Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Kevin Powell Full Interview

Transcript

Kevin Powell Full Interview · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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Speaker 1: Next Guest is one of the most acclaimed political, cultural, literary,
1:12
Speaker 1: and hip hop voices in America today. He is going
1:15
Speaker 1: on to be become a writer who has penned articles, essays,
1:18
Speaker 1: and blogs for a wide range of newspapers and magazines
1:21
Speaker 1: and major websites, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, NPR, ESPN, Essence,
1:30
Speaker 1: Evan rolling Stone, Esquire, Huffington Post, and Vibe, where he
1:33
Speaker 1: was a writer, a senior writer and founding staff member.
1:37
Speaker 1: Please working with the money Making Conversation. The author of
1:39
Speaker 1: the critically acclaimed autobiography of his critically claimed autobiography, The
1:44
Speaker 1: Education of Kevin Powell, A Boy's Journey into Manhood. Please
1:47
Speaker 1: working with the Money Making Conversation. Kevin Powell, good morning,
1:51
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having me. Thank you so much. Well, Kevin, Kevin,
1:54
Speaker 1: we've met, having we Hey we met? I'm not sure, sir,
1:58
Speaker 1: because because Vibe was was vibe, you know, because you
2:03
Speaker 1: usual to manage Steve Steve Harvey, and I look and
2:07
Speaker 1: I saw your pictures I've actually met this young man,
2:09
Speaker 1: because you know, we met a lot of people. Anybody
2:11
Speaker 1: just shook my head casually. But thank you for coming
2:13
Speaker 1: on my show. I just want to get that out
2:14
Speaker 1: of the way. I believe we've met because you're accomplished
2:17
Speaker 1: young man. Now, I MEAs you this as a writer.
2:20
Speaker 1: How do you go from writing on from CNN to
2:24
Speaker 1: NPR to ESPN to essence. I mean, my mama give
2:31
Speaker 1: me at work. And my mother is from South Carolina,
2:35
Speaker 1: from the from the South. And so even though I
2:37
Speaker 1: was born in the north, New Jersey, bar right, New Jersey, right,
2:40
Speaker 1: New Jersey, correct Jersey. And I've lived in New York
2:43
Speaker 1: for almost thirty years, so New York and New Jersey. Yeah,
2:46
Speaker 1: but I was raised with the very serious work ethic,
2:49
Speaker 1: and I don't take that for granted. And I just
2:52
Speaker 1: you know, God, you know you you you take seriously
2:56
Speaker 1: while you put on this earth. I believe in At
2:59
Speaker 1: early age, when I was eighteen and I was in college,
3:01
Speaker 1: I said, well, I definitely need to help communities around
3:04
Speaker 1: this country as an activist as a leader. And I
3:07
Speaker 1: definitely clear that I right, I need to right and
3:10
Speaker 1: so you just you do your work, you know, and
3:12
Speaker 1: you you push. You know, you can't give up. You know,
3:15
Speaker 1: if you live long enough, as you will know. So
3:17
Speaker 1: you have a lot of ups and downs, different times
3:19
Speaker 1: that I've made tremendous amounts of money in my life,
3:21
Speaker 1: different times when I've had the colossal failures. But I
3:24
Speaker 1: always get back up no matter what. And you just
3:26
Speaker 1: stay humble. You stay humble no matter what. And I
3:29
Speaker 1: think that's that's critical. And I take very seriously. You know,
3:32
Speaker 1: I work with a lot of young people now, um,
3:36
Speaker 1: and I take seriously like we've got a skill set.
3:38
Speaker 1: You know, no matter what your business or your your
3:41
Speaker 1: passion as you really need to become a master at it.
3:43
Speaker 1: You know, you need to know that world. And I
3:45
Speaker 1: decided early on that I needed to learn the world
3:47
Speaker 1: of being a writer, being a public speaker, of how
3:50
Speaker 1: to run a business. I've run my own business for
3:52
Speaker 1: twenty two years. I take all of that very seriously.
