Latest / The Breakfast Club / Nicole Avant On Her Father's Wisdom, The Story Of 'The Six Triple Eight', Purpose, Peace +More

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Nicole Avant On Her Father's Wisdom, The Story Of 'The Six Triple Eight', Purpose, Peace +More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the guy.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: We are to Breakfast Club. Lona Rosa is hanging out
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: with us this morning. Yes, indeed, and we got a
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: special guest in the building. Yes we have Nicole Avon. Welcome,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: thancome to thank you.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: It's good to be bad.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: How are you feeling?
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Great? New book, new book, new.
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: New film, new forward, new forward.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Everything's new. Thank god, it's a It's so yeah.
• 0:25
  Speaker 4: The paperback version I Think You'll Be Happy is now
• 0:28
  Speaker 4: out and my husband Ted Sarandos wrote the forward and
• 0:32
  Speaker 4: it is a beautiful addition to the book, and it
• 0:36
  Speaker 4: became a best seller again and I'm just so happy
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: because the legacy continues.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: And but it's.
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: Through Ted's lens, which was great because Ted was with
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: my father with the Black oul Father when he crossed
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: over to the other side, and it was really ted
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: like I had left the room and said to Ted,
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: we're going to switch places now. And the crazy thing
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: is is the six Triple eight was the last moment
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: I had with my father. Tyler Perry had just sent
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: me one of the last, you know, cuts of the
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: film and he said, Okay, take some notes, we're ready
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: to lock and my father was in the other room,
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: and I thought, I was no, I don't want to
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: bother him, and I could just feel Holy Spirit saying,
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: what do.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: You mean bother him?
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: Go sit with him? So I said, Daddy, here's the
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: movie that you told me to finish.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Here's the movie.
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: And he's laying there and he gets all the way
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: to the end and the song The Journey is playing,
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: and Diane Warren wrote the song. Her sings the song beautifully.
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: It just got nominated, by the way for an Oscar.
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: And I was able to look at my father after
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: everything's done, of course crying, and I went over to him, and.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: That's when I said my goodbye. Wow.
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: I was like, you know what, Daddy, You've had the
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: best journey. You've journeyed here for ninety two and a
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: half years. You've done so much for your people, You've
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: done so much for America, You've done so much for
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: the world.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: You can go be a piece now. You you what
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: a journey? What a journey?
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: With any response or anything, he just he.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Did he he he.
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: Get he opened his eyes and there was a slight smile,
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: but I saw the peace come over him. Because I
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: kept saying, Daddy, don't hang out for me. I know
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: you wanted Everything's done. The book is done, the film
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: was done. Remember, because he had said to me after
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: my mom died, after she was killed, I didn't want
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: to finish anything.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: Why would you?
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: So I'm thinking I'm done, and my father every day,
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: you're going to finish that book, You're going to finish
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: this movie.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Life goes on. You have to.
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: Of course you need to grieve. Of course you're going
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: to be sad. But you can't give your power away.
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: You can't give your light away.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: You can't.
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: This darkness came into our life. You can't be consumed
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: by the darkness. You better take this light and figure
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: this shit.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Out and be an avant. And this is what we do.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: He's like, you know how hard my life was. You
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: know what I went through.
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: I was picking cotton at five, I was picking tobacco
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: at five. I was doing this. I was bounced around.
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: I was so it was and he said, he goes,
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: and you owe us that. You kind of owe us
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: your life. You can't let your life force go. So
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: all that to say, it took three years for me
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: to be sitting here now in a much different, more peaceful,
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: absolutely position of healing. You know, grief never goes away,
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: but it does get lighter as you go because you
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: learn how to manage it. Last time I was here,
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: you know, right, you know, right after the hardcover came out,
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: I was still in a state of shock and sadness.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: No much, however much I was trying to hide it,
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: I was still shaking inside.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: That's right. Why did you leave the room, Like, why
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: did you into twitch places?
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: Because I said, I could tell my father didn't want
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: to leave in front of you know, well, first of all,
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: I heard I don't know if you guys have experienced,
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: but it's called the death rattle where you hear it
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: sounds like someone's choking.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: It's it's not you know, it's it's scary. It's that
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: rattle where the body is actually shutting down. And so he's.
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: Trying to breathe and I and it's just so painful.
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: So I knew, and I could tell though that he's
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: trying to hang on. And I was like, daddy, Daddy,
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: you can go. I'm gonna be okay. I'm gonna be okay.
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: So I said, let me, let me, I'm gonna go
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: get a glass of water. And then I went out
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: and looked at Ted. I said, you know what, maybe
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: you should go in now and say your gabyes and
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: then we'll do it together.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: And then the next thing.
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: And then I just knew once Ted went in, he
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: was gonna be different, and he was. Ted played music
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: Ted all of a sudden, I said, all of a sudden,
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: it all my I was the little Catholic boy again
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: in school. And he goes and I started saying my
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: prairies because I hadn't said them in years. But they
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: listened to Duke Ellington, Quincy Jones, Frank Sinatra, everybody. They
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: just he played. He sent Clarence out, held his hand
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: and they had their beautiful moment.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: You know. They were very very close.
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: And my father and Ted's dad didn't understand really what
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: Ted did for a living.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: He grasped it, but he didn't really. But my father
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: was like, wait a minute, you're what at Netflix?
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: And what is Netflix gonna do? And he's my father
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: has watched Ted from fifteen years. When I came into
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: Ted's life skyrocket and become CEO, my dad was there
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: during the whole rise, you know, so it was he
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: got this promotion. Then he got another promotion and Clarence
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: would sit with him and then I'd watch him do
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: his numbers thing and write on the paper, you got
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: to ask for this, you gotta do this.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: Where do you want to see yourself in five years?
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: Who are you hiring? What are you doing? You know?
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: Are you going around the world. It was so great
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: for Ted.
• 5:46
  Speaker 5: Ted he had the ultimate chicole. You could tap Clarence
• 5:51
  Speaker 5: Avon anytime you want for advice, right, yeah.
• 5:54
  Speaker 6: I don't understand, so you call it Clarence avan that's yeah.
