Black Perspective: September 3, 2023

This week on The Black Perspective, Esther Dillard discusses reparations in the city of Philadelphia; Vanessa Tyler goes to the owner suite and talks race car ownership; Mike Stevens talks with UNCF’s Lodriguez Murray about HBCU safety; Ahmed Gordon kicks off International Podcast Month with a couple who have produced some of the biggest podcasts in the country; Morgyn Wood talks God, family and football, and Doug Davis gets into the grillz of a mother-daughter business duo.

Listen now!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's September third, and today wetalk about reparations in the city of Philadelphia.
Vanessa Tyler takes us to the owner'ssuite in the car racing community.
We discuss HBCU safety with a memberof the UNCF and on Ed Gordon starts
his series on podcasting those stories andmore. Welcome to the Black Perspective.

(00:20):
I'm your host. Welcome to theBlack Perspective, a weekly community affairs program
on the Black Information Network featuring interviewsand discussions on issues important to the black
community. The issue of reparations forthe descendants of freed black people in this
country has become a growing national conversation, the latest one in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

(00:41):
The Black Information Networks Ester Dillard spokewith one city activist who is holding
public forums to get more people totalk about the city's recent action to address
the issue and a non privileged resolutionauthorized in the creation of the Philadelphia of
Reparations Task Force to study and developreparations proposals for black Philadelphia and descendants.
Twenty twenty three, Philadelphia City Councilvoted to create a reparations task force.

(01:06):
Black council member Jamie Gautier said duringa council meeting. The task force would
examine the impact of slavery on thedescendants of the formerly enslaved. And while
I am proud that Philadelphia is abeacon of progressive ideals and diversity, we
know that black Philadelphians who descended fromenslaved Africans endure racism that's baked into the

(01:29):
foundation of our city and society.Therefore, the city has a duty to
join with stay in federal government andremove and rectify extraordinary racial disparities, because
not only did the government never atonefor its original sin of American slavery,
but for generations after the Civil War, General Order Number three and the Fourteenth

(01:53):
Amendment, lawmakers enacted and encourage policiesthat subjugated black residents to second classes and
ship redlining prevented black families from earninggenerational wealth. Predatory companies and individuals tricked
black residents into quote buying homes oncontract, turning black families who just wanted

(02:15):
a home of their own into cashcows. Employers paid black employees less than
their white counterparts, continuing the centurieslong tradition of exploiting black bodies for labor.
And segregated public schools forced children ofcolor to learn, and crumbling and
overcrowded environments preventing generations of already disadvantagedyoung people from obtaining the high quality education

(02:42):
they needed to escape crippling poverty.Gautier and Black City Council member Kendrew Brooks
said the task Force was crucial toaddressing current problems the city is facing.
Black children still get far fewer resourcesand opportunities, and white children and Black
families suffer from poverty, violence,and other dangerous conditions at a far higher

(03:05):
rate than white families. Because reparationsare not a handout, they are what
the descendants of enslaved Africans are owedand need. And nowhere is this more
apparent than the gun violence epidemic thatdisproportionately impacts our working class Black residents.
You can trace a direct line fromthe decades of racially motivated disinvestment in black

(03:28):
neighborhoods to gun violence. City activistof Bona Hagan's told me on the BN
he's also organizing public discussions about justwhat the task force needs to do.
He explained that the first in aseries of meetings was set for August this
year, but would continue in aneffort to gather more information. Well,
you know, I ran for CityCouncil at large back in May, and

(03:52):
a major part of my campaign wasreparations economic repair for for Americans aka American
freedmen. And I would like tothink that because of my speaking at city
Council for the past year a yearand a half about these issues, that

(04:14):
city Council actually passed a resolution tocreate a reparations task force. And I
think sometimes by the end of thisyear or the beginning of twenty four they
will actually formulate the task force andstart the hearings. What kind of response

(04:34):
have you gotten from people who knowabout this and in the Philadelphia region.
Has it been extremely positive, hasit been extremely negative? Mix? What
what kind of responses have you gottenfrom this? It's really been a mix,
you know, people saying, oh, they're not going to give us
no reparations, to people saying,well, it's about time. And it

(04:58):
really is. When you look atthe fact that data shows that sixty eight
million so called white families can directlylink their wealth to the eighteen fifties,
and then you look at forty fivemillion white families can directly link their wealth

(05:21):
to the Homestead Act of eighteen sixtytwo. So during those times, we
were just coming out of slavery orstill in slavery, and we had no
opportunity to generate generational wealth. Sofrom being emancipated to convict leasing, to

(05:44):
Jim Crow laws, to discrimination andeducation, discrimination and housing redlining, no
GI Bill, and the list goeson the valuing of our properties. We
have no opportunities. And we've beenAfro Americans aka American freedmen. We had
no opportunities to build wealth. Andthat's why there's so much crime and violence

(06:11):
in our communities because we're we haven'thad our generational wealth developed. So it's
a it's a major issue if wewant to decrease crime and violence in our
communities. And even President Biden saidthat one of the number one of the
top issues in the in the countryis decreasing the economic wealth gap. And

(06:34):
the only way that could be donein our communities is by reparation. I
know that this is such a subjectthat's it's hard to put your arms around
because it's such a large topic andit's such especially when you're trying to figure
out who will who, what isyour criteria in which to determine who gets

(07:00):
what and well best. Yeah,that's that's part of the reason for the
for the town hall is to letpeople know who exactly UH is going to
get reparations because all so called blackpeople are not deserving of reparations here in

(07:21):
the United States, only those whowere emancipated. So you know you and
it's and it's lineage based, it'snot just based on race. So that's
why I say American freedmen. TheAmerican freedmen are those they are the descendants

(07:42):
of those who were enslaved, andthey are the ones who are entitled to
UH to reparations. Not people whocame here from Haiti, or people who
came here from Jamaica or people whocame here from Africa. They're not entitled
to reparations from the United States.So that's part of the reasons why we

(08:05):
are having the town hall, aswell as to talk about affirmative action because
you know that the Supreme Court overturnedit, and also about the national reparations
movement, as well as creating aOffice of Freedmen Affairs here in Philadelphia.
Now, some believe that it shouldbe a set amount of money given to

(08:26):
individuals and African Americans. Others havebeen talking about this, you know,
across the country about it being kindof a sort of a pool of funds
that set aside for initiatives that willhelp people buy let's say, property,
or get their get help with theireducation. Can you explain what kind of
reparations you'll be focusing on and whydo you think that this should be the

(08:48):
approach. It should be all ofthe above. Whenever there's repair that's due
to someone, it's always economically repaired. So if you trip on somebody's sidewalk,
you're going to get economically repaired.They're not going to say, oh,

(09:09):
let's give you a good education sothat you could, you know,
get a better job. So wedo want education to be a part of
it, but the reality is thatdata shows that the average white person without
a high school degree makes more thanthe average black person after American who has

