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The Rough Side Of The Mountain From Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

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Speaker 1: It is a podcast network. It's called erow dot net
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Speaker 1: Street Speak with Alexa and Clarence only on Arrow dot
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Speaker 1: net a r r oe dot net. Enjoy that exploration. Mayor.
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Speaker 1: This book comes at such a perfect time because I mean,
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Speaker 1: we do not know about our politicians are leaders of
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Speaker 1: law and with you opening up your heart, I hope
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Speaker 1: and I pray to God every day that this inspires
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Speaker 1: those that want to shoot for those headlines every day
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Speaker 1: on social media that say hey, look they don't know you.
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Speaker 1: Get them to know you and then reach out. This
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Speaker 1: is a beautiful story.
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Speaker 2: Oh thank you so much, and I appreciate your time
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Speaker 2: taking the time to talk with me about it.
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Speaker 1: Well, you've got something here that really it really elevates
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Speaker 1: what was there's that word elevate because I'm going to
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Speaker 1: talk about elevation church with with pastor Stephen Ferdick in
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Speaker 1: the way that he says You've got to go through
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Speaker 1: darkness if you're going to find the light. And it's
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Speaker 1: like I'm holding that exact statement in my hand.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, And it doesn't feel that way when you're going
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Speaker 2: through really dark times. I know for me, you know,
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Speaker 2: always wishing and praying that things were smoother and life
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Speaker 2: were easier.
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Speaker 3: But Aretha Franklin said it best.
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Speaker 2: The smooth side of the mountain didn't give you anything
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Speaker 2: to hold on to. It's the rough side that gives
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Speaker 2: you something to hold on to. And I'm just grateful
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Speaker 2: to be on the other side in so many ways.
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Speaker 2: So I am very fortunate to be able to tell
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Speaker 2: my story, and I know it's going to resonate with
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Speaker 2: so many people.
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Speaker 1: See, I want people to take this book and go
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Speaker 1: read it at the your worri mountains or forest over
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Speaker 1: here in Carolina. And the reason why is because everything
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Speaker 1: that you describe about a mountain is on that mountain,
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Speaker 1: Because all you have to do is take a track
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Speaker 1: or a little trail around that mountain, and everything that
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Speaker 1: you're showcasing there about the changes in life and the challenges,
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Speaker 1: it's all right there. They need to have something very physical,
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Speaker 1: and you are the seed of this growing program.
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Speaker 3: Well, thank you.
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Speaker 2: I had an opportunity. The book begins with me talking
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Speaker 2: about my father's arrest. My dad was a man named
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Speaker 2: Major Lance. He was a very well known singer in
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Speaker 2: the sixties and early seventies.
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Speaker 3: He gave this.
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Speaker 2: Little unknown guy named Elton John his professional start in music.
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Speaker 2: He opened for the Beatles when they came to America,
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Speaker 2: and as he used to tell me, my dad used
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Speaker 2: to say, baby, I know you don't believe it, but
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Speaker 2: I was a really big deal and he was. But
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Speaker 2: I opened the book talking about his arrest. My dad
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Speaker 2: was arrested for selling drugs. My dad suffered with addiction,
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Speaker 2: and it changed my life literally in an instant. And
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Speaker 2: I've experienced close loved ones dying, and the grief that
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Speaker 2: I felt was very similar to someone dying because in
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Speaker 2: many ways it was the death of my family as
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Speaker 2: I knew it. And so I get an opportunity to
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Speaker 2: write about that. But I'm so proud that I get
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Speaker 2: to tell his story. In his totality, he was just
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Speaker 2: a wonderful, complicated man, a very loving man. And I
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Speaker 2: talk about my mom having to work three jobs, and
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Speaker 2: just how it changed my life and experiences that I
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Speaker 2: had that shaped me into the person that I am today.
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Speaker 2: And Lord knows, I am still a work in progress.
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Speaker 2: But I think that so many people will be able
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Speaker 2: to relate because for a really long time that was
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Speaker 2: something that I wore just as as badge of shame
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Speaker 2: and didn't want to tell my story.
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Speaker 3: That's totality.
