Valuetainment - July 21, 2021


21 Year Old Black Conservative Starts A School For Fatherless Kids in Ghettos


Episode Stats


Length

49 minutes

Words per minute

238.92389

Word count

11,936

Sentence count

955

Harmful content

Misogyny

16

sentences flagged

Toxicity

22

sentences flagged

Hate speech

13

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

King Randall, 21-year-old entrepreneur and founder of the X4Boys program joins Jemele to discuss his vision for the future of the program and why he founded it in the first place. He also talks about Malcolm X and his impact on his community.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 The way you broke down what Malcolm X said was fascinating.
00:00:04.160 Imagine a former slave having a better vocabulary than you.
00:00:06.820 How are you in the sixth grade and you can't read at all? 0.80
00:00:10.340 You don't think the politicians who have won the black vote
00:00:13.920 have necessarily done the right things for the black community. 0.98
00:00:17.160 We have a complex where we think that we're not in control of our own destiny.
00:00:20.500 We got up to an 86% reading comprehension rate for the boys in our program.
00:00:23.880 The vote doesn't matter as much as people think it does.
00:00:26.480 Sometimes nonprofits start working on the logistics and business so much
00:00:30.180 that they forget about what they actually start the nonprofit for.
00:00:56.480 You know, as an Armenian, a lot of times when I talk to my own community,
00:01:02.100 Middle Eastern, a lot of times I'll say,
00:01:03.280 well, the government needs to help us out with this.
00:01:05.100 And the government needs to help us out with that.
00:01:06.540 There are two communities in my own camp.
00:01:08.800 And there's a camp that says, well, why don't we do something about it, right?
00:01:12.380 Why don't we go out there and do something about it to help the community?
00:01:15.280 My guest today, King Randall, 21 years old, has two kids,
00:01:18.560 one two-year-old and a month old.
00:01:20.260 And he has been making some major head waves with what he's doing in his community
00:01:24.500 that's upset a lot of people because he's starting out sitting out there saying,
00:01:28.980 I don't know if we need the government to help us out.
00:01:30.740 We got to do something about it.
00:01:32.480 He went out there, raised money to buy his own campus.
00:01:35.240 I think it's 40 acres.
00:01:36.160 We're going to learn more about it today.
00:01:37.640 And he's getting some pushback about it today.
00:01:39.560 But this is a man's man.
00:01:41.400 This is a man that may be 21 years old, about to be 22 years old on July 26th,
00:01:45.600 but he carries himself as a 40-year-old man that's running a multimillion-dollar company,
00:01:50.100 leading people older than him.
00:01:51.960 And, you know, when you get somebody like this with that kind of a spirit,
00:01:54.480 they got a big upside to make a massive impact in America when we need it today.
00:01:58.360 So with that being said, my guest today, King Randall, how you doing?
00:02:01.360 I'm doing excellent, sir.
00:02:02.320 How are you?
00:02:02.820 Very good.
00:02:03.440 So what a story you got, you know, leader, teacher, guy for the X for Boys.
00:02:08.200 Tell us about the X for Boys program and how you came about it.
00:02:11.040 Absolutely.
00:02:11.760 Well, I'm King Randall, 21 years old.
00:02:14.060 I'm the founder of the X for Boys program.
00:02:16.420 I started this program when I was 19 years old, January of 2019, just before Baby King was born.
00:02:22.240 I started this program simply because of the lack of, I'll say, attention that was given to our boys in the city of Albany.
00:02:29.380 At one point, we were the highest ranked for a murder per capita in the United States,
00:02:35.060 as well as we were the fourth poorest city in the nation.
00:02:38.060 And so every time something happens in our city, whether somebody gets killed or et cetera,
00:02:41.980 or a boy in particular, people want to have meetings.
00:02:44.620 And every time I go to these meetings, people want to, you know, get all philosophical and things like that.
00:02:49.060 But nobody wanted to do anything.
00:02:51.040 Or they'd say things like, well, the kids don't have a basketball goal over here.
00:02:53.920 They need a pool or something.
00:02:54.900 I'm just like, no, these children need some mindset changing because if they get a basketball goal,
00:02:58.720 all they have to do is shoot each other at the basketball court.
00:03:00.800 Like they really need some guidance in men in their lives.
00:03:04.680 So I started this program, I did a field trip, made a flyer on my phone.
00:03:09.440 I took the kids to Atlanta, to the Center for Civil and Human Rights, and I took them to the African American History Museum.
00:03:16.000 And when I took them on this trip, I kind of knew that's what I was supposed to be doing
00:03:19.580 because while I was there, the children, the questions that they were asking and them wanting to be out of their condition,
00:03:27.280 that's how I knew that the children are where I was supposed to be.
00:03:29.860 And quite frankly, honestly, the school idea didn't come until one day I was listening to Malcolm X.
00:03:37.200 And of course, in our community, a lot of us who are pro-black or what have you,
00:03:41.560 a lot of them listen to Malcolm and Martin and things like that.
00:03:44.980 But we would talk about them, but nobody would really push what they actually talked about in their speeches.
00:03:51.720 So I heard a debate between Malcolm and Bayard Rustin.
00:03:54.660 And Malcolm said, if white immigrants could come to this country years ago with nickels and dimes and no education, 0.58
00:04:01.020 come and pull their little nickels and dimes and no education, set up stores, develop those stores into larger stores,
00:04:06.620 which turns into an industry which creates job opportunities for their own kind.
00:04:11.040 He said, with us at that time having a spending power of $20 billion, today it's over a trillion dollars,
00:04:17.000 not using any of that money to set up any industry, not setting up any factories,
00:04:20.840 not setting up any job opportunities for our own kind, we're not in a moral position to point the finger today at the white man
00:04:26.000 and claim that he's discriminating against us for not giving us jobs in factories we hadn't set up.
00:04:30.320 So I'm listening to this, I'm like, this sounds like 2021.
00:04:34.400 So I'm just like, man, so I'm like, well, if we say the schools are failing, why don't we try opening our own schools?
00:04:40.120 If we say that the hospitals are failing, why not opening our own hospitals?
00:04:44.220 So I went on a quest, I told my boys, I was like, listen, I don't know how we're going to do it,
00:04:47.920 but we're going to open us up to school one day, I'm not sure how we're going to do it, I'll figure it out.
00:04:52.180 At this time, before I started my summer camp, which was the first year, I had just lost my job,
00:04:56.820 I was driving a forklift, had just lost my job, so mother, my children, and I, we were at a crossroads
00:05:03.360 because Baby King was a few months old, I didn't have any money, et cetera.
00:05:07.620 So I started cutting hair, I got on YouTube.
00:05:09.700 That's about a year and a half ago.
00:05:10.800 Mm-hmm.
00:05:11.060 I started cutting hair, and I was cutting people's hair around the neighborhood, I knew how to fix cars,
00:05:15.500 my former stepfather taught me how to work on cars and things like that.
00:05:18.200 So I started fixing people's cars, I just started doing, like, home repair, like, changing ceiling fans
00:05:23.740 and stuff like that, making, like, $30, $40 here and there, just trying to make ends meet.
00:05:27.440 And I started this summer camp, I asked her, I was like, is it okay if I do a summer camp,
00:05:31.400 but we're going to do it at the house?
00:05:32.260 And she was like, okay.
00:05:33.400 So we did a summer camp out of the house, had 20 boys come to my house every day, I had 19,
00:05:38.300 I mean, I had 20 parents to believe in me.
00:05:40.700 How old are these kids at the time?
00:05:41.960 They were 11 to 17.
00:05:43.020 Okay.
00:05:43.220 Yep, and I had all these parents to believe in me at the time.
00:05:45.800 I made a flyer on my phone again, and I told them what I'd be offering.
00:05:48.540 This whole summer, I taught in my dining room from some little tables that people donated,
00:05:52.900 had a small little dry erase board, and every day I taught them economics, language, reading,
00:05:58.380 et cetera.
00:05:58.780 Like, we did this every day.
00:06:00.040 I taught them how to garden.
00:06:00.880 I have about four acres of land on my property.
00:06:02.880 So I taught them how to garden.
00:06:03.880 We grew our own food for the summer.
00:06:05.380 I taught them how to change toilets, ceiling fans.
00:06:08.060 We were doing flooring, sheetrock, everything, you know, and it was beautiful to see.
00:06:11.920 And one thing I discovered during that summer camp was the children couldn't read.
00:06:15.560 And so out of 20 of those boys, maybe 12 to 13 of them could not read at all.
00:06:19.820 I'm serious.
00:06:20.560 I had a sixth grader who couldn't even read Cat-Dog.
00:06:23.220 And it was quite interesting to me because I'm just like, how are you in the sixth grade
00:06:26.500 and you can't read at all? 0.96
00:06:29.320 And I'm just like, this is absolutely ridiculous.
00:06:30.860 So I started a book club right after the summer camp happened, and we were reading Letters
00:06:35.100 to a Young Brother by Hill Harper.
00:06:36.820 He actually saw some of our work on Instagram, and he gave us a few shout-outs.
