Mark Bell's Power Project - Power Bite: CT Fletcher Explains Why He Doesn't Use the "N" Word

Episode Date: November 6, 2021

CT Flecther talks about lifting weights being a universal language and explains why he never uses the "n" word. Full episode here: https://lnk.to/CTandSamson Our first ever podcast in front of a live audience with Fitness Legend CT Fletcher and his son Samson Fletcher. CT is known all over the world as one of the most motivational and most influential figures in all of fitness. His son Samson joins us today who CT claims is stronger than he ever was at similar ages. #PowerProject #Podcast #MarkBell Special perks for our listeners below! ➢Magic Spoon Cereal: https://www.magicspoon.com/powerproject to automatically save $5 off a variety pack! ➢8 Sleep: Visit https://www.eightsleep.com/powerproject to automatically save $150 off the Pod Pro! ➢Marek Health: https://marekhealth.com Use code POWERPROJECT15 for 15% off ALL LABS! Also check out the Power Project Panel: https://marekhealth.com/powerproject Use code POWERPROJECT for $101 off! ➢LMNT Electrolytes: http://drinklmnt.com/powerproject ➢Piedmontese Beef: https://www.piedmontese.com/ Use Code "POWERPROJECT" at checkout for 25% off your order plus FREE 2-Day Shipping on orders of $150 Subscribe to the Podcast on on Platforms! ➢ https://lnk.to/PowerProjectPodcast Subscribe to the Power Project Newsletter! ➢ https://bit.ly/2JvmXMb Follow Mark Bell's Power Project Podcast ➢ Insta: https://www.instagram.com/markbellspowerproject ➢ https://www.facebook.com/markbellspowerproject ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mbpowerproject ➢ LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/powerproject/ ➢ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/markbellspowerproject ➢TikTok: http://bit.ly/pptiktok FOLLOW Mark Bell ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell ➢ Snapchat: marksmellybell ➢Mark Bell's Daily Workouts, Nutrition and More: https://www.markbell.com/ Follow Nsima Inyang ➢ https://www.breakthebar.com/learn-more ➢YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/NsimaInyang ➢Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nsimainyang/?hl=en ➢TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nsimayinyang?lang=en Follow Andrew Zaragoza on all platforms ➢ https://direct.me/iamandrewz

Do you use the N-word? No. Hell no. Power Project family, this is a Power Byte, and a Power Byte is a highlight from a full-length episode that we do not want you to miss. Links to the full episode are in the podcast show notes, along with special perks for all of our beautiful listeners. Enjoy. I'm still stuck in the 60s. I still like old stuff.

I like old cars. My house is filled with old things. I love the 60s. If I could go back, I probably would go back. I like the 60s a lot. But we've made a whole lot of advances, but everything I don't consider to be a great advance. I wish we still had some of the moral codes and ethics that we had back then. I still wish that parents taught their kids respect

like we did back then. Growing up back then, I believe every kid was taught to respect their elders. That was normal. Now you see kids cussing out their elders and their moms and their dad. If I thought about it, if I just frowned up at my dad, I wouldn't be here today. So, you know, I see them cussing their parents out. So some things

I wish were more like they were back then, But some things, the advances that we made, you know, we don't have to sit in the back of the bus. There's not colored only water fountains. You know, I came when I came to California with my mom from Arkansas. We had to ride in the back of the bus. And, you know, today we can sit in the front. And some of us are driving the bus. Those kind of changes I like. What about how sensitive

everyone is now you can't say the right thing you can't call them the right this or that i mean i'm sure samson you probably had to tell him like you can't say that things like that right oh big time i mean i i slip and say the wrong thing all the time. And I don't know, Mark, I didn't know I was messing up. But, you know, they have to correct me, you know, correct terms. You can't say this, you can't say that. I'm like, oh, wow, because I never mean any disrespect. I'm just an old guy. Sometimes I say old stuff from back in the day.

No, you can't say that no more. Luckily, I got Samson in to keep me straight. I feel like training and fitness in a lot of ways is like a secret. You know, like a lot of us know about it. Millions of people that know about it. Millions of people that enjoy it. But it seems to cross over a lot of boundaries. You know, it crosses over people being in their own minds,

thinking that they're not capable of things. It seems to cross over race barriers and all different kinds of things because we all love to come together and train. What has your experience been over the years with the camaraderie of training and going around the world and breaking world records and those kinds of things? I have a saying that says we're all the same under the bar. training and going around the world and like breaking world records and those kinds of things? I have a saying that says we're all the same under the bar. And that's because, you know, weight don't give a damn. Excuse me, Mr. Bell.

