#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 11.27.19 #RMU: John Hope Bryant to Black America: Get ‘The Memo’, we need a massive business plan

Episode Date: December 5, 2019

John Hope Bryant, CEO & Founder, Operation HOPE and Roland Martin discuss the massive business Black America needs to move forward the 21st century. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Today is Wednesday, November 27th, 2019, coming up on the special edition of Roland Martin Unfiltered. Black America is in need of a massive business plan. That's the judgment of John Hope Bryant, founder of Operation Hope, and the author of the book, The Memo, Five Rules for Your Economic Liberation. Folks, it's time to bring the funk and Roland Martin unfiltered. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the biz, he's on it.

Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's on it whatever it is he's got the scoop the fat the fine and when it breaks he's right on time and it's rolling best belief he's knowing putting it down from sports to news to politics with entertainment just for kicks he's rolling it's rolling It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's Rollin' Martin. Rollin' with Rollin' now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's Rollin' Martin now. Martin. All right, John, let's talk money.

I want to start this off. I'm going to talk about civil rights, which goes into money. And so I have all of these books right here. So these are all the speeches of Dr. King put together by Claiborne Carson's folks at Stanford University. The Pulitzer Prize winning books by Taylor Branch, Morrow, I mean, all these different books. But I would dare say that the greatest legacy Dr. King left us was Operation Breadbasket. Idea came from Reverend Leon Sullivan. Dr. King asked Sullivan to come talk to

incredible work in Africa to come talk to the SCLC present board meeting board member for ford I believe regime presented the program that the king said we're going to adopt this it turns into bread basket so Martin Depp passed out of Chicago writes this book and it's called operation bread basket an untold story of civil rights in Chicago, 1966 through 71. Breadbasket was about using the pulpits and pressure to get companies not just to hire people, not just to put black people in senior management, but to require them to put money in black banks, to require them to advertise with black media to require them to use black businesses for contracts as as well king wanted there to be bread basket chapters all across the country boycott was the last option right in this whole deal i dare say whenever we talk about mlk bread basket which rever which Reverend Jackson then picked

up who he put over, but then continue, right? It was the one piece that often is not talked about. And I, and I dare say that when we talk about the issues facing black America, unfortunately, money is not number one or number two or number normally it's mass incarceration police brutality all those other different issues and that is the fundamental one it should be number one to really talk about and understand where we are as a people it drives everything else slavery was about money slavery was bad economics bad economics, but slavery was about money. There was an 1865 Freedmen's Bank, as you well know, chartered by Abraham Lincoln, ran by Frederick Douglass to teach free slaves about money.

And Lincoln was killed the next month, and the bank fell in disrepair. And Frederick Douglass thought it was so important, he put $10,000 of his own money up to try to save the bank. Today's equivalent. $20 million. Right. So he was not a poor man. He owned $6 million worth of real estate in Baltimore, Maryland,

and rented it out to working class blacks on an equitable basis. That gave him the financial freedom to be a civil rights leader. People don't know that Dr. King's father, Daddy King, served on the board of a bank for 40 years. Citizens Trust Bank, black- owned bank in Atlanta, Georgia. So he preached on Sunday and he was a businessman and a banker Monday through Friday and his grandfather, Eddie Williams, owned all that real estate around what we now call the King Center. They controlled their narrative so that you have the narrative today that

we all share in. But the civil rights and what I call silver rights have always been companion pieces, but we have not understood. We are very smart, man. We're brilliant. But it's what we don't know that we don't know that's killing us, but we think we know. This money game, how to become an entrepreneur, how to become a small business owner, what is wealth creation, which is different from making money. This whole game, ownership, that's not something that we were ever instructed on.

And so we suffer because that's the game that we all live through. We live in a democracy, yes, but it's an economic democracy.'s a it's a it's a democracy rooted in free enterprise we aren't free unless you understand the free enterprise system and use it for your own benefit and when you talked about civil rights and civil rights those two were connected but i think what i think what happened was again is that when we talk about the black freedom movement, some call civil rights movement, the economic part is what's always left out. Right. When people recount Dr. King's I Have a Dream speech,

that's never, not even what the actual name of the speech was, normalcy never again was it. But everybody focuses on the part where he's like, let's hold hands, we can get along, and little black boys, little black girls. Talk about a check. But he was right. He was talking about it was a radical economic speech. We come here to cash a check.

