The Daily Signal - #389: Meet the Black Lives Matter Activist Who Rallied With Trump Supporters

Episode Date: January 31, 2019

Hawk Newsome says he often makes it a point to meet people where he grew up. So on a cold day not long ago, I made my way to Papa Juan’s Cigar Room in the South Bronx to see the man who led Black Lives Matter of Greater New York.“I appreciate you having the courage to come to the South Bronx,” he tells me as we sit down to chat. “I make it a point to bring people to the Bronx. So, they could one, see the folks that I’m a part of, see what we represent. Two, just to see how scared they get.”It really wasn’t scary, but it certainly was outside of my comfort zone.Describing himself as a devout Christian and family man, Newsome shared stories with me about his youth and why he was motivated to become a civil rights activist and organize Black Lives Matter of Greater New York. Then, in September 2017, he made headlines when he took the stage at a pro-Trump rally in Washington, D.C.—and won over the crowd.Today, he’s focused on studying for the bar exam and starting a new organization with the goal of finding common ground.Our interview runs about 40 minutes. An abridged and lightly edited transcript is available on DailySignal.com.Conservatives won’t agree with Newsome on many issues, but I hope you’ll appreciate the opportunity to hear a different perspective. Leave a comment and let us know. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We'd love to talk, business. This is the Daily Signal podcast from Monday, February 4th. I'm Rob Blewey, editor-in-chief. And I'm Rachel Dald Judas. Today, we're featuring an interview with someone who you might not expect to hear on our podcast. His name is Hawk Newsom, and he's a civil rights activist and leader of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York. I recently visited him in the South Bronx, and we'll have our conversation in just a moment. We also have your letters to the editor, and we share a story about former Secretary of State, Colin Powell,

and how a Good Samaritan saved the day. The Daily Signal is on location today in the South Bronx of New York City at Papuan Cigar Room. We're talking to Hawk Newsome, who's the president of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York, and also the co-founder of Rejuvenation. Hawk, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me today. I appreciate you having the courage to come to the South Bronx. Absolutely.

I often make it a point when people want to meet with me, be there. activists or the strategic business type meeting, I make it a point to bring people to the Bronx. So they could, one, see the folks that I'm a part of, see what we represent, and two, just to see how scared they get. Well, Yankee Stadium's just down the street. So I have to admit, I had a peek. I've never been to a Yankees game in this stadium. I did come when I was a young kid. So it's been a while since I've been back here. You know those basketball courts that on the other side? Yes. I live there growing up. I literally would go there at about 6 o'clock in the morning, play until 10, go home, shower, change, come back at 2, play basketball, leave at 545 because my

sister's daycare released her at 6. So I'd sprint to the daycare center, pick her up, take her to get food, then come back to the courts. So I literally, like, live there. It was so bad, like, the bowling alley was our bathroom, so the people at the bowling alley knew us. Like, oh, yeah, those are the basketball case. But yeah, I mean, I pretty much earned the college scholarship right behind Yankee Stadium playing those courts. That's great. Well, I want to say one other thing. You know, you mentioned that getting out and showing up and going to communities,

that's one of the things that we strive to do at the Daily Signal is we want to get out of Washington because we know that there are some great stories happening across this country. And I was personally inspired hearing an interview that you did. with Arthur Brooks, who's the president of the American Enterprise Institute on his podcast. And I just wanted to start by having you describe who is Hawk Newsom to our listeners? I'm a devout Christian. I'm a family man. If I'm not working, I guarantee you I'm in two places. I'm either at home of my family or I'm in church. There's someplace having a cigar, you know, but I guess that's work and play. But I'm...

