July 4, 2023 • 33 mins
Chavis Daniels played football for Coach Bill Courtney and was one of the accidental stars of the Oscar-winning film Undefeated. But that’s not why he’s a member of the Army. Chavis went on to found The North Memphis Steelers, a mentoring and athletics nonprofit that helps at-risk kids in the same challenging neighborhood where he grew up.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, everybody, it's Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks.
And now we continue with part two of our conversation
with Chaevin Staniels, my former player and the founder of
the North Memphis Steelers, a football, cheerleading and mentoring program
that's helped over a thousand kids in North Memphis. Right
after these brief messages from our general sponsors.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
My favorite story is probably on so many. I got
so many, but one that I can name is one
of my players that couldn't make a taie ceremony, a
grizzly prip and out of the blue that called me
like thirty minutes before the program and asked me, can
I substitute for his dad to go tie taphoon. This
(01:01):
is just a thing that they do to eight graders. Yes,
not even just like when you tell your tie they
make you. They say they make you a man, right,
I get it. So his father couldn't make it. It's
an inner city bar michigah, And that was just aesthetic
that I could make it. And I feel like there
was a thing and show you went and stood in
for the catch. I got on the I got on
(01:23):
the stage and tied his taphoon and you know he.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Was what that makes you feel like?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
It made me feel like it's still good people in
the world that don't expect anything but to show you
that you might get And I beat her for you.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
But beyond any sport, beyond whatever you do.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Realize that imprint will be on my child's mind the
rest of his life.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Right yeah, And hopefully if he make it, he gives
me some.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Playing And one and one more memory that I could
say was probably one of my best. It was recently
in manasas was one of our autistic players wanted to
run the football.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Hold it one of your autistic players? Of your players
as autism.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yes, and he always said he wanted to run the ball.
We were like, bro, we don't want you to get hurt.
So the last game of the season, we got with
the refs, we got with Tubles double A and asked
him could or we allow him to run the ball
run a touchdown?
Speaker 3 (02:22):
And you told the other team yeah, we talked the
other team and they was with it.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
So the last player of the game, they won the
game actually, and they allowed him to run a touchdown
and he was so happy.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
He felt like he just won a lottery.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
So would you handle the ball? And y'all ranged it
so that he could run run everybody to play with it.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
It was, it was. It was a crazy moment. Like
when I say, even the other fans were like cheering
for him, like we and and Manasa's haven't had that
many players, I mean, haven't had that many fans in
the game since we were there, and we had I know,
at least over two hundred people in the stands going
crazy about him getting the opportunity, and I thought that.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Was pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
What did he say afterwards?
Speaker 3 (03:07):
He was dancing.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
And our video went crazy, like it was just he
was happy that kids picked them up, you know, made
him just feel like he was like he was the champion,
like like we wanted him to.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Hey, I remember, I don't know when it was. It
was a few years ago. We were text about something
and you couldn't do something because you had like your
kids and a whole bunch of other kids right at
your house. What's that all about?
Speaker 2 (03:37):
We had, to this day, probably one of the most
all around athletic kids I ever coached. So he got
four siblings, so it's five of them, and they were
sleeping in their car they was homeless.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
They were homeless, and he or a mother and five.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Kids, a mother and five kids that were sleeping in
a four or sedan like not much room for it
was it was both. It was kind of like end
of spring into five times, so kind of.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Like both how could they eat or bathe?
Speaker 3 (04:09):
See this?
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Where?
Speaker 3 (04:10):
See this?
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Where?
Speaker 3 (04:11):
After after we figured it out.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
We was like, oh, so you didn't know it first. No,
we didn't know, like they hed it from us. So
one night she was yeah, and she was embarrassed. And
one night I don't know what happened, but she had
her kids at worker and we were and my mom
really liked this group, and she was like, what's going on,
Like why else kids not somewhere? You know, you at
work while your kids not somewhere sleep and you know,
(04:35):
but they all at Walmart in the car. So so
she got a job at she was doing she was
doing security, like the patroled a lot at night times.
It was an offen night job, I see.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
And so she did security patroling the Walmart with her
kids in the car.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
So me and my mom had we really cared about
these like this family. So my mom has like a
nice house so they stayed at in the garage, which
the garage is like a house, it's another house. They
had a shower in the Audit kind of like a
guest like a guest house, but it's kind of it's
a garage. So they stayed in there for like a
year a year, a year and couldn't pay nothing, but
(05:17):
they had like a real bedroom type environment.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
It was are they on their feet now?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
The kids stayed with their father now and I don't
know what what the other one was doing, so but yeah,
the kids, okay, they stay navvy now.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
But again, your mama opened up her house.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Man for a year free, rent free, and this lady
had a job.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
But it's not about her, it's about the kids, right.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
And my mom grew up rough too, so she understood
the everybody needs somebody sometimes. And I feel like that
alone just as a testament because I because I set
up here and said a lot of stuff about what
I did, But if it wasn't for my mom in
the village, like we couldn't did none of it. Not
(06:00):
one person can do it, not two people can do it.
And it truly takes a village, and growing up I never
understood it. But now I truly understand it. Even two
parent households need a village, no matter how we look
at it, like we got to have a village to
make it happen, and we were just a part of
somebody's village and hopefully they appreciate it. And even if
(06:22):
they didn't like, we still did it because that's what
we feel like we needed to do.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
You know, Chave, It's something that I had wrong when
I first started my work at Manassis that I learned
over that period of time and that now I've grown
actually really comfortable with, cause no matter how hard you try,
no matter what you do, some fall through the cracks.
