On this episode of the podcast, we are joined by comedian, actor, writer, and podcaster, Milton Potts. We discuss race relations in the United States and how they compare to the rest of the world, as well as what it means to be black and white.
00:00:04.000So if you've turned on the news or even glanced at social media over the last few years, you'd probably be under the impression that race relations, particularly between white and black Americans, is at an all-time low.
00:00:14.000The race wars are on the way, if you will.
00:00:16.000Because you have black people speak on behalf of black people, white people speak on behalf of white people, black people telling white people, white people apologizing to black people, but you don't often see black people and white people just talking.
00:00:28.000Is this reflective of our real-world experiences?
00:00:32.000I think you may be surprised with what I found when I actually went out and did something crazy.
00:00:56.000Whereas, what I mean when I say even, like, okay, you know, there's still some work to be done, but there's not as much work that needs to be done.
00:01:06.000Because when you think about race relations right now, today, you know what I'm saying, everybody is basically Communicating with each other.
00:01:16.000Everybody's doing their thing together.
00:02:57.000I find that my interactions, you know, having been raised in a church where it was mixed, you know, a lot of black people in church and being a comic, you know, being around a lot of guys, my interactions are very different from what you see in the media as far as... Want me to say this here, man?
00:04:59.000Like if you get mad or something, you know, and you're with a friend and you say, I hate, or like when you're a kid, you say, dad, I hate you.
00:05:04.000You're just like, ah, we got into a fight.
00:05:23.000I actually think your point of view is refreshing that people should hear this because a lot of people out there, I will tell you this, a lot of white people out there are scared to have conversations.
00:05:32.000They're scared because they're scared.
00:05:54.000So I gotta learn how... So that means that, you understand, me as an American, in America, I gotta be like, switching up to be a Mexican, to be able to talk to all cultures, man.
00:06:14.000Not be colorblind, but we have more in common than we have that's different.
00:06:17.000But we also need to unify on different fronts, and you understand me, and get all these different, you understand me, ideologies and social programs and all this shit that's jumping out.
00:06:27.000Get that, man, get, move that out the way, man.
00:07:44.000Right now, a big cultural issue going on.
00:07:45.000You know, like biological men, the trans men competing in women's sports.
00:07:50.000Hey, I don't think that should be done.
00:07:52.000I think that if a dude, if he's born a dude, no matter what his sexuality is, I think that he's still, in the eyes of man and God, gonna remain a dude.
00:08:45.000Or for being, you know, just because you're a homosexual.
00:08:48.000What you're saying, now they've enabled it with the sports stuff, where it's like, yeah, you can't have dudes... No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm talking about they have a psych term.
00:09:35.000So, you know, I think that at the end of the day, man, if, uh, if you go through your problems and live your problems and if you happy with what you got going on, then everything's great with you.
00:10:14.000hit us so I'm an idiot. So where's the best place for us to be?
00:10:16.000How would you sort of characterize or how do you view like race relations in
00:10:24.000the United States right now? How do you see it?
00:10:27.000Um, I do believe a lot of it is an agenda. So again, I'm a light-skinned person myself, so if you know what that means, I'm black and white.
00:10:37.000things that they are portraying and projecting right now, I think that is to distract people
00:11:06.000So I've definitely experienced both sides of the spectrum when it comes to things like that.
00:11:11.000So I lived in a place like Louisiana, which was very southern, right?
00:11:14.000And if you know the history of Louisiana, Like, I guess it was a very racial place, but my growing up there in high school, I experienced a lot more racism from the black people than from the white people.
00:12:35.000So it's nice to live in a place like this, but then you also see A lot of people just being distracted by all that's going around them and never really searching truth for themselves.
00:13:11.000I obviously think racism exists to some degree.
00:13:13.000There are individual races, like you've experienced it.
00:13:17.000White people are very, what you just said, white people would be afraid to say because they'd be afraid to be accused of being racist, right?
00:13:23.000That is a fear right now, which I will tell you creates a divide.
00:13:25.000Like if they, when Black Lives Matter happened, right?
00:13:27.000We just talked with two or three guys.
00:13:29.000He said, man, I think all lives matter.
00:13:31.000And I said, no, white people were called supremacists if they said that.
00:13:34.000So they go, I'm just not going to voice an opinion that creates more distance.
00:13:38.000Do you sense that a little bit, where maybe white people are kind of pulling back because they're afraid of being accused?
00:13:43.000It's a witch hunt, that everything is racist.
00:13:45.000If they express the exact same opinions you just did, most white people will... that's 100% in common.
00:13:50.000Yeah, and that's what I would have to say, that there needs to be... instead of starting a group that is labeled Black Lives Matter, which again, like when... so I see a lot of the media, right, of like when like Somebody will post like oh this strong black woman and then like and that happens by the black community where they continue to describe themselves and kind of belittle themselves by their skin color that like okay that's what's important by me about me I mean what I'm saying and I don't think that's what's important about anybody and even when it goes into the and I this might be a little bit off topic but when you go into the gay community or the trans community and
00:14:27.000It's funny to me how their whole identity is wrapped in their sexuality.