3:55
Speaker 1: So would that be and said what he is, I'm
3:59
Speaker 1: a sitcom right, I'm gonna sitcom writer. We need comedy,
4:03
Speaker 1: we need more. Well, you know that's why I respect
4:06
Speaker 1: you as a writer, because, like I said when I
4:07
Speaker 1: went to when in high school, you know, I didn't
4:09
Speaker 1: respect the process. You know subject verty now, I didn't
4:12
Speaker 1: respect the process. And so when I when I went
4:13
Speaker 1: to college, I you know, I got into the University Houston,
4:17
Speaker 1: but they didn't like my writing school. So are you
4:20
Speaker 1: from Houston going to raise Houston, Texas? That's where I'm from.
4:23
Speaker 1: I was just there. I love Houston town. Come on,
4:26
Speaker 1: come on there. And I got home there. I'm not
4:28
Speaker 1: gonna I'm not gonna leave there. I got a home
4:30
Speaker 1: in Atlanta and a lot of both locations and and
4:33
Speaker 1: and the one thing about the beauty of traveling you
4:36
Speaker 1: get to see the world. I tell people to travel
4:38
Speaker 1: all the time. And I get back to what I
4:39
Speaker 1: wanted to say about your ability as a writer, because
4:41
Speaker 1: I have to respect that because I know that I
4:44
Speaker 1: had to step back to learn how to write. What
4:46
Speaker 1: makes a good writer, Kevin? What? What is the nuances
4:50
Speaker 1: of your mind being to translate words? And it becomes
4:54
Speaker 1: very creative from a writing perspective. That's why I said
4:56
Speaker 1: I'm gonna sit come right. That's different for what you do,
4:58
Speaker 1: which is at is amazing. It's all praises do to God.
5:02
Speaker 1: It's all connected. Because I mean, honestly, so I grew
5:04
Speaker 1: up watching a lot of TV, and so you know,
5:07
Speaker 1: I think all of its valuable. Like what if if
5:09
Speaker 1: I'm actually turning the Education of Kevin Powell into a
5:13
Speaker 1: TV pilot right now, myself and my co writer, So
5:15
Speaker 1: what does that mean? We gotta go and watch a
5:17
Speaker 1: lot of TV shows and so be it sitcoms, comedies,
5:20
Speaker 1: or dramas or books, you know, poetry, and you just
5:23
Speaker 1: I believe you have to read a lot in the
5:25
Speaker 1: space that you want to write in. You know, like, well,
5:27
Speaker 1: what are the best sit comes every whether I need
5:29
Speaker 1: to go watch all those sitcoms going back to the
5:30
Speaker 1: nineteen fifties right up to the present. You know, what
5:33
Speaker 1: are the best dramas that ever been on TV? What
5:34
Speaker 1: are the best films out there? And so anything that
5:36
Speaker 1: I've ever written in I make it a point to
5:38
Speaker 1: study that that that's particular type of writing. Like right now,
5:41
Speaker 1: I'm working on my fourteenth book, which is a biography
5:43
Speaker 1: of Tupac Shakor. I've been reading for the last couple
5:46
Speaker 1: of years, a lot of biographies, but also watching a
5:48
Speaker 1: lot of documentary filming. You know about famous figures and
5:51
Speaker 1: could be James Baldwin, it could be mean him some
5:52
Speaker 1: hold any one house does anything that's telling a story
5:55
Speaker 1: about a person's life. So I could help me write
5:57
Speaker 1: this book and the same thing, you know, applause to
6:00
Speaker 1: too sick. And I think that you know any of it.
6:03
Speaker 1: You know, there's nothing I mean, brother, I don't think
6:05
Speaker 1: there's any shame and saying. I think it's beautiful that
6:07
Speaker 1: you said. Well, I had to learn how to do
6:08
Speaker 1: it because we all are students. I'm forever a student.
