Politics, People, and Progress: Basheer Jones Speaks Out
00:00:00 so what am I’m I supposed to do I give them food because they were my opposition my thoughts is that Democrats or Republicans have to be in service to the community and people are really going through some serious struggles here in America some third world conditions and okay okay I understand maybe they did some good stuff maybe you feel like President Obama did some really good stuff but the everyday black person do not feel that way [Music] what’s up everybody you tuned in to another episode of strategic moves I’m your host kenal
00:00:40 this is a place where we bring our culture politics and business all together and we do it every week right here on this channel but when I’m not shooting this podcast I am the owner of strategic resources where we specialize in government relations political campaigns and public relations I’ve been doing it for over 25 years right here in this city and I want to make your next move a strategic move so this program gives me an opportunity to do just that I go back and find some of the people we met along the way we come in we talk about some of our experiences
00:01:14 and maybe it’s something in that that you will get out of it that will help you in your business or your personal life so if this sound like some of you interested in all I need you to do is hit the like button hit the Subscribe button and the notification Bell as well so that you will know the next time this program is coming up on so without that we’re going to get right to it today I got what we would call the prodal son has came home today’ this dude here is on his way back in prodal son the prodical son man back in the building so to speak this a cat man that we
00:01:47 know met a long time ago then did a whole lot of stuff with and he done had his ups and downs and he’s back on one of his good moves of doing what he does best and that’s working and representing the people but before we get started with that I want to give a shout out to the number one podcast producer in podcast history we gave him the title as the podcast that’s a hard title to live up to that’s a hard title you G have to live up to it I’m make sure because everybody gonna be like what the hell is Latif doing to get that damn title and I’m G be like that’s why I gave it to him so he
00:02:22 gonna have to do something so what’s going on with your world sir oh man I’m just hearing hot off the hood News Press man oh the altercation of all altercations just happened yeah man that that’s deep in we’ll talk about it now I don’t know if we gonna air this in time for it’ll be old news by the time it come out but that’s terrible I think the city gonna be talking about this for a minute oh yeah oh yeah by the time this goes up it’s gonna be probably hot still hot and heavy shouts out goes to Art McCoy and it it’s a travesty that he had to be assaulted at Home Depot yeah and all
00:03:00 that what going on by elected official by all means man what’s going you know what I’m saying this guy holds office in the great city of East Cleveland he is the actual council president if I’m not mistaken of East Cleveland he’s the number one man in charge and he going around assaulting old people in Home Depot so there’s there’s a whole lot of wrong with what’s going on but that’s hot in the streets man I wouldn’t be a journalist if I didn’t say nothing about it is in the street and we gonna talk more with bar about it so I sipped out who is
00:03:35 our guest here today we gonna get right to it as former councilman of city of Cleveland he’s a philanthropist he author he’s a rapper he’s a artist and he’s done a whole lot for a lot of people here in the city of Cleveland and he’s always out here representing and trying to help African-American males especially try to do better by all means necessary so without further Ado I want everybody to give a nice warm welcome to former councilman rer Jones to the progam I didn’t make it here brother I didn’t know what I was gonna do I didn’t seen you talk to everybody
00:04:12 from here to Mars man and I said when my OG gonna let me on man oh no you was a busy man you was traveling you was doing stuff and I wanted you to be ready to come on down and sit down and talk I know you went through a whole lot of stuff personally trying to build yourself up you went through a tough political race and after that you had to reinvent and figure out what your next moves were and all of that so it looks like now you know came back 10 toes down you right back here in the city of Cleveland you say hey brothers I’m back so tell us brother what you been up to
00:04:46 what’s going on in your world JD man sometimes the valley is the greatest training ground so what looks up may really be down and what Look Down May really be up these past couple years have actually been the best time in my life because when you by yourself anytime that God want to speak to somebody he sends him or her to a place where they only can speak to him you know what I’m saying he sent Moses to the top of the mountain he send Muhammad into the cave he sent he always he sent Jonas to the belly of the well only to recognize that all you ever have as him so this has been
00:05:26 an amazing training ground for me man and I was never lonely but there was times that I needed to be alone to really understand my own intentions of why I’m doing what I’m doing am I doing it to get a standing ovation am I doing it to win a race am I doing it for everybody to say look at Basher look what why am I really doing it and as I had those conversations with myself I said okay now I’m not necessarily back because I never left but I have evolved into a being that understands things a little bit bit differently and you got to be humble you got to take that whooping man and
