February 4, 2022 • 50 mins
In this episode Terence L. Shigg and his special guest James Dallas discuss how people of color are not afforded the same opportunities as their counterparts. In order to rectify this we must start with our young people and people of color must change their mindset. The mindset of success has common denominators. One being a positive sense of self and a willingness to sacrifice to get where you want to go. The American dream can be realized by people of color but know that in order to access that dream you must know that the Ameri-Con is real. You will be set to be a part of someone else's dream if you do not determine your own dream and work to achieve it.
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Lyrics (00:01):
yeah, yeah, he came a long way. And came a long way.
And now I'm not afraid in amoment, I'm not afraid to get up
(00:29):
in the morning
Terence Shigg (00:39):
welcome back to the Peace Project, season two,
episode one. This episode, I'mgoing to be interviewing a very
good friend of mine, a gentlemanby the name of James Dallas,
someone that I would call aserial entrepreneur, a very
successful businessman fromcoast to coast of the United
States, as many differentcompanies going in the mix. And
(01:00):
I would like for him to sharehis life and kind of how he got
to where he is. And today we'regoing to talk about why more of
us more Latino, more AfricanAmerican, more people of color
aren't up at the top crust ofthe success ladder here in the
United States.
(01:21):
Now, we just finished withcelebrating Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. Day. And in hisspeech, I Have a Dream speech.
But there's a portion of thespeech that alive and well then
and it's still pointed today. SoI want to read that portion of
it for you.
So that portion says, in asense, we've come to our
(01:45):
nation's capitol to cash acheck. When the architects of
our republic wrote themagnificent words of the
Constitution, and theDeclaration of Independence,
they were signing a promissorynote to which every American
wants to fall there. This notewas a promise that all men, yes,
(02:06):
black men as well as white men,would be guaranteed the
unalienable rights of life,liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness. It is obvious todaythat America has defaulted on
this promissory note, insofar asher citizens of color are
concerned, instead of honoringthe sacred obligation, America
(02:29):
has given the Negro people a badcheck, check, which has come
back marked insufficient funds,but when it comes to wealth,
income in those unalienablerights to life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness, is thatcheck still Mark insufficient
(02:50):
funds. So we're going to talkabout wealth gap, we're going to
talk about the American dream.
And so the topic of this sessionis the American Dream, the
American dream.
Dwayne E. Shigg (03:12):
Anybody can you foundation teaches our youth to
step off into life with theirbest foot forward without
cowardice, but with courage anddignity. ABC was founded by
legendary light heavyweightchampion Archie Moore in 1957.
He had a heart and passion forhelping the youth. He believed
if we went into the business ofprevention, we could save
billions of dollars and millionsof lives. He started ABC to
(03:35):
teach us the basic ABCs of life.
Are you concerned about theworld today? Do you want to help
train our youth to be the changeneeded in the world? Join us in
the fight for equality in thefight for justice in the fight
for our youth. If you would liketo help go to www dot ABC youth
foundation.org. That's www dotABC youth foundation.org Be well
(03:57):
and be blessed.
Terence Shigg (04:06):
I know you I know James Dallas, but I want to
introduce you to the audience.
So give me a little history, nohistory.
James Dallas (04:14):
Main reason I got into business and went to
college for business becausegrowing up and in Augusta,
Georgia was very, very hot. Itwas we grew up for the defining
moment that I realized that Iwas poor was you couldn't afford
(04:38):
the best of blue jeans and thebest of this or the best of
that. I have three othersiblings, three sisters, and we
were just extremely poor. Thatwas it. So I knew that being
there in that situation. Therehad to be something better, and
the only way that I was going tobe better was to have my own
(05:02):
ownership was number one, I wasgrown, I hate to say this, I was
basically grown at the age of11. I started cutting grass, and
so on and so on. But to makemake make this my intro and bio
very short, in order to bebetter than I was, I had to
(05:23):
change my mind. I had to changemy mind about life, and how to
apply my mental stability andcapability to business. That was
the only way I was going to getout of poverty. That was it.
Terence Shigg (05:37):
I mean, I think that's the perfect intro because
I kind of described you as aserial entrepreneur, a
businessman, self made, advocateand servant, by the nature of
your personality, you havehelped me so I also consider
your mentor. But I know that youhelp lots of people just by the
nature of that's just who youare.
James Dallas (06:00):
Well, in you're absolutely right, because there
was a lot of things thathappened growing up. And even
now as an adult, that wouldn'thave happened without other
people's hopes and prayers. Wego through this life thinking, I
have accomplished this. But youreally haven't. There was people
(06:22):
late at night praying for you,hoping that you do well. Meeting
the right people. But it's moreso meeting the right people and
being in the position ofopportunity. Timing, timing.
Yes, timing is everything.
Opportunities, everything. Okay.
Terence Shigg (06:42):
You know, the topic, the topic is the Americon
the Americon Dream based on theAmerican dream. And one thing I
wanted to say before I kind ofgot into that is something you
said, the idea that you weregrown at the age of 11. And one
of the things I would have beenthinking about what are the
(07:02):
differences in those things forus, meaning how we are raised
the environments we're in. And Ithat is such a common thread,
for those of us that aresuccessful is that we had to
grow up faster than ourcounterparts. Exactly. And it
wasn't by choice. It was bynecessity, just like you said,
(07:27):
if I wanted to, if I wanted someshoes, I had to go make some
money to get some shoes, becausemom was dealing with food on the
table. And on the priority list.
New shoes. wasn't wasn't on thatlist right now. No, he
definitely wasn't. Definitelywasn't. You realized early on,
that if you were going to besuccessful, he attained the
(07:53):
American dream that you had togo out and do it. And you've
been successful at it. You hadto start those businesses. So
tell me about your, your career.
So what kind of was the firstbusiness was the grass cutting
business?
James Dallas (08:13):
What was the let me tell you what was the
defining moment in this is gonnabe amazing. When I say this, a
lot of people might. I'm glad ithappened. And it's gonna make a
lot of people really think backon their childhood. Well, I'm
back in the back in the late70s, mid 80s. At that time, my
(08:40):
father drank Pabst Blue Ribbon.
And he also smoked Western 100cigarettes. Well, on Friday in
the south, when you get paid,you go, and you pay all your
creditors, you know, you payoff. And whatever you have left
you then I guess take care ofyourself. Well, we were in a
(09:02):
store, my father had a pack, sixpack a password, and a pack once
in 100. He paid for him and Ihave sold this wafer board
plane. And I asked him, I said,Dad, can I have this? He said No
son, I'll get it with my nextpaycheck. Well being who I am,
(09:24):
and always I analyze everythingvery analytical. And even at
that age I was looking at he hasa pack of six pack capacity
written in one day and a one to100 and he's telling me that I
have to wait for him to get paidagain, in order for me to get
(09:47):
away for bore pain. So that wasa defining moment in my life
that I said to myself, I willnever ever tell my kids that I
have to wait to payday to givethem anything. I knew that in
order to have kids, you musttake care of them, and you must
(10:11):
put them ahead of you. But I'mstill trying to deal with the
past few women in the westernone hundreds. And I just I just
knew I never asked for anythingelse. But that was truly the
defining moment in my entirelife. That made me realize, I'm
not going on. I can't do this.
(10:34):
This is ridiculous. You justdon't tell me no. And it's, it's
less than 25 cents for thiswafer board and plane and you
have a pack of one stone and asix pack. There's just no way it
didn't. didn't make sense. Notpossible, right? So that was my
(10:57):
defining moment, that's when Irealized something has to
change. But also, in that samemindset, writing back to the
house, I'm looking at, there's aliquor store on every corner.
And back then, I don't know ifyou could remember, but back
then they used to have vendingmachines that you could get
(11:21):
cigarettes out of. Yes, Iremember. So those are the
defining moments. For me as ayoung as a as a young young man,
as in, this has to stop. And theonly way that I could be better
than where my father ismentally, is to get out be an
(11:42):
entrepreneur, get it for myself.
And ownership is number one,that you have to own whatever
you whatever you're doing,whether it's your name, a
building a car, or homeownership is number one. That's
That's it. So that idea of beingself sufficient, came to you
early.
