An Army of Normal Folks - Khali Sweeney: The Boxing Gym Where No One Boxes (Pt 2)

Episode Date: February 25, 2025

Khali started Downtown Boxing Gym to use boxing as the hook to teach vulnerable Detroit kids about life. Ironically, none of the kids are now using their boxing ring, but their STEAM Lab and other awesome stuff have helped 1,500 kids graduate high school and 98% go on to post-secondary education! Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, it's Bill Courtney with An Army of Normal Folks, and we continue now with part two of our conversation with Kali Sweeney right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. Hey y'all, I'm Maria Fernanda Diaz. My podcast, When You're Invisible, is my love letter to the working class people and immigrants who shaped my life. I get to talk to a lot of people who form the backbone of our society, but who have never been interviewed before. Season two is all about community, organizing, and being underestimated.

All the greatest changes have happened when a couple of people said, this sucks, let's do something about it. I can't have more than $2,000 in my bank account or else I can't get disability benefits. They won't let you succeed. I know we get paid to serve you guys, but like, be respectful.

We're made out of the same things. Bone, body, blood. It's rare to have black male teachers. Sometimes I am the lesson and I'm also the testament. Listen to When You're Invisible as part of the MyCultura podcast network. Available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Snakes, zombies, sharks, heights, speaking in public, the list of fears is endless. But while you're clutching your blanket in the dark, wondering if that sound in the hall was

actually a footstep, the real danger is in your hand, when you're behind the wheel. And while you might think a great white shark is scary, what's really terrifying and even deadly is distracted driving. Eyes forward, don't drive distracted. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. I'm Mark Seale. And I'm Nathan King. This is Leave the Gun, Take the Canoli.

The five families did not want us to shoot that picture. Leave the Gun, Take the Canoli is based on my co-host, Mark's bestselling book of the same title. And on this show, we call upon his years of research to help unpack the story behind the Godfather's birth from start to finish. This is really the first interview I've done in bed. Ha ha ha ha! We sift through innumerable accounts. I see 35 pages in the real world.

Many of them conflicting. That's nonsense. There were 60 pages. And try to get to the truth of what really happened. — And they said, we're finished. This is over. They know this is not going to work. You can't get rid of those guys. This is a disaster. — Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli features new and archival interviews with Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Evans, James Kahn,

Talia Shire, and many others. — I guess that was the real horse's head. — Listen and subscribe to Leave the Gun, Take the Canole on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Something about Mary Poppins? Something about Mary Poppins, exactly. Oh man, this is fun.

I'm AJ Jacobs and I am an author and a journalist and I tend to get obsessed with stuff. And my current obsession is puzzles. And that has given birth to my podcast, The Puzzler. Dressing. Dressing. French dressing. Exactly. Now you can get your daily puzzle nuggets delivered straight to your ears. I thought to myself, I bet I know what this is. And now I definitely know what this is.

This is so weird. This is fun. Let's try this one. Our brand new season features special guests like Chuck Bryant, Mayim Bialik, Julie Bowen, Sam Sanders, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and lots more. Listen to The Puzzler every day on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. That's awful. And I should have seen it coming. When I coached at Manassas, we developed into having ACT prep classes and all this stuff

to help these kids kind of hopefully get caught up and do well. If I'd have showed up to Manassas and said, okay, everybody, I'm going to have an ACT prep class. Why don't you all 70 of you show up and be with me every day for nine months out of the year? Ain't nobody showing up. Correct. What I said is, how about I put together a really good football team and buy you new

equipment and everything else? And the trade off is, you got to do all this AT2 prep classes, you got to do all this other work. Football was the hook. It sounds to me like you found a hook. Yeah. was the hook. It sounds to me like you found a hook. Yeah, so like I said, I started doing this back in 05. I said boxing is the hook. It's the icebreaker to the bigger conversation. Homework, that's it started out just with the

homework. From there we've individualized programs. We do assessments. We do college and career readiness, ACT, all of that. How do you know anything about that, man? You just learned to read and you boxed it in the front yard. But we, for one, we looking at what we need to pay attention to. What's working and what's not working. How's this group of people thriving and this group is not? So let's look at everything that they have in place. Let's look at everything that they have in place. What's key to making this happen? The strategy is to win, not to fall short, just like a football coach. He's going to look at the film. He's going to look at the other teams. He's going to look at the past records. So let's look at what's working and what we need to do. Where are we falling short at and what do we need to

uplift? How do we get those other 70 to graduate with the 30? And so we did that. We looked at all of that and we said, okay. Who's we? So early on, I knew it wasn't me. I already know I'm struggling myself. But here's what I got to do. Here's what I had to do. Had to put my pride aside. If I want to make a community organization, it has to be about the community. It can't be me with Founder's Syndrome trying to carry the whole load, because I did that. I ended up being homeless. I lost my house.

I lost my car. I was living in the gym. I was taking showers in the sink. We had no lights, no gas, no heat, no running water at one point in time. We were using a generator outside. I was walking and I was sleeping in an old car in the field. And the kids would always ask me, do you live in that car? And I was like, no, I just got here early. They were like, no, you had a pillow. We saw you.

Holy moly, you skipped something. How did it go from the yard to that? Oh, man, we just, I kept going. I was working. I was working every day. I was dealing with my security job. I was working construction. And I was dealing with my security job. I was working construction. And I was like, okay, I started paying other people to let me bring the kids into their gym so they could see what a real gym looked like, not just being outside. Then I was like...

You're working two jobs. Yeah. And paying your hard earned money for a bunch of kids out the front yard so they could see what a real gym looks like. Yeah, yeah. So I'm paying them memberships at other gyms and stuff, and I'm taking these kidships at other gyms and stuff,

and I'm taking these kids all around places and stuff. And after a while, I was like, man, this is like, this is like, it's not productive. It's not actually working. This is actually, I'm losing doing this. And I saw a guy, he was renting a building out. And I asked him, could I rent it? And I told him what I wanted to do.

And he told me, if could I afford it? And I told him, yeah, but I didn't have a real plan. You just said, yeah. Yeah, I said, yeah. And before you know it, the lights were cut off, the gas was cut off. Are you serious? Yeah.

That's how that happened. So I stopped paying the rent at my house. And so then I stopped paying that and I started just living in my car. Then my car, it had a fuel pump issue. And so it would always stop on the freeway. And the parents would pick me up on the freeway because they'd see me walking on the freeway and they would bring me back to the gym.

So it was a whole journey. But how long ago was that? This was like early on, like 07, 08, it was all stuff like that. That ain't that long ago. I know, yeah. So... You're bathing in a... All right.

Yeah, it was... Let's collect all this to get on time to 2007. You're working two jobs. You notice the same kids that you fear look like you when you were in third grade, taking an interest in you because you're boxing. You say, I got a hook. And so now you're spending all your own money

to get them gym memberships just so they can be part of something positive. Correct. Then you rent a gym that you really don't have the money to pay for. You end up living in it. Yeah. And you're broken down car. Yeah.

Washing in the sink in the gym. Yeah. All so you can try to get the kids to have one positive thing in their life. Yeah. So. You're a hero. Nah, man, nah, so. I don't know. No, no.

