Locked In with Ian Bick - Doctor Reveals Top Warning Signs to Keep Kids Out of the Criminal Justice System | Dr. William James

Episode Date: September 11, 2024

Dr. William James, a New York City Public Schools Educator and author, reveals the must-know warning signs that could keep your kids out of the criminal justice system. Dr. James dives deep into the recurring themes and patterns he’s seen in kids who enter the system, sharing real-world examples and powerful advice on how to recognize early behavioral red flags. Drawing from years of experience working with youth, he explains what every parent needs to look out for to guide their children toward a brighter, safer future. #ParentingTips #YouthDevelopment #CriminalJusticeReform #ChildBehavior #PreventingTrouble #ParentingAdvice #KidsAtRisk #ProtectOurKids Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ Connect with Dr. William James: https://www.instagram.com/drwilljames/?hl=en https://drwilliamdjamescom.godaddysites.com/ Presented by Tyson 2.0 & Wooooo Energy: https://tyson20.com/ https://woooooenergy.com/ Buy Merch: https://lockedinbrand.com Use code lockedin at checkout to get 20% off your order Timestamps: 00:00:00 - The importance of community relationships and youth involvement 00:05:29 - Importance of Youth Sports and Hobbies 00:10:30 - Lessons from my Father's Wisdom 00:16:06 - Overcoming Obstacles in Employment 00:21:27 - Motivating the Next Generation 00:26:22 - Pursuing Trades Instead of College for Financial Success 00:31:50 - Positive Transformation in Students' Behavior 00:37:19 - The Price of Freedom 00:42:40 - Importance of Patience and Understanding in Education 00:48:14 - Academic Performance and Educator Diversity 00:54:01 - The Importance of Parental Involvement 00:59:12 - Influences and Associations 01:04:17 - The Honor Code and Law Enforcement 01:09:40 - Programs for Life After Incarceration 01:14:39 - The Value of Learning from Experience 01:19:43 - The Perception of Incarceration in Communities 01:25:13 - Appreciation for Youth Work Powered by: Just Media House : https://www.justmediahouse.com/ Creative direction, design, assets, support by FWRD: https://www.fwrd.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dr. James, welcome to Locked in. You are our first teacher on the show. And when you reached out, saying that you worked in the city and you're an educator and you really wanted to focus on the youth in this interview and kind of like the relationships between the community and the youth, I was super excited to have you on and hear a completely new perspective on the show today. Thank you for having me. Yes, the youth, it's, you know, this is why I do what I do is very important. And seeing what has taken place in the life of, you know, many people who have been on the show, I think, you know, prevention is better than cure. And if we want to prevent certain things from happening, then we got to start with the youth.

Yeah, something I've realized, like we're talking out there, is in every story, I interview someone, we always start at their childhood, and we realize how impactful their childhood is. and now that I'm getting into, you know, mentoring on my own with children affected by the criminal justice system, you really start to see a lot. And it all starts to, like you live through these people that you hear about right in person physically. And it's just, it is pretty crazy when you see some of these things unfold. Yeah, I see it every day in my field and my line of work. And I try to be, you know, that missing peace to fill in the gaps, you know, to impact the next generation in a positive way. Did you grow up in New York City?

No, I grew up in Long Island. Okay. Yeah, I grew up in a town called Lakeview, Lakeview, Long Island. It's a predominantly black community. I'm proud to be from there because, you know, it's not perfect, but it's not like it's extremely violent. or, you know, it's a safe place to grow up. And did you have a lot of friends in the community that were, you know, getting into trouble at all

or anything like that? Or was everyone, it was different and not kind of a troubled area? In that area, I didn't have a lot of friends per se that were getting in trouble. A lot of the people that I knew that were getting in trouble were from, like, neighboring towns or some of the people that I knew from Queens,

some of my friends from like those areas, but not really Lakeview. A lot of my friends from that area weren't getting in trouble. Now, do you think if you lived in one of those neighboring communities, your path could have ended up differently? Yes, my path certainly could have ended up differently if I grew up in a different environment. Those are the two most important things that I believe, you know, impact the youth,

the household and then the community. I have a strong household, but still being in a certain environment, certain atmosphere can impact your decision making. So do you think that no matter how strong the household is that if you're in a bad community, that could affect someone's path in life? I don't think no matter how strong the household is, if your household is really, really strong, it can save you from, you know, a detrimental environment. But being in a detrimental environment of violent crime-written community,

definitely increases the chances of you getting in trouble. And a good example of this is a rapper named A.R. Ab. I don't know if you've heard of him. He's from Philly. And I like his music, but he's currently incarcerated. He talks about how he grew up in, you know, a household with both parents. And they raised him fairly well and tried to keep him out of trouble and stuff like that. But the community, it just, you know, it brought.

So he's a good example, I think. Yeah. And now when you have a child that's born into, say, a bad community, how do we, we as, you know, as a country even fix that? Because it's not the child's choice. So where do you think that initially stems from? Well, what initially stems from? The actual root causes of, you know, those bad communities and the child being born into

them. Like, the child doesn't have necessarily a choice of where they grow up. The bad community stems from systemic racism. That's where that stems from, where during the 1940s and 50s, where you had people like William Levitt, he created Levin & Sons, and he has communities like Levitown. He has one in Long Island. He has one in Pennsylvania, where they didn't even let black people purchase properties in those communities. redlining, pushing lower income people into, and minorities into these impoverished communities that we have now, not giving them the opportunity to purchase in the suburbs, sort of created the ghettos and, you know, what we call the hood today.

That's where it stems from. Fixing that would have to start in the household. Like, we have to start in the household, and then we have to start organizing as a community. to have more resources and outlets and things in the community for kids to look towards. Now, growing up, did you have in your mind from an early age what your career would be? No. Growing up, I wanted to be an NFL player. That's totally fair. That was one of the first things I wanted to be, and then I thought about being a lawyer.

Okay. Those are the first two things that I wanted to be. So I always thank my parents for that because they got me into sports at a young age. They got me into football when I was six years old. And without football in my life, I played football from when I was six to 18 until I finished high school. I was supposed to play after high school, but that's a different story. But without football in my life, I don't think I would have been the person I am. I don't think I would have, it definitely kept me out of trouble.

I'll say that. That's a good topic, actually. How important do you think sports are for the youth and even just any activity or hobby in general? It's very important according to data. You can look at the data and students who, student athletes are twice as likely to finish high school in college than non-student athletes. So it's like a driving force. For me, it motivated me throughout high school. You couldn't play sports in my.

school if you fell two or more classes. So it was a motivation. And then at the end of my ninth grade year, I sat down with my guidance counselor and she told me if you want to be eligible for a scholarship, you have to have this balance between your GPA and your SAT score. And she said, with a higher GPA, you're allowed to get lower in SAT. So that motivated me just to do better academically in my courses. I was smart enough to do so. I just didn't have the motivation until I heard that. Do you feel like some kids are prevented from joining sports or hobbies in general because of the rising costs? Like I know, and when I was in high school, it was expensive to be on a sports team. The school's not covering any of that for you.

Your school didn't cover sports? Well, they covered the sport itself, but then you have to buy, like, the sneakers and, yeah, like the accessories, you know, the transportation, things like that. Well, in my school, like, I played, I did football. I did weightlifting, which was free. Weightlifting was free, unless, because we didn't go, we didn't have meats or anything, we just lifted weights.

And I did winter track and spring track. So for winter track and spring track, you really only need track shoes. You only need your track shoes. And some people take it more seriously than others than they have, like, I know people who have, like, track shoes for each different race.