(06:48):
And if you look at any activity get involved in
and you say, well, on this side of the ledger,
it's all the whims and on this the ledgers are
the losses, and if the winds don't outnumber the losses,
well then you consider your activity of failure. But the
(07:08):
truth is you can't look at it that way because
anytime you go into places that are really challenging, any
of the wins that are on the wind side of
the ledger wouldn't have happened had you not done the
work that you did. So any win makes the effort
productive and positive, and you have to accept there's going
(07:31):
to be some losses because it's you know, where there
are areas of need are the most difficult places to
work in. And so the point is you're not going
when you pull yourself up in your side, I am
going to be a person who's going to take on
the tough things and I am going to try to
make a difference to my community. You have to go
(07:52):
in understanding there's going to be losses, and there's going
to be plenty of them, and you can't you can't
exact positive effect on every single person you come into
contact with. But whatever effect positive effect you do have
would not have happened without the effort. So it is
a win. And so I guess what you said earlier
(08:15):
that you can't save everybody, But not saving everybody does
not make the effort unworthy. It's the saves that you
do get that make it one worthwhile. When did you
figure out that no matter how hard you try, or
no matter how hard you work, that they are gonna
(08:37):
be people that still fell in through the cracks, but
that that was okay because of the ones that didn't right.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
And I learned they listen.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Like the second year is when I put one thing
my mom taught me in the other seven years was
not never put all your eggs in one basket, meaning like,
if you got a good kid on your team, you
can never make the kid believe that they're bigger than
the team. And when I first started, I always did
(09:09):
it like if this was the best kid, I made
this kid feel like he was just bigger than it. Yeah,
and those same kids, I remember, like two hours before
a game, all the kids that I praised so much
and loved so much, they left my team and went
to another team, like two hours before kickoff.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
That break your heart.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
It broke my heart so much. It broke my heart
when kids left my team. But as I got further
into it, it was just like, maybe it's just me.
Maybe maybe people are doing what's best for their situation.
And the kid that I put the most blood, sweating
(09:54):
tears are the ones that still go go to juvenile
like I did. And most of those kids not even
bad kids. It's just the environment. And there's no excuse
because we still make our own decisions. But and one
thing I've learned is just like I've ran into so
many kids like I was. And the hardest thing I
(10:16):
think I've had to do is try to coach the
me out of a kid.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
The hardest thing you've had to do is try to
coach the you out of the kids your so because
you recognized it from your past, right.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
And I've had kids to walk off the field, throw
the helpt call me bes and hs and like literally
I've had to experience the same thing that I was
taking people through. Even with my son, like you know
sometimes like when he get in trouble at school, like
it's just you want those kids to be so good
that you willing to do whatever, and sometimes whatever it
(10:54):
ain't even good enough.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
So but that's and those losses like what am I
doing wrong? What's wrong? I remember feeling it too, But
then you always have to go back to but these
ken things that happened had I not been here.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Like yeah, with Kendle, he started off like real angry,
fighting and now he in the six were he going
to the seventh grade and like one of the most
respectful kids.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
And it's because you know it wouldn't have happened without.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Right, and you catch it before it get bad, and
you feel so good to see that this kid is
shining right now.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
So would you put up with ten kids leaving your
team and getting angry and calling your bees and everything
else for that one Kendle Yes, would you do it
all over again for that one?
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Man, this want this is my guy. And so just
that kids know that you care about them, kids still
reach out to me. I got kids just going to
Vision one college football right now. We got seniors this
going Ricky Ricky Ism plays for Central High School, the
number three receiver in the state right now, and he
(12:07):
got like six offers on the table, like from Marshall
and Bethune cooked me and stuff like that, and just
things like that are will make it worthwhile. Like yeah,
so in reality, like we know we can't save everyone,
but it's different when we don't try. And like I said,
I'm just trying. And if the best player that I
(12:28):
just had, he been on house of risk, he been
on house a risk, he had an aggravated robbery last year.
I literally talked to this probation officer got him off
the House a risk monitor just to get him to Manacas.
And after the season he go back to the same thing.
Like one of the best talents for sure in manasas
right now, and he's a ninth grader and it kills you,
(12:50):
and he kills me because his best friend just got killed.
And the way that he living, like, you know, is
you never know, you know. And a lot of this
start at home. Everything starts at home, if you ask me,
you know. And sometimes parents got to hold themselves accountable
for some of the stuff that their kids are doing
(13:11):
because a lot of the still start at home. And
we're just a village. And imagine trying to coach your kid.
You don't want him to smoke, but he can smoke
at home with his mom.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
So it make it like when you smoke, you don't
want your team getting into the alcohol and smoking weeds,
right right, and so that's your rule. But then he
can go home and smoke with his mom. So yeah,
so it's just like how do you fight that you can't? Right?
But the point is you can have a hundred of
those losses, but the one win.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
It make you feel good. It make you feel accomplished.
It makes you feel accomplished. For sure, We'll be right back.
And like I out of these seven years, I feel accomplished.
Like every year I went to a super Bowl. I
got like six championship rings. I got two national rings.
(14:09):
It ain't even about it, like you know, because they
ain't even what.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
It's not about the ring. It's about their accomplishment.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Accomplishment and the experience more than anything. Right, being able
to take kids that have never been out of Nor
Memphis to beaches and to ride on charter buses like
you did for us.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
A lot of people won't ever get their experience.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
But shout out to just wings as well, like they
they gave us an opportunity. They gave us a ten
thousand dollars sponsorship two years ago. They put us on
a coach bus. We went to so in the cities
like and it's just it's kids that never been to
a beach.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Well, they get to see a world outside North Memphis
to think about the possibilities.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Right, and going to Florida and just showing kids just
different and having fun and just you know what I'm saying,
them understanding this, somebody really cares about. I'm just blizzed, coach,
and I'm just thankful that I had people like you.
I had people like my mom, I had people like
(15:08):
one of my little lead coaches I was just thankful
that I had people like y'all did. I had a
patience to work with me, and although it might seem
that like I wouldn't listen to it, I was always
listening and I was always taking heed to things, even
though like I really didn't act like I accepted it,
but I just didn't apply myself. And I'm just thankful
(15:29):
for people like y'all did helped me get to this
point in my life.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Vis is gonna be hundreds of kids from Doroth Memphis
who are gonna say the same thing about you one day.
I'm proud of you, buddy. I'm being proud of what
you've done. I'm being I'm proud of all my former
players that have volunteered their time to be assistant coaches
and everything with you. And since you started this and
(15:55):
every time we're together, which is pretty often, or we
talk or text or whatever, something I hear you say
a lot is that it's important to me that people
see that everything going on in North Memphis is not bad.
And I'm much to be real candid. What I garner
from that is it pains you that if you're a
(16:19):
black male from North Memphis and people outside North Memphis.
