Empowering Voices: An Evening with Marcus Henry, Candidate for New Castle County Executive

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Music.

(00:13):
All right, y'all, get ready for another edition of News and Trends with your host, Dave and Lynn.
Welcome.
Welcome, welcome to News and Trends with Dave and Lynn. I am one of your hosts, Mr.

(00:36):
David Coker, proprietor of Dave Mark Inc., promoter, event planner,
all-around good guy, hanging out with my partner, Mr. Leonard Young. What's going on, sir?
Hey, Dave. Everything is good. This is Leonard Young, CEO of National Black
Guide, DelawareBlack.com, black media specialist, all-around good guy. How goes it, Dave?

(00:56):
Hey, man. We're here. We made it through the weekend.
What what a crazy weekend it was
as far as watching you know td
and olympics yeah what's we're gonna get ready get in we're
gonna get into a little bit later folks but we got a lot to say i'm sure i'm
sure we can so but it was it was a good weekend overall how about yourself yeah

(01:20):
i mean no complaints i i still will reiterate i feel like social media killed
the olympics because i I heard about stuff before I got a chance to see it.
But, you know, Dave, I will say, and we kind of talked about my favorite,
and we'll talk about it later.
Some of the success stories from the Olympics were really inspiring.

(01:40):
And I would really love to see when some of these people go home to their home
countries and how they're selling. Oh, yeah.
Yeah. Well, definitely. I mean, you think about some of those athletes that
won medals for the first time for their countries and how they're going to be
treated when they get home. Yes.
Rockstar status. Yeah, that's right. That's right.

(02:02):
So it is. And we have to give a shout out to some of our Delaware people that
were also participating.
I didn't know the young lady who threw the discus was born here in Delaware.
The one, the gold medal in the discus. she was
born here in Dole she's from Newcastle County but she grew
up in Hershey yeah yeah yeah and then

(02:24):
we had the young lady from Wilmington that was in the artistic swimming yeah
artistic yeah yeah yeah yeah so but that's that's great that we had some local
people involved as well and of course people from PA and so forth but we're
going to get all into the Olympic stuff a little bit later,
you know, because we got a lot to say about that, I'm sure.

(02:45):
But otherwise, you know, we got away from the rain finally on Saturday,
you know, because last week was nothing but rain, man.
It was. Yeah. So, so that's good that we finally got some sunshine and everything.
So I get out there and cut my grass. Can you come cut it for me, man?
Definitely not. That's what they, if you were a good steward cutting your grass,

(03:10):
you wouldn't have to wait till the last, you know, it wouldn't be like this now.
So I wanted to cut it. Look, I wanted to cut it all last week, but it kept raining.
But I'll get to it. I'll get to it eventually. Maybe if I stare at it hard enough,
it'll go down. But anyway. All right, good luck. Yeah, good luck with that.

(03:31):
But, folks, we're going to go ahead and get ready to get into our show because,
you know, we got somebody on that we definitely have been trying to get a hold
of, and he finally gave us his time tonight.
I know people were a little bit disappointed when we couldn't have him on a
couple weeks ago, but as promised, we got him.

(03:51):
Okay? OK, so Leonard, why don't you tell them who we got on tonight?
Sure. So tonight we have Marcus Henry. He is candidate for Newcastle County
Executive in Newcastle County, Delaware.
Of course, he was born and raised in Newcastle County, a graduate of St. St.
Mark's High School and a Howard University alum.

(04:13):
HBCU.
Earning a master's degree in public administration from the University of Delaware.
And he is constantly learning and been very involved in community engagement.
At UD, he met his wife, Deliana, I believe.
And together, they raised two children, Gabriella and Alex, in Wilmington.

(04:37):
Over the past 20 years, his journey in public service has taken him through
significant roles at both the state and county levels.
His leadership style has always been collaborative and results oriented,
focusing on affecting meaningful change and inspiring community action,
often working quietly, but with profound impact.

(05:01):
In his professional journey as a director of development at the Wilmington Housing
Authority, he had the privilege to focus on revitalizing communities and enhancing
affordable housing initiatives.
His commitment to our communities developed continued as he assumed the role
of general manager of community services for Newcastle County.

(05:23):
In that capacity, he was instrumental in establishing three new county libraries,
transforming the Hope Center into a vital refuge for homeless and leading numerous
neighborhood revitalization projects.
He also had the privilege to serve Newcastle County as an economic development

(05:44):
and policy director, where he spearheaded initiatives to boost local growth and sustainability.
Overall, these endeavors reflect his commitment to foster a community marked
by pride, prosperity, and a profound sense of belonging.
He currently pursues a role of county executive.

(06:05):
He is eager to draw upon his various experiences and dedication to serve the
diverse needs of New Castle County residents more directly.
His history of quietly impactful leadership is a foundation upon which he plans
to build a future where Newcastle County is not just growing, but thriving.
A future where all residents can take pride in calling this community home.

(06:29):
So without further ado, I want to welcome to the show, Marcus Henry.
How are you, sir? I'm doing good. Thank you, brother. Wow.
Okay. Let me say something funny here.
Literally, we're almost brothers. Yeah, that is true.
Now, Dave tried to say that I took your Atari and never gave it to you.

(06:53):
I don't remember that. I do remember that very well.
Oh, my goodness. I did tell him, Mark. I told him. I told him.
It's okay. All right. We have an explanation now. Well, Marcus,
in my defense, I may still have that Atari.
So if you think you're going to use it, I will bring it back.

(07:17):
I won't have time. I won't have time.
But, of course, we want to thank you for coming on to the show.
As Dave said, we did have a lot of people who were interested in tuning in to
this show in particular. Now, I guess to just start off.
And, you know, this would just be for all the people who are not aware.

(07:38):
How would you summarize the role of Newcastle County Executive?
Thank you for the question. A lot of folks don't know what a county executive does.
So you're basically the chief administrative officer of the second largest local
government in the state of Delaware.
Newcastle County has over 2,000 employees. We have an annual operating budget

(07:58):
of over $350 million. dollars.
We're responsible for a number of government operations, inclusive of public
safety, where it's policing unincorporated Newcastle County,
paramedics, 911 operators.
We're responsible for library administration. We're responsible for federal
community development housing program pass-through initiatives through Newcastle

(08:19):
County, water sewer infrastructure through our public works department.
We manage parks in Newcastle County, and we collaborate We had a number of governmental
programs and services with our local
jurisdictions, such as the city of Wilmington, Middletown and Newark.
So it's a very broad portfolio of responsibilities.
I think you want somebody with experience to run these operations.

(08:39):
OK. And I know in your bio it says that instrumental in establishing the new county libraries.
I do want to say that Route 9 library is awesome. Awesome.
So I know when it was first built, I used to I used to actually work out of
the library. I would go there every day and work.