(09:33):
a four year degree. So educationalone is not going to do it because
there's so much discrimination and bigotry inthe country. So we've definitely got to
get the money. We definitely haveto get housing, but it's not a
one you know, a one trippony, so to speak. It has

(09:54):
to involve all of those areas.I know, as a person running for
office, you've run into a lotof different people talking to you about,
you know, different things and differentthings that Philadelphia needs, Philadelphians need.
Why did you decide to focus onthis as something you wanted to put your

(10:15):
energy behind. Because again, allthe data shows that crime and violence is
a result of poverty. And whenyou look at where all the crime and
violence is taking place, is primarilyin our communities by our people, and
it's primarily because of the economic wealth. Again, so you know, having

(10:39):
all these different workshops and programs tohelp the community has proven not to work
over the last three, four orfive decades, and no one that I've
seen or heard has really been talkingabout the big elephant in the room,
which is poverty. So until wedeal with getting the economics leveled off,

(11:01):
we we're going to always continue tohave these issues of crime and violence in
our community. So that's the mainreason why I'm focusing on economics. And
you know, I ran before fouryears ago, and I didn't have a
reparations platform, but I knew thatit was an economic issue, and I

(11:22):
thought that maybe it was, youknow, creating jobs or creating a better
education, but when I really lookedat the data, it's it's really an
economic issue. And the data alsoshows that, you know, people say,
oh, well, when you getthe money, all you're gonna do
is spend it. Some people aren'tgoing to spend it. But that's what

(11:43):
you do with money. You spendmoney, and it will increase the economics
in this country. It will itwill help the country at large, just
like when the Homestead Act had andit benefited the country. So when people

(12:03):
get money, when we get themoney, we're going to create businesses which
are going to create jobs that aregoing to create an opportunity for people that
will reduce crime and violence. Soit's a it's a it's absolutely a necessity.
And one more thing, you know, the Brookings Institute did a study

(12:24):
on home values and since two thousand, they've determined that Afro American aka American
freedman's homes have been devalued over thelast twenty three twenty three years over a
hundred and fifty six million dollars.No, I'm sorry, one hundred and

(12:48):
fifty six billion dollars. So imaginewhat that money would do if it was
infused in our communities. Imagine howmuch was lost over those twenty three years,
you know, in our community becauseof that devalue. So we we
it's an economic issue all the way. So now if they perhaps missed this

(13:11):
meeting on the twenty sixth, whatcan they do to perhaps be a part
of this this this movement. You'reasking all the right questions. Where this
is the first of many town hallsthat we're going to have throughout the city.
They can go to my my Facebookpage, Oh Bonnahagen's og bio in

(13:33):
A H A G I N Sto get information. They can contact me
and I'll send them information. Butthis is an ongoing uh town hall that
that we're going to have at leastthree to five more throughout the city.
And we're going to also record videowhat's happening and we'll we'll have that on

(13:56):
social media as well. Well.Thanks so much. I appreciate your time.
I appreciate you. Thank you somuch. I'm Esther Dillard on the
Black Information Network. Thanks Esther.The need for speed car racing and invigorating
sport getting a lot of attention latelyfrom the black community. Last week we

(14:16):
interviewed the real person behind the soonto be blockbuster Grand Treismo. The movie
is based on a black driver andthis week the Black Information That Works,
Vanessa Tyler takes us into the owner'ssuite. Gentlemen, start your engines.
I'm honored to be joined by MikeHall, founder of American Wheelman, and

(14:39):
Stan Washington, chairman of American Wheelman. The American Wheelman is the only black
owned team in the history of theInternational Motorsports Association the IMSA, which is
owned by NASCAR. Stan Washington,Mike Call, Welcome to the Black Information
Network. Thank you, Vanessa.Thank you for having us all talk about

(15:01):
American whalemen and how racing is beingelevated into a sport for the culture.
Yeah, racing is something that's beenin my blood for a long time,
you know, professionally and as apassion. So it was just time to
you to do this under under myumbrella. Well, stay in Washington,
you are a numbers man. Talkabout the big business behind this. So

(15:24):
first of all, I just wantto say we're super excited to have this
conversation because we don't often get achance to talk about how important it is
to have the support of our community, and that is really part of the
business model that we have here atAmerican Willman. We talk a lot about
the importance of performing on the track, being able to perform and stand up

(15:45):
on the podium and win, butultimately this is really about activating and unifying
our community around racing and from alifestyle perspective and in terms of really how
we build our cultural identity. Thatreally is primarily our goal. Well's then,
lately news was made when one ofthe biggest athletes on the planet got

(16:06):
involved in racing, Michael Jordan.What does that do to diversity in racing?
I think it helps you. Thisis really an opportunity for everyone to
participate. We think it's super excitingto see what Michael has done. He
has done a really effective job.So we just really want to take our
place. We think that we're goingto be a great representation of the African
American community. And then ultimately wereally have I think recently started to identify

(16:33):
and to highlight places where we canreally create a greater voice for what we're
what we're doing. Mike, youmay want to just chime in a little
bit in terms of you know,what we did for Hip Hop fifty and
most importantly, you know how wereally see the connection between racing and the
music community. Sure, so whenwe launch this program, you know,

(16:55):
I always had an idea of doingan art car. Art cars are traditioned
in my sport, but kind ofstarted off with with Andy Warhol back in
nineteen seventy three when he painted oneof the BMWCSL race cars for Lament.
So you know, this is apage out of tradition in history. But
you know, me being me,I'm a hip hop head, and uh,

(17:17):
I absolutely wanted to have a graffiticar, a true graffiti car.
So you know, I believe thatevery race team should have a good soundtrack.
You know, that's kind of howwe're wired. We're you know,
we're always tied to music. It'swhat drives us, it's it motivates us,
and it obviously it's it's our culture. So this was not a marketing
scheme or a ploy to you know, to bring you know, blacks and

(17:40):
browns to the racing. This wasa very selfish play because it's who we
are as a team. You know, we had a hip hop in our
veins, you know, we wewe talk with Porsche Motor Sports North America,
and they were they loved the ideaand they were happy to you know,
get behind us as a team andand let us let us pay one

(18:00):
of their very expensive race cars thatwe're gonna be running here shortly in IMPSE.
So you know, just having havingyou know, the culture really back
in this team is what I dreamedof doing. It's it's the best way
to keep it sustainable, and it'sand I think people will quickly realize that
it's it's one hundred percent authentic.It's who we are, it's unique,

(18:25):
and it's going to be successful becauseof all those attributes. When you think
about endurance car racing and you mentionedPorsche, the class of cars and even
the class of people are different.They are. Yeah, so you know
we you know again, you know, we do run endurance racing. You
know, these are races from anywherefrom two hours of twenty four hours once
you get to the GT three andPrototype classes. But yeah, you know