I know the founder syndrome thing. I got a word for it. It's called turkey person. I'll tell you about it later. But let me just tell you something, dude. That is so, I mean, wow. Why do you think at that point you were so convicted in this that you were willing

to be homeless for these kids? Because at the end of the day, at the end of the day, if you really want to be an effective member of the community, if you want to do your part, you got to actually understand what is it actually that I'm actually losing. I lost apartment, so what? I lost apartment, so what? I lost a car, so what? I went from 218 solid muscle down to 150 pounds or whatever it was, so what? Because you weren't eating? I wasn't eating. The families used to bring food to the gym and say, hey, can you just eat this, can you eat that? Or they invite me to their house and then they'll just have a whole meal and just

have all the kids leave and they'll just let me eat in the kitchen so I wouldn't be embarrassed. I knew what they were doing. I knew what was going on. I knew what families were like, hey, taste this, have some. I knew what was going on. I knew that they were trying to, they saw what was going on with me far as weight wise, but what am I actually losing? So I lost a car. So what I lost her apartment. So what I lost friends who didn't get it So what I lost family who didn't get it. So what I don't care about that, but to lose a life Something so precious as a human life to lose a life Somebody who could potentially be the next person to invent something the scientists doctor lawyer

The who might had a cure for cancer. One of our coaches told me one time, he said, man, the most talented is in the graveyard. And I looked at him, I was like, man, how true that is. Some of your greatest discoveries are in a graveyard. Some of the guys who may have solved the mysteries of the universe are in a graveyard or sitting behind bars somewhere. When I hear people say, man, these people can play basketball better than Michael Jordan in prison. And I say, man, what a waste. What are we really losing by losing a car or an apartment or a few pounds?

I'm willing to make that sacrifice to save a life. And I don't need no heroes, a ward, or none of that. I don't need no accolades. Just to see a child walk across that stage means the world to me. Because I know our society has a chance. I seen a white guy slip and fall in the wintertime. He fell in the middle of the street,

bus coming straight at him. I drove my car in front of the bus, stopped it, picked him up. He told me, get your hands off of me. And everybody I was down there looking at their phones say I would have left them down there. But that's not humanity. I don't care what color he is or how old he is,

I don't care what his attitude is, that is a human life that needs to be saved. And I picked him up and I got in my car and I rode on. Because when I get up in the morning, the first person I see in the mirror is me. When I go to bed at night, the last person I see is me when I look in that mirror. And I want to say, did you do all you could do?

And I want to be proud of when I go to sleep. I don't want to say that I feel, oh, I had to get this amount of money or this and that or whatever. You know what I'm saying? When I got shot, I didn't think about, oh, how much money I got or did I have on the latest fashion. When I got shot, I said, man, I hope my family gonna be all right.

And that's the stuff that went through my mind. I mean, we really could end it there, but there's so much more to talk about. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We don't keep going. No, no, we don't. So you rent a gym and everything's turned off, but you're still doing this

So what happened? So I'm doing everything from the generator and um, I had finally Because I have founder syndrome. I really thought I had to be the one to do it because I'm from the community Nobody else can do it because I grew up here. I'm the one that has to be the one to do it I'm the only person that see the need. I had the founder syndrome very bad. And a young lady walked in. She said, can you train me? I'm looking for a place to work out. And I said, well, I'm sorry.

I just told all the parents that I'm about to do some remodeling. I'm going to close down. And so when she was walking around through the building, she followed me around for hours and she was like, wait a minute, you can't close this down. She said, don't close this place down. She said, whatever I can do to help you keep this open,

you need to keep this thing open. She said, I don't know how I'm gonna do it, but let me help you keep this place open. Because this is something I've never seen before in my life. And I've been to a lot of programs. I've been to a lot of places. And I've seen a lot of things. And I'm actually on my way to go to Switzerland

to work with the United Nations. And I have an apartment in Switzerland. I'm about to work with kids internationally to work with kids to do what you're doing right here, which is 15 minutes from my suburban home. And I'm gonna fly to a whole nother country. And there's people right here in our community, 15 minutes from my house home. And I'm gonna fly to a whole nother country and there's people right here in our community, 15 minutes from my house that I could be helping you help.

So don't close it. So she ended up homeless as well because she put everything she had into it to keep it. She ended up homeless? Yes. Are you for real? I'm dead serious. Because nobody was jumping on board.

So we were still financing it the best we could. And we financed it the best we could and we Financed it the best we could and then finally we caught a break Somebody walked in On behalf of another community. I'll let them tell a story, but it was another community suburban community a group of people They had been hearing about what I was doing and they literally Was getting turned down every time they would send somebody to ask me questions I was like man get away from me I got work to do I'm taking care of business I don't got time to talk to you and I was just pushing people away and so a lady walked in the gym one day and

I'm in the back sweeping getting ready for the kids to get in there and she came in and she said uh she said, what is this place? And I seen her, she had on a pants suit looking like the police or some sort of inspector about to shut the place down. Cause I know we had probably every violation on earth in the place probably. And because sometimes it used to rain inside the building.

So I'm thinking like, this is some kind of city inspector or the police. And so she started asking me what is this place? And I told her, I said it's a youth program. We work with kids for free. And we help them with their homework and school and tutoring and all of that type of stuff. And we teach about a box, but that's the hook.

So I'm breaking it down to her and I'm telling her what we do. And she looked me up and down she's like when the last time you had something to eat? And I was like what are you talking about? She's like the whole time you're dirty and your stomach is growling. She said you don't look well. She said how are you gonna help kids and you don't even look like you're helping yourself? And I was like lady who are you? Like are you going to help kids and you don't even look like you're helping yourself? And I was like, lady, who are you? Are you going to write me a summons, a ticket or whatever you're going to do?

Just write it and get on out of here so we can go ahead and get ready for these kids to get in here. She said, is that food right there? Because we bought food for the kids every day to make sure that they had food. She said, why don't you eat some of that? And when she tell the story, she said, he wouldn't even eat it, he said, cause if I eat that one kid won't eat.

So she gave me $20. And she said, go get something to eat. And I said, okay. She's like, you're not doing it on you. I said, no, I'm gonna buy some food for the kids. So yeah, that was that story. That's a little bit, that's that. Well, who was she?

So she ended up being a lady by the name of Leslie Andrews and she was coming on behalf of another group of people. I'll let them tell that story because they do youth programs and nonprofits and stuff, but they like to remain anonymous. And so but basically, yeah, they helped fund. Yeah, they gave us they gave us they gave us our first little bit of money to knock down the first domino. And they were instrumental in helping turn the tide. We were able to get the stuff taken care of that needed to be taken care of.

And then they helped us develop a strategy as far as getting all of our paperwork in order and paying the right people to do what needed to be done early on, have a creative business plan that was solid. We'll be right back. Hey, y'all, I'm Maria Fernanda Diaz. My podcast, When You're Invisible, is my love letter to the working class people and immigrants who shaped my life. I get to talk to a lot of people who form the backbone of our society, but who have never been interviewed before. Season two is all about community,

organizing, and being underestimated. All the greatest changes have happened when a couple of people said, this sucks, let's do something about it. I can't have more than $2,000 in my bank account or else I can't get disability benefits. They won't let you succeed. I know we get paid to serve you guys,

but like be respectful. We're made out of the same things, bone, body, blood. It's rare to have black male teachers. Sometimes I am the lesson and I'm also the testament. Listen to When You're Invisible as part of the MyCultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Snakes, zombies, sharks, heights, speaking in public, the list of fears is endless.

But while you're clutching your blanket in the dark, wondering if that sound in the hall was actually a footstep, the real danger is in your hand, when you're behind the wheel. And while you might think a great white shark is scary, what's really terrifying and even deadly is distracted driving. Eyes forward, don't drive distracted. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. I'm Mark Seale and I'm Nathan King. This is Leave theTSA and the Ad Council. I'm Mark Seale. And I'm Nathan King. This is Leave the Gun, Take the Canole. The five families did not want us to shoot that picture.