Terence Shigg (12:05):
Now, can you filter that through? Because I'm
sure? Well, let me ask you atthat age. What was your dream? I
mean, cuz I did you know, didyou believe that? It was just as
accessible to you as it was toJohnny on the other side of the
tracks? What did you think aboutthat?
James Dallas (12:25):
No, not at all.
Because the opportunities werethere for them, not for us. Back
in the in the in the 80s. RonaldReagan was the president during
that era. And it had beenestablished in this was all over
the news media, that every youngblack man between the ages of 18
and 27, will either be dead orincarcerated. And I didn't want
(12:52):
to be mean to them. So thatmindset, that mindset, as in
Wow, holy smokes. And then atthat time, you can see why the
American, a little Johnny, talkdifferent, wore different
clothes, um, had a better senseof idea of what the American
(13:16):
dream was, or is. And justeverything was different. Every
time you are doing the 80s,during the 70s, you turn on a
television show, it was neveryou, there was never anyone that
looks like you act like you. Soin order to make it you had to
adopt or either adopt theirpersonality, their way of life.
(13:42):
And that's where we got caughtup in that American dream,
right? And you have to be achameleon, even now, you still
have to be a chameleon,depending on the situation. You
have to and I have a it dependson the situation for me, you
(14:05):
either go get Bob Dallas, or yougo to get just down.
Terence Shigg (14:14):
We are I call it code switch. Exactly. Which is
something that we don't eventhink about, but we do it
naturally. And it is somethingthat we've learned to realize
that dream that I have to beable to do I have to be able to
go into any venue. And no matterwhat the crowd looks like,
(14:35):
because the majority of the timethat crowd is not going to look
like me. Definitely not and Ihave to be conscious of how I
present and how I speak so thatit doesn't feed into any
stereotype before they'll listento anything I say and that is
know that going into
James Dallas (14:53):
Oh, I call the reading the room. Yes and also
to depending on who you are Whatyou are a businessman and how
you carry yourself, whichcharacter character? I would say
your character is what makes aman based upon your character,
(15:17):
you're not going to be invitedto certain business meetings.
Um, there's a lot of things thatpeople don't understand you can
have a business meeting, butit's the business meeting after
the meeting, right is whereeverything truly is discussed
that I'm there are certainthings based upon your
(15:40):
character, again, whether you'rewell spoken, whether you carry
yourself correctly, whether youhave the financial resources
depends on how you're going tobe treated right now. I agree
with you, would you? Would youdo you believe? Or would you
agree that that scale isweighted more against us than it
(16:05):
is our counterparts meaning thatyour character is more they're
more critical of it than theywould be of someone else? At
times? Not everybody, but thattime? Well, yes, very much. So.
And the reason I the reason Isay that, depending on the group
that you're around, they willtell you to your face. Wow, are
(16:27):
you different?
Terence Shigg (16:29):
Are they what's the phrase that I've heard over?
You speak so? Well, exactly.
Like you're surprised that I'veturned society has thrown the
damn drone, their conclusion bythe television among the
television shows, or how you'resupposed to add? Oh, I didn't
expect you. I didn't expect yourdialect. I didn't expect your
(16:54):
education. And they.
James Dallas (17:00):
But their expectations were based upon
what shows they have seen hadnothing to do with you. It has
nothing to do with you. Sotherefore, whenever you're in a
position, I would say make sureyou check them because they're
basing you upon a stereotype ofwhat they've seen what they've
(17:25):
heard. Right. So that you said,depending on who it is whether
they'll get Bob Dallas, orthey'll get just Dallas, give
you can't explain that. BecauseI know what that means. But I
don't know, if everybody headsup to that. Well, if I'm just
relaxed, I can have aconversation with blacks. And it
(17:49):
might be a few whites around.
And that's just in a relaxedenvironment. Yeah. But here's
this time to conduct business.
And now I have to transitionfrom Dallas to Bob downs, which
is white. Dallas, in order tofit into that situation, to fit
(18:13):
into their frame of mind thatthey don't expect from me. If I
go in and this is so crazy, if Igo in with go t my hair all over
the place, and speaking EbonicsI'm going to get talked out of
the room or escorted by thepolice or security. If I go on,
(18:36):
well dress. Well, what Wellspoken. The outcome is just
because that's not what theyexpect. I have actually, I'm
gonna give you a littleSituation.
Terence Shigg (18:54):
The key to that is the credentials can be the
same meaning the education, theexperience, the finances could
be exactly the same and could bebetter than Johnny's. And most
of the time it is yes.
James Dallas (19:07):
But here's the thing. Johnny has what they call
white opportunity. He has wideopportunity. And, and we as
black Americans, we can say whatwe want. But Johnny still hasn't
Johnny can go to jail for 20years, get out and still have a
greater opportunity then you andyou have a college degree,
(19:31):
probably have your own business,or you're a CEO or manager for a
major company. Johnnie still hasa great opportunity to be
because he is white. And noteverything is white and black.
That's That's true. But youstill have to check yourself at
(19:54):
the door. Am and in fact, I'mworking on a book. And this book
is Is the trials andtribulations of a black man.
Okay, in my in my areas ofexpertise, I'm either too black
for white America or not blackenough for, for black America.
(20:15):
Most of the time when you'rewell spoken to you around your
peers, a lot of most of timesfamily members, they're gonna
say to you, oh, you're trying tobe white? Yeah. Who do you think
you are? I know you. Exactly.
Yes. I know the drill. All thesethings. It's funny. We have no,
no, I want to say there's nostandard operating procedure on
(20:39):
how to be black, or how to fitin. Everything is basically on
the job training for us that wehave to be a chameleon, we have
to fit in any situation. If wedemand too much on our jobs, oh,
he or she, they're, they're veryaggressive. And you have to
(21:05):
watch Dallas, you have to woo hehas a bad attitude.
Terence Shigg (21:11):
And but if Johnny does that Johnny is industrious.
He's a go getter. He's worthy.
James Dallas (21:17):
Here's the thing, society has a different idea for
us. And that's why I alwaysspeak upon ownership, own your
own business. Therefore, you'reable to dictate to a certain
degree now of how you're goingto be treated, how are you going
(21:38):
to treat others? Are you goingto be inclusive, exclusive, but
it's based upon having your own.
And that ownership is one of theways that wealth is transferred.
Terence Shigg (21:54):
I was looking up some numbers. And it talked
about home ownership. Blacks areat the lowest percentage of home
ownership, the average in us is63% 63% of Americans own their
own home. 73% of whites owntheir own home, while only 42%
of blacks own their own home.
Good. But again, that's thatownership that speaks to it. As
(22:18):
far as and again, you talk aboutyou go into the millionaires and
billionaires, there's only fourbillionaires in the United
States out of seven over 790.
There's only four millionaires,there's only 8% that are African
American. And I think 79% or 76%are white.
James Dallas (22:40):
But you know, with that being said, you have to
change your mentality in orderto achieve greater success.
Yeah, if if blacks get away frombuying cars, and all of the
different vices that they have,yeah, think about this. If you
(23:02):
smoke cigarettes, or you getyour hair done, or your nails
done, if you want to actuallybreak that down statistically,
and financially, black spin offa lot of money, just on those
things. But when you starttalking about home ownership of
(23:22):
ownership, they'll give you abag of excuses of why they don't
own this, own that. But you lookoutside, and they have a Lexus
or Mercedes or this or that. Andthey live in a train. We didn't
learn anything from our parents.
There we go. And when you knowbetter, you do better.
Terence Shigg (23:45):
Yes. And to me, that's one of the essential
parts that I I think isnecessary to get out there is
part of that. And I think of itthis way, if you're going to do
a con, you need people that arecomplicit human helpers. It's
very rare that somebody runs acon by themselves, they usually
have actors with them. Right?
It's very true. And then thatcomment will tell you that the
(24:11):
best con is when you consomebody and they don't even
know they've been con.
James Dallas (24:18):
But black Americans may come from the
first day we were first day theblacks were brought over here,
right? So to me that media pushthat even pressure from our peer
groups is part of that conbecause part of the mentality
that we need to change has beenpushed upon us and we've
(24:40):
accepted instead of challengingit like yourself like myself,
instead of saying, No, I don'thave to be here and I don't have
to not be able to own anything.
