February 6, 2025 • 51 mins
In this episode, John shares how Beyonce (and many others) defied the status quo and a system built against them. When you can't get a seat at the table, build your own!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome the Money and Wealth with John Hobriant, a production
of the Black Effect Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. Yo, John
hobrian This is Money and Wealth on the Black Effect
Network and today's episode is quite special. It is the
(00:26):
answer to DEI. It's Beyonce. Actually, yeah, you heard it right.
I'm gonna say it again, the answer to D and
I diversity, equity and inclusion in the debate raging today.
What is the answer? It's Beyonce. Actually, what do I
(00:49):
mean by that? Today we're going to talk about Beyonce
and her historic album of the Year when at the
Grammys and what that means for the conversation around diversity,
equity and inclusion are as. I like to call it
inclusive economics, a phrase that I began to coin with
(01:12):
my brothers Charlemagne, that god who has as enormously popular
morning show The Breakfast Club, where I first broke my
philosophy around what I thought D E and I really meant,
which was really research and development for new markets is
(01:33):
where you cultivate the future. It's R and D for
companies and for communities and for the country. But it's
been weaponized and politicized. So let's put it aside and
have a real conversation about the stuff that really matters,
and let's get into it right now. Here's the big
idea again, Beyonce is the answer to D and I.
(02:00):
We're in this new era. The best way forward for
African Americans and others isn't about begging for a seat
at the table. It's about building the table and becoming
so good that we can't be ignored, or, as my
friend Stephanie Rule would say, expand the table and add
a seat. Beyonce just showed the world what it looks
(02:25):
like when you dominate a space that was historically not
built for you, and in her particular case, it was
country music, and became the standard. I'm gonna say it again,
beyoncey just showed the world what it looks like when
she dominates a space that was historically not built for
(02:47):
her country music and became the standard. Think about what
that means, Think about how serious that is. And there's
no hate on anybody else's, no no shade on anybody else's.
Is not putting anybody down. I mean, she paid the
highest compliment to country music by participating in it, by
(03:11):
wanting to be part of it. She had already dominated
other genres. She had already killed it in our popular
culture for African American music. She could have done a
lot of different things. She could have done some predictable things.
She could have gone into spaces that were easier pathways,
and she went into an area that no one expected,
(03:32):
and I'm sure most people questioned country music and absolutely
killed it. Beyonce's trailblazing impact. She just became the first
black woman to win Album of the Year for a
(03:52):
country album, something unheard of decades ago. She didn't wait
for permission. She delivered excellence on her own terms. What's
the lesson here? Economic power doesn't come from waiting. It
comes from owning your skills and proving your worth in
(04:13):
the marketplace, the marketplaces of ideas. What's a patent, It's
a monetized idea. What's the biggest Country's the biggest economy
in the world. It also is the places with the
most patents. Whereas places that have you know, no economictivity,
they're dying. Paces that have no patents, places that are
stuck in war, stuck and stupid, arguing about well, arguing
(04:36):
to argue all the time. These are places in the
world that are not progressing. But a patent is a
monetized idea, and Beyonce is a walking, talking, singing patent
of excellence. Think about this, what's the parallel to business
(04:57):
and finance? Like Beyonce took over country music, Black entrepreneurs
and professionals should focus on dominating their industries from real
estate to technology to finance. You can't change the rules
by arguing, you can change them by winning. Beyonce's not alone,
(05:19):
by the way, I'm gonna She's my real framework for
this conversation, and I'm going to go through a roll
call of enormous success stories before I finish this podcast
episode to give you a wider lens of what's possible
when you focus on the right objective. But we just
give some easy ones. Doctor Dre dominated in music and
(05:45):
then pivoted. Anybody who's of color who started off in sports, sorry,
and music and became a billionaire did it by pivoting
the business. But it's not an easy pivot. Who did
that successfully and dominated in two areas Doctor Dre and
then beats by Dre okay, the headphones, which is now
(06:06):
you know, a billion dollar enterprise. Michael Jordan basketball and
then Air Jordan's Okay merchandise tennis shoes in his case,
Magic Johnson basketball switching to business a multi dimensional measure.
As a friend and somebody who I work with a
(06:29):
little bit. After the Roddy King riots in South Central
a nineteen ninety twould have been admiring his success and
rooting for him every since. We should be rooting for
each other's excellence. The Williams sisters dominated in tennis, a
sport that supposedly black black folks could not, should not,
(06:52):
would not have not succeeded. Look at the Black Forbes
fifty lists that just came out in December of twenty
twenty four. I happened to be one of the people
included in that list. Now come back to my story
in a moment.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
But look at that list.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
That is it's the opposite of mediocrity. It's excellence on steroids.
No one on that list is going to be denied.
And they're from a broad cross section of killing it,
not killing you, not killing me, not killing somebody else.
Killing it like being the absolute best in their industry
(07:34):
and their chosen profession. By the way, you can't make
this up. Coincidence is God's remaining anonymous. That to Andrew
Young quote while I'm doing this podcast episode, can't make
this up.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
One of the.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Fellow nominees, fellow awardees, and the Forbes Black Fifty List,
who really, in some ways is in small part are
now in a part a large part. I'm in a
small part of our history bro our or a timeline
of thirty two years in obera show, but a large
part of a demarcation where I got legitimized of my
success and really saying to the world, this guy is real.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Just emailed me. None of them.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Oprah Winfrey, who's on this list and is one of
the people I would have planned on identified Actually when
I send her a note, I said, you are the
standard bearer for the race, and I mean it. I
mean she is as close to Black royalty as a
geinst And she killed it, coming from nothing, being shortchanged
(08:34):
on her credibility and her talents in Chicago, being short
shifted by being told that she could only be a
newscaster or a broadcaster local do this traditionally, read this script,
don't get off off message. And she decided she was
going to create a national platform, a national show, and
then do it her own way and bring spirituality in
(08:56):
it after you from Initially people did not follow her,
but she stayed with it and became the absolute best,
and what she did killed it. Oprah's not black, She's
global who happens to be proud of the fact that
she's black. Right, She doesn't run away from it, but
she doesn't hide underneath it. And she's not trying to
(09:16):
get a discount because of it.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
She is.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
She stands on this mantle of excellence and says, you
can do it too. And she gave me the Oprah
Winter Usual Life Award, which during the op Winfrey Show,
when she did these awards and I had my mother
and father of the show, it was a moment I
absolutely treasure. And she said to the world, John Brian
(09:43):
is somebody and the rest was up to me. I
believe in the James Brown version of affirmative action. Open
a door out, get it myself, and thanks to her
and others, I have been getting at it. But no
one gets it there by yourself, right, But but no
one owes you anything either. When you get that, you
take it and you own the field. You own the field,
(10:04):
and you make people who are who are rooting for you,
proud that they backed you. Don't don't embarrass them, right Uh,
and always be humble and be appreciative. Quincy Jones another
mentor mind, another iconic doer who's now doing it in heaven.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Once lifted Oprah winfree and and then of course it
was so proud of Oprah that he put the Oprah Suite.
It is home that I've stayed at before, God resting,
God rest Quincy soul. So Quincy helped Oprah. I think
it was color purple. Oprah helped me and a range
(10:44):
of others to come up. Who are you going to help?
And I'm sure there's no doubt my mind that Beyonce
is already leaning in. And she said in her acceptance
and speeches is all about opening doors. Beyonce is blazing
impact again. She just became this iconic figure that you
(11:11):
never take this away from her, that went from one
genre to another and for the first time ever, became
album of the Year for country music. The new conversation
is inclusive economics. Whether it's black or white, or red
or blue meaning race or color that people want to
(11:34):
argue about. Really the colors green as in US currency
at least here in the United States of America. Right,
But it's always been about green. We just have been
distracted with other well distractions. What did Malcolm X say.
We've been bamboozo we've been tricked, we've been food, we've
been hoodwinked, right, and we've been emotional, and we now
(11:58):
need to get focused on what really mattered. And when
you get emotional, it's easy to be deceived, to be disillusioned,
to be dismissed. Dee and I has been weaponized, I
think for political purposes, but it doesn't matter. It's been weaponized,
it's been hijacked, and it's been played with and been
(12:21):
made toxic in many ways as a brand. Some companies
are rolling back their diversity programs. I've talked to a
number of these CEOs who run these big companies. They're
good people. They basically said, I'm still gonna keep I'm
still committed to these values because it's good for business
and they're good people, but it's also just good for business.
They just don't want to have a flag out there
(12:43):
that says, come hit me over the head if you
disagree with me politically and making them a target. So
they've backed away. Most of these CEOs are good people
backed away from the label but not the cause. There
are a few of these companies are disingene you didn't
meaning when they did in the first place, and I
(13:04):
won't name those companies because that's not the way I roll.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
I talk.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
By the way, here's my philosophy for life. Talk without
being offensive, listen without being defensive, and always leave even
your adversary with their dignity because if you don't spend
the rest of their life trying to make you miserable,
it becomes personal. So I don't spend time arguing with
stupid people. I mean to argue with the food prooser
are too I think again. I like math because it
(13:28):
doesn't have an opinion that's a melody hops in quota,
I use a lot, and as you're about to see,
the math is really here all that matters. So we
need a new framework. De and I has been weaponized
and played with. When need a new framework, one based
on economic empowerment. That's why I call it inclusive economics.