(18:51):
we race Porsche's against you know,Ferrari's, Assid Martin's, BMW's, uh,
you know, Cadillacs, all theyou know, luxury brands playing our
series. So the demographic is aninteresting one. It's more diverse and during
sports car racing is more diverse thanother, you know, traditional forms of
racing. But you know what's reallycool about what we do is these are

(19:17):
production based sports cars. So thisPorsche looks like a Porsche on the street,
right, this, this, TheseMustangs look like Mustangs on the street.
Same with Camaros, same with BMW's. So there's a there is a
direct connection from the rasearch to theconsumers. So this is why you see,
you know a lot of people ofcolor and our sport because you know,

(19:38):
look, they're driving these cars thatprobably have more horsepower on the street
than we do on the racetrack.And uh, you know this has been
something going on since you know,really since the nineteen nineteen fifties quite honestly,
in sports car racing. So aboutthat history a little bit. Going
back to Jordan's team twenty three eleven. Now you mentioned he has Bubba Wallace

(20:02):
as the driver. Right. Wallaceof course made big news advocating for the
removal of Confederate flags at race tracks, and he just made news qualifying for
the NASCAR Cup Series. You knowthe history of this sport. Talk about
those early black drivers, the WendellScotts. Oh yeah, oh yeah,
for sure. So Wendell Scott isGod. He's the godfather of what we

(20:22):
do. You know, this slutehe is the og for for for black
race car drivers, and the WindellScott Foundation was doing amazing stuff. So
definitely shout out to those guys.But you brought up a man that is
very near and dear to my heart, which is really t Ribs. So
you know, back in the eightieswhen me and my brother were little kids
and we were in our in ourbasement, you know, racing slot cars,

(20:47):
little typo slot car tracks in ourbasement, we were watching this black
guy named Willie t Ribbs, youknow, really destroy the field, rulling
an imps gto in trans am inthese series with ironically, you know Jack
Rows Sho's Jack Raws Senior, whowere very close with with his son's involved
in our racing program as well.So so seeing him, you know,

(21:11):
race, not just race, butdominate and then have the swagger pre and
post race. I mean he wasnot like another any other race car driver.
He was essentially like the Muhammad Aliof race car drivers. He you
know, not only did he talktrash, but he absolutely backed it up.
Our leader once again, Willie trib Al didn't run Muhammad Ali.

(21:32):
He said to me, you're goingto deal with some challenges for one reason
only you're an all white sport.Those death threats if this race is in
this race, he might not leavealive. You want a reason not to
like me, I want to giveyou one. And I love that about

(21:56):
that man to this day. Iunderstand you also met Paul Newman while out
there as well. There was aconnection there, sure, some of the
faces that are around the track,Yeah, yes, So this is it's
interesting how you listening. Racing isa very small community, no matter what
discipline you're running. But this onegets kind of weird because, you know,
when I got to the Marine Corps, I wanted to be a race

(22:18):
car driver, and uh, thatdidn't really work out because I didn't have
talent or cash and you need bothto be a successful driver. So I
volunteered, you know, with theSECA, which is the you know,
the larger amateur series in North America. It's a supports Car Club of America.
These are men and women that goout there every weekend that they do
time trial racing. They do youknow, close circuit roard racing, solo

(22:41):
events, you know, very veryactive. So I would just volunteer because
I just love to be around sportscar racing. So I would volunteer for
teams from my buddies teams and youknow, change tires, this help with
the setup of at the track,take off the trash. It didn't matter
what it was. So, youknow, so I live in New England.
I live in Massachusetts. So oneof our local tracks was up in

(23:02):
New Hampshire that we were running outof weekend. It was a private event.
No spectors ever allowed these events.And I got tapped on a shoulder
by this this old, this oldwhite guy and he goes, you know,
hey, son, what are youdoing here? As a joke,
like he was being funny about it. And I turned around. It was
Paul Newman. He was being veryyou know, sarcastic, and he's like,
he's like, that was seriously,I see around the track. You

(23:23):
know, what do you what doyou? What are you winto? So,
you know, I told him whenI was what I was doing at
the time. I was trying tobuild a you know, an h production
sixteen MGB roadster that I'm wanted torace, but you know, never got
around and actually doing it. Soyou know, he just kind of took
a liking to me, and heintroduced me to you know, his his
friends and his family at the trackand you know, and offered me some

(23:48):
lemonade. You know, him andhis wife Joanne would work, you know,
just a wonderful couple. And youknow he wasn't I won't say that
he was actively trying to help mefind a career. He was just being
a nice man. Genuinely. Wehave the same interest and that's how Paul
was. Like. If you ifyou had interest in cars, you want
to talk cars, he talked yourear off. If you want to talk
about acting, he'd shut you downin two seconds and walk away from you.

(24:10):
You know, look he was,in my eyes, he was a
better driver than he was an actor. He was amazing on track, like
amazing. So so he just showedme that, you know, there's other
things in motorsports that you can participatein besides being a driver. You could
be on the management side, youcould be on the PR side, the
relationship side. So you know,all I had to do, all I
had to offer a racing was relationshipso that's kind of what what I did,

(24:32):
and through that, I took thatpath and you know, made a
progression through the sport into the proranks by you know, being drivers agents,
you know, being the sponsorship guy, you know, being the team
building guy, and did that fora bunch of years until you know,
we started American Wheelman. We arespeaking with Stan Washington and Mike call the

(24:52):
founder and the chairman of American Wheelmanand George sports car racing team, the
only black owned team in the historyof the International Motor Sports Association, which
is owned by NASCAR. Stan,it is your belief, since car culture
is Black culture, our community asracing fans basically a natural fit. Which

(25:14):
is why, of course you guysmentioned how you were all in for hip
hop's fiftieth anniversary. In fact,the legendary KRS one is your car ambassador.
Yes. First of all, thenthat's I just have to go back
to one point that I chuckled on. You know, definitely the perspective of
a race team owner who says thatPaul Newman was a better driver than an
actor. It's not just wanted toboth wanted to share that. That's that's

(25:38):
a lot, but yeah. Wait, listen, the connection between car culture
and music culture is significant. Andthey always talk about the you know,
the tenets of really hip hop.Well, the truth is in our culture,
being in your car, having afast car, are having a really

(26:00):
sexy philosophy car, all of thatis really tied to what we believe,
you know, is is our connectionwith the overall African American community. We
were excited, super excited to havecare Us one as our ambassador stop stop.