(09:00):
What for the people who may not be familiar with that particular library?
And I only say it because I feel like in the last two or three years,
there's like there's been a lot more.
Can you explain, you know, I guess how you were instrumental in the founding
of that library or the establishing of the library? and I guess what you're most proud of.

(09:24):
Of that library that offers to the community or offerings to the community.
And to be fair, it's not all me, obviously. Sure. We have departments and folks.
And I actually, on the Route 9 library, that was a previous administration that
started the design and construction.
I actually finished up the construction oversight of the Route 9 library.

(09:45):
And then we helped implement the programming that happened within the Route
9 library after construction completion.
Completion i also did the claymont library in
claymont delaware did the bear library renovation kirkwood
highway renovation for that library really proud
to have to say of the new middletown library okay i worked eight years on that

(10:06):
to bring that project to fruition so i'm proud of that but to your point on
route nine i'm proud of that because that level of investment investment which
which are 35 million plus facility for construction and the operations.
I'm very proud that we offered that community that opportunity to enjoy those
cutting edge technologies and access to these things that they have.

(10:28):
Robotics lab, the makerspace, all these initiatives that we do through the Route
9 library. It's very impactful.
It's doing very well. I think top three or four in terms of circulation and
activity and our library system.
So thank you. I'm glad you used it. That was the point to have like multiple
utility being taken for people, workforce development, community engagement,

(10:53):
youth programs and services.
Libraries are so much more than just books now, obviously. Right.
ED hubs. And I think Route 9 is a very good example of that. A very good example.
Sure. And then I guess in your candidacy for Newcastle County Executive.
What qualities or qualifications do you have that you feel kind of put you ahead

(11:16):
of anybody else who may be running for that same position?
Sure. It's a fair question. It's my 20 plus years of government management experience.
My 11 years at New Castle County government, which you talked about running
the Department of Community Services, being the economic development director.
But even previous to New Castle County, serving various management roles in

(11:37):
state and local government.
I started at the Delaware State Housing Authority, worked at DENREC,
also worked in the private sector, I should mention, doing affordable housing,
real estate and development and finance for some time.
And then coming back into government, being the director of capital development
for the Wilmington Housing Authority.
So that, previous to my 11 years with New Castle County, but also currently,

(11:57):
just like you, Mr. Young, being a business owner.
Being a business owner here in the state of Delaware, I started a healthcare
practice with my wife 10 years ago. We have a health care practice where we
help clinical support services for children with autism here at Delaware.
We started out just in North Wilmington 10 years ago as a small outfit,
bootstrapped that outfit for a couple of years.

(12:20):
And I'm proud to say now we're the largest provider in the state of Oakland in this field.
We have currently four service centers regionally in Delaware,
New Jersey, and Maryland.
And we service over 120 kids every week through our centers and our programs.
So I employ over 100 people to my companies.
Now, my wife runs our companies right now as I run for office.

(12:41):
And she's way smarter than me anyway. So, you know, that goes.
Yeah, no, no, no. I get it because I say the same thing with my wife.
Someone asked me, I said, she way smarter than me.
But now one thing you did mention that I thought was interesting.
So I personally feel like two of the biggest, well, three of the biggest,

(13:02):
but these are two of the biggest issues that I see in Newcastle County.
One is housing. The housing costs have seemed like just have skyrocketed.
And to be honest, you know, based on what people are being paid,
people just can't afford housing as they need it.
And then to, you know, going along with, you know, you know,

(13:27):
the opposite end of that jobs, you know, and I'll just tell you a quick story.
And this is how far out the loop I think I am.
And maybe a lot of us at a certain position are. I was talking to somebody the other day.
They were asking about a job. And I was like, you know, you know,
you're looking for a job.
I was like, there are jobs everywhere. Because when I go in these stores,

(13:49):
I see nail hiring, nail hiring, accepting applications everywhere.
And he told me something and I never really thought about it.
And then I thought about it and I got it.
He said, these companies are just except, you know, they're taking resumes,
but they're not really hiring anybody.
And it made me think back to when I was on the job hunt.
And I ran into that a lot of times, too, where I felt like people weren't hiring,

(14:13):
but they just had that always taking applications, you know, the signs always up.
But so with that being said, you know, I feel like jobs and housing are some
of the biggest things that the biggest issues I see people struggling with in the county.
What are your thoughts about, you know, any strategies or things you want to

(14:33):
implement that may help those two specific areas?
Well, thanks for bringing that up. And it's a critical issue that's facing New
Castle County, the state and actually this region. I kind of flip it.
I call it housing affordability, housing affordability, because the issue is
we have a supply issue of housing in New Castle County specifically,

(14:55):
undersupplied housing at various price points here in New Castle County,
housing types, price points, so that it's affecting everybody in the market
not being able to afford what's out there right now.
Now, be it a first-time homebuyer, a family that wants to downsize after its
empty nester, the whole myriad of people are just priced out of this market right now.

(15:15):
So specifically for Newcastle County, there's things we can do from a regulatory
standpoint to help incentivize this market.
That's creating opportunities for housing in areas of need, reducing the regulatory
barriers, incentivizing housing development.
But also, let's be clear, it's not always just new construction,
single-family homes. It's looking at infill redevelopment opportunities in urban

(15:37):
centers like Wilmington, Newark, and other areas.
It's also looking at repositioning potentially commercial properties,
where there's a high vacancy right now, where it can be repositioned for residential use.
And it's also renovation of existing properties into better residential use.
All those are within a toolbox of county government where I want to work with
the state government, but also the private sector in eliminating these barriers,

(16:00):
reducing these barriers, and creating these opportunities.
So it's not just new construction, just housing construction,
but newly generated housing units at various price points.
We have to spur the market to help in this area now, because right now, unfortunately,
it projects, there was a report issued several months ago by the Delaware State
White House and Needs Assessment that we project to be over 20,000 units short,

(16:23):
20,000 units short to meet the population growth here in New Castle County.
So county government, work with other levels of government and the private sector
can work this out to incentivize this market on the supply side.
Okay, so if you can clarify So 20,000 units short As a project Okay, projected, so.

(16:45):
I guess going kind of backtracking, does that mean the county is trying to produce
or supply 20,000 additional units in a certain allotted amount of time?
No, it means that's what the projections look like.
But the county can effectuate regulatory changes to help increase production.

(17:08):
OK. Not our role to to produce 20,000 units of housing. I think it's good,
but it's to work with the private sector and developers, public and nonprofit
developers, too, to create the environment of more housing created here in Newcastle County.
Obviously, we're not building housing. We're in the marketplace.
We're also reducing those regulatory barriers or unified development code or

(17:29):
zoning codes to create these opportunities.
Right. And part of it is historically, historically in Newcastle County,
for a lot of reasons, economic conditions, code conditions. We didn't produce
enough housing over the last 10 years.
So that's why we have this delta of need that needs to be met for the demand as it currently stands.
Gotcha. So not to take it off topic, but there's somebody who's running for

(17:56):
president who talks about black jobs.
Oh, but we will say no name. Give him no credit right now.
Now, we know and I know I hear it all the time with Obama.
Obama was not the black president. He was the United States president.