(13:49):
It's about participation, not politics. The data that proves this
approach works is from the Business Plan for America, which
I wrote, and you can look up on my website
Operation Hope and download all of the data and go
through it for yourself in as much detail as you like.
It is there, and it is unimpeachable. It's sourced, it's
(14:12):
fact based. It's not emotional. It's not partisan. It's not
Republican or democrat, or black and white or urban liberal.
And it's not rich and poor. It's just data.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
It is.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
And no one's ever argued with these numbers. I've never
had one person, institution, what ever, tell me that the
numbers are wrong. They just try to ignore me and
hope I'll go away. I'm not going anywhere again. We're
just getting louder with this message. But you don't need
to scream and hollow it because when you got the power,
you don't need to use it. Step over messing, not
(14:42):
in it. Here's some power for you, black buying power
over one point eight trillion dollars, yet underutilized in asset building,
entrepreneurship growth. Black businesses are growing at the fastest rate ever,
but face major capital access gaps. In fact, after the pandemic,
(15:05):
the fastest growing group coming out of the pandemic were
African American black owned businesses and the fastest group amongst
all fastest group were black women own businesses. In fact,
there was the fastest group. It was a fastest growing
group of small business owners since two thousand and four
after the pandemic. And now I believe it's latinos by
(15:28):
the way, So kudos there. Home ownership impact. Closing the
Black home ownership gap could add over three trillion dollars
to the US economy. Did you hear what I just said?
This is these are real numbers. Closing the black home
ownership gap with financially literate, well prepared new home buyers
(15:53):
could add over three trillion dollars to the US economy.
So the delta, the difference between Black home ownership and
their mainstream counterbarts read white, it's about thirty percent. And
that's where this three trillion dollars comes from. You know,
fighting the good fight's not just about fighting in the
streets in the suite. Sometimes you got to fight the
(16:15):
argument with your brothers and sisters in the streets. So
sometimes I'll be talking about this stuff about homeownership and
brother will say, oh, you know, I don't want to
no home. That open home is stupid.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
You own home.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
The bank owns a home if you don't pay about
excellence people is about stepping up. You gotta look pay
your bills right if you as long as you pay
your bill, the bank does not own that home. They
own the mortgage, the rights to the mortgage on a home.
You get the benefits of that mortgage through tax right
off and all that stuff and appreciation from owning that
(16:49):
home right. And some people will tell you not to
own a home on major TV broadcasts, These wealthy people
telling you own you shouldn't own a home, own a
home right. So I have no idea what's going on
there other than the fact that they don't look at
their forty year OO mansions as primary assets that they've
grown on that long time ago they remember. They don't
(17:10):
remember their humble beginnings. But for most people, home ownership
is the user way to build well AI in the
future of work. The next frontier isn't just d E NI,
it's AI literacy and ownership in emerging markets, emerging industries.
(17:38):
Here's the message to corporate America. Also, companies should shift
from diverse optics diversity optics to economic outcomes. Who's getting contracts?
My brother Roland Martin and I have this conversation often
about in his case advertising contracts. He just wants a
(18:00):
reasonable piece of the pie for the market of the
AFT American consumer. You know, again, one point six one
point seven to one point eight trillion dollars consumer spending
force would be one of the largest nations in the
world if we were a country, and ninety percent of
what we get is we generates consumption, which is typically
not good news, but in this particular case, it is
good news because we're buying stuff and those folks are consuming.
(18:24):
And Rowland Martin and other minority media companies just want
a fair share, reasonable share of the economic pie with
an allocation of advertising dollars. But there's so many other examples,
and participating supporting institutions that can give you access to
these emerging markets is good, but it's not only the
(18:45):
right thing to do. It'll pay dividend because they'll bring
you more customers. Corporate America, So who's on your supply chain,
who's building wealth as a result of this platform? You
have these major major company because you have vendors up
and down the chain in this company. Who you're hiring, right,
does it reflect your communities? Does it reflect your customer base,
(19:07):
you know, I mean you do business with people you
reflect back to understand, appreciate, right, and they appreciate and
respect you in return. Right, So it's doing well and
doing good. It's good capitalism. Just don't talk about inclusion.
Invest in it, action steps how to win like Beyonce
(19:33):
for entrepreneurs and professionals, be the best in your space,
period over to rounded through it. You're gonna get to it.
I believe an entrepreneur works eighteen hours a day to
keep from getting a job.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
I have a tea shirt sometimes just it's built on failure, right,
I mean I just I just never give up. I
take no for vitamins. Right, you got to just com
it to being the absolute best. Read the book The Outliers, right,
and it talks about the exceptions of the rule. The
folks who put in a little bit more time, a
(20:10):
little bit more and invest a little bit more time
and energy to train up to be the best, the
very best that they can be. And it pays off
because they become the NBA players, the pro league of
their sector, and don't have to worry about somebody cutting
number break they become they're breaking for the whole. They
(20:32):
are creating new holes. They're creating a wake behind them
that other people can follow through. They're not following others.
They people are following them, and people are investing in
them because they're the best at what they do and
they're creating as a result of that, economic opportunity. Beyonce
has created economic opportunity. She just opened a whole new
(20:55):
door just with this most recent shift, which was very
risky again into country music, which she bet on herself.
What would happen if you bet on yourself multiple income
streams all right, real estate, UH, investing, entrepreneurship, learning, AI,
(21:20):
and tech. Because the economy is shifting, for business leaders
and corporations move beyond U d n our programs and
invest in economic participation contracts with diverse applies. As I
(21:41):
mentioned funding black entrepreneurs. You can do it actually through
minority participation contracts or minority women own businesses. If you
don't have to target minority in women own businesses. If
you're you're targeting underserved communities, you're going to get minority
in women owned businesses who are in those communities. By
by the way, this includes poor whites in West Virginia
(22:02):
I'm not excluding anybody. If you're talking about inclusive economics,
it's just really repairing the ladder from the bottom to
the top. And as you're trying to get the folks
at the bottom, you can naturally sweep up as a
result of that, best in class potential leaders and doers
of the future who happen to also be black, brown,
and different without targeting black people. Okay, but that's a
(22:23):
whole nother podcast for another time. But you know, one
of my businesses, the Promise Homes Company, which I sold
the majority of a couple three years ago, still on
mistake in it. When I was the chairman CEO, we
made sure that half of all contracts went to minority
and women in small businesses in communities where we invested in.
(22:44):
Because we were invested in underserved communities, I didn't have
to say, where's the black business. That's not the way
we worked it. You had to be competent, you know,
it was really where's a competent business. I didn't want
to go to a national company. I want to go
to small businesses in my neighborhood where I invest in
these affordable house signal in underserved community homes where I grew,
you know, where I Atlanta in North Florida, and the
(23:06):
likelihood I was going to hit up. You know, if
I throw a rock at a business in the underserved
area affordable workforce development community area where I'm invested in
bought seven hundred homes, the likely that is going to
hit you know, if I threw a rock, close my
eyes and hit a business, there's going to be a
minority of women.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
It's fairly high.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
And it just turned out that plumbing, heating, electrical landscaping, roofing, painting,
these are things I had to get done every month anyway,
and so we end up doing a few million dollars
a year, like just under five million dollars a year
in contracts every year, these repeatable, reboutable philanthropy, which is
just contracts I would give the contract to somebody when
(23:45):
not to give it to people who who in many
cases look like me, without me targeting anybody, just really
emphasizing where the dollars should also have a shot to.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Empower, versus just.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Doing the easy, lazy thing of giving that contract to
a one big national company who wouldn't even notice that
I gave them a contract. Whereas we gave contracts where
it literally changed folks's world and made some people millionaires.
For everyday people, turn your income into wealth, save invest
Oh and get my book Financial Leuwacy for All. It's
(24:24):
a great place to start as a best seller, by
the way, been the best seller for a year now.
Support businesses that support your community. I'm not down with
the boycotton thing. I mean, everybody do their do their situation,
do their thing. I don't say, don't boycott the company.
Clean the shelves right there are there are black owned
products of minority with Latino, whatever, Asian, whatever, your whatever,
(24:44):
your cause. Azure is if there are products for those
good companies that are on the shelves of these companies
at Target, Tarja, Walmart, or wherever it is you shop,
clean the shells, go buy all of them. Send the
message that that you've got the area is buying power
and support either the brands and or companies that support
(25:08):
your community by giving them your dollars and then writing
a letter to the CEO, writing a letter to the
store manager whoever you can get to, and let them
know that you back your values up with your dollar
bill buy a share of stock in that company, if
it's a publicly traded company, and now you have a
voice as a shareholder as well. You can talk with
the shareholder meeting. It's a whole another conversation with another time.
(25:30):
But be a positive force for good, not just an irritant.
I mean being an irritant is productive and useful. There
is a time for protesting. By the way, where will
we be without I was talking to Charlottvigne today about
the legacy of Al Sharton and Jesse Jackson's not the
way I roll, but you know them shaking trees twenty
(25:52):
thirty years ago, and Reverend Sharpton's case ten years ago,
and now I mean in many cases that opened the
door for Aerial Capital Management, which is now doing billions
and billions of dollars of management of mutual funds. They're
they're doing on merit, but they couldn't get the attention
way back when. And it was you know, it was
doctor King had these visions as well, of bringing attention
(26:15):
to companies that would not pay attention just because they
were well, in that particular case racist, just to call
it what it is. If you're competent and no one
will pay you any attention and will actually actively ignore
you and call you incompetent.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Then what do you call that? Right?