I stand strong in my convictions. My convictions aren't popular by far. A lot of people think that Black Lives Matter, New York is a lot bigger than it is. But I'd say that we are radical in our ideals where in which we don't fall in line with the classic radicals. Whereas, no, we don't believe you should abolish the government. We believe that we can make this system work. I believe that our four founders were crooks and they left us enough loopholes in the law for us to exploit them and actually obtain equality and access through them. Fifth Amendment, no decent upstanding citizen would come up with something like the Fifth Amendment. I'm just saying, right? So it is what it is. We are not fans of the Democratic Party, even though, you know, we tend to vote that way because they do represent a lot of our ideals.

we're also, you know, not friends of the Republican Party. I'm a friend of black people. I'm a friend of Latino people. I'm a friend of poor white people. I'm a friend of gay, trans people. And those who are oppressed, like women. These are the people we fight for. And what I realized is it's the government against the people.

But we don't get that as a whole. We're easily manipulated by the government. by the media and we don't see that this game's being played and everybody's winning except for the small guy, you know? So that's our brand of activism. It's very strategic. It's very strategic where in which we'll sit down with someone like Arthur Brooks, right? Who's actually a really cool dude, right? When you sit down, you talk to them, but people can't get past what American Enterprise Institute represents on our side of the fence, right? but um you sit down you share ideas you find out your commonalities but of course we disagree on of course we we disagree but you find ways where in which you can work together with people on issues we don't have to love each other and in whole hands and sing kumbaya to say hey you know what

uh people who are who have served their time in jail should be allowed to vote So let's come together and fix this thing. And that's what you saw in Florida, right? In your own experience, how have you been able to bridge some of those divides and maybe create a conversation among people that wouldn't typically be talking? I think it's the way my parents raised me. My father used to always say, don't put labels on people. Like, my mother will say something like,

ah, you know, those kids are such and such. My father would be like, don't put labels on those kids. You know, meaning don't just categorize people and write them off. And that's that's where we lose so many people. Like, there's a lot of people in a Republican Party who are not racist, but their views and what they support leads the majority of the world to say, hey, you know what, you guys are a bunch of races. But what it's our job to do is communicate to them.

effectively and try to bring them into the light, right? A more, I don't want to use the word liberal, but a more human-centered light. And there's a lot of people on both sides who don't want to see that happen. I don't know if I'm answering your question. No, that's helpful to understand it. You know, you mentioned your upbringing.

You talk about the Christian values. Do you think that that's helped also to shape your perspective? I mean, here we are at a time when it seems that so many people are moving away from faith. Yeah, yeah, witchcraft. Witchcraft is on the rise because people have given religion a bad name. You got these black multi-millionaire pastors who have these mega churches, these really nice cars and private jets.

So the black community is like, whoa, I'm not like you. Then you have these Christians who support a man like, Donald Trump who's an adulterer, a man who's consistently found to be dishonest, right? And they say, oh, no, he's all right. And they stand by him. They don't say we're standing next to him trying to heal his soul. You know, they say, no, we support him. That's a problem.

So regular conservatives, white folks are like, that's not really younger. People are like, that's not really the God I serve or there's a lot of people out here giving God a bad rap, you know? There's people out here who say, shut down the borders. I don't care what their situations are. Jesus was kind of like seeking asylum. Like, you really have to remove the politics and insert God. God said treat your neighbors.

You would treat yourself. If we did that, we would truly be the lighthouse of the world. I want to ask about your youth. You mentioned growing up here in the South Bronx and what the situation was like. You didn't finish high school, but then you went on to get your GED. You went on to graduate and move into the legal profession. What was it that motivated you when so many other people might just give up? I grew up in a village.

Like, we grew up in the South Bronx. There was a crack spot on the corner. It's old Coke, whatever. Someone was shot with a shotgun in front of my door. But our building was a strong community. Most of the kids in there had both parents in their homes. Like I'd say 90% of the families, the kids I grew up playing with a group of 10 or 12,

had two parents in their home. Everybody was everyone's parent. You know, we all played together. we were very competitive. We were very competitive in sports. It's not this new, nuanced type of sport where everybody gets an award. No, we wanted to be champions.