00:14:33.000And I just see like that's a very sad life to live for anybody and even as like let's say I walked around here light-skinned and I started as an African American.
00:14:46.000I walked around here and I made my whole life just about my skin color and praising that and lifting that up.
00:14:53.000I just think that that's the biggest waste of time and a distraction that I think the media tries to push.
00:14:59.000Best thing they could do is continue to keep tension between racial groups when there really shouldn't be any.
00:15:04.000Again, in my life, I haven't came across anybody, and when they talk about systemic racism, that hasn't been my experience with life at all.
00:15:14.000So I think that people really need to look into their own life experiences and not take the life experiences of certain people and then claim that as their own just because it's from their same racial group.
00:15:27.000Let me ask you one kind of question in closing.
00:15:30.000Why do you think what you just said, by the way, there's a mixed group, they're white, but a mixed group of people here.
00:15:35.000We have, you know, we have Russian, we have, sometimes black people don't realize like not all white people are the same, but everyone would agree with what you just said.
00:15:51.000What you've just said, you don't hear as a voice in the black community.
00:15:56.000Um, I think that the people who do try to speak up in that sense, um, do get shut down and get portrayed as they're crazy or they're psycho or they're mentally ill for having strong opinions.
00:16:08.000And that's what frustrates me about the media is that like, um, and, and it's true that people, even on Instagram, you see stuff that is calling out like liberal groups of people.
00:16:19.000Um, it's, it says sensitive, uh, false content.
00:16:39.000I think that there's a much deeper agenda and I think it goes all the way down to that the devil has a plan for this world.
00:16:47.000But God also has one too and that's I would certainly agree with you, man.
00:16:53.000And here's the thing, would it surprise you that we've spoken with a lot of people, a lot of black men today, and what you're saying is not uncommon.
00:17:02.000There are a lot of dudes who think the same way.
00:18:06.000Now before we move on to the next conversation, and Josiah was not a plant, I absolutely swear, if you appreciate these kinds of discussions, hit the like button.
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00:18:29.000How would you sort of characterize race relations in the United States today, between white and black people?
00:18:36.000Between white and blacks, again, depending on where you are society-wise, a lot of times, oftentimes, your zip code determines your interaction.
00:18:52.000But the zip codes in Dallas dictate or determine how often you interact with someone.
00:18:59.000For my profession, I'll say it for this way, if I'm on a certain side of town, and I'm supposed to protect and serve, but yet the same if you see me as this, you clutch your purse.
00:19:10.000Or just, you know, the Dominican black guy with tattoos.
00:20:39.000I think ideally, if you put yourself in an open environment, or if you're trying, if you're open to it, if you go to a park, and it's not Highland Park, or if it's not University Park, but if it's just a park, go interact with the kids.
00:20:56.000Often times, I think that part of society is actually taught to us.
00:21:01.000If you put a group of five and six year olds around a playground, They could care less what the color of your skin is, or what your zip code is, or how much your 401k is.
00:21:44.000There was a disconnect from going, hold on a second, on TV they're making it seem like we're Worlds apart, those aren't my interactions on a daily basis.
00:22:08.000And I think that as a society, we shouldn't get too far from that in which we couldn't If anything happens, by law, I'd have to protect you.
00:22:15.000reach you. I want to know you. What is it about you?
00:22:18.000Well one thing I'll say because you talk about sort of your interactions that
00:22:21.000maybe some people might clutch their purse right have these sort of preconceived notions.
00:22:24.000I had it happen to me. I'm like man if anything happened by law I'd have to
00:22:31.000Well and I think for sure there are some people who have those preconceived notions.
00:22:33.000And black people are probably sometimes, like you're saying, you have to go out of your way because you're concerned of them thinking maybe you're, let's say, you're violent.
00:22:41.000On the flip side, you have white people often now, they're very afraid of interacting with black people because they're afraid of being accused of being racist.
00:22:47.000That's a fear that a lot of white people have now.
00:22:49.000But I think maybe sometimes black people don't, well, we all have our kind of concerns because that white woman may have, she may have been mugged, you know what I mean?
00:23:10.000We have a beautiful tri-racial baby together.
00:23:14.000Her experiences and a lot of the things that I've exposed her to about my world before she would ever have known because they don't teach that in school.
00:23:22.000They don't teach certain aspects of culture on that side of the world.
00:23:29.000From being from Whitesboro or Pottsboro, they don't teach what I learned.
00:24:03.000They're loving just like everyone else.
00:24:05.000What do you think kind of, especially here in Deep Elm, what would you say the results were afterwards of, since you're saying we don't want to just label people by race, but like, you know, Black Lives Matter.
00:24:13.000And there's a lot of fallout from that.
00:24:51.000Yeah, I don't know what it was like here for you, but, um, you know, my dad over there, he was born and raised in Detroit, in the bad area of Detroit.
00:24:57.000And, uh, the people who had it worse there, the worst were black cops in Detroit.