Mark not sufficient funds. So it's not even just what, quote, they have taught us. I have given King Day speeches and black history month speeches and i say stop talking about the dream part if you go ignore the top two-thirds of the speech so our hero ambassador andrew young in the civil rights movement he and dr king were going to a town dr king wouldn't march after three o'clock because he wanted the media to get the get the film on a on a plane to new york City in time process for the five What was in the five and six o'clock news? I wasn't emotional

It was strategic and it was tactical and after they marched a while because all those people were black folks in that town After they marched for a while and shut down the economy Then he would say to ambassador young he called Mandy Andy go put a business suit on Go meet with a hundred business leaders behind closed doors and cut a deal to get the whites-only signs down from those. Because it was all about, think about it, it was the soda shops and the department stores. It was the businesses that took those whites-only signs down first, not business, not government. The businesses then forced the government to do the right thing because 100 business leaders told the mayor, enough of this stuff. They're black, I'm white, but the money's green and we're suffering. It was economics

that drove the desegregation of most of these small towns. It was Andrew Young and Dr. King working as partners, and by the way, NAACP, and by the way, the other civil rights leaders. We're talking about in this narrative that it was talk without being offensive, listen without being defensive and always leave even your adversary with their dignity. Because if you don't, they'll spend the rest of your life trying to make you miserable. It becomes personal. He wanted to leave, he wanted to, he wanted win-win and that was, you take these whites only signs down and everybody prospers because now you've got black dollar and white dollar coming back to your store again.

But they're not coming through the back door, they're gonna come through the front door. You know, the drive thrus came from black folks being forced to do business through the window. That's where drive thrus came from. We don't understand a lot of this history. And we're getting very emotional now and getting very caught up in the fervor of whatever and we don't have a business plan and a

strategy and even if you wanted to shoot money like a socialist if that's your thing you got to first collect it like a capitalist so we can real sophisticated let's be real basic on your block people are aging they need They need care in the house, elderly. That's 30 bucks an hour. Somebody can start a nursing care business, you don't need credentials, you don't need a bunch of certifications, and you can make $100,000 a year. Well, in fact, if you look at, and I would say probably the last 10 years, every month when the unemployment stats come out, the Bureau of Labor Statistics also releases

where the job growth has been and in the last decade or possibly even longer every single month job growth has been in the healthcare sector in that particular area that's it and and I remember doing a panel at Congressional Black Caucus and we were talking about jobs. We were talking about the future. And I said, if you want to major in something in college, if you want to understand that, go look at it. I said, the stats are there. This is where the jobs are contracting, and this is where the jobs are increasing. And I said, it's right there.

I said, it's right there i said it's i said it's public i said to understand where we're going in the future i a student comes to me and says i want to major in journalism i say don't right not because not because media is disappearing right because where the jobs have gone it is shifted from newspapers from radio to digital now it's a different skill set sort of different requirement and so it requires a different thinking which about sub 20 trillion dollars of GDP every year just 17 18 train dollars GDP the music business for which my mentor Quincy Jones then I, I love it, my

boy T.I., the music business is $54 billion, which sounds like a lot of money until you think about part of $17 trillion. And of the $54 billion, $17 billion of that is sort of the singing and performing part. Most of that are lawyers and publishing houses, boring stuff, accountants, right? They don't go away. The entertainers recycle three to five years. Now, where's the money? Financial services, real estate, and the economy. Financial services, real estate, health care, that's half of the whole deal. Financial services, real estate, I'm in those two businesses, right?

And health care, my father-in-law is in that business. He's 22nd largest black-owned business america dr david dalton we're we're in in the top three sectors which is i don't know eight nine trillion trillion of the 17 trillion we're looking for love in all the wrong places we need to be practical we need to be non-emotional we need a business plan we need radicalize a radical reimagination of economic empowerment in the black community. Straight up. The reason I'm smiling, so a week ago I was in Maryland. The Maryland Black Caucus asked me to speak, keynote their legislative weekend, their retreat.

And during the Q&A portion, brother stood up and he said um he said you know we need a black alec about what alec the legislative exchange okay right uh which was really all these corporations in terms of and how they were funding this group then they were actually passing legislation that initially started off for economic reasons then they got into voter suppression id stay in your ground law stuff along those lines. So a young brother stands up and he says that, you know, we really need to get to and get access to Beyonce, Jay-Z and others. I'm like, what the hell are you talking about? I said, you got this thing completely screwed up.

He's like, what do you mean i said show me another community where they are being led by entertainers i said there's no this is what i told him i said i said i said where are you located told me he's in baltimore yeah i said why would you not say if Alec is really a company corporate driven group that actually funds Alec? Yeah. I said, why won't you go to black companies? And I told him, I said, so you want to go get entertainers? And I said, is it for publicity reasons or do you actually want to move legislation? It was ego. reasons or do you actually want to move legislation and he and he and he and he complete and he said he said well I was thinking to go big I said you can never

go big unless you start small that's right every big business was one so small wait a minute all the entertainers that we cite who actually have a B next to the name who's black billion right, didn't make their billions in entertainment or sports. They made their billions using their brand equity to license, to do licensing deals, to do business deals. So if it's, you don't want to talk about Jay-Z, that's through business. Beyonce, through business. They used their profile and pivoted to business.