(18:19):
We know potentially you would not be the black county executive.
You are the county executive for all people.
But specifically, how do you feel some of your programs or initiatives may benefit
people of color here in New Castle County or people who may be below the poverty,
you know, people who are really in need?

(18:40):
Yeah see there's a
lot of things like i'm a i'm a democrat obviously i shouldn't
i'm a democrat but i'm also pro-business sure
this is so do you understand that so i see these challenges that
businesses have here in newcastle county however however government plays a
strong role in keeping us safe as a society but also making sure the poor and

(19:03):
disenfranchised get opportunities well because I judge a society about how they
treat the very poor and disenfranchised.
We're not doing a good job in that we're not a successful society.
So we play a role in that. In respect to my programs, I want to incentivize,
obviously, businesses, growth, both retention and recruitment.
Talked about housing, but in economic development, these areas,

(19:26):
there's things, once again, county government can do, work with the private
sector to incentivize these opportunities for business development,
which you know very well.
I know that. But we also need to create opportunities for folks,
entrepreneurship, looking at workforce development opportunities for the population
that hasn't had access to some of these things, right?

(19:47):
Workforce development initiatives at our libraries, for example,
working with the trade unions, for example. And we'll talk about unions later.
Create these opportunities for folks to have good, sustainable job opportunities.
There's always a need for electricians and plumbers and contractors.
But we need to lean into that even more because that's getting even more prevalent,
the lack of those types of jobs available, excuse me, folks entering that workforce right now.

(20:11):
And I think we can create that opportunity, county government,
and incentivizing that.
Yeah. I definitely agree because it's not till, and I just call it,
Marcus, till we're adults and we have to pay for stuff.
When you call an electrician, a plumber, oh my goodness.
This but yeah i mean and and i i agree you

(20:33):
know i think a lot of times and you
know probably our generation you know it was
a push to go to college but you know i think
now everything's different where like these plumbers electricians these skilled
trades people they are making good money a lot of them have great businesses
they're getting great contracts and and they i can't lie sometimes i'm jealous

(20:55):
because i i wish i could go to somebody and charge 70 80 dollars Yeah, right. I know.
And in fact, even car mechanics. Oh, my goodness.
We won't even talk about. Now, Marcus, I feel like we would be remiss without
mentioning your mother.
Former Senator Margaret Rose Henry, who was the first African-American female.

(21:21):
Elected to the Delaware Senate.
And she was in the Senate for over 20 years.
So, you know, I know that was part, you know, part of what you saw probably
majority of your life, how she was involved in community service.
And, you know, you've seen the legacy that she left. How has her legacy slash,

(21:45):
you know, just her impact on you?
How does that affect, you know, what you're looking to do in the community, the county, the state?
Thank you for that question. You obviously know mom very well also.
She's been my inspiration my whole life, specifically with my role in civic
engagement and government.

(22:07):
It's inspiring work. And with mom, I've learned a number of things, obviously.
But number one, it's her getting the work done, being impactful,
being impactful when you're there, you know, doing some things that could change,
you know, systemically change some of the direction of some of these things.
Mom was a trailblazer at the General Assembly.
And when I'm at Newcastle County government, you know, hopefully when I win

(22:29):
this office, I'm not there just to get along. I'm there to better people's lives,
better the service delivery of what we do, but also just make people happy.
Make people be proud of government again. I think we're in a malaise a little
bit right now about government because you talked about the man who should not be named.
You don't want to see back in there. No, never, never. This distrust of government or this.

(22:55):
And I want to change that. You know, it's good, solid work and it's impactful
what we do. And actually, Leonard, you know, local government affects your life
more than the federal government does in a lot of cases. Oh, yeah.
And it's funny. I always try to tell people that I'm like, OK,
you can vote for the president.
His laws are not going to directly affect you.
But what they do in the city of Wilmington, the county of Newcastle,

(23:18):
that has more effect on you than, you know, the national.
Absolutely. Absolutely. And that's why this is so important.
I mean, folks that know this is the second most important government elected
office in the state of Delaware.
And I'm mindful of that. And I'm mindful just back to my mom's legacy of you're going to be there,
be there to do the right things every day and be impactful and make the changes

(23:44):
necessary to help better people's lives. Because we're there.
It's supposed to be in there in service of people and serve.
I've never forgotten that. These great titles, you know, all these.
That's wonderful. careful it's what are you going to do when you're there right
you leave these folks with respect to legacy and what you do and that's very
important i'm sure all right thank you those were all my questions david.

(24:10):
You sure, man? You sure you don't want to go on? All right. Well,
here, let me ask one more. Yeah, I figured that.
Well, I mean, but, you know, since Dave said it, Marcus, does your mother ever
give you, does she ever give you advice?
You know, I'm sure you probably have some hard days. Well, let me backtrack.
I remember at one point someone was like, oh, Leonard, you should go into politics.

(24:32):
And it sounds like a great thing. And then I just started reading in the newspaper
how, you know, of course, political bashing, you know, of course,
probably every reporter slash journalist wants to uncover some dirt.
You know, there's people who are saying things that weren't actually said or
not, weren't or not true.

(24:54):
Drew, when you have those hard days and maybe you speak to your mother,
you know, since she is a veteran,
like what advice does she give or would she give you like, you know,
for those days when you come home a little frustrated at the political aspect of what you do? Bill?
It's a great question. Mom is a close advisor, obviously, but I have others

(25:17):
too in my circle to help me. And look, this is hard.
It's very hard to run for office. It's very hard to do this type of work.
It gets nasty sometimes, unfortunately, and it gets personal.
So people, if you're a sensitive person of any sort, this is not for you.
I've been through, I worked 11 11 years in county government,

(25:38):
worked for three county executives.
Each of them did great things, but each of them had their own controversies.
And you're a part of that. I've been attacked directly in the newspapers.
I've had to defend positions that are tough. I've had people say unspeakable things to me.
I've had things that said to my family. And so for me, mom didn't suggest it, somebody did.

(25:59):
If I can get up every morning, right, and I can look in the mirror and say,
can I explain everything I did to my kids, right? Right.
Can I explain it and be proud of that? Then I'm OK.
Then I'm OK. And for the last 11 years of county government,
I'm able to do that. There's nothing I'm ashamed of.
Right. Right. I make mistakes like everybody else. I'm not perfect,
but I always do the best honest work that I can while I'm there.

