June 4, 2024 • 59 mins
Can political and personal conversations coexist without conflict? Discover the surprising insights of Philip Blackett, an accomplished author and entrepreneur, on the Communication TwentyFourSeven podcast. Philip’s transformation from liberal to conservative, influenced heavily by his Christian faith, offers a unique perspective on the changing political preferences among Black voters leading up to the 2024 elections. His book, "Disagree Without Disrespect," serves as a guide for those looking to engage in meaningful discussions without sacrificing relationships—a must-listen for anyone navigating today's polarized climate.
As we look into the shifting media landscape, we scrutinize the role of social and mainstream media in shaping public discourse. The democratization of information through social media has not only empowered voices but has also fostered negative behaviors like anonymous trolling and sensationalism. This segment explores how the competitive media environment has eroded public trust and contributed to societal polarization, urging a reevaluation of how we consume and engage with news.
Looking to the future, we discuss the Republican Party's strategy beyond the 2024 elections. With growing support from Black and Hispanic voters, Philip Blackett underscores the importance of focused outreach and developing a pipeline of future leaders. We emphasize the need for a shared set of values and principles that transcend identity politics, aiming to build a diverse coalition united by common beliefs. Tune in for thought-provoking perspectives and actionable insights on the evolving political landscape.
Contact Philip at https://www.philipblackett.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
About five months ago , pew Research released some key
facts about Black eligiblevoters in 2024.
The report revealed that in2020, 92% of single-race Black
non-Hispanic voters cast a votefor Democrat Joe Biden, while
only 8% backed Republican DonaldTrump.
Just last month, pew reportedthat, while Black voters remain
(00:22):
overwhelmingly Democratic andsupport Joe Biden over Donald
Trump, biden's advantage is notas wide as it was four years ago
.
As a matter of fact, galluprecently reported the Democrats
are losing ground with Black andHispanic adults.
Of particular note, theDemocratic Party's lead over
Republicans' and BlackAmericans' party preferences has
(00:44):
shrunk by nearly 20 points overthe past three years.
This shift in party preferenceis one reason why I asked Philip
Blackett to be my guest on thepodcast.
Philip majored in politicalscience and economics at the
University of North Carolina atChapel Hill and then went on to
get his MBA from HarvardBusiness School, followed by a
(01:05):
Master's of Divinity degree fromthe Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary.
He's been featured in BusinessInsider and Forbes and has
written six books.
This was a great opportunity totalk with Philip, who happens
to be Black, about his Christianfaith and how his faith
transformed him from a liberalinto a conservative, and how
(01:29):
that transformation impacted hisrelationships within the Black
community.
We also talked about what isneeded for the Republican Party
to attract more Black voters in2024 and beyond.
It was a great conversation.
I hope you keep listening.
(01:57):
Welcome to the Communication24-7 podcast, where we
communicate about how wecommunicate.
I'm your excited about thisconversation today because one
of the things that I love aboutbeing a podcaster it gives me an
(02:19):
excuse to have so manyinteresting people on the show
to have engaging and meaningfulconversations.
Today, my guest is PhilipBlackett, and I cannot wait to
dive in, get to learn a littlebit more about Philip's
background, his ideals, hisbeliefs, some of his experiences
(02:39):
that he has had along the way,and I know that you all are also
going to enjoy thisconversation because it's going
to be a meaningful conversation.
Philip, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Thanks so much, Jen.
Happy to be here with you.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Well, before we get started, for those who may not
be familiar with you, you're anauthor, an entrepreneur.
I know you're a man of faith.
You've had such an interestingbackground and life experience,
but do you mind just giving arundown of who you are and to
know a little bit more about you?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yeah, it's always quite a task to try to condense
like almost 40 years of lifeinto like one minute or two, but
I'll do my best.
So yeah, so my name is PhilipBlackett, born and raised in
Memphis, tennessee, sosoutherner at heart.
So I like Chick-fil-A, likebarbecue, like sweet tea that's
typical things that I like.
Went to school in NorthCarolina, chapel Hill.
(03:32):
Worked in Wall Street corporateAmerica beforehand Been an
entrepreneur still am.
Went to business school atHarvard.
Got married the day aftergraduation to my wife now of
eight years.
We raised two twin daughtersthat are now seven years old,
which is part of the reason whyyou see so many gray hairs on my
(03:53):
head.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
That'll do it.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
And outside of that, I went to seminary.
I went to Southern BaptistTheological Seminary during the
pandemic, while running abusiness of my own at the time,
and now I've authored six booksthis year.
I think I'm good for now as faras writing, so the main focus
is spreading a good word aboutwhat I wrote to be a positive
influence, impact to others.
And when I'm not doing that,I'm either helping out small
(04:16):
businesses, help grow theirbusinesses with AI or raising my
family with my wife.
How did I do?
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Yeah, I mean, there's just so much that you have been
able to accomplish, and I lovethe comment about where the gray
hairs are coming from, becauseI have two children myself.
Well, they're actually adultsnow my son's 27.
My daughter's 26.
It is no small task, though, todo everything that you're doing
and also raise small kids atthe same time.
(04:45):
So kudos to you and your wife.
One of the reasons I wanted tohave you on this show, of course
, it's Communication 24-7, and Iwas really intrigued by your
book Disagree Without Disrespect.
It reminded me of a conversationthat I had some time ago with a
colleague, and something thatshe said really stuck with me
over time, and she saiddisagreement does not ruin
(05:09):
relationships, but disrespectdoes, and so when I read the
title of your book, it justreminded me of that conversation
, and that was one reason why Iwanted to have you on the show
to just talk with you about thepremise behind the book, your
inspiration and what your goalsare.
You know what you hope toaccomplish by writing such a
book.
And then I also wanted to beable to talk with you about your
(05:32):
thoughts on politics.
We're in an election year.
It's getting closer and closer,and the Republican Party is
definitely experiencing its ownlevel of challenges, and so I
just wanted to, you know, spendsome time talking with you to
get your insight on what'shappening with internal
communication and some changesthat I've read about, you know,
(05:56):
especially concerning the Blackvote, you know increasing
numbers going to the RepublicanParty.
So I just I think we're goingto have an interesting and
engaging and meaningfulconversation, and I'm just
excited for it.
So, to get us started, do youmind just telling us a little
bit about your book and what wasthe reasoning behind writing
(06:18):
this book?
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Yeah.
So first off, your friend'squote.
That's definitely a tweetableright there.
If I had permission torepurpose that and share that
with people, I put the name onthere too.
That's a quote I wish I knewback when I wrote this book, for
sure.
Yeah.
Because it's very telling.
It's not a problem to have adisagreement with somebody, but
(06:42):
how you go about it is soimportant on how that impacts
your relationship.
And so the motivation behind thebook itself Disagree Without
Disrespect how to RespectfullyDebate with those who Think,
believe and Vote Differentlyfrom you actually came out from
a family get-together 4th ofJuly last year oh wow.
(07:03):
Get together 4th of July lastyear, oh wow.
So you know, I'm here in Boston, I invite my sister's family
her husband, my niece and nephew.
My mom comes up to see thegrandkids and so one day we were
sitting in the living room mysister, myself and my mom and so
we were talking about something.
(07:24):
Quite frankly, I don't evenremember what the topic was, but
clearly my sister and I were onopposite ends of the spectrum
on that particular issue, and so, as we were starting to dig a
little bit deeper, have adiscussion about this, my wife
not my wife, but my mom jumpedin like a referee, except
without the zebra shirt on, andessentially like stop everything
(07:49):
from taking place.
Nope, we're not going to havethis.
I know we're planning on havingfireworks later on tonight, and
what I don't want to do is havean early showing of those
fireworks here in this livingroom right now.
Right works here in this livingroom right now Right.
And while I appreciate theintent behind that, as far as
her trying to quote unquote keepthe peace, especially with
(08:13):
family, to getting together thatwe don't often see every now
and then, the impact of it was Ifelt like it was a lost
opportunity.
It was a lost opportunity formy sister and I to get to know
each other a little bit better.
We have a close relationshipwe're only 22 months apart and
this was something for me to beable to share, something that
(08:33):
was important to me, that shemight not know about, and to
have a better idea of what thestory behind that is, because I
think you know, jen, there'ssome conversations that are
better to be had in person.
Yes absolutely, and so when youhave those opportunities to be
in person with somebody, certainconversations can be had, as
(08:57):
opposed to on the telephone, viatext message or social media or
even writing on a letterhead,and so I think the challenge
that came out of that wasessentially okay.
This was an opportunity for youto learn more about me.
We can't have that here.
It's a lost cause or a missedopportunity.
(09:17):
And so the thought that came onmy mind in reflection was, if
that was the case for me wantedto share something that was
important for me to share withsomeone who I care about how
many other people areexperiencing something similar?
Thousands, millions, exactlyWhatever the issue may be,
(09:40):
whatever the setting familyreunion, get together, holidays,
you name the event and so Ithink what came off in my head,
Jen, was we've simply just lostthe rules of engagement here on
how to go about talking to oneanother with respect on things
that might show disagreements ordifferences of opinion, which,
(10:04):
as your friends quote saidearlier, that's not what's going
to stop a relationship by howyou go about it, which, in this
day and age, is more on thedisrespectful end of the
spectrum, where you see a lot ofrelationships being broken, a
lot of people being unfriended,getting the cold shoulder from
family and friends, criticizedor cursed out on social media
(10:28):
for no other reason than justhaving a difference of opinion
on any issue.
Yeah.
You know so, let alone when wewere growing up.
They say, hey, you don't talkabout certain things at the
dinner table politics, religionand money.
Now, it's like if you have anydifference of opinion on any
issue, you run the same risk.
And it's not so much talkingabout it that's an issue, it's
(10:53):
more so how we engage with it,because when I was growing up,
my mom used to work in acourtroom and she would have
attorneys come in that wouldargue one side of the case or
another.
They would do their job, arguevery passionately, sometimes
very aggressively, yeah, closeand they exited the courtroom.
(11:23):
Most people overlook the factthat those two attorneys those
same two attorneys oftentimesshook hands.
Yes, they congratulated oneanother, right, they could be
seen eating lunch together maybethat same day, or attending a
(11:44):
daughter's soccer game on theweekend, which nowadays people
would think like that'sabsolutely no way in the world
that would happen.
That's like sleeping with theenemy.
Well, disagreements happenedback then, and they happened
prior to it, but there was justa level of decorum and respect
we still had, though, where justbecause if I disagree with you,
as my mom would say, it doesn'tmean that I don't love you,
(12:07):
right?
So it's actually, in a sense,you can have a relationship with
somebody, a healthyrelationship with people that
you don't see eye to eye on, andit's okay.
And so that's what I was hopingto bring you know thoughts to
paper, a framework together in abook like this to really help
(12:27):
people understand that it ispossible for you to have a great
relationship with people thatyou care about, even if you
don't see eye to eye on everyissue.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
It's such an important point to continue to
emphasize.
I worked as a media analyst forsome time, and one of the great
advantages of being a mediaanalyst is I would have to read
the news and rate it forreliability and bias, and then I
would have to speak to otheranalysts from across the
(13:02):
political spectrum aboutwhatever it was that we just
read, and then we had to reach aconsensus on how reliable and
how biased we thought it was,and, as you can imagine,
sometimes there were some prettyrobust conversations that we
would get sidetracked and startarguing about the topic.