I don't care what they say I'mgonna go out and sell candy. I'm
gonna go out and do this andstart my own business because
it's possible, but just becauseit's harder doesn't mean it's
impossible. So I don't ever wantto give the impression that it's
(25:02):
not accessible. It's just notthe same. But here's the thing,
the American Dream is alwaysbeen accessible. Yeah, is just
at a greater accessibility foryour counterpart, then for
yourself. Most of the time, whenyou go into cities or or small
(25:23):
towns, the train track itselfseparates the time. You know, I
can give you an address orstreet number. And you can tell
me, whether I'm somewhat welloff or poor, based upon just
(25:45):
that zip code that address. Butwhen trying to explain that to
black America, they don'tunderstand it is very, very hard
to change the mentality ofpeople. When all they've ever
gotten was beat down, day afterday after day, you've been told
(26:12):
that you can't, you can't, youcan't, you can't. So by you
having that mentality of Ican't. You don't know what it
means and say I can write you ait's amazing that right now, if
you were to have a conversationwith a bunch of young people
versus doing our error. You cansay you can you can you can,
(26:39):
what would you like to be? Itwas going to be Malcolm, Malcolm
X, Dr. Martin Luther King, apreacher, a teacher, you're
going to be educated. Okay,here's the thing. That mentality
then was all positive people.
Yeah, just think about this.
Those were all positive, you hada greater chance of being a
(27:01):
Malcolm X and Martin LutherKing, or a preacher, a teacher
of doctrine. You can ask thatsame question right now. And
guess what you're gonna? Whatwould you like to be? Beyonce,
LeBron, James, Jay Z? COVID,Ryan, all of these things that
(27:24):
are quote, unquote, in a sense,not as reachable as you think.
Yes. Everybody thinks they'regonna be the next internet star.
Yeah. Hmm. Very, very odd. Butthe mentality if you change the
mentality of black America, thatAmeric0n dream could actually be
(27:48):
an American dream.
Terence Shigg (27:57):
Yes, yes. And I, I like the, the example because
that is true. The, the rolemodels. I know Charles Barkley
would like that, but role modelshave changed. And part of that
teaching and understanding, Ithink, is getting these youth to
(28:18):
understand that what they see,as the end result, took a lot of
work to get to and if they werewilling to, and I think you
asked a very good question to meone time and I think Bruce Lee
is one of the people that I readabout that does it is what are
you willing to sacrifice?
James Dallas (28:37):
Exactly. Always remember this most balanced
people are broke, people, evenin a marriage, you have one of
the spouses are going tosacrifice more than the other.
In working in everything thatyou do, something has to be
(29:02):
sacrificed. You cannot bebalanced across the board.
Something has to be sacrificed,whether it is time effort,
baseball games, football games,and your children's birthday.
You must make some sacrifices inorder to achieve what you're
(29:23):
what you set out to do.
Terence Shigg (29:25):
And I'll even add to that, because I think it's
evolved to even with those thatare sacrificing, we haven't
learned how to and I don't know,I don't want it to sound
disparaging, but we haven'tlearned how to intelligently
choose what we're sacrificing.
Meaning when I grew up, it wasokay, you work more and you make
(29:46):
more therefore you get more.
What I'm beginning to learn isthat work more doesn't mean that
I have to actually go and digmore ditches That means I have
to be more smart about where Iput my time, meaning I have to
develop a team, I have to havemy own business, I have to have
(30:08):
multiple streams of income, sothat even when I'm not working,
I'm still working.
James Dallas (30:17):
Exact not I love that, because I'm gonna
piggyback on that. Just Justimagine this right here. We were
told, son, go get a job, workhard, work hard, work hard, work
hard, you have some work hard,work hard, you have some, by the
time you reach 16, yes, youretire, but you still don't have
(30:39):
anything, you're too tired,you're too broke down in order
to to enjoy the last few inadvance years of your life.
Those weren't non working years.
But in that same breath, likeyou say, it is the mentality,
oh, hey, I can do this, I canwork create all these streams in
(31:01):
income, therefore, you can relaxmentally, because you already
put the work. In fact, that'sthe difference between being
rich, and wealthy. Rich peoplecontinue to work, wealthy people
make a major investment and lettheir money continue to work for
(31:22):
them. You making money while yousleep. But you have to change
your mentality in order toachieve that. And that plays
into this whole legacy thing.
And transfer of wealth also,because if you are wealthy and
(31:42):
have these streams of income,you have that to pass on to your
to the next generation, meaningwhen they go to buy a house,
they don't have to go to thebank and say, Okay, well, I
don't have enough, because thenmom and dad who have accumulated
wealth can help you and say,Okay, well we'll cosign for it,
(32:03):
so that you can get the creditso that next time you can get
your own home. That's what'shappening in communities. Where
there are more, that's what'shappening in white communities.
And but in our communities, it'smore it's definitely rare that
the generational wealth is ableto be passed that way. But a lot
(32:24):
of it too. We don't talk aboutfinances. Yeah, in our in our
families, right now. Justimagine, if you, you, maybe you
do it, I've done it. Sit downwith the kids. These are the
bills, this is how this is paidthis, this, this this, and I
understand there's no schematicthere's no no pray book on how
(32:47):
to raise kids. But just imagineif the people in your household
truly understand finances,they'll never make the financial
mistakes that we made withoutknowing. So basically, give them
the knowledge and lobby falldown that they won't understand
(33:08):
that's not necessarily true. Tryit, explained it to to Little
ray ray , that, hey, this is thereason I can afford this right
here. I rather have a house thanI have, then then a car. I'm in
(33:29):
business people trying toexplain this right here. It is
easier for you to purchase acar, then a house, you can go
and purchase a car and a carwill stop you from being from
being a home owner. But if youare a home owner, it shows a
greatest stability. And you canafford a car being but get the
(33:54):
house first. But a lot of usdon't know that we just we think
apartment living is the Americandream. We think renting is the
American dream. Because we'venever been told anything else
we've ever we've never beenshown anything else, right? And
all we have to do sometimes isturn the television off, turn
(34:17):
the computer off, and just havea genuine conversation with
someone that's 20 years or 30years older than yourself. And
definitely find somebody thathas some expertise because and
that's what this is about. It'sabout.
Terence Shigg (34:37):
So that's what the Peace project really is.
It's really about sharingknowledge. And that knowledge
will be beyond our capabilities,meaning we can't talk to every
person but I can record this andput this out there and then
anybody who wants it. Anybodywho's ready to change that
mentality can go out there andget it.
James Dallas (34:56):
How do we change that because
The reason I asked thatquestion, right now, if you want
to talk to a young black manbetween the ages of 15 and say,
30, he has a differentmentality. But the American
Dream is the American dream.
Most of the time, he's all Eastlaws. Right? So how do how do we
(35:24):
help fix it? Because you can'tpossibly fix it. All right?
Terence Shigg (35:33):
Well, and I think that's kind of what this whole
project is about. And it goesthrough all of the, the, the the
tenants, which is politics, soyou have to get involved in
politics and know the game.
Because one of the things I'vealways said, If you teach me the
rules, I can play any game. Andyou have to recognize that's
what it is, from the locallevel, that school board
(35:54):
position to the superintendent,you have to get involved with
them, the individualresponsibility part, meaning,
you have to change yourmentality to understand that
this, the way that the media hasportrayed, the American dream is
not the same for you and yourinability to understand that
(36:16):
it's just going to frustrate youmeaning because then you're
going to be blaming yourself,how come I can't do it, and
Johnny did, me and Johnny wentto the same school and we had
the same upbringing. But well,because you're going to have to
do things a little bitdifferently than Johnny did. And
that's just the honest truth.
And then the community becauseas you said, you can't do it by
(36:39):
yourself. So you have to find agroup, somebody 30 years, 40
years older, you that Beenthere, done that, get a mentor,
talk to people, get yourself inthe right circles, so that when
you when you are ready, whenyour timing is right, you'll
have the opportunity. And that'speople. And for me, I think of
(37:01):
people such as yourself, peoplesuch as instructor, Moore, all
those people, I put myself inthose circles, so that when the
timing is right, I am ready totake advantage of that
opportunity.
