
1:42:37Yes, she's oppressed. That is true. By
1:42:40being raised to a class,
1:42:43yeah,
1:42:45>> that she doesn't know what to do with
1:42:46it. You see, but the others, it comes
1:42:48with their tradition. I promise you
1:42:50millennia will be out of office and just
1:42:52get on with some project easily. Okay?
1:42:56She doesn't have to struggle with what
1:42:57to wear as a first lady. This one has to
1:42:59complain every time she's going to see
1:43:00the queen as to what to wear whenever
1:43:02she's getting on the air force one. What
1:43:03should I wear?
1:43:05It's true. You've exposed her to a
1:43:07certain thing. She doesn't know what to
1:43:08do with it. And everybody is thinking
1:43:10but that is what we all looking for. Be
1:43:12careful what you ask for including
1:43:14freedom.
1:43:16Yeah.
1:43:19Let's have another topical discussion
1:43:20next time. I think
1:43:22>> we need this for the young people to
1:43:24listen slowly. Yeah, some are going to
1:43:26still have fought with you and I for
1:43:28what we have discussed.
1:43:30>> It's going to happen. But the letters
1:43:33coming in and people like him who came
1:43:34all the way to say you've changed my
1:43:36life. I want to sit.
1:43:38>> It's telling us
1:43:40the narrative can change.
1:43:43>> Derek, thank you so much.
1:43:45>> Thank you for having me.
1:43:46>> Yes. Great. Wonderful. really wonderful.
1:43:49Thank you.
1:43:50>> Well, please subscribe, follow us, and
1:43:54hit the super thanks to keep this
1:43:56program on because meeting people like
1:43:58Derek James and um others who've come
1:44:01on, we know that there's a new
1:44:03conversation
1:44:04and things are going to change. This is
1:44:07ZPR Zanu Project Rethink and I'm Frank
1:44:09Zano. Have a happy holidays. Be safe, be
1:44:13good, and always try to be happy.
1:44:24>> [music]

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