Michael Wright

Michael Wright

 

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb_aIRR3cV4&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop

 

00:47:44:00

FOXWORTH:

 

so when we think about the

continent of Africa and the fact that

individuals decided to get on a boat not

just to go to Africa and look for rich

minerals and you know resources but to

then go and get human beings if you

could share with us what was that in

your mind and it has as history tells us

what was I won't jump to slave trade

what was the slave trade about?

 

 

00:48:20:00

WRIGHT:

 

Well first of all to respond to questions

about the slave trade one must go back a

little further and look at the the

decades the…the Millennium of African/

Asian international trade following

period we call the Crusades Europe was

underdeveloped, Europe was in poverty,

diseased, lacking of natural resources

whereas the rest of the world, Africa

Central Asia India China were prosperous

so we call that the Golden Age of

African Asian international trade so--

which prompted the Columbus event. The

Columbus event trying to find a way to

reach India and China and to establish

trade and essentially to bring back food

sources to Europe to a starving Europe

and so we know that the Columbus event

then happened upon what was to them an

unknown new continent and then that

became ripe for their exploitation for

its natural resources so thereafter

shortly thereafter then we can see that

their encounters with Native Americans

was always hostile

but the Europeans saw an opportunity to

create a new economic source for

themselves and so this is where the the

idea of enslavement or the the the the

exploitation of Natural Resources in

another continent began to crystallize

so it was initially the Spanish the

Portuguese in what we now refer to as

South America and Brazil and then later

in the upper Atlantic area or North

America we call it today where the

British became involved in colonization

and to facilitate their colonization

looked for labor and so the African

continent being in closer proximity to

the Americas then--than far Asia Africans

were then viewed as a potential labor

source and so this is how this process

began the system began so it was the

establishment of the first British

colony in the New World was 1607 at

Jamestown and so we know by the

historical records and that that that

site still exists we know from the

records that the Jamestown Colony was

populated by under a hundred persons

later the African American presence

there began in 1619 we know that there

was a Portuguese ship that carried some

30-odd Africans we were not certain how

they got onboard that ship but they were

there and the Portuguese ship coming to

Jamestown wanted to replenish its

supplies and whatnot these Africans were

released into the Jamestown Colony so

the history that we do know that we can

speak to is that these initial Africans

were part became part of the Jamestown

Colony they became colonists and so they

became integrated into the the Jamestown

community they were not enslaved

persons

 

well we know that the Jamestown

Colony had difficulty surviving there

was a starvation there were attacks by

Native Americans who did not want them

there

the Africans managed to survive in that

process and later more English people

came to the colony to replenish it and

whatnot and brought over more British

laborers and so the term that historians

we will use are called indentured

servants that is that these were from

England these were people who were many

of them in prisons waiting sentencing or

even execution for crimes in England

were given the opportunity to either

continue to be a prisoner or to be

executed or to go to Virginia which in

those early times meant a pretty early

death anyway and so these people came to

the colonies as indentured servants

usually for 7-year indenture or

contracted laborers and so it was the

the growth of the tobacco industry that

usually that that set off the the

profitability of enslavement now the

process that this went through was that

as people began to learn how to survive

in the Americas -- overcame illness

overcame diseases over overcame

starvation overcame the attacks by

Native Americans that the tobacco

industry in the Carolinas and Virginia

began to flourish and the indentured

servants if they lived through the

indenture seven years became free

persons so this is key

so as these British indentured servants

became free persons then they became

entrepreneurs themselves and started to

what compete in the tobacco industry

well it wasn't long after that people

realized that the more indentured

servants that they brought the more

temporary laborers that they brought it

started to cut into their profit making

potential and so what they came up with

in terms of an idea was a permanent

labor force that would never be free

that would never become part of the

competition and thus their profitability

their profits on their exchange of

tobacco would continue so it is that

process that initially a trickle of

people from the African continent came

to a a flood.

 

 

00:55:18:00

 

FOXWORTH

 

And so when you see that process, and thank you

 

For sharing that historical perspective, because

 

A lot of people simply start with, boats were mounted

 

Up and then went to Africa…but there was history

 

As to why those boats were even designed or created

 

And so that was extremely helpful.

