From the Kitchen Table: The Duffys - Let's Talk About Fatherhood With Jack Brewer

Episode Date: April 14, 2022

This week, Sean and Rachel bring former NFL Player, and AFPI Center for Opportunity NOW Chairman Jack Brewer to The Kitchen Table to discuss his work with passing bipartisan legislation in Florida that will provide funding to support fathers in the state through mentorship and other educational programs. Jack shares why he felt called to support Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on his recent legislation and emphasizes the importance of a father figure in children's lives. He later explains why he believes that lack of fatherhood is one of the biggest problems in households across the country. Follow Sean and Rachel on Twitter: @SeanDuffyWI & @RCamposDuffy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Hey everyone, welcome to From the Kitchen Table. I'm your host, Sean Duffy, along with my co-host for the podcast, but also my partner in life,

Rachel Campos Duffy. Hello everyone. Thanks, Sean. And we're back with more conversations from our kitchen table. And today we have a very special guest. He's a good friend of ours. Can I just tell you, Sean, I was looking at our next guest bio, and I'm just going to, before I say who he is, I'm just going to list this. Not only was he a professional football player, he was a UN ambassador for peace and sports, investment banker, a professor, a philanthropist,

and an ordained minister. Everyone, welcome Jack Brewer to the program. Jack, welcome. Great to be with you all. How's it going? Good. Did I miss something? Because I think that is the most diverse bio I think we've ever read on this podcast. Yeah, I don't know. I just, I go where God leads me. I don't know. I've been blessed to do some pretty cool stuff and, you know, I'm, I'm humbled by it. And, you know, especially growing up from where I came from, it's, uh, it, and, and, and my eyes and my family's eyes is pretty special. And so we just thank God for the opportunities. Well, it is pretty special, but you brought up where you came from. Why don't we just start from there? Tell us a little bit

about where you came from. And then we're going to get to the main topic of this podcast, which is your work with fatherhood issues in America, which you have properly identified as the most important issue facing America, the root of most of the problems, the social problems that we're facing in this country. But let's start with where you come from. Tell us a little bit. Born and raised in Grapevine, Texas. And, you know, humble beginnings. My my my father and my mother both went to segregated schools and our family was the first black family in our town. My great-grandfather moved there in 1896 as a sharecropper. And so we had really deep roots in that town and in that community.

And so, you know, growing up, my family didn't really have much education. You know, I remember seeing pictures of the old segregated schools across the street from my mom's house where, you know, they piled all the black kids K through 12 into this school. And, you know, you could really tell really tell that you know education really wasn't in in our core um from everything from our speech you know and to to you know just just watching the community you know most of the older people in my family you know were all housekeepers and maids and um you know hard hardcore low-level blue- collar workers. And so that's how I was raised.

Close family. But, you know, we didn't have a lot of means. And so for most folks going to college wasn't even an option. Even, you know, some that I had some great athletes that came before me that just never made it just because the grades weren't there. And, you know, you look at their parents and you understood why. But God blessed me to break that cycle and I became the first in my family to go to college. Yeah, you know.

Oh, go ahead. I thought. Yeah, no. And then I went and got my master's degree. And I did all that before I went to the NFL. So it was pretty special. Wow. You know, Jack, I look at this and we do all stand on the shoulders of our forefathers,

those who did the hard work and made the sacrifice to allow us to have the opportunity and the realization that education is the pathway to get us on a different trajectory and sports can be a different pathway to get us on a different trajectory. Did you know at a young age that you actually wanted to go on and get an education? Did you see that as a bright spot in your life? And was that something that your, your own father and mother instilled in you? Yes. And my mom always, always pushed me in the summer. She pushed me, you know, after school.

You know, I always read at a higher level than most of the kids around me. And so she prepared me for that. And my dad coached me in sports. You know, like you push somebody that's playing in college. I mean, he expected a lot out of me and I loved it. Like I responded to it. So it was never, I never felt like it was too much. And so, you know, I think those two things combined with having kind of my mom pushing me academically and my father pushing me athletically.