6:10
Speaker 1: I'm still always going to read stuff. I was just
6:12
Speaker 1: one of the folks that learned. I figured out early
6:14
Speaker 1: on when I was gone eleving twelve years old, I
6:16
Speaker 1: want to be a writer. But I still didn't start
6:18
Speaker 1: writing really seriously until to high school and then really
6:21
Speaker 1: once I got to college and to this day. You know,
6:24
Speaker 1: I'm I'm thinking about it in different ways, like Okay,
6:26
Speaker 1: how do I make this better? How to reach people
6:27
Speaker 1: in their new ways? And so it's the process is
6:30
Speaker 1: a journey. You just gotta be open to it, you know. Yes,
6:32
Speaker 1: I first of all, I'm willing to admit my flaws
6:35
Speaker 1: because I when you come on this show, I don't
6:38
Speaker 1: want anybody that they can google me they see success
6:41
Speaker 1: their flaws tied to that success, their mistakes tied to
6:44
Speaker 1: that success. But also tell people just because I was
6:47
Speaker 1: incapable of understand the process, then look at it. I'm
6:51
Speaker 1: gonna sitcom writer. So obviously I learned how to write something.
6:53
Speaker 1: I learned how to put words together from a community standpoint,
6:57
Speaker 1: from a storytelling standpoint. So I was tell people that
7:00
Speaker 1: in African American, so you know, so so many leaps
7:03
Speaker 1: that people are allowed setbacks. So people tell them you
7:06
Speaker 1: can't do this, and I look at your life. Your
7:09
Speaker 1: life is tied to people saying what you can't do,
7:11
Speaker 1: and then there's a series of people that tell you
7:13
Speaker 1: what you can do about talk about well, I mean,
7:18
Speaker 1: first of all, I think you know, one of the
7:19
Speaker 1: beautiful things about being black, which is what we are,
7:22
Speaker 1: is that we're natural storytellers. We're naturally funny. You know,
7:25
Speaker 1: we're exactly gramatic. You know what I'm saying. So I
7:28
Speaker 1: always say to people like we should honor, Like my
7:30
Speaker 1: mom is a guchie from South Carolina. When I've grown up, sir,
7:33
Speaker 1: I was I was told that people spoke a certain
7:36
Speaker 1: kind of way that wasn't correct realized now my mama
7:39
Speaker 1: seeks beautiful poetry and just like you know, and so
7:42
Speaker 1: the people of Houston, of Atlanta, wherever we're from, is
7:44
Speaker 1: beautiful poetry. And if we if we understand the genius
7:47
Speaker 1: that we have inside of us, and that you know,
7:49
Speaker 1: if we want to get into entertainment, we want to
7:51
Speaker 1: get into this world, all we need to do is
7:53
Speaker 1: like booking. T. Washington said, put your buckets right down
7:55
Speaker 1: there and watch the magic come up in the sitcoms,
7:58
Speaker 1: in the books, in the dry whatever you want, creating
8:00
Speaker 1: the music, you know what I'm saying. And that's what
8:02
Speaker 1: I think about. And so you know, for me, it's
8:04
Speaker 1: it's most of the work that I do just comes
8:06
Speaker 1: from our people, our communities, our history, you know, current
8:10
Speaker 1: events and things like that. And as you know, it's endless.
8:14
Speaker 1: We got so many stories. Well, you know, the thing
8:17
Speaker 1: about it is that like I was working at IBM,
8:19
Speaker 1: and then when I left IBM to pursue a career
8:22
Speaker 1: into entertainment. The reason I went in entertainment in this
8:24
Speaker 1: world because I didn't see I didn't see I didn't
8:27
Speaker 1: see the end. You know. I just feel like I
8:29
Speaker 1: could just I could just create. I can just I
8:32
Speaker 1: can just grow as an individual. And then the writing
8:35
Speaker 1: aspect of it has made me a king. You know,
8:41
Speaker 1: you can't stop me. You can't stop me from telling
8:43
Speaker 1: my story. You keep telling me, stop me from writing
8:45
Speaker 1: my story. You can't stop me from promoting my story.