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: And you know Ted would say, which you got to
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: get him all next time? He's like, how come I'm
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: not at.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: The breakfast cut with you?
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: Said right now, We're going to have it next time.
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: But you know it's a funny you said that. It's
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: because Ted said when he was dating me, he went
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: to lunch with my father. He said, everybody kept coming
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: to the.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: Table, and I'm thinking, well, who is this? What is
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: going on?
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: It goes everybody kept coming to kidster Gooz. I knew
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: of him, he said, but I did not understand the
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: impact of him, he said. And I had black people,
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: white people, men and women saying he changed the course
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: of my life. He changed the direction of my life.
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: He opened this door, he closed this door, he made
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: sure the contract was right. I mean, it was all
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: of a sudden, Ted's thinking, this man was one of
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: the architects of the entire entertainment business. Absolutely, and I
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: don't know his name, and my friends don't know his name,
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: and I'm pissed. So Ted went out and was telling
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: everybody he said, that's why we got to make.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: The Black Odfather.
• 6:54
  Speaker 6: Oh okay, yeah, because when I watched that and I
• 6:57
  Speaker 6: heard about the story, I figured you might have push
• 7:00
  Speaker 6: forward more because it's your family's legacy. But your husband
• 7:03
  Speaker 6: happens to be at Netflix, so you have that right.
• 7:06
  Speaker 6: I mean, Notenli, you know what I mean.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: You can pick up that.
• 7:10
  Speaker 6: Phone and call him, so you're like, oh, let's make
• 7:13
  Speaker 6: this work. But hearing that he in real time was
• 7:15
  Speaker 6: like people need to experience and.
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: Really, Reggie Hudler and I had been working on The
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: Black op Father for so long, or at least talking
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: about it, and it was great because David Geffen a
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: long time ago, my dad kept saying, I'm just going
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: to write a book.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: I don't want to be in a movie. I'm going
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: to write a book. And David Geffen's like, no, one's
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: going to believe that he was right.
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: I said, Daddy, if we put this in words, who's
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: we're going to talk about all these experiences and all
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: the things that you did. People need to hear Bill
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: Withers say it. People need to hear Hank Aaron tell
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: the story. People need to hear Bill Clinton tell this.
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: Otherwise everyone's gonna say, oh, yeah, that really happened.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: Okay. So it was so great that everyone came together.
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: And then Ted every time I'd come home and I'd
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: have my little check, It's like, you got that person
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: for the dog is said yeah, this person said yes, yes,
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: Clive Davis is coming on.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: Ted's like, oh, no, we're doing this. We have to
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: cement this legacy. And Ted knew that. That's the way
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: my parents raised me. They raised me.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: They gave me black history mostly through music and film.
• 8:21
  Speaker 6: Wow.
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: You know, there was a lot of stuff in the house,
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: of course, the art and things, but my parents would
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: have me watch you know, a lot of whether it
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: was Lili's and the you know, to start with love
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: or lilies in the field or guess who's coming to
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: dinner all Sydney plate first, you know, and then go
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: to the Dutchman in all these films, and even.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: Birth of a Nation, which is horrific to watch, but
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: you need to watch it. You need to learn so
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: that you could.
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: Say that shit was really happening, and thank god it's
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: not now, do you know what I mean? It's there
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: was so much It was easier for me to digest
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: history through entertainment, which is why we were able to
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: tell so many stories in The Black Godfather that I
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: don't think would have resonated with people if it was
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: on separately.
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: Right now, that a little bit of what Tedd said, Yeah,
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: in the Ford he said.
• 9:11
  Speaker 5: And Nicole's father, my father in law, Clarence Avont, the
• 9:14
  Speaker 5: Black Godfather, came directly from the hospital.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: To live with us.
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: The next few years were like a gift from the universe,
• 9:20
  Speaker 5: cosmic payback for the pain of the few weeks in
• 9:22
  Speaker 5: twenty twenty one that changed all our lives. Clarence was
• 9:26
  Speaker 5: a role model in business and in life. Every meal
• 9:28
  Speaker 5: together was a masterclass cheating. He didn't say that.
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: I said that.
• 9:32
  Speaker 5: I had spent time with him over the years, heard
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: the stories, witnessed the reverence the world had for Clarence,
• 9:37
  Speaker 5: and met the folks whose lives were impacted by him,
• 9:39
  Speaker 5: Bill Wizs, Hank Aaron, Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton,
• 9:42
  Speaker 5: Andrew Young, and countless executives whom he created opportunities for
• 9:46
  Speaker 5: and shepherded, and his remarkable life and career. He was
• 9:49
  Speaker 5: a man who demanded fairness and justice in the world
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: that was often short on both. He loved music and
• 9:54
  Speaker 5: history and made both, spending time together in the last
• 9:57
  Speaker 5: years of his life. Field avoid for me that the
• 9:59
  Speaker 5: loss of my own father had created.
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 10:01
  Speaker 5: I hadn't been in town when my father departed, but
• 10:03
  Speaker 5: I was in the room when Clarence did.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, wow. I know I'm already getting like, well,
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: how are you doing. Yeah, I'm good.
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: I miss him a lot, but I'm really I feel
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: very blessed to have had a soul like that. I mean,
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: Clarence to me was one of the most powerful souls
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: I've ever met. I've never met anybody like that, I
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: really haven't. And to know that, I to just feel
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: every single day I feel his presence, and just the
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: knowing of this soul raised me, and this soul gave
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: me a toolbox, and he that's the best gift he
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: gave me, which was, here's a toolbox. All this shit's
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: gonna happen in life. Grab this tool for this, Grab
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: this tool for this. The resentment comes, drop it, this comes,
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: you know what I mean?
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: He was able to. He was just such a master
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: of how life works.
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: And he was so big on you know, his big
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: saying was you come with a number and you end
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: with the number, and in between that is your dash.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: What the f are you going to do with your dash?
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: It's yours and your choices and your decisions are going
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: to determine your life period. Because he said, you've already
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: seen it.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: It's like Tyler Perry just posted I can't repost you
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: because I thought it was so good. We have the blueprint.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: We have the blueprint.