I think it gave me the work ethic to be able to do that. And so, you know, when you're a kid and, you know, you're looking up to your big cousins and then, you know, you got some of them in prison and you're driving up to prison to see them. And then you have others that get college scholarships or offers or the top athletes in the state of Texas. And then they end up dropping out. Like when you when you watch over and over tragedy after tragedy, failure after failure, it gives you a burning desire inside. And I think that's what I had as a kid.

You know, I got a chance to watch so many before me. I was one of the younger in regards to my cousins. And so seeing that, you know, just really motivated me to do something special. And so, you know, I went to college. I was taking 16 to 18 credits a semester while playing, you know, division one football and running division one track. And so I was a man on a mission. Yeah, that's very clear. And it's interesting because in families, sometimes when people see dysfunction or failure, they fall into the same patterns.

And then there are those people who see those things and go, I'm going to do it differently. those people who see those things and go, I'm going to do it differently. Were your parents to get, are they still together or what was the family dynamic there? Because you talk so much about fatherhood. I'm hearing this kind of perfect combination of your mom pushing you academically, your father pushing you in the direction of sports and discipline in that way. How much did the family dynamic have to do with that? A lot. My mom and dad are still together. Thank God.

They're both still in my life. But it had a lot. You know, when you have a dad, that's the coach. And he's coaching all the other kids in the community. You know, he become kind of a hero to other kids. And my dad is real fiery, you know, similar to me in personality. And, you know, my mom, you know, she was a no nonsense mother. She was a Sunday school teacher. Didn't really play. She's a really spiritual woman.

teacher uh and didn't didn't really play she's a really spiritual woman uh and so uh you know that that was kind of um my secret sauce just having those two combined and so yeah i mean they they really did make an impact on me so jack rachel and i've got a chance to get to know you over the years and what i find um well educated a great athlete but I feel like you exude is like manliness. And you do talk about fatherhood all the time. And I think so often now there's not examples for young men about what does a man look like? How does a man behave? How does the man conduct himself in his family with his wife, with his faith? And I think you wear that on your sleeve. And I love that about you. And I think the work you're

doing in Florida. So Governor DeSantis. Can I just say something really quick? It's interesting you said that because it is true. You get that masculine energy off of Jack, but it's fascinating because that energy that was so protective of you with your own father over your life is actually being vilified right now. We're hearing so much about toxic masculinity at the same time that we're seeing people hurting because they're not getting that paternal masculine input into their childhood? Yeah. No, it is.

When you talk, because obviously I don't even think about that. It's just kind of in me. Being you. Yeah. Jack's being Jack. There's nothing I can do to change that. Don't change. You know, no matter what they say.

I mean, it's tough because, you know, I see it and I feel it. And really, you know, spiritually, you know, God speaks to me a lot. And I know why I'm here. Like, I know why I'm on this earth and what my task is. And I think we all have a task. And I think God gives us the gift of the spirit to be able to go out and accomplish those tasks that he has for us. It's just about being obedient. And so, you know, when I hit my knees every day and when I, you know, dwell on the word of God, I try to seek that.

And so, you know, when I see these kids and I see them every day and I have a youth center and I go into prisons and go into juveniles. And when I see, you know, all of these populations, I see the same issue. I see, you know, all of these populations, I see the same issue. You know, I see this, this, this, you know, kids that didn't have a dad like I had a kid, you know, that didn't grow up getting his, his butt whooped when he did something bad, you know, didn't have a father to ask the tough questions, you know? And so that, that is, that saddens me because, you know, that takes us away from the order of God. That's not how God intended for families and children to be raised. And we have, you know, one side of the political spectrum that is taking all of those things that we once saw as sin and that, you know, the Bible teaches us to sin.

And then now all of a sudden we're making that as good and as prosperous. And we're rewarding that same behavior. Man, that is so scary. And it really is. And it's sad. And it's, it's just not right. And, you know, honestly, man, this is one of those things, like spiritually, it's worth dying for. Like when you, when you talk about picking up your cross and you talk about you talk about picking up your cross and you talk about being persecuted, like this one is worth it. Like this is where, this is where you really have to hold on to what's right because what they're doing, the children now is just, it's just unacceptable.