now these boats start heading to Africa

on a frequent basis and they get to a

continent and they find human beings

there that somewhere in their mind

probably based upon their experience

with the temporary indentured servants

that they could simply capture by force

-- human beings put them on a boat take

them to a place that they had never been
…

for purposes that only they knew what

they would be like if you would take us

through just that component

of those boats arriving and how Africans

must have been totally shocked in the idea

that these captors were asking other

Africans to take family friends you know

anybody


WRIGHT

00:56:44:00

Okay. In answer to that question

about the early encounters between

Europeans and West Africans the

relationship between Europeans and

Africans is pretty well-established they

have knowledge of each other so they

know where they are, they know what kind

of people they are I would say that the

vulnerability of some of the peripheral

African communities on the western coast

of Africa made it possible for Europeans

to engage in minor trade with these

African kingdoms we'll call them -- they

were -- and initially the exchange of

people were done in much the same way

they were done in England in indentured

servants through contracted laborers in

many cases African Kings were,  were

viewed to to cooperate with European

traders we'll call them in exchange for

people with with regard that these

people would be indentured servants or

contracted laborers for a length of time

these Africans brought with them when

they came to the Americas as indentured

servants they brought with them skills

they brought with them farming

techniques metallurgical techniques

these were people products that were

transferred from the African continent

to the Americas so these were were

people who were not empty-handed and

came with skills and with a viability to

sustain an agricultural economy now the

later the demand for increasing numbers

of laborers became so acute that people

started to

be captured by force

now this created a an economic system

whereby African nations west coast

African nations what either be involved

in exchanging people or themselves be

captured and so it kind of created a

competition amongst African nations and

so to survive you you you kind of had to

engage in this in some way or another or

you would be victimized by it so I liken

it today to the International economy

that we talked about today in

contemporary times that how the world is

is interdependent in its economic system

and that cellphones are inescapable and

we find cell phones and the internet and

so everywhere well the slave trade was

an all encompassing kind of a system as

well based on race based on color that

either you were involved in it or you

became victimized by it and so we had a

spiraling downward into this system and

there was probably no area in the world

that was immune from its tentacles the

the patterns of the slave trade as we

know now begin we could say in a

triangular kind of a pattern shipping

pattern from the west coast of the

African continent to South America will

say to North America and then to England

so there was a pattern whereby the labor

was extracted laborers were extracted by

force from the African continent taken

to either the Americas south or north

and the products

of their labor were then transferred to

Europe and so that is the the the

distribution channel of labor to to

production to distribution in England so

the African continent becomes weaker it

is becomes depopulated the Americas

become infested with this slave

plantation economy and then the fruits

or products of that slave economy are

then transferred to Europe and Europe

becomes stronger and richer and

healthier they were placed in West lorry

Gouri well there was one of the major

holding yeah gori gori castle or glory

fort or became a storage warehouse

whereby people were people were captured

from the interior marched to the coast

and to coastal area and then they were

housed in these warehouses factories

shall we say of enslavement until the

slave ships arrived whether they be

Spanish or Portuguese or England English

and then from there transferred out of

the holding facilities on to ships that

took them to the Caribbean and to South

America and then to North America

process

once they arrived on the shores in this

instance to the Americas there there was

a cleaning up because they hadn't have

been treated like human beings they were

correct that boys took up to 60 days and

Christmases was a voyage where many lost

their lives were tossed overboard still

chained to one another fed to sharks

quite honestly that process began so if

we could just talk about that voyage a

little bit more of what that boy is you

must have been like you know coming

across and then get to hitting the

shores well the the whole process of

enslavement is dehumanizing a process

and so to your question about what that

process must have been like we can only

imagine so it's very difficult for

historians academics to piece that

together but it is possible for us to

get a good a good sketch of that and so

we know that these these people who were

free and independent people in their own

Nations were captured by force and to

become permanent laborers in the new

world so in order to to do that there's

a process of dehumanization

we call that chattel slavery so chattel

slavery is the process of stripping one

of their humanity of their of their life

of their culture of their language

depriving them of all manner of human

decency so we know that people are

chained together in many cases and

placed on these ships packed on to the

bowels of these ships where there's no

sanitation facilities there's no fresh

air there's no you know regular food

sources and so this is part of the

is purposeful this is a purposeful part

to strip that person of their sense of

self there since they're sent their

personal sense of dignity of their

nationality and so this is the first

stage of that dehumanization is the the

trip from the African continent to the

so-called New World and so we know that

from records that we can look at that

many people are died many Africans died

many Africans contracted diseases from

the lack of sanitation and fresh water

air etc starvation there were many

revolts on these ships whereby africans

revolted against the enslavers on these

ships and so there were many many

violent attacks and Africans again lost

their lives in that way many of them

decided that drowning or committing

suicide was more advantageous than being

a permanent slave much like Native

Americans I would say in the initial

contact with the Spanish in the in

Mexico and whatnot often took the same

route by committing suicide their

children and killing themselves rather

than be placed into permanent

enslavement so this is a process that is

going on of dehumanization that is part

that is an essential part of the

orientation to slavery perpetrated by

Europeans be they Spanish Portuguese

English or whatever so then the second

stage of that of course is in the

Caribbean there's a there was a

seasoning if you would or a training

process that further dehumanized

Africans into this slave economy this is

this slave condition whereby Africans of

the same ethnicity who spoke the same

language had the same cultural beliefs

were separated from each other so that

they could not speak with each other

they there was a language barrier and so

that they had to depend upon the

language of the cap door to communicate

and so these this was a process that was

part and parcel to the entire

dehumanization process and then once

that process had been achieved to the

extent that the enslavers were satisfied

with it then they were then exported to

various areas into the American colonies

into South American colonies so the

Caribbean became kind of a second stage

a training ground for permanent

enslavement just prior to plantation

life that process now having these boats

that have been on the water for 60 days

and sanitation poor sanitation and

disease and all the things you mentioned

and so the next step is to get them

ready to be sold

we're told that they were hose down on

they were tar was filled in their lashes

and that they were then kind of you know

covered in fat grease and to make look

shiny put on a new pair of clothes and

they were then placed on these auction

blocks that process of now the official

compensation

there was money obviously that traders

had in their ability to be able to

purchase these so they different from

what you described about the temporary

indentured servants so if you could talk

about the economy now on that trading

yeah well it's a the the whole system of

enslavement is a multi-faceted and

complex kind of a system so you have you

have cap doors people who are engaged in

that aspect of capture people to

transport people then there are people

in the Caribbean who whose job it is is

to to further indoctrinate people into

enslavement and then of course there are

the plantation owners then then there

are the businesses the entrepreneurs who

have these tobacco plantations who are

looking for laborers that the plantation

based economy so you have different

people sets of people doing different

functions performing different functions

for that system so once once these

people arrive say for example in

Charleston Harbor in South Carolina one

of the main Atlantic distribution points

is where people were brought off ships

and then sold to the various plantation

owners and then distributed throughout

the Carolina colonies I can tell you

having visited Charleston that many of

those facilities trade to slave

facilities the ports the docks the

trading bins and the planters hotel and

whatnot where they stayed what waiting

arriving of slave ships are still there

as is Goree island in West Africa so

there's a complex process by which this

this process of enslavement to actually

distributing people on various American

plantations to to work it takes place

this is its most complex

his most complex Native Americans were

there

Native Americans having knowledge of the

land and the countryside many of them

were enslaved as well but for the most

part Native Americans retreated into the

interior of the frontier whereby the

Europeans were unwilling to go having no

knowledge of that they stayed on the

coastal area the periphery and so this

made the slave trade became profitable

in this process everyone made money on

it each aspect and the the plantation

owners of the plantation operators then

using African slave labor to enslaved

labor to produce initially the cash crop

was tobacco right so there there are two

components of we can say in brief about

plantation life one is the fear amongst

the white plantation owners or operators

that the Africans will will revolt so

they're in constant fear of that and so

to counter that fear there is a system

of punishment to keep people enslaved to

keep people or try to get them to accept

their condition their permanent

condition so there's always this

component of the Africans themselves in

revolt mode on the verge of remote

revolt as they did in many cases and

then the the white overseers and

plantation owners trying to counteract

that potential fear with a punishment

and so those punishments were anywhere

from lashing whipping severing of limbs

etc some of the most grotesque kinds of

tortures that one can imagine in human

history so the the the Africans in

America are constantly overworked

undernourished

surviving on the the after leftovers of

of what the white plantation owners have

oftentimes eating whatever's left after

animals are fed in many cases livestock

and animals were regarded as even more

valuable than than people and so this a

system of survival and so the Africans

always lacking in nutrition and and and

proper enough food to survive made a