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: We have seen everybody, especially in the Black race, who
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: has shown us what they did, how they had to
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: go through it, how they overcame things, how they thought
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: about things, how they strategized.
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: You have a blueprint, but we have to use the
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: blueprint not just be you know, be fueled by it.
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: And I just the times that I you know, my
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: dad always reminded me you know, again, everybody is going
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: to leave this earth, Nicole, every that's the one thing
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: we all have in common.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: Nobody gets to pass.
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: So do as much as you can with your life
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: and experience as many things and as many people as possible,
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: and try to do good and make a different wherever
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: you are and whatever you do in life, because everybody
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: is important.
• 12:19
  Speaker 6: So when you talk about your father passing, there's a
• 12:22
  Speaker 6: there's a sense of peace, and you know, you guys
• 12:23
  Speaker 6: got to spend the time. Your mom's situation was a
• 12:25
  Speaker 6: lot different, and in this book you talk a lot
• 12:29
  Speaker 6: about that night when everything happened with your mom. When
• 12:32
  Speaker 6: did you get to a point even where you weren't
• 12:34
  Speaker 6: angry about what happened with your moms?
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: I would say.
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: There was probably it's probably about six months in fairness there.
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: I remember the fourth I remember it was April. It
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: was right before Easter, and I had one huge outburst
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: again with one of my father's best friends out him
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: and I called him.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: And I was furious.
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: I was still screaming, crying, trying to fire things out,
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: and everybody was great, law enforcement was great. Everybody was
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: we're gonna help you, We've got this. But every day,
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: I kept forgiving, forgiving, forgiving for myself, not for the person.
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: Didn't condone the behavior, don't condone violence. I don't condone
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: any of that. But I knew I hate what happened
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: so much that I knew if I got stuck in
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: that hate or stayed in that hate, then I was
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: not going to be able to finish Think you'll be happy.
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: I was not going to be able to make the
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: six triple A. I wasn't even gonna be able to
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: be a good human being because I was going to
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: be a bitter human being. That's what I thought. The
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: demon of the bitterness was gonna kill me. It felt
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: like it was strangling me, and I was.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Like, no, no, no, no.
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: So I just went through the grief, and the grief
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: you kind of have to carry it with you. He
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: doesn't go anywhere, so you carry it with you and
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: then you learn how to manage it, and it does
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: get lighter and lighter. But it gets lighter because I
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: chose to let go. Every day I had to ask
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: God for grace, ask God for wisdom and guidance, and
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: then say I cast these burdens.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: I'm going to cast the burden of anger. I cast
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: the burden.
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: Of resentment and bitterness just so I can move forward,
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: not to condone the behavior, but just so.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: I want to move forward in my life. I want
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: to live my life.
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: I was going to ask about the movie.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: I know we talked about it and breezed over it
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: a little bit, but let's get into the movie a
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: little bit as well, because that's all on streaming on Netflix,
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: the sixth Triple Eight. So break down the movie, and
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: I mean people are seeing it on Netflix.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's it well.
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: I think it's been number two on Netflix globally, which
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: is huge for this type of filming, in all black
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: casts female World War two movie. It was great, Thank you.
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: I learned a lot, and that's why I wanted to
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: tell the story. So the story came to me. It
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: was my fellow producer, Carrie Seelig. She's she sent me
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: a sizzle reel and she said, listen, I know that
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: you've probably heard of the six Triple Eight, but you
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: know I don't know if you know the whole story,
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: which I didn't. I you, I heard of Major Charity Adams.
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: I did not know about the battalion. I just didn't.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: And I went to my mom.
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: I said, how can you eve time you told me
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: about Charity Adams And she said, I told you about them,
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: you're not remembering. But you must tell this story, Nicole.
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: This is such an important part of American history. And
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: so the story basically, there's all these black women. They're
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: you know, a part of the US Army, and there's
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: seventeen pieces seventeen million pieces of mail that have not
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: been delivered to the troops and no one can do it.
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: Men had tried to do it. Everyone kept trying to
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: do it. They couldn't get the seventeen pieces of mail.
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: So they decided, you know, winking, I will give to
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: these black girls. Let's see if they could do it.
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: We'll give them six months. Of course, they did it
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: in three. But everyone's thinking, you know, Tyler, all of
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: us were thinking, Carrie, how are we going to tell
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: this story about the male But it's not about mail.
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: This story is about humanity. The story is about winning
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: the war. This story is about connection, and this story
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: is about resilience and being excellent. That's what I love
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: about these women. This battalion decided to be excellent, and
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: they were excellent even when things were unfair, unkind, not
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: just not right. They didn't wait for things to be perfect,
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: to be excellent and to show up strong.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: And they were patriots and you know, in a.
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: Country that really wasn't giving them their flowers or giving
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: them anything, and they still chose to show up and
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: rise up on eyeside. Wait a minute, this story is
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: a great part of American history.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: It's a great part.
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: Of World War II history that none of us really knew,
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: and it's great for black women. And I wanted to
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: celebrate these black women. And we had missus King, who
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: passed away right.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: Before we put out the film.
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: But Tyler, being Tyler, made sure he got the film
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: to her and he watched it with her, and she
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: was able to say thank you, wow, and she was
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: able to leave this earth knowing that the world was
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: going to know their story.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: One of the eight members, did Ebony get any time
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: with her?
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: I'm sorry, did Ebony get any time with Miss King?
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: Yes?
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: And well, all of us for sure did a zoom
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: with her in the very beginning so she could thank
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: us and we could ask her questions and so and
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: I'm I'm not sure if Ebanie went to go visit
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: her physically but I know they spoke and connected and yeah,
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: there's I think there's two more, maybe two more surviving members.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's just incredible.
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: I loved the story and full circle moment is my mom,
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: like I just said, she said, go take do this film.
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: That was three weeks before she died. And then my
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: father it's the last thing I showed him. So for me,
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: this film is extra special because it's a full circle
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: moment with my parents, you know, and just started with
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: my mom saying, please go do this movie. And it
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: ended with my dad and you could tell that he
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: was just so happy she did it and put this
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: story out and this is what this is what I
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: always wanted you to do.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: I think the city And who's an actress.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: In the movie, so people, yes, you played Lena King. Yeah,
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: her name is Lina, Lina King.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: Yes, Derek Cott, Yeah, yeah, Lena Derekcott. Yeah, I was.