00:06:03 for years for those who don’t know I give y’all some history man KD Mr kend my Og man he was the person that put me on my first stage to speak in this political world I never even it’s two people that got me involved in politics Ken da and Marsha F those are the two people you know what I’m saying the first time I opened up for Barack Obama as a senator as he was running for president you know what I’m saying put me there I remember you used to come get me and come pick me up and I was hardheaded then and I was hardheaded about up until about a year ago and I just appreciate
00:06:41 you always being patient man with me and I love you man dearly man I appreciate you no problem no problem I I tell everybody I’m a talent scout so I sure you had talent but there’s a lot of talent in the NFL right yeah some of it was more that it was love man like your family I love your family I love you and and as you can tell he’s not an emotional person so he gonna always try to change the conversation and go to but I want him to get his flowers right now man you’ve done so much for this community and a lot of stuff that people don’t even know about but I
00:07:12 want to let if you love and respect me you got to love and respect one of my ogs man I really appreciate that and and we have done a lot and as part of the village I think we all I didn’t understand that Village concept until I got older and now I understand it a lot more it’s the people that you build around you to help ever since I’ve been in business there’s people all the time that is helping me out that’s always around that you know met them like you said the family extended family and so now our village is just big and you’re part of the village so you gonna
00:07:48 always have a seat at the table in our village whether you decide to listen to us or not but you have a seat there everybody don’t listen to everybody but everybody got to understand what the is about taking care of each other and that’s what’s important that’s why I’m ferociously protective KD you you know I’m saying Mama fudge yvon pointer Tim Roberts and it’s a whole heck of a lot more people and even like Latif was talking about Art McCoy and I think that in this city there has been a concerted effort unfortunately by black people themselves who have been more
00:08:24 like Gatekeepers and because there’s no reason that you should not be the pinky of our time and you are that for me you know what I’m saying but there’s people who are in place who don’t want to see you go to that next level unfortunately and as a result of it our community suffers from it and this is what I’m telling people the country the whole country won’t get better until the east side of Cleveland get better yeah why the whole country now why you say that how you applect that to the whole country because Cleveland has always been the largest city in kyoga County the
00:08:58 most impactful City especially when it come to voting especially for the Democrats right kyoga county has always been the most important County or especially for the Democrats in Ohio Ohio has always been is transitioning now but has always been a swing state for the presidential election so no person that ran for president could ever not come to Ohio can never not come to Cleveland can never not come to the east side of Cleveland but still even though we have majority black council members we have a black mayor we have black people in these quote unquote positions of
00:09:33 power and black people are still suffering and why that because people enjoy their crumbs and they don’t want to share piece of the pie and they don’t realize that they’ll continue to only have crumbs until they be willing to feed the people Marsha F told me this mama F she said take care of the people take care of you and she always made that when I interview her on my radio show she was like there’s a difference between an elected official and a public servant some choose to be both and some choose to be one I always thought that politics was a PO Trix they call us dogs they
00:10:07 must be a politics that’s how I view politics I never saw Politics as something that was important until I started getting involved and say okay this is where the power is at and we think that oh people just don’t want to vote people are so numb to politics that they don’t believe that it can have an impact on their lives because they don’t see their politicians until it’s time to run so what was different about when I was being when I was a councilman in war 7 and just in politics we started to bring this to people who never considered politics before to the young to the
00:10:41 younger people and even some of the older people who just didn’t think politics was important but when I became counsilman boom this part go up this part go up that part go up these new buildings these developers who are black who are finally saying we finally getting an opportunity a half a billion dollars of investment in war 7 in the past four years go back and look at War seven you going to see the Cleveland Foundation you’re going to see a new Dave Supermarket you’re going to see Eagle fools you’re going to see link 55 you going to see magnet you’re going to see you know
00:11:09 what I’m saying the Inova project you’re going to see a new dentist school you’re G to see all the different housing that built all that happened go back and look at the papers and you’re going to see whose signature was on those so let’s talk about that so why didn’t you stay the counselman why did you want to run from me good work there and the people needed you so why didn’t you just I’m a knucklehead and know that it’s not being a knucklehead I mean why you had your reason it was it was a knuckle it was a knuckle I was impatient sometime a knucklehead just means someone that’s