Speaker 1 (26:34):
But today you can increasingly carbon path based on your excellence.
Artificial intelligence is going to change everything. It's my friend
Vans Jones said that nine nine percent of black folks
on North thing about AI. And they paused and looked
to me and said, but nine percent of white folks
(26:56):
on North thing about AI either. It levels the playing
field for everybody. So what are the key takeaways here?
The answer to d E and I, it's Beyonce.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Why.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Because it's about winning, It's about becoming undeniable. This is
about inclusive economics, participating, not pleading. Here's your call to action.
If you're serious about your money and your future, I
want you to follow this movement. Check out my business
plan for America at Operation Hope and join the conversation.
(27:30):
Get my book, tell your friends, subscribe to this podcast,
and like Beyonce said, you won't break my soul. Keep winning,
keep building, and let's create real economic future. Now, let's
give you some stats, facts and details that are an
inspiration and sends a message that your undeniable right, black
(27:52):
economic power in financial gaps, right, black economic power twenty
twenty three number is one point eight that's mad to
be one point eight trillion dollars. It's greater than the
GDP gross domestic product, the income of a nation of
Mexico or Canada.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Did you hear what I just said? All Right?
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Black economic power, the buying power of black folks, a
group of people that people continue to dismiss, is greater
than the GDP of Mexico or Canada.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Right.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
The wealth gap. The median black household wealth is twenty
four one hundred dollars, is nearly eight times lower than
the white household wealth of one hundred and eighty eight thousand,
two hundred as the Federal Reserve twenty twenty three data.
That's a problem, and it's an opportunity. Business ownership, Black
(28:43):
owned businesses are growing at an incredibly fast rate, again,
one of the fastest rates in the country. In the
fact of twenty twenty three, it was the fastest rate
in the country plus thirty eight percent since twenty twenty
two alone. Yet they receive less than two percent of
all venture capital funding. Right, you can't tell me they're
(29:04):
not you know, future apples and future you know big
businesses and of all.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Sectors and industries.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Inside of these, you know group of black businesses, there's
you know, about three point one ish million black businesses
in America. I think I've got that number right. I mean,
Operation Hope a Loon has helped to inspire four hundred
and fifty thousand businesses since the pandemic. And I could
tell you there's a whole bunch of she ros and
heroes in that list that are that. They're not black businesses.
(29:35):
They're great businesses that happen to be black, and they're
killing it. We don't need to ask for a seat
at the table. We need to own the building. Let's
try that for a change. Home ownership and generational wealth.
Black home ownership rate is forty five percent, give or
take between forty one, forty two, forty three, forty four
percent fluctuates. Versus White home ownership rates are pretty stable
(29:58):
at seventy five percent. That's the Urban Institute twenty twenty
three as a source. White folks owning the homes because
it works right, you know, homemwondership values that had not
gone down since the beginning of time. There's been recessions.
They received right, recession recede, but then they correct above
(30:20):
the line every time. Right, They're not growing any more.
Land by yourself a home, and I'm a landlord, so
I should want to encourage you to do nothing but rent.
But I want you to rent, to own, rent for me,
and then prepare to own. I want to run out
of people who want to rent, but I want to
empower you to go up that economic ladder just like
(30:42):
I did. Closing the Black home ownership gap could generate
Listen now, three trillion dollars in economic growth. That's tay,
that's the Mackenzie and Company statistic. Renders are ten times likely.
(31:08):
How do I say this? They're less likely than homeowners
to be wealth creators. So they're ten times less likely
to build intergenerational wealth than a homeowner. I hope that
made some sense. So it's not just that you're renting,
is that your mindset is different. When you're a homeowner,
(31:28):
you're ten times less likely to build integer generational wealth
if you're rendered.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Then if you're a homeowner, the.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Next civil rights movement just might be financial literacy, home
and ownership of homes, businesses and assets, AI, and automation
of the future. Eighty five percent of jobs in twenty
twenty three will require AI.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Digital or tech skills.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
That's right, eighty five percent of jobs in twenty twenty
thirty five will require AI artificial intelligence, digital or tech skills.
Think about pookying them and what skills that our cousins have. Right,
if you're working at the local convenience store, you got
a high school education, that job is gone, it's been.
It's gonna be automated into zero within five years. So
I want you to be part of the future, now
(32:16):
part of the past. Black and Latino workers are the
highest risk of automation replacing their jobs, but less than
five percent of work of them working AI related fields.
That's a problem and an opportunity because I just told
you nobody knows about AI and everybody understands it's about
to come and change everything. Folks arguing about Dee and
(32:37):
I should be talking about AI. If really, that's a
drop the mic for you right there, that's like no
different than Beyonce is Lata, y'all talking about R and
B and hip hop and rap cool. I'm going to
talk about country music and do that too, bi lingual.
It's an and not an ore. By investing in AI education,
black wealth could increase by three point five trillion dollars
(33:01):
by twenty forty five. If we don't do that, black
wealth will be zero by twenty fifty three. There's your
difference right there. Investing in AI education is we're dealing
with the AILP THREEI Pipeline of Prosperity project's part of
the AI Ethics Council. I co chair with Sam Altman
here in Atlanta and my partnership with Dean Phillips and
(33:22):
Georgia State University and Clark Atlanta University, and Moorhouse and
Spelman and Atlanta Public Schools, Doctor Johnson and Mayor Andrea
Dickens here as a model for a pipeline of new
prosperity and jobs. Don't wait for folks to destroy jobs
and destroy your life. Go and take control of your
life and be the future you want to see and
(33:44):
be excellent. When folks are running out of get running
you out of town, Get in front of the crowd,
made like a parade. D E and I is being
replaced by AI. The real issue is in representation. It's
ownership of the future economy. You can do that, and
there's time. Nobody has this figured out yet. Beyonce didn't
demand the seat of the table of country music. She
(34:06):
just took it over. That's the mindset we need. She's
not diverse, she's undeniable, and that's how we win. Don't
wait for permission to be great, just do it. This
isn't about handouts. It's about leveling the economic playing field
with real participation. We don't need more Dee and I panels.
(34:26):
We need black businesses with billion dollar valuations and asset panels.
When black and brown communities build wealth, America wins. I've
often joked, but I'm sort of serious. If black folks
succeed economically, even the racist wins, because all economic boats rise.
(34:48):
Money has no color, but economic access has always been
black and white. When you win in the economy, they
have no choice but to open the door. Excellence is
the new activism. Ownership is a new protest. There's a
lot of folks who wanted to deny my Jewish brothers
and sisters. I mean, I've been They've been run out
(35:09):
of every place in the world. I just we just
came from Poland last week. I mean, what was that?
What happened to them in Auschwartz is just undeniable were
placed with there. A million people were murdered, a million
in one location and one little forget a city. I mean,
it's just a few football fields, right. A million people
were murdered in Auschwitz. I mean, and that's just one
(35:29):
of the tragedies that's been visited upon my Jewish brothers
and sisters. And by the way, did you know that
half of Jews in Israel or dark skin. That's a
whole another conversation for another time. They've been to run
out of every place. But look, but still they rise
because they become excellent at a dozen different industries and
self reliance and they demand respect. And we could take
a page out of that book two or two, or
(35:51):
three or eight or ten. So she didn't fight for inclusion.
She made inclusion irrelevant by winning. This is a Beyonce
in her story with this win for Country Music of
the Year album, Black economic strength is already here. We
just need to activate it through ownership. You make money
(36:13):
during the day, you build wealth in your sleep. Black
businesses had equal access to capital. If black businesses had
equal access to capital, GDP would increase by one point
five trillion dollars a year. That's a City Group report.
My brother Ray McGuire author that report when he was
vice chairman of City Group. You should read that report.
(36:35):
Inclusive economics means we stopped waiting and start winning. What
will you build next? As I wrap up, here's some
outlier winners who also killed it in their area. Just
to show you there's not just about Beyonce, who is amazing, right,
(36:55):
Tiger Woods killed it in golf when there was no
black people playing golf at that level. What's his impact?
Became one of the greatest golfers of all time, winning
fifteen major championships and revolutionizing the sports appeal and broadening
the field of merchandising, of bringing blacks and brown people
(37:16):
into the sports watching it, you know, watch it, contributing
to the Nielsen ratings on television, buying merchandise, going to tournaments,
becoming golfers swinging. I mean you can black people swinging
golf clubs all or all all this across this country.
You know, tens and tens of millions of dollars of
economic industry energy, maybe more than that, in large part
(37:38):
because Tiger Woods made it cool. That's economics.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
People.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
Serena and Venus Williams they did the same thing in tennis.
Tennis was not a sports where black athletes were dominant
when they emerged. What's the impact? Together they changed the
game with power, athleticism and mental toughness with While Serena
became arguably the greatest female athlete of all time with
respect or impact in tennis, Wilma Rudolph track and field
(38:07):
overcame childhood polio in a racially segregated athletic system to
become the first African American women to win three gold
medals in a single Olympics that was nineteen sixty and
inspired generations of black female athletes in track and beyond.
Arthur Ash tennis, the first black man to win Wimbledon
(38:30):
nineteen seventy five, the US Open and the Australian Open.