Sean Puffy combs same thing lebron is doing and others are doing they're doing business and oprah winfrey but it's all business and that's why the business and that's why i was i was trying i was we would talk about this because again i think that we get so preoccupied with again and i and i totally get it and first of all in my mistake I'm not dissing any entertainer but we need but but but they will tell you again as TI did we were at your form last year when he said when he said we have to we have to monetize our culture not just take the small check he said wait a

minute if it's our culture we should be making the most money off our culture here's a real the real sin rolling we're spectators in our own world we're consumers at best and we're spectators in our own world there are there are three folks in any enterprise civil rights civil rights your media company my real estate company my nonprofit that's about financial empowerment whatever the thing is this family your family we it's your house here's the three things you have a hunter you have a prepare a skinner and you have a cook the hunters hunters, you and me, we're going out, we're cutting deals, we're closing deals, we're doing things. We're securing things.

Number two, then you've got the preparer. They're preparing analysts, financials, editors, and then you've got the cook. They produce the content and deliver a quality product, the back end of your deal. For me, it's financial empowerment, services for Operation Hope, it's home ownership. The guy who made the suit, we put in business, he's doing 1.6 million a year, raises credit scores 100 points. My people are delivering on my promise as the hunter, as the cook. All those are shareholders, stakeholders in that dream.

Then you have a spectator, who have no interest in any of that stuff going on. But we got a lot to say. And if you're spending four or five hours of your day tweeting, Instagramming, blogging, social media things, arguing, arguing about something you have no interest in. And that is not tied to your business. Like, for instance, someone told me, Roland, you're on social media. I'm like, yeah. It's your business. I said, that's the business. I'm like yeah I said well that's I said that's the business that's right I said it's not just hanging out that's the business Reverend Jesse what Jackson once said there was two two hobos who got kicked off a train one I'm saying

man I'm upset I got kicked off this train that one said yeah I'm upset too one guy said yeah I'm gonna sell it to you the other guy said I'm gonna buy it neither one I'm on anything and can't even buy a ticket on the train. We're having ridiculous, time consuming, this is the part that gets me, wasteful, inefficient conversations. Life is moving on. There's something worse than hate.

There's something worse than racism, radical indifference. When people don't care enough about you, they hate you. It's like whatever, private schools, private roads, private homes, private jets, jets private communities private lives they're like i don't i don't even understand i don't want just keep your drama away from me black folks we have got that we're so brilliant man look at what we've done in sports and entertainment communication when the rules are published and the playing field is level we kill it i'm right when the rules are published in the playing field's level we kill it i wrote a'm going to say it. When the rules are published and the playing field is level, we kill it. I wrote a book called The Memo because there's

no rules for free enterprise, capitalism, entrepreneurship, home ownership, any kind of ownership. Those rules are opaque. We have to understand those rules. We have to master those rules because they affect all the other rules. A brother walks up to me in Bahamas on vacation for a minute. Brother says, oh, man, I've seen your videos. And I want to thank you, by the way, for inspiring me to do so. I saw your videos. Show me how to get paid, John.

He owns a little jet ski. Show me how to get paid. I said, I don't know how to get paid. Oh, man, you're playing with me. Come on, now. Show me how to make money. I really don't know how to make money. Now you're messing with my head.

I've seen your videos, John. Look man, I can show you how to build wealth. I don't know how to get paid. I don't spend any of my time thinking about how a drug dealer can get paid. A gangster can get paid. With all due respect, a prostitute. All kinds of people can get paid. That's not building wealth.

Wealth is a mindset. You build wealth in your sleep. Stocks, bonds, real estate, investments. What you've done is an investment. It's building dividends when you're asleep. It's earning a return for you. We've got to master this next generation of the movement. And we've got to do it now. We've got to stop being spectators and consumers

and having a share of voice, but not share of ownership. Well, and it's interesting because we talk about that wealth state of mind. So I, the other book, and again, I'm doing it for a reason. I noticed you don't have my book there. So I got your book. First of all, we previously had a conversation. Sorry to got your book.

So this is Dorothy Cotton's book. So Dorothy Cotton book is, If Your Vax Not Been. There might actually read Letter from Birmingham Jail. Absolutely. From Dr. King. The role of the citizenship education program in the civil rights movement. So this was the only one with Dr. King's inner circle. So she was over the citizenship program.