So Jack, it's interesting. I, so you've grew up in a, in an intact family. Sean and I both did too. Both of our parents are alive and married. Also people of faith who take their vows very seriously. So we kind of grew up in that. Through the years, I've met people who came from broken homes, men and women. And we have many leaders in our country who have come from broken homes. It's interesting to me is I can, even as adults, even when they're accomplished, I can sense their pain from them. There's a lot of pain. I was really fascinated when I heard you talking about, and by the way, this is one of the things

I love about you is you don't just talk about it about it you're doing the work you're in the prisons you're in the you know speaking with with juvenile delinquents talk to me before we get to you know what governor desantis is i really want to establish this problem talk to me about you know you see these tough guys they're in jail talk to me about the pain that you're seeing a lot of it you know, and you see it because of the way, right? Obviously they walk puffed up and they walk with this huge wall in front of them, but you can feel it because the second you say certain things, they get triggered, right? the second you say certain things, they get triggered, right? If I start talking about the father and I start talking about really, you know, being a man

who carries their emotions and understands their emotions and dwells on those, they don't want to have any, like I cry, right? So, you know, I'll find the Holy Spirit. You're a crier too, by the way. Yeah. Even in chick flicks. So just just as we've been having this interview, I've had tears in my eyes twice feeling the Holy Spirit. And so that's who I am. Right. But most guys can't say and talk about that if they didn't have a dad or if they have this chip on their shoulder or they have these wounds that are very deep. And no one is addressing these fatherlessness wounds. And so, you know, I've even seen fatherless wounds in people that have dads because their dads weren't really involved in their life. And so that you hit it, you hit something that's that's that's right on instead because we don't address it.

And particularly if it's if it's in prisons and juveniles and those environments, because they're lashing out has become their identity. Right. because their lashing out has become their identity, right? Their lack of having a disciplined figure, their lack of having someone that they have fear of, someone that holds them accountable or someone that they want to make proud. You see, that's the biggest part of it is you go through life and you don't have a masculine figure

that you want to make proud. Like my son gets up every day. He's trying to make me proud. Like he gets to, she scores a goal or gets a hit in baseball. I'm the first person he wants to know. What do I think about it? Because he knows that if he does it wrong, I'm going to be on his butt. And so it's, it's, it's, it's when you miss out on that in life, like you have a deep, deep wound and then you start to see yourself as less. And then you start to accept behavior that is not righteous. And so once you start accepting behavior that's not righteous, that becomes who you are. That becomes who you are. And that's the issue that we have in prison, whether it's the robberies, the violent offenses, the sex trafficking, the drugs. I mean, all of these all of these things just have a tremendous increase when it's when it comes to the fatherless. And so that's at the core of all of the social issues that we face today.

And people just don't want to talk about it. We'll be right back with much more after this. Oh, interrupting their playlist to talk about defying gravity, are we? That's right, Newton. With a Bronco and Bronco sport, gravity has met its match. Huh. Maybe that apple hit me a little harder than I thought. Yeah, you should get that checked out. With standard 4x4 capability, Broncos keep going up and up. Now get up to $6,000 in rebates on eligible 2024 Bronco family models. Visit your Toronto area Ford store or Ford.ca. So, Jack, I know your story of you go into prisons and you minister there.