More times than not, though, wewould remember look, we're not
(13:27):
focusing on the topic right now.
We need to reach a consensus onwhether or not we think what we
just read is accurate.
Is it reliable?
How biased is it?
And the advantage of havingconversations like that with
people who think differentlyfrom you is you don't know where
your own blind spots are and,like you said, just because you
(13:50):
have a disagreement, it doesn'tmean that you don't love the
other person or you don't likethe other person or that, all of
a sudden, there's just noreason for you to hang out.
You just can't get along withthem.
One thing that I've learnedthrough that experience of being
a media analyst is some of thethe closest friends that I have
now, people who I will call andhave conversations with them
(14:15):
just to be able to get theirpoint of view on certain things,
because I know I'm aconservative, so I know I have
my you know opinions aboutdifferent topics.
Sometimes I think you need tocheck yourself, and that's how a
democracy thrives, right?
I mean, we depend on people tosee things differently so that
(14:36):
we can have these conversations,so we avoid things like
groupthink.
Where do you think this shifttruly began for us?
Because it does seem like therewas a point in time where you
could have a disagreement and itwas like, okay, well, you think
that and I think that, whatever, get over yourself, let's go
(14:59):
have a beer and you're right.
Now there's been this hugeshift.
I blame social media foreverything, but you know it has
to be more than that.
What are your thoughts on that?
When did that shift starthappening?
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Well, jen, I think you took the words out of my
mouth on that one.
I think the first culprit hereis social media, because, if you
think about it, when we weregrowing up, you know you only
had so many outlets to get yournews and information from.
Yeah, right, some people hadthree or four TV channels.
If you splurge a little bit,you may have had 50 channels,
(15:34):
right.
So you're, you got your newsfrom people that really that
journalism really meantsomething to them.
Right, and being objective,having a balanced, nuanced view
of the world and how you spokeof the news, knowing the
responsibility you have todeliver accurate information,
(15:56):
but also understanding that theresponsibility also comes with
you're in a role that you arepotentially influencing
thousands, if not millions, ofpeople on how they view the
world around you.
And so you took that seriouslyenough that, as you were saying
before, as a media analyst, youwere trying to really take your
(16:17):
role seriously because you knewwhat the possible ramifications
and consequences would be if youdidn't do your job.
Well, right.
Well, you know, when thesesocial media platforms come up
now, people have their own voice.
You know people talk about it onthe good end.
Yes, there's a democratizationof where people can have their
(16:40):
platforms, they can say what'son their mind, build their own
audiences and that sort.
Well, it's a double edged sword, it sure is.
You know, be careful what youwish for, because on one end,
yes, you absolutely can havethat power to share what's on
your mind and spread it to anaudience and that sort of thing
(17:01):
and grow your own show ornetwork.
The other part is, you alsohave a place where people can
have what they call Twitterfingers and have a sense where
they can comment anonymously andcomment is a nice way of saying
it.
But we take commentary to awhole nother level, a much
darker level in terms ofcriticism, critique, cursing out
(17:24):
, calling people outside oftheir given names and that sort
of thing, shaming them, tryingto cancel them simply by having
a different viewpoint, right,and so it really kind of showed
the more sinful side of us asfar as human nature and how we
can be behind closed doors orbehind a screen, a monitor,
(17:45):
right.
The other part that I would sayis mainstream media has some
culpability here too, as aresult of social media and these
platforms proliferating.
Because, if you think about it,if you've gone from three or
four news channels CBS, nbc, abcand Fox, for example and you
(18:08):
start to add more channels, moreplaces where people can get
their news and information, nowcompetition goes high, right?
So now the question is yes, itsounds great, more competition.
That means better product.
It didn't work that way.
No, it did.
Now it's basically saying, hey,for us to keep those
(18:28):
advertising dollars, to keepthose sponsorships coming in.
We got to fight to get thesepeople to keep reading and
listening from us.
So if they're going to otherplaces and they're empowered to
come up with their owninformation, now this starts to
be a race to the bottom in termsof integrity and legitimacy of
(18:49):
what you call journalism.
Now you're looking at it not somuch as far as a full-fledged
balance story.
Now it's being diluted towhat's the best headline that
can capture people's attention.
How salacious can I make it?
How scandalous can I make it?
What's the thumbnail?
How can I come up with ahyper-sexualized image that can
(19:13):
get someone to stop what they'redoing scrolling and click the
button and we get some revenueoff of that?
And this is where clickbaitcomes in.
Yeah, even if the story itselfhas nothing to do with the
headline or the thumbnail imageto begin with, has nothing to do
with the headline or thethumbnail image to begin with.
Yes.
But his goal was just to getanother person to come in so you
(19:34):
can provide for youradvertisers.
Hey, we got this many peoplecoming to our site.
This is why we're worth thisamount of money to keep us going
.
And so people take note of thatand they start copycatting.
Yeah, they start doing the samething.
And now you get to a pointwhere now people are picking up
on that.
It's like, hey, what I clickedis not the same as what I read.
(19:57):
Now there's a degradation oftrust.
Now it's a sense of saying Idon't mess with this news source
, I'm going to go elsewhere.
And now another way of that isyou have some networks that are
much more leaning towards oneside of the spectrum or another,
and it's very overt.
(20:17):
It's becoming very obvious thatit's more partisan news than
anything, and now it's becomingmore like propaganda than actual
journalism.
And so now it's basicallyeducating and influencing people
, that sort of skepticism thatmistrust this sense that, oh, if
(20:38):
you're not one way, you'reanother, and for that you are
demonized.
Yes, you deserve to be slandered.
You deserve to get your jobtaken away from you.
You deserve to be embarrassedpublicly.
Right, as I mentioned before,news of the past, they had a
responsibility, knowing thatthey had a role that was going
(20:59):
to be influential on how otherpeople thought and went about
their day.
That still applies today, wherenow, with all these things
happening, it is heavilyinfluencing how we interact with
one another.
Where now it's a oversimplistic, less realistic way of looking
at it, where it's like if you'renot for this person, this party
(21:22):
, these policies, this viewpoint, then automatically I feel
empowered to say nope, unfollow.
Nope unfriend.
You even have dating apps.
Now I've heard that if someonesays hey, if you're for this
candidate, just go ahead andswipe left.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
We're not going to even entertain the thought or if
any sort of curiosity to learnmore about the story behind that
person, a word that we werereally wary about growing up and
we didn't want that wordassociated with us.
It was a P word calledprejudice.
Yeah.
(22:05):
What I would venture to say isthat we're becoming a more
prejudice group of people.
Yes, we're just off of seeing aheadline about somebody, or
seeing one's affiliation or atrigger word that's included.
We'll make a emotional snapjudgment, a neat reaction that
(22:27):
will completely discount ordismiss another person or an
organization without even reallygetting to know the person.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Yeah, it's believed to be justified in some way.
You know, we have legitimateprejudice happening right now
because people will go intothese different platforms, these
different systems and they'regiven that option and, oh, this
is okay to filter.
We're filtering this way andit's natural to have preferences
(23:01):
.
Especially when you're in thedating world, you are going to
naturally have preferences.
When you start thinking aboutsomeone's opinions or someone's
beliefs to just completely basedoff of, maybe, who they voted
for, what a superficial way tobegin filtering out who you
(23:23):
think would be a good partnerfor you.
You have absolutely no ideaabout anything else about that
person.
(23:50):
No-transcript in division.
Right, there's a lot of moneyto be made in division and
emotional appeal and to the fearappeals, all of the above, the
type of language thatjournalists choose to use or
editors choose to use in theheadlines.
It's all about getting theclick, getting the attention,
(24:13):
getting those ad dollars.
You know all of the above andat the end of the day, as
consumers, as communicationconsumers, we're forgetting that
we are the product at the endof the day.
So it's having a profoundimpact on what we believe, what
we choose to say, who we chooseto hang out with, who we choose
to talk to all of those things.
(24:35):
It's having such a profoundimpact, and I know you have
experienced this on a personallevel, cause one of the things
that I I did read when I wasgoing through your background is
that you were not alwaysconservative.
Right, you had a change.
I think I read that yourChristian faith had helped you
(24:58):
transform in some way, and socan you tell me a little bit
about that transformation, andhow did that impact your
experience with others and yourconversations and their
willingness to accept adifferent belief system or
accept, you know, differentideals?
Coming from you, someone thatthey've seen go through this
(25:20):
change, have you ever felt thesocial ultimatum of choosing
between your God and your race?
Are you struggling to reconcileyour Christian beliefs with the
prevailing social and politicalideologies in your community?
In Philip Blackett's booktitled Jesus Over Black how my
Faith Transformed Me Into AConservative Within the Black
(25:42):
Community, philip addresses thecore problem that many
Christians face the conflict ofidentity within the black
community.
His book shows you how tonavigate the challenges of
reconciling your Christian faithwith prevalent social and
political ideologies withoutcompromising your beliefs and
biblical worldview.
This book is perfect forindividuals within the
(26:02):
African-American community whoare grappling with their
Christian faith and how itintersects with the expectations
of their cultural and politicalenvironments.
If you feel isolated orconflicted due to your
traditional or conservativevalues and are looking for
validation and a path forwardthat aligns with your faith,
this book is for you.
(26:23):
Get your copy today atcommunication247.com.
Forward slash podcast.
That's wwwcommunication247.com.
Forward slash podcast.
That's wwwcommunication247.com.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Forward slash podcast yeah, so this is definitely a
reference to another book ofmine, yeah, um which you know.
I've written six books, jen,but if you were to ask me to
rank them in terms of which oneshave like the most personal
significance to me, disagreewithout disrespect is definitely
(26:56):
up the top, but right therewith it, I would say, like one
and one A is Jesus over black.
Ok.
OK how my faith transformed mefrom a liberal to a conservative
within the Black community.
And so when I was growing up inthe South, my family, we were
(27:19):
Black.
We were also Democrats.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
And that was just the rule of thumb for me growing up
.
It was almost to the sense,like you didn't really question
it, even though I will credit mymom for me opening up, where
she would say hey, philip, evenif you're a Democrat, you ought
to see and expose yourself towhat's being said on the other
side.
If for no other reason, it'seither going to help you further
(27:46):
fortify what you believe in,like you get greater conviction
because you know what people onthe other side think, or at the
very least, just understandingwhere someone else is coming
from, so you have a morefruitful conversation or debate.
That's right.
And so I think for me, like Iwas a Democrat, for example, you
(28:08):
know, even though I wasn'tvoting, you know growing up but
then when I went to college andI was able to vote, you know,
the first election I was able toparticipate in it was 2004.
That was Democrat as far as thevote for me, 2008.
I didn't care what anyone saidat that point, with me being 22,
(28:31):
23 at the time, the opportunitywas just so great to be a part
of, to elect the firstAfrican-American president of
the United States, so I was notreally seeing anything but that,
and that led me to voteDemocrat there.
And then the next election,2012,.
There was nothing that I couldlisten to or hear, otherwise
(28:54):
that would stop me fromreelecting the first
African-American president ofthe United States.
So I voted Democrat there too.
But 2016 was different.