• 18:26
  Speaker 5: I think this movie is so important because man, when
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: you look at what this administration is doing, and you
• 18:31
  Speaker 5: look at what you know, people are doing all across
• 18:32
  Speaker 5: the country in regards to just trying to erase our history.
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: This might be the only way these stories get told.
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: You know.
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: It's interesting you say that because I think art and
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: film and TV, all of it.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: I think it's the best.
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: Way to keep our history alive, or all history alive,
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: any history alive. Is that's why there's so many movies.
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: I would say about World War two and every other
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: war is it's very important to tell the stories in
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: the very creative way. And that's the one medium that
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: usually brings more people together than not. And that's why
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: these stories have to we have to continue to talk
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: about all them.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: I'm happy that you know.
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: I always knew the Tuskegee Airmen, and that's why I
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: was so pissed that I didn't know the six Triple eight.
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: And not taking anything away from the Tuskegee Airmen, but
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: I'm like, well wait a minute, these black women will
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: win the war too, in a different way. But if
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: you have, it's like exactly what Missus King said. If
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: you have, I mean Charity Adams, if you have, if
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: you have low, if you have no mail, there's low morale.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: And if you have no morale, you're not a winner.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: You can't win, you.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: Can't fight, you're.
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: Fighting for nothing. You need to know that you have,
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: your wife is home waiting for you. Your husband, your father,
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: your mother, your children. You need human connection. There is
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: no email, no WiFi, no Facebook, no nothing. They have
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: the US Postal Service. And that's what I think is
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: so phenomenal of what these women were able to accomplish.
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: And by the way, overseas again, not even going to
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: different states in America, let alone at different different countries.
• 20:10
  Speaker 6: Y'all did a good job of showing that parallel too,
• 20:12
  Speaker 6: because the one girl in the movie who her actual
• 20:16
  Speaker 6: like significant other, he went away to the war and
• 20:17
  Speaker 6: she hadn't heard from him, so she was like frustrated.
• 20:20
  Speaker 6: It really showed like why because I was watching it
• 20:23
  Speaker 6: with people who were like, but they're only doing male
• 20:26
  Speaker 6: to your point, But then when you saw her storyline,
• 20:28
  Speaker 6: it's like, that's why the male was important. I think
• 20:30
  Speaker 6: that helped, like that overarching storyline helped you understand the
• 20:34
  Speaker 6: importance of their job too. I thought that that was
• 20:35
  Speaker 6: a great peace. I don't know if you guys did
• 20:38
  Speaker 6: that on.
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: We did, but thank you because it's because Tyler was like,
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: we have to really show why. Yeah, and it actually
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: did happen, but it's to your again. Everyone said, oh,
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: it's just the male, but it's really not just anything.
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: It's communication, right, it's humanity, And but we didn't get
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: that until that scene that you're talking about. Yeah, and
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: it does make a huge difference. That people need to
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: see the power of human connection and the power of
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: your Why why is somebody doing something?
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: Why is somebody being so committed to.
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: They were also trying to prove themselves. They were also
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: trying to plant seeds. Again, for all of us to
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: be sitting here doing what we're doing, you don't have
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: to be in the armed forces. I think people we
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: all have to remember everybody in our history and everybody
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: before us, they knew they weren't going to see their
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: fruits of their labor.
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: There wasn't you know what I mean.
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: There were so many people who still fought for civil rights,
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: knowing that they may not get their rights, but we
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: were worth it.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: Then when we came along, we would have our rights.
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: That is what I respect so much about people who
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: were never going to receive any benefits and still said
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: I'm doing this because it's the right thing to do.
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: That's right. Y'all were nominated for Best Original Songs.
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: That mean, yes, oh my gosh, well, it's amazing because
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: twofold again because Clarence comes in here again.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: Because my dad and Diane Warren have been friends forever.
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: Wow, and the fact that it's Diane who wrote the
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: song and then her singing the song, it's so great.
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: But that's what I was able to say to my
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: father when he was passing over. I said, Dad, you know,
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: here's your journey. Go on your journey. You had such
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: a great journey, I said, And of course, guests who
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: wrote the song, Diane Warren, I said, your girl who
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: likes to curse just as much as you. That's how
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: they became friends, because he said, I've never met somebody
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: who drops an fbom more than me, faster than me.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: But she's brilliant, right, She's a brilliant songwriter.
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: And I was just so happy that this is this
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: is the category that we got an OSCAR nomination, and
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: I was like, Okay, I'll take this because this song
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: is everything and the song really makes the move.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: I don't know how you felt, but I thought the
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: song was just perfect.
• 22:48
  Speaker 6: It was a lot of good stuff that was entertwined
• 22:50
  Speaker 6: into a song. I think the costuming was great. I
• 22:53
  Speaker 6: thought that was important to especially when he got off
• 22:55
  Speaker 6: the I'm telling too much.
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: About that march.
• 22:57
  Speaker 6: No, but in the march, Yeah, that was such a
• 22:59
  Speaker 6: powerful moment. And I think as a like as a
• 23:03
  Speaker 6: black woman, for me, when they were doing that march,
• 23:04
  Speaker 6: I was like, I feel that because there's a lot
• 23:06
  Speaker 6: of times where you just got to like, you know,
• 23:09
  Speaker 6: like you're powerful, but you gotta like let other people
• 23:11
  Speaker 6: assert it for you. And that march was that.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: It was.
• 23:14
  Speaker 6: It's a really good movie.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: I love that.
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: You know, every single test screw that we did the march.
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: It could be white men, black men, Asian women, this
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: that children, that march.
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: There's nothing is said.
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: Everyone gets moved, people cry, people are moving around their
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: seats because it stirs up.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: The underdog and everybody.
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: It's the March, and it's that power of I know
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: I'm being underestimated, no one believes in me, but I'm
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: about to show you.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 23:43
  Speaker 5: Laura said something that I want you to expose on
• 23:45
  Speaker 5: the call because you are a powerful woman, you know.