Here's what's interesting here. So Dorothy Cotton, she writes in here that if you wanted to join the sclc you couldn't just join the sclc you had to first go through her program you would go through her program and john bryant walks in and they go we need to assess you and they would take you through an assessment then they had the would decide do you need to be reprogrammed Wow she writes it Wow they would take you through their process and then you can join SCLC I have been saying and we're gonna do really do is really I want to do this really just and I'm I'm I've visually I know how I wanted to look I'm sort of putting it all together

I believe in because it align what you just see it that there has to be a radical reprogramming of black America absolutely a and I in understanding that in terms of how you look at it I I tell the story all the time, and I want you to share it, the brothers in the Nikes. One of those brothers, he was programmed differently than the other brothers he was talking to. So we are in 4,000 schools teaching financial literacy, which I think is the new civil rights issue for the 21st century,

financial literacy. So we have this program in Detroit, and it's called Banking Our Future from Operation Hope. And this young man, Derek, goes to the program. The first session, he's just sitting there like, yeah, with the other kids, like, yeah, whatever, man. Volunteer banker is teaching it. And the banker's got a suit on. I think the banker was actually black, but I'm not sure. It's been a few years.

And I'm in there as an observer. And by the second, third session, third week, Derek has showed up with a suit on himself, role modeling the banker, or the businessman. So by the way, fourth session, he's raising his hand. He's all into it. He graduates, gets his certificate. He's walking down the hall with great pride.

He's graduated from the program. He's focused on his future his friends say hey man to a hang around with them that ain't nothing who are these people he's like man I just went to a financial literacy course that ain't nothing man I go up say look guys hey hold on let's stop having a non-productive conversation I'm gonna give you all 70 bucks make a decision about Nike you got five minutes the other two guys that look me real smart we're smart we don't need five minutes we're gonna buy some Air Jordans. Derek, I'm going to buy one share of Nike stock. They jump on him, man. Hey, man, you're talking

about buying some Nike stock. That's whack. You need you some Air Jordans. Everybody's got Air Jordans. Purple Air Jordans, fuchsia Air Jordans, striped Air Jordans. Everybody's got Air Jordans. You need to get you some. Like everybody else, you need to be popular, get you some Air Jordans. I said, Derek, you need me to defend you? No, no, no, man. It's cool. I want them to buy those shoes. Because when they do, they're making me money.

They're building my wealth. Because I'm a shareholder in Nike. Boom. There's a difference between being broke and being poor. But here's the the funny part you said $70 you need a hundred bucks to buy some Nikes or $200 for those Jordan's I'm sorry some Jordans the Nike stock he can actually at least buy a share with that $70 and again that's that that is a that's that's a totally different mindset it's it's not, and it's so funny, you bring that story. That kid will never be poor.

You bring that story up. He'll be broke. You bring that story up. And I worked when I had my show News 1 Now on TV One. I had a sister who, I mean, she played Division I-A basketball, and she was a Nike fiend. She had a Nike collection and everything. And that's great.

So one day I was sitting, I had my feet propped up and I had these white starter tennis shoes on. She's like, oh my God, what, I mean, she just, I mean, what are you doing? What are you wearing? I was like, you know, I don't give a damn what you think. I said, I don't give a damn what nobody else thinks. But then I said, let me explain to you how I got these. She was like, I said, I went to the Baltimore Ravens-Houston Texans game in Baltimore.

Yeah. We were going to go. I said, Texans had me passes. I'm going on the field before the game. I said, I had on some Skechers. I was driving. I said, damn, I forgot my tennis shoes at home. So it's 1030 in the morning.

Yeah. Sunday morning. I'm like, what's open sports store not open. Only thing that's open Walmart. We go to Walmart. I had one priority, a pair of white tennis shoes, right? Not white Nike, not white Adidas, white tennis shoes. I'm going through the store. I'm'm looking it was a pair starter shoe 25 works for me prerequisite they need to be white yeah that's all i needed yeah comfortable put them on 25 12 50 a shoe yeah i'm good and we were having this discussion and I told her I said I don't care I said I literally

don't wake up and put clothes on and then wonder what the hell somebody else is thinking I said because I'm never going to spend $200 on a pair of shoes I said now this is what I had to buy and see people think people think that let me you just techie do okay which is true because if y'all were sitting here y'all see you know the softbox lights the purple lights oh he's got a different camera what people don't realize because this is my business every single one of these items is a write-off that's right so it's an adult toy right but it

pays like pays a return but it's a write-off that i'm using to build a business in order to get paid and generate wealth and that's the and i'm like guys while you're asleep week i said we so it requires a reprogramming to say i don't give a shit what you think about what i'm wearing can you use that word yes i can because the show called the show's called roller mart unfiltered no i don't give a shit like literally i've had this attitude since i was in middle school i i would tell students i don't give a damn what y'all think because i'm not here to impress you quincy jones says not one ounce of my self worth depends on your acceptance of me I say it's not what people call you it's what you answer to

that's important and never ever answer out of your name and argue with a fool proves there are two we have got to start writing our own narrative we've got to start getting to the facts of the matter here's the fact of the matter here's a here's a here's a drop the mic moment on your show we focusing on this. We're focusing on that. We're obsessed with this. We're spending hours of time focusing on somebody else's business. 41% of all African Americans, credit score below 620.