Leave the Gun, Take the Canole is based on my co-host Mark's best-selling book of the same title. And on this show, we call upon his years of research to help unpack the story behind the godfather's birth from start to finish. This is really the first interview I've done in bed. Ha ha ha ha! We sift through innumerable accounts. I see 35 pages, very much. Many of them conflicting. That's nonsense.

There were 60 pages. And try to get to the truth of what really happened. And they said, we're finished, this is over. They're always not gonna work. You gotta get rid of those guys, this is a disaster. Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli features new and archival interviews with Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Evans, James Kahn, Talia Shire, and many others.

Yes, that was a real horse's head. Listen and subscribe to Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Something about Mary Poppins? Something about Mary Poppins. Exactly. Oh, man. This is fun. I'm AJ Jacobs, and I am an author and a journalist, and I tend to get obsessed with stuff.

And my current obsession is puzzles. And that has given birth to my podcast, The Puzzler. Dressing. Dressing. Oh, The Puzzler. Dressing. Dressing. Oh, French dressing. Exactly. Ha ha ha! Oh, that's good.

Now, you can get your daily puzzle nuggets delivered straight to your ears. I thought to myself, I bet I know what this is. And now I definitely know what this is. This is so weird. This is fun. Let's try this one. Our brand new season features special guests

like Chuck Bryant, Mayim Bialik, Julie Bowen, Sam Sanders, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and lots more. Listen to The Puzzler every day on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. That's awful. And I should have seen it coming. or wherever you get your podcasts. That's awful. And I should have seen it coming.

So from your starving, broke, homeless, no eating self in 2007, to when Leslie tried to give you 20 bucks, to when you drug another person into this and made them homeless, when did it become an organization? When did it become a self-sustaining thing that was not only just teaching kids how to box but really engaging with kids. So that was early, that was in the beginning. From the very beginning, I'd already had a plan. I already knew that education is the key.

Education is the key, because it opened up so many doors for me and so many opportunities for me. I already knew that. And so I was just truly using that as the hook. Along the way, yes, we did find out some kids were talented at boxing, but I used to let them all know. 99% of the people here that's trying to learn how to box is not going to learn how to box. Let's get that straight. I said boxing can be plan B, not

plan A. Education is plan A, not plan B. Because if you make boxing plan A, boxing demands a lot from you. And at some point in time, you're not going to be able to box. And if you make education be a secondary thought, you're going to have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to the real world. So right now this is just strength and conditioning. If you find that you love it, take it with a grain of salt. Understand that it takes a lot to compete at a high level. Education should be your plan A. And we kept it like that. And our kids thrive. And we have 100% graduation rate. And our kids go to some of the best colleges in the country. And so now our program, we have 250 kids in our program.

We have no kids, absolutely not one kid boxes out of 250 kids. Which is crazy because you're called downtown boxing gym. That's why nobody's boxing. Nobody box. That's the greatest thing in the world. I love it. Explain that. So, if you take a 15 year old colleague, and say, hey colleague,

come down to the downtown reading program. They ain't coming. They ain't nobody's coming. For the same reason, ain't nobody coming to hang out with me at Manassas for an ACT prep class. It's not happening. But they'll go to the boxing gym. Not only that, they're gonna bring 20 other people

and tell you how they uncle used to box, and I got it in my blood, and all of this, and what your uncle used to do and what you do is two different things boxing is one of those things that you cannot play You cannot play boxing That's why the boxing the boxing rings on our gym. They have names one is the polygraph machine The other one is the lie detector the truth will come out I don't care what your uncle's cousins DNA is if it's not in you is not in you and we'll find out real quick So the vast majority of people that get in the ring don't really want a box Can we talk about boxing for a minute if you want to just briefly if you want to I just want our listeners to hear

This okay a lot of folks with fast hands a lot of athletic guys But the little bit I learned in Golden Gloves was this the best boxers the one that know how to take a punch. What do you think? I don't believe it. I don't believe in that at all. You better because I'm gonna tell you I've seen a lot of fast athletic guys and the first time they get hit in the nose they don't want to box no more. You better be able to handle that. I don't care how good you are at throwing hands, if you can't handle a shot, you ain't never gonna box. So, you don't agree with that?

No, no, no. I do, man. Now we are gonna disagree. So no, no, listen, listen. So here's what I say, right? I've seen guys who had glass jaws, with a glass jaw. I mean, porcelain. This thing is pristine.

It just popped. You could just break this thing. But I've seen these guys go on to become undefeated champions until they reach a certain point. And then it catches up with them. So you cannot be able to take a punch, but you can develop strategies to avoid that. You can shoulder roll. you can deflect punches,

you can slip punches, you can parry punches, you can do all those type of things to get you along the way. But there's somebody who will pick the lock and will break your jaw and it will expose you and expose you. It happens to fighters all the time. So yeah, you can be a fast fighter,

smart fighter, have ring generalship. You can be all of those things and you can protect your chin and protect your weakness. I used to teach my fighters, I used to tell them all the time, we don't spend time fighting another man's strength. We'll find a way to exploit his weakness. If he has fast hands, we're going to make him very uncomfortable. If he's a rough and tough, rugged guy, we're going to box him from the outside. We're going to make him uncomfortable. We're not going to fight his strengths. So it's ways to hide a glass jaw. Isn't that interesting that metaphorically, boxing and the way you teach it helps you to

figure out how to attack a problem from all kinds of different angles based on what you're faced with. Yes. And metaphorically that's exactly what you're doing with kids. Yes, I'd agree. Good, we agree on that. We agree on that. Alright, so the whole point is what you're gonna do when you can't box anymore. Grades are first, boxing second. Boxing is the hook to get you in and I'm gonna teach you how to box if that's what you want to do. But that's B. There's a hundred and twenty something thousand kids playing football in junior high and high school every single year in the United States. And there are about 80 a year that get drafted to actually make a living playing

football. And if you figure out what 80 is, and the percentage of 125,000, you will find out that there are more people that get into heaven than NFL. Correct. So if you are more interested in football than you are in your grades, you are sailing up a long, difficult road. And it is the exact same thing you're saying to your kids about boxing. Yeah. I said that same thing to everybody that saying to your kids about boxing. Yeah.

I said that same thing to everybody that's ever played football for me. Yeah. Because everybody thinks they're going to go to the NFL when they're ninth grade. Yeah, one of the things that we do, we make sure our kids, we remove every barrier humanly possible that can impede a kid's success academically. So tell us about that. Now, we got the background, we got it. I mean, what is the, you said 250 kids in this thing.

250. And I assume the roof doesn't leak anymore. No, not at all. I love that. So I assume the facility's been built up. Yes. You got 250 kids, and you talk about kids graduating and going to some of the best colleges So now tell us what the downtown boxing gym that nobody boxing in boxes in which is hilarious

Tell me what you do. Tell me now what it is. So Just like before it was academic help and support Mentorship all of that is the same. But now we are able to do it more, we brought in more professionals who are now paid staff. Before it was volunteers, and with volunteers is hit or miss. The volunteers may volunteer and something comes along

and then they're gone. And this is a long-term thing that we have to deal with from kids from eight years old until they go to college. And those kids need consistency. Consistency, right. And so I noticed that early on where a young person who finally opened up and that the school system had gave, I hate to talk about the school system, but the school system had gave up on this young person.