Impact uses his platform uses platform for civil rights, AIDS
awareness and racial justice. My mentor in Bassor, Andrew Young,
worked with Arthur Ash on work around civil rights and
social justice in Africa. I was with Van Jones and
(38:52):
Poland last week against I mentioned and I remember Ben
looked at me and looked at it. At what was
then during nineteen forty five period, what happened in Poland
with Germany. It was really Austras was the most technologically
advanced death camp in the world. And he looked at
(39:12):
me and said, this is what happens when you have
technology and no humanity.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
So that's why what author ashe did with his talents
and his gifts used it for public good. I think
it's incredibly commendable. I think the whole purpose of power
is to collected so you can give it away. Bubba
Wallace at NASCAR, NASCAR has been historically a white, Southern
dominated sports with very few black drivers. By the way,
the president of NASCAR, Steve Phelps, good friend is on
(39:37):
my board of directors at Operation Hope. What's the impact
the only black driver currently racing full time in NASCAR's
Cup Series and an outspoken avagainst advocate against racism in
the sport. And who is his big backer now? Hello,
Michael Jordan. Can't make this up. Debbie Thomas. Debbie with
an I. By the way, the EBI. We should know
(40:00):
these figures are. She was a figure skating phenom, the
first black figure skater to win the US national title
of the nineteen eighty six and Olympic medal in nineteen
eighty eight. Impact broke barriers in a sport with few
after American athletes at the time. George Foreman boxing and
business success post sports, came from an underprivileged background, became
(40:23):
an Olympic gold medal listener, two time heavyweight champion, reinvented
himself with a George Forman grill, making more money in
business than boxing. By the way, I should throw in
my brother Reggie. Reggie Jackson who mister October did this
incredible stuff in baseball, broke all these records and then
went on to business. And he's still in businesses day.
(40:43):
And they also whenever I talked to him, he's all
about giving back. In fact, he tracked me down on twitterus.
I became friends because he was talking about he was
looking at my work in financial literacy and wanted to
find a way to partner. Now we bug each other
all the time, trun trigger out how we can help
our community be better. Here's some business legends for you,
right who won against the odds and created their own
(41:05):
affirming action. They were their own mechanisms of inclusion. Reginald
Lewis and Finance, one of my heroes, one of the
first black billionaires in America. Well he created a billion
dollar company, first black billion dollar company, which was he
acquired Beach's International, backed by my friend Michael Milkin, by
the way, for nine or eighty five million in the
(41:27):
nineteen eighties. They might as well call that twenty billion dollars.
To today, it's a lot of you know, billion dollars.
Nineteen eighty was unheard of for black man to secure
financing to buy a global company. By the way that
the Beaches worked in forty different states, sorry, forty different countries,
proved that black entrepreneurs could operate at the highest level
of Wall Street and global business, going from them from
(41:48):
Main Street to Wall Street in one lifetime, really killing
it from the neck up using his brain lawyer Harvard educated.
I just killed it and proved that a black man
can produce some green internationally. Ursula Burns became the CEO
(42:10):
of Xerox in two thousand and nine, the first black
black woman to lead a fortune five hundred company, paved
the way for more black women and executives leadership with
you're about to hear about in a second, but you know,
you know, she got a lot of arrows when she
went in there, and no one gave her a thing.
When I went in every business I've been in, I've
seen nothing but headwinds. When I built Operation Hope, and
I build Promise Homes Company, Brian goreod Ventures, all these
(42:31):
things I've done, people just laughed at me. When I
went into the federal banking regulators and said I want
to put a nonprofit inside of a bank branch, people
literal really laughed at me. Now we're the only nonprofit
ever allowed to operate out of a bank branch in
US history. With our Hope and Side model, fifteen hundred
locations across the country, empowering you to get your credit
screw up, your debt down, your savings up, and turning
(42:53):
you into a customer. I'm not going and I'm saying
you're a black person. I'm saying you're a good customer
who pay your loan back. And here's all the data
they give you the loan. Did it happened to be
you're also black or brown?
Speaker 2 (43:02):
Hello?
Speaker 1 (43:02):
Isn't that a win for everybody? All right, here's another
couple winners for you. Just a new friend of mine,
Robert F. Smith, just met him, spent some time with
him in Poland last week. Founder of Vista Equity Partners,
one of the most successful private equity firms in tech
in the world. Became one of the richest black men
in America and famously paid off the student loan debt
(43:23):
at Morehouse College for an entire graduating class. Multi billionaire, today,
philanthropist and a good man. Kathy Hughes in Media founded
Radio One now Urban One, first black woman to lead
a publicly traded media company, created one of the most
influential black owned media companies in the country. Ava DuVernay
(43:47):
from Film and Entertainment, first black woman to direct a
film nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, which is
the film Selma twenty fourteen. What's the impact broke berries
in Hollywood creating platforms for black voices in film, not
just black films, all films. Of course, you got to
give Tyler Perry at honorable mentioned here. I think the
first black owned major movie studio, Tyler Perry Studios, is
(44:11):
not the Homeboy Shopping net Work. Here is a major
studio major here in Atlanta. It's like going to Disneyland.
I mean, you come to Atlanta, you want to tour
Coca Cola and Civil Rights Museum and King Center natural
center for several human rights. Go do all of that,
and then go by Tyler Perry Studios and have your
mind blown. Doctor Patricia Bath in medicine invented the laser
(44:33):
cataract surgery, becoming the first black woman to receive a
medical patent.
Speaker 2 (44:38):
You're hearing me.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
Here, this is like, this is an unbelievable revolutionized eye
surgery and access to vision care. Roslind Brewer who lives
here in Atlanta, who I know, CEO of Walgreens and
previously see Starbucks COO. The only black woman that have
led to fortune five hundred companies, broke corporate glass ceilings
in retail and health care. And if you don't think
(45:01):
that she was inspired and led and had help from
Ursula Burns and what she did, you would be mistaken.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
And it was a white man that helped her out too.
His name was DOUGLC.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
Millan, the CEO Walmart, who made her CEO of a
major division at Walmart before she went on to do
her stuff independently and become the star on the global stage.
And so goodness can come from everywhere and often does
in both sports and business. These individuals excelled in fields
(45:31):
where their success was not expected. In fact, in many
ways it was an attempt to deny them. First people
to ignore you, then they will criticize you, and then
you if you keep moving, keep trying, you win. But
you know their success was not expected. But proving that
that talent, resilience, and vision can overcome historical barriers. What
(45:54):
can you do? Where can you succeed? How can you
use the tenants and the philosoph he's of inclusive economics
to prove and not just black lives matter, but black
capitalists matter more. In other words, you don't need anybody
to like you.
Speaker 2 (46:10):
You like you.
Speaker 1 (46:11):
I don't care if you like me. I like me
over the rounded, through it. I'm gonna get to it right.
I'm not as good as my compliments, are not as
bad as my criticism, but I am God's child and
I will not be denied. I'll get up earlier. Stay up, lady,
I'll work harder. I'm going to outwork anybody, anytime, any place,
any race. Black folks are born the hustle. We've been
doing so much with so little for so long. We
(46:31):
can almost do anything with nothing. And you just seeople
outrun everybody else. You'll outwork them, and you'll outthink them.
That is that immigrant up from nothing diversity story. People
come to this country and they got nothing to be ignored,
and they work hard to prove they could make it.
I mean go in Sacks, which we all talk about,
is a guy named Goldman, a guy named Sas. Literally,
(46:52):
these Jewish up from nothing business people were running selling
stuff's door to door with a briefcase because they couldn't
get a job in the skyscraper. Now they own the skyscraper, right,
And so you can do this. Whoever we're listening is
wherever you are quotation marks, you can do this. Women
were denied at a credit card, couldn't get a credit
(47:14):
card in nineteen seventy two, could can get along without
her husband co signing it in nineteen seventy two, not
eighteen seventy two. Nineteen seventy two, a white woman, all women, right,
and because of affirmative action, which was designed for black people,
and denied us after it was designed for us, after
Kennedy started in and Johnson, President Johnson advanced it, and
(47:35):
actually Nixon came in and he codified it as well.
But the courts said eh, and tried to stamp out
the support that was giving the blacks.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
That sounded like a familiar environment.
Speaker 1 (47:46):
By the way, just too much, I guess progress too
soon or too fast or whatever. Then there was pushback,
like there's pushback now, But white women actually got the
benefit of that and was and then white women then
led to Black women, Latino women, and Indian women and
other and then all Asian women, all women getting into
the benefit from what was called affirmative action. And what's
(48:08):
the benefit of the day of the country making the
right decision. A third of the US economy or women? Hello,
seven eight trillion dollars almost ten trillion dollars and a
twenty seven trillion dollars almost thirty trillion dollars economy. Without women,
we'd be an also ran nation, we'd be a third
world country. And once again today, diversity has to win,
(48:30):
otherwise we'll be speaking Mandarin in ten or twenty years,
making meaning Chinese. We're already chinae that war with us.
They want to be us, and the only way they
are not going to be us is if we all
stick together and row this boat into the same direction
of progress and realize that we are all in this
thing together. Everybody wants to be an American and except Americans.
Thank you Beyonce for inspiring us to realize we're all
(48:54):
God's children and racism is actually signed typically intellectually and
spiritually stupid. We love her music. It brings us together.
Let this message be a lighthouse for your future. This
is John O'Brien. I'm out. This is Money and Wealth.