2016 was different because nowthe whole honeymoon stage of oh
my gosh, we made history.
That's now coming on 2016.
(29:18):
I'm now in my 30s, not my 20s,you're like more of an adult and
I did something foreign, dare Isay, radical or controversial
at that time in 2016.
I actually read someone else'sparty platform.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
And you'd never done that before.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Never done it before.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Okay.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
I had Democratic Party platform read through that
.
I read the Republican Partyplatform.
Read through that.
I read the Republican Partyplatform.
Read through that.
What I recognize after doingthat exercise, I think I'm more
of a Republican than I am aDemocrat.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
So let me hit the pause button here.
I want to ask you when that hityou, after you read that and
that hit you, what was yourinitial reaction?
Were you in?
Were you in disbelief?
Were you like okay, wait aminute, let me think this
through.
Like this surely?
Speaker 3 (30:24):
this can't be, or were you more open?
So there definitely was an ohsnap moment.
Yeah, I don't know how this isgoing to go along.
My friends and family, I don'tknow how this is going to go
along my friends and family?
The other part was look, I wasa political science and
economics double major incollege, so I live like politics
.
As far as, like you know, mygoal or my dream at the time
when I was in college was like Iwould love to be a political
analyst for CNN.
(30:45):
Yeah.
Yeah, would love to.
I have different thoughts now.
That's a whole nother story.
But the other part that came off, jen on this one, was curiosity
as far as why, why was there aswitch?
I didn't actually voteRepublican that year because I
(31:17):
guess there was such a such anonslaught of disbelief and, dare
I say, hate thrown at trumpthat I felt like, oh my gosh,
like timid philip, I can't votetrump but I'm definitely not a
hillary fan, so I went the thirdparty route.
I went libertarian because Iwas like that's a compromise.
I did too, I yeah I did thesame thing.
There I go, gary john.
There we go.
Yeah, caught a little flack forthat because people were just
dismissing.
Oh that doesn't matter, youjust wasted a vote.
(31:37):
I said, ok, all right, I'llkeep that in mind for 2020.
Right, right.
But to get to your point in yourquestion, jen, I think a lot of
it was asking myself thosequestions what was different,
what was missing from oneplatform versus the other?
Me trying to go off just off themerits of it, not being
persuaded by personality or peerpressure.
(32:01):
I was trying to go off of moreon principles and worldview and
at that time, for me, I had beena growing man of faith through
college and as I was learningmore and more and it accentuated
even more when I got toseminary in 2020, that I
(32:22):
realized that.
Okay for me to believe, forexample, that the word of God,
the Bible, the book that I'vebeen reading ever since I was
young, passed on from my mother,from my grandparents especially
my grandparents, a Sundayschool teacher from my
grandmother, a deacon at thechurch, my grandfather book
(32:47):
that's transferred generationafter generation, for me to
believe that what is said inthat book is true, for me to
believe that what is said inthat book is the standard of
right and wrong and that it'sthe word of God, as far as God
writing of what we should goabout and if we want to flourish
as humans, as his creation.
For me to believe that, thatit's inerrant if we want to
flourish as humans, as hiscreation.
(33:08):
For me to believe that thatit's inerrant, infallible,
without error, that is differentfrom what a lot of people think
and that, in and of itself,just that belief would make me
conservative.
That would make me conservativeeven within the Black community
, of which a great portion ofthe Black community go to church
and are Christians a greatportion of the Black community
(33:29):
go to church and are Christians.
Because if I just take thatbelief and I applied it to some
of the issues of today and I saywhat does God have to say about
this?
What is written in the Bibleabout this issue, then that will
put me at odds with a lot ofDemocrat policies.
So the question would then bewhich one rules the day for you,
philip?
Are you more Democrat thanChristian, or are you more
(33:54):
Christian than Democrat?
And I can apply the same thingfor Republican too.
Yeah.
Because the essence of the bookJesus over black is saying that
there should be no higheridentity factor as far as who I
am outside of being a followerof Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Yeah, it shouldn't be the most important thing that
I'm Black.
It shouldn't be the mostimportant thing I'm at one
political party or another.
It shouldn't be more importantthat I'm from this country of
origin or another.
It shouldn't be me takingidentity and the degrees I have.
It should be Jesus overeverything.
And so if I were to love Godand to love his commandments and
(34:34):
to love Jesus and love andvalue what he teaches and apply
that, then I recognize theDemocratic Party for a good
portion of time, is a lot moreliberal and has a lot more left
leaning than it was 30 years ago.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
Yeah, for me, that's something that, just on its
merit, not just fill up, wakingup one day and say I'm going to
redefine myself.
It's my rules, my philosophy.
No, it's me saying, aligningmyself with something that came
before me that I believe in isto be true.
It would be a misalignment forme to vote against it in these
(35:19):
issues.
And that's what would say to me.
If, for nothing else, yeah, I'ma conservative.
Yeah, politically, yes, bothparties have their issues.
No party is perfect, becauselast time I thought, last time I
remember Jesus isn't on theballot this year.
Right, there isn't a Christianparty.
So you're going to have todecide among parties that may
(35:41):
have elements you like andelements you don't like.
But, yeah, if it came down to aDemocrat or Republican based off
where I'm coming from, based onprinciples and worldview rather
than personality and peerpressure, yeah, I check the box
for conservative and yeah, Icheck the box also for
Republican.
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
How did your friends and family react?
Like did you?
How did you go about talkingwith them about this change, and
were you met with resistance?
Were you met with disbelief?
Speaker 3 (36:17):
I think the box all of the above would be sufficient
.
Yeah, yeah.
I think part of it too is justthe thought that it's scary
sometimes to go out on the open.
Sometimes being the minority ofone can be a scary place to be,
and especially when it's aroundpeople you care about.
(36:41):
That care about you, that yougain some sort of sense of
community.
A lot of people don't want tobe ostracized from it.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
Right.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
But at the same time, I would say, part of the flip
side of it is saying well, as wetalked about before when I
talked about Disagree WithoutDisrespect, how that book came
about.
If I don't become myself in aworld where everyone else is
preaching, do what's right foryou, do, do you do what you love
, be you, be authentic, okay.
(37:17):
If I'm not being able to bemyself and be honest with people
, then what purpose am I serving?
Yeah, yeah.
So I think at some point you sayto yourself listen, I recognize
some people will not see me thesame way.
I recognize some people may, inthis day and age, unfriend me,
unfollow me and that sort.
Clearly their level of respectand love for me was conditional
(37:38):
on that matter, that I agreewith them on everything.
But what also opens up too, isthere's a whole nother group of
people that I might not havecome across, that can be a part
of my community, based off ofnot believing what is true to me
(37:59):
out of fear what others maythink.
But the flip side is, bybelieving what you believe is to
be true, you can come across toother people that believe the
same thing, that say, hey,you're welcome here, we
appreciate you, let's talk itout.
And even then, in that group ofpeople you may not agree on
everything, but at least thereyou're much more at ease with
(38:21):
people that aren't going off ofskin color, whether or not they
affiliate with you.
It's more so.
We have a common set of beliefsand principles and worldview
that goes beyond the color ofyour skin.
It goes beyond where were youborn.
It goes beyond whether rich orpoor and, quite honestly, I
(38:42):
think that's the type ofcommunity I would thrive in and
I would very much appreciate,and that's what has me in it
today.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Yeah, I know, as a, as a woman who is a conservative
, a similar experience in that,you know, and I've been in the
higher education realm for sometime and so I've even had
students we've had theseconversations in class, you know
, oh, you're a woman and youteach college and you know they
(39:13):
go through this checkbox.
They're like you must be aDemocrat, and they're surprised
when they find out I'm aconservative and it is.
It can be a little scarystepping out there because of
all of the preconceived notionsthat people will have about you
(39:33):
just based off of that labelalone, you know, and and of
course, they will tend to go tothe negative route.
One of the things that I'velearned, though I've I've been a
registered Republican since Ican remember, you know, my
entire adult life, and thatdoesn't mean that I have agreed
with everything that has, youknow, come out of the Republican
(39:54):
Party, the GOP has pissed meoff right.
The GOP has pissed me off plentyof times over the years, and so
it doesn't rule how I cast myvote.
I do look at the policy of thepolitician and whoever aligns
with me most closely that'sgoing to be who gets my vote.
But one of the things that I'velearned over the years and
(40:17):
oftentimes being one of theunusual voices at the table, I
guess I'll say is that it'simportant to have that voice at
the table and I've learned toembrace that, and it's opened up
a lot of opportunities for meto be able to say okay, while I
don't represent every femaleRepublican who exists, I can at
(40:40):
least give you my perception ofyou, know my beliefs and how I
understand our policies and howthey speak to me.
At least that is a voice thathas not always been represented,
you know, at the table and it'sso important to be willing to
do that, and I like that.
You have had this experiencethat it's really opened up a
(41:03):
community for you of people thatyou can have these
conversations with and talkabout really important topics in
depth.
You know important topics andhow they're impacting our world,
our society.
You know us as individualstoday.
One of the things that I readnot too long ago.
(41:23):
Let me pull it up.
It up and I'm interested inhearing your take on this.
It was from Gallup, and back inFebruary Gallup had printed an
article Democrats Lose Groundwith Black and Hispanic Adults.
And.
I'm sure you've probably beenwatching this closely how the
(41:43):
voting block is shiftingslightly and, it said, the
Democratic Party is widely overRepublicans and Black Americans.
Party preferences has shrunk bynearly 20 points over the past
three years.
What do you think is going onthere?
Because it seems like youapproach this from a faith
(42:06):
perspective.
You know, in hearing your storyabout developing your
relationship with Jesus and inmaking sure that whatever you
are looking at is going to haveto align with your Christian
beliefs, those values, and I doknow that there is a significant
portion of the Black communitywho have a very strong faith.
(42:30):
Do you think that there'ssomething similar happening in
this shift that has happenedover the past few years?
Or what are you witnessing inthe conversations you're having?
Are you tired of engaging indebates that quickly escalate
into personal attacks andanimosity?
Do you long for a world wherediverse thoughts are respected
(42:52):
and celebrated, even in the faceof strong disagreements?
Have you ever wondered how tohave a respectful and productive
conversation on complex andsensitive topics such as
politics, religion or socialissues, without causing offense
or damaging relationships withyour friends and family?
Disagree Without Disrespect.
How to Respectfully Debate withthose who Think, believe and
(43:15):
Vote Differently from you byPhilip Blackett is a powerful
guidebook that empowers readerslike you to engage in thoughtful
and respectful debate, even inthe midst of polarizing
conversations.
Get your copy of DisagreeWithout Disrespect today at
communication247.com.
Forward slash podcast.
That's wwwcommunication247.com.
(43:38):
Forward slash podcast.
Speaker 3 (43:43):
So one of the things that comes off my mind is a 2024
Democrat is very, verydifferent than a 1994 Democrat.
Yes.
Right.
Our current president wasDemocrat those same periods.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
Right.
Speaker 3 (44:02):
And I could use him as an example to say, hey, his
views have drastically changedover the course of 30 years
Right, and I use that as anexample to say listen, over time
, there's something about theword conservative that we're
missing in this definition,whereas you are preserving
(44:23):
something of tradition over time, and so people can be resolute
on what they believe is theright way to go, whether it's
1994 or 2024.