And she had finally opened up to one of our volunteers, and they were able to get her on track where the school system couldn't. And then that person got a better job offer somewhere, and they couldn't volunteer anymore. And none of us had the skills to help this young person. We saw that slip. We saw her start back slipping backwards. So I was like, never again. We can't do that. We have to have consistency. So we hired staff and we brought in people we brought in the best teachers

People that we can find academically who were looking and passionate about working in an environment like ours So now we have you know, read an intervention math intervention mentorship computer coding steam lab. We have people who teach music and music theory, music lesson. Steam lab? I don't know nothing about that. You're missing a syllable. What's that?

Steam lab. Steam lab. There's an A in there, isn't there, Colley? Yeah, because we still have the arts. Okay, steam lab. Yeah. All right, well, listen man, all my taste is in my mouth. I can't carry a tune in a bucket. So I don't know anything about that, but the juxtaposition of the arts in a boxing gym is

Just too interesting not to hear about the steam lab. So in our steam lab, you know they might be doing computer coding. They may be doing we also have we also have a what is that machine for when you're a pilot? What do you call that machine? Oh, oh, oh, so you can get your pilot license. What is that thing called? Oh my gosh. Simulator.

We have a simulator. Yeah, we have a flight simulator. See, every once while Alex Bruce. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you. Yes. So we have this guest too. Yeah, we have we have we have we have a flight simulator. See, every once in a while, Alex proves you're serious. Thank you, Alex. Yeah, so we have a flight simulator. So some of our kids will get their pilot's license with the drones and stuff like that. Are you serious?

Yeah, they're doing that drone license and stuff like that. We have drones. We have the flight simulator. We have the coding. They've been in there dissecting frogs in there, all kinds of stuff. These guys are doing that chemistry stuff. There's just a lot going on.

Animation, we're doing something with the National Science Foundation. We just got the Literacy Award. We're the only people in the United States to get the Literacy Award for our kids' grades going up so high. We take kids who are two to three grades behind, they're two to three grades ahead. We, like I said, we send them to some of the best colleges. They're doing computer coding, they're doing mock trials

in the federal court system. And this is not a school, this is after school. After school, after school. How many hours does the kids spend with you? So they'll come there three hours. In the summertime, we open at six o'clock. We'll be open at six a.m. And we'll be there to six at seven at night.

We also have a full kitchen too. One of the stories that I didn't tell, because I did mention about the food, but I didn't tell how the food got started. Now, I would like to touch on that because that's very important to food. And so we had a young man in our program at one point in time I would like to touch on that because that's very important to food. So we had a young man in our program at one point in time who was training just as hard

or if not harder than everybody in the gym. He would work out, he would come do all his homework. Very intelligent young man. Almost a straight A student, a real straight A student too. He was just that focused. But I noticed every day he would get weaker and weaker. He was just looking so weak every day I would see him. And so one day I just asked him, I said, man, what did you eat this morning? Like what did you eat today? He said, I ate a bowl of cereal.

I said, that's the problem. I said, young man, you cannot eat a bowl of cereal. Go to school, be at school all day long, then come here and then train hard and do all this stuff off a bowl of cereal." He was like, I ate that three days ago. He ate a bowl of cereal three days ago. And that's when I knew that food was a big part of this community thing. And so our kids eat every night together. We all eat, we sit down and we share a meal together. And so our kids eat every night together. We all eat, we sit down and we share a meal together and our staff and everybody eat. We have a full kitchen staff. We have guest chefs who come in and we cook every day

for our kids in our program. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, whatever it is we cook for our kids. That's just something I just wanted to add to that because that's important too. You know, and candidly, there is a massive physiological connection between good nutrition and your brain's ability to absorb information. And so I can't imagine that better nutrition children are not also able to learn better. You said that. I did say that. I gotta go read that one, but I hope it's true. Read it, it is true.

Yeah. You can call me later and say, wow Bill, thank you. I'm gonna call you. All right, that's good. And what do these kids pay? They don't pay anything, never. As long as I'm alive, they better not pay anything

as long as I'm alive. So I'll never have a parent have to choose between paying the bills and educating the kids. Because if you think about what it actually costs to put a kid through school and to have that type of support, that's a lot of money. So we're able to provide that expense. Some of our teachers, they don't make what they should,

but they love the fact that they can do what they need to do without having to, like I said, we're able to take a kid that's in the 12th grade and go all the way back to the third grade, where in a school that teacher may have to do something that they don't want to do, like not help this kid, if that makes sense. Well, then that can. I mean, they got a whole classroom of kids. You can't stop the whole classroom advancing to go back and catch another kid up.

I mean, in a teacher's defense, it's not set up that way. Yeah, and so a lot of our teachers, they love coming to the gym. They love it because now they can take that same kid who was 17 about to go off to college, and they can go back and develop an individualized program to help that young person have the foundation to be successful at life. And so we have another group of people that's on our staff who work with the kids after

high school to their 25 through college to make sure that they don't go to college and feel like they don't have that support. So we support them through college as well. So that's a good part. We'll be right back. Hey, y'all. I'm Maria Fernanda Diaz. My podcast, When You're Invisible,

is my love letter to the working class people and immigrants who shaped my life. I get to talk to a lot of people who form the backbone of our society, but who have never been interviewed before. Season two is all about community, organizing, and being underestimated. All the greatest changes have happened when a couple of people said this sucks let's do something about it. I can't have more than $2,000 in my bank

account or else I can't get disability benefits. They won't let you succeed. I know we get paid to serve you guys, but like be respectful. We're made out of the same things. Bone, body, blood. It's rare to have black male teachers. Sometimes I am the lesson and I'm also the testament. Listen to When You're Invisible as part of the MyCultura podcast network. Available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Snakes, zombies, sharks, heights, speaking in public, the list of fears is endless. But while you're clutching your blanket in the dark, wondering if that sound in the hall was actually a footstep, the real danger is in your hand, when you're

behind the wheel. And while you might think a great white shark is scary, what's really terrifying and even deadly is distracted driving. Eyes Forward, Don't Drive Distracted, brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. I'm Mark Seale. And I'm Nathan King. This is Leave the Gun, Take the Canole. The five families did not want us to shoot that picture.

Leave the Gun, Take the Canoli is based on my co-host Mark's best-selling book of the same title. And on this show, we call upon his years of research to help unpack the story behind the godfather's birth from start to finish. This is really the first interview I've done in bed. Ha ha ha ha! We sift through innumerable accounts, many of them conflicting, That's nonsense. There were 60 pages. and try to get to the truth of what really happened.

And they said, we're finished. This is over. They're only going to stop going to work. You gotta get rid of those guys. Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli features new and archival interviews with Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Evans, James Kahn, Talia Shire, and many others. Yes, that was a real horse's head.

Listen and subscribe to Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Something about Mary Poppins? Something about Mary Poppins. Exactly. Oh man, this is fun. I'm AJ Jacobs and I am an author and a journalist and I tend to get obsessed with stuff.

And my current obsession is puzzles. And that has given birth to my podcast, The Puzzler. Dressing, dressing. Oh, French dressing. Exactly. Ha ha ha, oh that's good. Dressing. Oh, French dressing. Exactly! Oh, that's good. Now you can get your Daily Puzzle Nuggets delivered straight to your ears.