(49:17):
Tell your friends to follow. The series Money and Wealth
with John O'Brien is a production of the Black Effect
Podcast Network. For more podcasts from the Black Effect Podcast Network,
(49:42):
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
Welcome the Money and Wealth with John Hobriant, a production
of the Black Effect Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. Yo, John
hobrian This is Money and Wealth on the Black Effect
Network and today's episode is quite special. It is the
(00:26):
answer to DEI. It's Beyonce. Actually, yeah, you heard it right.
I'm gonna say it again, the answer to D and
I diversity, equity and inclusion in the debate raging today.
What is the answer? It's Beyonce. Actually, what do I
(00:49):
mean by that? Today we're going to talk about Beyonce
and her historic album of the Year when at the
Grammys and what that means for the conversation around diversity,
equity and inclusion are as. I like to call it
inclusive economics, a phrase that I began to coin with
(01:12):
my brothers Charlemagne, that god who has as enormously popular
morning show The Breakfast Club, where I first broke my
philosophy around what I thought D E and I really meant,
which was really research and development for new markets is
(01:33):
where you cultivate the future. It's R and D for
companies and for communities and for the country. But it's
been weaponized and politicized. So let's put it aside and
have a real conversation about the stuff that really matters,
and let's get into it right now. Here's the big
idea again, Beyonce is the answer to D and I.
(02:00):
We're in this new era. The best way forward for
African Americans and others isn't about begging for a seat
at the table. It's about building the table and becoming
so good that we can't be ignored, or, as my
friend Stephanie Rule would say, expand the table and add
a seat. Beyonce just showed the world what it looks
(02:25):
like when you dominate a space that was historically not
built for you, and in her particular case, it was
country music, and became the standard. I'm gonna say it again,
beyoncey just showed the world what it looks like when
she dominates a space that was historically not built for
(02:47):
her country music and became the standard. Think about what
that means, Think about how serious that is. And there's
no hate on anybody else's, no no shade on anybody else's.
Is not putting anybody down. I mean, she paid the
highest compliment to country music by participating in it, by
(03:11):
wanting to be part of it. She had already dominated
other genres. She had already killed it in our popular
culture for African American music. She could have done a
lot of different things. She could have done some predictable things.
She could have gone into spaces that were easier pathways,
and she went into an area that no one expected,
(03:32):
and I'm sure most people questioned country music and absolutely
killed it. Beyonce's trailblazing impact. She just became the first
black woman to win Album of the Year for a
(03:52):
country album, something unheard of decades ago. She didn't wait
for permission. She delivered excellence on her own terms. What's
the lesson here? Economic power doesn't come from waiting. It
comes from owning your skills and proving your worth in
(04:13):
the marketplace, the marketplaces of ideas. What's a patent, It's
a monetized idea. What's the biggest Country's the biggest economy
in the world. It also is the places with the
most patents. Whereas places that have you know, no economictivity,
they're dying. Paces that have no patents, places that are
stuck in war, stuck and stupid, arguing about well, arguing
(04:36):
to argue all the time. These are places in the
world that are not progressing. But a patent is a
monetized idea, and Beyonce is a walking, talking, singing patent
of excellence. Think about this, what's the parallel to business
(04:57):
and finance? Like Beyonce took over country music, Black entrepreneurs
and professionals should focus on dominating their industries from real
estate to technology to finance. You can't change the rules
by arguing, you can change them by winning. Beyonce's not alone,
(05:19):
by the way, I'm gonna She's my real framework for
this conversation, and I'm going to go through a roll
call of enormous success stories before I finish this podcast
episode to give you a wider lens of what's possible
when you focus on the right objective. But we just
give some easy ones. Doctor Dre dominated in music and
(05:45):
then pivoted. Anybody who's of color who started off in sports, sorry,
and music and became a billionaire did it by pivoting
the business. But it's not an easy pivot. Who did
that successfully and dominated in two areas Doctor Dre and
then beats by Dre okay, the headphones, which is now
(06:06):
you know, a billion dollar enterprise. Michael Jordan basketball and
then Air Jordan's Okay merchandise tennis shoes in his case,
Magic Johnson basketball switching to business a multi dimensional measure.
As a friend and somebody who I work with a
(06:29):
little bit. After the Roddy King riots in South Central
a nineteen ninety twould have been admiring his success and
rooting for him every since. We should be rooting for
each other's excellence. The Williams sisters dominated in tennis, a
sport that supposedly black black folks could not, should not,
(06:52):
would not have not succeeded. Look at the Black Forbes
fifty lists that just came out in December of twenty
twenty four. I happened to be one of the people
included in that list. Now come back to my story
in a moment.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
But look at that list.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
That is it's the opposite of mediocrity. It's excellence on steroids.
No one on that list is going to be denied.
And they're from a broad cross section of killing it,
not killing you, not killing me, not killing somebody else.
Killing it like being the absolute best in their industry
(07:34):
and their chosen profession. By the way, you can't make
this up. Coincidence is God's remaining anonymous. That to Andrew
Young quote while I'm doing this podcast episode, can't make
this up.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
One of the.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Fellow nominees, fellow awardees, and the Forbes Black Fifty List,
who really, in some ways is in small part are
now in a part a large part. I'm in a
small part of our history bro our or a timeline
of thirty two years in obera show, but a large
part of a demarcation where I got legitimized of my
success and really saying to the world, this guy is real.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Just emailed me. None of them.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Oprah Winfrey, who's on this list and is one of
the people I would have planned on identified Actually when
I send her a note, I said, you are the
standard bearer for the race, and I mean it. I
mean she is as close to Black royalty as a
geinst And she killed it, coming from nothing, being shortchanged
(08:34):
on her credibility and her talents in Chicago, being short
shifted by being told that she could only be a
newscaster or a broadcaster local do this traditionally, read this script,
don't get off off message. And she decided she was
going to create a national platform, a national show, and
then do it her own way and bring spirituality in
(08:56):
it after you from Initially people did not follow her,
but she stayed with it and became the absolute best,
and what she did killed it. Oprah's not black, She's
global who happens to be proud of the fact that
she's black. Right, She doesn't run away from it, but
she doesn't hide underneath it. And she's not trying to
(09:16):
get a discount because of it.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
She is.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
She stands on this mantle of excellence and says, you
can do it too. And she gave me the Oprah
Winter Usual Life Award, which during the op Winfrey Show,
when she did these awards and I had my mother
and father of the show, it was a moment I
absolutely treasure. And she said to the world, John Brian
(09:43):
is somebody and the rest was up to me. I
believe in the James Brown version of affirmative action. Open
a door out, get it myself, and thanks to her
and others, I have been getting at it. But no
one gets it there by yourself, right, But but no
one owes you anything either. When you get that, you
take it and you own the field. You own the field,
(10:04):
and you make people who are who are rooting for you,
proud that they backed you. Don't don't embarrass them, right Uh,
and always be humble and be appreciative. Quincy Jones another
mentor mind, another iconic doer who's now doing it in heaven.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Once lifted Oprah winfree and and then of course it
was so proud of Oprah that he put the Oprah Suite.
It is home that I've stayed at before, God resting,
God rest Quincy soul. So Quincy helped Oprah. I think
it was color purple. Oprah helped me and a range
(10:44):
of others to come up. Who are you going to help?
And I'm sure there's no doubt my mind that Beyonce
is already leaning in. And she said in her acceptance
and speeches is all about opening doors. Beyonce is blazing
impact again. She just became this iconic figure that you
(11:11):
never take this away from her, that went from one
genre to another and for the first time ever, became
album of the Year for country music. The new conversation
is inclusive economics. Whether it's black or white, or red
or blue meaning race or color that people want to
(11:34):
argue about. Really the colors green as in US currency
at least here in the United States of America. Right,
But it's always been about green. We just have been
distracted with other well distractions. What did Malcolm X say.
We've been bamboozo we've been tricked, we've been food, we've
been hoodwinked, right, and we've been emotional, and we now
(11:58):
need to get focused on what really mattered. And when
you get emotional, it's easy to be deceived, to be disillusioned,
to be dismissed. Dee and I has been weaponized, I
think for political purposes, but it doesn't matter. It's been weaponized,
it's been hijacked, and it's been played with and been
(12:21):
made toxic in many ways as a brand. Some companies
are rolling back their diversity programs. I've talked to a
number of these CEOs who run these big companies. They're
good people. They basically said, I'm still gonna keep I'm
still committed to these values because it's good for business
and they're good people, but it's also just good for business.
They just don't want to have a flag out there
(12:43):
that says, come hit me over the head if you
disagree with me politically and making them a target. So
they've backed away. Most of these CEOs are good people
backed away from the label but not the cause. There
are a few of these companies are disingene you didn't
meaning when they did in the first place, and I
(13:04):
won't name those companies because that's not the way I roll.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
I talk.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
By the way, here's my philosophy for life. Talk without
being offensive, listen without being defensive, and always leave even
your adversary with their dignity because if you don't spend
the rest of their life trying to make you miserable,
it becomes personal. So I don't spend time arguing with
stupid people. I mean to argue with the food prooser
are too I think again. I like math because it
(13:28):
doesn't have an opinion that's a melody hops in quota,
I use a lot, and as you're about to see,
the math is really here all that matters. So we
need a new framework. De and I has been weaponized
and played with. When need a new framework, one based
on economic empowerment. That's why I call it inclusive economics.
(13:49):
It's about participation, not politics. The data that proves this
approach works is from the Business Plan for America, which
I wrote, and you can look up on my website
Operation Hope and download all of the data and go
through it for yourself in as much detail as you like.