See a black male from North Memphis, they automatically assume
the worst. Speak to that a little bit, speak to
speak to what your concern is there, because I know you,
and I know that's not a chip on your shoulder.
That's a real, live concern that you have. And and
(16:42):
before you start, you can substitute North Memphis for East
Saint Louis, Detroit, Baltimore. Parts of any large city in
this country has these areas that are populated by lots
of young, many times lower income black folks, and people
(17:07):
automatically assume that what they see sensationalized on the news
or TV shows or movies is the reality. And that
bothers you, right, But now with a chip on your show,
that bothers your heart.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Yeah, it bothers me because like now that I've grown
up and I surround myself with certain things, I don't
I don't get that everybody's violent or everybody's always angry,
because that's not true. I wake up every day and
go to a school where there's some great kids.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
They just.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
They've been guided wrong.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
And what hurts me the most is like I can
walk in the room and I got an armful of tattoos,
and people are looking at me like, oh, well, he
just you know this way, but I.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Can what do you mean the right?
Speaker 2 (17:56):
They can just see I got tattoos and think I'm
just a thug, or they just think.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Tattoos right and pretty ugly.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Right, and they just and they think and they just
think we just violent out it. But and a lot
of times, being honest, like we give people reasons to
feel that way because so much, so much crazy stuff
is happening these days, Like we give people the reason
to say, well, yeah, black people are always this way
because look what we're doing to each other especially, And
(18:29):
every day I wake up, I try to surround myself
with people that's already in the direction or trying to
go to direction there I'm trying to go. So, for instance,
I wake up around young men that want to help
the youth. And every day literally I'm around positivity. And
most of the times we all what we surround ourself with,
(18:50):
and most time we surrounded ourselves with the wrong people,
and we're making these poor decisions and nobody want to
hold each other accountable. And that's what kind of angers me,
is that we always complain about why people say things
about black people is because.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Guess what, let's let's be realistic.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
We do so much to ourselves and like I just
I just hate it that we won't hold ourselves accountable.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Enough, and so you're trying to change that, and.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
I want to and like I want to show people that, man,
I ain't just in it for money or I ain't
in it to capitalize. I'm in it to truly, Like
my heart is truly in the middle of North Memphis.
People always ask me why I was in a movie.
I don't have security around me in nor Memphis, but
I don't live there. I don't live that type of life.
(19:44):
So I don't go around feeling like somebody trying to
hurt me, or I don't you go around trying to
feel like I'm trying to hurt somebody, because this is
not what I'm doing. Like people see me literally every
day I'm speaking positivity into people, not just kids, like
people my age. I try my best to help go
in the right direction, Like it's not what you do,
(20:04):
it's how you do it. And I just want to
be a vessel in the community and just be a
part of the collective and show people did all people
not money harder.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
All people not have to.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Get over on you or you know, and it's people
that genuinely care about the community. And I'm one of
those people. Did literally like my heart. Everything I do,
I do with my heart. And sometimes I feel like
it go unappreciate it. But most times like it don't
even matter because I know for a fake the reason
(20:37):
I do it, my intentions up here and like I
know the reason I'm doing it, Like I'm really out
here trying my biscuit, and it's a lot of people
out here that ain't trying to do nothing. We can
complain so much about what's going on, but what are
you doing to change it? What are we doing to
change it? Like we get we got to hold ourselfs
(20:57):
accountable and it soul such I say it was an excess,
Like what's the real problem? When can we look in
a mirror and say, I'm complaining about these but I
I'm not doing anything about it. So what am I
complying for?
Speaker 1 (21:10):
So you you're helping kids, You're helping male and female kids.
You're bringing in your teammates to coach, You're trying not
just to change the kids, but change minds about the
minds of people who look into North Memphis to see
what's going on there. And then you decided, well, I'm
(21:34):
gonna do this football thing. I'm gonna help these kids.
Now you're back at the NASAs working with those kids
of NASAs. You trying to keep your old teammates that
are your age now engaged in positive stuff. But you
still it still hurts your heart that people look into
your neighborhood and assume they know who they're looking at,
(21:56):
when sure, there's some bad going on in tough neighborhood,
but there's a lot of good too. So then you
decide you're going to start a thing called we Not Me,
We Not Me TV. Okay, what if we not meet TV?
Speaker 2 (22:08):
We Not Me as a platform that I came up with,
and it's basically about the news promote so much negativity.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
You mean the people on Fox and CNN, of the
tides that talk all the big spot words, the ones,
the ones that aren't on folks.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Right, because it's a lot of positive stuff going on.
I got a friend that has a fool being is
this they played for announcers? There has a fool being
this upcoming. I got a guy, Tony Bell that I
played football. We has a community center, like a real
community center, like stuff that people need to know about,
like you boxing. Like when we grew up, we had
stuff to do, Like we could go to a community center,
(22:49):
we could go play football with our friends. We had
a lot of stuff to do. And there's so many
people that I'm around every day that's doing so much
positive things, and people don't talk about this. So We
Not Meet TV is just a platform where we can
shine the light on the positive things going on. So
what I do is go around with kids, with the kids.
(23:11):
It's a fun we do with your players, with my players,
and we give back to the homeless. We teach kids.
It's bigger than just sports. It's not all about sports.
And We Not Meet TV is a platform where you
can come here and we can grow together. We not
me meaning everybody see me doing it, But it's bigger
than just me. It's about we. It's about the collectives.
(23:33):
And I feel like I want to start a platform
where where you come to my platform and it helps
you grow. Or we can do a sit down podcast
and you can let them sit and know what kind
of positive things you're doing or safe for instance, we
record football guys for high school players. They don't even
(23:55):
have to be a announce. They don't have to be
nobody that I'm familiar with. I go to a Germantown
guy and the player of the game, I gotta feel excess,
and I go on the sideline and do an interview,
like to make a kid understand it. This could be
all the time for you. If you're good enough. When
you go to school, you're gonna have to learn how
(24:16):
to talk in front of cameras and stuff like this.
So it's just like small things that make up the
bigger picture.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
We'll be right back. So we not me. You spend
time away from Banasa's wait the extra time you have,
and you go around highlighting all the positive things going
(24:46):
on in north like so if you got and it
could be a business, it could be a kid doing
something well, it could be somebody helping the elderly.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
It could be any anything.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
I was just trying to go around positive. We not me,
to change the perception of the people of exactly how's
it going so far? Man?