But those weren't that expensive. Those cost, like, 65 to 100, maybe 120 track shoes. Football, the only thing I had to pay for was my cleats. So everything else, we got, the pads, the helmet. To go to games, we all got on the bus. That was all paid for.

So at a younger age, for the youth, it's expensive. Yeah, maybe more the summer camps and whatnot. Pewee football and stuff like that, it's expensive. It's like $300 for one kid. And I'm a twin, so I'm an identical twin. So my parents had the funds to get me into sports at a young age. Right now, if you want to sign your kid up to play like youth football, it's like $300 a kid. And if you got $200, most people, if you're in the inner city, you're living paycheck to paycheck.

You don't have $600 to pay to get your kids involved in those sports if you just don't have the finances. So it's hard when you think about it in that aspect, the parents who are living paycheck to paycheck, and, you know, they may see talent in their kid. Their kid may be interested in football, basketball, gymnastics, track and field, whatever sport, soccer, but they don't have the funds to pay for it. That's one of my things, what I'm saying, about organizing as a community to make sure that kids who have these interests,

even if the parent doesn't have the funds for it, we can still get them into it. Yeah, and also on that note, too, going into high school, it's extremely hard to join a sports team if you don't have the parents. prior history. So not many people are just starting fresh in high school. So you kind of need those expensive programs early on to get your foot into the door. Yeah, they're more likely to do it if they've been doing it. If you've been playing football, you're a whole life and then you get

to high school, it's more likely that you're going to play football in high school. If you haven't been playing until you were eligible to play for a school team, I know in Long Island, it's seventh grade where you can start playing for the school. That's a when I start playing for the school. If you haven't been playing up until that point, some people, you know, taken on and they started, but some people just are not interested at that point. What are some morals your parents instilled in you as a kid growing up

that helped shaped you and also helped in your current role now as an educator? My parents are both Christians, so I grew up in a Christian household, and, you know, they instilled, you know, traditional Christian values, 10 commandments and stuff like that. Don't still be honest. They instilled a lot in me. My father instilled a lot of some of the best messages. He's like, he's like a wise, he's like the wise old man.

If you've seen Karate Kid. Of course, yeah. So my father is like. Mr. Miyagi? Yes, he's like a black. male Mr. Miyagi. If you think of Mr. Miyagi as a black man, my father's like, he's like that type of thing. So like, to give you an example, I remember one time I was talking to him about something.

I was feeling down about something. I had made a mistake about something. And he goes, son, people always going to make mistakes in life, you know. That's why Pence was heavy racers. So he just, like he says wise things like that. And my father has no formal education. He worked all his life. My father's older, so he worked his entire life, like, since second grade.

He's just, he worked. He worked in the farms, and, you know, they used to grow crops and stuff like that. That's his life. But my father is just the wise old man, you know, he told me, you know, don't trust the man. Put your trust in God. He taught me about hard work. I used to, my father was a janitor. He was a porter in a building in a Long Island.

And I used to go to work with him. I used to see him work hard. I used to go to work with my mother sometimes. My mother's a maintenance worker as well. And I used to see her work hard. And I remember seeing my mother work two jobs. I remember my mother was, she used to do her maintenance job during the day. And she used to do, she used to work at the post office at night, working two full-time jobs.

and you just don't see that type of stuff like these days anymore. A lot of women would run to, you know, like, you know, only fans and stuff like that rather than working two jobs. I've seen my mother always carry herself with respect and she's only all only been with my father. So they instilled a lot of, like, you know, morals in me about surrounding like hard work and honesty and, you know, treating people right and being fair

and getting to know people. not casting judgment firsthand, just, you know, get to know people before you pass judgment, stuff like that. And then I just take that into my field of education. I try to get to know my students. I'm honest with them. I'm fair with them. And they respect it.

Yeah, I definitely feel like there's a, the world shifted where there's a lot of young adults that aren't going. Like I remember in a high school, people would get a job at like a Hollister or a clothing store or an ice cream shop. or whatever just to get the feet wet. And now it's not really like that. You don't see that. Like it's changing drastically. Everyone wants to be like an influencer or do something on TikTok or this and that. A lot of my students, they have regular jobs like that, like Hollister.

And they work at like supermarkets or fast food restaurants. They have normal jobs, a lot of them. Some of them when they graduate, though, instead of going to college now or something like that, they'll just say, all right, I'm going to be an influencer on 10. TikTok, or, you know, YouTube, stuff like that. Some of them, some of my former students, it's working pretty well for some of them. It does work for some people. Yeah, I'd rather them do that than nothing.

I always give my kids, like, five options. I'm like, look, all right, you finish high school. You don't have to go to college. Even though I have five degrees, I don't, I don't, you know, I'm not the biggest champion for college. It's not for everyone. But I say you can go to college. You can go to the armed forces. You can be an entrepreneur.

you can go to work or you can go to trade school. Those are the five options. College, trade school, armed forces, be an entrepreneur or go work. Those are your five choices. But you're not going to be a bum. You're not going to sit around and do nothing. If you choose one of those five, if you want to go to work. Because I know people who started working early,

and by the time they're 25, 28, they're successful. Like, their income is higher or compatible with some people who went to college. Like, I know some UPS drivers who made $120,000 last year. No college career. They just started working for UPS early at 18, 17. and, you know, now at 30, they're making 120. Yeah, I was making 33 an hour when I left Whole Foods. 33 an hour?

Yeah, 33 an hour. And with O.T, I was going to be over 100,000. And when did you start working there? 2019. Like what age? Oh, I was 24, 23 when I got out of prison. And they started me at 15, and it took me two years to move up. And I went from $15 to $33 within two years.

Wow. Two years. That's real fast. No college degree. I was thinking you were going to say like 18 years. No, no college degree, nothing. It's just hard work, putting it in and standing out. And that's with a felony, multiple felonies on my record. I pulled that off. You knew someone?

No, I got hired there for like nine bucks an hour before I went to prison. They knew I was a hard worker. Then I got my bond revoked, went to prison. And then when I got out, I applied there. Again, they took me back. and within six months I got promoted to a supervisor making 17. Then from there I got promoted to an associate team leader at 21. Then I got offered a job as team leader to go to Rhode Island.

I'm in Long Island in Massapequa for 28. Then COVID happened, got the bump to 29, and then I moved back to Danbury for a raise to make 33. So it's just hard work being flexible. A lot of people get passed for job opportunities because they're not willing to move around and be flexible. I was hungry. I was young and I wanted to, you know, make the best of it.

How were you able to move around? I just drove. Like I moved out to- Oh, to Marsepequa. Like when you have a family, it's a lot hard to uproop. But if you're a single young person out of college or even out of high school, the sky's a limit. Like Whole Foods is a great place for you to thrive if you want to work there.

Any type of place like that because they're looking for people. You can make a lot of money. I know a bunch of dudes who would take that drive for that money. Well, you can even move out there. Yeah, I know a bunch of guys who would have felony. And they're like, oh, they're hiring people with felonies? Because, you know, it's hard on a lot of people who, once they have a record, they don't want to give you a second chance. They feel like they're liable.

If anything happens, you know, they already saw it on your resume. So now they're liable for anything that happens. But I think, you know, once someone's paid their debt to society and they've served their time, then I think they deserve a second chance. So why do you ultimately decide to become an educator? So I became an educator by sort of by luck or whatever. The fork in the road just went that way because I wanted to be a lawyer. So my first two degrees were in criminal justice and political science. I took the LSAT to become a lawyer to get into law school.