8:48
Speaker 1: And so that's why people need to understand the power
8:51
Speaker 1: of education. That's I respect you so much. One of
8:53
Speaker 1: my good friends with Stephen a Smith, and he's a
8:55
Speaker 1: word smith verbally and and with a pen. And I all,
9:00
Speaker 1: I said, that's the genius of you. The genius of you, Kevin,
9:04
Speaker 1: is that you do it as well. You're very articulate,
9:06
Speaker 1: you know you you you brace your tones and understand
9:10
Speaker 1: that you you have a world perspective. And the reason
9:12
Speaker 1: I say that is that the fact that you know
9:14
Speaker 1: tupac Chicoo. You just threw that out like that was
9:16
Speaker 1: not tupoc Chicoo, who I consider the greatest rapper, storyteller,
9:22
Speaker 1: rapper of all time. Now you can look at me
9:24
Speaker 1: and that people can look at me. But no, no, no, no, no, no,
9:27
Speaker 1: I don't care what you This guy went political, this
9:29
Speaker 1: guy went party. This guy was sexy, this guy was bello,
9:33
Speaker 1: he had drama. He uh, dear Mama, is the is
9:37
Speaker 1: the one of the all time great Mother's Day songs.
9:41
Speaker 1: Brenda Had Got a Baby is one of the most
9:44
Speaker 1: incredible true to life stories. Holly you wanted one of
9:49
Speaker 1: the greatest party songs of all time, Don't Don't talk
9:53
Speaker 1: to Me. So I couldn't look at that when that
9:55
Speaker 1: movie came out, I could look at that movie and
9:56
Speaker 1: they weren't gonna do it justice. See but Joe book,
9:59
Speaker 1: I'm waiting on your book because I know you're gonna
10:02
Speaker 1: and we're gonna come on the show when that book
10:03
Speaker 1: come out. You gotta tell me because we're gonna do it.
10:05
Speaker 1: We're gonna do a half hour because I'm a fan.
10:08
Speaker 1: See I was, I was looking back at this. I
10:10
Speaker 1: met Tupac in the Kinko's Kinko's and uh, he was
10:15
Speaker 1: standing next to me, and he was arguing with the
10:17
Speaker 1: man because he was trying to do he was trying
10:18
Speaker 1: to do his his album cover or CD cover in
10:21
Speaker 1: the store. And then he thought the man was charging
10:23
Speaker 1: him too much. He said, man, I can do that myself.
10:25
Speaker 1: He's I'm not gonna pay that kind of money. And
10:27
Speaker 1: when I meet people like that and I see him
10:29
Speaker 1: later on and they have a tragic any I always
10:31
Speaker 1: go why did not speak because I always plead that, man, God,
10:35
Speaker 1: there's people me an opportunity to change people's direction, and
10:38
Speaker 1: he's one of those people. I wish I had to
10:40
Speaker 1: say hello too, and it wasn't like I was in awe.
10:43
Speaker 1: I just didn't talk. And so that's why I created
10:45
Speaker 1: the show. Kevin. I'm gonna talk, man, and I'm gonna
10:48
Speaker 1: change people's lives until I die, because I know my
10:51
Speaker 1: place in life is to make a difference. And when
10:54
Speaker 1: I get people like you and my show, we don't
10:56
Speaker 1: even know each other, but you my man or game change.
10:59
Speaker 1: When I come, we're gonna talk a little bit more
11:01
Speaker 1: about your thirteenth book because I know the people understand
11:04
Speaker 1: that Kevin Power is a brand that we need to understand.
11:10
Speaker 1: I just reshot McDonald's back, um on the phone with
11:13
Speaker 1: just money Making Conversation for those who don't know. You know,
11:15
Speaker 1: people be driving around me scanning stuff and flipping they
11:18
Speaker 1: hear this voice. Well, you listening to money Making Conversation.
11:21
Speaker 1: What I do on money Making Conversation I change lives.
11:23
Speaker 1: I change lives with information. I change lives by trying
11:26
Speaker 1: to allow people to understand that they can be whatever
11:29
Speaker 1: they want to be. Don't let age stop you. Don't
11:31
Speaker 1: let your color stop you, don't let racism stop you,
11:35
Speaker 1: don't don't let your friends stop you. I'm gonna tell
11:37
Speaker 1: you when I told people always going to be a
11:38
Speaker 1: stand up comic. When I left, I have a math
11:40
Speaker 1: agree and I told him I was gonna be a
11:42
Speaker 1: stand up comment I told him I was leaving. I
11:44
Speaker 1: b M. They said to me, why, I'm gonna tell
11:47
Speaker 1: you why the man have on the phone. Is that
11:50
Speaker 1: type of person, Kevin Poer? Are you currently on the
11:53
Speaker 1: twelveth City of American speaking to Kevin? That's correct? And UM,
11:57
Speaker 1: you know I'm loving this. I've just texting your your
12:00
Speaker 1: executive reducing I love you, I love your flow. Can
12:03
Speaker 1: I just say that, I just want to say to
12:05
Speaker 1: you directly advotate you man, thank you. Um, you know
12:08
Speaker 1: the thing about it, kring And when I when I
12:10
Speaker 1: because my wife is when somebody say something nice about you,
12:13
Speaker 1: please say thank you. Because I didn't used to do that.