I thought to myself, I bet I know what this is. And now I definitely know what this is. This is so weird. This is fun. Let's try this one. Our brand new season features special guests like Chuck Bryant, Mayim Bialik, Julie Bowen, Sam Sanders, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and lots more. Listen to The Puzzler every day on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcasts. That's awful. And I should have seen it coming. Where's all the money come from? A lot of corporate dollars. Just recently we've got some, some, some, some, uh, money from the state of Michigan. So usually I, usually I stayed away from that type of state type funding because you know just stayed away from it because in our program we're able to go back. We don't have to follow some blueprint that may not be working. You don't have to follow a state curriculum. Right. You can do what you

want to do based on common sense what you need to do. What we need to do to make this young person and we tell tell people, we're not saying that you're gonna overnight be successful. This is gonna be some hard work. And we talk to the parents, we have a strong parent group. We have a very strong parent group who are working with us hand in hand. Some of our parents have come back and got GEDs

and went off to college and stuff with their kids. So because they've been able to come in side by side with us. And so we got some parents that are completely dedicated to this journey. And we had those kind of conversations up front. And honestly, we're going to tell you, yeah, your kid may have a report card that say that it's a three,

that that kid has a 3.6. Well, we tested them. That's not a 3.6. Your kid is reading at a fourth grade level. It isn't in high school. And we have to have that conversation with you. What do parents say when you, you know, your parents... It's shocking. Well, you say, you know, I think to your point, and it really opened my eyes to something, I do want to, I want to grab parents by their shirt and say, please read your children, don't set them off behind.

But to your point, if they were never read to and their parents were never read to, it's just not part of the ethos. So I get it. But I gotta believe those very parents, when they see these report cards come home from the school that they're trusting to educate their kid and their kid has a 3.6, they're probably really proud.

Very proud. And they think everything's great. And then you hit them in the mouth with, that ain't nothing, you might as well ball that up because that report card ain't worth lighting on fire. Oh yeah, I've had staff who are new to me, staff who are new to me who hadn't heard my way of being honest and open. Which is? I'm going to tell you. Straight up.

Straight up. I'm going to tell you the truth. I don't code switch. None of that type of stuff. I'm not switching who I am. I am who I am all the time. And I'm going to tell you that that thing, like you said, ball it up and throw it compared to what?

Compared to who? Don't be misled. Don't be fooled. I've actually sat here and looked over your scores and you're not at that level. So let's be honest. So not- And do parents freak out?

Sometimes. I mean, like not on you, but like, oh my gosh. No, they're shocked. Yeah, they're shocked. Do they feel lied to? But they appreciate the fact that somebody telling them the truth. And then we'll develop a strategy going forward.

You understand what I'm saying? I do. Look man, my mom did the best she could, but she worked all the time to keep me fed and roofed. I never had, that's just the way it was. And if my mom got told when I was in 10th grade that all these report cards I've been bringing home, you know, I've told my wife and kids this, but my big deal was if I ever got straight A's, mom would let me choose between a Wendy's or a McDonald's.

That was my reward. And that was a big deal, go to Wendy's or McDonald's, right? That's how I, I mean that was, that was my reward. That's a big, big deal. And my mom was really proud and it was a stretch I cannot imagine how angry and broken she would have been if at 10th grade I went to someone and tested and she found out that everything she thought I'd been achieving was fraudulent. Yeah, it's heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking. It's been heartbreaking to a few parents. A lot of parents they upset the anger, you know, the angry. But we don't dwell in that. We try to figure out how do we solve it? How do we fix it? Yeah. And my follow up question was that do you find yourself almost having to mentor the parents to and say, hey, it's going to be all right. It is a, it is a, it is a, I always tell people this like when I didn't have a purpose in life right, when I thought I was going to die, when I didn't have a purpose in life, like I didn't

have a purpose in life, I didn't care about anything. I helped tear the city apart, I helped tear the city of Detroit apart. I've been in the prisons, I've been in the juvenile detention centers, I've been on the streets, I've been on the corners, I've been in all the community meetings I've been. And when I say that, people never say, no, he wasn't out here tearing it up. I was tearing it up, but I was tearing it up because somebody created a narrative for me and I was ignorant to what was going on.

I didn't have any knowledge of self. I didn't care about anything. And so with that being said, once I found that, once I found that self and was able to get past that, I developed a passion for correcting wrongs, correcting wrongs. And to tell a kid that he's a straight-A student when he or she is not is wrong and we need to correct that. And if I have to tell a parent and a parent cusses me out, so be it, cuss me out.

But it needs to be done to correct the wrong and for that kid to move forward. Now let's not dwell on it, let's develop a strategy because that's what I was able to do. I was able to take all that negative and turn it around and reinvent myself. Let's reinvent this kid's academic future. Let's reinvent this person's. Now we got one of our kids, she's working on a double masters now. And when we had to tell her parents that she was not at the level that she thought she was, we didn't dwell on that. We didn't go to the school system and point fingers at the school and at the teachers. We said to the parents, they were

upset. We developed a strategy, and now she's working on a double master's. You see what I'm saying? We're going to let you know what's up, but we're going to go fix it. We're going to do it, and however we got to do it is how we're going to fix it. Stats. 100% graduation rate since inception of 2007. 98% of the kids who have come from your program have post-secondary education continuation, which is phenomenal. 5.5 reading levels of literacy gained. 5.5. That's like going from eighth grade to 12th grade. 84% math gains. Not just talking it, but we had a researcher document our kids' progress from... We had a researcher from a college, I think she's at Purdue or either Cornell, been documenting and researching our kids from way back.

These are her numbers. Documented. Independent researchers. 10% adaptability, increased year over year and the ability to apply and adjust skills in difficult settings, plus 12% in self-efficacy, plus 14% in sense of agency. I circled that one. That one to me is huge. We always talk about how do we break the proverbial chains? Well, one of them is let's take folks in poverty and grow the middle class so that they have a sense of belonging to our culture, a 14% increase in a sense of agency, meaning year over year in the advantage of peers nationwide

and belief to make policy changes in their community, you are affecting the very thing we talked about, which is having a sense of agency in your own children, in your culture, in your community. Point plus 11% in what you call self-regulation. 1,500 total students served since inception. This is awesome. 350 plus active alumni network. You've got a DBG's parent committee. Yeah. 98% of parents say DBG has a significant and lasting a positive impact on their child's life. And here's the here's another big one. 44% of parents report a positive

behavioral change, which you of all people would know, because if you could have read in third grade, you might not have gotten into all the mess in the first place. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you know, these parents are shocked, oftentimes to hear their kids aren't where they thought they were.

But I've read where, while you tell the parents the the truth and you're not trying to beat them down but you're just saying the truth. But I've also read where you say you really aren't listening to the parents, you're listening to the kids. Kind of explain that. And that's basically as you're bringing the kids into the program. So I always say that, you know, people say bad kids. I don't see bad kids, I see kids who haven't been heard yet.

I don't see bad kids, I see kids who haven't been heard yet. And so I try to listen to the kids to see what they're actually saying. They may not say it in a way that an adult would say it, but they'll get to the point if you listen hard enough. I had an example one time when, and people say this kid got angry, they wanna get some anger out, let him hit the bag.

They let him go punch something, they see they need to get this anger out. It's like, no, let me ask the kid, why do you fight so much? And then when you listen to it, they say, well, I've seen other kids do this, and in my life this hasn't happened. So no, this kid is not angry.

This kid doesn't have the same clothes that his peers wear. He doesn't have the same kind of, you know, video games or whatever it may be that everybody else has. He doesn't understand that his mother and father may have a job that may only allow them to pay the bills. They may not be able to go buy you some off-white gym shoes that may cost $800, $900. They may not have to be able to buy you a Gucci belt. They may cost $750.

They have to put that $750 towards rent. And the kid haven't been able to vocalize that yet. So it may show up as anger. Because when you get to school, nobody's polite. They laugh and they're joking. They're like, man, what are those? That's the thing. What are those?

And they all fall on the ground and point at your feet. What are those? You know what I mean? Is bow handles a word in Detroit? I don't know what that is. I never heard of it. Laying down here, if you're wearing ugly shoes, they call them bow handles.