We wanted to win. And out of that building, on Sheridan Avenue, right here in the South Bronx, consistently one of the ten most poorest congressional districts in the country, we have my cousin, who's a lawyer, you know, I have a law degree, Aviator,

someone who flies jet, captain in the army two entrepreneurs one Wall Street financier another guy of captain of of of ships right he sails ships around the Caribbean go figure there's just so much success our rapper right there's there's just so much doctors this is one building in the South Bronx right and this is like two over two generations and that's that's because that's the way we were raised it wasn't like when we were growing up oh we hope you can get the college college was expected if you didn't want to go to college in our household you know in our building you were a failure not all of us finished college

but you were expected to go to college you're expected to go on and get degrees and that was that was the benchmark so I'd say it was the way we were raised it was a stronger community You know, we had video games, but we were, like I said, we were always playing games, you know. We had a government of sorts in our building, you know, with different tiers of leadership. Like, these are the type of kids we were. So I think that plays a major part. And we, you know, we all went to church together. We all slept at each other's houses.

Actually, this is really interesting. Mr. Coswin, I don't think out of all of our parents, there was a college degree, which is, really interesting one my uncle he went to college but um he left he went to florida a and m but uh yeah there wasn't a college degree amongst all our parents but they they they're very intelligent people and mr coswin died called him cause but um we were sitting down after the service having brunch and my mom called and i put her on the phone with three different people at that table you know everybody moved around the country and each person who got on the phone said, hello, Miss Doris.

Hello, Miss Doris. You understand a level of respect? You know, yes, sir, no, sir, yes, ma'am, no ma'am. That's how we were raised. I think that has a lot to do with it. Definitely. Some great stories there, Hawk. You know, stories that probably people don't know.

Now, let's fast forward to today. So Black Lives Matter New York, your involvement. How did it all start? What inspired you? truth be told we're not part of the global network right but neither are some of the premier black lives matter activists and what they say is we aren't in touch with their core values they really had a problem with us after that mother of all rallies which i'm sure we'll talk more about later but um in 2016 i believe it was 2016 uh 16, Eric Gardner had passed already. It had already been like a year or two since Eric Gardner's passing. I was a member of other organizations in the city.

And I was like, why doesn't Black Lives Matter have a presence in New York City? Where are they? And I looked, I researched it. There was a Black Lives Matter, NYC, but there were nothing more than a social media presence. and I decided that I was going to found Black Lives Matter greater New York with the help of Nick Cannon, who's a celebrity. He has the number one comedy show on MTV. He has a show on Fox that's coming out.

He's a pretty deep, deep, profound brother, and very pro-black in favor of liberation. And he actually helps us a lot. But we founded the organization together, and the first place we went was the Republican National Convention. And I was in Ohio, and we went there to say I was there too. Oh, right on. And we went there to say, I ain't voting until Black Lives Matter.

One of the things that spurred us was the Skinhead said Black Lives Matter. The neo-Nazi said Black Lives Matter better not show up. We was like, oh, yeah, that's when we definitely were going. So we went down there, but then we turned around and went to the DNC and said the same thing. And that was interesting because people were like, wait, you're protesting the DNC? Yeah, there was a large contingent of black folks, mixed in with Bernie folks, mixed in with Green Party folks, who were saying no. Like, we're tired of the way you treat our people. Excuse me.

So we founded it. And then we just made it our purpose to be everywhere all the time when something happened in New York. and that's what it became. So I can name at least two court trials where we were the only group there. Deborah Dan, a 60-year-old schizophrenic woman. She was the only one. I mean, you know, we were the only ones there for her trial.

Cop shot a 66-year-old schizophrenic woman who was holding a stick. Like every other officer in the room, people listening, I know you have a conservative base who were pro-cop. And they'll say something like, well, she shouldn't have had a stick. stick. Well, what I contend is four other cops in that room said they wouldn't have shot that

woman, right? This officer's father was the head of communications for the NYPD. He had several lawsuits filed against him for civil rights violations where the city paid out money. However, his jacket was clean. They covered up all his transgressions. This man was a ticking time bomb who blew up in this old black lady's bedroom. So we were the only ones there, you know. Del Ron Small is another case. A cop shot a man over a nearest fender bender. We were there diligently.