James Dallas (37:14):
But most most, most young people don't have a
plan. Now, and I tell a lot ofthem, I say either either the
plan fail, or you fail to make aplan,
Terence Shigg (37:25):
right? Yeah. And so if you break it down to the
very simplest thing, it's one,it's each of us as individuals,
just like you've done just likeI've done is we start that work
ourselves, we do what we can do,and we share that information
with those that are ready. Andwe share those with those who
(37:49):
just willing to listen, becausesome people are going to be
willing to listen, but they'renot ready. And that's okay.
Okay, I can agree with that.
Yeah. And so you put thatinformation out there. And I
think right now is a good time,because the, the amount of
economic flexibility that'savailable now is unheard of. And
(38:09):
if you think about it from thecrypto, the amount of people
that are getting into investingto starting their own
businesses, I think our youngpeople are in a transition
period. And it's gonna be uglyfor a while. But at some point,
they're going to hit the groundand realize, okay, this, this
(38:29):
social media thing, is a vehiclenot an end. It's a means to an
end, but it's not an end,meaning they think of it as
their way of interacting andshowing who they are. But the
people that are successful atit, know that it is a tool.
James Dallas (38:49):
Well see, that's and that and I'm glad you you
gave that example, becausehere's the thing, we are the
users of technology, but neverthe producers of technology. Um,
if you engage into aconversation, most of the time
(39:14):
you ask the question, How oftendo you use your cell phone?
They'll tell you, I have my cellphone in my hand 90 99% of the
time. Okay. Well, have you everread up on it? Can you make any
money from No, all I do is useit's talking and streaming,
whatever, whatever. But it'salmost like if they educate
(39:38):
themselves in that area. Theycan make money from it. But
instead of ability, you know,they always say when I was
living in the South, if youdon't want a black person to
know anything, put it in a book.
We don't read as much as weshould. We don't educate
ourselves as much as we should.
(39:59):
And therefore I believe thatsome of the reason we're behind,
but produced, installed aninvestment group, young black
entrepreneurs or something.
There's several things that's onYouTube, the difference between
poor people and rich people ismore of a mentality thing than
it is anything for people watchmore television. Poor people
(40:23):
have a more I can't attitudethan I can. Attitude is just
about opportunities.
Terence Shigg (40:38):
And my thing is, I'm always, if I can't find the
answer that I'm I tell myself,I'm missing something. So the
problem being like the socialmedia, the the time spent on non
productive endeavors to meetthose, like you said, those are
the answers, meaning you have toget your priorities straight,
(40:58):
and spend less time with thingsthat don't produce and that take
away your time, because that isan investment, you're investing
into your future. And you'reinvesting into someone, are you
investing into your future orsomeone else's future?
James Dallas (41:11):
Well, it is funny, I like that. Because I'm always
saying people, either you,either you invest in your dream,
or you become a part of someoneelse's dream, as in business,
when you are laborer, you'reparticipating in someone else's
(41:32):
business, someone else's dream,let's take Amazon, for instance,
Jeff basil, you're participatingin history, making him wealthier
and wealthier by becoming amanager, or going to college to
become a manager for a Amazon orfor any other company. But
(41:56):
somewhere in this, someone nevertold you, as an individual, you
can own your own company. Itnever told you to be an
entrepreneur, or you just neverhad the mentality to think that
you can do it. That's why Ialways go back to if I change
(42:16):
your mentality, I can changeyour life. Because once I change
your mentality, you see theopportunities that little Johnny
got versus you, you see thatAmerica as a whole. They're not
offering you the sameopportunity. So make your
(42:40):
opportunity. Take youropportunity, read books, read on
how you want your life to go,how you're going to navigate
your life, based uponstatistics, we just basically
were left out there. That's it.
If we're not entertainingsomeone or the other parts of
society with singing, dancing,bouncing a basketball or
(43:06):
catching a football. Imagine wewill don't exist, we are
actually part of theentertainment of America, if you
look at it, yes, knowingly andunknowingly.
Terence Shigg (43:24):
So with that said, I want to go ahead and
wrap up. Okay, I wanted to alsogive you a chance to give some
people some information aboutyour your current endeavors. If
you want to talk about elitepride.
James Dallas (43:41):
elite pride is my sports management company. I
only take 20% of anythingconcerning a a athlete, the
other 30.
Terence Shigg (43:55):
Now, it's say that again, so they clearly
understand it. And give them thecontrast because most managers
or companies that manageathletes take what 33 to 30%,
James Dallas (44:07):
they take a third but you're only required to take
20 20% Again, my company as awhole has profit sharing my
company as a whole. We go outinto the communities and we
don't just help black America,we help America I own several
nonprofits. And it's all aboutgiving back. Because if I had
(44:30):
the opportunities when I wasyounger, I'd be greater than
what I am now. I'm also we rightnow, I just started a
cryptocurrency company calledoctane blockchain. And it's
coming soon. And that'ssomething else to help. I would
say America, but a lot of timestoo, we as people. If we can
(44:56):
ever see just a smidgen, just asmidgen of good enough
ourselves, we can be greatindividuals. And a lot of it
too, is based on opportunities.
And that's what I give as awhole from any company that I
have, whether it's unique alltransportation, whether it's a B
to H, I'm octane blockchain, Ihave several companies, I give
(45:19):
opportunities to any one thatwants it. Anyone, not you don't
have to be a, because I'm notpro black. I like being black.
But I think opportunity as awhole, is what you need. But I
just I just, I continue to give.
(45:42):
And that's that's where myblessings come from. You
continue to give, giveopportunity to give education,
educate someone is not just be amentor. You can anyone can call
me ask me anything. If I can'tfind it, we'll find it together.
If I don't I because I don'thave all the answers. But the
(46:04):
main change the mentality of ourpeople, and we are change
America. And that particular itwill no longer be the American
dream, it will be the trueAmerican dream is to have and
have ownership of what you will,what you are and who you are and
(46:29):
who you are. Check yourcharacter at the door. Once you
check your character at thedoor, you will find out that
you're a better person than whatyou really think you are.
Terence Shigg (46:38):
Yes, I want to thank you for for coming on the
Peace project for sharing yourwisdom. And I think that was
fantastic. I think that's what,that's how you start just like
you said, you change thementality you create. I always
say you can't replace somethingwith nothing. So if you have
(46:59):
something better, being an idea,being a thought being a concept,
be it a way of doing things,people are more likely to
replace that old mindset if yougive them a better one. And I
think that's what you sharedtoday is a better mindset. It
works. It's possible. It's notblaming, it's not about whose
(47:22):
fault it is. It's about what youwant, and how you get it. And
how you get it not only foryourself, but for everyone. And
sacrifice. Yes, yes. That'swhere the sacrifice and service
comes. You have to sacrifice butalso to why I'm very proud of
(47:43):
you. Outstanding, outstanding ofthe Peace project. But I just I
just wish this is my this is mydream. And also, I'm just to say
a little bit about my sister, mysister died from breast cancer.
So every year I make it mybusiness to donate to give,
(48:06):
whether it is financially orjust donate my time to helping
young people she always wantedyoung people to understand, um,
is not where you come from, iswhere you go and let him know
her name. Her name is TaraDallas tar downs. And that's my
(48:26):
sister. I love her to death. Iwish she was here. Um, and when
I first started, I tell youabout the blessings and how
people pray for you. A lot ofthings that I still accomplish
and achieve comes by way of mysister's, um, she's looking down
on me making sure that I stay onthe straight and narrow. I'm
(48:47):
also with young people, findsome way in your community and
give some of your time. Put thephone away, put the phone away.
Figure out who you are. Once youfigure out who you are, you know
where you got to go. You see theopportunities ahead. Yes. And
you got to love each other youget and that's a man I forgot
(49:11):
mentioned that just, I believejust a just a love as a home for
your fellow man, your fellowwoman is missing. If we stop
thinking about self, self selfsometimes and just take a pause,
put the phone away. Get to knowyou get to know me. And then you
(49:34):
get to know yourself. But mostof all, in the mornings look in
that mirror and tell yourselfhow much you love yourself.
Don't be like me. I look inthere and I tell myself I love
myself so much. I wish I couldmarry me but but in the reason I
(49:55):
say it like that. Learn to loveyourself if you learn yourself
first. terms of be there for youto love other people. And you
will see society in a differentmindset in a different
perspective. You'll see whereyou belong in society and
everything that you need toachieve
Unknown (50:21):
Yeah, he came a long way. And I could do I could do I
could do a long way. And I coulddo I can do I can do this. I'm
not afraid of the moment. I'mnot afraid to get up in the
(50:43):
morning
Terence Shigg (50:54):
Let's get to work.
yeah, yeah, he came a long way. And came a long way.