00:06:40.680 But we were reading books every week at the local library, and then it got too big to a
00:06:45.020 point where we couldn't do it at the library no more.
00:06:46.540 So we had shifted to this.
00:06:48.220 Her name is Miss Lisa Knox.
00:06:49.640 She runs a company called Quick Copy.
00:06:51.720 So she allowed us to use the front of her shop every day after she closed to do our 0.87
00:06:56.420 book club.
00:06:56.940 So I'd have men come into the community sometime, I mean, come into the book club to, you know,
00:07:01.300 talk to the boys because they need those, you know, male figures in their lives.
00:07:04.840 So we started doing the book club every week, and the boys were becoming better at reading
00:07:08.900 and not just reading but reading comprehension because what's happening is the boys can sound
00:07:13.520 out what they're reading, but they have no clue what they just read because they're focusing
00:07:17.000 on sounding out instead of actually comprehending what it is that they're reading.
00:07:20.780 So we got up to an 86% reading comprehension rate for the boys in our program.
00:07:25.320 So during this book club, I started a bowling team because I wanted the boys to get into
00:07:30.540 some other sports.
00:07:31.660 I'm just like, well, you guys can't just play basketball and football.
00:07:34.500 Like, you don't know what you're good at.
00:07:35.840 And my biggest thing is trying to make sure I'm giving them different things to do because
00:07:39.660 they don't know what they like.
00:07:41.220 So some of the kids, they were really good.
00:07:42.720 We were doing this weekly.
00:07:44.120 Every week we were doing the bowling team and the book club.
00:07:47.080 Now, is this every day they're with you?
00:07:48.460 The 19, they're with you every day? 0.94
00:07:50.180 At that time, they weren't.
00:07:51.520 They were with me probably twice or three times a week.
00:07:54.380 Got it.
00:07:54.560 And plus, I was still doing field trips and workshops at the time.
00:07:57.320 And they're with you a full day, like one full day with you?
00:08:00.020 Just about.
00:08:00.480 Yeah, they're just about with me a full day.
00:08:03.020 At that time, I was still doing workshops.
00:08:04.820 I was teaching them how to change brakes and oil.
00:08:06.440 So I do those workshops in different neighborhoods, just teaching the kids how to work on cars.
00:08:11.520 And so fast forward through 2019, 2020 gets here, COVID happened.
00:08:16.140 So I kind of had to pause everything that I was doing.
00:08:18.840 I had to stop everything, book club, bowling team.
00:08:20.840 I didn't know what was going on.
00:08:21.940 So I obviously had to stop everything.
00:08:23.860 And so I had parents still calling and just like, what you going to do?
00:08:27.100 Can you do something for the boys?
00:08:28.180 You know, he's starting back doing this, that, and the third.
00:08:30.180 I'm just like.
00:08:30.520 How are parents finding out about you, by the way, at that time?
00:08:32.460 Social media.
00:08:33.640 And so social media, what's being posted on social media for me to find out who you are
00:08:38.060 to say, I want my son to come and hang out with you?
00:08:40.420 Word of mouth.
00:08:41.040 Other parents.
00:08:41.740 Other parents would post about what's happening with their children, some of the workshops we
00:08:45.500 do, because I wasn't actively posting as much as I should have at the time, what we
00:08:49.300 were doing.
00:08:49.720 But other parents were referring, you know, other parents, children to the program, et cetera.
00:08:54.280 They're just like, hey, you know, he's learning how to do this, that, and the third at King
00:08:56.880 Randall's camp, the extra boys.
00:08:58.340 You should call him, you know, and send him there.
00:08:59.920 So most of it was word of mouth and social media.
00:09:02.900 So parents were still calling and asking, could I do something?
00:09:05.600 And I was like, I have no clue what I can do, because everything I do is hands on.
00:09:09.180 So I'm not sure.
00:09:10.640 So summertime came in 2020, and I had parents still calling, asking what I was going to
00:09:15.220 do for the summer.
00:09:15.780 So I said, well, if I'm going to do something for the summer, these kids got to come live
00:09:18.560 at my house.
00:09:19.820 So I asked her again, I was like, can the kids come stay at the house?
00:09:23.880 And she said, yeah, they can come stay.
00:09:25.480 So I got some bunk beds.
00:09:26.360 Why do they have to stay at your house? 0.83
00:09:27.880 Because of COVID.
00:09:28.560 I didn't know where they were.
00:09:30.100 Oh, because you couldn't go out.
00:09:30.420 They got it.
00:09:30.900 Yeah.
00:09:31.460 Got it.
00:09:32.000 So now you're getting them seven days a week.
00:09:34.200 They're with you.
00:09:34.900 Yep.
00:09:35.140 They were with me seven days a week.
00:09:36.080 So I had six kids come live with me for the summer of 2020.
00:09:39.180 This is six.
00:09:39.980 Your wife and your two-year-old kid, he must have been a year old at the time.
00:09:46.000 Yeah, he was a year.
00:09:46.820 Got it.
00:09:47.060 Yeah, so we were every day working.
00:09:50.720 We went to work on a farm every day.
00:09:52.520 We were doing reading every day.
00:09:54.600 We were taking different little field trips, just the six of us, well, seven of us, including
00:09:59.400 me.
00:10:00.020 So we were taking a little field trips every day and things like that.
00:10:02.280 But it was so beautiful to see because I noticed that there's a lot of innate learning that
00:10:07.300 has to go on with young men growing up.
00:10:10.360 I mean, they just have to be around a man just to get a few things, not things that can be
00:10:15.020 taught directly.
00:10:16.020 That's just like how you learn how to fry chicken growing up.
00:10:18.440 Like, you didn't really—your grandma didn't teach you how to fry chicken.
00:10:20.680 Like, you kind of went in the kitchen a few times and saw our bread and it.
00:10:23.920 You maybe were going to get some water.
00:10:24.800 Yeah, more is caught than taught, and you were not being taught.
00:10:27.020 You were being—you were catching what they were doing.
00:10:29.040 Exactly, or how I learned how to grill.
00:10:30.540 Like, I didn't really, like, learn—nobody taught me how to grill.
00:10:32.880 I just kind of went outside with my uncles a few times and watched them grill, listened
00:10:36.060 to the conversations they were having about life and things like that.
00:10:38.400 So I learned that a lot of innate learning has to go on with those children.
00:10:41.580 So when they go home, they went home, and their parents were like, man, he's making up
00:10:45.680 his bed every day.
00:10:46.340 He's saying, yes, ma'am, you know, and he's not talking back, et cetera.
00:10:49.080 And I'm just like, that's because of the habits I gave, you know, them waking up at
00:10:53.020 a certain time every day, going to sleep at a certain time, you know, making your bed,
00:10:56.360 taking a bath.
00:10:56.760 What time are they waking up?
00:10:57.700 Waking up 6, 7 o'clock in the morning.
00:10:59.320 No matter what?
00:10:59.900 No matter what.
00:11:00.180 What time are they going to sleep at night?
00:11:01.340 8 o'clock.
00:11:01.860 That's my bedtime.
00:11:02.800 No matter what?
00:11:03.440 No matter what.
00:11:04.020 The reason that's bedtime is because they wake up so early.
00:11:06.500 And so when we work all day, they're sleepy.
00:11:09.280 So obviously, if I'm giving them something to do all day, they're going to get sleepy.
00:11:12.160 Now, few and far in between, like, we weren't doing anything, and we wanted to stay up,
00:11:15.240 you know, watch a movie or do s'mores outside or something like that, then, of course, we'd
00:11:18.760 stay up a little later.
00:11:19.480 But for the most part...
00:11:20.160 What are ways you're shaping their mindset?
00:11:22.760 So give me ideas on how you shape their mindset.
00:11:25.300 I see the reading.
00:11:26.260 I see all that stuff.
00:11:27.540 But how are you shaping their mindset?
00:11:28.980 Are you sitting there watching a movie with them?
00:11:31.180 Do you have a specific agenda on what books to read because they're going to get me to
00:11:34.300 think in a certain way?
00:11:35.260 How are you shaping my mindset?
00:11:36.740 I know Letters to a Young Brother by Hill Harper I think is extremely important for every teenage
00:11:40.840 boy to be able to read.
00:11:42.200 That book literally goes through almost everything there is to, like, about a teenage boy as far
00:11:47.960 as sex, alcohol, dealing with peer pressure, your parents may be leaving you, et cetera.
00:11:52.280 Like, it goes through everything.
00:11:54.200 And I think that book is extremely important.
00:11:56.280 And as far as, you know, developing their mindsets, I definitely feel like creating habits
00:12:01.000 for them and the extreme discipline measures that I have for them, I don't allow them to
00:12:06.320 make any mistakes.
00:12:07.340 And the reason I say that is every time they make a mistake, it has to get dealt with.
00:12:11.160 And everybody gets in trouble.
00:12:13.040 So let's say one of the boys, I tell them to stop talking and one of the boys keeps
00:12:17.060 talking.
00:12:17.620 Everybody has to go outside and do the exercises.
00:12:19.860 I have extreme hardcore exercises.
00:12:21.520 I have them do sit-ups, push-ups, mountain climbers, six inches off the ground, push-ups, 0.99
00:12:25.480 et cetera.
00:12:26.160 I have them do those things at a rapid pace for five minutes. 0.70
00:12:30.400 And they hate it, of course, but everybody has to get in trouble.