Sometimes it's just me and one other person. But we just make it our business to always be there and to always be consistent. I'd say this year, we've been more, I don't even know how to word this the right way. We've been operating at a different level, whereas I've been traveling a little. lot. One of our core members is in New Mexico on a reservation, learning how to teach from an indigenous perspective. And then he's coming back here. We have some pretty, pretty intense things on the cooker. And our leader is an 18-year-old young woman. Her name is Nepal Keizolo. Team Vogue just flew out to California. Gave her the top 21 under 21 award. And so we're

kind of spread out, but we're doing these really major things. It's about getting back into the projects and helping our people, just like we did when we started out. Yeah. Well, I watched, I believe it was a TED talk that you did, and you were telling the story about being in Baltimore right around the time of Freddie Gray. And you were with Freddie Gray's brother, I believe, and confronting the very cop who shot Freddie Gray. So you are getting out to different communities in the United States. And how are you received? And this will lead into the question

about the pro-Trump rally, but how are you received when you are in different communities? Have you noticed a change in attitudes over the years? Celebrated by some. A lot of activists, you know, don't embrace us because we have the profile we have, because we are willing to talk across party lines,

right because we won't say we hate all cops i don't hate all cops i hate the system of policing in america but i understand that they're only a wheel in the spuh uh just a cog they're a spoke in a wheel like they're not what makes this thing tick change will come from policing from legislation from the top down that's how effective change having they're just following orders and you say what kind of human being would follow those orders i'd agree with you ripping a baby out of a one-year-old out of his mother's arms. Yeah, horrendous act. Some of these are really bad people, but I just won't write them off. I'd rather attack them systemically. And that's extremely important for me. But outside of that, those little, that little bit of negativity is love.

I went down to Florida to support the Gillum campaign. I was welcome with Open Arms, the mayor of Miami Gardens. Oliver, he took me with him. We went. They had a voting drive get out the vote drive with uh uh dj call it you know which was very special uh there was just this we went to georgia and hung out with abram's team on election day so it's it's it's one people want a new message people want something new and for that reason i'm actually um i'm stepping down as president of black lives that of new york i'll still be a member, but I'm starting an organization called Rejuvenation, which is focused on healing our people. Like for me, right now, it's building up our people. People talk about systemic racism, but

they don't talk about food injustice. They don't talk about food deserts. They don't talk about how Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, I don't know who's sponsoring you, McDonald's and these fast food companies are intentionally poisoning black people they put addictive substances in these foods we get addicted get fat and everybody's like it's your fault it's your fault you made that choice no these people are obese intentionally this goes for white people too like this is a serious problem here in america this is something i want to fix uh black folks need to be educated this is not their fall it's just class right people who are poor not sitting down talking about the stock market they're not talking about you know money in the way it operates they're not business owners so we need

to bring that into the community so that we can prepare our people this robot revolution is real whether folks talk about it or acknowledge it or not and you know there are millions of truck drivers in america right now 90% of those jobs will be gone in 20% of those jobs will be gone in 20 years if I can show black people how they with industries they should go in and how they with skills they should develop then when the world changes we'll be on a different side of the pendulum right we'll be in a completely different position the environmental injustice this climate crisis that we're living in there are jobs there I work with Ray Lewis's group Power 52 down in Baltimore.

And they are giving people in Baltimore free training on solar panel installation. Right. These, this is, this is what we need. People need empowerment. And this is what black people tell me. Right. Like, like, yeah, you're out there. You're fighting.

But the police and in the government, that's part of it. We need to go in and fix a lot that's wrong with our people. And I'm not saying it to pull yourself up by the bootstrap problem because it's harder for you to pull yourself up by the bootstrap when there's 300 or 300 pound weight vests on you that someone else doesn't have. Sure. You know, so I want to help them remove that 300 pound weight.