It is there, and it is unimpeachable. It's sourced, it's
(14:12):
fact based. It's not emotional. It's not partisan. It's not
Republican or democrat, or black and white or urban liberal.
And it's not rich and poor. It's just data.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
It is.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
And no one's ever argued with these numbers. I've never
had one person, institution, what ever, tell me that the
numbers are wrong. They just try to ignore me and
hope I'll go away. I'm not going anywhere again. We're
just getting louder with this message. But you don't need
to scream and hollow it because when you got the power,
you don't need to use it. Step over messing, not
(14:42):
in it. Here's some power for you, black buying power
over one point eight trillion dollars, yet underutilized in asset building,
entrepreneurship growth. Black businesses are growing at the fastest rate ever,
but face major capital access gaps. In fact, after the pandemic,
(15:05):
the fastest growing group coming out of the pandemic were
African American black owned businesses and the fastest group amongst
all fastest group were black women own businesses. In fact,
there was the fastest group. It was a fastest growing
group of small business owners since two thousand and four
after the pandemic. And now I believe it's latinos by
(15:28):
the way, So kudos there. Home ownership impact. Closing the
Black home ownership gap could add over three trillion dollars
to the US economy. Did you hear what I just said?
This is these are real numbers. Closing the black home
ownership gap with financially literate, well prepared new home buyers
(15:53):
could add over three trillion dollars to the US economy.
So the delta, the difference between Black home ownership and
their mainstream counterbarts read white, it's about thirty percent. And
that's where this three trillion dollars comes from. You know,
fighting the good fight's not just about fighting in the
streets in the suite. Sometimes you got to fight the
(16:15):
argument with your brothers and sisters in the streets. So
sometimes I'll be talking about this stuff about homeownership and
brother will say, oh, you know, I don't want to
no home. That open home is stupid.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
You own home.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
The bank owns a home if you don't pay about
excellence people is about stepping up. You gotta look pay
your bills right if you as long as you pay
your bill, the bank does not own that home. They
own the mortgage, the rights to the mortgage on a home.
You get the benefits of that mortgage through tax right
off and all that stuff and appreciation from owning that
(16:49):
home right. And some people will tell you not to
own a home on major TV broadcasts, These wealthy people
telling you own you shouldn't own a home, own a
home right. So I have no idea what's going on
there other than the fact that they don't look at
their forty year OO mansions as primary assets that they've
grown on that long time ago they remember. They don't
(17:10):
remember their humble beginnings. But for most people, home ownership
is the user way to build well AI in the
future of work. The next frontier isn't just d E NI,
it's AI literacy and ownership in emerging markets, emerging industries.
(17:38):
Here's the message to corporate America. Also, companies should shift
from diverse optics diversity optics to economic outcomes. Who's getting contracts?
My brother Roland Martin and I have this conversation often
about in his case advertising contracts. He just wants a
(18:00):
reasonable piece of the pie for the market of the
AFT American consumer. You know, again, one point six one
point seven to one point eight trillion dollars consumer spending
force would be one of the largest nations in the
world if we were a country, and ninety percent of
what we get is we generates consumption, which is typically
not good news, but in this particular case, it is
good news because we're buying stuff and those folks are consuming.
(18:24):
And Rowland Martin and other minority media companies just want
a fair share, reasonable share of the economic pie with
an allocation of advertising dollars. But there's so many other examples,
and participating supporting institutions that can give you access to
these emerging markets is good, but it's not only the
(18:45):
right thing to do. It'll pay dividend because they'll bring
you more customers. Corporate America, So who's on your supply chain,
who's building wealth as a result of this platform? You
have these major major company because you have vendors up
and down the chain in this company. Who you're hiring, right,
does it reflect your communities? Does it reflect your customer base,
(19:07):
you know, I mean you do business with people you
reflect back to understand, appreciate, right, and they appreciate and
respect you in return. Right, So it's doing well and
doing good. It's good capitalism. Just don't talk about inclusion.
Invest in it, action steps how to win like Beyonce
(19:33):
for entrepreneurs and professionals, be the best in your space,
period over to rounded through it. You're gonna get to it.
I believe an entrepreneur works eighteen hours a day to
keep from getting a job.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
I have a tea shirt sometimes just it's built on failure, right,
I mean I just I just never give up. I
take no for vitamins. Right, you got to just com
it to being the absolute best. Read the book The Outliers, right,
and it talks about the exceptions of the rule. The
folks who put in a little bit more time, a
(20:10):
little bit more and invest a little bit more time
and energy to train up to be the best, the
very best that they can be. And it pays off
because they become the NBA players, the pro league of
their sector, and don't have to worry about somebody cutting
number break they become they're breaking for the whole. They
(20:32):
are creating new holes. They're creating a wake behind them
that other people can follow through. They're not following others.
They people are following them, and people are investing in
them because they're the best at what they do and
they're creating as a result of that, economic opportunity. Beyonce
has created economic opportunity. She just opened a whole new
(20:55):
door just with this most recent shift, which was very
risky again into country music, which she bet on herself.
What would happen if you bet on yourself multiple income
streams all right, real estate, UH, investing, entrepreneurship, learning, AI,
(21:20):
and tech. Because the economy is shifting, for business leaders
and corporations move beyond U d n our programs and
invest in economic participation contracts with diverse applies. As I
(21:41):
mentioned funding black entrepreneurs. You can do it actually through
minority participation contracts or minority women own businesses. If you
don't have to target minority in women own businesses. If
you're you're targeting underserved communities, you're going to get minority
in women owned businesses who are in those communities. By
by the way, this includes poor whites in West Virginia
(22:02):
I'm not excluding anybody. If you're talking about inclusive economics,
it's just really repairing the ladder from the bottom to
the top. And as you're trying to get the folks
at the bottom, you can naturally sweep up as a
result of that, best in class potential leaders and doers
of the future who happen to also be black, brown,
and different without targeting black people. Okay, but that's a
(22:23):
whole nother podcast for another time. But you know, one
of my businesses, the Promise Homes Company, which I sold
the majority of a couple three years ago, still on
mistake in it. When I was the chairman CEO, we
made sure that half of all contracts went to minority
and women in small businesses in communities where we invested in.
(22:44):
Because we were invested in underserved communities, I didn't have
to say, where's the black business. That's not the way
we worked it. You had to be competent, you know,
it was really where's a competent business. I didn't want
to go to a national company. I want to go
to small businesses in my neighborhood where I invest in
these affordable house signal in underserved community homes where I grew,
you know, where I Atlanta in North Florida, and the
(23:06):
likelihood I was going to hit up. You know, if
I throw a rock at a business in the underserved
area affordable workforce development community area where I'm invested in
bought seven hundred homes, the likely that is going to
hit you know, if I threw a rock, close my
eyes and hit a business, there's going to be a
minority of women.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
It's fairly high.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
And it just turned out that plumbing, heating, electrical landscaping, roofing, painting,
these are things I had to get done every month anyway,
and so we end up doing a few million dollars
a year, like just under five million dollars a year
in contracts every year, these repeatable, reboutable philanthropy, which is
just contracts I would give the contract to somebody when
(23:45):
not to give it to people who who in many
cases look like me, without me targeting anybody, just really
emphasizing where the dollars should also have a shot to.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Empower, versus just.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Doing the easy, lazy thing of giving that contract to
a one big national company who wouldn't even notice that
I gave them a contract. Whereas we gave contracts where
it literally changed folks's world and made some people millionaires.
For everyday people, turn your income into wealth, save invest
Oh and get my book Financial Leuwacy for All. It's
(24:24):
a great place to start as a best seller, by
the way, been the best seller for a year now.
Support businesses that support your community. I'm not down with
the boycotton thing. I mean, everybody do their do their situation,
do their thing. I don't say, don't boycott the company.
Clean the shelves right there are there are black owned
products of minority with Latino, whatever, Asian, whatever, your whatever,
(24:44):
your cause. Azure is if there are products for those
good companies that are on the shelves of these companies
at Target, Tarja, Walmart, or wherever it is you shop,
clean the shells, go buy all of them. Send the
message that that you've got the area is buying power
and support either the brands and or companies that support
(25:08):
your community by giving them your dollars and then writing
a letter to the CEO, writing a letter to the
store manager whoever you can get to, and let them
know that you back your values up with your dollar
bill buy a share of stock in that company, if
it's a publicly traded company, and now you have a
voice as a shareholder as well. You can talk with
the shareholder meeting. It's a whole another conversation with another time.
(25:30):
But be a positive force for good, not just an irritant.
I mean being an irritant is productive and useful. There
is a time for protesting. By the way, where will
we be without I was talking to Charlottvigne today about
the legacy of Al Sharton and Jesse Jackson's not the
way I roll, but you know them shaking trees twenty
(25:52):
thirty years ago, and Reverend Sharpton's case ten years ago,
and now I mean in many cases that opened the
door for Aerial Capital Management, which is now doing billions
and billions of dollars of management of mutual funds. They're
they're doing on merit, but they couldn't get the attention
way back when. And it was you know, it was
doctor King had these visions as well, of bringing attention
(26:15):
to companies that would not pay attention just because they
were well, in that particular case racist, just to call
it what it is. If you're competent and no one
will pay you any attention and will actually actively ignore
you and call you incompetent.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Then what do you call that? Right?