Speaker 2 (25:06):
We hit a million views three times, and it's just like,
it's not about race, it's not about tender it's not
about political beliefs. It's not about any of those things.
It's about the real, uncut, every day positive things going on.
And when I say, everyone that I'm in contact with
(25:27):
every day feels like this is the platform I want
to be on.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Are you having people now reach out to you say hey,
I want to be.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
On We not, Yes, I have if I don't know
if you guys know. But Mario Bradley, his name is
Grove Hero.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
He is not a rapper.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
Yeah he got the hand, he got the little missed
up hand and he's.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
The little messed up hand got. Yeah, he got a hand.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
And he's the guy that he just did a Christmas
giveaway for over ten thousand people, just gave away free
gifts to kids.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Had all over North Memphis, all over.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
The city, just nor Memphis, like all of So I
went out and profiled him. I just went out and
did a short video with money Bag Yo and Quinn
Bonhanna the Memphis Cowboys.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
What is that? It's the money.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Rapper, he's like the one of the biggest represented And
who's the cowboy thing Quentin Bonhana, He's he the starring
d tackle for the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
I got it.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
They did a giveaway.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
These guys from Memphis, Yeah, yeah, they're from it. And
so because people like me don't know nothing about all that,
so that you went it on We Not TV, We
Not Me DV.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
And you know how many people loved him and we
can get ten twenty thousand views just off them reaching
out to me to follow them.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
And so not only are you coaching little kids north
of Steelers, you're working them in Nassas. You're including all
the players around you. Now you've started this We Not
Me platform to highlight the good things going around, right,
and we got and I got to ask you one
more time, who told you to do this?
Speaker 3 (26:58):
This is somebody came.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Oh I posted with my first video from We Not
Meet TV hit one point five million views and a.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Month So Chavis, the point is what keeps anybody from
anywhere in this country from doing the same thing in
their communities.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
No excuses. I just try.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
That's all I'm doing is trying and trying, trying, obviously
trying his work.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
So I'm just trying.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
And when I say, most of these videos I record
from my phone, but I got iPhone thirteen and the
videos are just crazy. And I'm like I said, I'm
just learning new stuff. I'm learning how to do graphic design.
I'm learning how to make logos. I'm just all over
the place trying my best to just not be out
or not be doing anything. I'm tired of hearing about
(27:47):
us killing each other, because it's a lot of us
out here helping each other. If I got an opportunity
and my friend struggling, I try my best to, like,
you know, even if it's just a word of mouth,
even if it's just doing it, it's on the platform
and saying that I see you and I see the positive.
Because most of these people I'm talking about here rough
upbringings just like we all did, and they ain't making
(28:10):
no excuses. They going out and making it happen and
providing for their kids. And I want to advertise like
it's black fathers that really take care of their kids.
I know so many black fathers just active every day.
I got five children, then I'm active in all five
of their lives. So I want people to notice because
like the picture of a lot of people pain of us,
(28:31):
it's not really us.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
So let me get this strike. North Memphis has got
an army and normal folks just trying to do good things.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Right, the army of normal folks just trying to make
a difference. And sometimes a lot of people their fire
inside them is extinguished because they feel like no one cares.
The fire that burn inside of us to do the
right thing is put out because like people already got
this narrative of who we are are and.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
It's not like it.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
So what I'm trying to do with we not Meet
TV is way bigger than just chaves from Undefeated. It's
made bigger than changed from the Northman f Stillings is
about not even just mythis like anywhere, who can see
a post that I post of me being a daddy
to my kids, or me posting my little daughter able
(29:24):
saying inspirational words to other kids, Like I want people
to see those type of things because it's so much
good going on, y'all. Did a lot of people are
just overlooking or don't even just or simply just don't
know about it. And I want to shine a light.
And I want to be a vessel to like shine
my light on the good things and not just our nigga.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
One of the things on an army of normal folks
that we do as we're finishing up here is everybody.
All of my guests give their contact information. I give
my contact information. We all give contact information because the
idea behind our arm or normal folks, is that we
want to create a movement of an army of people
across this country just seeing places of need just like
(30:11):
you have and saying hey, I have a certain talent
in this area and I can help. So all of
our guests have given out their information. So here it is.
If anybody hears this and is inspired by what you've
done with the football and the work of a Nassis
and we Not need TV any or all of it,
they want to reach out because they want to start,
but they want to hear some guidance from you. Or
(30:35):
if anybody listening wants to help out the North Memphis
Steelers or the We Not Need platform and reach out
to work with Chaevis, donate to Chaevs or help him
in these pursuits. How do they get in touch with
Chevis Daniels.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
I do a social media I do Facebook. All of
it is my name Shaves Daniels. We not meet tv
is on individual platform. I me TV on Facebook, We
not me TV on Instagram.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
And so when people can reach out to you through
those channels and you will respond.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Yes, yes, yes, will I will respond.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
And like I said, we've been kind of We've been
having a lot of positive things, guys, and it's so
much that could happen. I'm just I'm here for it,
and I'm just locked in and focused on what's nicks
because I'm so tired of people talking about undefeated. So
we got to think about the next day.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
This Chavid Daniels, as I've said three times, I'm proud
of you, and you know I love you. I love you,
and Shavish, you're making a difference. And to think of
the skinny, little impetuous ninth grader that showed up at
Manassas and look at the man now who's making such
(31:51):
an imprint in a neighborhood who so desperately needs all
the positive I am uh, I'm inspired, I'm honored, I'm
proud of you, and I love you. And you are,
without a doubt a member of the army of normal folks.
And the beauty of it is all the work you're
(32:11):
doing will just help grow that army. And it doesn't
matter if you're in a wealthy neighborhood and a suburb
or in North Memphis with the demographics that you all heard.
All you got to do is have a heart, some humility,
and a little effort and you can make a difference.
(32:33):
And you are thanks for being with me, Chavis.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
I appreciate the opportunity, Coach.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
And thank you for joining us this week. If Chavis
or another guest has inspired you to take action in
your community, please let us know. I'd love to hear
about it. You can write me anytime at Bill at
normalfolks dot us and I will respond to you. And
if you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the podcast, rate it,
(33:04):
review it, share it friends, and on social do all
the things you can to help us grow an army
of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney. I'll see you next week.