We'll be right back with part two of our interview with Hawk Newsom. Do you own an Alexa? You can now get the Daily Signal podcast every day as part of your daily flash briefing. It's easy to do. Just open up your show. your Alexa app, go to settings, and select Flash Briefing. From there, you can search for the Daily Signal podcast and add it to your Flash briefing so you can stay up to date with the

top news of the day that the liberal media isn't covering. I want to go back to that day when you found yourself at a pro-Trump rally and ended up on stage. How did it all happen? We went down to Richmond, Virginia. There were protests around a Confederate statue where people don't understand is we see these statues like statues of Hitler. You might take it as your American history, right? But would you tell a Jewish person that in Germany? Like, no, leave the statue of Hitler here. Leave these swast niggas up because this is part of German history. Are you kidding me? Put it in a museum. So we went down to protest this statue. You know, there were armed pro-confederate white nationalist types there. and it turned out to be a dud because not a lot of them showed up they left really quickly so we were on our way back and uh angeli keith

nigroney kirst um she was driving her husband died as a result of police negligence and i fell asleep when i woke up she's like oh my god hawk she has this porto rican accent right he said oh my god hawk i never been at dc so so um there i open my eyes i'm like okay cool and there was a reporter who wrote down with us to cover the story And he was like, you remember we were going to do the mother of all rallies first before we decided to go to Richmond. You want to stop by? I said, sure. So we went. Eight of us was about 1,800 or maybe a thousand.

I guess they call themselves patriots who were there. And we were like, okay, we're going to protest. You know, they're pro-Trump, their pro-Confederacy. We're going to let them know that we don't agree with them. So we went. And to protest. And eventually they invited us up on stage. You know, it was hostile.

It was very hostile at first. We got called all kinds of names. People said, if you don't like America, go home. Hello. Black people built this country for free. We were heavily vested in this country. Like, hello, you need to acknowledge that. Even though the history books don't.

So they invited us on stage. And I was held. bent and I used that word strategically. I was hell-bent on going up there. And you're wearing your Black Lives Matter shirt, correct? Yeah, yeah. You're clearly stating your views, literally on your chest. On my chest, right on.

And I go, we go on stage, and on the way up on stage, it was like the skies open up. And I know a lot of people won't accept this, but those who have God in their heart, who have some sort of spirituality will understand what I'm saying when it was like the sky open up and a voice came down and it said make them understand who you are so what that meant was don't go up to and curse them and damn them all but make them understand why we're out here fighting why we march why we do this work and that's what happened that's what happened The Bible is any different from yours when it says love thy neighbor. To be from the continental United States.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. We love one. What we fight is to draw attention to issues and to fix it. We are not anti-cop. You had that you talk about this in the podcast with Arthur Brooks. You could have stood on that stage, said some things to rile up the crowd, fuel their anger.

and instead, you didn't. You chose a different path, and they embraced you in many respects. What was funny is I said the same things that would normally rattle them up, but I just worded them differently in a way that was palatable, that they could accept.

So the first thing I said was, you know, I'm Hawk Newsom, I'm the president of Black Lives Matter, and I'm an American. They went bananas, like, applause. They went from booing to, cheering us on in a matter of three minutes. And let me take you back.

There was something that happened that a lot of people don't know about. When we came up on stage, there was a fellow on the microphone who was like, y'all stand in a straight line and put your fist up. And that's all y'all do. I said, who the expletive? Who do you think you're talking to? And he was like, fine. If you don't like it, then get off the stage.

And some people turn out. I was like, nah, we're not going anywhere. You're not bringing me up on the stage. You're not making me look like a fool. And I started going into it. And then the fellow who organized a march, his name. Tommy Gunn. Yeah.

He said, no. They came up here. They're going to say their part. That was honorable on his part. And so, yeah, I'm Hawk Newsom. I'm an American. Yes. An American, in Americans, when we see there's a problem, we mobilize and fix it.

which we can agree on, right? From the first riot in this country's history, the Boston Tea Party, the first, I'd call it a protest, all the way to Martin Luther King and his protest. We are a protesting nation. And we mobilize to fix it. So when you see people cheered, so when you see a man choke to death saying, I can't breathe 11 times and nothing happens, then something needs to be done. And one woman was screaming, she's an idiot.