kind of survival meals that out of

leftovers and out of that which was

discarded referred to in 20th century as

soul food in many cases or melons melons

a high in high in vitamin the water and

melons or high in vitamins and so

Africans often turn to melons which in

fact they brought from the West African

continent as a means of sustenance to

keep themselves alive

and so this was

the just barely touches on the cruelty

and inhumanity of this this system based

on color let's not forget based on based

on race based on once continent of

origin it is a race based system without

a doubt size of men you know mandingo as

we heard so certain separations within

the population of Africa right well the

the acculturation of the of the the

slave culture in the south was always

done to maintain control and so always

fear of revolt violent revolt which

which in many cases did occur by the

Africans so the process of of

acculturating these people to their

slave conditions often the white slave

holders or enslavers would pit shall we

say one group against the other a

competition

maybe people who were lighter skinned

Africans received lighter work duties

women were placed to work into the

houses with white women and white men

and we're by different groups were

placed in different stratums

and so this created a kind of complex

distribution of labor and service that

complicated the system for Africans

enslaved Africans in the Americas

whereby but all designed to further

reinforce the slave condition by no

means was it designed to facilitate

African identity or compassion for each

other so they were always as always

designed to create a inter competition

or rivalry and so we have these these

terms those who worked in the houses and

those who worked in the fields and so

those who worked in the houses ate

better or wore better clothes and then

those who worked in the fields and so

there created a kind of undercurrent of

of treatment and the perception that

those who engaged in lighter work were

more sociable more intelligent more

acceptable than those who worked did the

harshest types of labor so we get these

terms of house and and field applied but

they're all enslaved and so the the

levels of their the psychological

development of of these different

different tasks within the plantation

different stratums created a kind of a

prejudice if you would amongst the

enslaved Africans themselves and of

course the in slave owners enslavers

enjoyed this to a large extent

and so this competition so we're all

familiar with the the famous Willie

Lynch letter of I believe it's 1720 or

1715 I can't recall the exact date of it

but I do have a copy of it and and so we

can recount this and read this and

understand this as a method to how do

you create a slave how do you keep a

person in Slate and how do you how do

you orient this person to engage in

their own enslavement without shackles

without fences how do you how do you get

them to accept enslavement well this is

of course you know pitting the young

against the old the tall against the

short the light against the dark etc etc

much of which we we have seen and much

talked about in contemporary American

african-american life in America so to

some extent these these mental maladies

of 300 years ago can still be seen here

today I don't think I don't think you

missed anything I think we could say

something about that the colonies at

some point all of the colonies legalized

slavery however some of the the northern

colonies began to begin policies where

slavery was outlawed slowly outlawed in

the northern colonies and so this was

kind of a view of hope for Africans if

they could get to the north or if they

were happen to disembark in Baltimore

Harbor for example which is kind of in

the middle of the Atlantic States and

some of them had the fortune to go north

then their their conditions were less

severe and the potential for freedom was

there and

fact there were many free Africans in

the northern colonies during up into the

time of the Revolution we can point to

the David Walker David Walker's appealed

and his famous letter after the

Declaration of Independence he is a he

is a free obviously african-american man

living in Boston and he is an

entrepreneur he has a clothing store

haberdashery and he writes this famous

essay on criticizing mr. Jefferson and

the Declaration of Independence as not

extending the notion of natural rights

the freedom of natural rights to African

Americans and so I think that's an

important an important component in

addition there's another important

component is that the the only social

activities that Africans were allowed to

engage in on the plantations was that of

Christian worship so they were allowed

to have their own services or Christian

Church services on the plantation well

we know from our history that

Christianity was it played a fundamental

part of enslavement itself whereas

religion is used as a weapon both

against Native Americans and Africans so

that in Christianity they found in

Scripture they found the the famous

quote about slaves obey your master and

you will receive your your reward in the

by and by and so that that was allowed

to Christianity or Christian services

were allowed to Africans to conduct on

the plantations and that was the only

social institution in which they had

some degree of control later we have

Richard Allen in Philadelphia forming

the free African Methodist Church

which is still in existence today and we

know that the Christian Church in black

communities across America is perhaps

still the only viable singular

institution that black Americans control

themselves Christianity but I think that

it should be reinforced that

Christianity was used as a weapon not as

a tool of liberation but as a weapon for

enslavement initially against Native

Americans in Mexico and South America

and then African Americans as they came

here as they were brought here you're

welcome okay my name is Michael G right

w RI ght I am a doctor of political

science history and media and culture

and I teach in a variety of in higher ed

institutions across the state

thank you welcome good all right now

 

Diane Mongo

https://youtu.be/xAH1MAVcCi8

see some some of the questions I like to

be somewhat prepared but these are these

are off-the-wall I mean this is a little

different from me but we'll go out I'll

just you know just off the cuff from the

time trying to figure out how they pull

themselves up as the old saying goes by

their bootstraps and they had no boot in

your perspective and the historical

point of view what was that what was

that what was that like as you can

imagine for African Americans my

imagination takes me to my family

my family history during Prohibition

days I think a lot of people that were

very aggressive if you were already in

some type of business and black

businesses amongst each other I mean we

supported each other but when

Prohibition hit it hit everyone my

family just happened to be into the they

were in the liquor business you know

very aggressive people they were part of

the Underground Railroad they you know

my family's from Canada they were part

of the Train so they were very

aggressive people so by them being into

the business before prohibition and when

they had to go give up their business

because now this is what was taught to

me they had to give up their business

because women couldn't keep their

husbands home couldn't keep them in from

buying liquor and bringing the money

home so the women protested and marched

and they that's what cost prohibition

they stopped it became illegal well how

do you put someone that's been in

business out of business just because

your husband or someone supported a

business

and it was the woman's movement that's

that really helped that cause

prohibition now this is what was told to

me and I talked to me somewhat so since

I come from a family that was in the

business

why why not you still have to feed your

family so we continued to sell the

liquor and guess what we made more money

during Prohibition then when it was

illegal so I just think that when you

talk about being in business you have to

be able to one be aggressive you're

gonna support your family that's most

important and when you're in business

you always I don't care what type of

business you own when you're the person

out there making a dollar you're putting

your life on the line so if you with a

head of those things in mind you're

gonna do what you have to do so I hope

I've answered your question yes when the

government stopped people from selling

liquor you know during that time of

prohibition - you have to remember we

have run into a depression okay so

you're talking prohibition depression a

lot of people out of work a lot of

people selling marketing something the

alcohol which was truly illegal at the

time that's my definition

for entrepreneurship in general did it

enhance it did it totally knock it out I

mean we had opportunities to do a

variety of different things in terms of

like business and entrepreneurship but

was most of our business so concentrated

in the liquor business that prohibition

you know I would say in your speaking of

the black race are we speaking as two

people as a whole

okay african-americans as a whole for

the African Americans the majority of

the people it hurt them I honestly

believe that because most of us were not

self-employed so unlike my family we

were self-employed so for those who were

really aggressive for them that was a

boom but for the majority of their

African Americans I would say it was a

negative where you basically whispered

how we're gonna go down to a place it

was sort of it was on the ground

it's basically underground and it was

almost Invitational because you're not

just going to let anyone in your place

so that's why they spoke quietly they

speak easy you know yes so when you talk

about my business the mangos that is the

mango speakeasy one of the reasons I own

the company demongo speak he saved my

husband and I is because both our

families was in that business during

Prohibition and before prohibition and

both sides he's an American mines

Canadian so the family is met and that's

how

you know we come together but what

happened is you don't teach we didn't

teach our kids to do wrong okay we

weren't going to be illegal but we were

legal before it became illegal they the

government put us out of business then

the governor government went back in

businesses the government took over the

business the same way it is I hate to

say it today with the drug business

which is a sad thing or the gambling you

know or even what they doing with the

dairies and doing with the farmers and

you know so politically we looked and

said one Demong goes represent the

politicians the entertainment and the

underworld and they all go hand in hand

because the politicians are put into the

business by the underworld who finances

them and the entertainment what the part

of entertainment was the brain to people

to get there so they all went in Hana

Hana that's why if my place we wanted to

take the shame out of it because would

you say speakeasy not only did you speak

quietly about where to meet but the

family had to sweet quietly about who

they are and what their family was doing

they it was a shameful thing so we

decided to take the shame out of it

because one we don't raise dirt we

didn't want to be illegal my family

didn't want to be illegal but they were

forced to be illegal they had to support

themselves so therefore and the

politicians the rules you know they they

write the laws if your neighbor next

door who's you know persuading you to do

go one way or the other

and people like to be entertained so

they also support the entertainment so

therefore we took the shame out of it

they end up raising doctors lawyers

didn't she say yes so why be ashamed of

your background you are who you are

[Music]