00:12:33.020 And the reason I do that is to make sure that they're accountable for each other.
00:12:36.140 I'm saying you and the boys, you are all brothers.
00:12:39.060 So you all have to be accountable for each other.
00:12:41.160 So if I'm in a car and you didn't make sure I was on my P's and Q's and I got weed, we
00:12:46.560 all got weed in the car.
00:12:47.940 All of us are going to jail.
00:12:49.040 So I want them all to be accountable for each other. 1.00
00:12:50.700 Don't let him do anything stupid. 0.99
00:12:51.840 Why are you allowing them to fight? 1.00
00:12:53.100 You see him doing something, he has no business.
00:12:54.880 Why are you allowing him to do that?
00:12:56.600 Were you in the military or no?
00:12:57.840 Yes, I was in the Marines.
00:12:58.960 How long were you in?
00:12:59.860 I was two years.
00:13:00.660 You were two years.
00:13:01.400 What was your most in the military?
00:13:02.680 3051, supply.
00:13:04.160 Supply.
00:13:04.600 I was a Hummer mechanic in the Army.
00:13:05.880 So go back and fascinating, by the way.
00:13:09.020 Now you realize why I brought him in.
00:13:11.040 You can tell why a man like this gets you to be confident about what the future looks like.
00:13:15.940 But let's continue.
00:13:16.680 So the way you broke down what Malcolm X said was fascinating.
00:13:23.140 Immigrant white men come in here with barely any money and they're taking that and building 1.00
00:13:28.240 it to businesses.
00:13:29.180 So are you saying that to say the excuse of the generational wealth didn't happen to me
00:13:34.880 so I can't rely on that always and make that as an excuse?
00:13:37.380 Is that kind of where you're going with that?
00:13:38.900 Or what is the mindset when you read that?
00:13:40.840 Because people can read that and see it from two different points of view.
00:13:44.140 Why did you go to the point of saying what can I do about it rather than I need the government's
00:13:48.940 help?
00:13:49.540 Right.
00:13:49.840 And this is where I can kind of go into where I'm not anti-government.
00:13:53.140 I'm just anti-excuses.
00:13:54.640 So I won't say that, of course, you know, there are different ways we are going to need the
00:13:58.500 government.
00:13:59.320 There are ways that, you know, politicians can help.
00:14:01.740 There are certain laws that can help us, grants, et cetera.
00:14:04.580 However, we're not going to wait on those things.
00:14:07.180 We should also look for our own solutions as well.
00:14:09.800 So that way we aren't caught in the web of just waiting because we have a complex where
00:14:14.560 we think that we're not in control of our own destiny.
00:14:17.080 And I'm just like, no, we are in control of our own destiny.
00:14:19.160 We can get up and go and do something.
00:14:21.160 So with me being the young age that I am and doing something, it's inspiring people like,
00:14:25.520 oh, I guess I can get up and do something.
00:14:27.380 And for the children that I'm working with, they're seeing possible.
00:14:30.740 And where I live at, you never get to see possible as a young man.
00:14:33.560 Why do you believe you control your destiny?
00:14:36.160 Why do you believe that?
00:14:37.080 I think I believe it because I'm walking in it right now.
00:14:40.220 I'm walking in, you know, being in control of my own destiny.
00:14:42.860 I've heard it talked about.
00:14:44.080 I've heard, you know, speakers speak about it, but actually living it and then showing
00:14:48.080 these other children that they can do it too and watching them develop.
00:14:51.320 I absolutely believe that based off of experience.
00:14:53.760 Okay.
00:14:53.960 So you've got two different preachers.
00:14:55.980 When I say preachers, I'm not talking about Christian preachers.
00:14:57.900 Two messages are being preached.
00:14:59.780 One of them is you need the government help, government's help, or else you can't do anything
00:15:04.920 without their help.
00:15:05.560 The other one is you control your destiny before you become one to say, I believe in
00:15:12.020 it because I'm walking it today.
00:15:13.560 But at one point you weren't.
00:15:15.200 Why did you choose to take the risk of believing this message rather than the one of, I need
00:15:20.480 the government to bail me out?
00:15:21.600 The conditions of our communities.
00:15:24.080 Because the bigger...
00:15:25.420 Do you know what I'm asking?
00:15:26.120 I get it.
00:15:26.920 Yeah.
00:15:27.100 The bigger thing, and I was there, just like you were just saying, I was there at a point
00:15:31.300 where we need to go ask for this, we need to go ask for that, we should be trying to get
00:15:34.500 this and that.
00:15:35.440 But again, I told you I heard Brother Minister Malcolm's message when he was debating Bayard
00:15:40.040 Rustin, and it completely changed my whole mindset.
00:15:42.280 I was like, well, I didn't even think about us doing it on our own.
00:15:45.640 And again, not necessarily saying we won't need the government because we've got to get
00:15:48.340 certifications, we've got to get necessary permits.
00:15:50.020 That's what Roland was telling you about.
00:15:51.440 Right, right, right.
00:15:52.120 And I understand that.
00:15:53.100 You know, so I understand we've got to get those permits, et cetera.
00:15:55.220 Or, you know, however, I think people were saying, or thinking I was saying, just like
00:15:58.600 you were explaining, that I was saying we don't need government at all.
00:16:01.440 No, you were saying we need a small government.
00:16:03.240 You've never said we don't need government.
00:16:04.820 Right, they have a little bit too much power.
00:16:05.780 You said we need a small government, not a big government.
00:16:07.640 Right, they have a little bit too much influence and power in certain areas that I believe.
00:16:11.500 So I definitely will say, of course we'll need it, but not a lot.
00:16:13.980 What Roland was talking about is he says, well, you're a, what kind of a school are you?
00:16:19.840 You're a charter school, right?
00:16:22.380 Is that what you are?
00:16:23.200 Or what kind of a school?
00:16:24.040 We're a private school.
00:16:24.520 You're a private school.
00:16:25.200 Okay, so he said when you do give degrees, who gives you the degrees or certificate?
00:16:30.380 And you're like, well, I have to get it from the government.
00:16:31.680 And he was going back, well, if you need a certificate, you need the government.
00:16:34.220 There's a big difference between me going to the government to get a driver's license
00:16:37.760 or a certificate or any of that stuff versus waiting for the government to give me money,
00:16:42.720 to take care of my bills, to pay for my expenses, to give me Section 8 where to live
00:16:46.380 and rely on that for a year, two years, three years, five years, ten years.
00:16:50.180 Because what eventually happens is a guy like you, a King Randall,
00:16:53.000 could be 42 years old, and 20 years goes by and you were relying on somebody else
00:16:58.300 to help your dreams become a reality versus let me go out there and do it myself.
00:17:01.140 So let me go back to it with you here on the next question.
00:17:04.200 You know, you said Malcolm X on what he said.
00:17:07.520 What other men impacted you the most kind of like Malcolm X?
00:17:11.960 Was there a Booker T. Washington?
00:17:14.160 Was there a, you know, a MLK?
00:17:16.720 Who else was there?
00:17:17.580 Thomas Sowell.
00:17:18.380 Who were some of the men that inspired you?
00:17:19.960 Directly those two, Martin and Booker T. Washington.
00:17:23.000 I definitely believe in Booker T. Washington's message because at the end of the day,
00:17:26.760 I know a lot of people may disagree with his methods or things like that,
00:17:29.680 but he's probably one of the only leaders to still have something standing today,
00:17:33.900 as well as Dr. King.
00:17:35.200 He got legislation passed.
00:17:36.320 And so you could disagree with maybe things that they said, but you can't dispute results.
00:17:40.480 And those two, you know, men, I believe, had some big results in their work.
00:17:45.080 I definitely believe in what Martin taught and his strategy in which he got things done,
00:17:49.900 as well as Booker T. Washington.
00:17:51.400 I mean, I had my boys reading Up From Slavery.
00:17:53.760 That's our last book we were reading in book club before summer camp started.
00:17:57.740 It's a great book.
00:17:58.180 Yeah, great book, but listening to the verbiage and the words he was using
00:18:03.820 and how eloquent and how, you know, it was beautiful.
00:18:07.320 And I was asking the boys, I said, man, I said, imagine a former slave having a better vocabulary than you.
00:18:12.080 And they were like, whoa.
00:18:13.400 And it was just like, that made me feel some type of way.
00:18:15.580 I'm like, yeah, it doesn't make me feel some type of way.
00:18:17.180 It makes me want to do better because I'm like, how can a former slave, you know,
00:18:20.560 have a better vocabulary than me?
00:18:21.900 He writes better than me.
00:18:22.940 I mean, he grew up and didn't know how to read or write.
00:18:25.660 He taught himself.
00:18:26.700 So for us not to be able to know how to read and not be able to do these simple things,
00:18:30.320 we have YouTube and all that.
00:18:31.520 Imagine if they had YouTube or textbooks and things like that.
00:18:35.200 They'd be so much further, you know.
00:18:36.980 So I like to, you know, show stories like that.
00:18:39.020 But Booker T. Washington and definitely Martin Luther King.
00:18:41.640 Have you studied Thomas Sowell at all or no?
00:18:43.440 Absolutely.
00:18:44.000 I just got onto Thomas Sowell probably nine, ten months ago.