12:15
Speaker 1: I just blow plants because I didn't understand the process
12:19
Speaker 1: of thank you. And then then, um, I had Nicky
12:22
Speaker 1: Taylor on the show, just a rich Uh. If you
12:25
Speaker 1: don't say thank you, then you said no to God's blessings,
12:29
Speaker 1: somebody compliments you, because that's that's what God put you
12:32
Speaker 1: in a position, for somebody to encourage you for strength
12:36
Speaker 1: that you just exhibited. If you don't acknowledge that strength,
12:40
Speaker 1: then you failed in your mission to do better. And
12:43
Speaker 1: so so so when I hear somebody like you talking
12:47
Speaker 1: and I realized that we're gonna talk a lot, and
12:50
Speaker 1: because we we we you know, we we we are.
12:53
Speaker 1: Our journey for success is that I just got to
12:55
Speaker 1: help you. Now. So so when you tell me on
12:57
Speaker 1: Twist Tour, I gotta promote that, not just on this
13:00
Speaker 1: show but through my social media. So know that you
13:03
Speaker 1: owe my executive producer, Samantha Taylor, some banners. Okay, I'll
13:09
Speaker 1: put you to work, but let's let's talk about your
13:11
Speaker 1: thirteen book, The newest Book My Mother, Barack Obama, Donald
13:14
Speaker 1: Trump and the Last and of the Angry White Man.
13:18
Speaker 1: You know, everybody, everyone gets a chuckle out of the
13:20
Speaker 1: last part of it. I dreamed, I dreamed that time.
13:24
Speaker 1: You know how black folks have dreamed. But let me
13:27
Speaker 1: say this in all serious and starts and foremost, my
13:30
Speaker 1: mama has been sick for the past two years, and
13:32
Speaker 1: so that has been heavy on my heart. I'm an
13:35
Speaker 1: only child, you know, and she raised me by herself
13:38
Speaker 1: with a for education. That's why I said, don't know,
13:40
Speaker 1: one should ever be ashamed of the education. My mom
13:42
Speaker 1: is the smartest person I've ever met in spite of
13:43
Speaker 1: the lack of formal education, because she never stopped, you know,
13:46
Speaker 1: figuring out how to make things happen, just like you
13:48
Speaker 1: and I've been talking about on the on your show. Um,
13:52
Speaker 1: that was in my heart. I said, I need to
13:53
Speaker 1: write about America through her lems because she sees the
13:56
Speaker 1: world in a very unique way as a black woman's
13:57
Speaker 1: as a working class black woman who had raisest child
14:00
Speaker 1: by herself into manhood. Uh. This is the timp anniversity
14:03
Speaker 1: of Barack Obama's historic election, and there's a lot to
14:05
Speaker 1: talk about because look how he's gone from the hope
14:08
Speaker 1: of two thousand eight to you know, bless was being
14:12
Speaker 1: killed all over the place, the shooting of the in
14:14
Speaker 1: the synagogue in Pittsburgh this weekend, all this craziness that's
14:17
Speaker 1: been happening to the violence, division of hatred, and so
14:20
Speaker 1: I really wanted to write a book that really talked about,
14:22
Speaker 1: you know, why it is acceptable to have this kind
14:24
Speaker 1: of anger out here. You know, what's happening with Stacy
14:26
Speaker 1: Abrams governor's campaign there and Alabama, and and I'm sorry
14:30
Speaker 1: in Georgia, what's happening with Andrew Gilliam's campaign in Florida
14:33
Speaker 1: And the fact that you know, at the end of
14:35
Speaker 1: the day, my book is really about hope. What I've
14:37
Speaker 1: been doing, sir as, I've been going from Oakland to
14:39
Speaker 1: San Francisco. I was just in Houston, your hometown, and
14:42
Speaker 1: and and just in Dallas. I'll be in Atlanta on Monday,
14:45
Speaker 1: uh over twelve. Um. It's just really bringing small groups
14:50
Speaker 1: folks together, like let's talk. Let's talk about where we are,
14:53
Speaker 1: what are we afraid of, what are we concerned about?