And now I'm not afraid in amoment, I'm not afraid to get up
(00:29):
in the morning
Terence Shigg (00:39):
welcome back to the Peace Project, season two,
episode one. This episode, I'mgoing to be interviewing a very
good friend of mine, a gentlemanby the name of James Dallas,
someone that I would call aserial entrepreneur, a very
successful businessman fromcoast to coast of the United
States, as many differentcompanies going in the mix. And
(01:00):
I would like for him to sharehis life and kind of how he got
to where he is. And today we'regoing to talk about why more of
us more Latino, more AfricanAmerican, more people of color
aren't up at the top crust ofthe success ladder here in the
United States.
(01:21):
Now, we just finished withcelebrating Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. Day. And in hisspeech, I Have a Dream speech.
But there's a portion of thespeech that alive and well then
and it's still pointed today. SoI want to read that portion of
it for you.
So that portion says, in asense, we've come to our
(01:45):
nation's capitol to cash acheck. When the architects of
our republic wrote themagnificent words of the
Constitution, and theDeclaration of Independence,
they were signing a promissorynote to which every American
wants to fall there. This notewas a promise that all men, yes,
(02:06):
black men as well as white men,would be guaranteed the
unalienable rights of life,liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness. It is obvious todaythat America has defaulted on
this promissory note, insofar asher citizens of color are
concerned, instead of honoringthe sacred obligation, America
(02:29):
has given the Negro people a badcheck, check, which has come
back marked insufficient funds,but when it comes to wealth,
income in those unalienablerights to life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness, is thatcheck still Mark insufficient
(02:50):
funds. So we're going to talkabout wealth gap, we're going to
talk about the American dream.
And so the topic of this sessionis the American Dream, the
American dream.
Dwayne E. Shigg (03:12):
Anybody can you foundation teaches our youth to
step off into life with theirbest foot forward without
cowardice, but with courage anddignity. ABC was founded by
legendary light heavyweightchampion Archie Moore in 1957.
He had a heart and passion forhelping the youth. He believed
if we went into the business ofprevention, we could save
billions of dollars and millionsof lives. He started ABC to
(03:35):
teach us the basic ABCs of life.
Are you concerned about theworld today? Do you want to help
train our youth to be the changeneeded in the world? Join us in
the fight for equality in thefight for justice in the fight
for our youth. If you would liketo help go to www dot ABC youth
foundation.org. That's www dotABC youth foundation.org Be well
(03:57):
and be blessed.
Terence Shigg (04:06):
I know you I know James Dallas, but I want to
introduce you to the audience.
So give me a little history, nohistory.
James Dallas (04:14):
Main reason I got into business and went to
college for business becausegrowing up and in Augusta,
Georgia was very, very hot. Itwas we grew up for the defining
moment that I realized that Iwas poor was you couldn't afford
(04:38):
the best of blue jeans and thebest of this or the best of
that. I have three othersiblings, three sisters, and we
were just extremely poor. Thatwas it. So I knew that being
there in that situation. Therehad to be something better, and
the only way that I was going tobe better was to have my own
(05:02):
ownership was number one, I wasgrown, I hate to say this, I was
basically grown at the age of11. I started cutting grass, and
so on and so on. But to makemake make this my intro and bio
very short, in order to bebetter than I was, I had to
(05:23):
change my mind. I had to changemy mind about life, and how to
apply my mental stability andcapability to business. That was
the only way I was going to getout of poverty. That was it.
Terence Shigg (05:37):
I mean, I think that's the perfect intro because
I kind of described you as aserial entrepreneur, a
businessman, self made, advocateand servant, by the nature of
your personality, you havehelped me so I also consider
your mentor. But I know that youhelp lots of people just by the
nature of that's just who youare.
James Dallas (06:00):
Well, in you're absolutely right, because there
was a lot of things thathappened growing up. And even
now as an adult, that wouldn'thave happened without other
people's hopes and prayers. Wego through this life thinking, I
have accomplished this. But youreally haven't. There was people
(06:22):
late at night praying for you,hoping that you do well. Meeting
the right people. But it's moreso meeting the right people and
being in the position ofopportunity. Timing, timing.
Yes, timing is everything.
Opportunities, everything. Okay.
Terence Shigg (06:42):
You know, the topic, the topic is the Americon
the Americon Dream based on theAmerican dream. And one thing I
wanted to say before I kind ofgot into that is something you
said, the idea that you weregrown at the age of 11. And one
of the things I would have beenthinking about what are the
(07:02):
differences in those things forus, meaning how we are raised
the environments we're in. And Ithat is such a common thread,
for those of us that aresuccessful is that we had to
grow up faster than ourcounterparts. Exactly. And it
wasn't by choice. It was bynecessity, just like you said,
(07:27):
if I wanted to, if I wanted someshoes, I had to go make some
money to get some shoes, becausemom was dealing with food on the
table. And on the priority list.
New shoes. wasn't wasn't on thatlist right now. No, he
definitely wasn't. Definitelywasn't. You realized early on,
that if you were going to besuccessful, he attained the
(07:53):
American dream that you had togo out and do it. And you've
been successful at it. You hadto start those businesses. So
tell me about your, your career.
So what kind of was the firstbusiness was the grass cutting
business?
James Dallas (08:13):
What was the let me tell you what was the
defining moment in this is gonnabe amazing. When I say this, a
lot of people might. I'm glad ithappened. And it's gonna make a
lot of people really think backon their childhood. Well, I'm
back in the back in the late70s, mid 80s. At that time, my
(08:40):
father drank Pabst Blue Ribbon.
And he also smoked Western 100cigarettes. Well, on Friday in
the south, when you get paid,you go, and you pay all your
creditors, you know, you payoff. And whatever you have left
you then I guess take care ofyourself. Well, we were in a
(09:02):
store, my father had a pack, sixpack a password, and a pack once
in 100. He paid for him and Ihave sold this wafer board
plane. And I asked him, I said,Dad, can I have this? He said No
son, I'll get it with my nextpaycheck. Well being who I am,
(09:24):
and always I analyze everythingvery analytical. And even at
that age I was looking at he hasa pack of six pack capacity
written in one day and a one to100 and he's telling me that I
have to wait for him to get paidagain, in order for me to get
(09:47):
away for bore pain. So that wasa defining moment in my life
that I said to myself, I willnever ever tell my kids that I
have to wait to payday to givethem anything. I knew that in
order to have kids, you musttake care of them, and you must
(10:11):
put them ahead of you. But I'mstill trying to deal with the
past few women in the westernone hundreds. And I just I just
knew I never asked for anythingelse. But that was truly the
defining moment in my entirelife. That made me realize, I'm
not going on. I can't do this.
(10:34):
This is ridiculous. You justdon't tell me no. And it's, it's
less than 25 cents for thiswafer board and plane and you
have a pack of one stone and asix pack. There's just no way it
didn't. didn't make sense. Notpossible, right? So that was my
(10:57):
defining moment, that's when Irealized something has to
change. But also, in that samemindset, writing back to the
house, I'm looking at, there's aliquor store on every corner.
And back then, I don't know ifyou could remember, but back
then they used to have vendingmachines that you could get
(11:21):
cigarettes out of. Yes, Iremember. So those are the
defining moments. For me as ayoung as a as a young young man,
as in, this has to stop. And theonly way that I could be better
than where my father ismentally, is to get out be an
(11:42):
entrepreneur, get it for myself.
And ownership is number one,that you have to own whatever
you whatever you're doing,whether it's your name, a
building a car, or homeownership is number one. That's
That's it. So that idea of beingself sufficient, came to you
early.
Terence Shigg (12:05):
Now, can you filter that through? Because I'm
sure? Well, let me ask you atthat age. What was your dream? I
mean, cuz I did you know, didyou believe that? It was just as
accessible to you as it was toJohnny on the other side of the
tracks? What did you think aboutthat?
James Dallas (12:25):
No, not at all.