obviously with Harriet Tubman everything

was reapplied and you know we water what

was it that caused speakeasies to even

come about as a business we just went

over of that the because you had to

speak quietly about it first of all if

he shouted out everyone knows what's

happening they know how to catch you

they know how to find you so you have to

be quiet about it you have to trust who

you're telling it to there's a trust

factor there there's there's a little

trust factor that that's excuse me my

office I'm driving up I'm sorry

am I not speaking clearly I got you okay

okay right okay okay so yeah the teacher

we're gonna be the one that you're not

gonna see me they're gonna see human so

they won't know what you're being asked

I gotcha

yeah I've done that before and so you

know and that's why I was asking the

question about about it and I'm really

getting to an end as it relates to

business in general there was a need for

african-americans to really begin to

operate on a very quiet but something

was happening you know at that time in

1920 to 1933 prohibition was taking

place and African Americans were trying

to start businesses they had them with

just not in large numbers

this Big Easy became a place to do what

exactly what I mean you hitted what I

want to try to incorporate the question

in the speakeasy became a place where

people would go to you speakeasy became

a place where people will kind of let

the hair down they wanted a place where

they can network with each other they

became a became a place where they could

have a good time be entertained and

they could just forget about the

troubles for at least an evening so

that's to me is what a speakeasy is look

at these speakeasies and negative ways

and put terms on them like blind pegs

and all these other kinds of plays in

fact speakeasy was have been said that

that was the place that started the 1967

riots at a took place at a speakeasy too

because law enforcement wasn't very

happy with the fact that speakeasies

we're doing so well and that people were

congregating and having a good time and

and those kinds of things so just from

the whole business aspect of it all what

did it do for the economics of it from

the owners standpoint so the world were

business owners making a lot of money

out of this was it just something to do

like a social thing or during

Prohibition businesses made far more

money than they ever could make during

when it was legal I don't know why

people tend to like to spend a little

extra money doing a little wrong but as

a business you supply and demand you

take care of business you look at your

market and you you your business takes

care of your market so as far as during

the Prohibition days while it was

illegal they made money

[Music]