14:55
Speaker 1: And then what is it that we can actually do
14:56
Speaker 1: to help move things forward? You know, because you know
14:59
Speaker 1: you're not would not be the physicians we're in. It
15:01
Speaker 1: wasn't for the sil rights movement, folks for different backgrounds
15:03
Speaker 1: coming together saying we've got to change this for the better.
15:06
Speaker 1: But that's really what it's about. And when I said
15:08
Speaker 1: the last time, angry white man, I'm just saying, you
15:10
Speaker 1: know what, enough of this anger, enough for this venom,
15:13
Speaker 1: enough of thinking this is what leadership looked like in
15:15
Speaker 1: the spirit of that Native son from Georgia, Dr King.
15:18
Speaker 1: It's gotta be about love. It's gotta be about love,
15:20
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. And but love is an
15:22
Speaker 1: action word, and so we need to put some action
15:23
Speaker 1: behind that love. Now. That's that's that's true. That's that's
15:27
Speaker 1: that's so much. You know. I always tell people that, uh,
15:30
Speaker 1: my life, you know, the voting for Barack Obama twice,
15:34
Speaker 1: President Barack Obama twice, and but then that time, that
15:38
Speaker 1: was uneasy time for an African American because racism of
15:41
Speaker 1: violence on African American males increased during that time. And
15:46
Speaker 1: so so I don't know was it was great for America,
15:50
Speaker 1: but it wasn't good for you and I, you know,
15:51
Speaker 1: because because we had to drive differently, we had the
15:54
Speaker 1: approach situation differently. I do I I subconsciously I am
15:58
Speaker 1: aware of the time one freeway, Um, how I should
16:03
Speaker 1: have I should approached her into this situation because guess what,
16:06
Speaker 1: it can go bad real, real quickly. And then when
16:08
Speaker 1: you see situations that happened in Pittsburgh at the synagogue
16:12
Speaker 1: and and and it's like you know, when you see
16:17
Speaker 1: things like happened in a high school in Florida, and
16:20
Speaker 1: you go, you almost like, okay, do you do you
16:24
Speaker 1: understand what's happening now is not tied to just one race.
16:28
Speaker 1: The problems that we're having out there, and and and
16:32
Speaker 1: how do you fix that? How is there is there
16:34
Speaker 1: a remedy to that? Is there is there a fix
16:37
Speaker 1: out there? Mr Paul, You know that's such a great question, sir.
16:40
Speaker 1: You know, yesterday I spoke, I did a sermon at
16:42
Speaker 1: the church and the title of the sermon was Loved
16:44
Speaker 1: in the Time of Hate, and I talked about how
16:47
Speaker 1: we gotta struggle because I ain't got a lot of you, sir,
16:49
Speaker 1: I've had a rough year. I've had a lot of
16:51
Speaker 1: feelings about what's been going on. And anger is real,
16:53
Speaker 1: that's real emotion. And why wouldn't we be angry? You know,
16:55
Speaker 1: why wouldn't black folks being angry about what happened? Why
16:57
Speaker 1: wouldn't Youewish folks be angry about what happened to the
16:59
Speaker 1: Senate are Why wouldn't women be angry? As we talked
17:01
Speaker 1: about the Me Too movement one year later and the
17:04
Speaker 1: things that they've survived, you know, but at the end
17:06
Speaker 1: of the day. We also got to set ourselves, you know,
17:08
Speaker 1: how do we how do we heal, how do we
17:11
Speaker 1: move towards empowerment. I think Parker has really knowing who
17:13
Speaker 1: we are, but also having the courage to reach out
17:15
Speaker 1: to folks who might be different than us. You know,
17:17
Speaker 1: I always point people to to to the speech that
17:20
Speaker 1: Bobby Kennedy gave in Indiana the day to night the Dr.