You go into neighborhoods and you minister there. And you mentioned God and the fact that I think that in our DNA, in our soul, in every part of our being, we human beings made in God's likeness are supposed to be part of a family. And I agree with you. You see people who didn't have fathers and do have pain in their life. They act out and they're strong and they're tough and they're mean and they're badasses. But you go into those environments and you present, obviously you're strong, right? You present, I mentioned at the start, you present a very manly, you have a manly presence about you. But when you go in and you start to touch, whether it's in prisons or in neighborhoods, do you see young men gravitating towards the Jack Brewer model of faith and family and morality? Or do you see people still yearning to go to the,

I want to be the thug, I want to be the strong guy in the street, I want to be a baller? I would imagine that you're very attractive to them. Tell me how that works. I mean, where are people going when you're in these places? tell me how that works. I mean, where, where, where are people going when you're in these places? Man, I tell you sometimes it's, uh, it'll, it'll bring tears to your eyes because when I walk in, um,

usually the toughest guys in the room are the ones that get attracted to me. Um, it's usually the, gift. It's a blessing. And just last week I was in a prison and they had one. You know, each prison usually you have you have gangs that run the prisons inside the wall. And so you obviously in every gang, you have a gang leader. I don't ask for them, but it's just for some reason they always get introduced to me. I don't ask for them, but it's just for some reason they always get introduced to me. And so this one, his name was was Smoke.

Obviously, you know, when you talk about smoke, you talk that's probably coming off of a pistol. That's where he gets his nickname. I mean, he was a blood. So his nickname was Red Smoke. And so as I'm talking to him and, you know, I could tell he, he was attracted to me, wanted to be around me. And, you know, I'm talking and I'm, I'm a pretty hardcore guy. So I know I say I cry and all of that, but when it comes to discipline, like I don't mess around, whether it's my juveniles, you know, I believe spanking kids. Like I'm, I'm not a, I'm not a softy when it comes to that. I'm a pretty disciplinary type of, of, of a person and my programs instill that discipline and that patriotism. And, you know,

we respect the military, but I want my kids and my, and the folks that I, that I mentor to act like, you know, military men. Right. And so this guy, I told him, I said, listen, man, don't introduce yourself to me as Red Smoke. And I looked at him in his eye. I said, that is not your name, man. I said, and what I see is a man of God. I said, I see a man of God with dignity

and I see a leader of men. And I said, I don't want to hear you introduce yourself. And I'm going to I got the microphone in my head and it's a thousand prisoners in there. And I said, do not introduce me. And I said, as a matter of fact, I'm going to tell all you other men, you have an obligation not to call him that anymore. I said, I don't want to hear that. I said, because every time you call him that you're puffing him up and you're not puffing him up for righteousness. You're puffing him up for evil. I said, so all of you guys have an obligation because you're condoning evil. The whole spirit of that place just changed. And you just looked in this kid's eyes and you saw for the first time that he was like, wow, like, I don't got to carry this macho man gangbanging mentality.

Like, I can be something greater. And it was like, I guess God used me to put words that blessed him to do that. And it was just amazing to see that happen right before our eyes and it showed the power of God. It's liberating. I bet it was liberating. It's probably heavy to carry all that bravado and toughness. Wow. So now you've decided to pair up with the great Governor DeSantis, who always seems to be on the right side of so many issues. I have to tell you, it's like the guy makes I thought I just want to go to Florida for the weather. I'm dying for Fox and move a studio there.

I want to live in Florida because of Ron DeSantis. Tell me about what he's doing with this program. It's a lot of money. It's 70. Is it 70 million, Jack? Seventy five. Seventy five million dollars. He's partnering with there's money for adoption issues. There's money for programs for nonprofits to deal with kids who are, you know, the kind of kids you're talking about that are going into juvie and all kinds of, tell me what the program money is going to do. So it's, it's going to, um, as

much as it can address, uh, some of these issues that we're talking about with the fatherless kids. And so I always say this, this is not going to solve our fatherless problem. Um, I think even more than the money, I think the fact that we can actually talk about fatherhood and build more awareness of it and hopefully encourage more organizations and people to do something, that's the most important thing. So I'll just start off by saying that.

But as it regards to who it targets, one, those kids that are aging out of foster care system, you know, those are the most vulnerable because they're 18, 19. And then all of a sudden they don't got nobody now they're off the system that you should just get pushed out into the world. And now you got this foster care kid at 18, 19, and you guys have kids, you know, at 18 and 19 years old, you're still a kid. And they had nobody. And so this bill, at least it gives them some resources where they can go get training. They can go to school. They can, they can access financial support that will, you know, give them the ability to go get a job training and those type of things, because it really is the obligation of the American people to help to take care of our orphans.