(26:21):
And one of the things that Mikeand I talk about a lot is
it's not really just the on trackexperience. It's not just about how we
perform at the race. It's whatwe do off the track, right,
It's the activation opportunity that we'll beable to do in our garage and the
paddock, right. We you know, we envisioned having you know, the
DJ running and and doing you know, a good old fashioned grill and barbecue

(26:42):
and you know, doing really coolactivations in some of the key markets that
we're going to be racing on toreally galvanize and connect you know, the
culture. The love of racing hasliterally spilled into the streets, especially in
California, where streets are taken overunfortunately, it's proven to be deadly and

(27:04):
dangerous. And then I guess themovie Grand Turismo, you know, would
these guys ever really make it onthe track as far as street racers and
in gaming with with with Grand Tarismoand Forza and Eye racing. So listen,
racing is always going to spill overto the streets. It's just it's
what it is. You know,a lot of these, a lot of

(27:26):
these you know, men and youngmen and young women, you know,
don't have the budgets to go outthere and race door to door. It's
extraordinarily expensive, even at an amateurlevel. So you get these high performance
cars, naturally you're gonna want torace them. I mean, I guess
the saying was goes back, youknow back in eighteen ninety five, you
know, the first car was made, well, the second car was the

(27:49):
race car, because once you havetwo year race and this is kind of
how it was. So you know, I don't want to, you know,
condone what's happening on the streets,but it's it's always gonna It's always
been a part of motor sports culture. Like even back in before the NASCAR
was a thing. You know,a sanctioned body. You know, they
were running moonshine, they were racingagainst the cops. You know, that's
how that sport got started. Soyou know, just just to really just

(28:11):
address you know, the street raisersless. You know, I will say,
hey, slow it down, youknow number one, slow it down,
number two. Look, you knowyou've got you've got kids in these
cars, you have babies, youhave moms trying to bring their kids of
school. You know, cut thatstuff out. But you know there's always
things like the SECA, which iswhen I mentioned earlier. You know you
could do solo events, which isyou race around cones in a parking lot

(28:33):
and it's extraordinarily fun. It's it'sinexpensive and you're not going to kill anybody
doing it. That's that's really themain thing. So point yeah. The
other thing that I would just addVanessa is that's what again we're really excited
about in terms of having our team. There's a real opportunity to educate around
what really the opportunities are the excitementof being on the track. So a

(28:59):
lot of Mike and I've a lotof time talking to young people and they're
amazed to know that there is anAfrican American owned race team that that the
types of racing and the kind ofcompetition there is on the track. So,
you know, I think there's areal education in terms of what we're
doing and the connection from street racingto actually being able to race on the
track, how that impacts simulated racing, sim racing and the opportunity to really

(29:25):
learn and build there. But themain point is for us, it also
really fuels our fire and our excitementaround our STEM program and really the communication
that there are so many other opportunitiesin racing, not just it's it's a
it's a very very very rare opportunityfor someone to make it into a race

(29:47):
car, regardless of what kype ofbackground you have. They're not many Lewis
Hamilton's that are, you know,coming up, you know, through the
ranks because it's hard. But thereare so many places where you can contribute
from an engineering STEM perspective in racing, and that is one of the things
that we're really focused on is bringingour community to racing, opening up job

(30:07):
opportunities, creating more meaningful work,but ultimately really educating everyone on how exciting
and how vibrant the racing community reallyis right, that is terrific. You
know interesting we're talking in terms ofAmerica, but outside of our country it
is has been of interest to peopleof color, especially men from the Caribbean.

(30:30):
I understand, Yes, that's correct, absolutely, Oh yeah, so's
there's any time I go to theracetrack, you're always going to see some
dreads in the paddock, always,and it's been that way since I was
a kid because of you know,the British influence of sports cars and the
Caribbean. You know, there wasthere was a Grand Prior of the Bahamas.

(30:52):
I forgot the actual name of it, but that you know that that
was a pretty big race. Itwas international endurance race. Guys like you
know Stling Moss and uh, youknow Jack. I don't know if Jack
Yeks drove that race, but someof the old you know, the old
timers that ran these you know,Austin Healy's MG's Triumphs, Jaguars, you
know, Mercedes cars like that Ferraris. So so there's a huge Caribbean influence

(31:15):
in motor sports. Definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely, And Mike talking
about those those British cars, he'sjust quickly mentioned your dad and just what
you saw growing up? Oh sure, sure, so you know, listen,
I could I could really attribute myentire existence to uh, not only
my mother and my father, buta nineteen sixty one MGA sports car.

(31:36):
So what happened was, you know, my dad was my dad was from
West Virginia, and uh, hedidn't want to be a coal miner like
the rest of his family, sohe joined the Air Force and became a
telecom guy overseas. So when hewas stationing in England, he got to
see all these really cool British sportscars running around and and he saved up
his money and when he got outof the Air Force, he bought a
MGA. Well, he got ajob working for Hamilton Standard in Connecticut on

(32:01):
the Apollo program and he used totake his MGA and park it in front
of this really pretty girl's house andpretend to fix it. Right, Well,
he probably was really fixing it becauseit's an MG, it's a British
sports car. There was always breakingdown. But that woman was my mother.
So that car has always been youknow, sports cars has always been

(32:23):
in our blood. It's always beenyou know, in our DNA and uh,
and you know your entire existence,to my absolutely entire existence, to
a British racing green MG A Deluxe. So yeah, oh Stan, Soon
your car, the Porsche that wetalked about dubbed the hard Way, will
be putting its pedal to the metal. Talk about the car and when we

(32:45):
concede in action. So we'll beracing a Porsche seven eighteen Cayman GT four
RS. It's a beast monster ofa car. Mike. We always love
to name the cars, and youknow this one is named the hard Way
because it is hard. You know, Mike says it a lot better than

(33:07):
I do, but you know thisis really hard, right creating an independent
team going out and racing. Thereare so many variables and components and leverage
you have to pull to be inposition to do this. This has not
been an easy journey, but itis a journey that we are committed to
and more importantly, have had justextremely strong momentum and support moving towards Right

(33:31):
now, we're scheduled to race inAtlanta in October. This will be one
of the final races of the EMSAseason that it would be a great race
for us to get tuned up fortwo and twenty four, when the full
new season of IMPSA begins. Firstrace of the year is considered the super
Bowl, the biggest race of theyear for EMS, which is at the

(33:51):
Daytona Speedway in January late January.So we're getting all the pieces geared up,
and we're just really super exited aboutthe partnership with Porsche, and we're
excited about the other partners who havebeen coming on to help us. We've
got partnerships with companies like me,we and others who really have been part

(34:14):
of this journey for us, andwe're super excited about it. And my
kids, you know, it's beenin your blood, as you told us.
Is this your vision coming true?Yeah? I will say it like
this, and I say this manythe last couple of weeks, I mentioned
this multiple times. So a goodfriend of mine, I sat me down
when we're getting ready to do thelaunch of New York City, you know,

(34:35):
which was a culmination of a lotof stress and a lot of you
know, my you know, everythingI have envisioned coming true. And he
asked me, he said, hey, Mike, you know, what does
it feel like when your dreams cometrue? And he said it with a
straight face because he was serious,and it really it really hit me.
It hit me right then and there, because you know, my head's been
just completely buried in the mission,right like I live to fight another day.