I'm not talking about poor people. PhDs, advanced degrees, people with suits and ties. Half of folks basically watching your show, maybe because of his index, maybe 60% of people watching your show have a credit score below 620. Why does that matter? You can't get a job without the corporation running a credit check.

You've got a brilliant business idea. You've got a patent. You spend all your time doing it. You go to church every Sunday. You're the nicest person on the planet. You can't get an unsecured loan for high-risk credit, for risky credit called a small business loan under 700 also absolutely man also and this is I did I remember when I had my

Sunday show Washington watch I said we're gonna do a whole hour on credit Jay Feldman my executive producer he goes look that's not an hour show rolling I said oh no I said let me be I said let me be clear no let me so let me let me be real clear we're doing an hour show and Jay's like Roland it's not an hour and again for people who are paying attention I was host and managing editor so I have final authority right I said we're doing an hour show on the credit right show's over he said that's a damn series yeah I said that's what I was trying to tell you I said the reality is I said once we begin to get into it if you're in the military and your credit score is scores low you will

not be able to get a higher security clearance because of your credit score that's right and and I have been And I have railed against these companies because these companies, where you have these algorithms and how they even do it, because what drove me crazy was when I filed for bankruptcy, paid everything off, decided to say, you know what? The hell, I'm not wasting time with credit cards. I don't want to do stuff along those lines. So I'm looking at it.

I'm like, why in the hell is my credit score lower with credit cards all this little stuff along those lines so i'm looking at i'm like why in hell is my credit score uh lower and then and so we did this show they're like oh because they want you to buy stuff they want you and i was like well hell i said i already got my house i already got my cars i already got i said i'm not out here buying stuff because i because because literally i said no i'm gonna just pay stuff off and as we went through this whole deal and we had the experts on, they were talking about how you need to understand the credit game and how it's being used against you and how you need to know to flip the script. And that was the piece that we really had a great conversation about.

So we're raising the credit scores 120 points in 24 months. Nothing changes your life more than God or love than moving your credit score 120 points. Do you know that there's never been a riot in a 700 credit score neighborhood, Roland, in all of America's history? Black neighborhood, white neighborhood, Latino neighborhood, Asian neighborhood, Indian neighborhood, never in all of America's history.

Because 700 credit score neighbors don't riot, they go shopping. All of our problems, real talk now, are in a 500 credit score neighborhood. I didn't say racial, because you have white, poor, rural, who are 500 credit score. You have outside of military bases, all races, 500 credit score. And you have black and brown urban. Here's what you see in those neighborhoods. A check casher, next to a payday loan lender, next to a rental owned store, next to a title lender, next to a liquor store,

next to a pawn shop, at a church down the street trying to make it feel a little bit better once a week, we call that unofficial therapy. We are reacting, we're not responding. It's ready, fire, aim, not ready, aim, fire. We are being, this is really modern slavery. It's Andrew Young quote, to live in a system of free enterprise and not to understand the rules of free enterprise must be the very definition of slavery. Andrew Young quote, to live in a system of free enterprise and not to understand the rules of free enterprise must be the very definition of slavery. So what I'm trying to do for me for me and clients three billion dollars that

have we directed in these communities through the Freedmen's Bank Act of 1865 and moving that forward, well what I want to do is become the Starbucks of financial inclusion. I want to be everywhere, 10% of the banking sector, forcing them to get out of the no business and back into the yes business, because my mother's credit score is 876, which means she's not black, she's green. She goes to the computer, whatever she wants, the answer is yes, at prime rates. And that's why, and stay right there, because when you talk about the 120 points, for the person, again, not understanding basic economics. We made it simple.

That is the difference between, I'm going to use an example when I filed for bankruptcy. So here I had this view. By the way, I love that whatever your narrative is, man, you own it. Oh, I mean. We got to own our stuff. I was homeless, right? I lost it all. My credit score was 300. No, the reason I have no problem with that

because that is the reality. I had to file bankruptcy. No, you're not insecure. But I had to file bankruptcy because of health. My appendix ruptured, 2000, Democratic National Convention. Four years, they're calling me almost $100,000 in bills, and

nearly 70% of Americans filed bankruptcy, largely because of health care that's a having this conversation right and and the thing is the reason was a trip there were all these people these black people man who was stressing out and everything I will never forget y'all I will never forget I'm sitting here and I was kind of like man look are they calling they writing letters and I'm sitting in so I I have a meet with this bankruptcy lawyer and she says the moment you file for bankruptcy they can no longer call you or write you I said really really I was talking to a friend of mine who if I bankruptcy and he was a

vice president newspaper he's a rope he, man, I filed before. He said, let me explain something to you. Six months after you filed, he said, your mailbox is going to be full with credit applications. Now, we're not advocating everybody to file bankruptcy. No, no, no, no, no, no. But the thing is, what, no, but here's what was a trip. Well, he was saying, he said, Roland, he said, so when we've been taught, oh, my God, it's going to destroy your career.