00:11:36 impatient and I figured man if I could do this in war s then I can do this for the entire city okay because I know in order to uplift this city you gonna have to uplift the east side of Cleveland you’re gonna have to uplift the areas of people that don’t really vote of people who may not be as literate of people who are dealing with Poverty of people who are most violent you have isn’t that the way of Jesus isn’t that the way of Moses and Muhammad and Mary to take care of the least of these they don’t want to take care of the least of these so I thought man if I did this in war
00:12:08 s then I could do this for the entire city that was my ignorance so what did you learn from that I learned that I was ignorant is it ignorant or ignorance just mean that didn’t know I didn’t know and I didn’t tap into the wisdom that was around me like you like other Elders who said Basher is not your time I looked at that as what you mean is not my time God is the only one that tells me it’s my time who are you to tell sometime God send you people and they send you that wisdom and you had that conversation with me and Sam and others who I love and adore and I didn’t listen and you
00:12:43 know what’s crazy man even though you told me that it wasn’t the best idea you still stood with me and I appreciate you for that because I think that everything happens in a way that God wants it to happen so what did it spark it sparked something aming Spar something amazing where now people are more involved in politics if I would to run again in the upcoming election I will win you believe so no doubt about it no doubt people are woke they was just four years behind know they didn’t know how they know go all right because I told you we we gonna steep our time on this one
00:13:22 I know all right so we gonna move on so after you lost the election and you went through you like I said you was doing your thing you left here and you went to Houston for a little while which is totally different I remember you was talking to me about that and you was like hey I got an opportunity down there and I was like might be good to clear your head and get into something new down there so tell me what was the difference in the Houston experience and what you did down there versus that because that opened you up into a whole lot of other things that we’re gonna talk
00:13:53 about so what was the Houston experience like before I went to it was Dallas Dallas but and let me say this is important for everybody tuned in you got to have somebody that you can call that you can get advice from that you can get wisdom from you got to have that we all got a teacher we all got teacher so if you don’t have a teacher that you can get information from and get wisdom from then you’re gonna be lost so Ken has always been KD has always been like a father to me man been a a mentor for me so anyway so he’s been a part of that Journey as far as conversation before
00:14:25 I went to Dallas I went to synagog though okay I was I spent time in synagog I went to gory Island and there was a release that I felt in the slave dungeons in gory Island and it was initially when I walked the island I was just crying like this is where it all started at there was two things I had to forgive in order for me to elevate myself or change my perspective and it happened on gory Island when I was inside the Slate one second Latif can you turn his mic then all right when I was on gory Island two thoughts came to my mind two voices I heard one when I was in this small
00:15:04 slave dungeon at the point of no return the door no return a message said to me we are not victims we are victorious and that touched me because I always seen my ancestors who experiened slavery as victims when in reality they were victorious the very fact that I was returning was a sign of the victory even though there’s the bumps and bruises you got to go in order to get to the victory that’s correct the second thing I had to forgive was my own father because I always hated my father for not being there in my life so as a result I felt like a double victim I felt like a victim
00:15:41 because I’m a black I’m a black man because of the history of slavery in this country and I felt like a victim of being a young boy who felt abandoned by his father those are the two things I had to release once I released that I realized that everything that I have gone through and the Very fact I’m here with you right now despite the many attempts historically of them trying to destroy us when I say them it doesn’t necessarily just mean white supremacist or black Supremacy or whatever it just means evil energy the satanic system right right this system that we are up under here in
00:16:18 America tries to trick us into believing that it is greater than God’s system God’s system is the most powerful God’s system is the system that we have to submit to this system of phones and materialism and heathenism and love of pleasure and love of things and love of value based upon things is not the real system the true value is what we have on the inside that’s what freed me K because initially I was so upset with Cleveland I was very angry with my community because I thought that L which was really a lesson it wasn’t a loss that L I thought was a loss and I thought it was