(26:23):
And I don't do anything not not only to not make my kids proud,
but as you mentioned, especially my mom, I would not do anything wrong to shame
or name in any or that's important.
And before I hand it over to Dave, since he gave me this extra time,
one thing I always think about, too,
and no comments needed, but when we vote for political people,

(26:46):
I know we are voting on the issues, but I think there's also a people factor
here, too. And one of the things I always think about is.
If I vote for somebody, I'm voting on them because I think they have good moral character.
I think they are true to what they say to the best of their ability.

(27:06):
And I think they're dedicated to what they do. I realize that any politician
I vote for, they are not going to be well, they are not going to satisfy me in everything they do.
And, you know, that that's just the way it is.
And I say that with respect to, you know, I, I personally, I will vote for the

(27:32):
person who I think has the best interest at heart, you know,
as you should, my friend.
All right, Dave, you're going to go again. Are you ready? No, no, no. That's OK.
All right. All right. Well, it's so far you've you've answered a lot of things
that people want to hear. And that's great.

(27:52):
I'm going to kind of come from a different perspective. I mentioned before I was a union guy.
I happen to be president of local 1832 AFSCME, local 1832.
And I happen to head the whole Newcastle County for my my union.

(28:13):
So when it comes to Dave, Dave's supposed to be my homeboy. He's never told
me this. I never knew this.
No, you have not. No, wait, hold on. You never said any of this.
I have told you this, but you don't listen to me. So that's another story.
So I actually, that's why I talk to my guests when they come on the show,
because they do listen to me. So that's another story. Listen, okay.

(28:36):
But anyway, but yes, so I happen to be, and I work for the state of Delaware.
So, and so I happen to have the largest chunk of our union.
So I've seen a lot of things that, you know, I know how closely the union works
with our elected officials and whatever.
Matter of fact, we just went through and put our endorsements out there for

(28:58):
who we're going to be voting for.
Wink, wink. And thank you very much, by the way. So.
For those who are out there that are union affiliated and so forth,
tell us how you plan to work with the unions as far as being the next county executive.

(29:22):
Thank you for that question. Thank you for your service. Seriously.
Yeah. I come from a union family, three generations. My grandfather was a longshoreman.
I want to make that clear. Okay.
I have worked with unions collaboratively for my entire career.
Unions are the lifeblood of government service. We couldn't do the work we do
without unionized workforce and how it effectuates everything and every day of what we do.

(29:48):
I will have a hands-on collaborative relationship with unions with respect to
the operations of county government because it's too critical right now.
And to speak frankly, I want to change the tenor of the communication relationship
from the county executive office to its union members that work within county government.

(30:10):
I think we can do a heck of a lot better. And I'm sure you have some of your
brother network in county government. I've known them for years.
They know me. We've been across the table in negotiations, but also in disputes and grievances.
And they'll tell you, even when we don't agree on things, I'm a pretty straight shooter, right?
It is very important to me, union or non-union, with respect to government employees

(30:35):
and New Castle County government, that they feel valued, that they feel valued,
that they feel heard, that they feel that the administration has their best interest at heart.
Because I think county government's great. You know, obviously,
I'm running for this office.
I think the power and greatness of county government is in the people that we
have and the expertise that we have and the folks that have such institutional

(30:59):
knowledge and work in county government.
So I'm going to lean into that because I don't want to lose them.
I don't want to lose them because of frustration with leadership,
with pay scale, with collective bargaining. I will be a good,
strong, collaborative partner with unions.
That's good. I'm glad to hear that. And I'm sure the people that will be listening

(31:19):
will be glad to hear that as well.
I have a history and I have there's a history of me in that and saying what
I just said. It's not just that.
So it's not just talk. You've lived it. And that's that's important. Yeah.
Because I tell you right now, we're having, you know, with the climate of everything
and it's, you know, there's a lot of people feel like they're not being heard these days.

(31:43):
It's really it's you know, it's really important that we put the people in office
that's going to definitely work with us and definitely allow us not only to
speak, but to be heard as well. And that's very important.
So I appreciate everything you just said in reference to that. This is being recorded.
So don't worry.

(32:07):
I'll be sending it out to all the union guys.
Yeah. And my next question happened to do.
And it's funny that you and Leonard just had that little back and forth about
the tradesmen and the, you know, Talking about electricians and plumbers and
stuff like that and what they're doing and the money they're making.

(32:29):
You know, Leonard, you and I just had that conversation with Velda when we had
Velda Potter on the show, too. Remember, we talked about that exact same thing.
So it's good to know that everybody seems to have the same thought pattern in
what's going on in today's society.
My oldest child, my oldest daughter, actually, she lives in North Carolina now.

(32:51):
But she has her own HVAC company.
She just one day and went to law school and this one day just flipped the script
and decided that I want to learn
HVAC and then ended up starting her own company. So that's very well.
She's doing very well. That's fantastic. Yeah, doing very well, doing very well.

(33:11):
So so that's that's something that, you know, we have to definitely put it out
there as far as getting people more interested in in trades and so forth.
I heard I know you said on a couple of different cases since we started to show
workforce workforce development.
What are we what are you guys planning to do to help to get these especially these young people?

(33:36):
You know, get them focused and get them into these jobs that they,
you know, like these trades and these different type of jobs other than just
black jobs, you know, other than black jobs.
You know, what are you guys doing about that? You know, for me, it's it's not one thing.
It's creating the environment and opportunity where it presents itself.

(33:59):
But specifically, I want to incentivize using our space like our libraries and
some of our offices to create these programs of opportunity for these kids to enter this field.
And when there's various nonprofits or groups that are working in these areas,
to help be a partner in this, both with direct funding or just facilitation,

(34:20):
in-kind assistance for the work that they do.
I just think we need and we need in a marketing perspective to create the marketing
opportunities, the program service delivery that's happened here because there's
such a shortage right now. Right.
And then for me, you know, there's been a big push for coding, for example.
I think coding is a tremendous field for a lot of kids, a lot of people.

(34:41):
And we've seen that in the past. And it's great.
I think we need other options, too. And when I say all this,
college is still hopefully the best option for some folks. But I had a dear
friend of mine, her son just left college to go study to be a tradesman, to be an electrician.
And he's happy as heck, and they're happy because he's being happy and fulfilled,
and he'll do well for himself.

(35:01):
So I think it's more of just creating this environment for these kids.
Like, you have options. You have options, right?
College, these trades, other opportunities. So create the space for that,
the funding for that, and the support for that.
And we'll lean into that in Newcastle County because it's very important.
Right. Right. Okay. All right. So, and that's the thing, because I know I taught for a long time.

(35:28):
At a trade school. And so, you know, and I taught, I taught people that were in the medical field.
So, and I know just by teaching, and I did it for like 10 years,
just by teaching and everything.
And I'm not saying college is not for everybody, or it's not something that
we should tell people not to do. Cause I went to the same school you did.

(35:51):
So I know, you know, you know, so I, I, I'm not going to say that's not the way to go.
But, you know, I know if I was a young person coming up now that I'd probably
go to a trade school as opposed to a college these days, because I know that,
you know, the money can come quicker.
I can learn on a on a accelerated path.