00:18:47.980 Somebody mentioned him to me and I started watching a few of his videos, et cetera.
00:18:51.540 Yeah, you can get really caught up if you keep watching this stuff.
00:18:54.820 Booker T. Washington said, be so good where the white man needs you.
00:18:58.400 Be so good where the white man needs you.
00:19:00.060 You said something about some people have a problem with his book or, you know, maybe
00:19:04.840 they differ opinions.
00:19:06.160 Which part of what Booker T. Washington said do some folks have a hard time with?
00:19:10.460 I think people in the do-for-self portion of things, because we get in this idea where
00:19:17.040 everybody owes us something because of slavery and things like that.
00:19:20.140 Granted, I believe there's maybe a fight for that.
00:19:22.600 However, I'm not focused on that.
00:19:24.780 I'm focused on what I can do right now.
00:19:27.540 And I think many people are kind of, again, stuck in the waiting area.
00:19:31.400 And so when you hear Booker T. Washington saying do-for-self and, you know, go do it
00:19:35.200 on your own, you know, then it sounds like, oh, well, we're absorbing, quote unquote, the
00:19:39.260 white man of, you know, anything that he may owe us.
00:19:41.600 And so that's not necessarily what anybody's saying.
00:19:43.980 What we're saying is we still can go be our own solution and maybe get that later on
00:19:49.120 down the road.
00:19:49.700 But right now we can be our own solution.
00:19:51.880 It's just we have to want to.
00:19:53.480 Yeah, there's no question about it.
00:19:54.720 So 21 years old, you now have, how many total students do you have now?
00:19:59.020 I have 40 students.
00:19:59.980 40 students now.
00:20:00.900 Did you end up getting the property or you guys, they still give you a hard time with
00:20:04.640 the property?
00:20:05.160 Right.
00:20:05.400 So actually last week we just closed on, was that last week?
00:20:08.840 I think it was last week.
00:20:09.520 We just closed on three different buildings.
00:20:11.620 So actually, you know, God delivered in abundance and we were looking at one building and then
00:20:15.800 we got three.
00:20:17.660 Congratulations.
00:20:18.460 Thank you.
00:20:19.040 Thank you.
00:20:19.400 And so things fell through with our local school system and trying to purchase one of
00:20:22.980 the former elementary school campuses.
00:20:25.000 But we got three buildings now.
00:20:27.080 However, it's not a school.
00:20:27.960 So we do have to do renovations and things like that.
00:20:30.240 But it's in a prime location.
00:20:32.580 I won't say a good location.
00:20:33.340 It's a prime location because it's right by the projects.
00:20:35.900 And I definitely feel like those children in that neighborhood would definitely benefit
00:20:39.200 from us being there, giving a free breakfast and lunch sometimes, doing the free book club,
00:20:43.720 doing the workshops.
00:20:44.820 It has a warehouse area.
00:20:46.100 It has an office.
00:20:47.300 It has, well, actually two warehouse areas.
00:20:48.800 So we can do like different workshops.
00:20:50.400 Are they right next to each other?
00:20:51.700 Are they in different areas?
00:20:52.640 They're all on the same property.
00:20:54.420 All three buildings.
00:20:54.900 Okay, I got it.
00:20:55.120 So that's good.
00:20:55.700 So you can do one campus does this, one campus does this.
00:20:58.300 Right.
00:20:58.600 And how big is it?
00:20:59.740 Acre is it?
00:21:00.280 Is it a good size?
00:21:01.440 Yeah, it sits on two acres.
00:21:02.660 And actually the lot in front of us, which will add, it's another acre in front, it's actually
00:21:06.620 for sale as well.
00:21:07.320 We plan on purchasing that.
00:21:08.360 So it'll be three acres if we get that.
00:21:11.560 Now, how many people are supporting you now financially?
00:21:14.720 I don't have a number of people.
00:21:16.700 However, we do have many thousands of people from across the nation that are supporting us.
00:21:19.980 Thousands of people that are supporting you financially.
00:21:21.820 We had 1.5 thousand people donate on our GoFundMe page.
00:21:25.540 1,500 people donated you on the GoFundMe page.
00:21:27.840 How much have you raised so far?
00:21:29.100 We have $128,000, but we just spent it on the building.
00:21:32.120 On the building.
00:21:32.600 That's fantastic.
00:21:33.880 So the 40 students, have they already started living there or not yet?
00:21:36.720 It's not livable yet.
00:21:37.720 No, it's not livable yet.
00:21:38.920 However, the students that I have for the summer camp, my grandmother has a nine-bedroom
00:21:42.100 home.
00:21:42.520 They're all living with us right now at my grandmother's house.
00:21:45.240 Great story.
00:21:46.360 My grandma's got a nine-bedroom house. 1.00
00:21:47.720 Everyone's living with grandma right now.
00:21:49.020 Everybody's a family thing.
00:21:51.380 My mom comes and cooks for them.
00:21:53.040 My grandma cooks for them.
00:21:53.580 And you even know how to cook.
00:21:54.660 Yeah, I know how to cook.
00:21:55.660 You know how to cook, right?
00:21:56.460 Yeah.
00:21:56.720 Would you take classes?
00:21:58.580 You went to school for it?
00:21:59.660 Yes, sir.
00:22:00.100 I graduated with an associate's degree while I was in high school from Albany Technical College
00:22:04.500 with culinary arts.
00:22:05.260 That's 17 years old.
00:22:06.440 Yes, sir.
00:22:06.840 And your birthday is July 26th.
00:22:08.840 Yes, sir.
00:22:09.120 Which is coming up.
00:22:09.940 And in 11 days from today, you're going to be 22 years old.
00:22:13.700 Yes, sir.
00:22:14.080 So what are some of your long-term aspirations?
00:22:15.480 What do you want to do long-term?
00:22:16.800 Well, I know as mentioned in my age, well, first of all, I have this thing where I believe
00:22:21.180 I should do something bigger than the year before.
00:22:23.320 So I never want to be stagnant.
00:22:24.520 So if people thought the year 21 was good, year 22 is going to be times two.
00:22:28.680 I have to make sure the years are better.
00:22:31.120 But of course, starting this school is first and foremost for me, and also eventually opening
00:22:37.040 up a different campus in other cities and things like that.
00:22:40.440 However, I want to make sure that the program is actually serving the children and their children
00:22:44.640 are actually changing.
00:22:45.580 I don't want to become one of the mainstream nonprofits that end up just doing food giveaways
00:22:50.340 and clothing drives and things like that, but nobody's actually changing.
00:22:53.780 And I feel like sometimes nonprofits start working on the logistics and business so much
00:22:59.240 that they forget about what they actually start the nonprofit for.
00:23:03.140 And so I've been questioned a few times about the audits and things like that, the nonprofit
00:23:07.680 status, et cetera.
00:23:09.060 But I always, you know, I have a management team for that.
00:23:12.020 As for me, I want to strictly focus on the work.
00:23:14.660 And I don't want to, you know, it to become where I forget about the children or it's all
00:23:19.180 about the money, et cetera.
00:23:20.100 And, or these big nonprofits where 10 cent actually goes to the foundation.
00:23:24.520 That's right.
00:23:24.860 And then 90 cent goes to the salaries.
00:23:26.920 Yeah.
00:23:27.240 You know, $600,000 salaries.
00:23:28.940 Right.
00:23:29.420 You know, and that's where I'm at.
00:23:30.620 So I definitely want to make sure we're serving the children first and foremost.
00:23:34.280 Thirdly, we want to make sure that we actually get the building finished and renovated.
00:23:37.820 We also want to work on our book club and expanding it across the nation.
00:23:41.800 I actually want to do the book club every week with men all across the nation.
00:23:45.840 I mean, also doing different workshops across the nation.
00:23:48.160 So right now, I've actually been doing a little small tour where I've been going to different
00:23:51.540 cities and donating tools and teaching the young men in different areas how to change
00:23:56.600 brakes and oil.
00:23:57.380 I've been to Brooklyn, been to Los Angeles, San Diego.
00:24:00.480 How to change oil.
00:24:01.280 Yep.
00:24:01.700 Basic stuff.
00:24:02.420 Basic stuff.
00:24:03.000 And it makes so much money.
00:24:04.080 Like, I could charge $100 to just change the brakes and it only takes me 20, 30 minutes.
00:24:08.820 So imagine doing 10 cars in a day.
00:24:10.540 You know, and that's, some people don't even make that in a month.
00:24:12.920 Who supports what you're doing?
00:24:14.300 Who opposes what you're doing?
00:24:16.120 I don't really talk about opposers.
00:24:18.400 However, many different people support, many different celebrities.
00:24:21.740 Rihanna's reached out to us.
00:24:23.860 Rihanna's reached out.
00:24:24.820 That's great.
00:24:25.300 Yeah, she wants to come visit the school one day.
00:24:28.200 But, of course, I don't want to send an invitation until we're ready.
00:24:31.480 But we have John Cena.
00:24:32.760 He supports former president.
00:24:34.760 Trump supports.
00:24:35.940 We got invited to the White House.
00:24:37.300 We have many different politicians, et cetera.
00:24:38.660 Trump supports.
00:24:39.480 Mm-hmm.
00:24:39.760 Wow.
00:24:40.220 Yeah, we have many different politicians, et cetera.
00:24:42.080 So I'll definitely say we have a lot of supporters.
00:24:45.720 Why wouldn't somebody support you?
00:24:48.520 If somebody doesn't, like when you were on Roller Martin, you know, you guys went back and forth 30 minutes.
00:24:53.620 You handled yourself very well.
00:24:55.820 You know, you were talking about that the vote doesn't matter as much as people think it does