You have a party that isbecoming more and more left,
more and more liberal, that isstarting to have people say, hey
(44:44):
, I was there for you on thisissue, but now you're starting
to stretch it, when you're nowpushing even further left and
you're basically having avicious cycle happening where
even the president is heldhostage in my belief to it that
you have to go down this route,that the party is going on, or
else you're not going to get thetype of support you need to
(45:05):
stay in power.
Speaker 1 (45:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
Right, and so if that's the case, you want to
stay in power, then that meansyou have to abide by the demands
of the party.
I think what you're starting tosee, though, with regards to
blacks and Hispanics, but evenmore so with blacks, is and in
particular, black men I'mstarting to see too is that OK?
What I grew up on is not beingreflective in this new party.
(45:31):
Yeah, and so now it's puttingme in a position where I'm
having to choose.
Where is my alignment on?
And so when there's certainissues that say, hey, back then
I wasn't for now, now you'retrying to press that I should be
this and that should be thecase, you're going to have to
make a decision, and you'rehaving a lot of people saying,
(45:52):
hey, like you've gone too farfor me, this is, I'm not in
alignment with that.
You also have people saying,listen, I'm also coming across
as a black man that this partyis using the word race a whole
lot.
Ok.
And so, from a perspective ofsaying, listen, when you're
(46:16):
using that word so much as ameans to victimize certain
people, particularly people thatlook like me, to say that we
are victims, we can't get past acertain situation, we can't be
on the other side.
All the issue here is dealingwith racism.
Yeah.
(46:37):
I think a lot of what we'reseeing, too, is that's further
dividing the country.
Right, it might mean well, butit's actually doing more
division, where we're trying toget a point where we can be
judged by the content of ourcharacter not, oh, he's a Black
man, he's a Democrat.
I think a lot of people arealso saying to themselves hey,
my colors shouldn't predicatewho I vote for.
(46:58):
And I resist that, to beginwith, because I don't want
people thinking that they cantake me for granted or dismiss
or discount what I have to sayjust because I look a certain
way.
Because, once again, here comesthat P word prejudice.
And so I think, at that point,when people are starting to see
that, and then even more so,what I argue is, when you look
(47:23):
at policies and platforms applesto apples, this versus that
right, just like what I did in2016.
You're having more people lookat that and saying themselves,
even taking faith out thepicture, jen, just off the
merits of the platforms.
You're having a lot of peoplecome to realization and saying,
hey, these policies seem likethey will benefit me and my
(47:46):
family better than the oppositeparty.
And so now I'm just going off ofjust strictly which one works
better.
You can't throw insults at it,you can't cry out race on this
one.
It's just based off okay, theseare the policies of this party.
These are the policies of thisparty which one proves out
(48:08):
better for me and my familyRight, as it should be, and
people of different colors, butin particular Black.
More of them are saying I seethe results of both of these
policies.
The ones coming from Republicanside are coming up with the
type of results that I want.
The ones coming from.
Republican side are coming upwith the type of results that I
(48:30):
want Like.
I'm seeing what it's like withRepublican controlled or
governed cities and states andhow that compares with Democrat
governed cities and states whenit comes to crime, immigration,
education, the economy,inflation, a number of different
issues, and you're being ableto look at both of them, a
(48:51):
versus B, and you're sayingone's clearly better.
Speaker 1 (48:55):
Right.
Speaker 3 (48:56):
So, if nothing else, you're having a lot of people
awaken to say, hey, let's justreview both of them and see
which one best meets out, and alot of people are saying the
Republican side is better.
Speaker 1 (49:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (49:08):
I'm going to go with that.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
Yeah, instead of focusing on the individual who
may be running for office andthe shortcomings and the
character flaws that's an abyssthat just will never end.
And I don't care whose sideyou're on, I don't care, pick a
name, pick any politician's nameyou start focusing on character
flaws or they said this or theydid that.
(49:32):
That is never ending.
But if what you're doing isfocusing on the policy, then
that is something concrete.
That is something that youabsolutely, apples to apples,
can compare, and I'm so gladthat you said that there's a lot
of yeah, I'm a big proponent ofmedia literacy.
There's a lot of media literacyin that statement.
(49:52):
Actually read through it,compare it, ask the tough
questions and see where you comeout at the end.
That's really what I hope thatwe all do.
What advice would you give tothe Republican Party?
You know, as I'm sure, the oneswho are in control right now
(50:13):
the campaign strategists.
You know everybody's gettingtogether in their small rooms
looking at statistics like theone that I just read.
What kind of conversationshould they be having?
What should they be doing totry to continue this trajectory
of growing the Black vote withinthe Republican Party?
Speaker 3 (50:35):
You know what, jen?
I've been wanting someone toask me that question for so long
, quite honestly, as a Black man, as a registered Republican, as
a conservative.
Yeah, I wish, because I feellike the party is not asking
those questions.
Yeah.
I think that I would respond to.
It is listen One.
(50:56):
The Republican Party could goand last beyond 2024.
Speaker 1 (51:03):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 3 (51:05):
Meaning this is likely the last time we're going
to see Trump and Biden in anelection.
This is it, 2028, you're goingto have two different people,
more than likely Vastlydifferent, yeah, so what are we
doing to prepare not just forNovember 2024, but we're
preparing for 2026, 2028 andongoing?
(51:28):
I don't feel like we have astrategy.
I think we're putting all ourducks in one bucket, our chips
all on one candidate, andnothing else that we're
overlooking.
What's the long-term strategyhere?
For example, like you'retalking about before, jen, as
(51:48):
far as, like, more black andHispanic voters are coming to a
Republican party, there ought tobe a task force or a group of
people with the specific focuson meeting with those people.
Understanding why are youmoving from one side to the
other?
What will it take?
(52:09):
Like actually doing like focusgroup, customer research type of
stuff?
Speaker 1 (52:12):
Like going back old school.
Speaker 3 (52:14):
Right, like put everyone in a room and ask them
questions to better understand.
Like what will it?
Why did you go to theRepublican side?
Did it?
Did it hurt when you left?
Like the questions you'reasking?
Did it hurt when you leftpeople from family?
You're asking, did it hurt whenyou left people from family and
friends that thought of youotherwise for voting this side?
What's keeping you here?
What are important policies foryou going forward?
(52:35):
What would you like to see?
Because I think what's going onthere Jen is once again we're
being so short-term minded.
Yes.
Trump is not going to be thecandidate 2026, 2028 going
forward, you're going to havesomebody else.
If you don't capitalize on thistime where you're having the
biggest influx of black andHispanic people going to the
(52:59):
Republican Party from theDemocrat Party, shame on you,
yeah, mm.
Hmm, shame on you, yeah,because the other thing I think
of, too, what I would use as arecommendation, is I do not see
a effort to develop a pipelineof the next generation of
Republicans to come after Trump.
Yeah, a lot of the people thatwe see here, I saw them years
(53:24):
ago.
The thought that comes to mymind is okay, if you have, let's
say, four Black congressmenthat are Republican and one
senator that's Black, that's aRepublican.
Where's the next group coming up, whether state representatives
or Republican staff or whateverthe case may be, or people that
(53:46):
are on the come up up and comingright?
Where's the pipeline for women?
Where's the pipeline forHispanics?
I'm not seeing that, wherepeople feel encouraged that,
okay, they want me involved,they value what I have to say,
they're including me in theconversation, they're including
me in those rooms, they'reasking me those questions I can
(54:06):
be a part of not just party andplatform and policy, but also
strategy and outreach andcommunication, and I think that
if you're that short term mindedto focus just on November 5th
and just for Trump, you're goingto miss out on a significant
opportunity that the party isgoing to need going forward.
Speaker 1 (54:28):
I agree.
I think there needs to be astrategic plan, and a part of me
wonders if the Republican Partyyou know we are anti-identity
politics, right.
I mean, that's no secretAnything.
Identity politics is justantithetical to what we believe
and understand, and I can't helpbut to wonder if there is
(54:53):
something to that, that thatbelief is so strong and there's
a misunderstanding that exactlywhat you're talking about a
pipeline, reaching out,understanding, having those
conversations, trying to figureout what is it that we're
missing?
What is it that we need to makesure we're including the
questions and the topics youknow in those types of
(55:14):
conversations?
That's different from identitypolitics, and I can't help but
to wonder if the old guard, likewhat you're talking about,
there's some people that havebeen around for a long, long
time, if that's not the issueright there, because we're not
talking about identity politics,we're not talking about
placating, or oh, I'm just goingto try to say the right thing,
(55:37):
just so I can get your vote.
I think if you truly want to beable to bring in different
communities who share similarvalues, similar beliefs and
conservatism, then you're goingto have to get over the fact
that we are going to come fromdifferent backgrounds and
different experiences and we aregoing to look different you
(55:59):
know, and?
but I don't know, it's just atheory, but I can't help but to
wonder if maybe that is a partof the issue, that we're just
kind of cutting off our nosedespite our face.
Speaker 3 (56:08):
I agree, because I think part of it is we talked
about this before, jen whereit's like if we go off of
principles and worldview versuspersonality and peer pressure,
if we congregate among a sharedset of beliefs and values and
principles, regardless of wherewe come from and who we look
like and what our background is,that, to me, is going to be
(56:31):
more representative of what youwill want America to look like.
Yeah, because that's what itwas.
In my sense is like, OK, amulticultural melting pot, but
we had shared values.
Yes, right, I think of that.
Similar for the RepublicanParty.
It's like if you can get pastwhat the other side is doing and
(56:55):
just say, hey, these are thethings we stand for, and be very
clear and very upfront about it, you will inevitably attract
people that see the other sideas opposite of what they want
and they'll be attracted by whatyou espouse to believe.
And if you keep the doors opento all, those people can come in
(57:17):
and say, hey, I'm right therewith you, I'm right there with
you, brother, I'm right therewith you, sister.
I look different from you, I'mfrom a different place, a
different neighborhood, adifferent background, but you
and I were in agreement withthis.
I think this is just me.
That is what's going to besignificant about pulling the
party in a better place than itis right now, going forward.
Speaker 1 (57:40):
Amen.
This has been such a funconversation for me, Phillip.
I hope you've enjoyed it.
I know the listeners haveenjoyed it.
I want to go ahead and startwrapping it up, but before I do,
because we've been talking foralmost an hour now.
It goes by so fast when you'rehaving fun.
If anybody is interested inpurchasing your books or
(58:01):
contacting you, how can they getin touch with you?
Speaker 3 (58:05):
Absolutely so.
Any of my books, whether it'sDisagree Without Disrespect, how
to Respectfully Debate withthose who Think, Believe and
Vote Differently from you, ifit's Jesus Over Black, how my
Faith Transformed Me from aLiberal to Conservative Within
the Black Community, or evensome other of my books that deal
with Black Conservatism andwhat the Republican Party can do
to bring more black voters inthe fold for now and going
(58:27):
forward.
All those books are availableon Amazon, so you can look it up
, either via title of the bookor just look up my name, Philip
BlackettP-H-I-L-I-P-B-L-A-C-K-E-T-T.
You can also go to my websiteat philipblackettcom, and we can
also connect on social media.
(58:48):
I'm available on Facebook,Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and
YouTube.