(36:14):
And then there's more opportunities for those type of things out there.
So entrepreneurship opportunities, right? Start like your daughter's doing quickly
to scale that way in these opportunities.
I think they're great opportunity for folks. Really? Yeah.
And that's that's that's what I that's what I like about it.
And that's what makes it that's what makes it valuable.

(36:37):
And that's what people need to hear these type of things. When we have you know,
when you talk to young people nowadays and you talk about those type of things,
but then you say you should talk to your local officials or your local government
in reference to the opportunities that are out there for for you.

(36:57):
Now, I've heard a lot of people because, you know, I work for social services.
OK, so, you know, I'm in it. You know what I'm saying? I'm in it on a regular basis.
So and I and I hear a lot of people talking to, you know, a lot of young people
when they talk about when they talk about how there's no jobs out here or whatever.

(37:20):
But then, you know, when you tell them to go talk to local officials and so
forth. and because there's right now we're at an all-time high as far as employment is concerned.
You know, so what is it that if you went to talk to a group of young people.
And you're standing there in the room and you're telling them about Newcastle

(37:43):
County government and what it can do for you, what would be your message to
them right now? With respect to employment opportunities?
Employment opportunities and just.
And as far as also how valuable they are when it comes to the vote,
voting and everything as well.
So one of the things is, as I explained earlier, just what county government

(38:05):
does and the various functions that we provide with respect to government services
here in New Castle County.
One, because we're in such a multitude of different areas of service,
right, of direct service government, there's various different areas that these
kids can get into. You can get into finance.
You can get into law. You can get into engineering.
You can get into nonprofit management. You can get into outdoor work.

(38:29):
You can do a plethora of these things and career paths, and you can work for county government.
Get a decent pay for the most part, good benefits, and opportunity to grow in
county government. And government service is very rewarding. It's steady.
It's secure for the most part. And I would lean into that opportunity in Castle County.
We have a lot of vacancies, by the way. I mean, we have vacancies.

(38:52):
And that's one of my is to fill these vacancies when I take office and to work on human resources,
create opportunities to expedite or streamline some of this,
some of that review process to get more people hired in New Castle County for
these job opportunities.
And a lot of times, county government also, when you're employed,
we help give some level of subsidy to assist if you want to further your education.

(39:16):
That doesn't get mentioned a lot. So we do do tuition reimbursements at a certain
level if you want to continue your education.
We've had folks that started Newcastle-Kenwood are 17, 18 years old,
and they're now in their 50s and 60s. We have folks in 25-plus years.
They made a career out of it and done very well for themselves.
Government service is an honorable, day-in, day-out kind of job that you can

(39:37):
be proud of. So, I'll talk about this.
Yeah, that's important. That's important. And it's something that people need
to hear because I know, just like I know Newcastle County has a lot of openings
and so forth, so does the state of Delaware.
And, you know, so, yeah, I know, that's what I'm saying.
My last question is going to be about this.

(40:00):
I know you were instrumental with the Hope Center and getting that open and so forth.
Is there any plans, because I You know, even though things have gotten better
and, you know, of course, during the pandemic, you know, we had a lot of people
that were homeless that were off the streets during the pandemic.
But they ended up some of them ended up back on the streets as well.

(40:21):
Not as many as prior to the pandemic. I will say that because I do see that.
But are there any plans to do any more as far as shelters or building,
not just shelters, but as far as.
Low-income housing, more low-income housing.

(40:43):
I know we had Imani Village to go up over the last few years,
and I know there's other plans for other things, but I haven't heard anything
concrete as far as that's concerned.
What do you have to say about that? That's an excellent question.
And just to kind of get up to the Hope Center, center the

(41:04):
hope center the hope center financially
is in pretty good shape we have a lot of funders that
are helping with our long-term operations i think we're sustainable for at least
next two fiscal years um it's growing in terms of the scope of the work that
we do because it's one thing it's not just shelter being provided but it's the
wraparound services that we provide which i think is critical to service the

(41:25):
homeless population wraparound services with respect to intensive case management,
development again, healthcare,
all these things to help these families, individuals become self-sustainable
to gain permanent housing, which is key, permanent housing as a result of the Hope Center stay.
I think it's a successful program. It's difficult though. It's not smooth.

(41:48):
We always have to look at it and re-examine, make sure we're doing the right
thing, managing things the correct way.
However, that is not going to solve the issue of homelessness in Newcastle County.
So you have to look at alternative programs and service delivery to help that population.
When I talk about housing affordability, I didn't mention it,
but part of that is we got to figure out a housing type to help transitional

(42:11):
housing type to help this homeless population.
Here's one of my biggest fears. One of my biggest fears is we don't address
the homeless issue here in Newcastle County, the state.
We don't proactively address it and create programs services
and collaborations to help because before the
pandemic i haven't been on vacation in two years because i'm running for office right

(42:31):
but or the pandemic i visit a good
friend of mine in portland oregon i'm in portland oregon a few years ago and
he's trying to take me to downtown portland i couldn't see anything because
it was overrun with homeless embankments and homeless tents all around same
thing's happening a lot obviously in the pacific northwest and seattle san francisco
other jurisdictions not saying wilmington or newcastle county would be that.

(42:54):
But if we don't proactively figure this out from a planning perspective,
a government perspective, working
with the private sector, we could be in dire straits in a few years.
We have not solved the homeless issue here in New Castle County.
And that's not just a county function. That's the state and other jurisdictions working together.
I think it's one of those critical things we have to address the next five to

(43:16):
10 years, critical issues.
So with respect to New Castle County, we can look at our land use policies,
our unified development code, look at regulatory ways so we can incentivize
and create opportunities for nonprofit and for-profit developers to look at
developing some level of housing for the homeless population or the very low-income.
Yeah, because I know there were a couple of shelters that have closed over the last few years.