00:25:02.080 because the same people we've been voting for, they've been funded by the white man,
00:25:07.280 and then they're going back.
00:25:08.340 They come and they show up when they need our vote, and then they disappear.
00:25:10.580 We don't see them again, right?
00:25:11.420 So I think I want the audience to know a little bit of the fire because right now the audience
00:25:15.640 is thinking you're just this nice guy that's going to go up against some of the tough guys,
00:25:19.880 and you're going to be bullied, and how is this guy going to hang up and hang against those guys?
00:25:23.240 So there are some people that are, you know, not happy with what you're doing because they're
00:25:27.760 thinking the message that you're giving is people cannot stand up on their own two feet.
00:25:31.140 You're going to need someone to help you out, but you're saying, look, I'm not focused on the voting part.
00:25:35.420 I want to be able to go do what I can with the folks and get them to realize you don't necessarily need
00:25:39.640 the government's help to stand up.
00:25:40.720 So talk a little bit about the differences you and Roland Martin had in the area of specifically voting.
00:25:48.180 I definitely think in our community, everybody has their own different parts of the body,
00:25:53.200 and this is what I explain, you know, on this show.
00:25:55.160 Everybody has their own part.
00:25:56.220 Some people are the liver.
00:25:57.060 Some people are the eyes.
00:25:57.880 Some people are the lungs.
00:25:59.040 Everybody has to play their part.
00:26:00.560 What I was explaining to him was that is not my fight, and he was saying, oh, well, that should be your fight.
00:26:05.040 I'm like, well, that's not mine.
00:26:06.120 I have an area that I'm working on with children, and I can't focus my time on voting and my
00:26:11.800 children when seeing so many issues that they're having, being molested, being abused, all these
00:26:16.420 things.
00:26:16.560 They all have stories, et cetera.
00:26:17.820 So I'm like, I don't have time to focus on the vote.
00:26:20.120 However, if you are focused on making sure that, you know, our people are voting, I will
00:26:24.220 back you in my area.
00:26:25.620 You know, I'll say, hey, you know, if somebody says I need help with voter registration, they
00:26:29.340 say, okay, well, I'll send them to Roland Martin.
00:26:30.800 But if somebody says in my community, oh, I need help with my young man, they're going
00:26:34.080 to say, well, send them to King Randall.
00:26:35.160 You know, so I work in my area that's just like with the body.
00:26:38.180 If something's wrong, the brain sends a signal, and it sends, you know, whatever it needs
00:26:41.540 to, you know, fix the body.
00:26:42.580 But that's how it works.
00:26:43.700 So I'm like, I'm not necessarily opposed, you know, to what you're saying.
00:26:46.180 We weren't, I don't even think we were really, it was a big disagreement.
00:26:48.720 No, you agreed with 90% of the stuff you said with the voting side.
00:26:52.240 But the one thing you said, what's the big deal about having to check your ID, and you
00:26:55.820 can go out there and, you know, create a place where, you know, you say.
00:27:00.100 Be the solution.
00:27:00.600 Yeah, be the solution rather than doing that.
00:27:03.020 But you did say, you know, you don't think the politicians who have won the black vote
00:27:08.640 have necessarily done the right things for the black community. 0.98
00:27:12.120 Do you still believe that?
00:27:13.340 Absolutely.
00:27:13.800 Look at the conditions of all of our communities.
00:27:15.860 Even where I live, where I live, 74% African-American population, and the condition of our community
00:27:22.160 is absolutely horrendous.
00:27:23.260 I mean, at one point, we're the fourth poorest city in the nation.
00:27:25.580 So definitely seeing, you know, where that's been and where our community is.
00:27:29.660 And it's not a knock, you know, against them or their character or anything, but I'm simply
00:27:34.380 saying we should look at something different because if we've been doing this for 60 years
00:27:38.880 the same way, and obviously our community's conditions have worsened since we got the right
00:27:43.240 to vote, something's, you know, went backwards there and something's wrong there.
00:27:47.820 We need to fix it.
00:27:49.440 Got it.
00:27:50.000 Yeah.
00:27:50.160 Yeah, it's interesting when, you know, the conversation was taking place and then Kwame
00:27:56.740 Brown comments about you and he gives you a shout-out.
00:28:00.960 And Kwame Brown's been pretty critical of the NBA with them calling him out.
00:28:05.420 I think he called out Stephen Ace.
00:28:06.520 He called out a bunch of different people in the NBA.
00:28:08.520 What do you think about what Kwame's up to?
00:28:09.840 I think it's needed.
00:28:11.440 And like I said, he's a different part of the body.
00:28:13.700 And I definitely, and I appreciated him for his shout-out.
00:28:15.980 We talked on the phone and I actually plan to come on his show soon.
00:28:18.800 But I definitely think what he's doing is important in regards to his area.
00:28:23.740 So I definitely feel like, you know, some things need to be said.
00:28:26.400 And definitely some people have to stand up, put their foot down, and say it.
00:28:29.880 So I definitely think in his area that is beautiful.
00:28:32.180 He's pushing the envelopes.
00:28:33.400 Absolutely.
00:28:33.860 So what's next for you?
00:28:35.500 Right now, opening our school, the Life Preparatory School for Boys.
00:28:39.880 This school will be for all boys.
00:28:41.660 And I definitely want it to be boarding.
00:28:43.600 The reason I want the school to be boarding is because of the different habits that they can
00:28:46.920 develop with us at the school.
00:28:49.620 Sometimes, even with teaching a child from 8 to 5 every day, they go home and unlearn the
00:28:54.460 things that we try to teach at school.
00:28:55.940 They go home back to their old habits.
00:28:57.560 They go home to not taking a bath.
00:28:59.060 They go home into their different environments.
00:29:01.300 And honestly, I'm always really skeptical of the children who never want to go home.
00:29:04.600 I'm always asking them questions like, why don't you want to go home?
00:29:06.860 Like, even if you're having the best time at the camp, they still want to go home sometimes.
00:29:10.740 You know, you get homesick.
00:29:11.620 But the kids who never want to go home, I have issues with that.
00:29:14.860 I'm just like, what's going on?
00:29:15.800 What do you notice being the common trend there?
00:29:18.800 Molestation.
00:29:19.760 That's just being blunt. 0.98
00:29:21.340 And that's a taboo in the black community.
00:29:23.780 Some things we don't like to talk about.
00:29:25.360 And usually, it's always happening with a family member.
00:29:27.680 I went through that.
00:29:28.520 My mom went through that.
00:29:29.380 My grandmother went through that.
00:29:30.600 My grandma's grandma went through that.
00:29:32.300 It's a trend in our community that nobody likes to talk about.
00:29:35.760 90% of the boys that I've talked to have all been through some type of family molestation.
00:29:40.060 Now, it may have affected them differently because it may have been a woman like it was with me.
00:29:44.260 But you're not taught that it's, you know, bad or, you know, something like that.
00:29:47.920 You know, I'm a man now.
00:29:49.320 You know, you had a woman to touch you. 1.00
00:29:50.660 And we don't understand how women are predatory on young men, you know, and boys growing up. 0.51
00:29:55.620 And nobody, they don't have a mouthpiece.
00:29:57.580 So I talk to them about these things and I try to get them help.
00:30:00.220 But that's probably like the number one thing in why they don't want to go home.
00:30:03.660 It's the molestation and being abused, et cetera.
00:30:05.760 You know, so that molestation conversation is definitely very taboo.
00:30:10.540 Nobody wants to talk about it.
00:30:12.020 People, they shun their kids for not wanting to speak about it.
00:30:14.660 I got one kid, his dad's side of the family would not speak to him because he said something about his cousin molesting him.
00:30:20.340 Now they don't want anything else to do with him.
00:30:21.860 You know, I'm just like, why do we do that?
00:30:23.920 You know, and we'll make comments like, oh, well, white people are incestuous in Alabama and stuff like that. 1.00
00:30:28.060 I'm like, no, we have a lot of incest that goes on in the black community. 0.99
00:30:30.760 Let's talk about it.
00:30:31.800 But again, we don't talk about these things in our community.
00:30:34.740 We just love to point the finger all the time.
00:30:36.700 But I'm one of those people who we need to talk about these things if we're going to fix the conditions of our community.
00:30:41.960 That's why I say you can have opposition.
00:30:43.880 And there's going to be people that are going to oppose you bringing those topics up.
00:30:48.020 And you will face that.
00:30:50.720 You know, somebody may look at you and they may say, well, you were probably raising a great family, Christian family, strong grandma.
00:30:56.360 You probably had a mom and dad that were married for 30 years and they're still together, et cetera, et cetera.
00:31:01.440 Tell us about your upbringing.
00:31:02.660 Absolutely.
00:31:03.020 So I grew up in Albany, Georgia.
00:31:06.300 My mom wasn't initially married. 0.50
00:31:07.820 My mom and dad are not together.
00:31:09.840 They broke up when I was maybe like one or two.
00:31:12.020 They was just boyfriend and girlfriend.
00:31:13.160 Biological.
00:31:13.620 Yeah, my biological dad.