You got to take it. I got accepted in the CUNY law, and I was going to go to law school, but you can't start law school mid-year. And a lot of people don't know that. See, and I didn't know that. No one told me. And I had people who knew I was, like, going on the path to being a lawyer. But some of it was my fault, and this is why I tell my students now,

like if you want to be a certain field, then you need to speak to people in that field. So I hadn't really had too many conversations with attorneys, people who were already on the path that I wanted to go on. So I got accepted a community law, and now it's like around November. And I'm trying to go up to the school, and I'm trying to set up my schedule for the spring semester. to start in like January. And I'm talking to the lady, and she's like, all right, we're going to get you set up for September.

And I'm like September. Like what? I want to, I'm trying to go in the spring. She's like, no, you can't do it. That way it has to be like three full years. Everyone starts in September. You go through. I was like, oh, okay.

So I applied to Queens College to get my master's in education and history. And they accepted me. and I could start that in the spring because I didn't want to take like a big gap. That would have been a year that I took off instead of just a semester. So I wanted to stay in the school flow of writing papers and stuff like that

so that I didn't get, you know, disinterested or, you know, unmotivated. And when I started my master's in education, I sort of liked it. And, you know, we was getting prepared. to my second semester was going to be student teaching and stuff like that, and I was looking forward to it. So once I started it, I wanted to finish it,

and I just stuck with it after I finished the... How many discounts does USAA auto insurance offer? Too many to say here. Multi-vehicle discount, safe driver discount, new vehicle discount, storage discount, legacy... How many discounts will you stack up? Tap the banner or visit usa.com slash auto discounts. Restrictions apply.

That's sort of how it ended up happening. And looking back on it now, do you wish you became a lawyer? I have my moments where I wish I was a lawyer. Like sometimes I watch these shows on like Netflix, like suits. I love suits. I just finished it. And I'm like, I get so into it. I'm like, dang, I would have been a good lawyer.

And I would have been able to help people. Like, that's the big thing that I look at. I'm like, dang, I would have been good. I would have been able to help people. you know, I would have been able to help, you know, minorities and stuff like that. But then sometimes, you know, when I get around my kids, it's just like I'm really proud of, like, what I'm doing and how I'm able to help them. So it's, it's, I have my time to where I'm like, dang, I could have been a lawyer. But, you know, I love being an educator and a role model to these kids.

You're still helping people. Yeah. And it's interesting because as a lawyer, you're helping people that are already kind of in a mess and you need to help fix it. But as an educator, you have the power and ability to help someone before they even get into that situation, which is the youth. Right. And you're motivating the next lawyer. Like, I talk to my students. So I have a student now who she wants to be a lawyer.

She wants to be like an immigration lawyer. I love her to life. And I think she's going to be a good attorney wonder. But just being able to motivate the next generation of nurses, medical doctors, lawyers. real estate agents, all of these things that I talk to my students about, it's just very important. So, because a lot of them don't know which way they want to go. And then me as a role model, I help stare them in that direction. I'm like, look, I actually give them an assignment that makes them look into occupations that they're interested in.

Because sometimes people don't even know what it requires to be, like, a certain occupation. They just think it's cool. So they're like, oh, I want to be a lawyer. Okay, what does it take to be a lawyer? What type of lawyer? How much would a lawyer make? How many, you're, you know, you're Hispanic. How many female Hispanic lawyers are there?

Like, I want them to really think about what they're saying and what it means and what it's going to take. You have what it takes, but you need to know what it takes. You got to put in the work. You can't just say, okay, I want to be a lawyer. Okay, you're going to go to college for seven years, right? You're ready to do that. You know, you can't say you're not liking school. You don't like high school.

You're going to have to go to college for seven years if you want to be a lawyer. Oh, I want to be a doctor. Your parents want you to be a doctor, but do you want to be a doctor? What type of doctor? You want to be a medical doctor? Do you want to be a pediatrician? You want to work with kids? What do you want to be exactly?

I make them really think about what they're saying. all right, what are the requirements for that? How are you going to make that happen? You know, you can't slack off if you want to go be a medical doctor. Your GPA is going to have to be a certain level to meet the prerequisites. You got to think about what you're saying. It's going to be a lot of hard work. You can do what I believe in you, but you got to know what you're actually saying.

Do you think kids are not being challenged as much as the questions you were asked overall in general in the school system? They're not being challenged enough in school. Just what those kind of life questions. We're not talking math or science. We're just saying like life questions. Oh, no, that's certainly not. They're not being prepared for the real world. I have to give them these type of assignments.

I give them financial literacy assignments because I think across the globe, but especially in the United States, we're slacking with financial literacy. And my school has a financial literacy course, and I still think we're slacking. I think that's something that we should start teaching kids like in middle school, like financial literacy, because if I've been, would have known the stuff that I know now. If I would have knew that when I was like 18 or even 21 or even 25, like myself, me being who I am, as educated as I am, my financial literacy has increased so much in the last five

years, it's ridiculous. If I would have knew this when I was 21, 25, I'd be a millionaire already. Like, it's crazy, like, because I flip houses on the side. But if I would have known this five, ten years ago, I would have started five, ten years ago. I would have started five, ten years ago. Like, this wouldn't have been something that had started three years ago. I would have been doing this,

and I'd be, you know, further along. Do you think giving kids that education could help them from getting into maybe like a fast move and like selling drugs, for example? That's a perfect example. Yes, because that's what I'm saying. Kids don't know. Kids see, and I talk to the kids,

a lot of them see these people who get fast money, the drug dealers, the scammers. You know, all of these people nowadays, oh, they get fast money. I could just do that and I could get money and, you know, I could have a nice car and I could get, you know, the Dior and all of this fancy clothing and all of that stuff. If they just knew that, all right, look, here's a legitimate way that you can earn an income to get the things that you want. They wouldn't take that fast, you know, fast money. they would know like all I got to do is stay the course do this and then by time I'm 25 of 28 I can have this much money and I won't have to look over my shoulder I won't have to worry about the law I won't have to worry about you know other criminals they just don't know that like if I tell a kid right now like look if like I know a guy who graduated high school with me who never went to college and he makes the same amount as money I make being a teacher because he started working at UPS driving trucks when he was 18 and he went and got his CDL.

And I tell you that, like just you know how to drive. You love cars. You love trucks. Go get your CDL, be able to drive anything. And when you're 28, you'll be making six figures. You're like, really? You can do that. I know security guards who like work at colleges and stuff like that.

They have a pension and they make six figures. they're 28. They started when they were 20. If I tell you, just go get your security license. You can get a job here in 8 to 10 years you'll be making six figures. You never went to college. If I have an electrician,

I have two electricians, Sean and Fernando, they make more money than I make. They never went to college. They took up a trade to be an electrician. And one of them, in New York State, if you shadow an electrician for like six, seven years, you can become a licensed electrician without anything,

as long as you can note your experience under a licensed electrician, you can get your license. So if you start that at, say, 18, you can be a licensed electrician, 25. Electricians make a lot of money. like it's just certain things that they just don't know go to trade school

that's why I recommend trade school you could get your plumbing license go go be a plumber you know yeah you're going to have to get your hands dirty but they make you can make a lot of money and you don't got to go to school for five six seven eight years now the kids that are from what you've seen that like the fast money and are inspired by that where do you think that comes from is it is it music like rap songs

Is it social media? Is it movies, TV shows, video games? I think it's a combination of everything. I think it's a combination of the rap music, the what they see on TV, and the community. So some of them see in their community. Like, hey, I know this guy sells drugs. Look at his car.

Look at his clothes. I know this guy's a scammer. I got a cousin who's a scammer. they got nice cars, they got nice clothes, they got a nice house, the police didn't catch them. A lot of them don't see the harsh reality of it and they don't have people being honest with them about it. So they just see, you know, the positives so they think it's all good. But they don't know that that person's not sleeping at night. They don't know that they got to look over their back.