Hey, everybody, it's Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks.
And now we continue with part two of our conversation
with Chaevin Staniels, my former player and the founder of
the North Memphis Steelers, a football, cheerleading and mentoring program
that's helped over a thousand kids in North Memphis. Right
after these brief messages from our general sponsors.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
My favorite story is probably on so many. I got
so many, but one that I can name is one
of my players that couldn't make a taie ceremony, a
grizzly prip and out of the blue that called me
like thirty minutes before the program and asked me, can
I substitute for his dad to go tie taphoon. This
(01:01):
is just a thing that they do to eight graders. Yes,
not even just like when you tell your tie they
make you. They say they make you a man, right,
I get it. So his father couldn't make it. It's
an inner city bar michigah, And that was just aesthetic
that I could make it. And I feel like there
was a thing and show you went and stood in
for the catch. I got on the I got on
(01:23):
the stage and tied his taphoon and you know he.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Was what that makes you feel like?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
It made me feel like it's still good people in
the world that don't expect anything but to show you
that you might get And I beat her for you.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
But beyond any sport, beyond whatever you do.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Realize that imprint will be on my child's mind the
rest of his life.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Right yeah, And hopefully if he make it, he gives
me some.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Playing And one and one more memory that I could
say was probably one of my best. It was recently
in manasas was one of our autistic players wanted to
run the football.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Hold it one of your autistic players? Of your players
as autism.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yes, and he always said he wanted to run the ball.
We were like, bro, we don't want you to get hurt.
So the last game of the season, we got with
the refs, we got with Tubles double A and asked
him could or we allow him to run the ball
run a touchdown?
Speaker 3 (02:22):
And you told the other team yeah, we talked the
other team and they was with it.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
So the last player of the game, they won the
game actually, and they allowed him to run a touchdown
and he was so happy.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
He felt like he just won a lottery.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
So would you handle the ball? And y'all ranged it
so that he could run run everybody to play with it.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
It was, it was. It was a crazy moment. Like
when I say, even the other fans were like cheering
for him, like we and and Manasa's haven't had that
many players, I mean, haven't had that many fans in
the game since we were there, and we had I know,
at least over two hundred people in the stands going
crazy about him getting the opportunity, and I thought that.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Was pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
What did he say afterwards?
Speaker 3 (03:07):
He was dancing.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
And our video went crazy, like it was just he
was happy that kids picked them up, you know, made
him just feel like he was like he was the champion,
like like we wanted him to.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Hey, I remember, I don't know when it was. It
was a few years ago. We were text about something
and you couldn't do something because you had like your
kids and a whole bunch of other kids right at
your house. What's that all about?
Speaker 2 (03:37):
We had, to this day, probably one of the most
all around athletic kids I ever coached. So he got
four siblings, so it's five of them, and they were
sleeping in their car they was homeless.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
They were homeless, and he or a mother and five.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Kids, a mother and five kids that were sleeping in
a four or sedan like not much room for it
was it was both. It was kind of like end
of spring into five times, so kind of.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Like both how could they eat or bathe?
Speaker 3 (04:09):
See this?
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Where?
Speaker 3 (04:10):
See this?
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Where?
Speaker 3 (04:11):
After after we figured it out.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
We was like, oh, so you didn't know it first. No,
we didn't know, like they hed it from us. So
one night she was yeah, and she was embarrassed. And
one night I don't know what happened, but she had
her kids at worker and we were and my mom
really liked this group, and she was like, what's going on,
Like why else kids not somewhere? You know, you at
work while your kids not somewhere sleep and you know,
(04:35):
but they all at Walmart in the car. So so
she got a job at she was doing she was
doing security, like the patroled a lot at night times.
It was an offen night job, I see.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
And so she did security patroling the Walmart with her
kids in the car.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
So me and my mom had we really cared about
these like this family. So my mom has like a
nice house so they stayed at in the garage, which
the garage is like a house, it's another house. They
had a shower in the Audit kind of like a
guest like a guest house, but it's kind of it's
a garage. So they stayed in there for like a
year a year, a year and couldn't pay nothing, but
(05:17):
they had like a real bedroom type environment.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
It was are they on their feet now?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
The kids stayed with their father now and I don't
know what what the other one was doing, so but yeah,
the kids, okay, they stay navvy now.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
But again, your mama opened up her house.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Man for a year free, rent free, and this lady
had a job.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
But it's not about her, it's about the kids, right.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
And my mom grew up rough too, so she understood
the everybody needs somebody sometimes. And I feel like that
alone just as a testament because I because I set
up here and said a lot of stuff about what
I did, But if it wasn't for my mom in
the village, like we couldn't did none of it. Not
(06:00):
one person can do it, not two people can do it.
And it truly takes a village, and growing up I never
understood it. But now I truly understand it. Even two
parent households need a village, no matter how we look
at it, like we got to have a village to
make it happen, and we were just a part of
somebody's village and hopefully they appreciate it. And even if
(06:22):
they didn't like, we still did it because that's what
we feel like we needed to do.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
You know, Chave, It's something that I had wrong when
I first started my work at Manassis that I learned
over that period of time and that now I've grown
actually really comfortable with, cause no matter how hard you try,
no matter what you do, some fall through the cracks.