Weight does not give a damn what color you are, your nationality. It does not care. Heavy is heavy. It treats us all the same. Now, I would like people to be more like weight. Treat everybody the same. We're all the same. That's a big thing, a big message. When I used to travel all over the planet, we're all the same.

I went to Russia and they treated me wonderfully in Russia. One of my favorite tips. If you look at the news, you would think, oh no, they hate us in Ruston. Ruston was fantastic. I'm thinking about moving over there. It was so wonderful. That's one thing that weightlifting does. I know you've been

all over the place with me. Weightlifters are like a big-ass family. Universal language. Absolutely. When somebody lifts something heavy, it's a body of work. And I think anyone else that lifts can say, hey, that took a long time to be able to develop that.

Yeah, we can appreciate it. Of course, you're going to have haters all the time. Can't get rid of them. We've all heard that to get optimal sleep, you should cool your room down to 68 to 69 degrees. But that's not all you need to do. And that's why we've partnered with 8 Sleep Mattresses. Now they have the Pod Pro and the Pod Pro

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Links to them down in the description below. Let's get back to this video. It kind of makes me wonder though, because like, I think as people, there's a lot of different types of people in this room right now. Humans generally, when they see something or somebody that's different from them, there's an intrinsic camaraderie that I have with you two because I can physically see. And it's not even when I think about it. I just can see that y'all look the same as me.

So there's a level of comfort that's there even though I've never really met either of you guys. But when it comes to me and Mark, there's this visible difference between us two. And there's a slight level of discomfort even though there's nothing to be uncomfortable about. I mean, I don't feel uncomfortable towards you. You know I love you. But like with everybody, there is that. And people always wonder like,

is there a way that, there's this phrase that we can't, we don't, or people don't see color. Is there a way that people can, that that's actually gonna end up not being a thing over time? Like, do you, like, especially being what, going through the things you've gone through, is that a possibility in your opinion? A hundred percent. possible is because my mom taught me, you know, even though we came over here in the back of a bus, my mom taught me, son, you have to love everybody. And she taught me that, you know,

as far back as I was, diapers were as far back as you have to. And I'm like, but mom, for as far back as you have to. And I'm like, but mom, everybody? And she's like, yeah, everybody, son. It's easy. She said it's easy to love people who love you back. That's, anybody can do that. Loving people who love you back, that's no problem.

Anybody can do that. That's the easy part. But if you want to be like Christ, you want to be like the Lord, you got to love them people that don't love. Then you're doing something. It's so easy. Oh, yeah, you love me. I love you back. No problem. But if you love somebody that hates you for no reason, oh boy, then you're doing something. Then you got that, you know, that Christ-like thing. So I watched my mother's example her whole entire life. So I knew it was absolutely possible.

So that's what I always strove for, to be like my mom. She loved everybody. It didn't make her no difference whatsoever. I've seen a whole lot of church folks, grew up around a whole lot of church. That's probably why I'm not religious today because I grew up in religion, super religious, super religious. Everything was a sin. That's probably why I'm not religious, but I am a man of faith.

I believe Mama was right. And you have to love everybody. You don't see no color. That's just because it's assholes in every color. Every color whatsoever under the sun, just like it did with assholes in every color. But you got to love everybody, even them assholes. And Mama Fletcher proved it, and that's how I try to live my life. Do you use the N-word?

No. Hell no. And why No. Hell no. And why not? Hell no. You guys hear me say every bad word under the sun, but you will never, you can look at all my videos, you will never, ever hear C.T. Fletcher say the N-word. And it's like this. That's how I explain it to Heath.

It is last name heath yeah yeah he asked me the same question and i said it's like this okay uh people call each other the other but they rap songs i mean that's the number one lyric is the n-word and they cause but they say back and forth to each other all the time black folks n-word this n-word that n-word this n-word that he said how come it's okay for them to say it to each other but i can't say it ct now say it's like this mark Mark Bell, where's the board? The board. Oh, he's in here somewhere. Okay.

My brother, yeah. His brother. I'm sure when you and him grew up, y'all used to get in fights. Oh, man. And y'all called each other everything under the sun. Actually, it's my brother, but I called him everything under the sun. We'd fight and strap and go back and forth with each other. But you let John from down the street come over there and talk about whooping

your brother's ass. You got a problem. John got a problem because John ain't in the family. That's right. I can call my brother anything, but John ain't in the family. That's right. I can call my brother anything, but John ain't in his family. So, John, you can't. And the family, you know, black folks, the skin color makes them, whether they want to admit it, it makes them, they all came from Africa,

we all got a little family bond there. So they think it's perfectly fine to sit amongst each other. And that's the difference. That's family. Because they know because you knew that you could call your brother this and you're yelling at him but I still love him. He's still my brother. I love him.