00:16:56 a representation of how my community felt about me but it wasn’t it was more tactics it was there was a hidden hand that was a part of that whole thing and I know you don’t want to go there but I just want to put it out there power in the words of Marcus Garvey power never concedes to power something that not is given but it’s something that must be taken so when mayor Jackson left recognized that there had to be someone who got into that position that in their mind that was more amicable with corporate Cleveland and I would never be amicable to corporate Cleveland I would
00:17:28 never be able to Corporate America because Corporate America corporate Cleveland any Corporation they benefit off of sucking the blood of the people that is where they get their food and I would never be okay with that so I went to Dallas slide that on in there real quick while we talking I there like say I know want to go there but I’m g go there we we we hear you loud and clear okay all right so back in Dallas I went to Dallas it was interesting KD because you’re Muslim and you know what happened October 7th what was you doing you got to tell the people what
00:18:02 you when you was down there because you didn’t go down there to just CA Dallas is a whole different animal than Cleveland everything so give us the experience I never saw a mega M until I went to Dallas really Mega MOS and’s houses down there too okay okay but I never seen a mega mosque I’m talking about thousands of people in the MOs but many a lot of the issues when it com to Muslims in this country not African-American Muslims but immigrant Muslims is that they are they are not knowledgeable about politics and they’re coming from countries where they are not politically
00:18:33 free whether it’s Saudi Arabia whether it’s Palestine so forth and so on so I went down there actually in August because they offered me a position to help with the community politics and Community engagement that happened in August then in October the situation happened the attack happened October 7th the Muslims didn’t know what to do because they were just like what do we do right now and it was a blessing I was able to bring what I was taught on the battlefield of Cleveland down to Dallas and if you pay attention look at the marches down there look at the them
00:19:07 going to City Hall meetings and that spark happened across the country so th those were much bigger marches right definitely you talking about 10,000 people really yeah you talking about you talking about 20,000 people showing up and I was a part of that group that put those marches together so it’s good man having that city councilman like knowledge and being able to give it to my community so in return I started my own political consulting company strategic moves Jr hey guess what under under the knowledge of who that’s why I love you man cuz you not like
00:19:44 these you not like these Negroes in Cleveland man you give your wisdom away for free right you know what I’m saying and you was just giving me knowledge and wisdom about what I needed to do and how I needed to do it and that’s why you gonna always be successful and and Cleveland won’t ever be great until our community learn to do what you do which is be free with your wisdom be free with your knowledge I shouldn’t have to pay you $500 I shouldn’t have to go do this and do that and jump all these hoops in order for you to give me the wisdom why should I have to fall and go through
00:20:14 the same mistakes that you went through how we gonna ever grow that’s why I appreciate you that’s why you my man that’s why I don’t tolerate nobody ever disrespecting you man because I know what you did for me I appreciate it and I will give you the Thousand do I told you when the show was over with that’s enough okay so down there now you say then the attacks happened and all of that then that turned into leading into protest and that kind of thing and along the way how did Cornell West fit into this thing man with Dr West man he have always been a student of his as a quasi
00:20:47 philosopher and quasi psychologist my degree is African studies but being black in America you have no you have no choice but to be a philosopher and to be psychologist or you gonna you’re GNA go down so anyway because of the work I was doing in Dallas he came to an event Dr West he came to an event that we did the African-American Muslim leadership in Houston did a major event where during February they brought Muslim black leaders from across the country to give speeches in all the MOs like Houston and Dallas you talking about hundreds like in Houston it’s like maybe 150 mil
00:21:27 it’s like big okay the same thing so he came to an event that I was hosting and he appreciated the way I was hosting it and he be to talk to me about some things and had some dialogue with me Senator Nina Turner also made some connections for me and we talked and he asked me to be a part of his campaign and this was the first time Ken where I did something that wasn’t politically motivated I did it because I did it with my heart and I think that the difference now where I’m at to day you still can feel the same passion of course and the same love is to do things with my heart to
00:22:05 don’t do things for political reasons because at the end of the day your soul is going to be the thing that suffers and that’s how I view service in my community when I was a councilman or just an activist or travel around the globe as I said sagol and Gambia we meet with the presidents there and talk about how we can build the bridge between the African diaspora African-Americans senales gambians but you got to do it with your soul and Dr West has been someone who’s been a voice for our community for so long I couldn’t not take his requests so what Cornell West is running