Man, what you doing with them bow handles on? Yeah, and that's funny to everybody, and everybody laughs. It's funny to everybody except the one wearing the bow handles. The guy who went, right. And so now- But that'd make a kid. Yeah. That's what happens.

Yeah. And so when I hear that, I say, hey, man, how do we solve for something like that? No, am I going to go out and buy him some Gucci shoes? No. But let me explain life to him, let me explain certain things to him. At least he can have a clear understanding of what's going on, and I'm not just calling him a bad kid.

No, man, listen, you have different situation, and your parents shows their love for you by keeping a roof over your head. Your parents shows their love for you by bringing you to a place like this and you know then a kid understand like man you know I may not have gucci's but I have love. I may not have I may have on bow handles as you call them but I have love. The uh the best advice in that entire story is the greatest leaders of our time don't show up and tell everybody what they're

going to do. They listen and help people achieve what they're told they want. And that's exactly what you're doing. I had a principal, I had a principal from a school that's a real high performance school, vice principal, I'm sorry, vice principal, from a real high performance school in our area. She came in to the building one day and she introduced herself as the principal of the school and she pulled me aside. She said, I wanted to say this to you. She said, I can tell the kids that go to DBG and our school. And I was waiting to hear the other shoe drop. She said, because they were the kids who were getting in trouble before, and now they're

encouraging their peers to do better. Now they're influencing their peers in a positive way. They used to be in our office for all these other things, and now their grades are coming up and they're having a positive effect on their peers. That's agency. I was like hmm and I was so that you made me think of it just then. That's agency. Yeah you just made me think of it. That's how you change it all. It's bottom up. It's not somebody coming in and say do this do that or're going to end up this way, it's allowing them to develop and then they take responsibility for their culture, for their situation, for their friends.

That's having a sense of agency. To me, I've done a lot of interviews the last two years, man. I have never heard a demographic or a data point that talks about increasing a sense of agency, I'm not sure that that's not the most impressive thing about all of it because that's how you change historical generational issues. Thank you. When we were talking, I was thinking about a situation of mine, Like you said, you're just a guy that can read now. And still, I couldn't hardly spell.

And when I would go to job interviews, the only thing I could put on the thing was stock. Because that was the only thing I could remember how to spell was stock. You get what I'm saying? So imagine a young person going in there and that's the only thing that he can spell or he can remember how to spell is stock. He can't even spell manager. He can't even spell executive, corporate, whatever. He can't spell any of this. Analyst, none of these type of things. So he goes in there he puts stock. You get what I'm saying? So now imagine that same kid walking in there and say hey I want to be in charge

of you know human human resources, logistics, logistics, whatever human resources, logistics. Yeah, yeah. You get what I'm saying? The point is, you have more you can't if you can only stuff spell stock boy. That's all you're gonna be. That's all you ever gonna be if you can spell logistics manager will maybe you become something. Yeah, yeah. Or maybe you can now spell physician. Yes, or nuclear scientist.

So one of the things that I like. Yeah, because if you can't spell it in real, how can you dream it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's such a good point. We'll be right back. Hey, y'all, I'm Maria Fernanda Diaz. My podcast, When You're Invisible,

is my love letter to the working class people and immigrants who shaped my life. I get to talk to a lot of people who form the backbone of our society, but who have never been interviewed before. Season two is all about community, organizing, and being underestimated. All the greatest changes have happened

when a couple of people said, this sucks, let's do something about it. I can't have more than $2,000 in my bank account or else I can't get disability benefits. They won't let you succeed. I know we get paid to serve you guys, but be respectful. We're made out of the same things, bone, body, blood. It's rare to have black male teachers.

Sometimes I am the lesson and I'm also the testament. Listen to When You're Invisible as part of the MyCultura podcast network. Available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Snakes, zombies, sharks, heights, speaking in public, the list of fears is endless. But while you're clutching your blanket in the dark, wondering if that sound in the hall was actually a footstep, the real danger is in your hand, when you're behind the wheel.

And while you might think a great white shark is scary, what's really terrifying and even deadly is distracted driving. Eyes forward, don't drive distracted. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. I'm Mark Seale. And I'm Nathan King. This is Leave the Gun, Take the Canole.

The five families did not want us to shoot that picture. Leave the Gun, Take the Canole is based on my co-host Mark's best-selling book of the same title. And on this show, we call upon his years of research to help unpack the story behind the godfather's birth from start to finish. This is really the first interview I've done in bed. Ha ha ha ha!

We sift through innumerable accounts. I think 35 pages, very much. Many of them conflicting. That's nonsense. There were 60 pages. And try to get to the truth of what really happened. And they said, we're finished, this is over. The only thing that's not going to work is to get rid of those guys.

This is a disaster. Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli features new and archival interviews with Francis Ford Kobla, Robert Evans, James Kahn, Talia Shire, and many others. Yes, that was a real horse's head. Listen and subscribe to Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Something about Mary Poppins? Something about Mary Poppins.

Exactly. Oh man, this is fun. I'm AJ Jacobs and I am an author and a journalist and I tend to get obsessed with stuff. And my current obsession is puzzles. And that has given birth to my podcast, The Puzzler. Dressing. Dressing. Oh, French dressing.

Exactly. Ha ha ha. Oh, that's good. Now you can get your daily puzzle nuggets delivered straight to your ears. I thought to myself, I bet I know what this is. And now I definitely know what this is. This is so weird.

This is fun. Let's try this one. Our brand new season features special guests like Chuck Bryant, Mayim Bialik, Julie Bowen, Sam Sanders, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and lots more. Listen to The Puzzler every day on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. That's awful. And I should have seen it coming. So one of my things that I always say, become a judge before you get judged.

Become a prosecutor before you get prosecuted. Become a legislator and write the laws before the laws are imposed on you. Take some of those positions, get those jobs, go after it. Don't be told that you can't do it. Become a physicist, become an engineer. Don't look at the apartment building and say, oh, I can't afford that, I can't be,

be the guy who designs the building. Become an architect. We have kids now that's taking architecture classes in Poland who are working on... What? Poland and working in double masters. You have kids and your thing... We have a young lady who just came back from Poland. She was in Poland studying architecture. Now she's working on her double masters in architecture. So we tell kids... We have a kid, I think we have a kid right now in Japan.

We have a kid, we've taken kids, I just had a group, I just had a young man go with me to Manchester, England, to talk about violence prevention in Manchester, England, and London, England. So we've had kids go to Ireland, we have kids who've traveled to Puerto Rico and different places to see the world. That travel and that exposure is an education in itself

that a lot of people take for granted. I'm going back to Manassas because so many of the kids you're talking about are like kids I coached at Manassas, but I remember the first time I took a team out of the city on a bus. And we went and played at a rural school. And next to the football field, and next to the football field, it was out in the rural, it was a big old cotton field.

And those kids looked at me and said, look coach, they've never seen a cotton field, they'd never seen a cotton field. They'd never seen soybeans. We were only 30 minutes outside of Memphis and it dawned on me many of them had never gotten out of their neighborhood and you're talking about very kids like that in Japan and Poland and England. Yeah, so when I was young and my brother came to me,

one of the things that was part of that conversation, he said, man, you have to get out of that neighborhood. You have to leave. The world is bigger than your four blocks is what he told me. He said, the world is bigger than the four blocks that you call your neighborhood. The world is bigger than just those four blocks.