I love him. So black folks, I can call him anyone I want to call him because they know there's no animosity. There's no bad will. They don't mean nothing by it. I love them. He's still my brother. I still love him. I'm just saying this, you know, because it's the cool thing or it's funny, it sounds funny or whatever.

There's nothing behind it. But then you have somebody else say it. The reason I don't say it is because if you do say it, I feel like, just like he asked me, just like he told me, well, how come I can't say it, I feel like, just like he asked me, just like he told me, well, how come I can't say it? If I said it, then he got the right to ask me, well, how come I can't say it? If I throw it around like it's nothing, I throw it around like it's the cool thing to say, well, how come I can't say it? So I don't want him or anybody to say it.

Well, CT was saying it. That's okay because it ain't. You can say it amongst your friends all you want to, but you can't say it around me or we're going to have a problem. Real talk, do you do that sometimes? You know? Say the N word? Yeah.

I'm just curious. Since he doesn't do you ever? Sometimes. All right. To close friends, you know. Alright. CT, I'm curious. What do you think about Nas a couple albums ago?

He wanted to name his album N-Word because his idea was, I'm just going to make it and put it out there so it no longer has power. But then, you know, the heads of the company are probably like, we can't sell that look you got nwo right all right yeah nwa is good at least thinking of wrestling

a good rest sorry yeah but yeah i'm just curious like do you think there's any merit to trying to like not give it any more power or is it just let's just never say it again and get rid of it and forget it exists um you say nice yeah okay uh i don't listen to rap first of all but i know i don't i mean occasionally because samson plays it but it was best for me if they didn't have no rap i'd be okay. Now, his theory on that, I think of a very famous comedian named Richard Pryor. His

favorite word was the N-word. Every other word was the N-word. One day he got up and he went to Africa and he took a trip over there and he came back and his eyes were open and he said, I'll never say the N-word again. I'm on the same tip

that Richard Pryor's on. I don't care to make it so common that it has not, that it lose power, because I don't believe that. The power behind it depends on the person delivering it. It doesn't depend on, you know,

whether it was so common that we're just going to sap all the power. That's bullshit. I happen to disagree with Mr. Nye. Nope. Yeah, I'm really happy you said that. I mean, I have friends that will say it around me, and it has gotten so common that I don't even acknowledge it. I hadn't seen it the other day. Like, what happens when it's said? I'm just like'm just like i honestly like it's just because i do listen to a lot of hip-hop like it i don't even acknowledge it but so i didn't know if i was doing a good thing or being like whoa you didn't stop so i'm glad you said that so that way more people can just get rid of it in the book their vocabulary yeah that's that's my opinion yeah i'm an old dude. I dig it. And Seema probably don't feel the same way.

I'm 50-50. It doesn't hit me. It doesn't hit me. Okay, you say it doesn't hit you. Yeah. But if a blatant person, blatant racist said it to you, would it hit you then? Would it make it any different? I mean, that's happened to me a few times. And as I got older, I just like, ah, okay,

I'm going to ignore that. Because number one, I look the way I do. Now, the last time that happened, I'm like, if this person has the audacity to say that to me, there's something that's not right up here. Like, if you have the courage to look at me and then you think you can do that, I'm out. So I just left the situation. But when I was younger, I got expelled from this Catholic school, St. Joseph's, because this guy Michael, he said that, and he flipped me off, and I broke his finger back. So I didn't always have that self-control. So, I mean, if it happened to me now, I'm calm now.

It wasn't always the case. That's a good answer. Yeah. I still think somebody could get on these interviews. Oh, no, absolutely. I agree with you. I agree with you. I agree with you. Do you think that it's hard to interpret, you know, what other people are saying or what other people are talking about. And it's very easy for people to, you know, say the comment that you said where someone's like, well, you know, you're saying it. Why can't we say it?

And people will probably most likely always think that way, you know. So, you know, I guess it's up to the individual on how they think they should use it or when they think they should use it. That's why I'm for the general ban of the term period. It's not, if you send out the message that it's not okay in rap songs, it's not okay for you to, it's not okay anytime. If you send that message, if you get that message out there, then you won't have that question. That's why I'm of the mind. I am. It's a bad term to use any fucking time.