They don't know that the police are already investigating them and then give it another five to ten years or maybe three years. and that person's going to be incarcerated, they don't see these type of things. So they think that it's something good. They need someone like me in front of them telling them, like, no, because I hear my kids say stuff like that, man, man, I'm about to quit this, man, I'm just be a scammer. I'm like, you're going to scam?

I'm like, yeah, for how long? Oh, I'm going to scamming you all I don't feel like it. All right, and do you know how much time you're going to get? I ain't going to get caught. My car's not doing it. I'm like, look, this is how much time scammers are getting. All right. They're not playing.

They're cracking down on this stuff. Who are you going to scam with? Because most people don't do that alone. Okay. Oh, I'm a scam with my homeboy such and such. All right. When the police catch him, you don't think he's going to give up your name? All right.

See how that works out for you. Because I've seen all the toughest people in the world. get caught up in situations and they snitch. And they don't, they haven't been told that. I'm like, look, I know some of the toughest people. Your big homie is a big phony. He's going to snitch. They all tell, but they don't know these stories.

So sometimes they just need to hear it. Some people just need to learn the hard way. It's the unfortunate situation and circumstances that I've learned. in my years of being an educator and then just being a role model working with, you know, kids, you're not going to save all of them. You know, we attempt to save all of them, but some of them just have to go out there

and figure it out the hard way because they're just not going to listen to you. Give us a story of someone you've been able to save from kind of like that lifestyle. I've been able to, I think I've saved many of them. I don't want to say anyone's name, but I've had several students who were like rough around the edges, but I was able to develop a relationship with them

and we built the rapport to where they just start doing so much better. Like academically, behaviorally, they just start doing. and so much better. I've seen students do a full like 180. I've seen kids go from fighting, cursing at teachers, yelling at their parents, all types of stuff. Like some students, they'll be like, what? To they stop fighting. They're getting A's and Bs in their classes. They're respecting their parents. It's like, in the course of three years, I've seen students, go from starting off how I just said to graduate in high school and they don't get in trouble anymore, they're headed off to college.

They're doing the right things. It's like you wouldn't think that student, if you would have met that student in ninth grade, you would have think, oh, okay, this kid's going to be locked up by Tomlin in 11th grade, but that's not the case. If they have the right people in front of them, the people who are willing to give them the attention that they need and show them that they care. Because a lot of these kids just need someone in front of them that they know cares. And you stay on top of them and you don't give up.

That's what happens. What are some warning signs or troubling signs that something's off at home, that they're in a bad environment, something that adults can look out for? As an educator? In general, I think they could go to any type of profession. As an educator, it's very, it's very, clear. Like truancy is one of the biggest signs. If a student is frequently late to school or they're frequently absent, that's a sign. Like that's just one of the clear signs. And then

we pay attention to everything, how a kid shows up to school, how they dressed, hygiene. As a kid, skinny, like extremely skinny to where it's concerning. Like, are you eating meals and stuff like that. You know, we look for bruises, things of that nature, are they being abused? Sometimes we just look at how they carry yourself. Like, sometimes it's mental abuse. They're constantly told, you know, you're never going to amount to nothing and you're ugly.

It's sad, but sometimes they're really treated that way. So you get to know a student and I pay attention to all of these things to figure out what exactly is going on at home. that's the type of stuff that makes a student come to school with a chip on your shoulder. They're told at home, like, they're not going to amount to nothing. They come to school with anger. Then the first person that says something to irritate them, they punched them in the mouth. So, you know, those are the signs.

Like, if a kid is acting out and violent, there's usually a sign that something's going on at home. Like, you know, it's sort of clear signs. A lot of the time, you can't get in touch with anyone at home. That's a sign something's wrong. It's like we're trying to call a parent. You're texting a parent. You don't have an email on file. You're trying to reach the parent.

You're like, where is this person? Who takes care of you? Sometimes you ask the student for the phone number. You're like, who can I reach? They'll give you a phone number. number and then it's like, this number is out of service. It's like, all right, that's a sign. Something's going on.

But I'm the type of teacher that, you know, I'll pull up to where you live. I want to see what's going on. I'm going to knock on that door. But a lot of teachers will tell you this. With things like parent teachers conference and stuff like that, a lot of times the parents show up, the parents who show up, those are the ones you don't even need to see. like this kid has like all A's they're like perfectly behaved

you don't even need to see that parent you're waiting to see the parent like okay this kid has all Fs haven't been able to reach you on the phone maybe you'll show up for parent teachers conference and they don't show up oh do you have people around you whether it's family members or friends

that have gone through the criminal justice system which helps you teach the kids about living experience and and kind of put that, those lessons on to them of what could actually happen if they go down a certain path? I have a lot of people around me, family and friends that have been incarcerated, been in the system. And I share those stories with my students.

I tell them, like, and I showed them pictures of, like, the person next to me. I'm like, hey, see this person standing next to me? This person just did, you know, they just came home from doing 10 years or they just came home from doing five years or however many, you know, years they did. And I tell them their story. I'm like, they learned the hard way. I'm like, you don't have to be like them. I grew up.

One of my uncles, he did 22 years in prison. I didn't meet him until I was around 24. He had, you know, he was viewed as a threat to society. He had all types of violent charges. I tell kids that story. I'm like, do you want to do 22 years of your life in prison? Like, there's that, and then there's my life. I show them my life.

I'm like, look, I travel. You know, I show them, you know, my girlfriend, things of that nature. I have a beautiful life. I'm like, I'm free. Freedom is priceless. You don't ever want your freedom taken away from you, not for a day. A lot of them don't really get that. A lot of people that they may be hearing from,

they sort of glamorized the street life and they glamorized jail in prison. Like, oh, I was the toughest person and, you know, nobody said nothing to me. And I was locked up and I was eating what I wanted and I was on the phone when I wanted. And they'll tell you, look, my cousin said he was on the phone whenever he wanted. You know, he'd a big homey and he did this. All right. The war stories people like to hear. Where they never lost.

They was always victorious. Okay. Sure. Why do you think it's not enough, especially for the youth to hear about the success stories? Like someone like you, they look at you, you are successful, you have all these things, and it's still not enough for them to keep them on track. obviously that doesn't apply to everyone. The majority of people don't go down the bad path, but there are those ones that do,

even after hearing the bad stories and seeing what they could be like. Because, again, it all starts at home and in the community. And if they don't have someone that's really on top of them, making sure that they don't, you know, take a step back and, you know, go the wrong way. It's easy to backtrack. It's easy to go in the wrong direction. they're in the community. Like, you may be telling them, like, all right, make sure you go home, you know,

stay away from drugs, stay away from gangs. But you're not going home with them. And then when they go home, they're passing by their homies who are in the gangs and they're like, you know, come with us over here this way. Not everyone has like the mental fortitude or, you know, the strength not to fall to peer pressure and things like that.

If you're not constantly there and they don't have that role model at home or they don't have something to help them stay focused, it's easy for, you know, that one to fall, you know. Now, do you think those individuals who are in bad spots like that because they come from a bad home and a bad community, do you think that those individuals are fixable in that moment or do you think that they're already on that path and they have to go through what they're going to go through in order for it to may or may not get through their head. No, I think they're all fixable until it's done.

Like, until they're incarcerated, until they've done something to where it's like, all right, now we've got to just wait this out. I think they're all fixable. But it's just, it takes more for some than others, like a lot more consistency, a lot more of showing them like, hey, there is another way.