• 23:47
  Speaker 5: She said, when you're a powerful woman, you have to
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: often have to let other people assert it for you.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: Mm hmmm.
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: Do you feel you feel that way?
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: I understand that. Mm hm. I do understand that it's
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: a you know, it's so funny.
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: I remember being in a meeting once and I looked
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: at this man and he said, well, why you you
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: know we believe in this. I said, you know, I
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: do have a brain and it does function.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: I'm just in case you guys didn't know that I
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: do have a functioning brain. But it's true, you go
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: into it.
• 24:19
  Speaker 4: It's so conditioned by everyone that sometimes people have to
• 24:23
  Speaker 4: go before you and just assert it for you, and
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: in a different way. Even when I became ambassador, it
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: was my friend Charlie who said, I said, no, no, no,
• 24:32
  Speaker 4: I don't want to do I'm doing this. I'm going
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: back to the record business. I know what I like
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: to do. I'm done with this. And he looked at
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: me like, really, you've outdone so many other people who
• 24:44
  Speaker 4: are demanding to have all these roles, and you earned it.
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: And so Charlie said, I'm gonna put your name in
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: just ree, I'm about to do this. And it's interesting
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: how I just didn't.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: Even realize that I wasn't really.
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: Stepping into You're full you, my full me, my whole
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: life force, my whole thing. I just didn't realize, you know,
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: And it's it's I think we have to just remind
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: ourselves all the time.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: Of of course I'm gonna try it.
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: It's I don't want to give my half, meaning I
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: want to give all of me and people take it
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: or leave it. But we should all feel comfortable enough
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: with our life force to show up as best.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: We can and as much as we can.
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: Not dim our light because it makes other people feel uncomfortable.
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: I mean I used to do that a lot growing up, Like, oh,
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: I don't want to say this, Oh I don't want
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: to say this. No, there's just you're just dimming your
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: light for what And you're taking your energy down to
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: make other people comfortable, and then the only one that's
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: hurt in the end, you Yeah, they don't care.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: If they feel more comfortable or not.
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: And then I feel like shit when I get home
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: because I dimmed myself and I shrunk myself.
• 25:55
  Speaker 5: Becoming your full you is interesting though, because sometimes other
• 25:58
  Speaker 5: people see things in you that you don't see yourself,
• 26:02
  Speaker 5: and I.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: Think we need Yeah, but I think that.
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: Sometimes I think there's a flip side and a good
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: side to that too. I think that there's a you know,
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: like my father, for example, I think he saw he
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: was very good at seeing talent and seeing people that
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: could really change things, and they just for example, Hank Aaron.
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: I don't think Aaron was, you know, insecure.
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: I think he was never just thought of, oh, I
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: should be getting endorsement deals.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: I just don't think he ever thought of it.
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: And Clarence comes along and was like, I don't even
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: know who you are, but if you're about to break
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: break Baboos record, you definitely need an endorsement deal. But again,
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: my father saw things in people that they sometimes didn't
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: see for themselves, and then he made magic for them.
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: He would always say people tell black people to just
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: run your erase, run your erase, and he goes a
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: mother thing to everybody is well, we can't.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: Even get on our marks.
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: Let us get on our mark and then let us
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: But if you're going to take our mark away, don't
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: you dare tell anybody just run your race.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: You know, you can't say pull up your bootstraps. You
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: don't have boots on. Ah, you know, get it together,
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: and we have to remind people.
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: But knowing your history, even if you're the only person
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: at the table, I always tell people, know as much
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: as your history, just know as much as you can,
• 27:23
  Speaker 4: so that when you are at a table or when
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: you're with people that don't know any of it, you
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: could be the one instead of worry about I'm the
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: only black person at this table, be so proud I'm
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: the only black person at this table. And then when
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: they're talking about certain inventions and talking about this and that,
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: you could say, oh, well, you know, this black scientist
• 27:39
  Speaker 4: did this, and this black inventor did this, and this
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: person did this, and they happen to be black, and
• 27:44
  Speaker 4: people don't know that. And it is a superpower that
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: my mom gave me that I have used all my
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: life and.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: It it does feel great.
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: Just because everybody else doesn't know it doesn't mean that
• 27:56
  Speaker 4: I'm not going to express it. Kind of to your point,
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: everybody else is talking about it and their light is
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: up and their vibration's up, and oh, I'm not going
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: to mention this scientists because they may not know George
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: Washington Carvery may they may not know Elijah McCoy, or
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: they may not know somebody. Well, I'm just gonna tell them, well,
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: this is why we say we want the real McCoy.
• 28:17
  Speaker 4: I like why, I'm like, well, good, you know, and
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: then you tell the story and then everyone has that
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: Oh I didn't know. And so that's where the power
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: does come from knowledge and information and it is powerful
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: and to use it in the best way is kind
• 28:36
  Speaker 4: of how we move forward, especially women, just really knowing
• 28:41
  Speaker 4: everything who we are and being rooted and grounded in
• 28:46
  Speaker 4: real power versus I always say, there's real power, and
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: then there's power adjacent.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: I'm not interested in the power adjacent. I'm not. You know,
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: there's and that's the pride and we all fall into
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: that too. You know.
• 28:57
  Speaker 4: My father says everything that I had lost it all
• 29:00
  Speaker 4: in one fell swoop. You know why, because I had
• 29:03
  Speaker 4: pride and my ego was too big. And then he
• 29:05
  Speaker 4: was able to share that with music, and then I
• 29:07
  Speaker 4: was able to pick myself up and I was able
• 29:10
  Speaker 4: to start to have you records and I was able
• 29:11
  Speaker 4: to bring Jimmy jam and Terry Lewis.
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: He goes all.
• 29:14
  Speaker 4: Before that, I got too erring itt and I started
• 29:17
  Speaker 4: doing too many things, radio station, this TV show that
• 29:22
  Speaker 4: out of focus, lost everything. He goes, and you know,
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: it's like my grandmother used to say, you know, pride cometh.
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: Before the fall. It's just it does. And to all
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: of us.