(34:59):
I have to get this thing donetoday, you know. And there's
so many landmines to blow this wholething up every twenty four hours or something
that happens, right, So I'vebeen one hundred percently as we're focused on
getting this thing to where we're atright now. But yeah, he just
sat me down and said, youknow, how do you how's it feeling
your dreams come true? And Itold him, I said, it's scary,

(35:19):
man, because I know that thisis it. There is no Plan
B for me. This is onehundred percent what I was born to do,
what I was focused on doing,and we're ready. But it's scary
because I know in my heart ofhearts that failure is not an option because
there's nothing else. So there's theonly thing we have to do is this

(35:40):
cars on track and get on thepodium and win. So it's scary,
but a good scary. I calland Stan Washington, we will see you
at the finish line. Thank youboth for being on the black perspective on
the Black Information Network. Thank you, Thank you, Vanessa, Thanks Vanessa.

(36:02):
Before the fatal shootings of three blackresidents in Jacksonville, Florida, last
weekend, the gunman, a youngwhite man with swastikas painted on his rifle,
pulled into a parking lot at EdwardWalters University and began putting on tactical
gear. Students reported him, anda campus police officer approached him and he
sped off in his vehicle. Thistragic situation has brought up the question of

(36:24):
the safety of our HBCUs and theblack information networks. Mike Stevens spoke to
UNCFS Ladriguez Murray. We are seeinga marked increase in HBCU enrollment at a
time when we're also seeing many incidentsof violence or threats of violence at various
schools around the nation. Last year, there was a series of bomb threats

(36:45):
and most recently, what police calleda racist gunman first tried to get into
HBCU Edward Waters University in Jacksonville,Florida, before he was identified by alert
students and turned away by a blacksecurity officer, and then unfortunately, the
gunman went to a nearby store andkilled three black people joining us now UNCF

(37:08):
United Negro College Funds Senior Vice presidentfor Public Policy and Government Affairs, Ladriguez
Murray, thank you for being withus, Thank you for having me.
What can be done to make HBCUssafer. It's a great question in terms
of protecting the institutions. The onething that separates historically black colleges from every

(37:31):
other kind of higher education institution isresources, and that is the one thing
that is holding back the security resources. And so what you'll find is that
the United Negro College Fund for thelast year have been asking Congress to add
language and funding to the Homeland SecurityBill to repurpose one hundred million dollars that

(37:54):
already exist in that bill that willallow HBCUs to have plans to fortify the
campuses, to improve the technology,and will allow our students to then be
able to have their education in theenvironment where they don't have to feel threatened.
Now, this is important because thisprogram is well funded. All institutions

(38:17):
of higher education are eligible. Andwhat happens is that FEMA awards the money
to all fifty states, and thenthe states decide how to maneuver the money.
However, that money is not goingto HBCUs once it hits the States,
and so what our request is isnot just one hundred million dollars a
year for the next five years thefortifier campuses. Our request is also that

(38:40):
FEMA at the Department of Homeless Securitybe the awarder of these grants directly to
historically black colleges universities, because weare the institutions, we are the nonprofits
that have the contemporary threats, andwe're the ones that need those resourcers.
Thank you so much, ladrig AsMurray, UNCF, Senior Vice President for

(39:02):
Public Policy and Government Affairs, Thankyou for having me, Thanks Mike.
To celebrate international podcast Moth, theBlack Information Networks on MED, Gordon is
launching a series of interviews with peoplewithin the podcast industry from behind the scenes
too in front of the Mike.Today, he talks to a couple whose
podcast production company has worked with someof the biggest podcasts in the country.

(39:25):
Thanks Mike, we are starting apodcast series that I wanted to bring in
people that I've seen that I knowthat working around the podcast industry that have
impressed me, and I wanted tobring them to you because there's a lot
of people out there. We knowthere's a lot of podcasts out there,
and I've been a champion of podcastsfor years, years, years, years

(39:45):
years. I've been talking about podcasting, and I've been doing podcasts and helping
people with their podcast and so Iwanted to let some people into the world
of podcasting to make them feel morecomfortable. Is trying it if you will,
if and trying to see if itfits for you. So the person
I have in today is it's acouple and they have done some great work.

(40:06):
He goes by four or four creatorson Instagram. Warren and his wife
Cassandra are doing an amazing job rightnow when it comes to producing some great
podcast visually. So welcome to theBlack Information Network. You two, how
are you doing? Thank you,thank you, thank you, thanks for
having us now. Now, firstI would love to know this, how
did you guys get started? Becauseyou, like I said, you had

(40:27):
have a great production company. Butlet's go to the beginning. You know,
when you guys started, what didyou guys start as or was this
something that you guys both wanted todo, or is Warren, this is
something that you said I'm doing?And then you brought your wife along in
it. Well, So it startedoff. We actually started off as a
podcast. It was me and acouple of my co workers. We kind
of got together and it was doinga pandemic. It's in twenty twenty,

(40:50):
and we had a little bit morefree time, and we decided, let's
go and start a podcast. Iwas always a fan of content creation and
how it happens, and I wasalways curious of cameras and audio gear.
But I was like, not ata pandemic hit, we have a lot
more free time. Let's go onand just try to get into it and
start trying to be a part ofcreating the content instead of just consuming the
content. And so it was itwas a great experiment for us. After

(41:15):
a while, because it was doinga pandemic. You know, a lot
of our material because we were talkingabout movies and TV shows, a lot
of that material dried up, sowe really didn't have a lot to talk
about. And I was kind ofjust losing interest in it because I didn't
really feel like I was bringing thatmuch more to the conversation. But I
still was passionate about productions. Soit's like we started buying more cameras and

(41:38):
better microphones and better audio gear andeverything like that, and so we started
to try and at least in mymind, I started to try to pivot
and say, if I'm not passionateabout this anymore, let me go ahead
and just start using our podcast aslike a proof of concept that we can
start producing for other people. Andthen I just start reaching out to other
people and say, hey, Iwould love to produce your podcast. We

(41:58):
were doing it for free. Ijust wanted to just practice on somebody else
so we can go in and doit. And it started to try to
pivot after that, and once westart reaching out to more and more people
and start producing. My wife wasalways a part of the business and like
she was always a partner, butnow it's like this year twenty twenty three,
like like she really started to tryto join and like her hands in

(42:21):
it. Yeah, she's she's bootson the ground, she's hands on it.
She's producing a lot of the contentalong with our other producers. We
have two great producers that actually workedwith us MO and they see they're amazing,
They're they're part of the team,and it's just great to just have
my wife next to me on allthe productions, and it's like she's not
like an assistant, like she's theproducer, like she's working in it.