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Speaker 2: And I think as people look at leaders, they look
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Speaker 2: at us and think that we, you know, show up
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Speaker 2: in this prison condition sometimes.
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Speaker 3: But you know, I'm very flawed and very very.
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Speaker 2: Glad that my faith has been able to play a
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Speaker 2: huge part in helping to shape me and mold me.
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Speaker 1: Well see, and that's exactly who I want to lead
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Speaker 1: our streets. I want somebody that can relate with us,
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Speaker 1: because here's the thing, this is how powerful your words
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Speaker 1: and statements are. I'm reading about your dad that day
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Speaker 1: when he is taken away, and where'd my mind go
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Speaker 1: to the people of today? Because I do work at
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Speaker 1: a grocery store, I do see the fathers. I'm seeing
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Speaker 1: a lot of mothers. And then they go, yeah, I
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Speaker 1: was incarcerated, You go, my God, And then and then
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Speaker 1: all of a sudden I come to your book and
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Speaker 1: I'm going find your peace, find your piece. What did
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Speaker 1: the mayor say about these moments? How can we get
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Speaker 1: beyond this because we're leaders even out without even being
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Speaker 1: in office.
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Speaker 3: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: And the great thing about writing this story for me,
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Speaker 2: it was I started this when I was not in office.
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Speaker 2: I started it when I had no desire to go
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Speaker 2: back into office. So I think in so many ways
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Speaker 2: it freed me just to tell my truth in its entirety.
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Speaker 2: And you know, and I've had people say it's not
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Speaker 2: it doesn't read like a political memoir, and that's because
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Speaker 2: it was never intended to be one. It really was
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Speaker 2: more of a love letter to my family and the
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Speaker 2: people who raised me and shape me. And what I
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Speaker 2: realized when I write about my grandparents, who didn't finish
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Speaker 2: high school, and they were the smartest people I'd ever known,
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Speaker 2: and they were filled with so much wisdom. But I believed,
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Speaker 2: you know, you had to have a degree to be
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Speaker 2: and you had to have XYZ experience to be a leader.
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Speaker 2: So for and I love my family dearly, but often
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Speaker 2: tuk parts of them away in order to present myself
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Speaker 2: as acceptable. And what I found in the most challenging
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Speaker 2: of times as a leader, I really had to lean
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Speaker 2: into all that they had poured into me, especially in
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Speaker 2: twenty twenty when there was no blueprint for leadership. So
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Speaker 2: much of the common sense and the faith that they
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Speaker 2: poured into me is what helped me to be a
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Speaker 2: leader during an unprecedented time.
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Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with Keisha Lenz Bottoms
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Speaker 1: coming up next the name of her book, The Rough
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Speaker 1: Side of the Mountain. We are back with Atlanta Mayor
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Speaker 1: Keisha Lance Bottoms. Look at the leader that you are.
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Speaker 1: Because the way that you open the book with Proverbs nineteen,
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Speaker 1: my God, if that doesn't speak to hearts around the world,
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Speaker 1: the plans in a person's heart. Oh, we all carry
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Speaker 1: that weight. And then when you and you read it,
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Speaker 1: because I want people to go read Proverbs nineteen. I
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Speaker 1: don't want to sit here and sound like a preacher,
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Speaker 1: but sometimes we need to to get the real word
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Speaker 1: out there. And you really bring that forward.
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Speaker 2: Well, you know, my faith is so important to me
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Speaker 2: and I can't from that. I can't hide from it.
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Speaker 2: And you know, again, it doesn't mean that you're perfect,
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Speaker 2: and God doesn't call us to be perfect. There's no
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Speaker 2: expectation that we can even be perfect. But it does
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Speaker 2: mean that we know, for me anyway, that there is
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Speaker 2: this higher power that I can lean into, and even
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Speaker 2: when I stumble and when I fall, he forgives me
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Speaker 2: and hills me grace.
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Speaker 3: And that's the same grace.
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Speaker 2: That I wish I had done a better job of
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Speaker 2: expressing to my father. And I just know and believe
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Speaker 2: that he's looking down and he's proud of me, and
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Speaker 2: he's proud of my willingness to share his story.