And so one of the things that he did, and part of the story that I didn't say was he took me to the airport. He asked me to drive him to the airport. First of all, he said, drive me to the airport. So I drove him to the airport, Detroit Metro Airport. He said, man, can you go in there and grab me a ticket to Las Vegas? So I say, what? So he gave me the money. He said, go grab me a ticket to Las Vegas. So I go grab a ticket to Las Vegas. I use my ID. I get a ticket to Las Vegas. I'm like, how's this going to work? How are you going to go to Las Vegas with my ticket with my

ID? I'm like, what are you? He's like, man, what time your flight leave? I said, what? He said, what time do your flight leave? I said, man, what are you talking about? He said, here, man, he gave me some money. And he took his keys, and he drove off. He told me, get out this neighborhood. Just go see somewhere. Go somewhere. My first flight, my brother tricked me.

It was the first time I ever been on an airplane in my life. And you went to Las Vegas? Went to Las Vegas, man. I had money. I went to a Motel 6 and got me a room at a Motel 6. And I just walked around Las Vegas because it's like, I don't do nothing. I don't hang out, nothing like that.

It's not my thing. And so that was my first time. But the point was, get exposed. Get exposed. And so before he passed away, the NFL surprised me with an all-expense plate trip to the Super Bowl, two tickets. They gave me an All-Espence thing

for being a changemaker in the community. And the teams voted and whatever, and I got picked as the person who making change in the community. And I took my brother to Las Vegas to go to the Super Bowl. You repaid it. I repaid it back to him. And I didn't even watch the game

because I don't watch sports. So I just sat there and watched him have fun. I was looking at him and he was the happiest he ever been. And we came back to Detroit and he passed away. That's a beautiful story. What do you want the gym to be for the kids? When they leave school and they're talking to their friends in the hallway Not what do you want to be what do you want the kids?

To say about your gym, what is it that you hope they say? It's family. The gym is family. It's all the things that you said earlier that family should be. It's a place of support, love, understanding. Of course we're not going to always agree, but it's a place where you can voice your opinion and not be judged or held to, you know, you say like, it comes with something to it. No, at the gym, when one person is talking, we all listen. You could be the smallest person in the gym.

And when one of our little kids get up and start talking, everybody in the building is quiet because that young person's voice need to be heard. It's a place that you can call home, place where you can, there's no, we don't create narratives there. We just remove barriers so that everybody can be successful. So I hope that the kids understand that we are a family. And we say it every day, DBG on me, DBG on three, one, two, three, DBG.

And we talk about us being a family, constantly. It's interesting, the dichotomy. We could just change the words a little bit from something you said that I found very interesting at the top of the interview, which is people on the streets will be your family, but at a cost. And what you're saying is you want this to be their family at no cost. At no cost. Both literally and metaphorically.

It's like what you said, at no cost. It's what you said. That's what a family is there for. We there through the ups and the downs. And so that's what I stressed that about what you brought, you brought it up earlier too. It's like, through the ups and the downs, we're there for you.

But when you get in those other places, when you up, we all up. But when you down, people disappear. And I've seen it happen. I've seen it happen to a lot of guys. Even in sports, I've seen it happen in sports too. Where as long as you're winning, everybody loves you. The minute you lose, everybody changes. So I've seen it in sports too. So it's not just the streets. I've just seen it. People, people do it. And so yeah, but not with us. We hear what you up and down. So what's next?

What's next? This is for Alex. Global. Global. Global. He asked me on the way here, he's like, so what's your plan for going global? I hear you keep saying global. No, we've took this 18-year journey of information that we've learned over 18 years of trial and error. We've packaged it. We put it into a franchise model. And we opened up our first franchise in Buffalo, New York. We plan on doing some of the same stuff that we're doing here.

Also called the Downtown Boxing Gym. Yeah, he wanted to name it Downtown Boxing. He loves it. I love it. He loves it. DDG Buffalo. So you want to export this idea to other cities. Other states, other countries.

We've had interest for years. The first people reached out were in Spain. They reached out back in 2009, 2010 in Spain, somewhere around that area. They reached out to get us to come out there to Spain and I told them I couldn't do it unless it would be successful. And we had to make sure that Detroit was solid,

on solid ground before I decided to try to up and move somewhere else. I wanna do it correctly because I don't want kids to slip through the cracks. Like you say, consistency. We don't wanna start something that's gonna be here today and gone tomorrow. I've seen the negative effect of that.

I don't ever want that to happen to any young person. So if we're gonna come in your community, we all the way bought in. I don't like to do stuff and not win. I wanna win. Well, you said if you say you're gonna do something. We gotta do it. Yeah. If how do people find out more if they want to find you if they if they're

interested in bringing this to their city. If they want to donate if they just want to know more where do they find Collie Sweeney and downtown Boxer Joe. So you can go to dbgdetroit.org. D B G Detroit dot org. Yup. We have to. Website and there's. Yup.

Everything. There's contact me there and everything. Yup. Yup. Everything. Even the franchise opportunities. You can figure out all of that on there. You evoked Alex's name and you know you brought the producer

into the show for goodness sakes. I can't believe you did that. But let's go back. I want to end it up because of the pureness bro we talk about it all the time and you know it's one of the things I say probably too much and regular listeners are probably gonna get sick of hearing it but I'm gonna say it again. Yeah. Magic happens when somebody has a passion and a discipline and when I mean a discipline not being like disciplined on time but discipline in terms of a of a skill set. When someone has passion and discipline and that passion and discipline collide with opportunity, magic can happen.

And you are a living example of that. You could shadow box and you had a passion about not letting kids deal with the same stuff you dealt with and it collided at An opportunity when those kids came in your front yard to talk to you 20 something years ago and now 1500 kids and growing lives have been changed Do you ever take here's your word? Do you ever take stock of that when it's just you and you and you're thinking about all of it? Do you take time to recognize that for yourself? So for me, so for me I always tell everybody I don't do victory laps. I

don't do a victory lap, that's just not, it's not any because it's so much work to be done. You know it's still so much stuff to be done. And people tell me all the time, like, you gotta take a break, you gotta take a break, you gotta take a break. It's like, man, I enjoy coming to work every day. I enjoy doing this every day. I have a purpose.

See, for some people, things are cool. It's cool. There's something cool to do. It makes you feel good. It's something cool to do. It makes you feel good. It's something cool to do. That makes you feel good. But once it becomes work, then it's no longer cool. The shine is off of it now. You know, now you can move on to something else. I love that. The shine's off of it. I know exactly. Yeah. You've asked me about five times. You know what I mean? Yeah. I know what that means. So for me, it's like once I found my purpose

and my calling, when I see the hard times, the struggle, I double down. It makes me double down because I feel it. It's in my heart, it feel like something that I'm meant to do. You get what I'm saying? So I don't get tired of that, I love that. I welcome the challenge and I'm meant to do. You get what I'm saying? So I don't get tired of that. I love that. I welcome the challenge and I'm up for it, but I don't do victory laps

because what I want to do is work myself out of that job. When I look up one day and everybody in the United States, everybody in the world is living good and everybody's working and everybody's educated and everybody's doing all the things, I'll take a break. I get that. You and I are cut. Oddly and all fair. I'll just tell you and our cut from a lot of the same claw. Yeah. I get the not one to do victory laps also get the humility not one to be called

a hero. I get all of it. But, you know, allow me to be a mirror for you just a little bit, bro, because what that mirror is saying to you is, you know, well done. Well done. Thank you. I appreciate it. So I know you and Alex have shared a couple of meals. I like little lessons and I want to leave our listeners as we finish up with a lesson and Alex said you have a great lesson on the word forgiveness. He told you that story, huh?