Just look up my name, PhilipBlackett.
Love to have a conversationwith you.
Speaker 1 (58:57):
Fantastic, all right.
Thanks again so much for beingwilling to have this
conversation with me.
I truly enjoyed it and I hopeto have you again on the show
sometime.
I hope you're willing to comeback and have some more
conversations with me, becauseI'd love to continue.
Speaker 3 (59:12):
I would love to have that too.
Speaker 1 (59:13):
Fantastic.
All right, everyone.
I hope you enjoyed thisconversation as well, and I hope
you have a wonderful rest ofyour day, so y'all take care now
.
Thanks for listening.
(59:33):
If you enjoyed this episode andyou'd like to help support the
podcast, please share it withothers, post about it on social
media or leave a rating and areview.
About five months ago , pew Research released some key
facts about Black eligiblevoters in 2024.
The report revealed that in2020, 92% of single-race Black
non-Hispanic voters cast a votefor Democrat Joe Biden, while
only 8% backed Republican DonaldTrump.
Just last month, pew reportedthat, while Black voters remain
(00:22):
overwhelmingly Democratic andsupport Joe Biden over Donald
Trump, biden's advantage is notas wide as it was four years ago
.
As a matter of fact, galluprecently reported the Democrats
are losing ground with Black andHispanic adults.
Of particular note, theDemocratic Party's lead over
Republicans' and BlackAmericans' party preferences has
(00:44):
shrunk by nearly 20 points overthe past three years.
This shift in party preferenceis one reason why I asked Philip
Blackett to be my guest on thepodcast.
Philip majored in politicalscience and economics at the
University of North Carolina atChapel Hill and then went on to
get his MBA from HarvardBusiness School, followed by a
(01:05):
Master's of Divinity degree fromthe Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary.
He's been featured in BusinessInsider and Forbes and has
written six books.
This was a great opportunity totalk with Philip, who happens
to be Black, about his Christianfaith and how his faith
transformed him from a liberalinto a conservative, and how
(01:29):
that transformation impacted hisrelationships within the Black
community.
We also talked about what isneeded for the Republican Party
to attract more Black voters in2024 and beyond.
It was a great conversation.
I hope you keep listening.
(01:57):
Welcome to the Communication24-7 podcast, where we
communicate about how wecommunicate.
I'm your excited about thisconversation today because one
of the things that I love aboutbeing a podcaster it gives me an
(02:19):
excuse to have so manyinteresting people on the show
to have engaging and meaningfulconversations.
Today, my guest is PhilipBlackett, and I cannot wait to
dive in, get to learn a littlebit more about Philip's
background, his ideals, hisbeliefs, some of his experiences
(02:39):
that he has had along the way,and I know that you all are also
going to enjoy thisconversation because it's going
to be a meaningful conversation.
Philip, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Thanks so much, Jen.
Happy to be here with you.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Well, before we get started, for those who may not
be familiar with you, you're anauthor, an entrepreneur.
I know you're a man of faith.
You've had such an interestingbackground and life experience,
but do you mind just giving arundown of who you are and to
know a little bit more about you?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yeah, it's always quite a task to try to condense
like almost 40 years of lifeinto like one minute or two, but
I'll do my best.
So yeah, so my name is PhilipBlackett, born and raised in
Memphis, tennessee, sosoutherner at heart.
So I like Chick-fil-A, likebarbecue, like sweet tea that's
typical things that I like.
Went to school in NorthCarolina, chapel Hill.
(03:32):
Worked in Wall Street corporateAmerica beforehand Been an
entrepreneur still am.
Went to business school atHarvard.
Got married the day aftergraduation to my wife now of
eight years.
We raised two twin daughtersthat are now seven years old,
which is part of the reason whyyou see so many gray hairs on my
(03:53):
head.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
That'll do it.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
And outside of that, I went to seminary.
I went to Southern BaptistTheological Seminary during the
pandemic, while running abusiness of my own at the time,
and now I've authored six booksthis year.
I think I'm good for now as faras writing, so the main focus
is spreading a good word aboutwhat I wrote to be a positive
influence, impact to others.
And when I'm not doing that,I'm either helping out small
(04:16):
businesses, help grow theirbusinesses with AI or raising my
family with my wife.
How did I do?
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Yeah, I mean, there's just so much that you have been
able to accomplish, and I lovethe comment about where the gray
hairs are coming from, becauseI have two children myself.
Well, they're actually adultsnow my son's 27.
My daughter's 26.
It is no small task, though, todo everything that you're doing
and also raise small kids atthe same time.
(04:45):
So kudos to you and your wife.
One of the reasons I wanted tohave you on this show, of course
, it's Communication 24-7, and Iwas really intrigued by your
book Disagree Without Disrespect.
It reminded me of a conversationthat I had some time ago with a
colleague, and something thatshe said really stuck with me
over time, and she saiddisagreement does not ruin
(05:09):
relationships, but disrespectdoes, and so when I read the
title of your book, it justreminded me of that conversation
, and that was one reason why Iwanted to have you on the show
to just talk with you about thepremise behind the book, your
inspiration and what your goalsare.
You know what you hope toaccomplish by writing such a
book.
And then I also wanted to beable to talk with you about your
(05:32):
thoughts on politics.
We're in an election year.
It's getting closer and closer,and the Republican Party is
definitely experiencing its ownlevel of challenges, and so I
just wanted to, you know, spendsome time talking with you to
get your insight on what'shappening with internal
communication and some changesthat I've read about, you know,
(05:56):
especially concerning the Blackvote, you know increasing
numbers going to the RepublicanParty.
So I just I think we're goingto have an interesting and
engaging and meaningfulconversation, and I'm just
excited for it.
So, to get us started, do youmind just telling us a little
bit about your book and what wasthe reasoning behind writing
(06:18):
this book?
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Yeah.
So first off, your friend'squote.
That's definitely a tweetableright there.
If I had permission torepurpose that and share that
with people, I put the name onthere too.
That's a quote I wish I knewback when I wrote this book, for
sure.
Yeah.
Because it's very telling.
It's not a problem to have adisagreement with somebody, but
(06:42):
how you go about it is soimportant on how that impacts
your relationship.
And so the motivation behind thebook itself Disagree Without
Disrespect how to RespectfullyDebate with those who Think,
believe and Vote Differentlyfrom you actually came out from
a family get-together 4th ofJuly last year oh wow.
(07:03):
Get together 4th of July lastyear, oh wow.
So you know, I'm here in Boston, I invite my sister's family
her husband, my niece and nephew.
My mom comes up to see thegrandkids and so one day we were
sitting in the living room mysister, myself and my mom and so
we were talking about something.
(07:24):
Quite frankly, I don't evenremember what the topic was, but
clearly my sister and I were onopposite ends of the spectrum
on that particular issue, and so, as we were starting to dig a
little bit deeper, have adiscussion about this, my wife
not my wife, but my mom jumpedin like a referee, except
without the zebra shirt on, andessentially like stop everything
(07:49):
from taking place.
Nope, we're not going to havethis.
I know we're planning on havingfireworks later on tonight, and
what I don't want to do is havean early showing of those
fireworks here in this livingroom right now.
Right works here in this livingroom right now Right.
And while I appreciate theintent behind that, as far as
her trying to quote unquote keepthe peace, especially with
(08:13):
family, to getting together thatwe don't often see every now
and then, the impact of it was Ifelt like it was a lost
opportunity.
It was a lost opportunity formy sister and I to get to know
each other a little bit better.
We have a close relationshipwe're only 22 months apart and
this was something for me to beable to share, something that
(08:33):
was important to me, that shemight not know about, and to
have a better idea of what thestory behind that is, because I
think you know, jen, there'ssome conversations that are
better to be had in person.
Yes absolutely, and so when youhave those opportunities to be
in person with somebody, certainconversations can be had, as
(08:57):
opposed to on the telephone, viatext message or social media or
even writing on a letterhead,and so I think the challenge
that came out of that wasessentially okay.
This was an opportunity for youto learn more about me.
We can't have that here.
It's a lost cause or a missedopportunity.
(09:17):
And so the thought that came onmy mind in reflection was, if
that was the case for me wantedto share something that was
important for me to share withsomeone who I care about how
many other people areexperiencing something similar?
Thousands, millions, exactlyWhatever the issue may be,
(09:40):
whatever the setting familyreunion, get together, holidays,
you name the event and so Ithink what came off in my head,
Jen, was we've simply just lostthe rules of engagement here on
how to go about talking to oneanother with respect on things
that might show disagreements ordifferences of opinion, which,
(10:04):
as your friends quote saidearlier, that's not what's going
to stop a relationship by howyou go about it, which, in this
day and age, is more on thedisrespectful end of the
spectrum, where you see a lot ofrelationships being broken, a
lot of people being unfriended,getting the cold shoulder from
family and friends, criticizedor cursed out on social media
(10:28):
for no other reason than justhaving a difference of opinion
on any issue.
Yeah.
You know so, let alone when wewere growing up.
They say, hey, you don't talkabout certain things at the
dinner table politics, religionand money.
Now, it's like if you have anydifference of opinion on any
issue, you run the same risk.
And it's not so much talkingabout it that's an issue, it's
(10:53):
more so how we engage with it,because when I was growing up,
my mom used to work in acourtroom and she would have
attorneys come in that wouldargue one side of the case or
another.
They would do their job, arguevery passionately, sometimes
very aggressively, yeah, closeand they exited the courtroom.
(11:23):
Most people overlook the factthat those two attorneys those
same two attorneys oftentimesshook hands.
Yes, they congratulated oneanother, right, they could be
seen eating lunch together maybethat same day, or attending a
(11:44):
daughter's soccer game on theweekend, which nowadays people
would think like that'sabsolutely no way in the world
that would happen.
That's like sleeping with theenemy.
Well, disagreements happenedback then, and they happened
prior to it, but there was justa level of decorum and respect
we still had, though, where justbecause if I disagree with you,
as my mom would say, it doesn'tmean that I don't love you,
(12:07):
right?
So it's actually, in a sense,you can have a relationship with
somebody, a healthyrelationship with people that
you don't see eye to eye on, andit's okay.
And so that's what I was hopingto bring you know thoughts to
paper, a framework together in abook like this to really help
(12:27):
people understand that it ispossible for you to have a great
relationship with people thatyou care about, even if you
don't see eye to eye on everyissue.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
It's such an important point to continue to
emphasize.
I worked as a media analyst forsome time, and one of the great
advantages of being a mediaanalyst is I would have to read
the news and rate it forreliability and bias, and then I
would have to speak to otheranalysts from across the
(13:02):
political spectrum aboutwhatever it was that we just
read, and then we had to reach aconsensus on how reliable and
how biased we thought it was,and, as you can imagine,
sometimes there were some prettyrobust conversations that we
would get sidetracked and startarguing about the topic.
More times than not, though, wewould remember look, we're not
(13:27):
focusing on the topic right now.
We need to reach a consensus onwhether or not we think what we
just read is accurate.
Is it reliable?
How biased is it?
And the advantage of havingconversations like that with
people who think differentlyfrom you is you don't know where
your own blind spots are and,like you said, just because you
(13:50):
have a disagreement, it doesn'tmean that you don't love the
other person or you don't likethe other person or that, all of
a sudden, there's just noreason for you to hang out.