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Speaker 1: Your story with your father in the music industry, he
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Speaker 1: totally understood what it was like to be up on
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Speaker 1: that live stage and seeing eyes for the very first time,
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Speaker 1: but yet they were drawn to the music, you being
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Speaker 1: the mayor. And I've got to ask, what was it
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Speaker 1: something that was planted inside your soul in the way?
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Speaker 1: Did you live through the joy of others that you
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Speaker 1: saw in their eyes? Or were you the instigator of
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Speaker 1: joy so that others would find joy on your path?
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Speaker 3: I think, you know, at times, it's been a little
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Speaker 3: bit of both. I've really admired.
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Speaker 2: My dad, but I as a child, you know, I
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Speaker 2: thought like a child, So I was very resentful about
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Speaker 2: his decisions.
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Speaker 3: But what I really appreciate with.
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Speaker 2: My mom is that my mom would always tell me, I'll,
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Speaker 2: I'll allow you to form your own opinion. Life is complicated,
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Speaker 2: love is complicated, And in time I've understood that my
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Speaker 2: dad was complicated. So at times, you know, it was
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Speaker 2: great to see the world through.
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Speaker 3: His eyes, traveling the world as.
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Speaker 2: The order of an entertainer, But I also saw it
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Speaker 2: through the eyes of a child, visiting my dad in prison.
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Speaker 3: And watching my mom's struggle.
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Speaker 2: And coming home sometimes and not having water or not
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Speaker 2: having the utilities on and running out of gas, and
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Speaker 2: you know, and I think in many ways I took
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Speaker 2: on the responsibility of happiness for people around me, which
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Speaker 2: there's a burden in that too, when you are the
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Speaker 2: bearer of all joy, at least in your mind, that
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Speaker 2: you can't you can't be the troubled one. You can't
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Speaker 2: express how you are feeling for fear that it may
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Speaker 2: impact others around you. And I write about that just
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Speaker 2: in internalizing so much and not expressing how I felt
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Speaker 2: because I didn't want to be the troublemaker. How that
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Speaker 2: manifested itself in me physically. I write about my eating disorder.
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Speaker 3: I write about my.
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Speaker 2: Journey of infertility and struggles with fibro tumors, which are
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Speaker 2: often described as bundles of stress. I write about, even
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Speaker 2: when I served as mayor, pre hypertension, pre diabeting, pre glaucoma,
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Speaker 2: chronic inflammation, just all of these things that often are
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Speaker 2: attributed to high levels of stress.
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Speaker 3: And I also write.
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Speaker 2: About talking with my therapists after leaving the mayor's office
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Speaker 2: and her explaining to me the difference between being strong
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Speaker 2: and being powerful. She told me strong women pushed through
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Speaker 2: and they have heart attacks and high blood pressure and
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Speaker 2: strokes and they die. And she said, powerful women stop
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Speaker 2: and they feel and they process and they learn the
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Speaker 2: lessons and then and only then do they move on.
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Speaker 2: So in this season, I'm just grateful to be powerful,
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Speaker 2: and I hope that in breathing the rough side of
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Speaker 2: the mountain, people will see their power in ways that
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Speaker 2: they may not have otherwise recognized it.
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Speaker 1: Let's take that word powerful, because you put a lot
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Speaker 1: of focus on it. That is your go to word,
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Speaker 1: because you say, our deepest fear is that that we
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Speaker 1: are powerful beyond measure. Oh my god, if that doesn't
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Speaker 1: just look at somebody in the eyes in a bathroom
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Speaker 1: mirror and say not today. It's not about you. I
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Speaker 1: understand you feel the power, but share the power.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, And those actually are not my words, but I
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Speaker 2: do write them in the book. Mary and Williamson said
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Speaker 2: that she did you know that we we often we
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Speaker 2: tuk away to power within ourselves.
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Speaker 3: And I didn't find myself sometimes wondering am I afraid
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Speaker 3: of myself?