00:31:15.120 But my mom and I were staying with my grandmother for a little while.
00:31:18.960 And then she got married when I was in the fourth grade.
00:31:20.860 And this stepfather of mine is the one who taught me all the different things I know as far as working with my hands.
00:31:26.860 The first day I met him, I was actually outside trying to dig some grass up to grow some watermelons.
00:31:34.120 And so he came out and actually showed me how to do it with just a shovel because you have to have other tools.
00:31:38.580 But he actually showed me how to do it with just a shovel.
00:31:40.680 And my watermelons grew fine that year.
00:31:42.760 But ever since I had met him, I mean, we did the fishing.
00:31:45.240 We skinned animals.
00:31:46.340 We had a dog kennel.
00:31:47.440 We had like 20 dogs in the backyard.
00:31:49.320 We had squirrels, rabbits, everything.
00:31:51.420 So when people came by our house, it was like a farm.
00:31:53.500 And everything that we ate, we grew outside.
00:31:55.960 So that's why we were so healthy growing up, too, because everything my mom wanted to cook, you know, we grew outside.
00:32:00.260 We even grew our seasoning.
00:32:01.220 We grew everything outside.
00:32:03.080 So just being able to go pick, you know, from the garden and go get eggs from our chickens and things like that, being able to kill squirrels and feed them to the dogs whenever they were hungry, if we didn't have no dog food or something.
00:32:12.360 Like all that stuff is beautiful.
00:32:14.400 Making traps, fishing, mullet fishing, all these things I learned, you know, from him growing up.
00:32:19.960 And I didn't realize how important it was, obviously, because I was young.
00:32:22.880 But once I got older, I understood.
00:32:24.440 Now, he and my mom, you know, got a divorce.
00:32:26.560 My mom would say, oh, he was a bad husband but a great father.
00:32:29.500 But so they broke up.
00:32:31.320 And my mom got married to Detective Andre Hardaway.
00:32:34.920 They got married, I think, when I was about 15 or 16 years old.
00:32:39.780 I wasn't living with her at the time because I was trying to get my degree from Albany Technical College.
00:32:44.180 So they got married.
00:32:45.940 And he's been, you know, a rock with me as far as developing me into, like, a business man because my former stepfather was country.
00:32:53.700 You know, like a country guy, you know, riding the old trucks and stuff like that.
00:32:57.380 And he's, like, a more stand-up business.
00:32:59.740 You know, he's a detective.
00:33:00.780 You know, so both of them, you know, kind of molded me.
00:33:03.920 And so the neighborhood I grew up in, my former stepfather, we had four men in our neighborhood that kind of just raised all of us.
00:33:09.540 Had a deacon behind our house.
00:33:11.400 His name was Deacon Bogan.
00:33:12.760 He stayed in the house behind us.
00:33:14.420 Then we had a guy down the street.
00:33:15.840 He was on drugs.
00:33:16.560 But he actually taught us how to lay bricks.
00:33:19.080 He did everybody's brick mailboxes and things like that.
00:33:21.920 Even though he was on drugs.
00:33:22.780 Yeah.
00:33:23.060 He still taught us everything we needed to know.
00:33:25.300 The guy down the street, we called him Pie Man.
00:33:27.000 Now, usually in the black neighborhood you have a candy lady. 1.00
00:33:29.640 But we had a candy man, so we called him Pie Man.
00:33:32.100 He had all the pies.
00:33:33.240 So we'd go down to his house.
00:33:34.460 But he grew food where he was, too.
00:33:35.980 So he taught us how to grow our food.
00:33:37.500 Now, where you grew up, was everybody black?
00:33:39.700 Is predominantly black?
00:33:41.180 Yeah, I grew up in the hood.
00:33:41.940 I grew up in the hood.
00:33:42.460 Everybody was black there.
00:33:44.440 Now, my mom had a nicer house because my mom was not going to have the hood house. 1.00
00:33:48.280 She always kept the house up.
00:33:49.520 We had the lions in the driveway.
00:33:51.380 We kept the grass cut.
00:33:52.600 The lions in the driveway.
00:33:53.040 Yeah, we had the grass cut and nice landscaping and things like that.
00:33:57.360 Mom always said, we're not going to have no ugly house just because we stayed in the hood.
00:34:00.000 Mom was a hard worker.
00:34:00.980 Absolutely.
00:34:01.580 My mom has done everything from truck driving to firefighting to, I mean, just anything. 0.98
00:34:07.760 And so now she still drives trucks and she has a prop business and she does interior designing. 0.96
00:34:13.460 So my mom has done some of everything.
00:34:14.800 I've watched her growing up just make it happen. 0.99
00:34:16.120 I like the story you told about your mom giving your dad to bring you a cake on June 26th, a month before your birthday.
00:34:25.160 And even though he got your birthday wrong, you were just happy that you hung out with your pops.
00:34:29.020 Oh, man.
00:34:29.760 What a mom you got, by the way.
00:34:31.600 You definitely been watching my interview.
00:34:33.120 So my dad and my biological father and I do not have a bad relationship because of my mother.
00:34:38.380 My mother never allowed us to have a bad relationship.
00:34:40.980 And I think this story is going to be extremely important for any single mom, regardless of if that father is there or not.
00:34:46.940 So one year, my dad never really came to, like, my football games and things like that.
00:34:52.040 He came to three football games growing up.
00:34:53.540 I remember them vividly because he was there.
00:34:56.060 Now, my mom came to every football game I played.
00:34:57.580 But the only three games I really remember was the one my dad came to.
00:35:02.480 It was so beautiful.
00:35:03.680 And my mom would go get him, like, gifts for Christmas and things like that.
00:35:06.960 She'd go give it to him, then come pick me up, and then take me over there to make it seem like he gave me a gift.
00:35:12.580 And I remember, just like the story you're talking about, I think I had just turned 11 or 12.
00:35:17.760 And I remember it was June 26th.
00:35:19.640 And everybody knows who knows me.
00:35:20.800 I hate chocolate cake.
00:35:21.900 So it was June 26th.
00:35:23.220 You hate chocolate cake.
00:35:23.760 I hate chocolate cake. 0.97
00:35:24.740 It's disgusting.
00:35:25.240 So I ate chocolate cake.
00:35:28.220 So it was June 26th, and my dad came over to our house, and he brought me a cake and said happy birthday.
00:35:34.280 I didn't even care it was on the wrong day.
00:35:36.160 I was so unhappy that my dad brought me a cake.
00:35:38.760 That's cool.
00:35:39.120 Didn't care.
00:35:39.740 I was happy.
00:35:40.420 I hugged him.
00:35:41.060 Now, my mom, you know, thrashed him for it, you know, afterward.
00:35:44.060 Month late, month early.
00:35:45.420 Yeah, she was like, what?
00:35:46.620 This is what I was so happy.
00:35:48.140 I didn't care.
00:35:48.740 And I ate the chocolate cake.
00:35:49.980 I didn't even care if it was nasty.
00:35:51.060 It was because my dad brought it.
00:35:52.460 You know, but that goes to show how important it is for a man to be in your life.
00:35:57.160 And that's really important.
00:35:59.000 But just seeing the type of woman my mom was to do that just to make sure we didn't have a bad relationship. 1.00
00:36:06.040 And so now all of my siblings, my dad's children, I'm the only child from my mom, but my dad's children, I raise all of them.
00:36:12.100 All of my dad's children that I raise.
00:36:13.660 My dad, you know, he isn't.
00:36:15.460 Your biological dad.
00:36:17.020 You raise all of them.
00:36:17.840 I raise my brothers and sisters, yes.
00:36:20.640 Yep.
00:36:21.280 My little brother, his name is Kulin Randall.
00:36:24.440 And most people, when they see him, he's almost a reflection of me, except for he's like 6'3".
00:36:28.440 His mom is 6 feet tall, but my dad and I are like 5'7".
00:36:31.720 So I'm shorter than he is, but he looks up to me and is like a reflection of me.
00:36:36.560 And I keep myself in check because I notice he tries to mimic me a lot.
00:36:40.740 So whenever I see him doing something that I know I do that's wrong or it shouldn't be that way, I fix it in myself so that way he can fix it.
00:36:48.800 And so watching who my little brother was growing up, he was a really smart kid.
00:36:54.000 And I wasn't always in his life because obviously we stayed in two different homes.
00:36:56.840 But he turned about 13 to 14, his mom called.
00:37:00.100 She said, I don't know what's going on with your brother.
00:37:01.720 He's, you know, messing with little girls and he's sagging his pants, hair all crazy. 0.78
00:37:06.480 He's getting fat and everything. 0.90
00:37:07.580 I'm just like, whoa, so I came back to see him and I got this fat kid and his hair all crazy, sagging his pants and don't want to listen to crazy music all day. 0.94
00:37:17.620 So I took my little brother and I destroyed him, first of all. 0.79
00:37:22.060 How'd you do it?
00:37:22.920 What was the conversation like?
00:37:24.200 So first, I had a conversation first.
00:37:26.160 Okay. 0.95
00:37:26.700 I told him this stuff better stop when I'm going to come and destroy you. 0.95
00:37:29.020 That's one of my words for coming to work you out real bad and discipline you. 0.74
00:37:33.200 So I told him. 0.99
00:37:33.780 I'm going to destroy you. 1.00
00:37:34.520 I'm going to destroy you. 1.00
00:37:35.300 And I mean it. 1.00
00:37:36.420 You know, so I'm just like, listen, I'm going to come and I'm going to destroy you. 0.99
00:37:38.960 If you don't get these grades up, you don't stop touching these little girls. 0.99
00:37:41.440 So, okay, cool.
00:37:42.080 So I left.
00:37:42.940 Got another phone call.
00:37:43.680 Cool.
00:37:44.160 I came back.