Because the opportunities werethere for them, not for us. Back
in the in the in the 80s. RonaldReagan was the president during
that era. And it had beenestablished in this was all over
the news media, that every youngblack man between the ages of 18
and 27, will either be dead orincarcerated. And I didn't want
(12:52):
to be mean to them. So thatmindset, that mindset, as in
Wow, holy smokes. And then atthat time, you can see why the
American, a little Johnny, talkdifferent, wore different
clothes, um, had a better senseof idea of what the American
(13:16):
dream was, or is. And justeverything was different. Every
time you are doing the 80s,during the 70s, you turn on a
television show, it was neveryou, there was never anyone that
looks like you act like you. Soin order to make it you had to
adopt or either adopt theirpersonality, their way of life.
(13:42):
And that's where we got caughtup in that American dream,
right? And you have to be achameleon, even now, you still
have to be a chameleon,depending on the situation. You
have to and I have a it dependson the situation for me, you
(14:05):
either go get Bob Dallas, or yougo to get just down.
Terence Shigg (14:14):
We are I call it code switch. Exactly. Which is
something that we don't eventhink about, but we do it
naturally. And it is somethingthat we've learned to realize
that dream that I have to beable to do I have to be able to
go into any venue. And no matterwhat the crowd looks like,
(14:35):
because the majority of the timethat crowd is not going to look
like me. Definitely not and Ihave to be conscious of how I
present and how I speak so thatit doesn't feed into any
stereotype before they'll listento anything I say and that is
know that going into
James Dallas (14:53):
Oh, I call the reading the room. Yes and also
to depending on who you are Whatyou are a businessman and how
you carry yourself, whichcharacter character? I would say
your character is what makes aman based upon your character,
(15:17):
you're not going to be invitedto certain business meetings.
Um, there's a lot of things thatpeople don't understand you can
have a business meeting, butit's the business meeting after
the meeting, right is whereeverything truly is discussed
that I'm there are certainthings based upon your
(15:40):
character, again, whether you'rewell spoken, whether you carry
yourself correctly, whether youhave the financial resources
depends on how you're going tobe treated right now. I agree
with you, would you? Would youdo you believe? Or would you
agree that that scale isweighted more against us than it
(16:05):
is our counterparts meaning thatyour character is more they're
more critical of it than theywould be of someone else? At
times? Not everybody, but thattime? Well, yes, very much. So.
And the reason I the reason Isay that, depending on the group
that you're around, they willtell you to your face. Wow, are
(16:27):
you different?
Terence Shigg (16:29):
Are they what's the phrase that I've heard over?
You speak so? Well, exactly.
Like you're surprised that I'veturned society has thrown the
damn drone, their conclusion bythe television among the
television shows, or how you'resupposed to add? Oh, I didn't
expect you. I didn't expect yourdialect. I didn't expect your
(16:54):
education. And they.
James Dallas (17:00):
But their expectations were based upon
what shows they have seen hadnothing to do with you. It has
nothing to do with you. Sotherefore, whenever you're in a
position, I would say make sureyou check them because they're
basing you upon a stereotype ofwhat they've seen what they've
(17:25):
heard. Right. So that you said,depending on who it is whether
they'll get Bob Dallas, orthey'll get just Dallas, give
you can't explain that. BecauseI know what that means. But I
don't know, if everybody headsup to that. Well, if I'm just
relaxed, I can have aconversation with blacks. And it
(17:49):
might be a few whites around.
And that's just in a relaxedenvironment. Yeah. But here's
this time to conduct business.
And now I have to transitionfrom Dallas to Bob downs, which
is white. Dallas, in order tofit into that situation, to fit
(18:13):
into their frame of mind thatthey don't expect from me. If I
go in and this is so crazy, if Igo in with go t my hair all over
the place, and speaking EbonicsI'm going to get talked out of
the room or escorted by thepolice or security. If I go on,
(18:36):
well dress. Well, what Wellspoken. The outcome is just
because that's not what theyexpect. I have actually, I'm
gonna give you a littleSituation.
Terence Shigg (18:54):
The key to that is the credentials can be the
same meaning the education, theexperience, the finances could
be exactly the same and could bebetter than Johnny's. And most
of the time it is yes.
James Dallas (19:07):
But here's the thing. Johnny has what they call
white opportunity. He has wideopportunity. And, and we as
black Americans, we can say whatwe want. But Johnny still hasn't
Johnny can go to jail for 20years, get out and still have a
greater opportunity then you andyou have a college degree,
(19:31):
probably have your own business,or you're a CEO or manager for a
major company. Johnnie still hasa great opportunity to be
because he is white. And noteverything is white and black.
That's That's true. But youstill have to check yourself at
(19:54):
the door. Am and in fact, I'mworking on a book. And this book
is Is the trials andtribulations of a black man.
Okay, in my in my areas ofexpertise, I'm either too black
for white America or not blackenough for, for black America.
(20:15):
Most of the time when you'rewell spoken to you around your
peers, a lot of most of timesfamily members, they're gonna
say to you, oh, you're trying tobe white? Yeah. Who do you think
you are? I know you. Exactly.
Yes. I know the drill. All thesethings. It's funny. We have no,
no, I want to say there's nostandard operating procedure on
(20:39):
how to be black, or how to fitin. Everything is basically on
the job training for us that wehave to be a chameleon, we have
to fit in any situation. If wedemand too much on our jobs, oh,
he or she, they're, they're veryaggressive. And you have to
(21:05):
watch Dallas, you have to woo hehas a bad attitude.
Terence Shigg (21:11):
And but if Johnny does that Johnny is industrious.
He's a go getter. He's worthy.
James Dallas (21:17):
Here's the thing, society has a different idea for
us. And that's why I alwaysspeak upon ownership, own your
own business. Therefore, you'reable to dictate to a certain
degree now of how you're goingto be treated, how are you going
(21:38):
to treat others? Are you goingto be inclusive, exclusive, but
it's based upon having your own.
And that ownership is one of theways that wealth is transferred.
Terence Shigg (21:54):
I was looking up some numbers. And it talked
about home ownership. Blacks areat the lowest percentage of home
ownership, the average in us is63% 63% of Americans own their
own home. 73% of whites owntheir own home, while only 42%
of blacks own their own home.
Good. But again, that's thatownership that speaks to it. As
(22:18):
far as and again, you talk aboutyou go into the millionaires and
billionaires, there's only fourbillionaires in the United
States out of seven over 790.
There's only four millionaires,there's only 8% that are African
American. And I think 79% or 76%are white.
James Dallas (22:40):
But you know, with that being said, you have to
change your mentality in orderto achieve greater success.
Yeah, if if blacks get away frombuying cars, and all of the
different vices that they have,yeah, think about this. If you
(23:02):
smoke cigarettes, or you getyour hair done, or your nails
done, if you want to actuallybreak that down statistically,
and financially, black spin offa lot of money, just on those
things. But when you starttalking about home ownership of
(23:22):
ownership, they'll give you abag of excuses of why they don't
own this, own that. But you lookoutside, and they have a Lexus
or Mercedes or this or that. Andthey live in a train. We didn't
learn anything from our parents.
There we go. And when you knowbetter, you do better.
Terence Shigg (23:45):
Yes. And to me, that's one of the essential
parts that I I think isnecessary to get out there is
part of that. And I think of itthis way, if you're going to do
a con, you need people that arecomplicit human helpers. It's
very rare that somebody runs acon by themselves, they usually
have actors with them. Right?
It's very true. And then thatcomment will tell you that the
(24:11):
best con is when you consomebody and they don't even
know they've been con.
James Dallas (24:18):
But black Americans may come from the
first day we were first day theblacks were brought over here,
right? So to me that media pushthat even pressure from our peer
groups is part of that conbecause part of the mentality
that we need to change has beenpushed upon us and we've
(24:40):
accepted instead of challengingit like yourself like myself,
instead of saying, No, I don'thave to be here and I don't have
to not be able to own anything.