Speaker 1 (26:34):
But today you can increasingly carbon path based on your excellence.
Artificial intelligence is going to change everything. It's my friend
Vans Jones said that nine nine percent of black folks
on North thing about AI. And they paused and looked
to me and said, but nine percent of white folks
(26:56):
on North thing about AI either. It levels the playing
field for everybody. So what are the key takeaways here?
The answer to d E and I, it's Beyonce.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Why.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Because it's about winning, It's about becoming undeniable. This is
about inclusive economics, participating, not pleading. Here's your call to action.
If you're serious about your money and your future, I
want you to follow this movement. Check out my business
plan for America at Operation Hope and join the conversation.
(27:30):
Get my book, tell your friends, subscribe to this podcast,
and like Beyonce said, you won't break my soul. Keep winning,
keep building, and let's create real economic future. Now, let's
give you some stats, facts and details that are an
inspiration and sends a message that your undeniable right, black
(27:52):
economic power in financial gaps, right, black economic power twenty
twenty three number is one point eight that's mad to
be one point eight trillion dollars. It's greater than the
GDP gross domestic product, the income of a nation of
Mexico or Canada.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Did you hear what I just said? All Right?
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Black economic power, the buying power of black folks, a
group of people that people continue to dismiss, is greater
than the GDP of Mexico or Canada.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Right.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
The wealth gap. The median black household wealth is twenty
four one hundred dollars, is nearly eight times lower than
the white household wealth of one hundred and eighty eight thousand,
two hundred as the Federal Reserve twenty twenty three data.
That's a problem, and it's an opportunity. Business ownership, Black
(28:43):
owned businesses are growing at an incredibly fast rate, again,
one of the fastest rates in the country. In the
fact of twenty twenty three, it was the fastest rate
in the country plus thirty eight percent since twenty twenty
two alone. Yet they receive less than two percent of
all venture capital funding. Right, you can't tell me they're
(29:04):
not you know, future apples and future you know big
businesses and of all.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Sectors and industries.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Inside of these, you know group of black businesses, there's
you know, about three point one ish million black businesses
in America. I think I've got that number right. I mean,
Operation Hope a Loon has helped to inspire four hundred
and fifty thousand businesses since the pandemic. And I could
tell you there's a whole bunch of she ros and
heroes in that list that are that. They're not black businesses.
(29:35):
They're great businesses that happen to be black, and they're
killing it. We don't need to ask for a seat
at the table. We need to own the building. Let's
try that for a change. Home ownership and generational wealth.
Black home ownership rate is forty five percent, give or
take between forty one, forty two, forty three, forty four
percent fluctuates. Versus White home ownership rates are pretty stable
(29:58):
at seventy five percent. That's the Urban Institute twenty twenty
three as a source. White folks owning the homes because
it works right, you know, homemwondership values that had not
gone down since the beginning of time. There's been recessions.
They received right, recession recede, but then they correct above
(30:20):
the line every time. Right, They're not growing any more.
Land by yourself a home, and I'm a landlord, so
I should want to encourage you to do nothing but rent.
But I want you to rent, to own, rent for me,
and then prepare to own. I want to run out
of people who want to rent, but I want to
empower you to go up that economic ladder just like
(30:42):
I did. Closing the Black home ownership gap could generate
Listen now, three trillion dollars in economic growth. That's tay,
that's the Mackenzie and Company statistic. Renders are ten times likely.
(31:08):
How do I say this? They're less likely than homeowners
to be wealth creators. So they're ten times less likely
to build intergenerational wealth than a homeowner. I hope that
made some sense. So it's not just that you're renting,
is that your mindset is different. When you're a homeowner,
(31:28):
you're ten times less likely to build integer generational wealth
if you're rendered.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Then if you're a homeowner, the.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Next civil rights movement just might be financial literacy, home
and ownership of homes, businesses and assets, AI, and automation
of the future. Eighty five percent of jobs in twenty
twenty three will require AI.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Digital or tech skills.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
That's right, eighty five percent of jobs in twenty twenty
thirty five will require AI artificial intelligence, digital or tech skills.
Think about pookying them and what skills that our cousins have. Right,
if you're working at the local convenience store, you got
a high school education, that job is gone, it's been.
It's gonna be automated into zero within five years. So
I want you to be part of the future, now
(32:16):
part of the past. Black and Latino workers are the
highest risk of automation replacing their jobs, but less than
five percent of work of them working AI related fields.
That's a problem and an opportunity because I just told
you nobody knows about AI and everybody understands it's about
to come and change everything. Folks arguing about Dee and
(32:37):
I should be talking about AI. If really, that's a
drop the mic for you right there, that's like no
different than Beyonce is Lata, y'all talking about R and
B and hip hop and rap cool. I'm going to
talk about country music and do that too, bi lingual.
It's an and not an ore. By investing in AI education,
black wealth could increase by three point five trillion dollars
(33:01):
by twenty forty five. If we don't do that, black
wealth will be zero by twenty fifty three. There's your
difference right there. Investing in AI education is we're dealing
with the AILP THREEI Pipeline of Prosperity project's part of
the AI Ethics Council. I co chair with Sam Altman
here in Atlanta and my partnership with Dean Phillips and
(33:22):
Georgia State University and Clark Atlanta University, and Moorhouse and
Spelman and Atlanta Public Schools, Doctor Johnson and Mayor Andrea
Dickens here as a model for a pipeline of new
prosperity and jobs. Don't wait for folks to destroy jobs
and destroy your life. Go and take control of your
life and be the future you want to see and
(33:44):
be excellent. When folks are running out of get running
you out of town, Get in front of the crowd,
made like a parade. D E and I is being
replaced by AI. The real issue is in representation. It's
ownership of the future economy. You can do that, and
there's time. Nobody has this figured out yet. Beyonce didn't
demand the seat of the table of country music. She
(34:06):
just took it over. That's the mindset we need. She's
not diverse, she's undeniable, and that's how we win. Don't
wait for permission to be great, just do it. This
isn't about handouts. It's about leveling the economic playing field
with real participation. We don't need more Dee and I panels.
(34:26):
We need black businesses with billion dollar valuations and asset panels.
When black and brown communities build wealth, America wins. I've
often joked, but I'm sort of serious. If black folks
succeed economically, even the racist wins, because all economic boats rise.
(34:48):
Money has no color, but economic access has always been
black and white. When you win in the economy, they
have no choice but to open the door. Excellence is
the new activism. Ownership is a new protest. There's a
lot of folks who wanted to deny my Jewish brothers
and sisters. I mean, I've been They've been run out
(35:09):
of every place in the world. I just we just
came from Poland last week. I mean, what was that?
What happened to them in Auschwartz is just undeniable were
placed with there. A million people were murdered, a million
in one location and one little forget a city. I mean,
it's just a few football fields, right. A million people
were murdered in Auschwitz. I mean, and that's just one
(35:29):
of the tragedies that's been visited upon my Jewish brothers
and sisters. And by the way, did you know that
half of Jews in Israel or dark skin. That's a
whole another conversation for another time. They've been to run
out of every place. But look, but still they rise
because they become excellent at a dozen different industries and
self reliance and they demand respect. And we could take
a page out of that book two or two, or
(35:51):
three or eight or ten. So she didn't fight for inclusion.
She made inclusion irrelevant by winning. This is a Beyonce
in her story with this win for Country Music of
the Year album, Black economic strength is already here. We
just need to activate it through ownership. You make money
(36:13):
during the day, you build wealth in your sleep. Black
businesses had equal access to capital. If black businesses had
equal access to capital, GDP would increase by one point
five trillion dollars a year. That's a City Group report.
My brother Ray McGuire author that report when he was
vice chairman of City Group. You should read that report.
(36:35):
Inclusive economics means we stopped waiting and start winning. What
will you build next? As I wrap up, here's some
outlier winners who also killed it in their area. Just
to show you there's not just about Beyonce, who is amazing, right,
(36:55):
Tiger Woods killed it in golf when there was no
black people playing golf at that level. What's his impact?
Became one of the greatest golfers of all time, winning
fifteen major championships and revolutionizing the sports appeal and broadening
the field of merchandising, of bringing blacks and brown people
(37:16):
into the sports watching it, you know, watch it, contributing
to the Nielsen ratings on television, buying merchandise, going to tournaments,
becoming golfers swinging. I mean you can black people swinging
golf clubs all or all all this across this country.
You know, tens and tens of millions of dollars of
economic industry energy, maybe more than that, in large part
(37:38):
because Tiger Woods made it cool. That's economics.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
People.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
Serena and Venus Williams they did the same thing in tennis.
Tennis was not a sports where black athletes were dominant
when they emerged. What's the impact? Together they changed the
game with power, athleticism and mental toughness with While Serena
became arguably the greatest female athlete of all time with
respect or impact in tennis, Wilma Rudolph track and field
(38:07):
overcame childhood polio in a racially segregated athletic system to
become the first African American women to win three gold
medals in a single Olympics that was nineteen sixty and
inspired generations of black female athletes in track and beyond.
Arthur Ash tennis, the first black man to win Wimbledon
(38:30):
nineteen seventy five, the US Open and the Australian Open.