• 29:31
  Speaker 4: So we all have to remember to try to say
• 29:34
  Speaker 4: rooted and grounded, but in real power, in God's power
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: and light versus human power.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: When you know, talking to your dad, people always say
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: when you lose everything, it makes you a strong individual, right,
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: and that you can't be the person that you need
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: to be unless you lose everything.
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: Did he ever talk about that?
• 29:52
  Speaker 4: Yes, he did, Yeah, and he felt that he lost
• 29:56
  Speaker 4: a really good question. He felt that he lost everything
• 29:59
  Speaker 4: from a very young age. Is all the time he
• 30:01
  Speaker 4: was being bounced around, moved around, stepfather kicked him out
• 30:05
  Speaker 4: of his house. He was always starting new and losing everything,
• 30:08
  Speaker 4: losing a home, you know, and just starting new.
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: But it does build character.
• 30:14
  Speaker 4: And he'd always say to me every time, every time
• 30:17
  Speaker 4: you have a shortcoming in life, every challenge, the real
• 30:21
  Speaker 4: power comes from what's the lesson behind it. You don't
• 30:25
  Speaker 4: all learn it in the beginning. You just like, oh
• 30:27
  Speaker 4: my god, they shut the door because of this. Oh
• 30:30
  Speaker 4: this didn't have so But you got to go behind
• 30:32
  Speaker 4: it and figure out what you're And if you learn
• 30:34
  Speaker 4: the lesson, you get to graduate.
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: It's like school.
• 30:37
  Speaker 4: You get to get you know, you read a certain level,
• 30:40
  Speaker 4: you get to go to the eighth grade.
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: You do this, you get to go to high school.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: It goes.
• 30:43
  Speaker 4: But if you don't learn as you fall, then you'll.
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: Just stay where you are. And he'd love the pivot.
• 30:51
  Speaker 4: He'd always say, sometimes you have dreams and shit, and
• 30:54
  Speaker 4: sometimes the universe is thinking way.
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: Bigger than you. I have to have this.
• 30:58
  Speaker 4: I have to be on this radio station, goes, and
• 31:00
  Speaker 4: God's trying to tell you you're going to go all
• 31:02
  Speaker 4: the way over here and run the station. But you're
• 31:04
  Speaker 4: so stuck in your one dream. You have to be
• 31:06
  Speaker 4: able to open your dream up and then be able
• 31:09
  Speaker 4: to pivot. And then at some point, if you keep
• 31:12
  Speaker 4: getting closed doors, just say maybe I'm supposed to go
• 31:14
  Speaker 4: somewhere else. And if I am, he goes, just ask maybe.
• 31:18
  Speaker 4: But the pivot, he said. People who aren't successful usually
• 31:22
  Speaker 4: never get the pivot.
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: That's right, he said, they will not pivot. Be Goues.
• 31:26
  Speaker 4: I see it all the time, the most successful people,
• 31:28
  Speaker 4: and they end up right flatline because they just won't change.
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: They won't change with the times, they won't change their
• 31:36
  Speaker 4: stubborn ideas.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: Have to be this. And he said, I just tried everything.
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: Some of it.
• 31:40
  Speaker 4: I was great at some of it I failed. Then
• 31:43
  Speaker 4: I figured out what I was good at and just
• 31:45
  Speaker 4: kind of say, once he figured out managing was his thing,
• 31:48
  Speaker 4: and that's what he was really good at, and he
• 31:50
  Speaker 4: can change people's lives.
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: That's when he started over.
• 31:54
  Speaker 4: And then it was Jimmy and Terry, and then it
• 31:55
  Speaker 4: was La and Face, and it was Benny Medina and
• 31:58
  Speaker 4: it was because all of a sudden, he's like this,
• 32:00
  Speaker 4: this is what I can do.
• 32:00
  Speaker 5: I say that to people all the time, Like I
• 32:02
  Speaker 5: think folks they like to say, reinvent yourself.
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: No, you just got to know when to pivot.
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: Pivot. It's not not a reinvention.
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: It's just a pivot.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: It's a pivot, you know.
• 32:10
  Speaker 4: And it's in the beauty as humans is that we're
• 32:14
  Speaker 4: the only animals that could actually do.
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: That, you know. So we can change. As soon as
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: you change your mind. Think about it.
• 32:20
  Speaker 4: As soon as we change our minds, and as soon
• 32:23
  Speaker 4: as we start thinking different thoughts, speaking a new way,
• 32:27
  Speaker 4: behavior changes right doors open all of a sudden, You're
• 32:31
  Speaker 4: in the right place, at the right time, with the
• 32:32
  Speaker 4: right people.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: As soon as you change your mind.
• 32:35
  Speaker 4: My dad always used to say, keep your mind right,
• 32:39
  Speaker 4: keep your mind right.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: And I knew what he means.
• 32:41
  Speaker 4: You have to renew it every day your thoughts, O,
• 32:44
  Speaker 4: it's never gonna work. It's never gonna work, because so
• 32:46
  Speaker 4: why would you expect it to work. It's doesn't this
• 32:49
  Speaker 4: science doesn't even the universe doesn't even work like that.
• 32:52
  Speaker 4: You tell it it's not gonna work, and the universe
• 32:55
  Speaker 4: is gonna be okay.
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: I mean why why would it be any way else?
• 32:59
  Speaker 4: It doesn't work like that. Life doesn't work like that.
• 33:02
  Speaker 4: So he just he just, he said, Nicole, I just rolled.
• 33:04
  Speaker 4: I didn't care anybody color. I didn't care this.
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: I just my mentors were white. I just rolled, he said.
• 33:11
  Speaker 4: And none of my mentors thought, oh, he's going to
• 33:13
  Speaker 4: be end up being the black out Father and he's
• 33:15
  Speaker 4: going to use all.
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: This power that we're giving him people. So that was
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: not their intention, he goes.
• 33:21
  Speaker 4: I just got lucky and they picked me, and then
• 33:23
  Speaker 4: they let me in and taught me things that gave
• 33:25
  Speaker 4: me connections, and then I chose to go back and
• 33:29
  Speaker 4: try to make a difference for black people, he said.
• 33:32
  Speaker 4: But that was my decision on what to do with
• 33:35
  Speaker 4: what was given to me, not their intention.