00:25:01.000They would have to go home in unmarked cars when the riots were happening.
00:25:03.000Because a lot of them were seen as, you know, they would say Uncle Tom's and they were, they were, they were threatened.
00:25:43.000So, what you just said, and you just touched, I just had a guy was talking, you said the exact same thing that you just said, right?
00:25:48.000Everybody's lives matter, all lives matter.
00:25:49.000Now here's a question that I would have, and I know I don't have unlimited time, but you know, that was something that a lot of people said, so white people say, look, I think all lives matter, and they were called racists or white supremacists if they said exactly what you just said.
00:26:32.000Yeah, but like you just said, though, right?
00:26:41.000You just said that all lives do matter, everyone's lives matter.
00:26:43.000And there are a lot of white people who come from poor areas, too, right, who have struggles.
00:26:46.000And they were saying, well, hey, we need to fix this.
00:26:48.000And if you think the system is rigged because it's racist, and by the way, I think the justice system has a lot of problems.
00:26:53.000I think that if you just see it as a white and black thing, you're going to miss a lot of the problems, right?
00:26:57.000And so saying, if we need to fix this system, we can't just approach it from a racial angle, that all lives matter, that justice matters, period, and it's not being done, then you can get to the solution.
00:27:07.000But I'm telling you that a lot of white people were scared, obviously, because crime obviously went up here, you know, had to board up their businesses, and they were afraid to voice their opinion or reach out like now and just talk to people, because they're afraid of being called a racist.
00:27:17.000But that's something that's internal with you, because I never said, hey, not... No, not you, but I'm saying that the media labeled everyone that way.
00:27:54.000Like you're saying, if they don't reach it, it's usually white people using it as a weapon, calling other white people racist, and then they shut down.
00:29:45.000How would you classify or, like, characterize, you know, where we are as a country right now, uh, racially, between, you know, black, white?
00:30:24.000But, you know, being a comedian, having spent a lot of time around black comics or a lot of black people just disproportionately in comedy, and then I've gone to churches that are very mixed, my interactions on a personal level Yeah.
00:31:55.000But it was mostly white suburbans, so you'd think you'd be exposed to those people when you... So you're saying when you were young, it was mostly decent?
00:32:03.000What do you think about, you know, bringing that up, this is a white guy's perspective, the segregation coming back in in colleges and black-only spaces, right?
00:32:27.000I think it's... everybody needs their safe space to where they can go be their authentic self, where they can, you know, really, like, vibe with other people that are, you know, like them.
00:32:36.000I'm not saying, like, it should be like, oh, white-only or black-only locations or slots or stuff, but, like, I mean, If you see black people gather in certain places.
00:32:45.000No, I mean those are policies like those are actual policies like at schools now where they'll have black only spaces.
00:32:51.000Which doesn't seem like that's really... What school is that?
00:32:53.000We had it start with Mizzou right and there have been a few others in I mean it's good we just had the affirmative action ruling you know where they said no okay because Asians were sort of suffering at the hands of Harvard and Brown.
00:33:02.000Do you think that it's Do you think that that's an issue that anyone who would say, you know what, I don't think that categorizing people, accepting them by race, even if you disagree with them, does that make that person a racist who thinks affirmative action is maybe not the best?
00:33:14.000So if you don't agree with affirmative action, are you a racist?
00:33:48.000So, I mean, it really just, it just depends overall.
00:33:50.000So it sounds like you're saying that maybe a form of action, not a very, not a great thing if someone's just hiring you because of your race.
00:34:09.000Well, I mean, part of the thing is, like, I don't know if white people, like, no offense to you, I don't know if white people understand this, but it's like, black people just get looked over all the time.
00:34:16.000Where it's like, it doesn't matter what our accomplishments are, if you look at me on a piece of paper and a white person on a piece of paper, it's gonna be two different experiences.
00:34:22.000I've seen it first-hand in corporate America, I've seen it first-hand in universities as well.
00:34:27.000So this is one thing that I think maybe we can, can you maybe come to a place about it with white people here?
00:34:30.000Let's say I'm a white business owner, okay?
00:34:32.000You just voiced displeasure, and I understand, with someone not hiring you, you know, looking at two resumes because they don't necessarily know.
00:34:40.000But then you also said that it was kind of crappy that someone hired you because you're black.
00:35:24.000But somewhere there's likely a Japanese-American trombonist who got screwed out of a job, was very good at it, just like Harvard and Brown, right?
00:36:30.000We'll continue to test my hypothesis that the narrative the mainstream media is so desperately trying to force down your throats may not be reflective of what you experience in the real world.
00:36:40.000And hey, just look at how much can be accomplished by actually talking with people.
00:36:46.000Grab your neighbor, pick their brains, ask them the real questions that you might have been afraid to and you might be surprised with the answers.
00:36:54.000You may find that you have a lot more in common with your fellow American, black or white, than you think.
00:37:00.000If you want more of these, hit like, comment below.
00:37:02.000This has been Black and White on the Gray Issues.
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