He said, hey, that ain't going to all of a sudden just like just totally change your game. But what was interesting, I'm sitting in the class. So I'm sitting next to this white guy. And this is his third time in there. And he's talking to me. And he's really telling me, oh, yeah, we bought this and this and this and this and this. And jet skis and all that sort of stuff stuff and I gave it to my son all this sort of stuff he said yeah and then I filed and I'm listening to him but but

but John he was being I'm sitting in this room and I'm looking at the white people in the room now I'm looking at the black people in the room and the black people in the room are stressed the hell out i'm just sitting and looking at it and i'm looking at these white folks in the room and i don't see the same level of stress and when i started having a conversation i began to understand why what am i what am i saying there what did it for me was when she said they can't call you and then when she began to walk through it i went file unemotional didn't stress me out and people were like oh my god you found i was like yeah i'm good because my deal is i understood the rules i said hold up this happened this happened this happens, this happens. Yeah, I'm good.

And look at you now. Because I wasn't straight. But the key is, for us, it's killing us. It's eating us up. And we're sitting here. I don't know what I'm going to do. And I'm like, y'all, to your point, it's a dude sitting in the White House. Here's a larger issue.

Okay? We don't really have time for this conversation. But America's 350 years enslaved, 150 years free. So for 300 years, our ancestors were told you ain't nothing. You ain't nothing. You're going to amount to nothing. We're not going to give you education. You're just property.

And they held you down and abused your wife to prove you can't do nothing about it, to break your spirit. Because they needed Chattel property. They needed you not to rebel and to do the work that was about bad capitalism and you should have stayed Toby right now fast forward now you got people with a broken spirit broken self-esteem broken confidence broken belief broken trust all right now the Abraham Lincoln at into the Civil War says 40 acres of mule which is really by the way only 18,000 people got 40 acres of mule which is really by the way only 18,000 people got 40 acres of mule it was 400,000 acres it's field action 15 please do your research on that that was January of 1865 the mule came because we worked so the the land so well so

hard it was by the way beachfront property which was horrible land for agriculture but we worked so hard they said my god they're so industrious, give them a mule. That was the mule February. By the way, no Instagram, no Twitter, no Facebook. We just worked and word of mouth. The third month, they said, my God, they're so industrious, let's create a bank. So land, mule, bank. Then Lincoln gets killed the fourth month. So here's our deal.

Let's fast forward. No one talked about money with us for another 100 years. And it wasn't a banker or a businessman or a real estate person. It was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a preacher. God bless him for doing it. And he gets killed before the first march. Here's my point. It's not like we got the memo on free enterprise, capitalism, economics, and opportunity and screwed it up. We just never got the memo.

We never read it. We don't understand it. It was never presented to us and my mission in my life My part of this relay race is to make we have sure we have broad-based deep understanding of what you just talked about We need our self-esteem back our confidence back was that I don't like me. I'm not gonna like you if I don't feel good about me I'm not gonna feel good about you If I don't love me don't expect me to love you if I don't love me I can't trust you which now means that when you have black folks who are not doing business with one another, when I hear black people say, well, you know, they black and I'm sitting there

going, man, I've been screwed by some white businesses. I'm like, so let's not even play. That's why I literally tell people, no, don't even say that. There were people who, and I said, this is a TV one. I said, if anybody on this staff even utters the phrase, well, you know, we black, I said, uh, you're not going to have a job because I said you're not gonna have a job because I said you cannot work on this show and have an attitude that we're a second rate we're less than my doctors black my vendors for the promise homes company or let me see 60% African American it's a hundred million dollar company my employees are incredibly diverse I mean but 70% of my vendors in my personal life,

for me and Shatra, are African-American. And by the way, they do a great job. Right. So you can't be black for a living, okay? You can't reject us or embrace us because we're black. You should be a great leader who happens to be black. Right. And there are plenty of good businesses.

But if you don't support your own, how are you going to create jobs? How are you going to create wealth in your community? How are you going to, gonna everything it all is interconnected i think that probably 60 70 percent of us may be clinically undiagnosed depressed because of what happened to us over this whole period and it makes sense we have got to wait a minute wait a minute he said it. No. Where do we go from here? Chaos or our community?