You just can't get along withthem.
One thing that I've learnedthrough that experience of being
a media analyst is some of thethe closest friends that I have
now, people who I will call andhave conversations with them
(14:15):
just to be able to get theirpoint of view on certain things,
because I know I'm aconservative, so I know I have
my you know opinions aboutdifferent topics.
Sometimes I think you need tocheck yourself, and that's how a
democracy thrives, right?
I mean, we depend on people tosee things differently so that
(14:36):
we can have these conversations,so we avoid things like
groupthink.
Where do you think this shifttruly began for us?
Because it does seem like therewas a point in time where you
could have a disagreement and itwas like, okay, well, you think
that and I think that, whatever, get over yourself, let's go
(14:59):
have a beer and you're right.
Now there's been this hugeshift.
I blame social media foreverything, but you know it has
to be more than that.
What are your thoughts on that?
When did that shift starthappening?
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Well, jen, I think you took the words out of my
mouth on that one.
I think the first culprit hereis social media, because, if you
think about it, when we weregrowing up, you know you only
had so many outlets to get yournews and information from.
Yeah, right, some people hadthree or four TV channels.
If you splurge a little bit,you may have had 50 channels,
(15:34):
right.
So you're, you got your newsfrom people that really that
journalism really meantsomething to them.
Right, and being objective,having a balanced, nuanced view
of the world and how you spokeof the news, knowing the
responsibility you have todeliver accurate information,
(15:56):
but also understanding that theresponsibility also comes with
you're in a role that you arepotentially influencing
thousands, if not millions, ofpeople on how they view the
world around you.
And so you took that seriouslyenough that, as you were saying
before, as a media analyst, youwere trying to really take your
(16:17):
role seriously because you knewwhat the possible ramifications
and consequences would be if youdidn't do your job.
Well, right.
Well, you know, when thesesocial media platforms come up
now, people have their own voice.
You know people talk about it onthe good end.
Yes, there's a democratizationof where people can have their
(16:40):
platforms, they can say what'son their mind, build their own
audiences and that sort.
Well, it's a double edged sword, it sure is.
You know, be careful what youwish for, because on one end,
yes, you absolutely can havethat power to share what's on
your mind and spread it to anaudience and that sort of thing
(17:01):
and grow your own show ornetwork.
The other part is, you alsohave a place where people can
have what they call Twitterfingers and have a sense where
they can comment anonymously andcomment is a nice way of saying
it.
But we take commentary to awhole nother level, a much
darker level in terms ofcriticism, critique, cursing out
(17:24):
, calling people outside oftheir given names and that sort
of thing, shaming them, tryingto cancel them simply by having
a different viewpoint, right,and so it really kind of showed
the more sinful side of us asfar as human nature and how we
can be behind closed doors orbehind a screen, a monitor,
(17:45):
right.
The other part that I would sayis mainstream media has some
culpability here too, as aresult of social media and these
platforms proliferating.
Because, if you think about it,if you've gone from three or
four news channels CBS, nbc, abcand Fox, for example and you
(18:08):
start to add more channels, moreplaces where people can get
their news and information, nowcompetition goes high, right?
So now the question is yes, itsounds great, more competition.
That means better product.
It didn't work that way.
No, it did.
Now it's basically saying, hey,for us to keep those
(18:28):
advertising dollars, to keepthose sponsorships coming in.
We got to fight to get thesepeople to keep reading and
listening from us.
So if they're going to otherplaces and they're empowered to
come up with their owninformation, now this starts to
be a race to the bottom in termsof integrity and legitimacy of
(18:49):
what you call journalism.
Now you're looking at it not somuch as far as a full-fledged
balance story.
Now it's being diluted towhat's the best headline that
can capture people's attention.
How salacious can I make it?
How scandalous can I make it?
What's the thumbnail?
How can I come up with ahyper-sexualized image that can
(19:13):
get someone to stop what they'redoing scrolling and click the
button and we get some revenueoff of that?
And this is where clickbaitcomes in.
Yeah, even if the story itselfhas nothing to do with the
headline or the thumbnail imageto begin with, has nothing to do
with the headline or thethumbnail image to begin with.
Yes.
But his goal was just to getanother person to come in so you
(19:34):
can provide for youradvertisers.
Hey, we got this many peoplecoming to our site.
This is why we're worth thisamount of money to keep us going
.
And so people take note of thatand they start copycatting.
Yeah, they start doing the samething.
And now you get to a pointwhere now people are picking up
on that.
It's like, hey, what I clickedis not the same as what I read.
(19:57):
Now there's a degradation oftrust.
Now it's a sense of saying Idon't mess with this news source
, I'm going to go elsewhere.
And now another way of that isyou have some networks that are
much more leaning towards oneside of the spectrum or another,
and it's very overt.
(20:17):
It's becoming very obvious thatit's more partisan news than
anything, and now it's becomingmore like propaganda than actual
journalism.
And so now it's basicallyeducating and influencing people
, that sort of skepticism thatmistrust this sense that, oh, if
(20:38):
you're not one way, you'reanother, and for that you are
demonized.
Yes, you deserve to be slandered.
You deserve to get your jobtaken away from you.
You deserve to be embarrassedpublicly.
Right, as I mentioned before,news of the past, they had a
responsibility, knowing thatthey had a role that was going
(20:59):
to be influential on how otherpeople thought and went about
their day.
That still applies today, wherenow, with all these things
happening, it is heavilyinfluencing how we interact with
one another.
Where now it's a oversimplistic, less realistic way of looking
at it, where it's like if you'renot for this person, this party
(21:22):
, these policies, this viewpoint, then automatically I feel
empowered to say nope, unfollow.
Nope unfriend.
You even have dating apps.
Now I've heard that if someonesays hey, if you're for this
candidate, just go ahead andswipe left.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
We're not going to even entertain the thought or if
any sort of curiosity to learnmore about the story behind that
person, a word that we werereally wary about growing up and
we didn't want that wordassociated with us.
It was a P word calledprejudice.
Yeah.
(22:05):
What I would venture to say isthat we're becoming a more
prejudice group of people.
Yes, we're just off of seeing aheadline about somebody, or
seeing one's affiliation or atrigger word that's included.
We'll make a emotional snapjudgment, a neat reaction that
(22:27):
will completely discount ordismiss another person or an
organization without even reallygetting to know the person.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Yeah, it's believed to be justified in some way.
You know, we have legitimateprejudice happening right now
because people will go intothese different platforms, these
different systems and they'regiven that option and, oh, this
is okay to filter.
We're filtering this way andit's natural to have preferences
(23:01):
.
Especially when you're in thedating world, you are going to
naturally have preferences.
When you start thinking aboutsomeone's opinions or someone's
beliefs to just completely basedoff of, maybe, who they voted
for, what a superficial way tobegin filtering out who you
(23:23):
think would be a good partnerfor you.
You have absolutely no ideaabout anything else about that
person.
(23:50):
No-transcript in division.
Right, there's a lot of moneyto be made in division and
emotional appeal and to the fearappeals, all of the above, the
type of language thatjournalists choose to use or
editors choose to use in theheadlines.
It's all about getting theclick, getting the attention,
(24:13):
getting those ad dollars.
You know all of the above andat the end of the day, as
consumers, as communicationconsumers, we're forgetting that
we are the product at the endof the day.
So it's having a profoundimpact on what we believe, what
we choose to say, who we chooseto hang out with, who we choose
to talk to all of those things.
(24:35):
It's having such a profoundimpact, and I know you have
experienced this on a personallevel, cause one of the things
that I I did read when I wasgoing through your background is
that you were not alwaysconservative.
Right, you had a change.
I think I read that yourChristian faith had helped you
(24:58):
transform in some way, and socan you tell me a little bit
about that transformation, andhow did that impact your
experience with others and yourconversations and their
willingness to accept adifferent belief system or
accept, you know, differentideals?
Coming from you, someone thatthey've seen go through this
(25:20):
change, have you ever felt thesocial ultimatum of choosing
between your God and your race?
Are you struggling to reconcileyour Christian beliefs with the
prevailing social and politicalideologies in your community?
In Philip Blackett's booktitled Jesus Over Black how my
Faith Transformed Me Into AConservative Within the Black
(25:42):
Community, philip addresses thecore problem that many
Christians face the conflict ofidentity within the black
community.
His book shows you how tonavigate the challenges of
reconciling your Christian faithwith prevalent social and
political ideologies withoutcompromising your beliefs and
biblical worldview.
This book is perfect forindividuals within the
(26:02):
African-American community whoare grappling with their
Christian faith and how itintersects with the expectations
of their cultural and politicalenvironments.
If you feel isolated orconflicted due to your
traditional or conservativevalues and are looking for
validation and a path forwardthat aligns with your faith,
this book is for you.
(26:23):
Get your copy today atcommunication247.com.
Forward slash podcast.
That's wwwcommunication247.com.
Forward slash podcast.
That's wwwcommunication247.com.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Forward slash podcast yeah, so this is definitely a
reference to another book ofmine, yeah, um which you know.
I've written six books, jen,but if you were to ask me to
rank them in terms of which oneshave like the most personal
significance to me, disagreewithout disrespect is definitely
(26:56):
up the top, but right therewith it, I would say, like one
and one A is Jesus over black.
Ok.
OK how my faith transformed mefrom a liberal to a conservative
within the Black community.
And so when I was growing up inthe South, my family, we were
(27:19):
Black.
We were also Democrats.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
And that was just the rule of thumb for me growing up
.
It was almost to the sense,like you didn't really question
it, even though I will credit mymom for me opening up, where
she would say hey, philip, evenif you're a Democrat, you ought
to see and expose yourself towhat's being said on the other
side.
If for no other reason, it'seither going to help you further
(27:46):
fortify what you believe in,like you get greater conviction
because you know what people onthe other side think, or at the
very least, just understandingwhere someone else is coming
from, so you have a morefruitful conversation or debate.
That's right.
And so I think for me, like Iwas a Democrat, for example, you
(28:08):
know, even though I wasn'tvoting, you know growing up but
then when I went to college andI was able to vote, you know,
the first election I was able toparticipate in it was 2004.
That was Democrat as far as thevote for me, 2008.
I didn't care what anyone saidat that point, with me being 22,
(28:31):
23 at the time, the opportunitywas just so great to be a part
of, to elect the firstAfrican-American president of
the United States, so I was notreally seeing anything but that,
and that led me to voteDemocrat there.
And then the next election,2012,.
There was nothing that I couldlisten to or hear, otherwise
(28:54):
that would stop me fromreelecting the first
African-American president ofthe United States.
So I voted Democrat there too.
But 2016 was different.
2016 was different because nowthe whole honeymoon stage of oh
my gosh, we made history.
That's now coming on 2016.
(29:18):
I'm now in my 30s, not my 20s,you're like more of an adult and
I did something foreign, dare Isay, radical or controversial
at that time in 2016.
I actually read someone else'sparty platform.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
And you'd never done that before.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Never done it before.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Okay.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
I had Democratic Party platform read through that
.
I read the Republican Partyplatform.
Read through that.
I read the Republican Partyplatform.
Read through that.
What I recognize after doingthat exercise, I think I'm more
of a Republican than I am aDemocrat.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
So let me hit the pause button here.