For some of them, they need a lot more, like, second chances. They need a lot more restorative conversations and things to help. Because there may be instances, like, for example, like one of the big things that they're trying to implement now, and some schools implement, like, restorative, they're more restorative practices, where if a kid gets into, you know, like, two-futable. fist fights, they're not expelling the kid or, you know, three fist fights, they're not

expelling the kid. They're trying to give them chances and get to the root of the problem. Why are you fighting? Why are you violent? Some of them, they'll learn after the first one. I'm like, all right, we're giving you a day suspension, coming in with your parent. We're going to talk about why you got in this fight, why you did this, don't do this again, or we're going to think about, you know, you go into a different school that's not.

as good as this one. Some will learn after the first conversation. Some, it takes two, three, maybe even four of those for them to get it. But then you just got to, you know, check the pros and the cons to see if it's worth it. Like how violent is the kid and, you know, did they have a weapon, things of that nature. But some of them, if it's just a regular fight and, you know, no one was badly hurt. Like, all right, we're being patient with you. We want you to get this. We don't want to kick you out of this school. Because we know if we lose you in this system, you go to another school, it's going to be bad.

Like, you sort of know, like, where are the adults, we know what's going to happen from there. If you go to a different school, a different environment. For some kids, that could be better. For some kids and a kid who's already violent, if they go to a school where there's more violence, chances are they're going to be more violent. And that's going to turn bad. So for some kids, they just need more opportunity. They need a lot more patience, people to be more patient with them,

and to really show that they're not going to give up. Because some kids just expect you to give up. Everyone that they've been around has consistently given up on them. So they're just waiting for you to give up. When they see that you won't give up, they change. Do you find in-school suspensions out of school? school suspensions, detentions, even expulsion, an effective method to help kids? Well, I believe in trying to keep kids in school as much, like, as possible, giving them as much class time as possible.

In certain instances, you have to suspend the kid. Like, if a kid punches someone in the face, they have to get suspended. Now, how long that can be a discussion, but. certain instances, certain things that a kid does, they have to be suspended outside of school. Like, I think you're not doing your job well as an administrator if you let them get away with everything and not suspend them outside of school. So certain things are effective. You have to, like, be objective, a way to pros and the cons, look at the type of student you're dealing with. If it's a student who never gets in a fight and they got in a fight,

fight. Okay, they got in a fight. Take a day off, come back, you know, the following day, and we'll keep going. If it's a student, all right, this is your seventh, eighth time this year. It's like, all right, we got to have a long discussion. Certain things legally you can't do. If a kid has an IEP or a five or four plan, you can only suspend them a certain amount of times without, you know, a meeting, a group meeting, a meeting with counselors. And there's so many things that you can't even do legally. And some people don't know that. Sometimes people know that.

Sometimes parents know that. And sometimes even the student knows that, which can be problematic because they know that they can get away with certain things. But I think you just have to take into consideration everything about the individual you're dealing with, and then decide, will that be effective for them or not? Because for certain people, it's effective, and then some people is not effective. It's more detrimental than effective. Are you seeing a lot of violence in the school system at the young age?

No. No. My school doesn't have a lot of violence, and no school I've worked and has had a lot of violence. These kids, this day and age, I think, We see a lot of stuff, like, promoted with, like, drill music and stuff like that. But for the most part, that's, like, small pockets. Like, even on the drill scene, you see small pockets of, like, New York City, Chicago. Obviously, they started it.

There's some in Florida. I can't think of any other, I mean, like, in America, I can't even think of any other states or cities where it's big. So, like, for the most part, this generation from what I see, they're not really that violent. There's small pockets where you see kids who, you know, their pick.

I will say this. I think this generation, they're doing more shootings at a young age than when I grow up. When I grew up, it was more fights and stuff like that. This day and age, I do see more, like, gun violence from a younger age. but that just deals with the community and why do they even have access to the guns? Like, they shouldn't even have access to guns as a teenager.

Do you feel like teachers are nervous about going into school because of the gun violence? No. I've never seen a teacher that was nervous surrounding that, and I'm certainly not. These kids, I look at them like my kids. So, like, every kid I see, I see as like non-threatening.

Like every school I've been in and I've taught in all Brownsville, Crown Heights, all types of neighbors. I don't see, even when I'm driving on my way to school and I just see the kids walking, I see kids.

I don't see any of them as like a threat. Like they're a kid. Do you feel like there is a misconception about New York City public schools and in certain areas? Yeah. There's definitely, misconception because when people hear that I'm an educator in New York City, many of them feel

bad for me, especially when they hear that I teach high school. They're like, oh, they think that it's extremely bad and they think the kids are disrespectful and stuff like that. That's not the case. I've told them to inner city. I've never had disrespectful kids, rude kids. It depends on the energy that you give out. It depends on how you manage students, your classroom management. Some teachers just aren't properly prepared to be an educator. They don't know how to properly manage students. Some students don't know how to, teachers don't know how to build relationships with kids. Also, there was a study done by the National Bureau of Economics that said that students perform better academically with educators from the same race. So that

that plays a part in it too. I've seen educators, like I've seen white educators be successful in predominantly black schools, but sometimes they're just not relatable. So their management skills are low because they don't know how to relate to the kids. And sometimes they overreact to certain things because they're not familiar with the language from the culture and things like that. So that all plays a part into it. If you're ready to refresh your wardrobe for spring,

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See full terms at mintmobile.com. I've never had a problem with it. What's the student-to-teacher ratio? Because we were talking before about how we're seeing in like prisons and schools that there's, you know, it's just very overwhelming on the teachers, the counselors, the case managers. And based on that, do you think that affects the child's development and and what path they ultimately choose to if they're not getting that, you know, one-on-one that they need? The student-to-teacher ratio, like, on average or in my school?

On average. On average is probably New York or just, like, America? Oh, we could start with New York. The average is probably for every one teacher, you figure 25-30 students. it's probably the average. And do you think that's effective or do you think it needs to be less or more? I think there needs to be, I think less is better. I think the more adults we could have in buildings for kids to meet the needs of kids, the better.

I think sometimes kids get lost in this system. because there's not enough staff, there's not enough teachers to pay attention to and meet the needs of every kid. That's sort of what happens. And sometimes it can go both ways. What I've realized in education, sometimes it's the kids who are,

they do extremely well, straight A student, You know, they do everything right. They never get in trouble. And then they sort of get lost because you're like, I'm not paying you any mind because I don't need to. Sometimes it's the kids who they're frequently absent, not doing so well academically. It's hard to reach, you know, a parent or guardian,

and then they just get lost in the system. So it's either the student who really needs it, who ends up getting lost or the student who doesn't need it at all, who ends up getting lost, is what I recognize, tends to happen in the education system. Now, when you see a student that maybe was one of your students or another teacher students that ends up later on in life or even in this current school system, enter into the criminal justice system, do you feel in a way that you wish you could have done something more to help them?

Yeah. Whenever I see that happen, I've only seen that happen in two instances. with former students. And I always feel like, dang, I didn't do a good enough job, keeping in touch with them, you know. I should have been calling them like every week or texting them every week, you know,

instead of once a month or whatever it was. You always wonder what more you could have done because I'm really in this business. I really do what I do to prevent, you know, any kid from entering into the system, criminal justice system, I want to see them all do well, I want to see them all succeed. So when I see a kid get in trouble later in life after they finish high school, it's just like, dang, what could I have done to prevent it?