But a lot of people were kind of slow clapping like, wow, but jillies, that makes sense, right? Now, I smoked cigars all over the city, and I saw, I was at Davidoff down near Wall Street. And somebody said, hawk, hawk, I looked up, I said, how do we know each other? He said, you know, we were in the meeting, NYPD, you know, a young guy, white dude. and I was like funny He was like Nah it's all good

We're just gentlemen Having a cigar I say you're right And For some reason We started talking about Eric Gardner And I was like

You know that cop That killed him Should not have a job And what he told me was You know Between me and you Now it's between me And all your listeners

A lot of cops On the force Call him a punk Right Because there were six people On Eric Gardner and he didn't have to choke him. These are these moments.

These are these moments that will change the world. Now where we have to get to is where all of those cops come together and say, I'm not working with this scumbag anymore. Fire him or we quit. That's when the change occurs. Because everything is so polarizing. Everybody's on these teams and they can't concede to anything. But could you imagine if police officers in these precincts actually started speaking out against these cops?

Then you could call a cop hero, right? Then people like me will say that was a heroic act, you know? And so, yeah, that was that story. I also said on that stage at the mother of all rallies, I'm a Christian. Everybody started clapping. Like, yes, I'm a Christian. Black people, activists are Christian. Check your Bible.

Jesus Christ was a radical revolutionary. He fought against the government. The police arrested him and crucified him. Think about your Bible. Think about your Bible. Like Jesus was an activist who was crucified. Whatever. But it makes sense, right?

And so I said, I don't know if your Bible is any different from mine, but it says, love your neighbor. And that doesn't mean that your neighbor has to be from the United States of America, right? I believe in political asylum, but I also don't believe that we should let everyone who wants to come in this country in. When people hear this, they're going to go crazy. But I do, people who are facing persecution, people who have been in this country, like, for 20 years who have been working hard that have established themselves. Kids that grew up in this country, they have a right to be here.

If it was your family, you wouldn't say kick about, throw them away. No, you wouldn't say that. So what people need to start doing is putting themselves in other people's shoes. But for some reason, the government, these politicians have convinced us that we should not do that. That's how they keep maintain power because they keep us at odds against each other. As far as I'm concerned, it's people against government. And I'm not talking about Democrats. I'm not talking about Republicans.

I'm talking about people against government. Hillary hates Donald Trump, but they used to party together all the time. Spare me. You know, spare me. Like these folks, you know, who claim to be for black people here in New York City, when a taser was pointed at a brother holding his kid on my block

who was just filming the police, they said, well, we can't speak out against him because we don't want to make the police department mad. If they would have spoke out against the police last summer and said what these police officers did last summer, then a woman who, thank you. Then a woman who was holding, I just got coffee. So everyone who knows that from my guy, Chichot who runs this cigar shop, Papa Wans in the Bronx. So if they were to listen to our cries in the summer when this taser was pointed at this young person who was being held by. her dad then the police wouldn't have pointed a taser at a woman holding a one-year-old a few days ago you know

I'm calling her grandmother after I finished this interview and try and get some bail money for her you got to understand a lot of these people are right people a large number of people who get killed by police um who are subject to police brutality are criminals no one's disputing that but criminals have rights under that divine piece of literature to recall the Constitution. That's right. Well, Hawk, let me ask you this, because I agree with what you're saying about how politicians tend to divide and want to perpetuate that because, frankly, that is how they stay in power in many cases. yet you and I probably don't see eye to eye on many issues, but here we are having a civil conversation.

How do we promote this? What are you doing? What advice do you have for others? How they can go about engaging in this outside of perhaps the political spectrum to get things done? I work with a group called One America, rabbi, sheiks, gay, straight people, Christian,

white, black, Persian, Latin, You name it, men, women, you name it, right? And what we do is encourage these conversations. But what I'm thinking about doing is starting to go fund me. And doing a national tour to get people who are at odds against one another, to just sit down and talk. We are not here to argue whose philosophies or theologies are better, but just to talk to figure out what we agree on.