Man, we can't let our orphans just go out there on our own. We're better than that. with the program, let me just tell you, I saw this firsthand in Congress. The most vulnerable set of people in our community are those who are living in foster care, right? Because you get all of this support from the state, but then you turn 18 and you're kind of thrown out and you don't have support anymore. And to your point, these are not young men and women who know how to navigate the world. So Mike Turner from Ohio had a bill to actually just support them in housing to make sure they can go through this transition. And it was a financial service bill. The committee I was on was going through my subcommittee.

I'm like, this is a great idea. I mean, I'm not a big government guy. I probably like you, Jack, but there is a role for government. And in this role,

let's support it because, because the percent of foster care kids who end up homeless is massive massive and i couldn't get democrats to support me what in this legislation to to help foster kids maintain their housing because they didn't want to put the foster kids at the top of the housing list and they were the most they're the most at-risk jack for being homeless right and and they can't navigate the world that should be a national story sean i mean this makes me so mad i couldn't wrap my head around it it doesn't make sense a group of people who say they care about folks but they wanted different priorities for a different set of people as opposed to just the category of you were in foster care i know that's one part

but i just want to mention that there that is an issue that we see is is you're on a path that is not a good path unless you get the support to bridge you into adulthood sean actually um was part of a program in congress to uh jack where they so college kids um could come they would there was a program. It was like an internship program to work on the Hill and they would literally work on foster care issues like policy and then present their ideas based on their experience. It was really a beautiful program. I'll say one of the things I learned,

I was on a board for family women and children vulnerable family, women and children. When I was in Wisconsin, in Wisconsin on one governor Walker was in the governor. And I met a girl on the board who was a grown woman who had come out of the foster care system. And I learned so much from her. She said, you know, the hardest, one of the hardest things is even if you overcome everything that you have to

overcome in the foster care system. And she had told me stories about her, you know, being moved around and it's just not a great scene at all, but she made it to college and then she's in college and there's nowhere to go at Christmas break. There's spring break. It was something I had never thought about. And I thought it was one of the most sad situations that it was, you know, sometimes a professor might invite her for dinner or, you know, to stay with them for the holidays. But something that the average college kids never think about. Man, that is so heartbreaking.

It really is. and you know speaker sproles who is is our speaker at the house here in florida um who really uh was a real spearhead behind writing the bill um and you know he would always talk about that as well you know about you know the kids not you know having a place to go during the holidays having and he said you don't think about those types of things, but psychologically, what does that do? Even when you have overcome or you are overcoming, you still have to live in those realities and those reminders. And, you know, unfortunately there's a lot of families and a lot of people, a lot of good Christian people of all faiths that would, you know, bring folks like that in and do things. But there's such a disconnect in our community because, you know, in a lot of ways, government hasn't done their job.

Government's supposed to represent the people, but it doesn't mean just by giving money and resources, right? But government should be communicating issues and problems with the masses. And so promotion is a big part of government. And so that's what this bill also does. It promotes fatherhood. Yes. And so when government starts promoting things

that are not righteous, they'll get really loud about switching the bill to say, don't say gay, or they'll get really loud about CRT and all of these crazy things. But all of a sudden you have a bill like this, that is like at the core of humanity. And, you know, most states say nothing about it. And they don't even address these issues. And they've gotten so bad. And they become really a burden on every single state, local government in the United States of America. Fatherlessness has become a burden on them because it's what is causing the prison population.

It's what's causing the poverty rate increases. It's what's causing the weight on housing and on every other welfare program we have in our nation. The root cause of it is fatherlessness. Jack, I think it's I agree with you. This bill, 75 million dollars is not going to fix fatherlessness in Florida. It's not. Now, it's nice to have additional resources. But to your point, it's highlighting the issue. And even as conservatives, we go, the border is a problem. Crime's a problem. The liberals want to push transgenderism. There's all these issues that we get consumed with, Jack. And to have a governor say, let's go back to the basics. If you want to fix America, if you want to fix your state, your community, focus on what really matters and having a mom and dad who are strong.