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Speaker 2: And by that I mean so many of us feel
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Speaker 2: the need to fill space with something, whether it's squirrelling
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Speaker 2: on social media, or doing housework, or or texting or
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Speaker 2: whatever that thing is. And I sometimes find myself going,
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Speaker 2: are you okay being alone with yourself?
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Speaker 3: What is it that you are afraid of? What?
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Speaker 2: What's the what powerful thing may come to mind if
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Speaker 2: you would just be still? Yes, Like I said, I
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Speaker 2: am a work in progress.
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Speaker 3: Uh. And and when you birth.
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Speaker 2: A book a book, you uh, You're like, I'll never
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Speaker 2: do it again. Yes, But I'm like, maybe there needs
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Speaker 2: to be a part two to this.
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Speaker 3: I don't know.
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Speaker 1: You talk about that a loneeness. Well, here's what the
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Speaker 1: world should do. Come to Atlanta when they want to
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Speaker 1: test their loneeness and get on spaghetti junction, because I
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Speaker 1: guarantee you will put yourself in a position of a loneeness.
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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, you and thousands and thousands of your
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Speaker 2: closest friends.
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Speaker 1: You know, the way that you write, you have what
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Speaker 1: I call people speak. In other words, you are speaking
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Speaker 1: our language. And the one thing that my heart questioned
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Speaker 1: right away was, and I said, ask her about the Varsity.
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Speaker 1: Did she go to the Varsity to watch people? Because
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Speaker 1: you that's where real people hang out. They go there
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Speaker 1: as travelers, they go there as people who love the city.
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Speaker 1: It's such a place in Atlanta that has the realisms
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Speaker 1: of what life is about, not just here in the
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Speaker 1: South but everywhere.
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Speaker 2: Oh, the Varsity was one of my favorite places to go.
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Speaker 2: A frosted orange onion rings and the chili cheeseburger. And
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Speaker 2: at that time, they would come up to your car
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Speaker 2: are they stick a tray on the window of your
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Speaker 2: side of your car, And there weren't drive throughs in
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Speaker 2: the early seventies, and and you would get your meal
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Speaker 2: served at your car.
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Speaker 3: And even when I was in middle school, whenever.
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Speaker 2: We took a field trip, we would go to the
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Speaker 2: Varsity before we made it back to school.
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Speaker 3: So I still love the Varsity.
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Speaker 1: Oh my god, that's where I learned teamwork because for
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Speaker 1: that process to happen at Varsity, it requires a full team.
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Speaker 1: So when I went back to television here in Charlotte,
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Speaker 1: it was like, I want to see that kind of
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Speaker 1: teamwork from my director to the person behind the control board.
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Speaker 1: I wanted to be run like the varsity because one
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Speaker 1: person steps out, we have a problem.
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Speaker 3: That's worry. And what's your favorite order at the Varsity.
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Speaker 1: It's always the hamburger with the cheese on it. And
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Speaker 1: what happened is but have I craved French fries like
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Speaker 1: you wouldn't believe. So I'm sitting there going more more.
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Speaker 1: Give me Moore, give me the Yoda feeling here, I'm
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Speaker 1: using my Yoda energy, give me more French fries. And
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Speaker 1: and then once you get it, it's so hot and
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Speaker 1: so warm, and everybody around you is going through the
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Speaker 1: same experience. We are one and to me, in my heart,
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Speaker 1: that's unity.
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Speaker 3: No, it absolutely is.
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Speaker 2: And one last thing on the varsity, they cooked the
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Speaker 2: fries with the skin on them, so delicious.
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Speaker 3: But yeah, yeah, you're absolutely right.
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Speaker 2: In the varsity was this very diverse place too, because
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Speaker 2: you know, Atlanta, like many urban cities, in many ways,
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Speaker 2: is a very segregated city, just in terms of where
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Speaker 2: people live and going to the varsity. Everybody was coming
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Speaker 2: together in this one yep, one place with happiness.
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Speaker 1: Yeah. So I've got a question for you, because you
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Speaker 1: come from a world of creativity. You were part of
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Speaker 1: the community as mayor, and you continue to grow now
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Speaker 1: that you've got this book out. Why is it that
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Speaker 1: creative people we have a voice? But you admit you
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Speaker 1: felt voiceless, confused, and scared. There are many times I
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Speaker 1: go there because I believe that's fuel. But what did
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Speaker 1: you see and feel it as.