17:23
Speaker 1: King was killed. He gave a speech to all the
17:25
Speaker 1: majority black audience, this white brother, and he talked about yep,
17:28
Speaker 1: Dr King was killed by white man, and my brother
17:30
Speaker 1: John Kennedy, the President, was also killed by white man.
17:33
Speaker 1: But we gotta make an effort as human beings, no
17:35
Speaker 1: matter who we are, to have empathy and compassion for
17:37
Speaker 1: each other. And I really believe that's what it's gonna take.
17:40
Speaker 1: Because they want us to be hated. They want hate,
17:44
Speaker 1: they want fear, they want the vision, they want violence.
17:46
Speaker 1: And I don't want to just talk about what I'm against,
17:48
Speaker 1: but I also think we got begin to talk about
17:50
Speaker 1: what we represents, you know, what we want to see
17:52
Speaker 1: in this world, and we gotta push that message out
17:55
Speaker 1: there because a lot of us are just reacting. And
17:56
Speaker 1: I don't want to just keep reacting this stuff, you know,
17:58
Speaker 1: I mean, I want to be proactive like you or
18:00
Speaker 1: show is proactive your life, sir is proactive that you
18:02
Speaker 1: described to me and you asked me how did you
18:04
Speaker 1: get to these books? And how do you do these things?
18:06
Speaker 1: I feel like I've been proactive. Whenever I've reacted is
18:09
Speaker 1: when I've been in trouble, if that makes sense, you
18:11
Speaker 1: know what I mean. And so I do think that
18:13
Speaker 1: we got to reach out. You know, I love the
18:15
Speaker 1: factive saw of the comedian real Will Farrell or white
18:17
Speaker 1: brother out there campaigning on behalf of states. He ables
18:20
Speaker 1: here and there in Georgia. You know what I'm saying,
18:22
Speaker 1: I got you, sister. I'm a white brother, you're a
18:24
Speaker 1: black sister. But we're in this thing together. That's how
18:26
Speaker 1: we gotta look at this. You know what I'm saying,
18:28
Speaker 1: And that that's that's absolutely truthful in your tone and
18:31
Speaker 1: what you're trying to say. And it's and do it
18:33
Speaker 1: without excuses, you know what I'm saying, Dude, it out,
18:35
Speaker 1: excuse it and do it with proper planning. And it's
18:37
Speaker 1: so funny that and I got just gotta say, this
18:39
Speaker 1: is one of my good friends. I want to call
18:40
Speaker 1: him my good friend. Kurk Franklin and your tone and
18:43
Speaker 1: your personality reminds me so much of Kirk. And that's
18:46
Speaker 1: a compliment because there's a certain there's certain certain reverence
18:49
Speaker 1: and how Kirk talks you though, because he's also a
18:52
Speaker 1: game changer, and how he communicates with people, how he
18:56
Speaker 1: speaks of God, how he sings of God and his
18:59
Speaker 1: praises because he realized that everybody is is layered in life,
19:04
Speaker 1: and like you understand that you're layered. And when I
19:08
Speaker 1: look at your resume, and I still say that I
19:10
Speaker 1: joked about it earlier. You know, NPR, CNN, Ebony, Essence, ESPN.
19:18
Speaker 1: That's a lot of different lanes. And sometimes, Kevin, you
19:22
Speaker 1: have to look at yourself and and and this is
19:25
Speaker 1: what I wasn't doing in my life and I and
19:27
Speaker 1: I this show has really enabled me to understand my
19:30
Speaker 1: value and my impact. You have to look, I'm talking
19:34
Speaker 1: about you. I'm talking about you, young man. Listen to
19:37
Speaker 1: what I said, Washington Posts, ESPN, Essence, Abony, MPR. How
19:49
Speaker 1: many people you're thinking right on all those platforms, sir,
19:53
Speaker 1: All praises do to God. And I tell you, um,
19:56
Speaker 1: what I think about when I write anything like I
19:58
Speaker 1: just want a poem for my wife. Day's a birthday.
20:00
Speaker 1: I think about again, my mama has an eighth for education.