You know, that's the thing. I'm like, dang, I let this one get away. What advice would you give to parents who have children that are either entering the criminal justice system or maybe going down that track and they want to, you know, divert that from happening, what would you say to these individuals? Be involved and do all you can to prevent it from happening. Whatever signs you see that they are leading that way,

you need to be involved. You need to come up with an intervention plan. Depending on the age of the student, you need to work with the school. You need to work with different adults. People who know things that you don't know, you need to work with them. You need to reach out to them. So I know if a parent reaches out to me, because I've had parents reach out to me. And they're like, Dr. James, so-and-so is doing X, Y, Z.

Can you talk to them? I talk to them. I'll come over. I'll have a sit down. I'll talk to that student and I'll walk them through a plan. Like baby steps. All right. Firstly, this is what we're going to do.

We're going to do this. This is going to lead to this, and we're going to get this outcome. You've been cut in school. You know, you've been hanging out with gang members. You've been doing this. All right, so this is the plan. I'm going to pick you up for school every day in the morning. I'm going to be here at 715, 7.20.

You'll come to school with me. I'll make sure you get to school. I'll make sure you leave. I'll make sure you have breakfast. I'll come up with a plan with that parent. they reach out to me. If you don't reach out to me, that's how to get lost. If I'm tending to, you know, one teacher can have between 100, 200 students, you can't tend to all of them like you're their parent. We try. I know I'm one who really tries. I really try to help.

But if you're trying and that's what I'm saying. If you're trying to reach out, you're trying to get in touch, you can't. It's like, all right, well, this parent, responded to me. I'm helping that parent first. But parents, they need to just do all they can. Don't give up on your child. You are still a parent. You need to have conversations with them. What are you doing? What have you done? What can you do better as a parent? Why don't they respect you? That's what I'm wondering, because why don't they respect you? Because I love my parents so much Like growing up, I never wanted to embarrass my parents. So that's why I am a success.

I never wanted to do anything to make them look like they did less of a job than they did. So when you get incarcerated and you do certain things, it's a reflection of you, but it's a reflection of them. When people see me to this day, I'm 34 years old, and people say like, oh, your parents did a good job raising you. I like that for my parents because they did do a great job raising me. If I were, you know, a piece of crap, if I were doing nothing in life, then people would see me and be like, dang, what does your parents do? So when a kid is like cut in school and stuff like that, sometimes I have discussions with these kids. When they're cutting school or they're acting up, I'm like, do you love your parents? Like, do you love your parent or guardian?

Whoever their parent or guardian is, sometimes it's a grandparent, aunt uncle. I'm like, do you love them? They're like, yeah. I'm like, do you think they're proud of what you're doing? They're like, no. I'm like, so why do you continue to do it? Like, you got to get to the root of it. Sometimes they just tell you to, I don't know.

I'm like, well, you think it's cool. You think you're getting cool points. What do you really think it is? If you don't know, you're smarter than that. Sometimes it's really hard to shake what's going on in the community. And you really have to stay on top of them. They may love their parent or guardian, but their parent or guardian works 16 hours a day. That's what I'm talking about with the socioeconomic status.

And that's how sometimes these kids get lost and the parents is hard to reach them. The parent, it may be a single parent, and the parent can work 16 hours a week. They work two jobs. They're living paycheck to paycheck. They work two jobs, you know, that's paying the minimum wage. And, you know, they got three kids. You know, you're talking to a kid who's one of three or one of four. It's hard on that parent.

But this is why we got to do a better job with building our households. You know, I talk about that in my book. We got to do a better job at restructuring the black nuclear family. In the 1940s and 50s, we had a black nuclear family of a mother, father, and a child. And they worked together. Even with their low income, they worked together. And they had a household and they had a structure. A lot of kids don't have that structure.

and everything increases in the negative when there's no father in the household. Child is more likely to be a victim of a violent crime, more likely to commit a violent crime, more likely to be a victim of a sexual assault, more likely to do drugs, more likely to sell drugs, more likely to do in a gang, more likely to be incarcerated. All of that increases. So, it's like I'm saying, it all starts in the household. So if you open up that door and you start your child out with a broken home, you have to do twice as much work. If you don't have the resources to provide your child, like I said, with the opportunities with sports, with academics, with just experiences.

is like you can't get your child to, you know, piano lessons or guitar lessons or, you know, you can't get your child in a program that, you know, they travel or something like that. It makes it harder on you. That's why a lot of times, you know, people say things like, oh, well, there's never a right time to have kids. I hear people say that, like, you never, you know, you're never really ready for that. I'm like, there's a big difference between having children living paycheck to paycheck with no money in your bank account as opposed to you have a job, you have job security, you make $100K and you have $30,000 in the bank. There's a big difference between those two, you know, parenting situations. Yeah, and something I've realized too is a big piece is who people associate with because I know that got me into trouble.

I see working with youth now. I see the people that I've had on my show, the people that have come from the best of families, they started hanging around the wrong people. And that changed their whole life. Who were you hanging around? Me? Like, where is this? Where were they from? So when I was in, you know, seventh, eighth grade, I wanted to fit in with the cool kids who I thought at the time were the skater, drug dealing type individuals.

And we would do stupid shit that my parents did not raise me to do. just like silly stuff, and we got into trouble. And, you know, it's just... They were from your neighborhood? Yeah, they were from my neighborhood. Aren't you from Long Island? No, I'm from Danbury, Connecticut. Oh, you're from Danbury?

I was born Manhattan, but my family moved us up here. I don't know, I'm not that familiar with Danbury. I know one person from Danbury. Is this like, it's nice in Danbury? Yeah, I mean, there's some bad areas, I guess, where it's a little, you know, different. but I grew up in a, like, a gated Jewish community, you know, middle class. And I was getting involved with kind of the wrong people trying to want to fit in. They went to your school, though.

They went to, yeah, Danbury High School has, you know, 3,000 kids. It's very diverse. I was in private school for a little bit in elementary school. But the high school and the middle school is extremely diverse, people from all racist backgrounds, types of people. You probably went to school with someone I know. Some, if y'all in the same age range, because I think he's from Danbury. I'm 29. Nah, he's like, um, 35, 36.

Yeah, I wouldn't know him. He might have went to the club, though, I used to own. Are you still in a club? Yeah, Tuxedo Junction and Danbury. Like a, it was like a nightclub? Yeah, we did stuff with like 21 Savage, Steve Ioki, the chain smokers. Why did you get rid of that? Well, I went to prison.

Oh, that was, you did all of that before prison? Yeah, I was, uh, I went to prison. prison at 21. And you had a nightclub before you went to prison. Yep. I owned my first night. I own two. I owned my first one at 17 or 18 and then the second one after.

I forgot what you went to. Didn't you go to the feds? Yeah, for wire fraud and money laundering. I was in the concert business. Is that how you got your club? No. So there was kind of like two different storylines running together because I started off promoting in high school.

I'd make like 10 grand in a night doing teen parties. Yeah. That was all legit. Then I started raising money for concerts. That failed epically. That's where the fraud aspect came in. And then simultaneously, while I was under investigation by the FBI, I opened this nightclub in Danbury. Oh, so you were already under investigation.

Yeah. And I got local charges for like illegal distribution of liquor and stuff for the club. Yeah. You don't have a liquor license? No, I was under 21. It was a crazy time. But you could have had someone else on it with you. I did for the first club, but not the same.

second, we would make $10,000 off of water. We'd charge six bucks for a bottle of water. You buy a 24 pack for $4. You know, you're making a couple hundred bucks a case. If you had all of that going, why didn't you stop what you, like, doing? I was too in deep. You know, I was just an accident. I lost all this money and I lied about the losses. It was literally an unintentional mess. and had all these concerts made money or two things, if all the concerts made money, it would have been great, or if all the concerts still lost like they did, and I was just honest about the losses,

you know, then it would all work out. But looking back on it, that was the best thing that could have ever happen to me because I have this now. So who was doing that with you? Someone got you into doing that illegally? I had a business partner, and he testified against me,

and you got no prison time. See. Everyone turns. Told you. There's no, I don't care how hard you are. Well, you look at all, a perfect example, all these mobsters that literally have 20, 30 bodies on them, and they're out there on social media. What's his name? Semmy the Bull.