(43:40):
They closed in Wilmington before COVID, before COVID. Right, that was before COVID.
And that exasperated the situation during COVID, because those shelters closed.
And they were very, I mean, they were, you know, they were full and they had
people there and they, you know, got displaced.
And it was really a shame. I mean, you know, I pay attention to a lot of that

(44:02):
kind of stuff, as you can see. So, you know, I'm very passionate about those things.
Yes. So, you know, I just wanted to bring that point up because I know it's
something it's something that we have to talk about.
People don't like to talk about it and not just homelessness because there's
so many different levels to it, because we also have to worry about why those

(44:25):
people became homeless.
And a lot of it has to do with mental illness, you know, and those type of things.
So we also have to have places in, you know, for that type of situation as well.
And that's the case management and the services, the wraparound service that
are necessary making this happen.
So you can help these folks, you know, deal with the mental needs,

(44:47):
deal with the financial needs, deal with what they need personally to be self-sufficient.
And here's the other thing I should mention. When you take some off the street
and provide housing, it reduces the cost to get them the services they need
to try to get them the service they need when they're homeless.
It's like a factor of eight in terms of costs, right? So when you house them,

(45:07):
it's actually cheaper, more efficient for government to help them.
So there's an economic benefit to housing them to get them the services they need.
Okay. All right. Well, that's, that was my last question.
Everyone, you heard it. You heard what he had to say, you know,
hopefully he's giving you a lot of good information and a lot of good answers

(45:30):
to the questions that we've been asking.
Mr. Henry, if you can tell us how people can contact you or donate towards your
campaign, your social media pages, if you can give us all that information.
Well, thank you for this opportunity. I'll make it very easy to you.
We have everything filtered website and our website is Marcus Henry,

(45:53):
the dot com Marcus Henry, the dot com.
On that page, you'll get further information. For example, what we have may
have covered in terms of my platform positions, but also how you could donate
directly to my campaign, how you could volunteer, making phone calls,
knocking on doors for us, whatever you could do to help.
I would appreciate that. And my contact information is also on the website.

(46:17):
If you want to talk to me directly or send me an email, if you have a question
you want to ask about things, that happens all the time.
I have a good website. I have a good team working with me right now with respect to my campaign.
Pain we don't have much time left there's like
less than a month but i think we're on a good
path right now but i need everybody to get out there please on
september 10th and vote please vote hopefully you vote for me i want you to

(46:41):
vote for me it's engaged engaging this process you can't be engaged if you're
not voting if you're not voting you're not you're not you're not putting your
your work forward so please vote
september 10th and vote for me too while you're at it i I appreciate it.
Yeah. That's, that's very important. Definitely got to put yourself out there,
right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

(47:05):
Well, folks, there you have it. Mr. Marcus Henry, he's going to hang out with
us for a little bit as we go through the rest of our show.
So we appreciate you taking the time to hang out with us.
So we're going to get into the second part of our show, which is our fun time.
You know, get the chance to talk and have some and get get your opinion on some

(47:27):
of these things. So, me and Leonard have been doing our Kevin Hart and what's
my man from Saturday Night Live?
Oh, Keenan Thompson.
We've been talking about the Olympics for the last couple of weeks.
So, finally, the Olympics came to an end.

(47:47):
And I have to say, and Leonard kind of alluded to it earlier,
I have to say, I really felt that this Olympics was one of the better ones that I've ever watched.
And I've been watching the Olympics since I was a kid. I'm older than you guys,
and I've been watching since I was a kid.
So you're talking about like the 1900s or what? What are you talking about?

(48:13):
1905, 1920. I look good for my age, man. You do.
So, but I've been I've been watching for a while and to see,
you know, I was really proud that USA came out so that, you know,
this time around and, you know, they ended up winning the most medals and everything.

(48:33):
And it just turned out to be a great, great Olympics.
And even though some things didn't go the way we wanted them to,
you know, you know, there were some stories. but even down to yesterday with
the women's game, did you guys watch the women's game?
I saw the end of it. Well, that's all you need to see was that last five minutes of it.

(48:56):
But the France women gave them.
You figure they came so close to beating the USA women who have won their eighth
straight gold medal now.
And even with the men from France against the men's team, they had a shot at
beating the men, the USA basketball team.

(49:19):
Thank God for Steph Curry, because he went off those final few minutes.
So, you know, so but all the way around, when you look at the overall competition
and like I said, we had some local flavor in there.
And, you know, Marcus, me and Leonard was going back and forth every day to talk about.
Did you see that? Did you see that? But Leonard is right about something,

(49:41):
though, because me and him were always fussing about this.
How you wanted to you wanted to wait to see certain things. And now with social
media, man, Twitter and everything, with X and everything, everything pops up so fast.
So you know about it before you want to know about it. Even though you'd be
saying, okay, I'm not going to look at my phone.
I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do this. Somehow it still ends up

(50:03):
popping up on you. I don't know what happens.
But even still, you still want to see it for yourself.
And I've really felt that the track team, I'm a track guy. I know Leonard's
a swimmer, swimming guy, too.
But there was other things that were very unique that caught your attention,
too. The break dancing was interesting. That was interesting.

(50:27):
And the girl from Australia, that was the funniest thing I ever saw in my life. It was.
Did you see? You both saw that, right? I saw it.
What was she doing? I don't know, bro. I thought they were clowning for a moment.
But then I saw she was actually serious.
And that was that. I mean, and they couldn't they couldn't think of anybody

(50:51):
better to put up there than her.
What would they say for the backstory? And I think I'm reading it correctly
because of her profession, because she's like a professor of cultural dance
or culture or something like that.
They sent her without ever seeing her skills.
You know, they they they kind of trusted they kind of trusted what she was doing.

(51:14):
But and Marcus you you saw so like when you saw it what were you thinking do
you have any thoughts this what's happening yeah right.
And because you know it's almost like when I and and it's a shame because social
media takes stuff so quickly there are so many memes so one of the memes I saw

(51:36):
Marcus it says 2028 I'm gonna be in the Olympics for breakdancing and they're
mimicking her moves and it's just like, wow.
They said she's going to probably be, her meme is probably going to be one of the top memes.
She's one of the most famous ones out of this Olympics now. Yeah, definitely.

(51:58):
I mean, it was incredible to see that.
Now, because I have watched the other young ladies now. They were getting down.
I ain't going to lie. They really were.
And I was like, okay, so So, wait, hold on.
We got all these people competing in breakdance outside of the United States. Right.
That was really interesting that you couldn't see, you would expect to see more

(52:20):
United States participants.
You know what I mean? Well, hold on. Did United States have the max participants
they could have for that event?
Or did they not? I mean, because they never really explained how that happened. Yeah.
Good question. Because I just knew that I was surprised to see so many foreign
countries involved in that, you know, so, but, and the foreign countries were the ones winning.

(52:45):
Yeah, so, I don't know, but I thought that was interesting, and,
you know, as far as one of the new events, newer events, and I just thought
it was a great experience overall.
And Los Angeles, 2028, they got a lot to do, man. And, you know,
they got a lot, you know, when it's at your home turf.

(53:06):
I mean, the last time it was in L.A., it was, you know, some stuff going on back then.
I think it was 84, yeah. Yeah, that was 84.
Yeah, so let's hope they do up.
I mean, they had a nice start. They had Snoop and Dr. Dre out there on the stage
yesterday, getting down yesterday. I was like, okay, I like that.