I want to ask you when that hityou, after you read that and
that hit you, what was yourinitial reaction?
Were you in?
Were you in disbelief?
Were you like okay, wait aminute, let me think this
through.
Like this surely?
Speaker 3 (30:24):
this can't be, or were you more open?
So there definitely was an ohsnap moment.
Yeah, I don't know how this isgoing to go along.
My friends and family, I don'tknow how this is going to go
along my friends and family?
The other part was look, I wasa political science and
economics double major incollege, so I live like politics
.
As far as, like you know, mygoal or my dream at the time
when I was in college was like Iwould love to be a political
analyst for CNN.
(30:45):
Yeah.
Yeah, would love to.
I have different thoughts now.
That's a whole nother story.
But the other part that came off, jen on this one, was curiosity
as far as why, why was there aswitch?
I didn't actually voteRepublican that year because I
(31:17):
guess there was such a such anonslaught of disbelief and, dare
I say, hate thrown at trumpthat I felt like, oh my gosh,
like timid philip, I can't votetrump but I'm definitely not a
hillary fan, so I went the thirdparty route.
I went libertarian because Iwas like that's a compromise.
I did too, I yeah I did thesame thing.
There I go, gary john.
There we go.
Yeah, caught a little flack forthat because people were just
dismissing.
Oh that doesn't matter, youjust wasted a vote.
(31:37):
I said, ok, all right, I'llkeep that in mind for 2020.
Right, right.
But to get to your point in yourquestion, jen, I think a lot of
it was asking myself thosequestions what was different,
what was missing from oneplatform versus the other?
Me trying to go off just off themerits of it, not being
persuaded by personality or peerpressure.
(32:01):
I was trying to go off of moreon principles and worldview and
at that time, for me, I had beena growing man of faith through
college and as I was learningmore and more and it accentuated
even more when I got toseminary in 2020, that I
(32:22):
realized that.
Okay for me to believe, forexample, that the word of God,
the Bible, the book that I'vebeen reading ever since I was
young, passed on from my mother,from my grandparents especially
my grandparents, a Sundayschool teacher from my
grandmother, a deacon at thechurch, my grandfather book
(32:47):
that's transferred generationafter generation, for me to
believe that what is said inthat book is true, for me to
believe that what is said inthat book is the standard of
right and wrong and that it'sthe word of God, as far as God
writing of what we should goabout and if we want to flourish
as humans, as his creation.
For me to believe that, thatit's inerrant if we want to
flourish as humans, as hiscreation.
(33:08):
For me to believe that thatit's inerrant, infallible,
without error, that is differentfrom what a lot of people think
and that, in and of itself,just that belief would make me
conservative.
That would make me conservativeeven within the Black community
, of which a great portion ofthe Black community go to church
and are Christians a greatportion of the Black community
(33:29):
go to church and are Christians.
Because if I just take thatbelief and I applied it to some
of the issues of today and I saywhat does God have to say about
this?
What is written in the Bibleabout this issue, then that will
put me at odds with a lot ofDemocrat policies.
So the question would then bewhich one rules the day for you,
philip?
Are you more Democrat thanChristian, or are you more
(33:54):
Christian than Democrat?
And I can apply the same thingfor Republican too.
Yeah.
Because the essence of the bookJesus over black is saying that
there should be no higheridentity factor as far as who I
am outside of being a followerof Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Yeah, it shouldn't be the most important thing that
I'm Black.
It shouldn't be the mostimportant thing I'm at one
political party or another.
It shouldn't be more importantthat I'm from this country of
origin or another.
It shouldn't be me takingidentity and the degrees I have.
It should be Jesus overeverything.
And so if I were to love Godand to love his commandments and
(34:34):
to love Jesus and love andvalue what he teaches and apply
that, then I recognize theDemocratic Party for a good
portion of time, is a lot moreliberal and has a lot more left
leaning than it was 30 years ago.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
Yeah, for me, that's something that, just on its
merit, not just fill up, wakingup one day and say I'm going to
redefine myself.
It's my rules, my philosophy.
No, it's me saying, aligningmyself with something that came
before me that I believe in isto be true.
It would be a misalignment forme to vote against it in these
(35:19):
issues.
And that's what would say to me.
If, for nothing else, yeah, I'ma conservative.
Yeah, politically, yes, bothparties have their issues.
No party is perfect, becauselast time I thought, last time I
remember Jesus isn't on theballot this year.
Right, there isn't a Christianparty.
So you're going to have todecide among parties that may
(35:41):
have elements you like andelements you don't like.
But, yeah, if it came down to aDemocrat or Republican based off
where I'm coming from, based onprinciples and worldview rather
than personality and peerpressure, yeah, I check the box
for conservative and yeah, Icheck the box also for
Republican.
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
How did your friends and family react?
Like did you?
How did you go about talkingwith them about this change, and
were you met with resistance?
Were you met with disbelief?
Speaker 3 (36:17):
I think the box all of the above would be sufficient
.
Yeah, yeah.
I think part of it too is justthe thought that it's scary
sometimes to go out on the open.
Sometimes being the minority ofone can be a scary place to be,
and especially when it's aroundpeople you care about.
(36:41):
That care about you, that yougain some sort of sense of
community.
A lot of people don't want tobe ostracized from it.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
Right.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
But at the same time, I would say, part of the flip
side of it is saying well, as wetalked about before when I
talked about Disagree WithoutDisrespect, how that book came
about.
If I don't become myself in aworld where everyone else is
preaching, do what's right foryou, do, do you do what you love
, be you, be authentic, okay.
(37:17):
If I'm not being able to bemyself and be honest with people
, then what purpose am I serving?
Yeah, yeah.
So I think at some point you sayto yourself listen, I recognize
some people will not see me thesame way.
I recognize some people may, inthis day and age, unfriend me,
unfollow me and that sort.
Clearly their level of respectand love for me was conditional
(37:38):
on that matter, that I agreewith them on everything.
But what also opens up too, isthere's a whole nother group of
people that I might not havecome across, that can be a part
of my community, based off ofnot believing what is true to me
(37:59):
out of fear what others maythink.
But the flip side is, bybelieving what you believe is to
be true, you can come across toother people that believe the
same thing, that say, hey,you're welcome here, we
appreciate you, let's talk itout.
And even then, in that group ofpeople you may not agree on
everything, but at least thereyou're much more at ease with
(38:21):
people that aren't going off ofskin color, whether or not they
affiliate with you.
It's more so.
We have a common set of beliefsand principles and worldview
that goes beyond the color ofyour skin.
It goes beyond where were youborn.
It goes beyond whether rich orpoor and, quite honestly, I
(38:42):
think that's the type ofcommunity I would thrive in and
I would very much appreciate,and that's what has me in it
today.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Yeah, I know, as a, as a woman who is a conservative
, a similar experience in that,you know, and I've been in the
higher education realm for sometime and so I've even had
students we've had theseconversations in class, you know
, oh, you're a woman and youteach college and you know they
(39:13):
go through this checkbox.
They're like you must be aDemocrat, and they're surprised
when they find out I'm aconservative and it is.
It can be a little scarystepping out there because of
all of the preconceived notionsthat people will have about you
(39:33):
just based off of that labelalone, you know, and and of
course, they will tend to go tothe negative route.
One of the things that I'velearned, though I've I've been a
registered Republican since Ican remember, you know, my
entire adult life, and thatdoesn't mean that I have agreed
with everything that has, youknow, come out of the Republican
(39:54):
Party, the GOP has pissed meoff right.
The GOP has pissed me off plentyof times over the years, and so
it doesn't rule how I cast myvote.
I do look at the policy of thepolitician and whoever aligns
with me most closely that'sgoing to be who gets my vote.
But one of the things that I'velearned over the years and
(40:17):
oftentimes being one of theunusual voices at the table, I
guess I'll say is that it'simportant to have that voice at
the table and I've learned toembrace that, and it's opened up
a lot of opportunities for meto be able to say okay, while I
don't represent every femaleRepublican who exists, I can at
(40:40):
least give you my perception ofyou, know my beliefs and how I
understand our policies and howthey speak to me.
At least that is a voice thathas not always been represented,
you know, at the table and it'sso important to be willing to
do that, and I like that.
You have had this experiencethat it's really opened up a
(41:03):
community for you of people thatyou can have these
conversations with and talkabout really important topics in
depth.
You know important topics andhow they're impacting our world,
our society.
You know us as individualstoday.
One of the things that I readnot too long ago.
(41:23):
Let me pull it up.
It up and I'm interested inhearing your take on this.
It was from Gallup, and back inFebruary Gallup had printed an
article Democrats Lose Groundwith Black and Hispanic Adults.
And.
I'm sure you've probably beenwatching this closely how the
(41:43):
voting block is shiftingslightly and, it said, the
Democratic Party is widely overRepublicans and Black Americans.
Party preferences has shrunk bynearly 20 points over the past
three years.
What do you think is going onthere?
Because it seems like youapproach this from a faith
(42:06):
perspective.
You know, in hearing your storyabout developing your
relationship with Jesus and inmaking sure that whatever you
are looking at is going to haveto align with your Christian
beliefs, those values, and I doknow that there is a significant
portion of the Black communitywho have a very strong faith.
(42:30):
Do you think that there'ssomething similar happening in
this shift that has happenedover the past few years?
Or what are you witnessing inthe conversations you're having?
Are you tired of engaging indebates that quickly escalate
into personal attacks andanimosity?
Do you long for a world wherediverse thoughts are respected
(42:52):
and celebrated, even in the faceof strong disagreements?
Have you ever wondered how tohave a respectful and productive
conversation on complex andsensitive topics such as
politics, religion or socialissues, without causing offense
or damaging relationships withyour friends and family?
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How to Respectfully Debate withthose who Think, believe and
(43:15):
Vote Differently from you byPhilip Blackett is a powerful
guidebook that empowers readerslike you to engage in thoughtful
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conversations.
Get your copy of DisagreeWithout Disrespect today at
communication247.com.
Forward slash podcast.
That's wwwcommunication247.com.
(43:38):
Forward slash podcast.
Speaker 3 (43:43):
So one of the things that comes off my mind is a 2024
Democrat is very, verydifferent than a 1994 Democrat.
Yes.
Right.
Our current president wasDemocrat those same periods.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
Right.
Speaker 3 (44:02):
And I could use him as an example to say, hey, his
views have drastically changedover the course of 30 years
Right, and I use that as anexample to say listen, over time
, there's something about theword conservative that we're
missing in this definition,whereas you are preserving
(44:23):
something of tradition over time, and so people can be resolute
on what they believe is theright way to go, whether it's
1994 or 2024.
You have a party that isbecoming more and more left,
more and more liberal, that isstarting to have people say, hey
(44:44):
, I was there for you on thisissue, but now you're starting
to stretch it, when you're nowpushing even further left and
you're basically having avicious cycle happening where
even the president is heldhostage in my belief to it that
you have to go down this route,that the party is going on, or
else you're not going to get thetype of support you need to
(45:05):
stay in power.
Speaker 1 (45:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
Right, and so if that's the case, you want to
stay in power, then that meansyou have to abide by the demands
of the party.