00:22:41 for president yes and what he’s running as an independent he’s running as an independent yes and so what is it about his campaign that you like I know you had him in Cleveland and that kind of things so give me some of the top level I guess the stuff that you would want to share with us that drives you between why you will give him your vote just as a Muslim and as a conscious black man there’s no way that I could support those other candidates there’s no way that I could vote for the Lesser evil there’s no way I can do that I have but is there a evil without a
00:23:16 doubt you think that Democrats are evil too they worse than the Republicans man really they worse than the Republicans I’d rather you stab me in my chest than in my back really yeah I’m good stab they both hurt rather see it coming all right okay then think that it’s not there and it’s the Democrats got a lot of work to do brother I know that there’s some black people who rock with them and are in good positions and are doing well and much love to them but the everyday black person in America don’t know how they are being benefited by politics in general and is that is that that may
00:23:56 not be the truth is is that an elected officials part is or is that the person part of not trying to seek the knowledge that they supposed to get that’s available to them where they seek us when they need our vote they seek us then when I was a city councilman I didn’t serve people based upon if they voted for me or not matter of fact if they voted against me I would try to serve them even more and I would see people who were like my opposition when I was running for office and they was with the other candidate and they did some evil stuff to me boy but they were the
00:24:28 same people that was in the food line trying to get some food when I was passing it out so what am I supposed to do I give them food because they were my opposition my thoughts is that Democrats or Republicans have to be in service to the community and people are really going through some serious struggles here in America some third world conditions and okay okay I understand maybe they did some good stuff maybe you feel like a President Obama did some really good stuff but the everyday black person do not feel that way the everyday black person do not feel like Joe matter
00:25:01 of fact President Joe Biden who I interviewed on my show and I interviewed President Obama and I was all like this but look at what’s happening in Palestine right now man look at what’s going on right now not only the genocide there but look at the genocide right here in America so the Democrats their Ploy can’t continue to be support support us because you don’t want to support them that can’t be I understand the ploy it has to be we need to support you because this is what you have done and if you have done something then come talk to us about what you’ve done and I am a
00:25:36 considered myself to be educated and I can see more damage than I don’t think they caused any damage as much as there’s just a lot of damage going on that you believe they could fix the Democrats yeah right man you gotta go back to Malcolm X no I I over history the history of the democratic party is bad with that what I’m saying is that we’re faced right now at a point where we have to make some decisions that’s coming up and to that point of you saying lesser are the evils I get it but I don’t think I hold the whole Democratic party on Joe Biden’s head that’s
00:26:17 my point I think the party is made up of those Congress people those Senators these Mayors these council members who all wrote the same letter that the Republicans wrote when we asked for a ceasefire all literally wrote the same letter you see the Democrats and Republicans know how to come together when they all want to stand for something they know how to work together then and they all wrote the same email and same letter Israel had the right to defend itself I’m like this the same letter from the Republican and the Democrat you say bipartisan oh they they know when
00:26:52 to be bipartisan so my thoughts KD is and I know you have a very well-known show and the people who watch it I know I get it but if you come it just is I’m not talking about you I’m talking about the people that’s gonna tune in yeah don’t if you come to me with the political discussion on why you want to why we should support the Democrats over the Republicans because of what Trump gonna do then you already starting The Wrong conversation with me because the question is tell me what the Democrats have done especially during this time while President Biden has been in office and if
00:27:24 you can explain it to us then then we stand to be corrected but just support him because we don’t want to support Trump it’s like I’m telling you man I mean you what you’re saying that can’t be the only excuse the only reason and that’s all I hear and that’s the only one you’re hearing and I I agree you there there has to be a bigger reason and and to that point that gives us a a chance to Pivot a little bit because we’re going to be having these discussions yes we’re going to be putting these Barber Shop talks together and you’re going to be a part of those
00:27:53 discussions and get an opportunity to do that so people we want you to tune in we’re going to be going around do kyoga County we’re going to do some up in akan we’re going to Cincinnati we’re going to Columbus and we’re going to be bringing Brothers together to sit down and talk a little bit about what’s going on with African-Americans we’re calling it the title of it we call it oh cutting the stigma of african-amer cutting the stigma African-American male vote and we’re going to talk a little bit about that and we’re going to also do believe it or not our podcast