(06:48):
And if you look at any activity get involved in
and you say, well, on this side of the ledger,
it's all the whims and on this the ledgers are
the losses, and if the winds don't outnumber the losses,
well then you consider your activity of failure. But the
(07:08):
truth is you can't look at it that way because
anytime you go into places that are really challenging, any
of the wins that are on the wind side of
the ledger wouldn't have happened had you not done the
work that you did. So any win makes the effort
productive and positive, and you have to accept there's going
(07:31):
to be some losses because it's you know, where there
are areas of need are the most difficult places to
work in. And so the point is you're not going
when you pull yourself up in your side, I am
going to be a person who's going to take on
the tough things and I am going to try to
make a difference to my community. You have to go
(07:52):
in understanding there's going to be losses, and there's going
to be plenty of them, and you can't you can't
exact positive effect on every single person you come into
contact with. But whatever effect positive effect you do have
would not have happened without the effort. So it is
a win. And so I guess what you said earlier
(08:15):
that you can't save everybody, But not saving everybody does
not make the effort unworthy. It's the saves that you
do get that make it one worthwhile. When did you
figure out that no matter how hard you try, or
no matter how hard you work, that they are gonna
(08:37):
be people that still fell in through the cracks, but
that that was okay because of the ones that didn't right.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
And I learned they listen.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Like the second year is when I put one thing
my mom taught me in the other seven years was
not never put all your eggs in one basket, meaning like,
if you got a good kid on your team, you
can never make the kid believe that they're bigger than
the team. And when I first started, I always did
(09:09):
it like if this was the best kid, I made
this kid feel like he was just bigger than it. Yeah,
and those same kids, I remember, like two hours before
a game, all the kids that I praised so much
and loved so much, they left my team and went
to another team, like two hours before kickoff.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
That break your heart.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
It broke my heart so much. It broke my heart
when kids left my team. But as I got further
into it, it was just like, maybe it's just me.
Maybe maybe people are doing what's best for their situation.
And the kid that I put the most blood, sweating
(09:54):
tears are the ones that still go go to juvenile
like I did. And most of those kids not even
bad kids. It's just the environment. And there's no excuse
because we still make our own decisions. But and one
thing I've learned is just like I've ran into so
many kids like I was. And the hardest thing I
(10:16):
think I've had to do is try to coach the
me out of a kid.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
The hardest thing you've had to do is try to
coach the you out of the kids your so because
you recognized it from your past, right.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
And I've had kids to walk off the field, throw
the helpt call me bes and hs and like literally
I've had to experience the same thing that I was
taking people through. Even with my son, like you know
sometimes like when he get in trouble at school, like
it's just you want those kids to be so good
that you willing to do whatever, and sometimes whatever it
(10:54):
ain't even good enough.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
So but that's and those losses like what am I
doing wrong? What's wrong? I remember feeling it too, But
then you always have to go back to but these
ken things that happened had I not been here.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Like yeah, with Kendle, he started off like real angry,
fighting and now he in the six were he going
to the seventh grade and like one of the most
respectful kids.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
And it's because you know it wouldn't have happened without.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Right, and you catch it before it get bad, and
you feel so good to see that this kid is
shining right now.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
So would you put up with ten kids leaving your
team and getting angry and calling your bees and everything
else for that one Kendle Yes, would you do it
all over again for that one?
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Man, this want this is my guy. And so just
that kids know that you care about them, kids still
reach out to me. I got kids just going to
Vision one college football right now. We got seniors this
going Ricky Ricky Ism plays for Central High School, the
number three receiver in the state right now, and he
(12:07):
got like six offers on the table, like from Marshall
and Bethune cooked me and stuff like that, and just
things like that are will make it worthwhile. Like yeah,
so in reality, like we know we can't save everyone,
but it's different when we don't try. And like I said,
I'm just trying. And if the best player that I
(12:28):
just had, he been on house of risk, he been
on house a risk, he had an aggravated robbery last year.
I literally talked to this probation officer got him off
the House a risk monitor just to get him to Manacas.
And after the season he go back to the same thing.
Like one of the best talents for sure in manasas
right now, and he's a ninth grader and it kills you,
(12:50):
and he kills me because his best friend just got killed.
And the way that he living, like, you know, is
you never know, you know. And a lot of this
start at home. Everything starts at home, if you ask me,
you know. And sometimes parents got to hold themselves accountable
for some of the stuff that their kids are doing
(13:11):
because a lot of the still start at home. And
we're just a village. And imagine trying to coach your kid.
You don't want him to smoke, but he can smoke
at home with his mom.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
So it make it like when you smoke, you don't
want your team getting into the alcohol and smoking weeds,
right right, and so that's your rule. But then he
can go home and smoke with his mom. So yeah,
so it's just like how do you fight that you can't? Right?
But the point is you can have a hundred of
those losses, but the one win.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
It make you feel good. It make you feel accomplished.
It makes you feel accomplished. For sure, We'll be right back.
And like I out of these seven years, I feel accomplished.
Like every year I went to a super Bowl. I
got like six championship rings. I got two national rings.
(14:09):
It ain't even about it, like you know, because they
ain't even what.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
It's not about the ring. It's about their accomplishment.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Accomplishment and the experience more than anything. Right, being able
to take kids that have never been out of Nor
Memphis to beaches and to ride on charter buses like
you did for us.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
A lot of people won't ever get their experience.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
But shout out to just wings as well, like they
they gave us an opportunity. They gave us a ten
thousand dollars sponsorship two years ago. They put us on
a coach bus. We went to so in the cities
like and it's just it's kids that never been to
a beach.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Well, they get to see a world outside North Memphis
to think about the possibilities.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Right, and going to Florida and just showing kids just
different and having fun and just you know what I'm saying,
them understanding this, somebody really cares about. I'm just blizzed, coach,
and I'm just thankful that I had people like you.
I had people like my mom, I had people like
(15:08):
one of my little lead coaches I was just thankful
that I had people like y'all did. I had a
patience to work with me, and although it might seem
that like I wouldn't listen to it, I was always
listening and I was always taking heed to things, even
though like I really didn't act like I accepted it,
but I just didn't apply myself. And I'm just thankful
(15:29):
for people like y'all did helped me get to this
point in my life.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Vis is gonna be hundreds of kids from Doroth Memphis
who are gonna say the same thing about you one day.
I'm proud of you, buddy. I'm being proud of what
you've done. I'm being I'm proud of all my former
players that have volunteered their time to be assistant coaches
and everything with you. And since you started this and
(15:55):
every time we're together, which is pretty often, or we
talk or text or whatever, something I hear you say
a lot is that it's important to me that people
see that everything going on in North Memphis is not bad.
And I'm much to be real candid. What I garner
from that is it pains you that if you're a
(16:19):
black male from North Memphis and people outside North Memphis.
See a black male from North Memphis, they automatically assume
the worst. Speak to that a little bit, speak to
speak to what your concern is there, because I know you,
and I know that's not a chip on your shoulder.