We call it a common ground tour. You think people would donate to that? I think so. I think there's groups out there that are trying to foster that. I think the Heritage Foundation would be one that might be interested in engaging in a conversation like that. You know, you talked about this new organization that you're creating. What's next in your life? What would you like our listeners to know about where you're heading next and what you hope to accomplish?

Well, I graduated from law school in 2012. I took the bar a few times after and failed it. Not as many times as John Kennedy Jr., but I failed it a few times, and I haven't taken it about three years. So I'm currently studying for it. I'm taking it in February. What I want you all to do is pray for me, right? Because if you know me and you know my work,

it's hard for me to sit still. I'm kind of like an action activist junkie. I need to be out there screaming, chanting, applying crusher. this is what I live for it so me sitting down for 10 hours a day and studying it's extremely hard and so I'm taking a test uh you know I'm I'm gonna keep having a great time with my kids and my family but rejuvenation and it's broken down rejuve a nation I want to breathe life back into lifeless people this division for this is bigger it's like where the black panthers meets the NACP, right?

And it's, it's activism. Yeah. But that's secondary. We want to teach people is how to love themselves, how to support themselves, how to be better human beings, organizational skills. And this type of program benefits anyone that's applied to. But I think black folk need it. Just look at studies. People talk about violence.

It was a prison study that Dr. Mark Hyman, someone. who I hold in a high regard. He showed me. This study said that violence in a prison was cut by 40% when they introduced a clean diet to these folks. And then when given a daily supplement, violence went down another 15%. So I think that a lot of our problems spur from what we eat, you know, and our mind state, trauma is real. Like, I'm an alcoholic. A lot of people don't know that, right?

And I had some severe anger issues. How did I deal with that? You know, I went to AA. I did therapy. But meditation, for me is what helped me. And people are like, oh, meditation. He's a crazy, hippie, yogi. Actually, Jesus talked about, you know, the Bible talks about meditating.

So I want to bring meditation into our neighborhoods because people have a lot of stress that they need to deal with. And meditating will help them tremendously. So rejuvenation is the future for me. I'm going to turn this organization over to my protege. Her name is Nepal. That's the one that I told you about earlier. She came into Black Lives Matter, Greater New York, about two, three years ago. Trauma, domestic violence in the home.

She was abused as a child in many ways. And she didn't have a voice. She was active, but she didn't really have a voice. And she grew in this organization. And now she introduces me as her pop. right and I'm adopting her she's 18 so it's paperwork but I'm adopting her think about this the leader of Black Lives Matter New York one of the leaders of Black Lives Matter nationally had a young woman come into his group 15 16 raised this young woman up nurtured her supported her

guided her and now he's adopting her like this is the type of work product that we're putting out and um it's all the labor of love you know she calls she's like hey you know i didn't get to paypal with my allowance you know like this is my child and and calls to talk about things strategy talk things through and this kid is a monster you think i'm a problem to uh this this thing that we call white supremacy when she arrives fully oh my god she might deliver the knockout blow. Well, hopefully we'll have a chance to meet her and perhaps do an interview with her down the road.

Hawk, I want to thank you for taking the time speaking with The Daily Signal today. It's been a pleasure. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate your time. Thank you for coming to the South Bronx, South South Bronx. Absolutely. Thank you. We'll be back with more in just a moment. Do you have an opinion that you'd like to share? I'm Rob Blewey, editor-in-chief of The Daily Signal,

and I'm inviting you to share your thoughts with us. Leave us a voicemail at 202-608-6205 or email us at Letters at DailySignal.com. Yours could be featured on the Daily Signal podcast. Thanks for sending us your letters to the editor. Each Monday we feature some of our favorites both on this show and in our Morning Bell email newsletter. Up first today is a voicemail from a listener about our recent interview with former

Congressman Bob McEwen. Good evening. I just listened to Bob McEwan. on one of your podcasts, and it was absolutely excellent. I understood so much better all the different things that he talked about, and I thank you for getting that type of quality explanations out there for the rest of us to learn from. So keep up to good work. Thank you.