00:37:45.060 I took him to the park across the street.
00:37:46.360 Ran him around a thousand times.
00:37:48.000 Made him do push-ups.
00:37:48.800 Made him chant certain things like discipline, et cetera.
00:37:51.620 But after that, I started like being with him every day, talking to him, et cetera.
00:37:56.200 And so he went from everybody's most hated kid at school to like all the teacher's favorite child.
00:38:01.320 He's the model band student now.
00:38:03.080 I took him to band practice the other day.
00:38:05.320 His band director, he's a ninth grader.
00:38:06.640 He's a freshman.
00:38:07.740 And he's like, no, he's the example.
00:38:10.140 You know, he stands up tall.
00:38:11.840 He walks straight.
00:38:12.820 He speaks so eloquently.
00:38:14.740 And he's tall, you know, a big, big kid.
00:38:16.660 You know, people think he's an adult, you know, because of how he maneuvers.
00:38:19.680 But looking at the night and day change from him and some of my other kids, too.
00:38:23.500 Now, I don't want people to get the mistake and think that the program is going to change children in like a day or two.
00:38:28.060 I'm like, it took these children 15, 16 years to get where they are.
00:38:31.360 It's going to take a while.
00:38:32.000 Right.
00:38:32.340 So I have children.
00:38:33.260 I have one kid.
00:38:34.640 I've been working with him for about nine months now.
00:38:36.600 It's taken that long just to get him to a point where he's bearable now.
00:38:39.540 Like, he was really bad to a point where I just, I want to just, what, son?
00:38:44.500 Stop.
00:38:44.840 I just want to scream.
00:38:45.820 But I don't give up on any of my children.
00:38:47.320 I don't give up on any of them at all.
00:38:49.040 You know, but now he's to a point where he's bearable now.
00:38:50.820 He's trying to, you know, motivate the other children.
00:38:52.920 He's trying to lead them, et cetera.
00:38:54.240 But sometimes I just want to see if you care.
00:38:56.280 You know, so I've never given up on any child that's coming to the program.
00:38:58.840 As long as their parents can keep them around consistently and keep bringing them to different things.
00:39:03.400 You know, it takes time.
00:39:04.780 It's taking two years for some kids.
00:39:06.300 You know, it's taking maybe two months for another.
00:39:08.240 You know, but it takes time.
00:39:09.480 It takes, you know, a minute.
00:39:11.180 So some kids, you know, they'll come in and they'll be rebellious and don't want to listen and things like that.
00:39:16.280 And I got some kids coming there and turning to the model student the next day.
00:39:19.340 You know, so it's different for all the children.
00:39:21.060 But I think that's something beautiful.
00:39:22.700 Who were you in high school?
00:39:23.500 Who were you in high school?
00:39:24.420 10th grade.
00:39:25.300 10th grade.
00:39:26.280 So, well, let me start in 9th grade.
00:39:28.040 So when I first got to high school, I had just had my heart broken by my 8th grade girlfriend.
00:39:32.340 I'll never forget it.
00:39:33.180 I was distraught for a whole year.
00:39:35.700 I was definitely distraught for a whole year.
00:39:38.120 But how did she do it?
00:39:40.080 Well, we were going to high school and we had just went to Six Flags and went on these different trips for the summer and things like that.
00:39:47.400 This is our summer before high school.
00:39:49.040 And she just broke up with me. 0.99
00:39:50.100 She was like, I want to just go see what it's like in high school.
00:39:53.160 If I don't see anybody I like or something, then, you know, we'll come back and talk, you know, stuff like that.
00:39:58.040 But I was like, all right, you know, because my heart was just like, whatever.
00:40:01.240 But aside from that, my 10th grade year, I was this kid trying to fit in.
00:40:06.880 The reason being was because when I was in middle school, I loved to wear suits.
00:40:11.760 I wore a suit to picture day.
00:40:13.140 I wore a suit to picture day my 6th grade year.
00:40:16.340 And while I was there, when I got to school, everybody picked on me the whole day because I had on the suit.
00:40:20.660 Like, I mean, it was nuts.
00:40:22.260 And I'll never forget it.
00:40:23.360 I had a brown suit on, a brown striped suit that I wore.
00:40:25.860 Teachers thought it was nice, but everybody picked on me the whole day.
00:40:28.740 And so I got on.
00:40:29.840 So you've been sharp for a while.
00:40:31.280 Yeah, even my 5th grade photo.
00:40:33.260 My 5th grade photo is a picture of me in a black suit.
00:40:35.340 If you got them, give it to us.
00:40:36.420 We'll put it in the video.
00:40:37.040 Yeah, I'll send it to you.
00:40:38.140 I'll send it to you.
00:40:38.760 But, yeah, I always wore a suit.
00:40:40.240 And so that year, everybody picked on me.
00:40:41.980 I came home, and I got in the car, and I cried.
00:40:43.900 I'm the only person in the school yearbook with a shirt and tie on.
00:40:46.540 And so I got in the car and cried.
00:40:48.320 I was like, Mom, everybody picked on me all day.
00:40:49.420 She's like, so what?
00:40:50.160 She's like, people can pick on you, et cetera.
00:40:51.400 But they can say that, but it still hits different while you're there because everybody's dogging you the whole day.
00:40:55.680 So I never wore a suit again.
00:40:56.540 Never wanted to wear a suit.
00:40:57.680 Never.
00:40:58.340 So I started trying to fit in.
00:40:59.440 People at that time were wearing, like, Aeropostale in middle school.
00:41:02.260 So I was like, Mom, he bought me this, that, and the third.
00:41:04.540 Like, my mom went broke.
00:41:05.440 It's just I wanted to wear what I wanted to wear.
00:41:10.160 But people would pick on me all the time, so I get to 7th and 8th grade.
00:41:14.340 I started wearing Aeropostale and Ralph Lauren and stuff like that.
00:41:17.500 9th grade, doing the same thing.
00:41:18.620 People still picking on me.
00:41:19.480 At that time, I told you my mom went broke.
00:41:21.260 She was driving trucks, so I had a nice Ralph Lauren.
00:41:23.120 But, oh, that's fake.
00:41:24.200 There's no way you got that, this, that, and the third.
00:41:25.960 So I'm just like, well, what am I supposed to do?
00:41:27.220 I'm like, I'm wearing what you guys want me to wear, and I'm still getting picked on.
00:41:30.620 So what's the issue?
00:41:31.440 So my 10th grade year, I started being myself.
00:41:36.500 I didn't wear a suit yet, but I started dressing how I wanted to because I was, like,
00:41:39.760 obviously people are going to pick on you anyway.
00:41:43.400 And I think one thing that changed my life while I was in 9th grade, because I always
00:41:46.820 thought I was an ugly kid, this nice, one of the nicer-looking girls at school, she was 1.00
00:41:50.380 a senior at the time.
00:41:51.500 I'll never forget, we were eating Chick-fil-A chicken biscuits.
00:41:53.700 They used to sell chicken biscuits when I was in the 9th grade.
00:41:56.140 And I came to buy chicken biscuits.
00:41:57.780 She was like, ooh, he's so cute.
00:41:59.040 And I was like, you talking to me?
00:42:01.080 She was like, yeah, you.
00:42:02.200 I was like, oh, snap.
00:42:03.200 That changed me.
00:42:04.280 I will never forget it.
00:42:05.420 I said, I see her sometime around, you know, town and things like that.
00:42:09.640 But I always said, I said, if I ever get some money, I'm going to bless her just for that,
00:42:13.140 because I never forgot how that changed my life.
00:42:14.960 Just her giving me that.
00:42:15.740 She was three years older than you.
00:42:16.920 Yeah, just that one compliment changed me.
00:42:19.460 And so when I got to 10th grade, I started trying to be myself.
00:42:22.260 And I started wearing, like, dress shirts and things like that.
00:42:24.680 But 11th grade year, I started wearing full suits again.
00:42:27.700 So I wore full suits and a briefcase to school every day.
00:42:30.020 Any of my classmates will tell you I wore a suit and a briefcase every day to school.
00:42:34.220 If I had on a hoodie or something, somebody would like, what's wrong with you?
00:42:36.860 You know, why you got on a hoodie?
00:42:37.760 You usually have on a suit.
00:42:39.220 And then my principal would allow me to skip school and go speak at other schools and speak
00:42:43.320 to different kids.
00:42:44.000 So I started doing public speaking when I was in, like, 11th grade.
00:42:47.020 I mean, I was speaking at other schools, talking to the different children, you know,
00:42:49.580 telling them about being themselves.
00:42:51.500 And I didn't even have, like, the best grades and things like that.
00:42:54.740 But I was the model student, you know, and people voted me most likely to be famous
00:42:58.440 and most likely to be president when I was in high school.
00:43:00.440 Really?
00:43:00.860 Yeah, just because of how I carried myself.
00:43:02.380 And so the other guys that used to pick on me were mad because I had all the girls
00:43:05.760 because of how I dressed and my smile and hair and haircut all the time and smelling nice.
00:43:10.640 I said, well, you all look the same.
00:43:12.120 So why would you expect, you know, them to like y'all and y'all all look the same?
00:43:16.800 I look different.
00:43:17.820 And so I'll never forget when I ran for Homecoming King, the 12th grade year,
00:43:22.660 the guys had this little thing where they were going to try to make sure I didn't win.
00:43:25.900 And so they went on a whole campaign to make sure I lost the Homecoming King vote.
00:43:31.160 So I lost.
00:43:32.740 However, this is what happened.
00:43:34.220 The guy that won, he couldn't put his robe on, the little robe, the little Homecoming robe.