That's a real, live concern that you have. And and
(16:42):
before you start, you can substitute North Memphis for East
Saint Louis, Detroit, Baltimore. Parts of any large city in
this country has these areas that are populated by lots
of young, many times lower income black folks, and people
(17:07):
automatically assume that what they see sensationalized on the news
or TV shows or movies is the reality. And that
bothers you, right, But now with a chip on your show,
that bothers your heart.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Yeah, it bothers me because like now that I've grown
up and I surround myself with certain things, I don't
I don't get that everybody's violent or everybody's always angry,
because that's not true. I wake up every day and
go to a school where there's some great kids.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
They just.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
They've been guided wrong.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
And what hurts me the most is like I can
walk in the room and I got an armful of tattoos,
and people are looking at me like, oh, well, he
just you know this way, but I.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Can what do you mean the right?
Speaker 2 (17:56):
They can just see I got tattoos and think I'm
just a thug, or they just think.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Tattoos right and pretty ugly.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Right, and they just and they think and they just
think we just violent out it. But and a lot
of times, being honest, like we give people reasons to
feel that way because so much, so much crazy stuff
is happening these days, Like we give people the reason
to say, well, yeah, black people are always this way
because look what we're doing to each other especially, And
(18:29):
every day I wake up, I try to surround myself
with people that's already in the direction or trying to
go to direction there I'm trying to go. So, for instance,
I wake up around young men that want to help
the youth. And every day literally I'm around positivity. And
most of the times we all what we surround ourself with,
(18:50):
and most time we surrounded ourselves with the wrong people,
and we're making these poor decisions and nobody want to
hold each other accountable. And that's what kind of angers me,
is that we always complain about why people say things
about black people is because.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Guess what, let's let's be realistic.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
We do so much to ourselves and like I just
I just hate it that we won't hold ourselves accountable.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Enough, and so you're trying to change that, and.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
I want to and like I want to show people that, man,
I ain't just in it for money or I ain't
in it to capitalize. I'm in it to truly, Like
my heart is truly in the middle of North Memphis.
People always ask me why I was in a movie.
I don't have security around me in nor Memphis, but
I don't live there. I don't live that type of life.
(19:44):
So I don't go around feeling like somebody trying to
hurt me, or I don't you go around trying to
feel like I'm trying to hurt somebody, because this is
not what I'm doing. Like people see me literally every
day I'm speaking positivity into people, not just kids, like
people my age. I try my best to help go
in the right direction, Like it's not what you do,
(20:04):
it's how you do it. And I just want to
be a vessel in the community and just be a
part of the collective and show people did all people
not money harder.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
All people not have to.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Get over on you or you know, and it's people
that genuinely care about the community. And I'm one of
those people. Did literally like my heart. Everything I do,
I do with my heart. And sometimes I feel like
it go unappreciate it. But most times like it don't
even matter because I know for a fake the reason
(20:37):
I do it, my intentions up here and like I
know the reason I'm doing it, Like I'm really out
here trying my biscuit, and it's a lot of people
out here that ain't trying to do nothing. We can
complain so much about what's going on, but what are
you doing to change it? What are we doing to
change it? Like we get we got to hold ourselfs
(20:57):
accountable and it soul such I say it was an excess,
Like what's the real problem? When can we look in
a mirror and say, I'm complaining about these but I
I'm not doing anything about it. So what am I
complying for?
Speaker 1 (21:10):
So you you're helping kids, You're helping male and female kids.
You're bringing in your teammates to coach, You're trying not
just to change the kids, but change minds about the
minds of people who look into North Memphis to see
what's going on there. And then you decided, well, I'm
(21:34):
gonna do this football thing. I'm gonna help these kids.
Now you're back at the NASAs working with those kids
of NASAs. You trying to keep your old teammates that
are your age now engaged in positive stuff. But you
still it still hurts your heart that people look into
your neighborhood and assume they know who they're looking at,
(21:56):
when sure, there's some bad going on in tough neighborhood,
but there's a lot of good too. So then you
decide you're going to start a thing called we Not Me,
We Not Me TV. Okay, what if we not meet TV?
Speaker 2 (22:08):
We Not Me as a platform that I came up with,
and it's basically about the news promote so much negativity.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
You mean the people on Fox and CNN, of the
tides that talk all the big spot words, the ones,
the ones that aren't on folks.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Right, because it's a lot of positive stuff going on.
I got a friend that has a fool being is
this they played for announcers? There has a fool being
this upcoming. I got a guy, Tony Bell that I
played football. We has a community center, like a real
community center, like stuff that people need to know about,
like you boxing. Like when we grew up, we had
stuff to do, Like we could go to a community center,
(22:49):
we could go play football with our friends. We had
a lot of stuff to do. And there's so many
people that I'm around every day that's doing so much
positive things, and people don't talk about this. So We
Not Meet TV is just a platform where we can
shine the light on the positive things going on. So
what I do is go around with kids, with the kids.
(23:11):
It's a fun we do with your players, with my players,
and we give back to the homeless. We teach kids.
It's bigger than just sports. It's not all about sports.
And We Not Meet TV is a platform where you
can come here and we can grow together. We not
me meaning everybody see me doing it, But it's bigger
than just me. It's about we. It's about the collectives.
(23:33):
And I feel like I want to start a platform
where where you come to my platform and it helps
you grow. Or we can do a sit down podcast
and you can let them sit and know what kind
of positive things you're doing or safe for instance, we
record football guys for high school players. They don't even
(23:55):
have to be a announce. They don't have to be
nobody that I'm familiar with. I go to a Germantown
guy and the player of the game, I gotta feel excess,
and I go on the sideline and do an interview,
like to make a kid understand it. This could be
all the time for you. If you're good enough. When
you go to school, you're gonna have to learn how
(24:16):
to talk in front of cameras and stuff like this.
So it's just like small things that make up the
bigger picture.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
We'll be right back. So we not me. You spend
time away from Banasa's wait the extra time you have,
and you go around highlighting all the positive things going
(24:46):
on in north like so if you got and it
could be a business, it could be a kid doing
something well, it could be somebody helping the elderly.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
It could be any anything.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
I was just trying to go around positive. We not me,
to change the perception of the people of exactly how's
it going so far? Man?