All of these guys, you know? Seminole killed, like, what, they had 20 bodies on him, and he gave up John Gotti and got no time. Hey, you know, that law enforcement plays dirty, individuals played. Everyone does the same thing, you know? See, that's what these kids need to understand. If they come to your friend, your buddy, it's like less than probably 1% of people who have the honor to just not say your name. When they say, like, look, you can go home. You're facing 10 to 15 years.

But if you just say this person's name, you go home. how many people aren't taking that deal? Well, you know what? The expression is there's no honor among these. Yeah. So. Yeah, like I'm the type of person. See, that's why I could never do anything like that anyway.

Because I'm the type of person is if I signed up for it, I signed up for it. That's why you never put yourself in that position. Yes. You could be honorable. Because I have too much honor. Exactly. Exactly. If I put myself in a situation where I'm doing 10, 20 years when I get caught,

But then I'm doing 10 or 20 years when I get caught. I'm not going to say, oh, you know, John Doe's name just to get out of a situation because I don't feel like that's honorable. Even though I think someone, you know, someone is a criminal, I think that they can still have a certain sense of honor with them. Like, all right, you're a grown man. You signed up to be this gangbanger. Like, especially when they're doing it at a certain age. See, that's another thing. when there's certain people who they get into it young.

Like they get pushed into it young, 11, 12, 13 years old. I know some people I grow up with who are in gangs at 13, and they didn't fully know at 13 what they were doing, what they were signing up for. And then they even did things at 13, 14, 15 years old that were very big deals, like very violent crimes and certain things that sort of like made them feel trapped. But then I know people who got in the gangs when they were like 21, like in their 20s.

It's like, you're old enough to know better now. Like, and you signed up for it. When the police come knocking, you take your repercussions. You signed up for that. Don't take it because that's what you signed up for. And you signed up for this. You could have avoided it. You could have just got slow money.

You could have went down to Home Depot or Lowe's or you could have went to Walmart or something like that. And you could have just been a regular person, got a 9 to 5. You didn't have to do it. You chose that. So take your time like a man is like how I see it. And then the older you get, the worse it gets because you're not just, you have innocent bystanders. You have family. You have kids.

Right. You have, you know, coworkers, anyone that's affected by your absence. the older you get, the worse those ramifications are. That's a fact. And because I've known a lot of people who have been incarcerated, and you got to think about the people who do the time with you. Like, there's a lot of people who, you know, I've looked out for over time. You know, I'm messaging them on J-Pay.

I'm sending them money, things of that nature. This is also while you're still trying to live your life on the outside, but you're trying to let that person know that you're still. there for them. You understand that they are going through certain battles in there. Obviously, it's prison. You know, it's not the best location. So,

you're trying to still be there for someone you care about, but you're still trying to make a life on the outside for yourself. It's hard. So some people, they go through it and they learn. It's kind of crazy that the recidivism

rate is so high. Because, like, they they don't learn. Some of them just don't learn. Well, it's also, there's not good reentry programs or anything like that. They don't have any of that. You know, I know, like, if I wasn't a self-made entrepreneurial type person, I would have struggled reintegrating because a lot of people don't have that.

That's a good thing, too. We need more interventions. So it's like it's a combination. We need more interventions in schools, but we need more interventions like in prisons and like, you know, to get, you know, how what I say, ex-cons, more familiar with society when they come out, especially people who've been in there for a long time. People who do 10, 15, 20 years, they come out into society.

Or how do I use this phone or, like, how do I, you know, even apply for a job? How do I make a resume? How do, they don't know what they're doing when they get out. And sometimes they, get them out and they tell them like if they don't have a place to um uh how do i say like uh locate to like an address to put them file they make them stay at certain places and it's it's ridiculous that like what is done i'm like how are they going to reenter into society without a plan

you've given them no plan you give them eight to 10 years you reenter into society you tell them hey, stay out of trouble. Don't break the law. Don't rob anyone. Don't do anything. Where's their job? They have a felony now. Not going to be the easiest to get hired.

What did you teach them? What did they learn? So, um... Yeah, I mean, I think it's great that they're making programs like what I do. Like, I'm a felon with multiple felonies on my record, working with kids in the criminal justice system. Ten years ago, that would never be a thing. That's a program? That's a program, yeah.

That what I'm doing now is a program by the state. What's it called? This one is the community reset program. Oh. So they hire you to work with these individuals, and that's your sharing lived experience, and these individuals can connect with you way more than, say, someone that hasn't been to prison, or it's way older than you. Or is, like, a regular case manager or probation officer.

So the fact that they're making these changes and also social media, The fact that you could make money on social media as a felon, you know, that's it. That doesn't restrict you. TikTok's not saying, oh, because you have felonies on your record, we're not paying you. So there's all these resources out there. Now it's just a matter of getting that more out there to people to understand that, having there be, you know, lessons on how to utilize it and just showing that. I think it would be good if they did teach, like, even this.

but I know a lot of people who they were in programs to, like, do HVAC and stuff like that while they are incarcerated. I know a few people who got, like, college degrees while they were incarcerated. So I think those things are good. But I think they can do more with, like you said, like with reentry, like helping people. If they're really trying to correct the correctional facility, if they're really trying to correct someone's behavior and help people rehabilitate, then I think we need more programs. for when people are entering back into society because some people don't know what to do. And some of them would just rather get locked back up because they had a routine in there.

Now they get out and they don't know what to do. Some of them don't have family. They don't have, you know, any support system really. So it's hard to reenter back into a society. I think they should come up with a plan for the people who are reentering. Absolutely. And I think shows like this are a good step in that direction. I love seeing comments from individuals who are entrepreneurs

and they have never been to prison. They say, hey, some of the best guys I've hired are people that went to prison. Or I look at, you know, someone that's been to prison differently because I got to understand the roots of these individuals. That's what I like about your show too. When I see a lot of the people come back on and they talk about they did, you know, five, 10, 15,

however many years, but they talk about what they're doing now. And they're like, oh, I got this business now. I have, you know, I work this, I got a trucking company, I'm doing this. I'm like, that is so good that after all of that time, they can now do something like legitimate to make a living for themselves. I just wonder if they could have did that before they got locked up. Yeah, a lot of the entrepreneurial ones that I found, they were hustling drugs or doing something that was entrepreneurial in a criminal way. Yeah. So had they just applied that same mindset to what they're doing now,

back then. But then you look back in time, maybe they needed to do that, you know, and their personal development, because now they're great people. It goes both ways. There was someone you had who was already successful. I forgot who it was. There's always a lot of money. No, I saw somebody that was already, I forget the person, that they were already making

a certain amount of money or something, like, legitimate. And you was like, you already had that? And they're like, yeah. So why did you do what you did? Those are the people I don't understand. I don't get. And the middle age, like, fraud guys you read in the news and stuff. Like, you're 50 years old and you're starting a scam.

I don't get that. It doesn't make sense. See, because, like, those are the people who, like, they just got to learn the hard way. They think that they can do whatever they want. They've been successful in life. So now they think they can outsmart the system. They can do something to do just whatever they want. and they're going to get away with it.