And you can't have a strong family without a strong father in the home. Let's go back to the basics and focus on that. And if we focus on that, we can actually save America. We can address all these other problems that exist because we're dealing with the core issue. And I think that's what's so important about this bill is highlighting, hey, listen, fathers are important. Just one other point on this is so often in our culture, we're promoting that men shouldn't be men, that we should be basement boys. We should play video games. As Rachel mentioned, it's toxic masculinity. They push all of these themes on us that are contrary to what strong men, strong fathers, strong providers actually do an important part of my life. This is actually my calling in my life is to be a father to my children, to raise my children in a healthy Christian fashion.

Jack, can I ask you to, so I totally agree with what you and Sean are saying, that this bill is more about going back to basics, highlighting this, shining a spotlight on this, that it's not going to solve the problem. But what do you think? I mean, you're seeing like over 70% fatherlessness in the Black community. The Hispanic community, which was always known for being very strong, is also seeing huge upticks in fatherlessness. I believe- Yeah, 50%. Yeah, 50%. And I believe that there are government programs that have incentivized this. We've all talked about this, but this is a two-pronged question. One, in the black community, and not necessarily the conservative black community, but just the black community in general and those who are in power in the black community, do they see fatherlessness as the root of the problem the way you do? And is there a desire to fix it?

And two, I hate giving people two part questions, but I don't know how else to do this. Two, how do we encourage family formation? So instead of programs to kind of deal with the fatherlessness, how do we go back and go, you know, how do we increase family formation and especially among poor people? Because it seems like rich people are getting married. Poor people are now the ones who could benefit from this stability and aren't getting married. Yeah, it's it's it's a sad thing. But to answer your question, unfortunately, the majority of the black community doesn't see this as I recall. Actually, I get I get liberals, particularly liberal black folks who I know a lot of because I used to be a liberal black person.

So most of my family is liberal black. And so I get people. That's when they respond to me. It's always, oh, it's racist. This ain't it or this ain't. And they've been so conditioned, my brothers and sisters have, that they see through the land of skin color now. And it's been so deeply ingrained in them to think about racism and to focus on that as the root cause that you then stop looking in the mirror and seeing yourself. You look in the mirror and see what everyone else is doing.

And I think that's the biggest issue in the black community is that we do not look. We refuse to look from within and see that's what CRT, that's what, you know, thinking that you're oppressed. And that's what that's what that does to a person. When you start thinking that you look out, you never look in the mirror anymore. And the word of God tells us to look at ourselves and look from within. And so that is the real issue that we're facing. And it's not it's not about anything else other than culture. That's become the culture of African-Americans in America to not look from within and to not stay true to godly principles that were established from day one and family being the most important. three percent of black kids born out of wedlock i mean that is a number that any nation will look at and tremble because the effects of that are going to be so deep and wide and that's what we're looking at is the black community uh are numbers like that and then

you know you look across the nation and you see the number of fatherless kids. I mean, I think it's close to 20 million now, kids that are fatherless in one society. We lead the world by far in fatherlessness. It's become a part of our culture now to where, you know, it's like acceptable to just have a kid and get on welfare or have a kid and just live with their moms, you know, or a dad who leaves their kid. It would be shamed in any society. 30 years ago, 40 years ago, you left your kid and denied your child. You'd be shamed. And now that's not a part of the culture. shamed. And now that's not a part of the culture. It actually is quite the opposite. Right. You know,

and I think the, our, our, our lacks abortion laws, also a big part of that because it's dehumanized the child. A child is not seen as a, as a human being anymore culturally because, you know, some women will be able to have eight nine ten abortions you know some men you know can get a woman pregnant and he expects for them to go have an abortion it's become like normal and it's so normalized and so you combine all of that together i mean you you you have this culture, to be honest with you. And I think that's the issue with Blacks.