Speaker 2 (25:06):
We hit a million views three times, and it's just like,
it's not about race, it's not about tender it's not
about political beliefs. It's not about any of those things.
It's about the real, uncut, every day positive things going on.
And when I say, everyone that I'm in contact with
(25:27):
every day feels like this is the platform I want
to be on.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Are you having people now reach out to you say hey,
I want to be.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
On We not, Yes, I have if I don't know
if you guys know. But Mario Bradley, his name is
Grove Hero.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
He is not a rapper.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
Yeah he got the hand, he got the little missed
up hand and he's.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
The little messed up hand got. Yeah, he got a hand.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
And he's the guy that he just did a Christmas
giveaway for over ten thousand people, just gave away free
gifts to kids.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Had all over North Memphis, all over.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
The city, just nor Memphis, like all of So I
went out and profiled him. I just went out and
did a short video with money Bag Yo and Quinn
Bonhanna the Memphis Cowboys.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
What is that? It's the money.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Rapper, he's like the one of the biggest represented And
who's the cowboy thing Quentin Bonhana, He's he the starring
d tackle for the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
I got it.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
They did a giveaway.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
These guys from Memphis, Yeah, yeah, they're from it. And
so because people like me don't know nothing about all that,
so that you went it on We Not TV, We
Not Me DV.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
And you know how many people loved him and we
can get ten twenty thousand views just off them reaching
out to me to follow them.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
And so not only are you coaching little kids north
of Steelers, you're working them in Nassas. You're including all
the players around you. Now you've started this We Not
Me platform to highlight the good things going around, right,
and we got and I got to ask you one
more time, who told you to do this?
Speaker 3 (26:58):
This is somebody came.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Oh I posted with my first video from We Not
Meet TV hit one point five million views and a.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Month So Chavis, the point is what keeps anybody from
anywhere in this country from doing the same thing in
their communities.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
No excuses. I just try.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
That's all I'm doing is trying and trying, trying, obviously
trying his work.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
So I'm just trying.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
And when I say, most of these videos I record
from my phone, but I got iPhone thirteen and the
videos are just crazy. And I'm like I said, I'm
just learning new stuff. I'm learning how to do graphic design.
I'm learning how to make logos. I'm just all over
the place trying my best to just not be out
or not be doing anything. I'm tired of hearing about
(27:47):
us killing each other, because it's a lot of us
out here helping each other. If I got an opportunity
and my friend struggling, I try my best to, like,
you know, even if it's just a word of mouth,
even if it's just doing it, it's on the platform
and saying that I see you and I see the positive.
Because most of these people I'm talking about here rough
upbringings just like we all did, and they ain't making
(28:10):
no excuses. They going out and making it happen and
providing for their kids. And I want to advertise like
it's black fathers that really take care of their kids.
I know so many black fathers just active every day.
I got five children, then I'm active in all five
of their lives. So I want people to notice because
like the picture of a lot of people pain of us,
(28:31):
it's not really us.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
So let me get this strike. North Memphis has got
an army and normal folks just trying to do good things.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Right, the army of normal folks just trying to make
a difference. And sometimes a lot of people their fire
inside them is extinguished because they feel like no one cares.
The fire that burn inside of us to do the
right thing is put out because like people already got
this narrative of who we are are and.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
It's not like it.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
So what I'm trying to do with we not Meet
TV is way bigger than just chaves from Undefeated. It's
made bigger than changed from the Northman f Stillings is
about not even just mythis like anywhere, who can see
a post that I post of me being a daddy
to my kids, or me posting my little daughter able
(29:24):
saying inspirational words to other kids, Like I want people
to see those type of things because it's so much
good going on, y'all. Did a lot of people are
just overlooking or don't even just or simply just don't
know about it. And I want to shine a light.
And I want to be a vessel to like shine
my light on the good things and not just our nigga.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
One of the things on an army of normal folks
that we do as we're finishing up here is everybody.
All of my guests give their contact information. I give
my contact information. We all give contact information because the
idea behind our arm or normal folks, is that we
want to create a movement of an army of people
across this country just seeing places of need just like
(30:11):
you have and saying hey, I have a certain talent
in this area and I can help. So all of
our guests have given out their information. So here it is.
If anybody hears this and is inspired by what you've
done with the football and the work of a Nassis
and we Not need TV any or all of it,
they want to reach out because they want to start,
but they want to hear some guidance from you. Or
(30:35):
if anybody listening wants to help out the North Memphis
Steelers or the We Not Need platform and reach out
to work with Chaevis, donate to Chaevs or help him
in these pursuits. How do they get in touch with
Chevis Daniels.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
I do a social media I do Facebook. All of
it is my name Shaves Daniels. We not meet tv
is on individual platform. I me TV on Facebook, We
not me TV on Instagram.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
And so when people can reach out to you through
those channels and you will respond.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Yes, yes, yes, will I will respond.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
And like I said, we've been kind of We've been
having a lot of positive things, guys, and it's so
much that could happen. I'm just I'm here for it,
and I'm just locked in and focused on what's nicks
because I'm so tired of people talking about undefeated. So
we got to think about the next day.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
This Chavid Daniels, as I've said three times, I'm proud
of you, and you know I love you. I love you,
and Shavish, you're making a difference. And to think of
the skinny, little impetuous ninth grader that showed up at
Manassas and look at the man now who's making such
(31:51):
an imprint in a neighborhood who so desperately needs all
the positive I am uh, I'm inspired, I'm honored, I'm
proud of you, and I love you. And you are,
without a doubt a member of the army of normal folks.
And the beauty of it is all the work you're
(32:11):
doing will just help grow that army. And it doesn't
matter if you're in a wealthy neighborhood and a suburb
or in North Memphis with the demographics that you all heard.
All you got to do is have a heart, some humility,
and a little effort and you can make a difference.
(32:33):
And you are thanks for being with me, Chavis.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
I appreciate the opportunity, Coach.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
And thank you for joining us this week. If Chavis
or another guest has inspired you to take action in
your community, please let us know. I'd love to hear
about it. You can write me anytime at Bill at
normalfolks dot us and I will respond to you. And
if you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the podcast, rate it,
(33:04):
review it, share it friends, and on social do all
the things you can to help us grow an army
of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney. I'll see you next week.
Host
Bill Courtney
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