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Speaker 2: Well? You know a lot of times we run away
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Speaker 2: from our gifts. And I'm very fortunate in that I've
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Speaker 2: always believed that one of my talents was writing.
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Speaker 3: But just in terms of.
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Speaker 2: Going to law school and even majoring in journalism in college,
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Speaker 2: and you know this, every style is a different style.
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Speaker 2: So for example, when I was a journalism major at
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Speaker 2: Florida and M I took a newspaper class that was
16:42
Speaker 2: one style, a broadcast class was a different style. And
16:46
Speaker 2: then my minor was English that was a different style.
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Speaker 2: Writing for radio was different than writing television was different.
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Speaker 2: And then becoming a lawyer, you talk about stripping down
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Speaker 2: create to you're just sticking to the facts there. So
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Speaker 2: it was you know, I truly believe that when God
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Speaker 2: blesses us all with some talent, we just may not
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Speaker 2: always know what it is. But when I began writing,
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Speaker 2: I remembered that that.
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Speaker 3: Was my gift.
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Speaker 2: And I was so fortunate very early on, because if
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Speaker 2: you think about writing a memoir, it's like memory, so
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Speaker 2: you don't memory always in a chronological order. So I've
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Speaker 2: worked with someone to help me weave it all together.
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Speaker 2: But I would get writing prompts. Write about your dad,
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Speaker 2: I want you to tell me everything about your dad.
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Speaker 2: Write about your mom's hair, salon, want you tell me
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Speaker 2: everything about becoming a mother. And I felt so free
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Speaker 2: once I stopped trying to write for perfection and I
17:58
Speaker 2: would just get it out. Remember David Axelrod telling me
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Speaker 2: the best advice that he had received from President Obama
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Speaker 2: and writing his book was stop writing for a perfection,
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Speaker 2: just get it out on paper. And that was when
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Speaker 2: I felt most creative.
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Speaker 1: Are you speaking at any churches? Because inside my heart
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Speaker 1: right now I'm going I would love to go to
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Speaker 1: a good old Southern church and hear you speak, because
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Speaker 1: you're gonna have to put some pauses in there for
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Speaker 1: everybody that's going amen, Oh lord, I'm feel Oh lord,
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Speaker 1: this is the one. I mean, you know how we're
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Speaker 1: going to be reacting out there in that congregation.
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Speaker 2: Well, actually, I am speaking at a church of Second,
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Speaker 2: you know, so it's political season. Early volding starts at
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Speaker 2: Georgia April twenty seventh. So I am speaking at a
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Speaker 2: church may second.
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Speaker 1: Where can people go to find out more about you
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Speaker 1: and to grow with you? Because as somebody once told
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Speaker 1: me in radio, welcome to the first step of your
18:58
Speaker 1: brand new beginning.
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Speaker 3: Oh well, thank you for that. Well, if you are
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Speaker 3: interested in.
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Speaker 2: Supporting or following along on the political side, it's Keisha
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Speaker 2: for Georgia dot com or Keisha for Governor and Keisha
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Speaker 2: for Georgia. They'll both take you to the same place
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Speaker 2: dot com. And then on the personal side, if you
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Speaker 2: want to follow me on social media, it's at Keisha Bottoms.
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Speaker 1: Wow, you got to come back to this show anytime
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Speaker 1: in the future. And if you ever make it up
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Speaker 1: to Charlotte, please let's get together and let's just have
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Speaker 1: an eye to eye conversation because I love where your
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Speaker 1: heart is.
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Speaker 3: Thank you. I would love to see you soon. I
19:38
Speaker 3: love Charlotte.
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Speaker 2: It reminds me of the Atlanta that I grew up in,
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Speaker 2: and I mean that with the sincereus affection.
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Speaker 3: So I would love to see you there.
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Speaker 1: You'd be brilliant today.
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Speaker 3: Okay, thank you. Great to talk to you.