Well, we appreciate hearing from you, and Rachel, what else do we have this week? Lorena Davis of Otis Oregon writes, I love the daily signal and plan to join the Heritage Foundation. I am so for the wall, but I wish someone would do the math as to how many millions of dollars in drugs come over the border and how many precious souls die as a result each day, how many rapes, how many trafficked humans, and how many die in the desert just trying to get in. And finally, Joanne Raskowski writes about our recent investigative report on how much Migrant caravans are being funded.

Thank you to Kevin Mooney for actually investigating and giving us the public actual information about caravans of migrants from Central America. It seems investigative reporting is dying as an occupation, and I'm struggling to find those reporters who tell the truth. So I want you to know, I appreciate Kevin Mooney for that. Well, if you'd like to read the story, it's called money and support for migrant caravans flow through Chicago. Your letter could be featured on the next week's show. send an email to letters at daily signal.com or leave a voicemail message at 202-608-6205. Liberals have pretty much cornered the market on 101-style podcasts that break down tough policy issues in the news. Until now, did you know that every week Heritage Explains intermingles personal stories, news clips,

and facts from heritage experts to help explain some of today's hardest issues from a conservative perspective. Look for Heritage Explains on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, we're joined in our studio today by Michaela Stedman. Michaela, welcome to the Daily Signal podcast. Thanks, Rob. You have our uplifting story this week, and it's quite a good one. Why don't you tell us about it? Yes, Anthony Maggert is a retired military amputee who was on his way to look at prosthetic legs last week when he saw a car on the side of the Washington, D.C. Beltway. I just said, here's somebody who's in need, you know, and so I was like, well, why not take a second out of your day and help him out? After Maghurt pulled over, he recognized that it was

the previous Secretary of State and Military General Colin Powell, who was trying to change his tire in the cold. The two men changed the tire, took a selfie, and went their separate ways. Later that night, Maggert messaged Powell thanking him for his 33 years of military service, saying, you were always an inspiration, a leader, and statesman. Powell shared the story. of Maggaret's kindness on his Facebook page and later told reporters. That's what we're all about taking care of each other. That's what make America great. We've got to stop screaming and shouting at each other and start taking care of each other. Michaela, thanks for sharing that story.

You know, as somebody who grew up at a different time than both of you, I mean, Colin Powell was this impressive general during Operation Desert Storm, who I remember from my youth and obviously served with great distinction in the Bush administration. and it's great to hear a good Samaritan helping out. It is. It really is. I remember reading about him in high school, and it is such a good reminder that those we can, you know, here in the States, even be of service to those who are serving here, who have served or who are currently overseas. I particularly loved.

They showed a photo in a video. I think it was posted on Fox News of the gentleman in his fatigues, and it was a military photo. And then one of Cole and Powell, it was just cool, you know, two different men from two different stages of life. serving their country and then he was ultimately serving Colin Powell. Well, thanks for that, Rachel. We're going to leave it there for today. The Daily Signal podcast is broadcast from the Robert H. Bruce Radio Studio at the Heritage Foundation. You can find it on the Rurcce Audio Network along with our other podcasts. All of our shows can be found at daily signal.com slash podcasts.

You can also subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, or your favorite podcast app. And be sure to listen every weekday by adding the Daily Signal podcast as part of your Alexa flash briefing. If you like what you hear, please leave us review or give us feedback. It means a lot to us and helps us spread the word to others. Be sure to follow us on Twitter at DailySignal and Facebook.com slash the DailySignal News. The DailySignal podcast will be back tomorrow with Kate and Daniel. Have a great week. You've been listening to the Daily Signal podcast, executive produced by Kate Trinko and Daniel Davis, sound design by Michael Gooden, Lauren Evans, and Thalia Rampersad. For more information, visit DailySignal.com.

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