Impact uses his platform uses platform for civil rights, AIDS
awareness and racial justice. My mentor in Bassor, Andrew Young,
worked with Arthur Ash on work around civil rights and
social justice in Africa. I was with Van Jones and
(38:52):
Poland last week against I mentioned and I remember Ben
looked at me and looked at it. At what was
then during nineteen forty five period, what happened in Poland
with Germany. It was really Austras was the most technologically
advanced death camp in the world. And he looked at
(39:12):
me and said, this is what happens when you have
technology and no humanity.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
So that's why what author ashe did with his talents
and his gifts used it for public good. I think
it's incredibly commendable. I think the whole purpose of power
is to collected so you can give it away. Bubba
Wallace at NASCAR, NASCAR has been historically a white, Southern
dominated sports with very few black drivers. By the way,
the president of NASCAR, Steve Phelps, good friend is on
(39:37):
my board of directors at Operation Hope. What's the impact
the only black driver currently racing full time in NASCAR's
Cup Series and an outspoken avagainst advocate against racism in
the sport. And who is his big backer now? Hello,
Michael Jordan. Can't make this up. Debbie Thomas. Debbie with
an I. By the way, the EBI. We should know
(40:00):
these figures are. She was a figure skating phenom, the
first black figure skater to win the US national title
of the nineteen eighty six and Olympic medal in nineteen
eighty eight. Impact broke barriers in a sport with few
after American athletes at the time. George Foreman boxing and
business success post sports, came from an underprivileged background, became
(40:23):
an Olympic gold medal listener, two time heavyweight champion, reinvented
himself with a George Forman grill, making more money in
business than boxing. By the way, I should throw in
my brother Reggie. Reggie Jackson who mister October did this
incredible stuff in baseball, broke all these records and then
went on to business. And he's still in businesses day.
(40:43):
And they also whenever I talked to him, he's all
about giving back. In fact, he tracked me down on twitterus.
I became friends because he was talking about he was
looking at my work in financial literacy and wanted to
find a way to partner. Now we bug each other
all the time, trun trigger out how we can help
our community be better. Here's some business legends for you,
right who won against the odds and created their own
(41:05):
affirming action. They were their own mechanisms of inclusion. Reginald
Lewis and Finance, one of my heroes, one of the
first black billionaires in America. Well he created a billion
dollar company, first black billion dollar company, which was he
acquired Beach's International, backed by my friend Michael Milkin, by
the way, for nine or eighty five million in the
(41:27):
nineteen eighties. They might as well call that twenty billion dollars.
To today, it's a lot of you know, billion dollars.
Nineteen eighty was unheard of for black man to secure
financing to buy a global company. By the way that
the Beaches worked in forty different states, sorry, forty different countries,
proved that black entrepreneurs could operate at the highest level
of Wall Street and global business, going from them from
(41:48):
Main Street to Wall Street in one lifetime, really killing
it from the neck up using his brain lawyer Harvard educated.
I just killed it and proved that a black man
can produce some green internationally. Ursula Burns became the CEO
(42:10):
of Xerox in two thousand and nine, the first black
black woman to lead a fortune five hundred company, paved
the way for more black women and executives leadership with
you're about to hear about in a second, but you know,
you know, she got a lot of arrows when she
went in there, and no one gave her a thing.
When I went in every business I've been in, I've
seen nothing but headwinds. When I built Operation Hope, and
I build Promise Homes Company, Brian goreod Ventures, all these
(42:31):
things I've done, people just laughed at me. When I
went into the federal banking regulators and said I want
to put a nonprofit inside of a bank branch, people
literal really laughed at me. Now we're the only nonprofit
ever allowed to operate out of a bank branch in
US history. With our Hope and Side model, fifteen hundred
locations across the country, empowering you to get your credit
screw up, your debt down, your savings up, and turning
(42:53):
you into a customer. I'm not going and I'm saying
you're a black person. I'm saying you're a good customer
who pay your loan back. And here's all the data
they give you the loan. Did it happened to be
you're also black or brown?
Speaker 2 (43:02):
Hello?
Speaker 1 (43:02):
Isn't that a win for everybody? All right, here's another
couple winners for you. Just a new friend of mine,
Robert F. Smith, just met him, spent some time with
him in Poland last week. Founder of Vista Equity Partners,
one of the most successful private equity firms in tech
in the world. Became one of the richest black men
in America and famously paid off the student loan debt
(43:23):
at Morehouse College for an entire graduating class. Multi billionaire, today,
philanthropist and a good man. Kathy Hughes in Media founded
Radio One now Urban One, first black woman to lead
a publicly traded media company, created one of the most
influential black owned media companies in the country. Ava DuVernay
(43:47):
from Film and Entertainment, first black woman to direct a
film nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, which is
the film Selma twenty fourteen. What's the impact broke berries
in Hollywood creating platforms for black voices in film, not
just black films, all films. Of course, you got to
give Tyler Perry at honorable mentioned here. I think the
first black owned major movie studio, Tyler Perry Studios, is
(44:11):
not the Homeboy Shopping net Work. Here is a major
studio major here in Atlanta. It's like going to Disneyland.
I mean, you come to Atlanta, you want to tour
Coca Cola and Civil Rights Museum and King Center natural
center for several human rights. Go do all of that,
and then go by Tyler Perry Studios and have your
mind blown. Doctor Patricia Bath in medicine invented the laser
(44:33):
cataract surgery, becoming the first black woman to receive a
medical patent.
Speaker 2 (44:38):
You're hearing me.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
Here, this is like, this is an unbelievable revolutionized eye
surgery and access to vision care. Roslind Brewer who lives
here in Atlanta, who I know, CEO of Walgreens and
previously see Starbucks COO. The only black woman that have
led to fortune five hundred companies, broke corporate glass ceilings
in retail and health care. And if you don't think
(45:01):
that she was inspired and led and had help from
Ursula Burns and what she did, you would be mistaken.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
And it was a white man that helped her out too.
His name was DOUGLC.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
Millan, the CEO Walmart, who made her CEO of a
major division at Walmart before she went on to do
her stuff independently and become the star on the global stage.
And so goodness can come from everywhere and often does
in both sports and business. These individuals excelled in fields
(45:31):
where their success was not expected. In fact, in many
ways it was an attempt to deny them. First people
to ignore you, then they will criticize you, and then
you if you keep moving, keep trying, you win. But
you know their success was not expected. But proving that
that talent, resilience, and vision can overcome historical barriers. What
(45:54):
can you do? Where can you succeed? How can you
use the tenants and the philosoph he's of inclusive economics
to prove and not just black lives matter, but black
capitalists matter more. In other words, you don't need anybody
to like you.
Speaker 2 (46:10):
You like you.
Speaker 1 (46:11):
I don't care if you like me. I like me
over the rounded, through it. I'm gonna get to it right.
I'm not as good as my compliments, are not as
bad as my criticism, but I am God's child and
I will not be denied. I'll get up earlier. Stay up, lady,
I'll work harder. I'm going to outwork anybody, anytime, any place,
any race. Black folks are born the hustle. We've been
doing so much with so little for so long. We
(46:31):
can almost do anything with nothing. And you just seeople
outrun everybody else. You'll outwork them, and you'll outthink them.
That is that immigrant up from nothing diversity story. People
come to this country and they got nothing to be ignored,
and they work hard to prove they could make it.
I mean go in Sacks, which we all talk about,
is a guy named Goldman, a guy named Sas. Literally,
(46:52):
these Jewish up from nothing business people were running selling
stuff's door to door with a briefcase because they couldn't
get a job in the skyscraper. Now they own the skyscraper, right,
And so you can do this. Whoever we're listening is
wherever you are quotation marks, you can do this. Women
were denied at a credit card, couldn't get a credit
(47:14):
card in nineteen seventy two, could can get along without
her husband co signing it in nineteen seventy two, not
eighteen seventy two. Nineteen seventy two, a white woman, all women, right,
and because of affirmative action, which was designed for black people,
and denied us after it was designed for us, after
Kennedy started in and Johnson, President Johnson advanced it, and
(47:35):
actually Nixon came in and he codified it as well.
But the courts said eh, and tried to stamp out
the support that was giving the blacks.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
That sounded like a familiar environment.
Speaker 1 (47:46):
By the way, just too much, I guess progress too
soon or too fast or whatever. Then there was pushback,
like there's pushback now, But white women actually got the
benefit of that and was and then white women then
led to Black women, Latino women, and Indian women and
other and then all Asian women, all women getting into
the benefit from what was called affirmative action. And what's
(48:08):
the benefit of the day of the country making the
right decision. A third of the US economy or women? Hello,
seven eight trillion dollars almost ten trillion dollars and a
twenty seven trillion dollars almost thirty trillion dollars economy. Without women,
we'd be an also ran nation, we'd be a third
world country. And once again today, diversity has to win,
(48:30):
otherwise we'll be speaking Mandarin in ten or twenty years,
making meaning Chinese. We're already chinae that war with us.
They want to be us, and the only way they
are not going to be us is if we all
stick together and row this boat into the same direction
of progress and realize that we are all in this
thing together. Everybody wants to be an American and except Americans.
Thank you Beyonce for inspiring us to realize we're all
(48:54):
God's children and racism is actually signed typically intellectually and
spiritually stupid. We love her music. It brings us together.
Let this message be a lighthouse for your future. This
is John O'Brien. I'm out. This is Money and Wealth.
(49:17):
Tell your friends to follow. The series Money and Wealth
with John O'Brien is a production of the Black Effect
Podcast Network. For more podcasts from the Black Effect Podcast Network,
(49:42):
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
Host
John Hope Bryant
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