(53:28):
Let me ask you this. What were your favorite five? Well, no,
I'm sorry. Let me start with Marcus.
What were your favorite five games?
Memories i guess from this year's olympics so i
didn't get to watch as much as i like because i'm campaigning a lot but
for one year sure sure but i really
love and i think it's a classic game i thought

(53:50):
the serbia u.s basketball game was amazing
i really agree to the u.s and
that's one thing needs to be mentioned and i saw some uh statistic
there's like during the u.s's competition in the
olympics it's like 61 nba players in other countries playing
now versus is like nine back with the dream i'm gonna
tell you right now the u.s better watch out because if you have steph yeah lebron g

(54:13):
and somebody's like both of those france players we were
gonna those france teams had a legitimate chance of beating the u.s and i kind
of like that i like having that level of competition i do too i posted that
i posted that earlier on facebook you know that the competition is the level
the the playing ground is almost leveled now so yeah so what else How's it be like, Marcus?

(54:36):
I love the shooters, the shooting, those guys.
If I got a little sad, I go, I put a clip on that guy.
I don't know why. I thought that was funny. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. That was cool. I was happy to talk about Simone Biles in the gymnastics.
She was awesome. Coming back.
So I'll leave it as top three, but Simone Biles being able to compete after

(54:59):
what happened to Lance Olympics and how well she did was really cool. It was really cool.
Yeah, that was good. All right, Dave, what about you? I know it's so hard because
you probably watch every single sport every single day.
Well, I tried to catch as much as I could. I tried. I know you did.
I know you did. But if you could narrow it down to five time-fading moments.

(55:21):
Of course, the Noel Laws race was...
Watching him in that 100, that was that was one of the greatest races I've ever seen in my life.
You know, that that race and what it came down to was very, was very,
was very incredible with the photo footage itself.

(55:45):
You know, there's still people debating. Of course, one that race.
Well, Dave, Dave, I'm still questioning and forgive my ignorance.
Where is the torso? Because some people said torso and they were they were referencing the shoulder.
Some people said torso. They were referencing the waist.

(56:05):
I mean, like, I'm not sure what that marker is that they're using.
Well, the lean at the tape, it's
supposed to come from the shoulder to the midsection from what they said.
There's a wide area. I know. But if you look at the picture and you look how
Noah leans, that's what won him the race is because his shoulder crossed the line.

(56:30):
And even though you see other people's feet crossing the line,
none of them hit the ground. The only person's foot that was on the ground was
Noah Laws, if you look at the picture.
You know, so that race was so, and the fact that, what was the slowest time, Leonard? 9.91?
Yeah, whatever it is, all eight contestants were within 0.12 seconds.

(56:57):
Yeah, that was crazy. I mean, the time, how fast they ran and everything.
So that was the first thing. Of course, the basketball games.
I love both basketball games. I thought they were both great.
The gymnastics, you know, watching Simone do her thing and watching the whole USA team.
I even watched the men. The men did a great job, too.

(57:20):
The pole vaulter that guy didn't
miss one jump and he he
set the world record and he could have went higher i mean he was incredible
i thought he was real i thought he was just unbelievable when it came to that
and his father was you know his father was like he said well you already won

(57:44):
won the gold medal. Let's go set the record.
And he went out there and set the record, you know, incredible.
So, so I thought that was, I thought that was great too.
And I watched the closing ceremony. I thought that was, they really showed something
unique with that closing ceremony.
It was really good. And they told the history and dance and song,

(58:08):
you know, of the Olympics.
So, you know, Los Angeles got a lot they got to do, man. I'm telling you,
they got a lot that they got to do.
So, but what was your thoughts, Leonard?
Yep. So my favorite five, and I'm going to agree with Marcus, Simone Biles.
And, you know, I think one of the reasons why, because because she pulled out

(58:29):
in 2020, 2021, you know, a lot of people count her out.
And, you know, a lot of people were doubting her mental health.
They were doubting if twisties were really a real a real thing.
So, you know, it was just good to see her come back. She smiled a lot.
You know, just, you know, she was kind of back to normal.

(58:49):
Everybody was calling her the goat. She won her gold medals.
So that that was a comeback that I was hoping to see. And I'm glad it happened.
Also, I will agree that Noah Lyle, that 100 meter race. Oh, my goodness.
And the reason why I like that event so much was because prior to that event,

(59:11):
I thought and I mean, I still do.
You know, I think Noah Lyle is very cocky because Marcus, I'm not.
Did you happen to see the 100 meter?
I did. I did. OK. OK, so, you know, I think it's so unique that when Noah Lyles
comes out of the tunnel, he is like running, he's jumping, he's engaging the crowd.

(59:33):
And I can't lie. I thought he was a little cocky. And, you know,
we talked about it, but, you know, for him to back it up, just I mean, he's still cocky.
But, you know, I think in a way it was kind of like a good cocky.
You know, I think he's hyping himself up.
And to be honest, I kind of like Noah Lyles a little more. And I know he's gone

(59:56):
through a lot of controversy now, but we won't speak about that. I like that.
The men's 400 meter was amazing.
And we can talk about. So Quincy Hall coming around the second turn,
Quincy Hall was in sixth place.
He was in he was in the second to the outer lane and come around.

(01:00:19):
Long story short, for anyone who's listening, come around that second turn.
If you're in six, you know, you're probably about to stay there.
And the last hundred meters he passed, Dave, and it's so funny.
Someone had a comment on social media. I laughed.
They said Quincy Hall pulled that out of some very dark place.
Marcus, he was in sixth place at the turn.

(01:00:42):
And in the last hundred meters of the 400 meter sprint, I will call it, he passed everybody.
I have no idea where he pulled that from.
He passed everybody. Of course, he got first place. I thought that was one of the best races, too.
And then I also go with the men's 1500, where long story short, same thing happened.

(01:01:04):
There were two people from two European countries who everybody deemed that
was going to be the one mile race of the century.
And in the last hundred meters, there was American Cole Hawker who passed them
both and got first place. And that was really great.
I saw that race. That was a great race. And then the very last one that I'd

(01:01:28):
like to say is the other goat, not Simone Biles, but Katie Ledecky.
She won two of her swimming races.
She lost the first one and it kind of had me scared, but she won her other two.
And she is the most decorated, I think they might say gold medalist ever, women's gold medalist.

(01:01:50):
So, you know, I was happy to see that. And my honorable mention is all the people
from the small countries who got medals.
I cannot wait to see some of their celebrations when they go home to their countries
because I know they're going to be like rock stars.
Oh, yeah. Well, you see what the guy from the Philippines was getting?
Oh, money? The gold medal in the Olympics? $700,000.

(01:02:13):
Huh? $700,000. Yeah. and plus he's getting a house and a condo.
Wow. So, Marcus, for 2028, if we have any Newcastle County people who win medals,
can we please give them some money?

(01:02:33):
So then I'll be hopefully working on my second term in office.
Yes, hold me to that. We're recording this on August 12th of 2024. There we go.
I say yes. I say yes, my friend. I say yes.
Well, it was a great it was a great Olympics job well done by all the athletes

(01:02:57):
and everybody that put that on.
And like I said, kudos to the USA for for winning the most medals and tying China for most gold.
So that, you know, so even though it may not look like, you know,
because some of the favorites that went in, they were expected to sweep a lot of things.