00:28:27 we’re going in the beauty shops too we gonna do some beauty shops we’re gonna sit down with the ladies we gonna talk to the ladies also so our podcast strategic moves along with sponsored by voices for a better future our campaign this year with voices of a better future campaign is called let’s win with black men amplifying the black male vote and former councilman barer Jones is going to be one of the panelists is going to be going around with us to help us talk about africanamerican men vote and before it’s over with this brother’s going to vote for Jo
00:29:01 [Music] B we gota go by the time we make it to Cincinnati I if you tune in with this we in Cincinnati and he’s still talking this talk that means we did something wrong you might be Dr West by we really know we come back and I’m with w we done did something what I would like and I know you’re GNA have people say oh that’s Basher and he’s just going on the tangent and that’s just people who not listening if you think that what I’m saying is just like off off The Rocker you are not spending time in places where I’m spending time man you are not talking with the grandmothers and aunties and
00:29:47 uncles and young people who are doing time Behind Bars and parents who have an issue with trying to take care of Housing and grandmothers who living in these big old houses and got to sell it because the bank won’t the bank is looking at their property as worth 25,000 but they got $100,000 worth of D damages and repairs if if you don’t if you think what I’m saying and how I’m saying it is like something you can’t understand you’re not spending time with average everyday black people in America not even just in Cleveland here in Cleveland we got a majority black people who are
00:30:24 on Council okay where’s the why hasn’t there been any Investments on the east side of Cleveland like I do we was debating that when I was running for mayor and we talked about the importance of East Side being invested in no Investments the wealth has to shift you can’t talk about the violence on the east side of Cleveland but not talk about the violence that taking place in boardrooms where black people don’t have opportunities go to any institution in the city of Cleveland and you GNA find people that look like me pushing the cars and not an upper Administration why
00:30:58 is that why is it that there’s no CEO in in in in any company in the city of Cleveland I’m talking about Fortune 300 400 500 whatever that are I’m talking about school district I’m talking about anything that we have power over why ain’t nobody from Cleveland in these positions the nonprofits whoever because most of the people in Cleveland leave no man that’s not they leave that’s not why do they leave oh because oh that’s what I’m saying they gotta leave they gotta leave Hey listen I for black yeah cuz I I done interviewed enough entertainers and people in all kinds of business
00:31:35 that when I talk to them and when they say they they saying words gotta get out of Cleveland gota got of Cleveland they gotta get out of here I just want black people in this city to know and and much love to everybody and I’m this is listen I gotta what else I learned after coming from out of that that Valley is man my voice I speak up for my community I have to speak up for the people who are the voiceless I have to be their translator so I’m trans to you what they’re feeling don’t be mad at the translation James bwin said that to be conscious
00:32:05 in Black in America is to be in constant rage so you need to feel me what I’m saying right now you don’t have to like how I’m saying it or even what I’m saying just know that there’s a lot of people who feel exactly the way that I feel and I don’t have to feel this way I have a a morehous college degree I have a master’s I could travel the world and I’m choosing to fight for these people because these is my community this is where I came from and you need toar hear them you need to understand
00:32:30 them whether it’s the Cleveland School District whether it’s the mayor’s office whether it’s the the the nonprofit foundations here whether it’s the the the for-profit foundations why can’t black people from Cleveland who came up through Cleveland from elementary school middle school and high school who understand the Cleveland experience why can’t they get any opportunities in their city if you truly want to make this city better why and this ain’t new neither because of the G Keepers come on now let’s let me ask you a question cuz we because we going to keep on
00:33:02 our time and bar is not going to where you guys will see him quite often what do you think the kid the school is coming out with a school levy what’s your thoughts on the school levy first of all I told the brother who’s a friend of mine I said brother you gonna do a levy no brother I ain’t gonna do no Levy okay okay now statement I made to the brother is why they come up with this news story about you or about the school district needing money why they come up with it when you was in there you just got there a couple months ago why they just do a story on it why they didn’t
00:33:36 talk about this when the last CEO was in office you know why brother what they do better than us they take care of their people better than we do get him up out of there make sure he got a good comfy position somewhere we gonna get the brother in there and now new Story come out boom you need a levy why because if you want to pass a levy you ain’t passing it without black people okay so you gotta put a black person in there that’s what you believe come on man KD why would they come out with a news story about the the the school district needing money why