00:43:40.780 I went and put the Homecoming robe on for him and I crowned him and asked me what the picture of the front cover of the yearbook is.
00:43:46.960 What is it?
00:43:47.360 That's me putting his robe on.
00:43:48.340 Get out of here.
00:43:49.260 Get out of here.
00:43:50.640 What's crazy is everybody was like, you're showing so much sportsmanship.
00:43:54.080 I said, I know because I knew what they tried to do.
00:43:56.160 But it's okay.
00:43:57.020 My name's already King.
00:43:58.000 So it can be Homecoming King King.
00:44:00.940 So, yeah, that's what happened.
00:44:03.400 But me in high school, I was, you know, wearing suits every day, trying to be, you know, who I am now.
00:44:08.540 Are you a math guy, English guy, history guy, science?
00:44:12.060 I'll say now.
00:44:13.340 No, at that time.
00:44:14.260 At that time, I'll say science.
00:44:15.940 I like dissecting stuff.
00:44:18.020 Biology.
00:44:18.180 Yeah.
00:44:18.660 And my best friend, he's a mortician.
00:44:20.480 So he was working at the funeral home while we were in high school.
00:44:23.080 His name's Anthony Buchanan.
00:44:24.440 He's a mortician and he's always been working at the funeral home.
00:44:26.520 You don't want to be dissecting people.
00:44:27.860 You want to be dissecting animals or you'd be open to the dissecting of humans?
00:44:30.920 Okay, well, let's talk about it.
00:44:31.920 So my best friend and I, I actually went to go work with him probably maybe nine months ago.
00:44:40.100 And he actually taught me how to do their makeup and I would cut their hair and dress them and things like that.
00:44:45.120 It actually wasn't that bad.
00:44:46.280 After your first body, you know, and getting the jitters out, then, you know, it's normal.
00:44:51.100 We play music.
00:44:51.840 We talk to them, you know, and things like that.
00:44:53.900 So it wasn't that bad.
00:44:55.360 But I'll definitely say it's an interesting process.
00:44:58.020 And looking at the money they make, definitely would love to get into that industry because people are always dying.
00:45:02.620 See, I want to, you know who you remind me of?
00:45:04.820 Who do people say you remind them of?
00:45:06.700 Oh, I got a few people.
00:45:07.960 So you got Omar Epps.
00:45:09.360 You got Chris Tucker.
00:45:10.640 Okay.
00:45:10.980 And you got Lil' Nicky from The Fresh Prince.
00:45:14.020 Okay.
00:45:14.380 I can see that.
00:45:15.080 I can see all three.
00:45:16.020 Yeah.
00:45:16.360 I tell you.
00:45:16.880 I can see all three.
00:45:17.600 But I'm going to tell you a crazy one here for you.
00:45:20.160 You ever seen Back to the Future?
00:45:21.500 Of course.
00:45:21.920 Okay.
00:45:22.260 Remember where he says, you see, Miss Crothers?
00:45:25.320 I will be the mayor.
00:45:26.200 I will be the most powerful man in Hill Valley.
00:45:28.220 Do you remember that scene or no?
00:45:29.220 No, I don't remember.
00:45:29.640 The guy's going around.
00:45:30.520 Do you know what I'm talking about or no?
00:45:31.500 What's his name?
00:45:32.060 What's the guy's name in, I don't know the mayor's name, but there is a scene about him
00:45:37.180 going around saying, Goldie Wilson is what it was.
00:45:41.400 Goldie Wilson.
00:45:41.520 I'm going to be the mayor one day.
00:45:43.220 I'm going to be the mayor one day.
00:45:44.780 And he had this energy.
00:45:46.460 And eventually, obviously, to the future, he ends up becoming it.
00:45:49.100 But you have that spirit about yourself, that positive, optimistic, high standards, expectation,
00:45:57.440 confident.
00:45:58.820 And I don't know what you're going to be doing, but you got a big upside.
00:46:01.260 But at the same time, when you do a SWOT analysis in anything you do, are you familiar with
00:46:05.720 SWOT analysis?
00:46:06.460 No, sir.
00:46:06.840 Okay.
00:46:07.080 So SWOT analysis is four things.
00:46:08.680 Anytime you're trying to do any business, no matter what you're doing, you're trying
00:46:13.560 to compete in a marketplace.
00:46:15.040 You have to identify your strengths, which your strengths are.
00:46:18.160 You have a niche.
00:46:19.240 You're going after your target audience.
00:46:20.740 You know what it is.
00:46:21.300 And what you're teaching is, would you say a lot of your students that are coming to
00:46:27.140 you are fatherless boys?
00:46:29.000 Would you say the target market would be fatherless boys?
00:46:31.840 Yeah.
00:46:32.100 Is that a fair assessment?
00:46:33.060 Yeah.
00:46:33.280 Over 90% of the boys are fatherless.
00:46:35.100 And that's a big audience.
00:46:36.560 It's a big market for that in America today, right?
00:46:38.840 Yep.
00:46:39.280 So strength, you know your target audience.
00:46:41.340 Weakness, maybe it's funding right now, money.
00:46:44.480 You're trying to get money.
00:46:45.460 Maybe it's infrastructure.
00:46:47.020 Maybe you're going to get a little bit better on education, the system, the schedule,
00:46:52.740 how that works.
00:46:53.580 That'll come within time.
00:46:54.540 Always opportunity.
00:46:56.320 You got a big opportunity ahead of what you're doing.
00:46:58.520 But your last one is threats.
00:47:00.320 Just like the people didn't want you to win homecoming king, they wanted to be King Randall,
00:47:05.280 not homecoming king, King Randall.
00:47:07.640 They wanted to prevent you.
00:47:08.860 You're going to have threats with what you're doing.
00:47:10.620 But it takes the right kind of a person to be able to address, to be able to handle that
00:47:18.340 kind of pressure.
00:47:19.380 I think you have the right character.
00:47:21.180 The combination of people that helped raise you, whether it's your mother, who obviously
00:47:27.440 played a very important role, whether it's your first stepfather you talked about or
00:47:31.580 what he taught you as a countryman.
00:47:33.500 Or it's your second one that was a detective, more business, kind of teaching you that side.
00:47:37.720 And I turn you to who you are today.
00:47:39.060 Sometimes life, when you're going through a strange time, you don't really know why you're
00:47:44.080 going through it, but maybe there's a long-term vision of why you're going through it.
00:47:47.040 Final thoughts here before we wrap up.
00:47:48.720 People are listening to this.
00:47:50.980 You know, maybe someone has similar aspirations as you do, okay?
00:47:57.180 They're not where you are, okay?
00:47:58.760 But they're watching this saying, I also want to kind of make an impact myself.
00:48:01.940 How do I or how do they go about making positive impact in their community just like you
00:48:06.700 are doing right now?
00:48:07.360 I would definitely say start with doing something, and I call it a do-something plan.
00:48:11.320 It doesn't have to be anything large-scale.
00:48:13.040 You don't have to take random children into your house and things like that.
00:48:15.880 You can go give that homeless person that you tell no all the time something, you know,
00:48:18.800 for the first time.
00:48:19.760 You can go buy a family some food.
00:48:21.380 You can go find a child to feed once a week.
00:48:23.200 You can go take a child to school every day.
00:48:25.320 You know, anything to make something positive happen to your community.
00:48:29.180 If you see something negative happening in your community, you could also find something
00:48:32.500 positive to do to combat it.
00:48:33.880 I mean, I think if everybody did that, I think we'd be in a better place, and I'll definitely
00:48:37.700 give a quote from one of our favorite rappers.
00:48:40.060 He's one of our local hometown heroes.
00:48:42.520 His name is Cantrell.
00:48:43.420 He says, obstacles are optical illusions.
00:48:45.260 They're not really there.
00:48:46.140 Jump high anyway.
00:48:46.900 Jump high just in case.
00:48:48.300 Wow.
00:48:48.980 You're nonstop, aren't you?
00:48:50.400 Is he like this all the time?
00:48:52.460 From the moment he wakes up until he goes to sleep, he's like this.
00:48:55.760 He doesn't go to sleep.
00:48:56.460 There's a reason why he's got a big upside, and I'm glad to see more folks like you having
00:49:01.600 the courage to go out there.
00:49:02.460 King Randall, how can people find you?
00:49:05.460 Website, if you don't mind, kind of sharing that with them.
00:49:08.000 Absolutely.
00:49:08.540 You can go to xforboys.org.
00:49:10.200 That's T-H-E.
00:49:10.560 The letter X?
00:49:11.400 T-H-E.
00:49:12.260 The letter X.
00:49:12.960 F-O-R-B-O-Y-S.org. 1.00
00:49:15.180 And you can follow me at New Emerging King on all social media platforms.
00:49:18.100 We're going to put all those links below where people can find you.
00:49:21.540 Having said that, thank you so much for coming out and being a guest on Vaitya.
00:49:24.180 Thank you.
00:49:24.700 Absolutely.
00:49:24.940 Appreciate you.
00:49:25.360 You got it.
00:49:26.100 Tell me this is not an impressive young man.
00:49:28.000 I mean, think about it.
00:49:28.580 I told him afterwards.
00:49:29.280 I said, one day you're either going to be a mayor, senator, governor, president.
00:49:32.160 He's got that kind of a big upside if he stays humble, hungry, and focused.
00:49:35.860 But wish him nothing but the very best.
00:49:38.020 Curious to know what you took away from the interview.
00:49:39.680 Comment below.
00:49:40.500 Also, if you enjoyed this interview, I got two other ones for you.
00:49:42.620 One is with Colin Noor, who gave a complete different perspective on guns and Second Amendment.
00:49:48.100 And the other one is an interview I did with Jocko Willink maybe five years ago.
00:49:51.940 I don't know.
00:49:52.280 Maybe even five, six years ago.
00:49:54.020 If you've never seen that one, click over here to watch it as well.
00:49:56.600 Take care, everybody.
00:49:57.200 Bye-bye.