Absolutely. Those are the people where, like, if they're my student, it's hard to get through to them. Sometimes people think I'm going to always get away with, you know, whatever I do. I'm not going to get caught. I'm the smart person who can outsmart the system and I can get away with it or I always get slaps on the wrist. So sometimes, like, they can take things the wrong way.

And they always get caught. Yeah, if you're being super patient with them, like I was talking about like what being super patient, some of them, that's why you're not going to save some people. Because for some people, it's really just a mindset. It boils down to the individual for some people. It's just like, you've taken all of the steps. You've done everything to save this person to help them. They have to want to be helped. They have to want it for themselves.

They have to want to do the right thing. Some people just have to learn the hard. way. Like, it's sad. Like, you could save like 99 out of 100, but it's going to be that one that just like... I had to learn the hard way. You had to? Yeah, I had to. Looking back on everything that I know now and that I apply now is I learn that from experience. I'm a visual learner. So you don't think you would have ever just went legit if you never got caught and did time. I think that everything needed to work out exactly the way it needed to. I mean, my case is a little different because mine wasn't deliberate and it kind of like fell into it. And then I made deliberate

choices based on what I had kind of fallen into. But I just, I strongly believe that everything needed to happen the way it did to make me the person I am now. And that doesn't apply to everyone. It certainly doesn't because they say like smart people learn from their mistakes and wise people learn from the mistakes of others. Yeah. I'm one of those people that just saw a lot of people growing up. I was like, I'm never going to be that person. And maybe I was too sheltered to not see that, you know?

It could be. Maybe, so maybe, so your peoplehood was, you said it was a gated community, right? It was that nice. Yeah, it was pretty nice. We lived on a lake. And you didn't have, like, any family members that got incarcerated or anything? No. See, in a town like this, it's frowned upon to get into trouble.

Like, they ran. my name through the dirt when I was getting into trouble. Like, they're still weird about it, you know? No matter how successful you are, they'll always be weird about it. And to me, it's like I'm not even affected by it anymore. But that's just a type of area where it is. So how does anyone learn from mistakes of others in an environment like that where you're painting it like everything's perfect

and that the other person shit doesn't stink? So it's just like it's weird, you know? that's a good thing though that it's frowned upon I guess to a certain degree but I think you need lessons you need to learn because when all of the dirt is hidden I think it's important for it to be public

so that's how people can learn teachings lessons you know invite people to speak into the schools that have been incarcerated they're not doing that the Amber High School is not inviting individuals who have been to prison from the community

and teaching the youth who are getting into trouble what to do and what not to do. That's what I mean by their shielding it and they're not acknowledging that, you know, that's the problem. They should definitely invite, you know, people who have been in the system in to say, look, stay away because they can tell you best. And I think that kids who are trying to be a certain way, I think they respond to people

who have lived it better. Like the kid who wants to be a gangbanger and all of this stuff, when you have an ex gangbanger that walks in there telling you like, hey, this ain't where you want to go. Trust me. Look, I got shot. I got stabbed. I got this.

I got this much time over the gang. None of my homies wrote me. None of them gave me money. When they hear those stories, I think it will set in when they hear it from somebody. And I think that's why it was a big deal, the whole Tuki Williams situation, because I think Tuki Williams would have been worth more alive than dead now that he had changed and he was writing books and he was telling kids to stay away from gangs.

Him with his name could have served, you know, could have did more good than bad at that point. It didn't, I mean, I'm not a fan of a death penalty anyway, but it would have served, it would have been better than, you know, more detrimental at that point. But I do think. it's good to frown on, like, crime or, like, being incarcerated. Because, like I said, I think in a lot of communities, it sort of glorified the getting

incarcerated and doing time and then coming home. Like, I've seen people, when someone comes home from prison, they throw a party and celebrate and they got people there with balloons and giving them money. But then when someone comes home from college, they don't even get that type of welcome. It's like someone comes home. from doing four years in college and they're just like, oh, okay, good for you. That's good. And then they got a struggle to find a job. Yeah, but someone comes home from doing four years in prison. Yo, what's good, my boy? Like, what's up? Like, yo, yo, here's some money.

Yo, how can I help you get on your feet? Like, all of this stuff for someone who did time, but you don't even welcome the person who was doing positive things with the same energy. And then a lot of kids see people who get incarcerated and then the way that they're spoken about in certain communities, it's like, oh, well, it's nothing wrong with it. You know, such and such is incarcerated, but, you know, everybody got shirts that say free him. And, you know, it's like it's not frowned upon. I think it should be frowned upon to do the wrong thing to be incarcerated. And, you know, if you're guilty. Like, you know, we know not everyone is guilty, but I think if you're doing certain things, the kids see that the youths, they see what's going on, and then they don't see the negative.

They don't see the person being frowned upon. They don't view the consequence as a real consequence. They're like, yo, such and such is locked up, but, hey, they still got all the love in the neighborhood. Everybody still talk about them. Definitely. Well, Dr. James, thank you so much for coming. on the show today. Thank you for having me. It was a very insightful conversation. I'm glad we got to do this. And is your book available online? Yeah, my book is available on Amazon.com. My book is called

Black Supremacy. And the book is about basically the, because what I talk about the education system, talk about how the education system is predominantly Eurocentric and how kids don't get to learn enough about like the positives that black people have done and like black inventors and things of that nature. And I teach my students about this because I feel like black kids need to learn about the positive things that they've done historically. And that's one of the things that when I was doing my doctorate, it was centered around like the bias and curriculum and education and how students don't get to learn enough about black history outside of slavery and like the civil rights movement. So the book focuses on like

the innovativeness of black people and resilience of black people throughout history. So I talk about people like Benjamin Bannaker, George Crum, Garrett Morgan, Franklin McKinley Jones, Carter G. Woodson, George Washington Carver, all of these different people that people don't really know about. Like, people learn about the same black people historically, like Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks. And I think that's all of them that people would know about, that people learn about. Like if you put a lot of your guests on the spot and you told them to name like five black inventors, they wouldn't be able to do it. Or if you told them to name five black people outside of like the ones I just named historical figures, non-athletes, they would have a hard time.

Like they wouldn't be able to name like someone like even Osborne Dorsey. and they use a door every day. And he invented the doorknob in the doorstop. Wow. And he's a black guy. But people don't learn about that stuff. And that school's not teaching us that. I teach it.

That's what I'm saying. My whole book covers like the systemic racism that black people have, you know, went through in America, but it talks about our resilience and our recovery from it as well. And it talks about some of the solutions to our problems, how we can overcome the negatives that, that we are associated with.

Like we make up 35% of the prison population in America. I talk about how we can prevent that. Like with the black nuclear family and some of the stuff we discussed, we have to change everything. Our eating habits, drug usage,

being educated, like, and actually educated. I'm not just talking about a school system. I'm talking about us actually knowing things and being autodidactic and learning about our history, being financially literate. Some of the stuff we discussed, I discuss it in the book. So a lot of the times when I hear the talking points from people, they say, oh, like, you know, you can't feel bad for yourself. You can't feel like a victim. So I named it the opposite. it. My book is called Black Supremacy, so then you can't say it's about feeling like a victim

if I'm talking about the supreme nature of black people doing great things. So, yeah, but that's available on Amazon.com. And you can also follow me on Instagram at Dr. Will James, and you can check me on YouTube at Dr. Will James Reports. We'll have all those links in the description of the bio for everyone, too. But safe travels back to New York and have a good Fourth of July. Thank you very much. It was a pleasure.

And I'm sure we'll be doing more things together. But I really appreciate everything that you're doing, working with the youth, and just continue to do what you're doing.