obviously further and further away from

slavery whether industries that they

prefer to to go into for the blacker

East african-american race there were a

lot of thriving business amongst the

black people because because we were

segregated and could not visit white

establishments they supported their own

and in supporting their own we had not

only that we have our barbecue shops not

only we had our barbershops Beauty

swords we had the the cleaners business

we had I mean we had every kind but we

had our own restaurants we supported our

restaurants we supported our

Undertaker's black businesses I hate to

say it but during segregation a lot of

there were a lot of entrepreneurs once

the doors opened up where people can

visit white establishment they took when

I attitude that the the white man's ice

is better than the black man's ice

because we had a lot of ice man and it's

old I used to call or you know so they I

have no idea why we decided that if we

can integrate a place and we could give

them our dollar even though it was

unwelcome I don't know why we wanted to

just still give them our dollar I can't

answer that why but we did do better

when we were segregated now like I said

I'm from it was a black town called

North Buxton in Canada and Ontario which

is right across the border here

downtown Detroit takes about 60 minutes

to get there but we were a black

settlement but we end up becoming very

integrated because you know because

everyone was mainly related so I grew up

not understanding just black business I

understood business so that's one of the

things that is a pet peeve of mine

because business good business is good

business it doesn't have a race it

doesn't have a sexing it doesn't have a

religion when you are a business person

if you follow the rules to business you

can thrive no matter what and if you

have a product a good product will sell

with every race or everyone so it's how

you marketing but we as black people

that I realize in today's world we have

a problem that is time I mean we really

disrespect time and when I say if you're

not on time I can't count on you and

when I can't comment on you I can't

trust you because you may take some

shortcut to you do some things that

really will destroy a lot of things so

no you just respect my time you just

respect there's a whole lot of other

things that you're disrespecting so I

think as a business owner one of the

main things I would like to tell and

teach our kids is one you can't just go

into business for something that you

think makes the money and one of the

main things in the black community was

our hair care

although hair also you can find every

texture here in every race you know here

but here doesn't really have a sex I

mean here doesn't have a race you may

find a certain texture in a more

prevalence in a race but

the only difference between here is

there is a sex between hairs you can

pick up a hair they can identify a male

hair from a female hair but other than

that you can take a guess on what race

there they are but basically the sexes

so when you sell a product when you sell

a service excuse me when you are selling

a service do the best you can you know

learn your market learn your product

learn what you or some try to be the

best at it or just be good at it

you sometimes being the best you know

you're you're the best

if people for every person who tell you

the best but one of the things is if

when people say you are good you are

good so just be good at your and be on

time and don't go into something just

for the money just learn your craft

learn take care of your service and the

money will follow what you just

described what did that mean when it was

as some people would say it was bombed

not necessarily put the blame on the

government but what did that mean to the

african-american community and economy

when black Wall Street was taken down

when you ask black Wall Street you're

gonna have to define that to me because

I'm here in black Wall Street but I

think that's a metaphor for so what was

black entrepreneurs right we were

circulating the dollar within nine it

was quite a massacre that took place in

that entire community of Tulsa Oklahoma

that destroyed well I'm have to educate

myself on that okay cuz I'm not sure

I've you know that's really interesting

I would love to yeah tell her in that

history to them the importance of

entrepreneurship and you know how it was

part of the african-american journey how

making all of this money was good for us

because we were selling to one another

when you think about entrepreneurship in

its current day what do you think

african-americans are missing are all

when I think of black entrepreneurship

today is I don't see a respect for each

other I think we don't support each

other I think when we do give our dollar

to a black man black man given a dollar

black man buying a service or or

supporting a black man he's asking way

more from that black person than he

would a white person when they go into

when you go into an establishment that

is own Bible

you feel that you should get a discount

you feel that you should get a little

bit more and you we are so critical of

our black brother or sister that's in

business but when they go into a white

establishment they first go in waiting

to be told what to do where you can just

stand back you're okay yes thank you

they wait to be seated they don't ask

well how come I can't sit here they just

go and they sit and when they asked

they're given a menu or this is what's

on the menu today well how come you

don't serve this I mean that's not on

the menu today they don't ask that but

they will come in and when I say this

I'm speaking from my own experience or

what happens first of all we have a

minimum of drinks or there is a cost

when you come into the to my

establishment I just came to visit I

just came to look and see what's going

on no you don't just come into a

person's place to stake up a seat that

may turn over some money help pay the

bills and just look and stand and just

want to see what's going on I want to

hear your band there's no overhead

there's no cover charge but yet you can

go into that white man's business and he

hasn't he tells you what does minimum is

and you're all no problem

they tell you what's on the menu you may

not even know what's on the menu but you

could you make a suggestion they order

you order something you don't ask what

is it what is it made of them what they

don't do that in our business do you

have you can't do that give me the same

respect and that's the only thing I

think that today's today's economy in

today's market of black people servicing

other black businesses they do it's a

disrespect please business is business

treat all businesses

the same so today we here

Oprah Winfrey and jay-z and Beyonce and

Daymond John as entrepreneurs and very

few recognized that there was Reginald

Lewis and CJ madam Walker or a number of

others who actually melee and sacrificed

talk a little bit in your mind about the

sacrifice that those individuals

experience oh you just okay speaking of

Beyonce jay-z and all of them who have

paved the way young people who all they

know is Beyonce and jay-z and Oprah

Winfrey and those individuals Daymond

John not as many know enough about

reginald lewis about CJ madam Walker and

others who were entrepreneurs and paved

the way for them to be jay-z I'm looking

at that as a educational problem

first of all if you don't know who madam

Walker is and the residents and all the

rest that has nothing to do with jay-z

and Beyonce as far as I'm concerned

III honestly think when these kids need

to be taught that in school or in the

household or however they should be

taught especially if you're wanting to

become an entrepreneur you really should

research people research whatever fields

you're going into and you will learn

such as I was in the hair industry so I

learned about madam Walker who happened

to be the first black happened to be the

first female millionaire not black she

was the first woman to become a

millionaire so that's a different than

what and and when you talk about Oprah