I think what you're starting tosee, though, with regards to
blacks and Hispanics, but evenmore so with blacks, is and in
particular, black men I'mstarting to see too is that OK?
What I grew up on is not beingreflective in this new party.
(45:31):
Yeah, and so now it's puttingme in a position where I'm
having to choose.
Where is my alignment on?
And so when there's certainissues that say, hey, back then
I wasn't for now, now you'retrying to press that I should be
this and that should be thecase, you're going to have to
make a decision, and you'rehaving a lot of people saying,
(45:52):
hey, like you've gone too farfor me, this is, I'm not in
alignment with that.
You also have people saying,listen, I'm also coming across
as a black man that this partyis using the word race a whole
lot.
Ok.
And so, from a perspective ofsaying, listen, when you're
(46:16):
using that word so much as ameans to victimize certain
people, particularly people thatlook like me, to say that we
are victims, we can't get past acertain situation, we can't be
on the other side.
All the issue here is dealingwith racism.
Yeah.
(46:37):
I think a lot of what we'reseeing, too, is that's further
dividing the country.
Right, it might mean well, butit's actually doing more
division, where we're trying toget a point where we can be
judged by the content of ourcharacter not, oh, he's a Black
man, he's a Democrat.
I think a lot of people arealso saying to themselves hey,
my colors shouldn't predicatewho I vote for.
(46:58):
And I resist that, to beginwith, because I don't want
people thinking that they cantake me for granted or dismiss
or discount what I have to sayjust because I look a certain
way.
Because, once again, here comesthat P word prejudice.
And so I think, at that point,when people are starting to see
that, and then even more so,what I argue is, when you look
(47:23):
at policies and platforms applesto apples, this versus that
right, just like what I did in2016.
You're having more people lookat that and saying themselves,
even taking faith out thepicture, jen, just off the
merits of the platforms.
You're having a lot of peoplecome to realization and saying,
hey, these policies seem likethey will benefit me and my
(47:46):
family better than the oppositeparty.
And so now I'm just going off ofjust strictly which one works
better.
You can't throw insults at it,you can't cry out race on this
one.
It's just based off okay, theseare the policies of this party.
These are the policies of thisparty which one proves out
(48:08):
better for me and my familyRight, as it should be, and
people of different colors, butin particular Black.
More of them are saying I seethe results of both of these
policies.
The ones coming from Republicanside are coming up with the
type of results that I want.
The ones coming from.
Republican side are coming upwith the type of results that I
(48:30):
want Like.
I'm seeing what it's like withRepublican controlled or
governed cities and states andhow that compares with Democrat
governed cities and states whenit comes to crime, immigration,
education, the economy,inflation, a number of different
issues, and you're being ableto look at both of them, a
(48:51):
versus B, and you're sayingone's clearly better.
Speaker 1 (48:55):
Right.
Speaker 3 (48:56):
So, if nothing else, you're having a lot of people
awaken to say, hey, let's justreview both of them and see
which one best meets out, and alot of people are saying the
Republican side is better.
Speaker 1 (49:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (49:08):
I'm going to go with that.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
Yeah, instead of focusing on the individual who
may be running for office andthe shortcomings and the
character flaws that's an abyssthat just will never end.
And I don't care whose sideyou're on, I don't care, pick a
name, pick any politician's nameyou start focusing on character
flaws or they said this or theydid that.
(49:32):
That is never ending.
But if what you're doing isfocusing on the policy, then
that is something concrete.
That is something that youabsolutely, apples to apples,
can compare, and I'm so gladthat you said that there's a lot
of yeah, I'm a big proponent ofmedia literacy.
There's a lot of media literacyin that statement.
(49:52):
Actually read through it,compare it, ask the tough
questions and see where you comeout at the end.
That's really what I hope thatwe all do.
What advice would you give tothe Republican Party?
You know, as I'm sure, the oneswho are in control right now
(50:13):
the campaign strategists.
You know everybody's gettingtogether in their small rooms
looking at statistics like theone that I just read.
What kind of conversationshould they be having?
What should they be doing totry to continue this trajectory
of growing the Black vote withinthe Republican Party?
Speaker 3 (50:35):
You know what, jen?
I've been wanting someone toask me that question for so long
, quite honestly, as a Black man, as a registered Republican, as
a conservative.
Yeah, I wish, because I feellike the party is not asking
those questions.
Yeah.
I think that I would respond to.
It is listen One.
(50:56):
The Republican Party could goand last beyond 2024.
Speaker 1 (51:03):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 3 (51:05):
Meaning this is likely the last time we're going
to see Trump and Biden in anelection.
This is it, 2028, you're goingto have two different people,
more than likely Vastlydifferent, yeah, so what are we
doing to prepare not just forNovember 2024, but we're
preparing for 2026, 2028 andongoing?
(51:28):
I don't feel like we have astrategy.
I think we're putting all ourducks in one bucket, our chips
all on one candidate, andnothing else that we're
overlooking.
What's the long-term strategyhere?
For example, like you'retalking about before, jen, as
(51:48):
far as, like, more black andHispanic voters are coming to a
Republican party, there ought tobe a task force or a group of
people with the specific focuson meeting with those people.
Understanding why are youmoving from one side to the
other?
What will it take?
(52:09):
Like actually doing like focusgroup, customer research type of
stuff?
Speaker 1 (52:12):
Like going back old school.
Speaker 3 (52:14):
Right, like put everyone in a room and ask them
questions to better understand.
Like what will it?
Why did you go to theRepublican side?
Did it?
Did it hurt when you left?
Like the questions you'reasking?
Did it hurt when you leftpeople from family?
You're asking, did it hurt whenyou left people from family and
friends that thought of youotherwise for voting this side?
What's keeping you here?
What are important policies foryou going forward?
(52:35):
What would you like to see?
Because I think what's going onthere Jen is once again we're
being so short-term minded.
Yes.
Trump is not going to be thecandidate 2026, 2028 going
forward, you're going to havesomebody else.
If you don't capitalize on thistime where you're having the
biggest influx of black andHispanic people going to the
(52:59):
Republican Party from theDemocrat Party, shame on you,
yeah, mm.
Hmm, shame on you, yeah,because the other thing I think
of, too, what I would use as arecommendation, is I do not see
a effort to develop a pipelineof the next generation of
Republicans to come after Trump.
Yeah, a lot of the people thatwe see here, I saw them years
(53:24):
ago.
The thought that comes to mymind is okay, if you have, let's
say, four Black congressmenthat are Republican and one
senator that's Black, that's aRepublican.
Where's the next group coming up, whether state representatives
or Republican staff or whateverthe case may be, or people that
(53:46):
are on the come up up and comingright?
Where's the pipeline for women?
Where's the pipeline forHispanics?
I'm not seeing that, wherepeople feel encouraged that,
okay, they want me involved,they value what I have to say,
they're including me in theconversation, they're including
me in those rooms, they'reasking me those questions I can
(54:06):
be a part of not just party andplatform and policy, but also
strategy and outreach andcommunication, and I think that
if you're that short term mindedto focus just on November 5th
and just for Trump, you're goingto miss out on a significant
opportunity that the party isgoing to need going forward.
Speaker 1 (54:28):
I agree.
I think there needs to be astrategic plan, and a part of me
wonders if the Republican Partyyou know we are anti-identity
politics, right.
I mean, that's no secretAnything.
Identity politics is justantithetical to what we believe
and understand, and I can't helpbut to wonder if there is
(54:53):
something to that, that thatbelief is so strong and there's
a misunderstanding that exactlywhat you're talking about a
pipeline, reaching out,understanding, having those
conversations, trying to figureout what is it that we're
missing?
What is it that we need to makesure we're including the
questions and the topics youknow in those types of
(55:14):
conversations?
That's different from identitypolitics, and I can't help but
to wonder if the old guard, likewhat you're talking about,
there's some people that havebeen around for a long, long
time, if that's not the issueright there, because we're not
talking about identity politics,we're not talking about
placating, or oh, I'm just goingto try to say the right thing,
(55:37):
just so I can get your vote.
I think if you truly want to beable to bring in different
communities who share similarvalues, similar beliefs and
conservatism, then you're goingto have to get over the fact
that we are going to come fromdifferent backgrounds and
different experiences and we aregoing to look different you
(55:59):
know, and?
but I don't know, it's just atheory, but I can't help but to
wonder if maybe that is a partof the issue, that we're just
kind of cutting off our nosedespite our face.
Speaker 3 (56:08):
I agree, because I think part of it is we talked
about this before, jen whereit's like if we go off of
principles and worldview versuspersonality and peer pressure,
if we congregate among a sharedset of beliefs and values and
principles, regardless of wherewe come from and who we look
like and what our background is,that, to me, is going to be
(56:31):
more representative of what youwill want America to look like.
Yeah, because that's what itwas.
In my sense is like, OK, amulticultural melting pot, but
we had shared values.
Yes, right, I think of that.
Similar for the RepublicanParty.
It's like if you can get pastwhat the other side is doing and
(56:55):
just say, hey, these are thethings we stand for, and be very
clear and very upfront about it, you will inevitably attract
people that see the other sideas opposite of what they want
and they'll be attracted by whatyou espouse to believe.
And if you keep the doors opento all, those people can come in
(57:17):
and say, hey, I'm right therewith you, I'm right there with
you, brother, I'm right therewith you, sister.
I look different from you, I'mfrom a different place, a
different neighborhood, adifferent background, but you
and I were in agreement withthis.
I think this is just me.
That is what's going to besignificant about pulling the
party in a better place than itis right now, going forward.
Speaker 1 (57:40):
Amen.
This has been such a funconversation for me, Phillip.
I hope you've enjoyed it.
I know the listeners haveenjoyed it.
I want to go ahead and startwrapping it up, but before I do,
because we've been talking foralmost an hour now.
It goes by so fast when you'rehaving fun.
If anybody is interested inpurchasing your books or
(58:01):
contacting you, how can they getin touch with you?
Speaker 3 (58:05):
Absolutely so.
Any of my books, whether it'sDisagree Without Disrespect, how
to Respectfully Debate withthose who Think, Believe and
Vote Differently from you, ifit's Jesus Over Black, how my
Faith Transformed Me from aLiberal to Conservative Within
the Black Community, or evensome other of my books that deal
with Black Conservatism andwhat the Republican Party can do
to bring more black voters inthe fold for now and going
(58:27):
forward.
All those books are availableon Amazon, so you can look it up
, either via title of the bookor just look up my name, Philip
BlackettP-H-I-L-I-P-B-L-A-C-K-E-T-T.
You can also go to my websiteat philipblackettcom, and we can
also connect on social media.
(58:48):
I'm available on Facebook,Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and
YouTube.
Just look up my name, PhilipBlackett.
Love to have a conversationwith you.
Speaker 1 (58:57):
Fantastic, all right.
Thanks again so much for beingwilling to have this
conversation with me.
I truly enjoyed it and I hopeto have you again on the show
sometime.
I hope you're willing to comeback and have some more
conversations with me, becauseI'd love to continue.
Speaker 3 (59:12):
I would love to have that too.
Speaker 1 (59:13):
Fantastic.
All right, everyone.
I hope you enjoyed thisconversation as well, and I hope
you have a wonderful rest ofyour day, so y'all take care now
.
Thanks for listening.
(59:33):
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