(42:44):
And I want to ask you,Cassandra, because there's a lot of people
that try to figure this out.How how can we work together family business
do things like that. What wasit like for you to then take that
turn and just saying I'm doing more. I don't want to just all right,
cool, you're doing this. I'llhelp whatever you need help with.
I'm gonna get my hands in it. And what made you want to pivot
into that direction of the podcast business? No, this is actually fun.

(43:07):
I've had an interest in it,regardless to whether I was, you know,
actually doing it. And he's sucha great teacher. He's me and
him we communicate so well. We'rewe're we just have so much, you
know, in common, and wekind of just sense each other. And

(43:28):
so he's working with the cameras andand you know, and I'm like,
oh, well, tell me alittle more about it. So it's like
it's just natural for me and himto work together and this is part of
the quality time basically. Yeah,when was the point we were like,
okay, we're ready to start chargingpeople, and then how did you figure
out how much a charge? That'sa great question. That's a great question.

(43:52):
So we started. I just wantedto make sure that I knew what
I was talking about, you knowwhat I'm saying, Like my first client,
I didn't even get paid for that. What they did they actually made
like it was two sisters and theyhad a podcast called Perception FIBs and it's
like about like R and B andstuff like that, really great podcast.
But one of them actually designed ourfour four creators logo, and then the

(44:14):
other one made like five beats thatwe can use for like intros and outros
and stuff like that. So thatthat was my first payment, like that,
just five beats and the logo.Hey, look, I am the
king of trying to work out.Hey, I will barter all day.
I'll take cash and I will barterservices because we work in the industry where
you're working with professionals that do otherthings that you may need. So I've

(44:35):
bartered at I'll do your episodes ifyou do this for me. Yeah,
I've done that. I do thatall the time. But when you decided
like, look we're gonna get money, Yeah, how did and you said,
you're basically going off of what yousee other people charge. Yeah,
so so so I was too scared. I couldn't imagine charging anybody like any
more than like fifty dollars. Andat the time, we were still offering

(44:55):
like up like three cameras, upto four microphones, lighting, we were
fully mobile, bringing everything to yourplace and setting it up for you.
We were doing all of that andfor like sixty bucks, and even for
sixty dollars. I was like,I was too scared to charge, you
know, anybody anymore than that.But it got to a point where I

(45:17):
started I started having a lot moreconfidence. I'm like, I love what
we do. And every time wegot paid a little bit of money,
or every time, like you know, I got a little money that I
can spare from like our paychecks andstuff like that, I decided to going
to buy more cameras. I'm like, if I'm not passionate and like,
my goal is to make sure thateverything sounds great and it looks great for
our clients, I can afford tostart looking at what other people are charging

(45:37):
and compared to compare to what wedo. Yeah, in Cassandra, how
did you feel about that when whenit became just reinvesting into the business,
you weren't making money yet, andyou're the wife, and I have a
wife, and I know how thatworks, you know, I know how
that works for you seeing him continueto reinvest into something that he ain't making
money yet, How did you feelabout that? No, I believed in

(46:00):
the vision, I really did,and he is very passionate, and yeah,
it was it was just easy forus to see where this could actually
go. So you had my fullsupport. Oh that's so awesome, and
it's crazy, and it's it's it'scompletely true. Like the whole time,
I'm like, cause you know,this stuff is not cheap. It's like

(46:22):
thousand dollars for a camera, eighthundred dollars for a lens the audio,
wanting like you know how much thisstuff costs. And it's just like that's
never been a conversation that we've had, like, oh, you're spending too
much money, even when I didn'teven believe that we were actually gonna make
the money to you know, makethe money back, like I always had
her full support and then like Ijust appreciate that forever. Who was your

(46:43):
For those who are starting a newpodcast, and you know they're trying to
be rich. Yeah, they're tryingto make money off their podcast. They're
trying to they're trying to, youknow, be famous. What's your advice
to them? Strap in and getready because it's gonna be a long ride.
You're not gonna make money off yourpodcast on day one. I mean,
you're not gonna make the money thatyou're expecting on day one. So
you have to be in it forthe long haul. You have to make

(47:06):
sure did you do like ten fifteenepisodes before any money comes back? And
then even after that, like itstill may take a lot longer, but
I think you can shorten your journeyby making sure you're intentional about the type
of content that you're producing. Likewho's your audience, who are you servicing?
Why should they listen to you?And and and what are you giving
them? Because like that's what it'sabout. Like you're only going to be

(47:29):
successful if you're giving your audience something. Just be intentional about that. And
do you guys still own the studiofor yourselves? No, we're fully mobile,
one hundred percent mobile. So youdon't have a you don't have a
set location. Did you have aset location we did at one point,
Yeah, why don't you have itanymore? It was a very small space
and it couldn't accommodate the type ofclients that we were starting to get.

(47:53):
Our clients wanted these big, beautiful, elaborate spaces, and we had this
very time. It was nice,but it was a very tiny space.
And then once you get to acertain point as a podcast or you want
a very specific, customized space,and we couldn't provide that. Understood,
Yeah, in the space that wehave, absolutely understand Well one, Sandra

(48:13):
Bullian, we appreciate you, Weappreciate your work. How can people find
you, how can people work withyou if they want to do that as
well? Thank you so much forhaving us on all, Like, it's
just amazing, Like we really appreciatebeing on the show. But if anybody
wants to reach out to us,they can reach us at four or four
creators on Instagram. That's that's wheremost people see. It's like, that's
where you can see a lot ofour work for four creators on Instagram.

(48:35):
That's amazing. Man. Again,I appreciate both of y'all. Thank you
so much coming through Mike back toyou, thanks Man. Amazon has introduced
a new show called God Family Football, which features the rich, diverse personal
stories of evangel Christian Academy players,coaching staff, and the broader Shreveport community,
set against the dramatic backdrop of thetwenty twenty two Louisiana high school football

(48:57):
season. The Black Information Networks moreIn Wood speaks with the two coaches from
the team to talk about the showand their faith. On this edition of
The Gospel Truth, Let's talk aboutGod Family Football. That the Amazon Free
The original series, executively produced byNFL quarterback Russell Wilson, is out.
The series follows high school football coachDenny Duran as he makes his return as

(49:21):
the head coach of evangel Christian Academyfor the first time in thirty years.
Coach Duran, thank you for joiningus here on The Gospel Truth. Well,
thank you for having us and we'rejust so happy to be with you.
Morgan, tell me more about theseries Got Family Football. What do
you guys make of it? Well, we're excited about it. It was
the brainchild of a gentleman by thename of Aaron Benward, and I've known

(49:45):
Aaron since he was twelve years old. He was a part of a gospel
duo. Actually, he and hisdad that was called Aaron Jeffrey. They
were on the CCM thing and that, like I think, they had twelve
number one hits. And he decidedthat he wanted to go into production of
movies and series and television. Andso we would talk every you know,