• 33:39
  Speaker 5: You know, the name of his book is Think you'll
• 33:42
  Speaker 5: be happy, and it's because of something your.
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: Mother used to say. Yes, yes, So what is the
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: book about mister Avon be titled?
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: I know, you know, okay, it's the true story. And
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: I think I can curse on this show. Sorry, of course.
• 33:57
  Speaker 4: So when I wrote think You'll be happening, I told
• 33:59
  Speaker 4: my dad, your daddy, I'm saying, think you'll be happy,
• 34:02
  Speaker 4: because this is mommy's last message to me.
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: Six hours later I was heard she was shot. And so.
• 34:10
  Speaker 4: He said, maybe it's a later you know, maybe I
• 34:12
  Speaker 4: should write a book.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: I should write a book. I should write a.
• 34:15
  Speaker 4: Clarence save On book. I said, well, what would your
• 34:17
  Speaker 4: title be? And he was thinking about it, and then
• 34:19
  Speaker 4: he had watched you know, some I don't know what station, MSNBCC,
• 34:23
  Speaker 4: and so somebody had said on TV was the black
• 34:26
  Speaker 4: person who said, you know, there's been no progress sixty years,
• 34:29
  Speaker 4: nothing and on and on and I'm telling you my
• 34:32
  Speaker 4: everything in my father his back when I goes no progress, what, Yeah,
• 34:40
  Speaker 4: he was like, I'm picking cotton, I'm picking tobacco.
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: I'm doing this. There were no rights. You couldn't vote,
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: you could do that.
• 34:45
  Speaker 4: He went on on. I go, okay, but what's the
• 34:47
  Speaker 4: title of your book, I ain't lean's in. He goes,
• 34:51
  Speaker 4: You're fucking welcome. That's my that's the title of my book.
• 34:55
  Speaker 4: You're fucking welcome by Clarence. Oh my god. He gave
• 35:00
  Speaker 4: me all these like I have all the Clarence isms
• 35:03
  Speaker 4: written down, and I was like, you know what, I'm
• 35:06
  Speaker 4: gonna I'll do that for you. I'm gonna write your book.
• 35:09
  Speaker 4: Just now I'm writing it.
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: It's so good of just his little nuggets. It's not
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: gonna be wrong. It's just clarence Ism right on it.
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: Next page of just real nuggets of how to get
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: through life. You know, his whole thing. Remember you know this,
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: it is what it is?
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: Right now?
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: What are you gonna do about it?
• 35:27
  Speaker 4: And he'd always say, everybody's always like, it is what
• 35:30
  Speaker 4: it is. He goes, No, then you.
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: Finished the sentence. What you want? What are you going
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: to do about it?
• 35:35
  Speaker 4: Make a decision of what you're going to do about
• 35:38
  Speaker 4: whatever it is.
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: And if you're not gonna do nothing, boy, to shut
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: the fuck up.
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: Shut, he would always say.
• 35:45
  Speaker 4: If I and I remember one day I called and
• 35:47
  Speaker 4: I needed advice and I was in the Bahamas, and
• 35:49
  Speaker 4: I was so feeling sorry for myself.
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: I said, but daddy, daddy, I'm crying. He goes, it
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: is what it is.
• 35:55
  Speaker 4: And I said, can't you just be sensitive for one
• 35:58
  Speaker 4: minute and just listen to me. I'm trying to explain something.
• 36:01
  Speaker 4: And he said. I said, I know it is what
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: it is, but it hurts me. And he said, okay,
• 36:07
  Speaker 4: what you gonna do about it? I said, but dad?
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: He goes, no, no, no, I'm trying to teach you something.
• 36:12
  Speaker 4: You cannot make a constructive decision in chaos.
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: So when I say, what are.
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: You going to do about it? You got to accept
• 36:22
  Speaker 4: what is, don't fight what is. Don't because you don't
• 36:25
  Speaker 4: like it. It's not fair. That's going to keep you spinning.
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: So it is what.
• 36:29
  Speaker 4: It is, accept it like own it it's happening, and
• 36:34
  Speaker 4: then sit with yourself. Calm yourself down, tell yourself I'm
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: in control of my soul.
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: Is well?
• 36:38
  Speaker 4: I met control? And then make a decision. Now what
• 36:42
  Speaker 4: am I going to do about it? What's your new
• 36:44
  Speaker 4: attitude going to be from this? And I'm telling you
• 36:48
  Speaker 4: it worked. I calmed down, I said a prayer, I cried,
• 36:52
  Speaker 4: I got over the self pity and I focused and
• 36:56
  Speaker 4: I was like, Okay, who.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: Do I want to be? Who do I want to be?
• 36:59
  Speaker 4: How do I want to s up in this situation?
• 37:01
  Speaker 4: It was the best advice he gave me. And I've
• 37:03
  Speaker 4: used it throughout my life, you know. And but he
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: gave me those little nuggets. And and you're fucking welcome.
• 37:11
  Speaker 4: Also was about like, you owe me a life.
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: I gave you a life. Live it. You're welcome. All
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: of us got here.
• 37:19
  Speaker 4: You had parents, every bid, generations of generations of generations
• 37:23
  Speaker 4: of people did.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: Not quit, so you got you all definitely.
• 37:30
  Speaker 4: Do not have the audacity to just sit and do
• 37:33
  Speaker 4: nothing with everything that we went through for you, because
• 37:38
  Speaker 4: we had a big dream for you, all of you,
• 37:41
  Speaker 4: and and and we do. And you guys, by the way,
• 37:45
  Speaker 4: have done a phenomenal job. I mean, I'm looking every
• 37:49
  Speaker 4: time I watch I'm thinking, look at all these politicians
• 37:51
  Speaker 4: coming on this show, Look at how they're changing the culture.
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: Look what you're doing.
• 37:56
  Speaker 4: And the truth is this would not this show would
• 37:59
  Speaker 4: not have happened twenty years ago, thirty years I'm sorry
• 38:03
  Speaker 4: it was wasn't even probably drummed up, do you know
• 38:05
  Speaker 4: what I mean?