I don't care what they say I'mgonna go out and sell candy. I'm
gonna go out and do this andstart my own business because
it's possible, but just becauseit's harder doesn't mean it's
impossible. So I don't ever wantto give the impression that it's
(25:02):
not accessible. It's just notthe same. But here's the thing,
the American Dream is alwaysbeen accessible. Yeah, is just
at a greater accessibility foryour counterpart, then for
yourself. Most of the time, whenyou go into cities or or small
(25:23):
towns, the train track itselfseparates the time. You know, I
can give you an address orstreet number. And you can tell
me, whether I'm somewhat welloff or poor, based upon just
(25:45):
that zip code that address. Butwhen trying to explain that to
black America, they don'tunderstand it is very, very hard
to change the mentality ofpeople. When all they've ever
gotten was beat down, day afterday after day, you've been told
(26:12):
that you can't, you can't, youcan't, you can't. So by you
having that mentality of Ican't. You don't know what it
means and say I can write you ait's amazing that right now, if
you were to have a conversationwith a bunch of young people
versus doing our error. You cansay you can you can you can,
(26:39):
what would you like to be? Itwas going to be Malcolm, Malcolm
X, Dr. Martin Luther King, apreacher, a teacher, you're
going to be educated. Okay,here's the thing. That mentality
then was all positive people.
Yeah, just think about this.
Those were all positive, you hada greater chance of being a
(27:01):
Malcolm X and Martin LutherKing, or a preacher, a teacher
of doctrine. You can ask thatsame question right now. And
guess what you're gonna? Whatwould you like to be? Beyonce,
LeBron, James, Jay Z? COVID,Ryan, all of these things that
(27:24):
are quote, unquote, in a sense,not as reachable as you think.
Yes. Everybody thinks they'regonna be the next internet star.
Yeah. Hmm. Very, very odd. Butthe mentality if you change the
mentality of black America, thatAmeric0n dream could actually be
(27:48):
an American dream.
Terence Shigg (27:57):
Yes, yes. And I, I like the, the example because
that is true. The, the rolemodels. I know Charles Barkley
would like that, but role modelshave changed. And part of that
teaching and understanding, Ithink, is getting these youth to
(28:18):
understand that what they see,as the end result, took a lot of
work to get to and if they werewilling to, and I think you
asked a very good question to meone time and I think Bruce Lee
is one of the people that I readabout that does it is what are
you willing to sacrifice?
James Dallas (28:37):
Exactly. Always remember this most balanced
people are broke, people, evenin a marriage, you have one of
the spouses are going tosacrifice more than the other.
In working in everything thatyou do, something has to be
(29:02):
sacrificed. You cannot bebalanced across the board.
Something has to be sacrificed,whether it is time effort,
baseball games, football games,and your children's birthday.
You must make some sacrifices inorder to achieve what you're
(29:23):
what you set out to do.
Terence Shigg (29:25):
And I'll even add to that, because I think it's
evolved to even with those thatare sacrificing, we haven't
learned how to and I don't know,I don't want it to sound
disparaging, but we haven'tlearned how to intelligently
choose what we're sacrificing.
Meaning when I grew up, it wasokay, you work more and you make
(29:46):
more therefore you get more.
What I'm beginning to learn isthat work more doesn't mean that
I have to actually go and digmore ditches That means I have
to be more smart about where Iput my time, meaning I have to
develop a team, I have to havemy own business, I have to have
(30:08):
multiple streams of income, sothat even when I'm not working,
I'm still working.
James Dallas (30:17):
Exact not I love that, because I'm gonna
piggyback on that. Just Justimagine this right here. We were
told, son, go get a job, workhard, work hard, work hard, work
hard, you have some work hard,work hard, you have some, by the
time you reach 16, yes, youretire, but you still don't have
(30:39):
anything, you're too tired,you're too broke down in order
to to enjoy the last few inadvance years of your life.
Those weren't non working years.
But in that same breath, likeyou say, it is the mentality,
oh, hey, I can do this, I canwork create all these streams in
(31:01):
income, therefore, you can relaxmentally, because you already
put the work. In fact, that'sthe difference between being
rich, and wealthy. Rich peoplecontinue to work, wealthy people
make a major investment and lettheir money continue to work for
(31:22):
them. You making money while yousleep. But you have to change
your mentality in order toachieve that. And that plays
into this whole legacy thing.
And transfer of wealth also,because if you are wealthy and
(31:42):
have these streams of income,you have that to pass on to your
to the next generation, meaningwhen they go to buy a house,
they don't have to go to thebank and say, Okay, well, I
don't have enough, because thenmom and dad who have accumulated
wealth can help you and say,Okay, well we'll cosign for it,
(32:03):
so that you can get the creditso that next time you can get
your own home. That's what'shappening in communities. Where
there are more, that's what'shappening in white communities.
And but in our communities, it'smore it's definitely rare that
the generational wealth is ableto be passed that way. But a lot
(32:24):
of it too. We don't talk aboutfinances. Yeah, in our in our
families, right now. Justimagine, if you, you, maybe you
do it, I've done it. Sit downwith the kids. These are the
bills, this is how this is paidthis, this, this this, and I
understand there's no schematicthere's no no pray book on how
(32:47):
to raise kids. But just imagineif the people in your household
truly understand finances,they'll never make the financial
mistakes that we made withoutknowing. So basically, give them
the knowledge and lobby falldown that they won't understand
(33:08):
that's not necessarily true. Tryit, explained it to to Little
ray ray , that, hey, this is thereason I can afford this right
here. I rather have a house thanI have, then then a car. I'm in
(33:29):
business people trying toexplain this right here. It is
easier for you to purchase acar, then a house, you can go
and purchase a car and a carwill stop you from being from
being a home owner. But if youare a home owner, it shows a
greatest stability. And you canafford a car being but get the
(33:54):
house first. But a lot of usdon't know that we just we think
apartment living is the Americandream. We think renting is the
American dream. Because we'venever been told anything else
we've ever we've never beenshown anything else, right? And
all we have to do sometimes isturn the television off, turn
(34:17):
the computer off, and just havea genuine conversation with
someone that's 20 years or 30years older than yourself. And
definitely find somebody thathas some expertise because and
that's what this is about. It'sabout.
Terence Shigg (34:37):
So that's what the Peace project really is.
It's really about sharingknowledge. And that knowledge
will be beyond our capabilities,meaning we can't talk to every
person but I can record this andput this out there and then
anybody who wants it. Anybodywho's ready to change that
mentality can go out there andget it.
James Dallas (34:56):
How do we change that because
The reason I asked thatquestion, right now, if you want
to talk to a young black manbetween the ages of 15 and say,
30, he has a differentmentality. But the American
Dream is the American dream.
Most of the time, he's all Eastlaws. Right? So how do how do we
(35:24):
help fix it? Because you can'tpossibly fix it. All right?
Terence Shigg (35:33):
Well, and I think that's kind of what this whole
project is about. And it goesthrough all of the, the, the the
tenants, which is politics, soyou have to get involved in
politics and know the game.
Because one of the things I'vealways said, If you teach me the
rules, I can play any game. Andyou have to recognize that's
what it is, from the locallevel, that school board
(35:54):
position to the superintendent,you have to get involved with
them, the individualresponsibility part, meaning,
you have to change yourmentality to understand that
this, the way that the media hasportrayed, the American dream is
not the same for you and yourinability to understand that
(36:16):
it's just going to frustrate youmeaning because then you're
going to be blaming yourself,how come I can't do it, and
Johnny did, me and Johnny wentto the same school and we had
the same upbringing. But well,because you're going to have to
do things a little bitdifferently than Johnny did. And
that's just the honest truth.
And then the community becauseas you said, you can't do it by
(36:39):
yourself. So you have to find agroup, somebody 30 years, 40
years older, you that Beenthere, done that, get a mentor,
talk to people, get yourself inthe right circles, so that when
you when you are ready, whenyour timing is right, you'll
have the opportunity. And that'speople. And for me, I think of
(37:01):
people such as yourself, peoplesuch as instructor, Moore, all
those people, I put myself inthose circles, so that when the
timing is right, I am ready totake advantage of that
opportunity.
James Dallas (37:14):
But most most, most young people don't have a
plan. Now, and I tell a lot ofthem, I say either either the
plan fail, or you fail to make aplan,
Terence Shigg (37:25):
right? Yeah. And so if you break it down to the
very simplest thing, it's one,it's each of us as individuals,
just like you've done just likeI've done is we start that work
ourselves, we do what we can do,and we share that information
with those that are ready. Andwe share those with those who
(37:49):
just willing to listen, becausesome people are going to be
willing to listen, but they'renot ready. And that's okay.