20:03
Speaker 1: Her mama, my grandmother rest her soul cannot read the right.
20:06
Speaker 1: So I feel like I'm not just writing for myself.
20:08
Speaker 1: I'm writing for or creating for everyone, do through through
20:12
Speaker 1: through God as a vessel that doesn't have a chance
20:14
Speaker 1: to use that voice that you were talking about so
20:16
Speaker 1: eloquently earlier. You know, because I agree with you if
20:19
Speaker 1: we can, we must use our voices. We must do
20:22
Speaker 1: what you're doing. You must do what I'm doing. But
20:25
Speaker 1: also understand we have a bigger responsibility to be a
20:27
Speaker 1: voice for folks who may not have the opportunity you have.
20:30
Speaker 1: I don't take that for granted. Yes, sir, before I go,
20:33
Speaker 1: I got two minutes left, I want you to talk
20:35
Speaker 1: about your interview and the British u g Q Chadwick uh,
20:41
Speaker 1: Mr black Panther tell me about okay, because man, I
20:45
Speaker 1: would just telling because you know, the big fear was
20:47
Speaker 1: would it play internationally? They knew even make money domestically.
20:51
Speaker 1: When you played internationally, it missed everybody else. Let's talk
20:55
Speaker 1: about that and you know your thoughts doing an interview
20:58
Speaker 1: and the importance of doing that interview you and how
21:01
Speaker 1: he feels his role is played in the changeing in America,
21:05
Speaker 1: you know from a pract example. Well people, your your
21:08
Speaker 1: audience can go to British g Q of the website
21:10
Speaker 1: and read the interview the cover story did Chadwick Boseman.
21:13
Speaker 1: They voted him the GQ International Man of the Year
21:15
Speaker 1: because of the massive success globally of Black Panther, which
21:18
Speaker 1: as we know it's made over a billion dollars. Chadwick
21:21
Speaker 1: I met fifteen years ago when he was first starting
21:23
Speaker 1: out here as an actor. He's from the South as well,
21:24
Speaker 1: from South Krodhla, just like my people, as humble now
21:27
Speaker 1: as he was back then, blown away by the incredible
21:30
Speaker 1: success of Black Panther, realizes that he has a big platform,
21:33
Speaker 1: just like you have a platform. I have a platform,
21:35
Speaker 1: Like what can I do with this platform to be
21:37
Speaker 1: of service to others? And you know it wants to
21:39
Speaker 1: be a player in this game in a different kind
21:40
Speaker 1: of way. And I'm happy about that, not just being
21:43
Speaker 1: an actor or actress, but also can I want to write,
21:45
Speaker 1: I want to direct, I want to produce, you know,
21:47
Speaker 1: and in other words that you were saying the beginning,
21:49
Speaker 1: How can I be in control of this brand to
21:50
Speaker 1: get the brand out there, but also to help that
21:53
Speaker 1: have that brand, help other people. And that's where he's at.
21:55
Speaker 1: And I pray that Black Panther gets every award that
21:59
Speaker 1: it deserves, the image awards, octors, nomination, everything, because it
22:03
Speaker 1: deserves all of it, Golden Globe, all that stuff. All
22:07
Speaker 1: of it's the fact that you had you, just like
22:10
Speaker 1: you had Blast was walking around in African dot chikis
22:12
Speaker 1: You've never done that before. He car that link. I'm
22:17
Speaker 1: gonna put on my social media tomorrow. Okay. I appreciate
22:21
Speaker 1: you coming to the most show. You said, No. Twelve.
22:23
Speaker 1: You're coming down at seven pm. No. Twelve, the gathering
22:27
Speaker 1: spot right in Atlanta, Georgia. I want folks and ah
22:29
Speaker 1: L come out. You come out. I'll be the last stot.
22:31
Speaker 1: We've got a big celebration. Can touch with Samantha so
22:34
Speaker 1: I can get that banner out there. I'm gonna promote
22:35
Speaker 1: that heavily for him. Okay, this is my main conversation, Kevin.
22:38
Speaker 1: You're my little brother man. I'm gonna protect you. Are
22:42
Speaker 1: listening makes us smarter, more connected people it makes us
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