• 38:06
  Speaker 5: I followuprint I never seeing a black man who you know,
• 38:10
  Speaker 5: had that type of influence in so many different industries
• 38:14
  Speaker 5: and so much respect and so many different And to me,
• 38:16
  Speaker 5: that's how you move culture forward for real.
• 38:19
  Speaker 4: Yes, and and but that's what you guys have done.
• 38:23
  Speaker 4: I mean, I hope you guys really understand. I'm not
• 38:25
  Speaker 4: just saying this. I mean it's real, and it's a
• 38:28
  Speaker 4: big deal, and it's a big deal for people of
• 38:32
  Speaker 4: all colors, all races to tune in and see what
• 38:36
  Speaker 4: you create. See who gets to sit in this chair,
• 38:38
  Speaker 4: listen to different ideas.
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: By the way, I love that you have diverse ideas.
• 38:42
  Speaker 4: I love that you have Republicans and Independents and Democrats
• 38:45
  Speaker 4: and everybody talking so that people can make an independent.
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: Decision on who they are.
• 38:51
  Speaker 4: I think that's very very important, especially for black men,
• 38:56
  Speaker 4: because I think that black men have always been piggeled
• 39:00
  Speaker 4: everybody else. You notice, everybody else gets to be whatever
• 39:02
  Speaker 4: they want, everybody, everybody gets to think conservatively.
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: I know, everybody else.
• 39:07
  Speaker 4: I'm like, wait a minute, hold on, they're black conservative men.
• 39:12
  Speaker 4: There are black independent men. There are black liberal men,
• 39:14
  Speaker 4: just like every other.
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: Type of man. Do you know? And every time I
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: turned around, I was at a dinner table.
• 39:21
  Speaker 4: That black man's conservative, But why are you hating on
• 39:23
  Speaker 4: him because he's conservative? Because the white guy's conservative, the
• 39:26
  Speaker 4: Asian guy's conservative, the Hispanic person's conservative.
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: But none of you are throwing this person.
• 39:31
  Speaker 4: In any shade whatsoever. And I don't know why this
• 39:35
  Speaker 4: group only, not even women. I'm talking men, only have
• 39:39
  Speaker 4: to think one way. We're not that kind of Everybody
• 39:42
  Speaker 4: else thinks different ways.
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: Yes, I mean Booker, T. Washington, there are many.
• 39:47
  Speaker 4: Remember we all come many of us were a Republican
• 39:50
  Speaker 4: in the beginning.
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: So I just I don't know what I love that
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: you do.
• 39:54
  Speaker 4: Again, is I love that I've watched everybody sit in
• 39:56
  Speaker 4: this chair and there's different ideas, and I've always taken
• 40:00
  Speaker 4: a little piece from everybody. Even if I disagreed with
• 40:04
  Speaker 4: ninety percent, there's always that two percent five percent that
• 40:07
  Speaker 4: I think I never thought about it that way. Sure
• 40:10
  Speaker 4: I agree with that.
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: That's what you do, and I think it's really powerful
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: what you guys do.
• 40:14
  Speaker 5: Thank you, Thank you so much. I do have one
• 40:16
  Speaker 5: last question. Six trip late right, that's out on Netflix now.
• 40:20
  Speaker 5: You can you can basically probably tell any story you
• 40:22
  Speaker 5: want to and get it on Netflix if you want
• 40:24
  Speaker 5: it to right, how do you pick which stories you
• 40:28
  Speaker 5: want to do?
• 40:30
  Speaker 4: I for me, if it's for me personally, I love
• 40:35
  Speaker 4: anything that's inspiring, empowering, motivating, and if it's true.
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: I love true stories, you know what I mean. And
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: I love documentaries.
• 40:43
  Speaker 4: Documentaries for me are everything because I think that you
• 40:46
  Speaker 4: can teach people again, like I say, through film and art.
• 40:50
  Speaker 4: It's so important for me to tell something that people
• 40:54
  Speaker 4: will be moved by and people will leave that room
• 40:59
  Speaker 4: saying I didn't know that, or.
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: I feel so good about this, or I don't care
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: about that. That's what I care about.
• 41:05
  Speaker 4: Empowering people, motivating people, aspiring people. Any kind of script
• 41:10
  Speaker 4: that I get that's like that, that's those are the
• 41:12
  Speaker 4: stories that I want to tell that move culture forward
• 41:17
  Speaker 4: and have people thinking even in a different way than
• 41:21
  Speaker 4: they ever have before.
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: But that's what I love making people.
• 41:26
  Speaker 4: I want people to feel good, and I want people
• 41:28
  Speaker 4: to feel positive, and I want people to feel hopeful
• 41:32
  Speaker 4: and also be educated in ways. You know, if I
• 41:36
  Speaker 4: don't like I said, we both said, like, oh my god,
• 41:39
  Speaker 4: I didn't know this story. And I love the response
• 41:42
  Speaker 4: around the world about the six triple eight of every
• 41:44
  Speaker 4: response is I had no idea number one. And then
• 41:49
  Speaker 4: the second response is and now I could feel that
• 41:52
  Speaker 4: I could do anything. Or I've sat with my children
• 41:55
  Speaker 4: and I've watched us with my children, and this has
• 41:57
  Speaker 4: been great. I mean, I was on Brett Baer Show
• 42:00
  Speaker 4: on Fox and they were so supportive of the six
• 42:03
  Speaker 4: Triple A and it was so great that this.
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: Story is just resonating.
• 42:06
  Speaker 4: That's what I mean is every everybody wants to talk
• 42:10
  Speaker 4: about this film because it's important and it's it's a
• 42:13
  Speaker 4: great piece of history that everyone should know.
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: Well, thank you for joining us this morning. That's right, Trip.
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: You can check it on Netflix right now. It's streaming now.
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: And the book I Think You'll Be Happy is out
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: right now, right now.
• 42:27
  Speaker 3: Well afford by Ted. Saranda tell Ted we do want
• 42:30
  Speaker 3: him up there?
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: Yes, well Ted will Ted will love it.
• 42:33
  Speaker 3: He's great, Okay, but.
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: We'll see you again when, yes, when the other book
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: comes out. Please all right, Nicole Avon, good morning, thank
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: You, thank you,