(50:07):
a few years or a few monthssometimes. And he called me about three
weeks three months ago and he's excusedme three years ago and he said,
look, what are you doing.I said, well, you know,
our football team is really bad thisyear. He said really, He said,

(50:27):
what are you gonna do about it? I said, well, I'm
coming out of retirement. He said, when I said tomorrow, he said,
I want to do that story.And so I didn't know what the
story it was. So he camedown with his crew and he did this
sizzle reel and the rest is history. The Amazon folks got a hold of
it, and of course they didwhat you know, only they can do

(50:51):
with something like this, but theydid not compromise our message and who we
are, and so it became GodFamily Football. Coacht Torn, tell me
what inspired you to return to thegame of football after thirty years. I
mean that's quite some time. Well. I actually the story is that I
returned after thirty years to head coaching. I started the I started the program

(51:15):
here. I started, first ofall, in nineteen seventy seven. I
started the Avange University program in springfor Missouri, and then started this program
in nineteen eighty nine. And sofor thirty years, I haven't been a
head football coach. I've kept myhand on the football program to make sure
that we didn't use our culture,we didn't lose our culture or our purpose

(51:37):
for being. But I came backfirst time. I've been a head coach
over thirty years. And the reasonI did is because the Lord, first
of all, spoke to my artand said, I'm going to give you
one more hardness. Football has alwaysbeen a means to an end for me.
Way back when I started playing atLouisiana Tech, I only played because
it was a platform to be ableto share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

(52:00):
And I've only coached so that wecould reach these kids with the gospel.
I'll tell you a funny story.I will often stand before the boys and
ask when we're doing our daily Biblestudies, which we did at seven o'clock
this morning. Guys, what doesall this Bible study and worship have to

(52:20):
do with football? And they willshout back at me, absolutely nothing.
And that will ask them why arewe doing this? And they will shout
back at me so we can becomebetter men. And then sometimes I'll ask
him this question, if you weren'ton this football team, would you be
here allowing me to teach you theword of God? And they smile and

(52:44):
say, probably not, coach.So that's that's the way it is.
The reason we do all of this, the reason we have a school,
the reason we have teams, thereason we are into the arts is because
it gives us an opportunity in thatcontext, not only to better their lives

(53:04):
in a practical manner, but alsofirst of all, to be able to
share the message of Jesus Christ andto disciple these young people. And that's
exactly what my next question, whyhigh school football? Do you think it's
a pivotal time for these young guys? Oh? Absolutely it is. They're
dealing with all kinds of things,especially with the makeup of the home in

(53:28):
this generation, and you know themess that some of these kids crawl out
of every morning is just appalling.And yet we have the opportunity to have
them more than their families, andthey're able to see dads and granddads who
love them and are genuinely interested intheir lives, not just in their playing

(53:50):
ability or are their gifting in talent. I absolutely love that. Now you're
no stranger to winning yourself. Sowhat advice can you offer to young athletes
who are looking to just win acrossthe board? Well, and number one,
you're not gonna win without paying aprice. You know, Jesus said
this, if you're going to bemy disciples, then you've got to deny
yourself, take up your cross andfollow me. You didn't say take up

(54:14):
my cross, he said You've gota price to pay of your own.
And so what I would tell anyyoung athlete that is aspiring to greatness is
you have to count the cost tosee whether or not you are willing to
pay the price for that prize thatyou want. And if you are,

(54:37):
get yourself some good fundamental coaching numberone, because you'll never be able to
outplay your fundamentals. Number two,you're going to have to begin to have
comfidence in yourself, which means thatevery negative thought, you got to hijack
that thought and you've got to turnit into something that is positive. You

(54:58):
got to believe in yourself, andyou've got to believe that the God who
made you created you for success.And then the third thing is this,
you have to be other centered.You've got to be willing to understand that
if you're on a team, itcertainly isn't about you. Evangel Christian Academy
head football coach Danny Durrant here withus on the gospel truth. Before I

(55:22):
let you to go, Please letme know what is your gospel truth.
Well, my gospel truth has alwaysbeen this John one and twelve, for
as many has received him, tothem, gave heed the power to become
the sons of God, even tothem that believe on his name. The
message of Christianity is, don't comeand be good or good with all of

(55:46):
us. Don't come and be moralwith all of us, don't come and
overcome temptation with all of us,don't come and be perfect with all of
us. Come as you are.And we have a great, big one
of God, and he has justamazingly the oncomprehension said to us, I

(56:07):
want to live inside your heart,and when he comes in, he will
give you the power that you neverhad and never thought you could it.
Two becomes a son of God,even to those that just believe on his
name. So from the time Iwas seventeen and the Holy Spirit filled me

(56:28):
with the message, that has beenmy message God. Family Football the Amazon
free V original series executively produced byNFL quarterback Russell Wilson. Thanks so much,
Coach Danny Durrant, Thank you,Thanks Morgan. Black businesses are flourishing
all over the country, from therural parts of the South to the big

(56:49):
cities in the north. Everywhere,Black entrepreneurs are out there doing it.
Doug. Thanks Mike. This isDoug Davis with You're a Black Business.
With twenty twenty three being the fiftiethAundiverse, you have hip hop and August
being Black Business Month, it's ourpleasure to speak with doctor Melissa Jones and
her daughter business partner Ariel Jones abouttheir history making business. The two are

(57:10):
the only mother daughter duo in thecountry who specializes in making luxury custom grills.
No, not the ones you cookon, the grills that go in
your mouth. Remember hip Hop fifty. Okay, So the two bring a
very unique touch to the male dominatedindustry of designer grills males grills praises having
numerous celebrity clients. Unlike most oftheir competitors, Doctor Mail brings over twenty

(57:36):
seven years of experience. Ariel bringsher savvy, creativity and youthfulness to the
business. So it's a great match. And just like so many things in
hip hop culture that are being profitedfrom the outside entities and non blacks,
grills are the same way. Althoughthe grills are made popular by African American
rappers and dancers and majority of grilldesigners are non black males. Uh.