Winfrey read up on NOFA referee I love

her story you find out how she

made her Millions you should read up on

these people so you know the question of

today's millionaires or entrepreneurs

and very rich people I there they're

doing it in a way there I think it's so

smart because they are invested in their

money the way they should you you make

your money and if you don't invest it

and recirculate that it's going to be

eaten up in taxes so ok the question

gets to be a little blur when you asked

what you thought were some of the needs

african-american entrepreneurs to be

indigenous to be creative to be very

passionate with yeah passionate with but

and that was all on top of having to

deal with racism and avoiding lynchings

and you know all of the things that

African Americans when they started

making money there were people out there

there was a resistance to it so much

like we were talking about prohibition I

wanted you to talk a little bit about

the resistance that you believe those

individuals had to experience to make

the money that they did and to pave the

way just so that there were people like

the Oprah's and all the rest of them who

now have an easier walk with it and they

did okay

I don't know how this interview is going

but to spend for me to spend more time

on prohibition to back then or even you

know III I want to get past that and

what I would love to do is just go

forward in terms of the present day in

terms of where and what we need to teach

our kids and it's the same thing what

would Oprah is trying to teach what

Beyonce's teaching what

they're shown that there's more than one

way to make money and you still no

matter what they're doing you still have

to be passionate about it and they're

sacrificing a lot of their time

seriously there's when you go off into a

business each business has to be treated

like a baby you got to let feed at first

so that it can learn to sit up and once

it sit up then you got to teach it how

to feed itself a little bit just hold a

bottle then you have to teach that baby

how to crawl and once that baby started

crawled and you got to teach it to walk

you teaching it to talk and then you're

teaching it one you're trying to teach

it how to survive just amongst

themselves like don't touch that you'll

burn yourself you know the area is what

you can't go into you have to teach that

kid how to you know something happens

you don't understand let's talk about it

take it to you you may not just take it

to mom and daddy like they said it takes

a village you go out and you talk to

other kids you teach them to socialize

and amongst themselves how to so once

you start doing all of that do you know

that a kid is who they are by the time

they're about 8 years old 7 years old

you can just about judging know which

direction that kid is born into because

it had that foundation you put a good

solid foundation there once that

foundation is made then that kid can

start growing our job as a parent or our

job as a community is to help that kid

or that tree state grow strong you got

to keep it on a straight line and

sometimes that tree go to you know

wiggling and variant you got us kind of

help straighten it up a little bit and

it's just not the parents it's a

community it's the teachers just the

neighbors so

if there's anything else what should we

be teaching our young people or young

adults that are looking to go into an

entrepreneurship you've got a wealth of

experience and what would you pass on to

them in terms of outside of the passion

and outside of the nurturing component

what I'm what I'm teaching too I think

as parents as a community as you know

your past or whatever people that are in

the lives of these kids I don't think

there's anything wrong that by the time

you see that your child is into cooking

or if your child is into art and your

child is into tinkling with his hands

and making little designs or stir them

in that direction you may have a curious

cat that looks like they're involved in

a little bit of everything just watch

them and see which way they go and each

time they're in it if they decide I'm

going to get involved in this stick to

it if it's a program there's a six-month

program and the kids is looking to go

into this and they're in it for two

weeks or three they decide they want to

drop out no you discipline them you

wanted to go into that you stick it to

you stay in it for at least at six

months now after the six months because

this is a two-year program that you're

into but after that six months when you

decided that you didn't want it okay so

you sample it and you know you don't so

now here I want to go into this so you

find they're going into this well before

I let you go into this us make an

agreement that this is gonna just your

internet something that cost some money

and guess who's paying for it comes out

my pocket so since you want it you're

gonna have to help work for it you're

gonna have to sacrifice a little so

since you're doing you're gonna clean

your room you're gonna put whatever you

talk to that kid and you make that kid

while they're young you let that kid

know that nothing comes free in life and

you can't keep asking

or changing your mind about certain

things and just drop it because you got

tired because once you go into something

normally you're gonna have to sacrifice

some time so they're all playing

basketball but you wanted to play an

instrument that costs money

so I'm here you're sacrificing your time

you're gonna help clean your room let's

help pay for this you just stick to it

a lot of us we just let our kids just

sample things because they are curious

they sample certain things but at any

cost

there's no discipline it doesn't matter

they don't have to pay so now they feel

entitled after a while once that kid

threes a certain age because you've

allowed them to do these things there's

an entitlement attitude so no you're not

entitled one and then you're gonna be

thankful for your teacher who took the

time out to be there on time you're

gonna get there on time to help teach

you and then when it when your time is

up now I gotta take the next person you

came late you didn't get to you think

you're supposed to spill over into the

next man's time No

so there are sacrifices so just that's

all I'm saying is just one nurture your

kid see what they're passionate about

and then when they decide they want to

go into a business that's what they

should go into whatever they're

passionate whatever they decided to give

up playing ball or if a person is a ball

player and you know that one he has to

study now you have to first of all in

order to get along in this world today

you had better get an education at least

have a nice foundation where you can

communicate because that is another key

communication you have to be able to

communicate so while you're out there

playing basketball while you're out

there socializing you still guess what

in order to do your passion you gotta

sacrifice a little that basketball time

to hit the books so that you can at

least you have nice basic

I do lowlife or you know a little

academic so that you can if if you're

not in this country you can go on

another country you can still

communicate well well what is funny is

to me excuse me some of the questions

that I was I was told I was gonna be

asked because I have a great deal of

connections with political and you know

one of the things that I what I

personally was known for was being Mary

Young's personal hair stylist confidant

his friend is like a family I was like a

daughter to him from the time he became

there until the day I gave him his last

haircut and put him in the ground so

they were asking a few questions about

my comb and young or you know a lot of

the the people that I was connecting

with like you know dime barn or

different the governor's or the

presidents and I've matter so I'm like

they wanted some stories but I'm glad I

didn't have to tell stories I'm happy so

no that was good well well I

Bob Young

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYg98pXiUqU&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop

I aged 14 to 25 you got a lot of

testosterone on board that's not really

the conducive and not a lot of

myelination up here either so that the

worst combination the executive function

is not fully functioning and and the

testosterone is it take a lot more than

that okay my name is Robert Young ro BER

tyo you and J and I am the former Chief

Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court

give me your 60 second spiel on who you

are as far as what you

far too much until recently I was the

Chief Justice of Michigan Supreme Court

I'd been a member of the Supreme Court

for 18 years three years prior to that I

had been on the Michigan Court of

Appeals which is the intermediate court

in our system and before that as general

counsel at triple-a Michigan and before

that about 15 years of practice in a

private law firm you can hear it okay

yeah okay that's

I want you to be natural for you oh okay

yeah all right that's fine all right I'm

the former Chief Justice of the Michigan

Supreme Court I'd been a member of the

court until I retired for 18 years and

before that was three years on the

Michigan Court of Appeals which is the

intermediate court just below the

Supreme Court before that I was the

general counsel for triple-a Michigan

and before that 15 years in private

practice

yeah a lot of the difficulties that

surrounding slavery were there at the

very beginning when the Constitutional

Convention in 1787 was convened to try

and figure out how to put thirteen

individual colonies that function pretty

much like sovereign countries together

in a nation and apart from the

differences in the various colonies one

of the great differences was at the

North Boston all those were mercantile

commercial whereas the South Virginia so

they were agricultural so that was a one

big difference the Articles of

Confederation where the was the document

that was governed during the

Revolutionary War it worked very poorly

because it required unanimity of action

before he could do anything

the Continental Army under Washington

almost was starved to death because they

didn't get funding so the convention was

there to see if they could put together

a national government and the problems

were that each of these 13 colonies

thought of themselves as an autonomous

sovereign nation - there was a question

of slavery that was driven by the

agricultural needs of the south and the

repulsion that that created in the

northern colonies and that proved to be

a an insoluble problem first no one in

that generation of founders thought of a

multiracial society the way the 21st

century thinks and if I might add let me

read to you what Jefferson said on the

question and his notes - on the state of

Virginia if blacks did not intermarry

with whites they would remain black

until the end

of time for was not contemplated that

liberating them would whitewash them if

they did intermarry with whites then

with the white race would become extent

extinct and the American people would

become all of my auto breed again

without the mistake Jefferson let me

show you how one of the founders thought

about okay I mean let me show you how

one of the founders thought about race

at the time this is Jefferson in his

notes on the state of Virginia let me

share with you what Jefferson one of the

founders thought about slavery and how

to deal with the slaves if manumitted

I mean let me share with you what

Jefferson said in notes on the state of

Virginia concerning how the founding

generation thought about the slave

problem let me share with you what

Thomas Jefferson said about the what

they thought of as an insoluble problem

with liberating slaves if blacks did not

intermarry with whites they would remain

black for the end of time for if it was

not contemplated that liberating them

would whitewash them if they did

intermarry with whites then the white

race would become extent extinct

the American people would all be a

mulatto breed that was the problem for

many of the founding generation the the

best solution the abolitionists could

have come up with was to liberate and an

expatriate the former slaves to the West

which was then unsettled the Caribbean

or to take them back to Africa

but there was one additional problem and

that's no one in that founding

generation could figure out how to pay

for them because everybody believed that

slaves were property of their owners and

they had to pay for them in the first

budget of the new nation in 1790 the

entire federal budget was 7 million and

it was estimated that the cost of paying

the owners for their slaves was a

hundred and forty million so this was an

insoluble problem at that point too long

I know okay now the question is how do

they what do they do yeah I can do I'll

train yeah so what it okay ready so what

do they do they papered over the problem

first they in order to reduce the power

the political power of the south the

north insisted that slaves not be

counted one for one but three-fifths a

lot of people think of the three-fifths

as a slight against black people it was

really designed to reduce the political

power of the south in the Congress in

the house the second was the

and a restriction on the right of

Congress to prohibit the importation of

slaves for the next 20 years and the

third was the Fugitive Slave provision

in the Constitution that required that

slaves be captured and returned to their

owners

that was the sectional compromise and

that was what caused tension from that

point on

just Missouri Compromise additional

states

so we had the the fugitive slave acts

that were designed to implement the

constitutional provision requiring the

return of slaves to their owners and

again the the tension between the

southern opposition to slavery and the

South's intention to continue it was

what caused political problems in the

new nation in in in 1820 this all came

to a head because the nation was

expanding states were coming in and the

North was intent on precluding the

spread of slavery and the Missouri

Compromise of 1820 was the compromise

that precluded states coming into the

Union above the southern border of

Missouri from permitting slavery that

was the compromise at that point then

there were a series of slave rebellions

during this entire period the nat turner

rebellion in the 1830s was was perhaps

the most dramatic it prompted in

virginia prompted severe repressive laws

because Turner was educated and they

were they thought that that was probably

one of the reasons why they he was as

successful as he was so they were

oppressive laws out throughout the south

to preclude blacks from learning to read

and so forth that was the that was the

next critical thing and then the Supreme

Court entered the picture in 1842 and

interpreted the Fugitive Slave Act now

this is the act that the Congress had

passed that required slaves caught in

free areas to be returned to their slave

owners it held that state officials

this is widely unpopular in the north it

held that state officials did not have

could not be compelled to enforce the

law so that essentially eviscerate at

least in the north the enforcement of

the Fugitive Slave Act and that in turn

infuriated the South that began to

insist on a stronger Fugitive Slave Act

then came the compromise of of 1850

again the expansion of the the United

States with the addition of territories

and states caused this problem of the

south wanting more slave states to the

north wanting fewer the MS the

compromise of 1850

was a product of the acquisition of of

land from the Mexican War the United

States acquired land around basically

Texas and and West and then there was

the question of well what about these

new territories that were coming in and

this is where the south began to steal a

march and they insisted rather than the

Missouri Compromise that forbade slavery

above the certain point they decided on

local choice so that the territories

coming in could choose whether to be

slave or non slave and that was sort of

the unwinding of the Missouri Compromise

and then the next step was the

kansas-nebraska act again another crisis

precipitated by Nebraska wanting to come

in as a non slave state the southerners

were not willing to act on that unless

they were permitted to have permitted to

have a slave state and the compromise

they're essentially eviscerated the

Missouri Compromise entirely it was now

local choice for any territory or

state coming into the union after that

then kind of next in time and in

importance was the Dred Scott case this

is one of the most notoriously bad

decisions of the United States Supreme

Court and briefly it involved a Dred

Scott whose original owner had in said

he was going to to free him he died his

wife thence inherited Scott and his

family and there's a very complicated

history but he sought to purchase

himself as the his owner's wife refused

it ended up in court in Missouri it was

recognized that whereas it in his case

he'd been taken to a free state that

automatically led to being freed they

reverse their president and said no

that's no longer the law so he lost the

Missouri he then went to federal court

and ultimately ended up in the Supreme

Court which which held surprisingly that

black folks never were and never could

be citizens so they couldn't avail

themselves of any of the privileges of

being in federal court or of the

Constitution they were essentially

outside the Constitution and for good

measure the court also held that the

Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional

because Congress had no authority to

affect the rights of slave owners so

that was the double whammy of Dred Scott

and I said one of the worst decisions

that the Supreme Court gave

then we have the Civil War the Dred

Scott was considered one of the many

precipitating factors for the Civil War

but the reality was the economic

interest of the two regions north and

south are very different slavery had

become even more important after the

cotton gin before the cotton gin the

price of cotton and silk were about the

same because cotton was so hard to to

cultivate and and manufacture after the

cotton gin that that process was made

much easier and so when everybody

thought would happen that the slavery

would die the cotton gin made slavery a

much more viable institution so the the

the economic systems of north and south

are growing apart

slavery was was one of the leading but

not only cause of some of this division

civil war occurred and afterward the

victorious north through the military

controlled the entirety of the

secessionist states the Confederate

states were militarily ruled the federal

military imposed new governments they

took the old government out and the

legislature elected new ones that was

the first time blacks have been elected

in in the legislatures in the south

obviously and took a whole lot of years

and later before that happened again and

the and grant when he was president used

the military actively to suppress

organizations like the Ku Klux Klan that

had begun to terrorize to intimidate and

and place blacks back into the position

of servitude they had been in and during

slavery at the end of Reconstruction

when the military withdrew the

Democratic Party which began to

represent the southern interests

reemerged they reelected the

legislators that favored the southern

cause and immediately began creating

what we called the Jim Crow laws that

made it impossible for blacks as a

matter of law to vote to participate in

the civil society and to resub de gate

them in effect now this is this is after

the enactment or the ratification of the

Civil War amendments the 13th 14th

amendment Thirteenth eliminated slavery

14th assured equal protection under the

law to former slaves and the 15th

protected voting rights so these these

Jim Crow laws were a direct attempt to

negate the constitutional benefits that

blacks gained under the Civil War

amendments and that proceeded for a very

long time until Plessy vs. Ferguson

where the Supreme Court for the first

time in 1896 decided what the 14th

amendment meant to black folks mr.

Ferguson bought a first-class ticket in

Louisiana but Louisiana law made it a

crime to permit him to sit in the

first-class seat so he was placed in the

baggage compartment he complained he was

arrested and tried criminally for

violating the law he appealed that

appeal eventually went to the Supreme

Court which held that the 14th amendment

whatever else it did did not require a

state to Accord black people the same

rights as white people they would not

enforce his first-class ticket the same

way that a white person who had bought

it would have had it enforced and that's

that proceeded until Brown

probably everybody in the audience has

heard about Brown versus Board of

Education and it was brown plus he

established the separate but equal

doctrine Brown struck that down and

that's sort of a quick history of

Constitution and slavery okay

everybody brows on straight

all right so as one of the first a great

northwestern short show what it takes to

gain access to be accepted our family

was one of the first ones to move to

Northwest Detroit in 1960 we were the

only family on the Block when we moved

in there there's only one sort of

disconcerting episode that I remember

the neighbor sort of a squirt part of

the ghetto we came from but pretty much

it was a very easy transition it was a

people were genial and friendly and

didn't have much recollection of having

difficulty it was right next to Wooding

ham it was on whittingham next to near u

of D high school and I only have pretty

much happy memories from there but there

are challenges when you are the racial

wedge being the only or one a few does

present some issues about different

experiences different expectations some

sometimes very ugly ones and you just

have to you have to solder through those

yeah well I was not until I went to

private school to Detroit Country Day I

was the first black graduate from

Country Day I was from Detroit most of

the kids that went to Country Day at the

time we're in the Birmingham and

Bloomfield and there it was a lonely

time because they were there was

essentially no socialising other than

formal school events it was an isolating

point not as many as you might think

they weren't you know in your face kind

of ugly racial it was just pretty

obvious that there was you know I was

not of them and at least socially there

I had a few really good friends who came

over to my house and I went over them

but but especially when I got into high

school you know that's when teenagers

begin to have a social life independent

and and it was that was the time when it

was painfully obvious that I was not

part of that at world

[Laughter]