And how do you communicate that into them? Honestly, I've had a lot of success in doing it, but it's only because it's been coming from a place of boldness. When I speak about it, I have been able to change the hearts and minds through God using my voice. And it just, it is that boldness talking about the numbers showing. So when they see me in the prison, it's hard for a black person to tell me that that's not the reason because I'm in the prison. They're not, you know, when you tell me about a juvenile and that's not the reason that you don't do anything to help anybody, you don't know the reason I do. And so I think it's them having to see a workman, having to see someone getting their hands dirty, having to see people actually touching. Right. Like Dr. Martin Luther King used to do. He used to go out and touch the people. We don't have leaders that do that anymore.

We have all these people that sit behind a podium or they pass policy, but they never go there, right? We have congressmen that are from the Black community, voted in by the Black community on the Black Caucus that don't ever go visit prisoners. by the Black community, on the Black caucus, that don't ever go visit prisoners. And they got 10, 12% of their whole population or the place that they're representing have been in prison.

And they only go there. It's unbelievable. And so that is the issue with where we are in Black America. Our leaders, our Black leaders, don't see this as a problem. We'll have more of this conversation after this. After decades of shaky hands caused by debilitating tremors,

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So I can't let you leave us without telling me what is the answer to changing that culture? Get more conservative Black people to be leaders and to go speak truth and actually serve. You're not going to change the culture by a bill, but people are going to have to serve. So if other Black men aren't going to get out off their butts and go help other black kids, we're lost. It's not going to, there's nothing that, you know, I love you, brother Sean. There's nothing you're going to do to change black culture if the black men don't do it. That's the problem. The problem is our black kids are fatherless. And so we need black dads to go in there and talk to the kids that can relate to them and talk life into them and like do what the Bible told us to do. We got to visit the fatherless and the widow and their trouble. We have to visit those in prison as if we are in

prison with them. The word of God gives us the answers. But if we're not willing to go do that, we're never going to fix the problem because God we've turned our backs on God. You know, Jack, you had the most faithful group in America were African-Americans and the greatest families in America. Where was the African-American family in just 60 years? It's been absolutely destroyed. And I would argue, I don't think it was intentional, but I do think the great society and those programs helped destroy the family over the last 60 years. And getting it back is so important. But fatherlessness also comes to marriage, right? I mean, showing men how to love women, how to go through the difficulty and challenges of marriage. It's not easy being married to Rachel's

easy Jack, but it's not easy. It's hard work. It's commitment. It's challenging, but it's really rewarding. And to be a husband and to be a father is beautiful. And I know that because I've had a chance to talk to you, you're doing the work in your community with the youth of the community and challenging them. And it's a wonderful thing. But that's Jack Brewer doing great work in his community. How do other people in their communities do what Jack Brewer is doing? Is there a program? Is there a, is, is there, is there a help? Is there tutelage that you can give people to go? You want to,

you want to change the world, go change your community, do what I'm doing. This is what you can do. Definitely. And I think in Florida, that's what this bill is doing because a portion, a big portion of that fund is going to go into mentorship programs and support programs similar to the ones that I built, which is why I was so, you know, humbling for Governor DeSantis to highlight my program as an example for Florida to help us get out of this crisis. But my program is pretty simple. It's not complex. It's basically telling

me and fathers, go be coaches, go be mentors. pick one kid in your community that you can speak some life into, you know, you may go see them once a week, but if, if, if we don't, if, if I don't show a young man how to tie a tie, you know, if I don't take a young man out to eat and show him how to eat at a table, how to, how to treat a woman, I mean, we should be teaching these kids these type of skills. And so, and it's not the obligation of the government, it's not the obligation of the public school, it's the obligation of the village, right? The village needs to come in and start doing something. But if we don't get to the point where we'll serve anybody else's kids and we only focus on our own. We'll never fix this epidemic.