(58:00):
This is another reason why doctor meland Ril are trailblazers in this industry.
Welcome to the bi N Doctor MelissaJones and ri L. Jones. Yeah
so much. I mean the wayyou hit it, what an amazing Oh
my god, thank you for mywonderful intro, mister Doug, and thank
you for having us on the biN Network. We're so excited to be

(58:22):
here. This is a great honor, so thank you again for having it.
Would it be correct to say thatyou're from Philadelphia, Yes, Southwest
Philadelphia, West Philadelphia born and raised. Did you grow up seeing grills,
you know, in the mouths ofhip hop artists? Absolutely? Philly a
far from New York, right,So you know we had family up there

(58:43):
in Brooklyn and the Bronx, andwe would go up there, you know,
you know, we would see youknow, Douggie and all them,
you know, we would That wasthat was our era. So how did
you come up with Mels Grills?I mean, you've got your degree,
you're you're in the field, you'redoing your thing. How did the flip
happen? Was all Ril's fault?My child is such a creative. I

(59:04):
sent her to a very prestigious privateschool and I think it was what ninth
grade, ari eh and ninth grade. You know, Aril was always you
know, she had a player.She's always fabulous, and she's always different.
And she came to me and said, Mommy, you know I want
to wear grill And I said,hell, no, absolutely not. He's

(59:25):
not gonna go up this this prestigiousschool and wear grill. She is the
one that comes up with the creativeideas. I just do the heavy listing
right right. She's a wind beneaththe wings. Yea, right absolutely.
You know, I stopped following therap scene some time ago, but I
was amazed, you know when Isaw recently Ericabadou in concerted this summer and

(59:47):
she was wearing some grills gold onher lower set of teeth, and I
was like, wow, they weresparkling. What kind of investment did you
have to make when starting Males Grills? So our biggest investment was getting our
name out there. We had tolook a certain part, we had to
dress a certain part initially in thebeginning because we were anxious for clients.

(01:00:15):
We made grills for people who andthey were nice grills. They they weren't
achieved grills, but we made nicediamond grills for people who said they were
going to you know, uh postus on I G which they never did.
So initially the initial investment were theclothes, the grills, and the

(01:00:37):
events that we had. Ye yeaor yeah. But you know what,
let me just say real quick,because our brand is luxury custom grills,
masterpieces for the mouth, monaise forthe teeth, but cossos for the pearls,

(01:00:59):
we have to look a certain way, right. You can't say,
okay, my brand is uh youknow, diamond grills and and your trip
does not reflect it, right,right, So that's when you had to
pay the part. That's right,that's right, that's right. So why
are males grills different from your competition? What is the unique selling composition that

(01:01:22):
your competitors don't have that you have. I'll do like the creative part,
but I do want to get intothe next three parts that do you want
to get important? Yeah, Igo first, but I just period just
to say, uh, this isour elegance. Sorry, I no dentify
ourselves. But one of the thingsthat it's so important is general hiding.

(01:01:44):
And we actually I was at theMercedes has Been dealship yesterday with my girlfriend
and I was talking to and hehad this like brown suits and we called
my mom and we were like,girl, like what is this? And
you see so many people and Idon't. And I'm not even trying to
be me. See so many peopleof all ages, of all creeds,
of all you know, backgrounds,and their teeth are not healthy. And

(01:02:09):
I think it's beyond I could neverbe a dentist just because this is not
my calling in life. I algebraall that. I just that's not me
but I cannot understand how people don'thave that mental connectivity of like your overall
health to your oral health. Idon't get it. It really is the

(01:02:30):
customer service. It's the quality,it's the design. And when I say
customer service week we travel, youknow what I mean. It's the exclusivity.
I think with males grills there isa certain luxury aspect to wearing grills.
I designed for like people. I'minspired by like that time of how

(01:02:53):
we got connected with beyond Sanders andand you know how we got connected with
Carlos. I designed for you monsifically. That's another characteristic that separates males grills
from the competition. When we couldbecome engaged and have a relationship with you,

(01:03:13):
we become families. What's the mostextravagant grill that you've ever produced?
One that we actually produced that wasour highest grossing was it was a blue
boar all blue diamond well is aneight on eight so eight at the clop
eate in the bottom blue diamond.I want to say it was eighteen white

(01:03:35):
gold. That one was around twentythousand. There the design that actually pulled
that client in. So there's adesign that he originally wanted, but he
just didn't want to send the money. That design was I want to say
between eighty two a flight hundred thousand. I want to I want to say
it was eighty, but I can'tremember what I think it was. I

(01:03:59):
think was eighty. Yeah, Andso that design had there was there's two
stone setting, so there was anemerald square setting, and there was around
diamond, and then around them therewere the same shape diamonds but smaller,
so you're you're essentially looking at acarrot per suit on each like a carrot

(01:04:19):
diamond on each suit of the differentcut. So there was a carrot pursuits.
You you're it's gonna be up there. And then the other one that
my mom wants me to talk aboutis this. It still hasn't happened yet.
We're gonna We're gonna see someone elsemay get it in different in different
colors, but I designed for sugarstanders. This I mean, prestine insanely

(01:04:45):
gorgeous, black diamond, yellow diamond, and white diamond. It's and it's
a cameo, you know, likecameo, like the army pattern. It's
a camouflaged patterned grill. And Idid it in the colors for Colorado and
it's still to this day my favoritething I've ever designed. It's really nice,
it's really funny. That does soundamazing, That sounds dope. Finally,

(01:05:11):
what's in store? You know?I'm sorry, I would love it.
In fact, I mean I wouldlove it. I will be in
Atlanta tomorrow. I'll have Charles getthe helicopter ready and I'll be out of
here and back at work. Youknow. So yeah, you know how
do out of state? Because youare based in Atlanta? Correct? And

(01:05:34):
I know you take custom orders?And so do people have to fly into
Dallas? I live in Dallas.So Atlanta and Dallas got you? I'm
sorry, No, you're fine.Do people have to fly in to make
that appointment to see you? Isthere any way though it could be happening,
you know, virtually it doesn't happen. Virtually. Sufferable is to you

(01:05:55):
know, have the client fly intomy private practice or you know, fly
out to them. Either way.We've done that. We've flow them out
to certain celebrity clients, taking theimpressions, send them back to our lab
and then when the when the caseis finished, then I flop we fly
back out to the client and seedit. So either way, whatever works

(01:06:16):
for the client. Right. ButI couldn't just go to my dentist and
say, hey, can you,you know, take some X rays and
send them out to you? Greatquestion, great question, great questions.
We prefer if I do it becauseour labs are familiar with my technique.
If another dentist does it, it'sjust like me doing uh work after somebody

(01:06:40):
else. I can guarantee my ownwork, but somebody if somebody else does
it, I don't feel as comfortableas if I do it because I stand
by what we do. That's right, you see. All right, let's
wrap it up. How can peoplereach you? What's the website? Social
media? How can people see yourincredible, luxurious designs? Well, thank

(01:07:00):
you again for having us than Yourbest way to reach us is our Instagram
at Meils dot grill. So that'sm E l Z E R I l
l D and the website is melsgrillsdot co dot com. This is the
Black Information Network. Thanks Doug formore on these stories. Listen to the

(01:07:21):
Black Information Network on the iHeartRadio appor log onto bi N news dot com
where you can hear this program inits entirety on demand. Also follow us
on social media at Black Information Networkand on x formerly known as Twitter at
Black Infonet. We thank you forjoining us on the black perspective and look

(01:07:42):
forward to continuing to have needed conversationsfor the black community. Next week,
I'm Mike Island on the Black InformationNetwork,