of course of course sure that they never

had any experience but I hadn't had a

lot of experience either with white

people I grew up in a pretty much until

lay a little later in an all-black world

I thought based on television that all

white folks lived slept in twin beds it

wasn't till I went over to somebody one

of my friends house and so their parents

slept in the same bed just like by but

in the movies and on TV all white people

slept into it married couples slept in

twin bed so there are a lot of

opportunities given the way our culture

shapes our vision of the other to have a

very skewed understanding and it's only

two you start interacting with people in

a more intimate way that you learn that

people are kind of like one another I'm

probably more like than not you have

different traditions different tastes

but pretty much we're we're a lot alike

that's fine probably oh yeah that's

right

Thurgood Marshall probably his greatest

contribution to our history was his role

in Brown versus Board of Education

after Plessy and at the turn of the mid

century from from the about the 40s and

50s on talented lawyers like Marshall

working with the N double AC Defense

Fund began to look for target cases to

chip away at the the separate but equal

holding of Plessy and that was because

they were in the south they were locked

out of any political process they

couldn't go to the legislature and say

get rid of the poll tax as the precluded

blacks from voting or or anything else

so they found a more hospitable forum in

the federal court so they started taking

cases to see if they could get that case

and eventually that led to the Supreme

Court decision in Brown and I think that

was a a monumental task of trying to

find the right case to test and then

overturn the separate but equal doctrine

we say I believe Thurgood Marshall's

greatest contribution to

african-americans freedom was oh okay

okay let me try that

I think Thurgood Marshall's greatest

contribution was was brown versus board

of education he was essential in framing

the that test case to challenge and

overturn the Plessy separate-but-equal

doctrine and he and many others had

worked a long time to frame the case

that eventually got to be the Plessy

versus I'm sorry that did overturn the

Plessy doctrine of separate but equal

okay he and many others work to find the

perfect case the test case to bring it

to the Supreme Court again to overturn

the plessis separate but equal doctrine

and it was a monumental task

they had no alternatives in the

political process in the South you

couldn't go to legislature so the

federal courts became the tactic to to

overturn the Jim Crow laws

you don't have to cut it as former chief

justice of mr. one of the things that

that has been important to me in my

judicial career is respecting the

constitutional assignments that are made

we we have a division of labor between

the executive the legislative and their

judicial the legislature makes the

statutes the executive enforces them and

the judicial branch interprets them and

I think that is the important function

of the judiciary it's not to make policy

but it's to interpret the statutes that

other two branches have made and I it's

important for black folks to be involved

in the political process to get the

statutes that they want the policies

they want enacted but it's not the the

judicial branch is obligation or even

authority to make laws in the way the

legislature is that's an important

distinction

civil rights

I was actually a teenager I was around

when Martin Luther King was alive oh

yeah I was a teenager no no no 67 and

what but yeah but yeah same impact

voting whether in in the civil rights

era or today has the same impact if you

don't participate as a voter you have no

voice and and it's a betrayal of all who

came before us to fight for that very

right I mean we got that right in the

Civil War amendments in the Fifteenth

Amendment but it was deprived of it of

us and in the south until the mid last

century and for for when I hear black

folks say it doesn't make any difference

I just it just causes me such pain to

know that all those who came before us

fought so hard for us to be able to

participate in the process and to make a

difference it's that's a it's an

unimaginable position for me

personal question did one now father use

for this one because and we discuss that

more later but all right beside

segregation in schools lunch counters

and many other facets of life I growing

up during the the beginning of the civil

rights era and through it what what

strikes me is how many ways in which

black people were negated in one way or

another

more more viciously and openly in the

south but in the North where I lived in

Detroit there were places where we

couldn't go it wasn't they didn't have a

law saying it but you knew you couldn't

go so that there were and at least were

some of them were tiny indignities when

my parents were taking me to a whi camp

in 1963 and ice go to Michigan there was

no place for them to stay overnight so

there are large and small indignities

that you suffered as a black person and

you were always aware of it

not away serve as trustee in church and

the people I have had a blessed life

I've had an opportunity to do a lot of

important things and I've always spent

my family's tradition that you always

help those who are in need of help and

so almost all of my activities outside

of work have been devoted to children's

charities and and civic institutions to

to help the community it's it's a

natural part of how I function how the

expectations that were given to me by my

parents and it's - to whom much is given

much is owed having I'm old now so I

have a broader perspective on things I

was around and conscious as a teenager

in the pre Civil Rights period watched

the civil rights period through that

today when we were negroes we understood

where we were we knew we had to fight -

as they used to tell me as a kid you

have to work twice as hard to get half

as far but that was a that was a in

hansung philosophy it was one devoted to

self-improvement and work and hard work

I when I work with women and minorities

other in our society one of the things

that has come clear to me is we are very

fearful of

coming into contact with the ugly part

of whatever discrimination there is and

my observation as many of us function

with a ceiling that we impose on

ourselves and so my thought to two young

black men and women is fill the

available space because you'll find

there's far more space than you think

there is and if you function as though

there's more space you live a bigger

life okay I don't think the Fugit on the

part of the Constitution that created

the obligation to return slaves the

fugitive slave acts both in the

beginning of the nation and the one

enacted in nineteen eighteen fifty were

designed to enforce that constitutional

obligation to return slaves to their

owner that the earlier one was

eviscerated by the Supreme Court when it

said it it that the Congress could not

force state officials to enforce the

statute so in the north they stopped

enforcing it that led to the 1850

version which was much more stringent

and which was it it it imposed criminal

penalties on state officials who refused

to assist the Bounty Hunter's dragged

blacks back to their owners led to a lot

of free blacks being enslaved there was

a whole movie about a true story about a

person who was enslaved for 12 years who

was a freeman 12 years of slave was the

name

it lacks any rights the white man was

bound to respect under Dred Scott no

under Dred Scott there were no rights

that blacks had at all not not not that

they there was any of that White's had

to respect they were essentially a race

from the Constitution by that decision

that's why the Civil War amendments were

necessary two to one free the slaves

ensure they had equal protection of the

law and the right to vote well oddly

enough in the in the at the formation of

the nation slavery even in the South was

not often justified on moral grounds but

on pragmatic grounds the the moral

justification for slavery became much

more important in the 19th century than

it had been in the 18th and it's the

same as always

God didn't didn't intend for slaves to

be considered human beings

just strange well I think the course of

my life has given me reason to be

optimistic

we've gone from my mother just passed

away she was 92 years old within the

course of her life

we went from and she grew up in the

south as did my father grew up in the

most coarse ugly Jim Crow world where

hanging literally lynching a box was not

an uncommon thing to a point where you

know my father became a physician he

eventually opened his own clinic he was

one of the first black physicians to do

so even if he had to have a Jewish

colleague buy and get the mortgage for

him because he couldn't get a mortgage

from the bank but by force of will by by

having a vision and the energy to do it

we've done amazing things I'm just

worried about whether we can sustain the

the commitment that we've shown

everywhere else I'm worried that in from

a period of slavery to not to virtually

now we've had nothing but increased

educational literacy we're seeing a

decline of literacy now how can that be

those are the things that I'm very

optimistic I mean how is it that a

people who were enslaved have managed to

to not just survive but to prosper now

we need to make sure that we continue to

prosper that's why I tell people to fill

the available space don't shrink down

don't expect something and if you've

encounter it take it on

all right see swagger doesn't such as I

did well the question is how in the pre

Brown era you could achieve rights under

the law under the the Jim Crow laws and

the reality is you couldn't in the south

and so that's why resort to the federal

courts was was had by people like

Thurgood Marshall and others in in that

movement that was a that was a challenge

just to get the the laws consistent with

the Constitution the Constitution now

after the Fourteenth Amendment required

that black people and everybody be given

equal treatment in the law does Jim Crow

laws clearly did not the separate but

equal doctrine was a first it was not

there was no equality it was in fact

designed to prevent equality

so once the laws got aligned with the

Equality requirement of the 14th

amendment then then you're free to use

the political process to vote to support

your candidates to get the policies you

want

you you said you wanted a release I

release you and whatever manner you need

to use the images and statements I've

made a really no compensation now my son

told me that I get no compensation now

I'm happy to do this for the public good

whatever that is I'm Robert Young former

chief justice the Michigan Supreme Court

and I'm going to set with NGP I'm Robert

Young former Chief Justice of the

Michigan Supreme Court and I'm on the

set of NGP what I say oh okay okay all

right

I'm Bob Young I'm the former Chief

Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court

I'm on the set with NGP I'm Robert Young

I'm the former Chief Justice of the

Michigan Supreme Court and I'm on the

set with NGP

I think I like because you got the boat

I'm your former judge you dig to find

everything like that so in GP is how we

branded multi okay okay I'm Robert young

I'm the former Chief Justice of Michigan

Supreme Court and I'm on the set with

NGP getting down to the nitty gritty

you

HELPING A FRIEND PAST SUICIDE

A text from a friend. Asking me to come to the hospital.

Not a burst appendix. Not a car accident.

Self-harm.

It's not surprising. There were signs and I tried to counsel my friend before she did what she did.

There was no anger. No, "You've got so much to live for! Why didn't you talk to your friends, to me, more?"

It takes one to know one.

One's life isn't inherently worthwhile. One may be a friendly, productive, contributing member of society but if those contributions aren't fulfilling to the individual, the hangman's necktie starts looking pretty sexy. On the other hand, a lazy, selfish bum may derive great joy at being able to get up one more day, go down to his favorite gas station to hustle for some change, flirt with a couple of neighborhood girls despite having few prospects and fewer teeth, and say, "Hey...no mansion...but no mortgage...!"

Suicide is the ultimate expression of "I want change NOW" and "I deserve change NOW"

Well...life is like the stock market. There are ups and downs.

When one is kicking butt at her job, or in a great relationship with his spouse, that person isn't thinking, "OK, hurry up with this so we can get to the firing or the domestic abuse." Why should we think that we should have never-ending happiness if we're not equally willing to have never-ending unhappiness?

So, it's good to be aware that the old refrain "Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem" isn't just some silly social worker jingle. Things do change. Just not as quickly as we'd like. It comes when we change our actions and our reactions...slowly but surely. The universe is in no hurry to grant our desires, and it won't do us any favors until we WORK at it.

Which brings us to point number two, "I deserve change NOW". Do you?  Or are you doing the same things over and over again and wondering why people don't recognize your brilliance, or why your bank balance is pitifully low?

Well--do you read? And do your conversations indicate a working brain? Are you even talking to people?

And--Are you able to delay gratification? Do you suffer, and then learn from, the consequences of bad spending decisions? Do you work as hard and as smart at your job(s) as you could?

Some questions to ponder.

In any event, I'm going to work with my friend to help her accomplish the changes she wants in her life. I want her to be happy. I want her to think differently and act differently. She deserves a re-do. We all do.