It'll never. It's too big. We got to touch other kids too. So, I mean, that's really the answer. And all it takes is just basic love, right? And understanding and staying in the word of God. And we got to stop trying to bring God out of every part of our society. You know, I take my Bible and everywhere I go. And so I do that for a reason. I want people to see it in my hand. So they understand the sword in which I carry,

and they understand the grace in which I walk and where my words come from. And so it's symbolic, right? You know, Martin Luther King used to lead a civil rights movement with the Bible in which I walk and where my words come from. And so it's symbolic, right? You know, Martin Luther King used to lead a civil rights movement with the Bible in his head. Think about that. And so when the kids see me, they see that Bible, so now they know where my strength comes from. And I tell you what, all my kids can quote scripture. All my kids read Bible verses. I lay my hands on my kids every week at least once. I put oil on their heads and anoint them with oil every week at least once. And spiritually, they start to grow.

They're not all my kids. I can't see them every day. They're going to act out. They're going to lash out. They're going to listen to music I don't want them to listen to. They're going to go look at websites I don't want them to look at. They're going to do those things. And I know that. But at least I can give them a little bit of a foundation of Christ in their heart so that that can stir up their gifts inside them. And one day it'll come out and there'll be men and women of God. And that's the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is for them to find salvation through Jesus Christ. The ultimate goal is for them to find salvation through Jesus Christ. The ultimate goal is for them to have eternal life and to view eternal life.

And so I don't have any other goal with my kids other than to show them Jesus. That's right. Well, you know, you started this podcast saying that you knew that you know what your purpose in life is. And it's very clear from this podcast that you are a man with a mission. And all the props to you. Sean and I have so much respect for the work you're doing. You are someone who isn't just talking the talk. You are walking the walk.

We're left inspired by what you're doing. And I have to tell you, you're a gift to this country. You're a treasure. Jack, I gotta tell you, what I love is you don't mince words. When someone asks you a question, you lay it out. You don't care political consequences. You don't mince words. You lay the truth out there, which I think is inspiring as well for not just men, but for everybody to go. If brewer can say it's okay to spank your kids i had you on fox business last night you can score two nights ago you can bring back paddling in school and i'm gonna whip them i'm like whoa whoa but you know what

some discipline is okay i love it out there for people to go you know what this is the way we raise good kids and And I'm going to tell you what it is. And I'm going to go in every public forum I can, and I'm going to, I'm going to speak the truth. And I love that. And it inspires more people to hold and courageous and, and go, if Jack can do it, maybe I can too. And I think that's, that's, that's the contagion of the Jack Brewer model. I'd love for you to come back when you start to see some results, some stories from how this focus in Florida and how this money is impacting the lives of so many young men and women who are without a father. And in Florida, I think it's going to be a great example and model and experiment to see how that how that takes hold and and if it's effective and we hope it is we pray it is um i know it won't be from lack of effort on the part

of jack brewer and the great governor desantis and the speaker of is it who is the the the speaker sproles speaker sproles and i want to give him props too. Give him props. And Governor DeSantis is the greatest governor we have. And he's leading the way in so many ways. But I tell you, we we plan to to to take this all over the country. You know, I'm helping now put together some some thoughts and ideas. And I've written a white paper on fatherhood. I presented it to several members of Congress, as well as senators. You know, the goal here is a national fatherhood bill. We've also started to engage with other states. And so you guys keep this working in your prayers.

It really is ordained by God. It's not about us it's not what we think I have no other motivation than just trying to do the purpose God laid before us and the Father is number one Jack, I love it, a man of faith and a man of family thanks for joining us on the podcast today and thanks for your insight and thanks for all your great work

inspiring young men around America it's beautiful Thank you Jack, thanks so much for joining us at the kitchen table. Yes, and bless all those babies. Cug them and kiss them for me. Bless them, bless them, bless them. Thank you so much, Jack,

for joining us at our kitchen table. We've enjoyed the conversation. And if you did too, we want you to let us know. So subscribe, rate, review this podcast at foxnewspodcast.com or wherever you download podcasts. And we hope to see you

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