00:34:08 would they come out and the brother just been there for six months to a year why would they just come out why they didn’t come out with it two years ago three years ago they actually did levies prior to that I talk about the levy I’m talking about the story that talked about the school district they going through a massive layoff right now in the school district why is that because they ain’t got no money why don’t they because cmsd does a terrible job of managing their dollars now tell me the last CEO from this Cleveland metropolitan and back
00:34:36 in Cleveland Municipal School District who was black and from Cleveland just give me one that was blacken from Cleveland blacken from Cleveland CEO of the school district I don’t think we ever had one okay okay so who was who would be better you got little brothers like young brother Derek Holyfield Terence Mitchell these young black who went to East Tech and went to East High went to Glenville went and got their masters in PhD you got brother Jolly who over there at Warrenville who’s a superintendent over there why wouldn’t he be why wouldn’t he make Miss Jackie
00:35:10 Bell who should have been she could have been the CEO over at Glen a CEO of the school why wouldn’t they have somebody who understand the Cleveland experience over the school district why is that that’s Choice okay who chooses the mayor okay there you go come on talk to me brother so my question again talk to me question again they’re going to have a school L do you believe that they should pass a school L what I believe is that and let me be clear this is where they can see me at that’s your I am in opposition to any Levy until certain things is made clear of how our community
00:35:46 is gonna be affected by it so let’s go so I will be in opposition to I got it and we got seven minutes and we going we going to end on this one on this Levy thing I I want to ask you when you say that because you are somebody who says you fight for the community you have a reputation of doing that and that’s what you’ve been doing and I know that you’re a product of cmsd and you done that’s your thing so right now you’re saying that you don’t believe that the kids ought to get an opportunity because of this no because yeah because that’s what’s happen you know I I
00:36:23 recently became a substitute teacher I got it so no no I recently became teacher did you know that you know you know I know that’s why I’m laughing about see brother I’ve been in the classrooms and I want to take a moment to say to every teacher out there may God bless you every principal every superintendent specifically the teachers and principles may God bless you I did two classes and I’m telling you I’m ready to retire [Music] already I’m man brother the conditions within this schools brother is worse than you can ever imagine wow if we’re pushing for a levy what is that money
00:37:04 going towards what’s the game plan what’s the game plan to get more black and brown people teaching in the school district okay what’s the game plan to make sure that there’s more programming you know what I’m saying after school program social emotional learning when do we start the process of feeding our children better school lunch when do we I know I know these are some of these state things I know these are some state things but as a school district we could go and and push for these type of things when do we start we got to say yes but I’ve had plenty of young people who
00:37:33 come to me and say to say yes they wasn’t able to get any scholarships and able to get any funding I know who really runs the school district okay okay okay we know who really runs the school district and it’s nonprofit the nonprofits of the city of Cleveland who really run this thing interesting all right and they have a major choice in who becomes the CEO of the school you can’t put them in without having certain conversations with certain organizations in the school if not then these school districts don’t get the funding supposed funding that they’re supposed to get
00:38:02 what is the game plan there has to be a plan it can’t just be you got to take care of the kids it can’t be that because that’s just the ploy how are we helping these babies and I’m telling you if you go inside the schools KD and you spend time I am fearful of what this next generation is going to be I’m fearful I’ve never seen anything like it I go to the schools I go to the juvenile detention center I was talking with a young boy juvenile deten 13 years old in jail for attempted murder okay the village is in shambles in our community and
00:38:37 institutions are using our the fact that we trying to survive using that ignorance to push and get things over by just saying oh we just taking care of the kids no it has to be more than that so that’s why I wanted you to explain that because I don’t want it to be oh barier just bitter oh barier that no but I think it’s they gonna say it anyway but I think it’s safe to be you know what else I learned in the valley KD what’s that I don’t give a damn what they say because they don’t even have the courage to do the work that we’ve been doing yeah that’s true and it’s easy
00:39:13 for them yeah from the back from the crowd to look at us on the game them cats be booing LeBron boo LeBron how you ain’t hit that free throw dude you was at Zelma George Court it wasn’t nobody out there you shot and you missed you think LeBron do with 20,000 people Bing them right see cats can talk from the crowds but they’re not in the game that’s true so when you walk the neighborhoods like we walk and you sit there and and in front of a mother who’s sobbing because her baby just got killed or you help burying grandmothers or you talking to Young Brothers Who Behind Bars