Okay, I can agree with that.
Yeah. And so you put thatinformation out there. And I
think right now is a good time,because the, the amount of
economic flexibility that'savailable now is unheard of. And
(38:09):
if you think about it from thecrypto, the amount of people
that are getting into investingto starting their own
businesses, I think our youngpeople are in a transition
period. And it's gonna be uglyfor a while. But at some point,
they're going to hit the groundand realize, okay, this, this
(38:29):
social media thing, is a vehiclenot an end. It's a means to an
end, but it's not an end,meaning they think of it as
their way of interacting andshowing who they are. But the
people that are successful atit, know that it is a tool.
James Dallas (38:49):
Well see, that's and that and I'm glad you you
gave that example, becausehere's the thing, we are the
users of technology, but neverthe producers of technology. Um,
if you engage into aconversation, most of the time
(39:14):
you ask the question, How oftendo you use your cell phone?
They'll tell you, I have my cellphone in my hand 90 99% of the
time. Okay. Well, have you everread up on it? Can you make any
money from No, all I do is useit's talking and streaming,
whatever, whatever. But it'salmost like if they educate
(39:38):
themselves in that area. Theycan make money from it. But
instead of ability, you know,they always say when I was
living in the South, if youdon't want a black person to
know anything, put it in a book.
We don't read as much as weshould. We don't educate
ourselves as much as we should.
(39:59):
And therefore I believe thatsome of the reason we're behind,
but produced, installed aninvestment group, young black
entrepreneurs or something.
There's several things that's onYouTube, the difference between
poor people and rich people ismore of a mentality thing than
it is anything for people watchmore television. Poor people
(40:23):
have a more I can't attitudethan I can. Attitude is just
about opportunities.
Terence Shigg (40:38):
And my thing is, I'm always, if I can't find the
answer that I'm I tell myself,I'm missing something. So the
problem being like the socialmedia, the the time spent on non
productive endeavors to meetthose, like you said, those are
the answers, meaning you have toget your priorities straight,
(40:58):
and spend less time with thingsthat don't produce and that take
away your time, because that isan investment, you're investing
into your future. And you'reinvesting into someone, are you
investing into your future orsomeone else's future?
James Dallas (41:11):
Well, it is funny, I like that. Because I'm always
saying people, either you,either you invest in your dream,
or you become a part of someoneelse's dream, as in business,
when you are laborer, you'reparticipating in someone else's
(41:32):
business, someone else's dream,let's take Amazon, for instance,
Jeff basil, you're participatingin history, making him wealthier
and wealthier by becoming amanager, or going to college to
become a manager for a Amazon orfor any other company. But
(41:56):
somewhere in this, someone nevertold you, as an individual, you
can own your own company. Itnever told you to be an
entrepreneur, or you just neverhad the mentality to think that
you can do it. That's why Ialways go back to if I change
(42:16):
your mentality, I can changeyour life. Because once I change
your mentality, you see theopportunities that little Johnny
got versus you, you see thatAmerica as a whole. They're not
offering you the sameopportunity. So make your
(42:40):
opportunity. Take youropportunity, read books, read on
how you want your life to go,how you're going to navigate
your life, based uponstatistics, we just basically
were left out there. That's it.
If we're not entertainingsomeone or the other parts of
society with singing, dancing,bouncing a basketball or
(43:06):
catching a football. Imagine wewill don't exist, we are
actually part of theentertainment of America, if you
look at it, yes, knowingly andunknowingly.
Terence Shigg (43:24):
So with that said, I want to go ahead and
wrap up. Okay, I wanted to alsogive you a chance to give some
people some information aboutyour your current endeavors. If
you want to talk about elitepride.
James Dallas (43:41):
elite pride is my sports management company. I
only take 20% of anythingconcerning a a athlete, the
other 30.
Terence Shigg (43:55):
Now, it's say that again, so they clearly
understand it. And give them thecontrast because most managers
or companies that manageathletes take what 33 to 30%,
James Dallas (44:07):
they take a third but you're only required to take
20 20% Again, my company as awhole has profit sharing my
company as a whole. We go outinto the communities and we
don't just help black America,we help America I own several
nonprofits. And it's all aboutgiving back. Because if I had
(44:30):
the opportunities when I wasyounger, I'd be greater than
what I am now. I'm also we rightnow, I just started a
cryptocurrency company calledoctane blockchain. And it's
coming soon. And that'ssomething else to help. I would
say America, but a lot of timestoo, we as people. If we can
(44:56):
ever see just a smidgen, just asmidgen of good enough
ourselves, we can be greatindividuals. And a lot of it
too, is based on opportunities.
And that's what I give as awhole from any company that I
have, whether it's unique alltransportation, whether it's a B
to H, I'm octane blockchain, Ihave several companies, I give
(45:19):
opportunities to any one thatwants it. Anyone, not you don't
have to be a, because I'm notpro black. I like being black.
But I think opportunity as awhole, is what you need. But I
just I just, I continue to give.
(45:42):
And that's that's where myblessings come from. You
continue to give, giveopportunity to give education,
educate someone is not just be amentor. You can anyone can call
me ask me anything. If I can'tfind it, we'll find it together.
If I don't I because I don'thave all the answers. But the
(46:04):
main change the mentality of ourpeople, and we are change
America. And that particular itwill no longer be the American
dream, it will be the trueAmerican dream is to have and
have ownership of what you will,what you are and who you are and
(46:29):
who you are. Check yourcharacter at the door. Once you
check your character at thedoor, you will find out that
you're a better person than whatyou really think you are.
Terence Shigg (46:38):
Yes, I want to thank you for for coming on the
Peace project for sharing yourwisdom. And I think that was
fantastic. I think that's what,that's how you start just like
you said, you change thementality you create. I always
say you can't replace somethingwith nothing. So if you have
(46:59):
something better, being an idea,being a thought being a concept,
be it a way of doing things,people are more likely to
replace that old mindset if yougive them a better one. And I
think that's what you sharedtoday is a better mindset. It
works. It's possible. It's notblaming, it's not about whose
(47:22):
fault it is. It's about what youwant, and how you get it. And
how you get it not only foryourself, but for everyone. And
sacrifice. Yes, yes. That'swhere the sacrifice and service
comes. You have to sacrifice butalso to why I'm very proud of
(47:43):
you. Outstanding, outstanding ofthe Peace project. But I just I
just wish this is my this is mydream. And also, I'm just to say
a little bit about my sister, mysister died from breast cancer.
So every year I make it mybusiness to donate to give,
(48:06):
whether it is financially orjust donate my time to helping
young people she always wantedyoung people to understand, um,
is not where you come from, iswhere you go and let him know
her name. Her name is TaraDallas tar downs. And that's my
(48:26):
sister. I love her to death. Iwish she was here. Um, and when
I first started, I tell youabout the blessings and how
people pray for you. A lot ofthings that I still accomplish
and achieve comes by way of mysister's, um, she's looking down
on me making sure that I stay onthe straight and narrow. I'm
(48:47):
also with young people, findsome way in your community and
give some of your time. Put thephone away, put the phone away.
Figure out who you are. Once youfigure out who you are, you know
where you got to go. You see theopportunities ahead. Yes. And
you got to love each other youget and that's a man I forgot
(49:11):
mentioned that just, I believejust a just a love as a home for
your fellow man, your fellowwoman is missing. If we stop
thinking about self, self selfsometimes and just take a pause,
put the phone away. Get to knowyou get to know me. And then you
(49:34):
get to know yourself. But mostof all, in the mornings look in
that mirror and tell yourselfhow much you love yourself.
Don't be like me. I look inthere and I tell myself I love
myself so much. I wish I couldmarry me but but in the reason I
(49:55):
say it like that. Learn to loveyourself if you learn yourself
first. terms of be there for youto love other people. And you
will see society in a differentmindset in a different
perspective. You'll see whereyou belong in society and
everything that you need toachieve
Unknown (50:21):
Yeah, he came a long way. And I could do I could do I
could do a long way. And I coulddo I can do I can do this. I'm
not afraid of the moment. I'mnot afraid to get up in the
(50:43):
morning
Terence Shigg (50:54):
Let's get to work.
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