I know he did not. Oh, he didn't tell you the story? I don't know nothing. Oh, you don't know the story. I'm just like our listeners right now, about to hear it and let it end with your lesson on forgiveness, because Alex said it was a good one. So I'm gonna, the whole story?

Yeah, yeah. Okay, I'll tell you the story. So, at one point in time, I was in the streets. I was heavily involved in the streets, completely committed because I didn't care about life. But in the process of that change, I ended up getting an apartment and all the things that I would have did before for money, I refused to do because I made myself a promise to never do anything illegal again in my life. And so I fell on a little bit of hard times and I was struggling to pay my bills.

And a friend of mine who was heavily involved in the streets and had a lot of money, he came to my house and I asked him to give me a loan until I can get some money to pay him back because I needed to pay my bills. And he kept laughing. He's like, how much are your bills? And I told him, he's like, man, what kind of man don't have that kind of money? And I was thinking like, man, you know, like, dude, don't do this in front of these people. Just keep it quiet. Let me just loan me the money. He kept laughing. He's like, oh, my girl's shoes cost more than your rent. Well, look at her shoes. And we just left the

mall. We got all this stuff. And he was showing me all the tags. He's like, look what I paid for this belt. I paid for this stuff. And he was just, and he was showing me all the tags. He's like, look what I paid for this belt, I paid for this stuff. And he was just, and he was doing like this in my face, laughing and just kept laughing. And so I'm a fighter. And it ended in a fight. And then it ended with me putting my hands on him. And so after the fact, after he left,

everybody like, it was a normal thing. They've seen me punch people all the time growing up, but I wasn't that person anymore. To just punch a person because of something that was wrong with me. So I used to punch people because I couldn't read. And now I'm punching a man for no reason because I don't have my rent.

And so I thought about it and I thought about it. He's from another side of the neighborhood which we've been at war with these guys for years. He just got a pass to come through our neighborhood. And I went into their neighborhood, not knowing what to expect. I went in their neighborhood, I went to his house. He led me in the house, I walked in his house.

He said, man, I got a jacket that'll match that outfit you got on. And he, I say, hey man, I came over here to talk to you. He's like, no, no, look, put this jacket on, real expensive jacket. And I said, man, I wanna apologize to you for to you. He's like, no, no, look, put this jacket on, real expensive jacket. And I said, man, I wanna apologize to you for my actions. He's like, man, I ain't thinking about that. And I said, this dude lost his mind.

I'm like, man, I would be upset. I'm here willing to talk to you because I wanna apologize. And so I left with the jacket and I left. Well, he had been getting people overstepping themselves a lot with him. And long story short, he snapped and he started killing people. This is right after my incident with him. He started killing people and he killed a lot of people.

And I heard some gunshots going off. I was in another neighborhood. I heard some gunshots going off. And I was like, man, he got nothing to do with me. I'm not from his neighborhood anyway. And I was like, man, he got nothing to do with me. I'm not from his neighborhood anyway. And I looked up, I was at a car wash. I looked up and I saw a cargo pass. And I looked, I said, was that that guy?

I said, no, he would have stopped and talked to me. And I was like, nah, that wasn't him. So I started washing my car. And I'm still washing my car and I felt somebody behind me. When I turned around he was standing behind me with a gun to the back of my head and I turned around looked at him he just shook his head at me and got back in his car and he drove off. Fast forward 15 years later I'm at the gym I'm doing what I'm doing

on the gym with the gym I'm getting things done he called a friend of mine who gave him the pass through our neighborhood. His friend, who was the one who let him come through our neighborhood, he had him on the phone. He wanted to talk to me. He said, hey, tell Khali that I didn't blow his brains out that day because he apologized to me. He was the only person to ever apologize to me in my life.

He said, that's the only reason I didn't blow his brains out that day. And tell him to keep doing what he's doing with those kids out there. They don't want to be in here where I'm at. And so I tell my kids every time I get a chance, I tell them, man, I apologize, save my life. Me apologizing, save my life. And I needed to see that because had he said that he gave me a pass, I wouldn't have believed it. I said, you ain't never gave me no pass. That's what I would have said. But it was meant for him to come put the gun to my head. He had just killed somebody on the corner. The shooting that I heard, he had just killed the guy.

He's doing life in prison right now. He'll never come home. But I would have never believed it. I would have said no. But apology saved my life. And it had to go out. It had to play out that way. He had to come put the gun to my head for me to know so I

could tell other people, apology can save your life sometimes. It's that simple. When you hear that story, all of us need to remember the difference in a third grader becoming that guy and going to college might be your gym. That's real man. Yeah. So yeah I always say, I always say man you know people thank a lot of people in their life. I thank him for giving me, for giving me a pass that day and that's something I would have never said before that some guy gave me a pass, or he gave me a pass, and I've seen it with my own eyes. So, shout out to that guy.

Shout out to grace, shout out to forgiveness. For sure. And shout out to you for your hard work, bro. Thank you, thank you, guys. Man, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you coming to Memphis to share this story. It is unbelievable where you've come from and the work you've done and you know I hear a lot of people say we want to scale it we will

go worldwide. My money's on you. I think you might just do it. I'm gonna do it. I believe that. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. And thank you for joining us this week. If Collie Sweeney has inspired you in general, or better yet, to take action by starting a DBG or something like it in your community, volunteering there or somewhere similar, donating to them, or something else entirely, please let me know. And if you're interested in helping us, please visit us at www.colliesweeney.com. And if you're interested in helping us, please visit us at www.colliesweeney.com. And if you're interested in helping us, please visit us at www.colliesweeney.com. And if you're interested in helping us, please visit us at www.colliesweeney.com. And if you're interested in helping us, please visit us at www.colliesweeney.com.

And if you're interested in helping us, please visit us at www.colliesweeney.com. And if you're interested in helping us, please visit us at www.colliesweeney.com. And if you're interested in helping us, please visit us at www.colliesweeney.com. And if you're interested in helping us, please visit us at www.colliesweeney.com. And if you're interested in helping us, please visit us at www.colliesweeney.com. And if you're interested in helping us, please visit us at www.colliesweeney.com. And if you're interested in helping us, please visit us at www.colliesweeney.com. And if you're interested in helping us, please visit us at www.colliesweeney.com.

And if you're interested in helping us, please visit us at www.colliesweeney.com. And if you're interested in helping us, volunteering there or somewhere similar, donating to them or something else entirely, please let me know. I'd love to hear about it. You can write me anytime at bill at normalfolks.us and I promise I will respond. If you enjoyed this episode,

please share it with friends and on social, subscribe to the podcast. Rate it. Review it. Join the Army at NormalFolks.us. Consider becoming a premium member there. Any and all of these things that will help us grow. An Army of Normal Folks.

I'm Bill Courtney. Until next time, do what you can. Hey y'all, I'm Maria Fernanda Diaz. When You're Invisible is my love letter to the working class people and immigrants who shaped me. Season 2 shares stories about community and being underestimated. All the greatest changes have happened when a couple of people said, this sucks, let's do something about it. We get paid to serve you,

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delivered straight to your ears. Listen to the puzzler every day on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Mary Kay McBrayer, host of the podcast, The Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told. This season explores women from the 19th century to now, women who were murderers and scammers, from the 19th century to now. Women who were murderers and scammers, but also women who were photojournalists, lawyers, writers, and more. This podcast tells more than just the brutal, gory details of horrific acts. I delve into the good, the bad, the difficult, and all the nuance I can find. Because these are the stories that we need to know to understand the intersection of society, justice, and the fascinating workings of the human psyche.

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