In Dr. King's book, Where Do We Go From Here? Chaos or Our Community, he wrote in 1967. Really? It is a miracle that black people are still here. Yeah. We're amazing.

He literally, and people, Dr. King had clinical depression. He he sure did he literally wrote in this book that because of what we endured what you just said he actually said that's what we've had to deal with he said but we still got to press forward that's right that's what he wrote rainbows after storms we man we are resilient we're unbelievable over and around Over and around it, through it, we're going to get to it. We're doing so much with so little for so long, we can almost do anything with nothing. We're amazing.

And we're focused on the wrong goal. You cannot have 40 million Americans trying to be 300 rappers. It's not good math. You cannot have 40 million South Americans trying to be 300 LeBrons. By the way, I think LeBron is a genius. But LeBron is a personality. I can't scale him. I love T.I.

That's my boy. I can't scale T.I. I think Oprah's amazing. Like she's amazing. I can't scale Oprah. We have 40 million black folks trying to be, I don't know, 20, 30 personalities that aren't scalable and their companies employ 200, 300, 400 people, which is great. No, you need a black Bill Gates. You need a black Steve Jobs. You need Dr. David Dalton, who's doing $220 million a year in Baltimore, Maryland. My father-in-law,

you need people creating hundreds and thousands of jobs and billionaires creating millionaires, creating 100,000 heirs who are then doing philanthropy in their own community. That's trickle-down economics. And that's why, for me, what I keep saying is, with 2.6 million black-owned businesses, with 2.5 million only have one employee, and they're doing an average revenue of $54,000. I said, so when people, I was, someone said,

Roland, you said we don't need any more black businesses. I said, we don't. They were like, what? I said, no. I said we don't need any more black businesses. I said, we don't. What? I said, no. I said, of the existing black businesses, we need scale. I said, scale. And as one looked at me, she's like, but I said, no. I said, if I run around and say, let's create 100,000 more black owned businesses and 95,000 of them have one employee.

I said, what have we actually done? But then this would have blew her away. Well, we would have created at least one job. Right, right, right. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. But this would have blew her away. I said, we have, I said, do you know when we had 1.9 million black owned businesses? They were doing an average revenue of 110,000.

She went, wait a minute, hold up. I said, so yes. I said, in the last eight years, we've added 700,000 more black owned businesses and the revenue is in half. And that's what stopped her in her tracks. I said, so I need you to hear me. I'm not saying we shouldn't go into business.

I said, but this is a scale issue. That's right. I said, we need you to hear me. I'm not saying we shouldn't go into business. I said, but this is a scale issue. That's right. I said, we need businesses that are deploying 5 and 10 and 20 and 30 and 50 and 100. And what really, so like with Blue, because what started this whole deal, I told her when she's, when I was talking to her about when I started this show, which is this, I already had the company, but started the show. I said, what did I just tell you I said average revenue 54,000 right she said yeah I said how much revenue you think my company did the first year and I told I said I didn't pay myself I said so we did 700,000 in revenue in the first year yeah I said you know I have

12 employees right she went I said so know, immediately in the first year, I am in the top percentile of black owned businesses in the country. Absolutely. So, and that, and I said, but it's scale, but to your point of working together, what I'm trying to build is a network that's not rolling focus, but that brings in, you say you can't scale Oprah T I my deal is how can I bring in other voices that's right who don't have as large of platforms I do bring them under the umbrella to help grow the business and now all of a sudden go from one show to three to five to ten or more that scale and not being will not being afraid of work for black people absolutely and by the way to give credit Oprah under the own network has done

that in her own way so again we start to focus on the negative of the precisely versus the positive I only by thinking I'm dissing Oprah Oprah gave me the usual life of what I love her I'm just saying everybody can't be Oprah right okay there can be one Oprah who's who's okay so people understand there could be one Oprah who's the host but Oprah had to have producers that's right in camera for us right and technician that's right and field producers and editors you don't you don't they don't worry about what their fingernails look like what the hair looks like So the point is there's so when you say I can't right there's one

Host that's right. There's one person who's in the center stage of the microphone, but behind TI are business managers accountants lawyers It's an entire infrastructure and so you're saying it can only be one rapper, right? But it's a hundred folks behind them we understand the hundred and not just the one so this is simple math my jewish friends was 18 million of them a third of them were sat were assassinated in the holocaust 12 million left they built they gone from 12 million to 15 million in the world they're a global brand but they decided to go into industries that were broad-based so now you have 15 million in the world. They're a global brand. But they decided to go into industries

that were broad-based. So now you have 15 million people going after accounting, finance, communications, all these different industries. So their funnel is like this, so that all of them get opportunity. Now you have, flip it, now you have 40 million black people trying to go after sports,

essentially communications and entertainment, which is a narrow, as you said earlier, a narrowing funnel of limited opportunity based on not necessarily your talent, but your personality and whether you were in the right place at the right time with the right situation. I just don't like those odds. I think that we need to train up a whole generation of us to be on this playing

field, not as spectators, but as owners. Own a lawn care shop. Own 10 of them. Own a daycare shop. Own 10 of them. You want to be on a barbershop? Great. Let's get 10 of them. We need scale. We need scale. And we need to understand this game. Two and a half years ago, I went into real estate. Two and a half years ago, from a dead stop. It's now a $100 million company. Three and three percent, 303% growth in two and a half years, and I don't even run it. Somebody else runs it.