00:39:52 and you help them get free because kyoga county is one of the worst counties when it comes to over criminalizing black and brown people man what do I care about what they talking about brother they just talking because they in the crowd because but once you get in the game and you want to court with me right then you GNA appreciate more of the work that we’re willing to do and you’re G to understand the passion behind what I’m saying and the urgency behind what we saying so we willing to work with everybody KD but you’re not gonna just work with us because we supposed to do
00:40:20 it no we done with that we done with that or you need us because it’s something you want that’s it yeah that’s it and most of them are blind by the way oh they are black yeah yeah most of them are black so it ain’t like no no white thing or black thing no some of the worst people for this city of Cleveland they look just like you and me that’s correct they look just like you and me that’s why I love you that’s why I love Marsha fudge you understand that’s why I love certain people and others we know what you say behind our backs we know that’s true but just understand that this
00:40:50 is our city and the very young people that you afraid of they all love me because I take care of their families and I’m there for them so while you are spending time trying to battle with me you don’t know that we can stop the violence we sto the violence War 7 you know how and your young that I would bring around the young who was on the mayor’s race and who I sat down with and and broke her deal we saved lives because of that so I’m their translator and it’s also my job to translate this to them so that they can understand and I just once again before we close just want to tell
00:41:25 you man how much I appreciate you man and please Latif don’t cut this out man don’t cut it out brother how much I appreciate you man I thank you you could have been giving up on this city but you didn’t I thank your wife I thank your family you know what I’m saying your amazing daughters your son who share you with us man and thank you for for putting on this show and you know sometimes you got to go through things to learn certain lessons and I’ve made a lot of mistakes I’ve made a lot of mistakes and my mistakes can never make me stop this mission that God has given me
00:41:58 so if you could do it all over again if you could just reset and go back would you have ran for mayor at that particular time or would you have waited and did something else it’s so hard because of all the beautiful lessons that I learned it’s I wouldn’t even want to take away the lessons that I learned and how the mistakes that I made how it really cleared so many people from around me and people who I would have never if I would mayor I would have been messed up man because I just wasn’t mentally prepared I didn’t understand what Cam’s Corner was going through I understood the
00:42:38 corner of Huff but I didn’t understand Cam’s corner I didn’t understand what was going on in belir I didn’t understand what was happening on the west side because most East Siders don’t go to the West Side that’s correct that’s right when you from Cleveland you understand that everybody else don’t understand that but you from Cleveland we never went to the West Side unless we was moving there because we thought it was better but we never moved we never you can exist in Cleveland for your whole life and never go to the west side of that’s correct and vice versa so I learned a
00:43:07 lot brother I wouldn’t I don’t regret anything I’m happy I will say the lessons that I learned is to be more patient and that I remember George Forbes he anybody know Mr Forbes man you know how he talk so he’s like man I ain’t gonna I ain’t gonna curse but he said man a rolling stone don’t gather no more do you understand that man you do you goddamn understand it I was like yes sir so he was basically telling me that I’m moving around the world too much and if I want to make a change I need to get focused and when he told me that that’s when I won city council you George Floyd
00:43:41 Marsha fudge with m s Samir was Major reasoning behind that so I appreciate you and I appreciate you KD thank you man so what we gonna do it’s like we want to thank you for coming on our program as always like I told everybody we’re going to be doing a whole tour around the state and you’ll be watching us as we go around and do our Barber Shop talks and you’ll hear more from former councilman barier Jones and in the description and the link we’ll have any way all the ways that you can reach out to the councilman and reach out to him and talk with him about the stuff that
00:44:17 was going on or anything that you got going on and how you can get contact with him about his books and all the other stuff he got going on in his life but right now bar what we do we give you this camera right here or you get up take your time say whatever you want to say to the world as your cat Williams moment no dreams of making it to Harvard the young boy he just trying to get off of Harvard never had a daddy he don’t feel like being fathered so when you talk to him he don’t feel like being bothered no dreams of making it to Broadway because on Broadway young boys will
00:44:54 kill you in Broad day I’m trying to bring Union cuz it’s superior but people feel like love is inferior and you ain’t got to be no saint clear to have a beautiful interior I’m trying to make it to this Garden Valley called heaven with all my Kinsmen and my brethren I came a long way [ __ ] many miles cried many tears plus I smiled many Smiles I never thought that I would even see my 30th this is he