I have a whole complete system, but I understand the game. I understand leverage. I understand debt. I understand equity. I understand how I understand leverage I understand debt I understand equity understand wealth creation I understand how to scale up that business because I took the time to get trained and on the nonprofit side operation hope five hundred and fifty three percent growth in five years 150 locations in 30 states raising credit scores 120 points in 24 months by the way nothing I just

said was emotional no it wasn't kumbaya, you gotta love me, feel good about me. No, no, no, no. Judge me based on what I do and what I deliver. And talk to my clients. Talk to the 4 million people whose lives are fundamentally reshaped, who now see their lives, everybody sees themselves as a fisher with a fishing pole and fishing directions in a lake that's got some fish in it and by the way your hypertension goes down then your stress goes down then your hate for other people goes down in and you don't have time to gossip you don't have time to be

hanging out of the club it's three nights a week because you're busy taking care of your business I think that families get strengthened here's the five the five pillars of success, Roland. As much education as you can shove down your throat. Understanding math, financial literacy, strong family structure, self-esteem and confidence. Because if I don't like me, I'm not gonna like you. And then I gotta have the confidence to go do

in this work. You have enormous confidence. That's why you're so successful. And then role models in a good environment. But if you hang around nine bro people, you'll be the tenth. So we need a business plan that works. That business plan needs to be, again, massive financial education, as much as you can shove down your throat.

And pick a lane. I don't care which one it is. We were talking about it earlier. There are 20,000 people needed to do 5G technical updates of the 5G cell phone. Climb the pole. Yeah, $50,000 to $100,000 a year. Pick a lane, anyone, I don't care which one it is, just pick a lane. So as much education as you can shove down your throat.

Get certified in something that's hard for somebody to compete with. Number two, financial literacy. Number three, we need massive internships in this country. Massive. Number four, massive apprenticeships. Number five, an assault on scalable entrepreneurship. Those and then tied to the math, raise your credit score. If we raise credit scores 100 points, in our neighborhoods, crime goes down, hope goes up, GDP goes up, cost of funds go down, check cashers go away, pay lenders go away, banks come in, banks want to start green lighting because the new

color is green. It's not black or white, it's green. Literally, I know people laugh when I say this, literally, you want to change your neighborhoods, raise credit scores 100 points. And I've done the data, Roland, the poorest state in America is Mississippi. The lowest credit score state in America is Mississippi. When you have 700 credit scores, you don't have problems. And if you want to be in the top quartile of the safest neighborhoods in America,

raise your credit score 80 points. It literally is a math equation. We've got to stop getting distracted, being emotional, and being angry. Angry doesn't pay a bill. The book is called The Memo. Can't say we didn't get it. We just got it. We need a radical movement of common sense.

We need a radicalized, reimagined economic empowerment agenda. That is my obsessive focus. We need a business plan. And when I get frustrated, when you see me frustrated about something, it may not be what you're talking about or what I think you should be talking about. It may be that I think we're distracted by an issue that ain't paying you a bill.

You're not a shareholder. You don't have a job. Whether it goes left or goes right, it don't change your course of life one little bit. It is a distraction and you're a spectator. It's sort of like for me when i was he these are these beefs uh... like all

cardinal russ buchanan's unlike y'all that don't mean nothing to me i said yes it and i said i'm comment on it talk about it cuz it literally has no impact all nothing it is my season involved in a business district the business dispute no i got I got lawyers, I got attorneys,

I got, okay, I got rich people's problems. Nobody should be sad for what's going on. And by the way, if I'm in the arena, I knew what I was doing when I got in the arena. I knew I was going to have days where I won and days that I lost. No business person wins all the time. So let's stop having

rich people problem debates and start focusing on the least of these God's children. All of the massive people who are struggling with too much money at the end of their money. All right. John Hope Bryant. Appreciate it, man. Always a pleasure. Love and light. Well, I certainly hope you enjoyed today's special edition of Roland Martin Unfiltered. Our aim is to bring you the news no one else will discuss that impacts black America. Please support what we do by joining our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar you give goes to support this show and covering the news that matters. You can pay via PayPal, Cash App or Square to simply go to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com.

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