(01:03:18):
But we had some unexpected wins that we wasn't counting on happening.
So, you know, so that was great.
So so the Olympics came and went. Yeah. In fact, Dave, can I just say something real quick?
And I just want to say this all to all the young kids.
I know a lot of kids think that they don't have to practice at their sports
and that there are certain things that once they feel that they're good at certain

(01:03:42):
parts of this force, they don't have to ever do it again.
And for anyone who feels like that, please tell them to watch the four by one
men's four by one hundred with the batons.
And the only reason I say that is because when we tell these kids that they
always need to practice certain things,
I think was a good example of them seeing the professional athletes who are

(01:04:05):
doing this on the world stage. Even they make certain mistakes.
So I just want to throw that in real quick. But well said. Well said. OK.
OK, so moving on to our next thing. All right. So I came across this and we
kind of mentioned it earlier.
So I'm going to bring it up again. And Leonard and I kind of talked about this.

(01:04:28):
What was about two weeks ago, Leonard? About black jobs?
OK, so I came across this and I just want to read a little bit of this.
This story said what it means to have a black job.
In America, when former President Donald Trump reasserted his,
I said his name, I'm sorry,
reasserted his unsubstantiated claim that immigrants are taking black jobs.

(01:04:55):
The phrase and once again became Internet fodder on social media,
typically accompanied by the black job hashtag black job or black jobs.
Let's see. It says...
Their black job, pushing black jobs on perceived racial stereotypes and xenophobic rhetoric.

(01:05:24):
Trump later clarified during his interview at the National Association of Black
Journalists, that's a whole nother story there, that black jobs applied to all
jobs held by black Americans and others,
and that he was raising the alarm on potential employment risks.
Still, the discussion comes as black workers have made significantly positive

(01:05:48):
and in many cases, historic employment advancements.
They're also occurring at a point when the labor market appears to be at an inflection point.
This is the greatest economy that we've seen for black people in our lifetimes and arguably ever.
But there are still significant inequalities, said Algeron Austin,

(01:06:15):
director for race and economic justice at the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
He went on to say unemployment.
Rates are very low. Employment rates are high. Wages are high.
Income is high. Poverty is low. Wealth is high.

(01:06:36):
Those are great. But all these measures still have significant racial gaps and
a lot of work that needs to be done.
And then he goes on to give some data that kind of support what they were saying.
And it says the employment to population ratio for black prime age workers,

(01:06:56):
25 to 54 years of age, match an all time high of 78.6 percent.
That was set back in April 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics
data. In July, that rate was seventy seven point nine.

(01:07:16):
By comparison, the national prime age employment ratio was eighty point nine percent in July. So.
And I'm going to I'm going to stop right there. So what is going on to say is
that, you know, we are, you know, employment's at an all time high.
Everybody's working that wants to work. It's not just about black jobs right now.

(01:07:40):
But then they're also trying to say that they're worried that because the immigrant,
the immigrants coming into the country, that they're taking all the jobs that
a lot of blacks would be doing.
What's your take on that, Marcus? That's a bunch of malarkey.
I'm offended on so many levels. Man, it's offensive to these immigrants, to be honest with you.

(01:08:05):
I don't want to delve too deep in terms of certain industries and how the immigrant
population helps sustain them, such as food, meat processing, for example. Right.
But it's just insulting on so many levels. Right.
It's hard for me to not bring his name up and just I don't want to.

(01:08:26):
But it's it's it's what's the term I'm looking for?
It's it's it's almost his entitlement to even say these things right it's kind
of i know just to digress a little bit the audacity and the arrogance and the
ignorance for him to define,
kamala harris's racial identity for him to have the audacity to have it come

(01:08:48):
out of his mouth and it goes the same thing for this whole black jobs immigrant
jobs discussion white privilege That's what I was looking for.
Privilege that he leans into with his ignorance.
And I think it's just insulting. We are a part of the whole economy,
have been for so much time, right?
We're in all facets of these things. But there still are, obviously,

(01:09:11):
as you articulate, disparities in terms of income and salary ranges,
what have you, based on race or gender, right? We still haven't cured that.
I just think, and we talked about earlier, the more we could do to cultivate,
incentivize more entrepreneurship, the more new businesses starting,
especially minority owned or operated, the better we'll be to create this opportunity.

(01:09:33):
I think, unfortunately, Leonard, you're an expert in this area.
I just think that we need to continue as a country, not just based on race,
cultivate more entrepreneurship here.
I think we're going to economic base as well. And that's important.
And this fool gets hope to not have a platform after November.
And I don't believe he will. And I really don't believe he will. I don't.

(01:09:57):
I hope this movement goes away with him. I really do. I hope so.
I hope so. Alright. Alright.
Well, there you have it, Leonard. You got anything you want to say?
No, I wouldn't. I just want to say, anytime Trump is talking... Oh, you did it.

(01:10:18):
Anytime mr white privilege is talking about
himself it's always the greatest the
best i did it you know
anytime he talks about someone else horrible worse so
long story short i believe nothing he says i'll just
put it like that wow okay all right
all right this short and simple there right

(01:10:40):
okay we're into the point okay all right
well number 45 hey you
heard you heard from leonard's mouth there he don't believe nothing
you said okay all right so all right moving on to our next story i this was
something else i came across and i just felt it was apropos for what we're talking

(01:11:02):
about today and it's simply called why i don't vote and this was written by a young lady,
and I just thought it was interesting. I just wanted to read what she had to say.
One of the most common responses that I get from people
when I say that I didn't vote in a local or national election is the argument

(01:11:22):
that I am disrespecting the black men and women who died so that black people
could have the opportunity to vote.
I feel that this argument is misguided.
At the historical moment when masses of Black people in the American South were

(01:11:46):
attempting to register to vote, and as a result, often persecuted and sometimes killed,
there was a belief that the ability to vote would empower our community.
By empower our community,
I mean that the ability to vote was presumed to guarantee us representation in government,

(01:12:10):
which would bring an end to the brutally oppressive system of segregation and
the systemic violence which sustained it.
As a result, many of our ancestors who were attempting to vote were also attempting to run for office.
Don't believe that simply casting a vote on Election Day for whatever candidates

(01:12:35):
are on the ballot is going to change anything real in the black community.
My ancestors who died attempting to register to vote didn't die because they wanted to vote.
They died because they wanted our
community to have the power and self-determination to live a quality life.

(01:12:58):
If I believed that I could cast a vote for a good candidate and not just a candidate
that is the lesser of two or three or however many evils, I would vote.
I feel guilty sometimes about not putting political actions with my political
ideals, but I will not vote just to ease my conscience.

(01:13:21):
I want to have a real voice in the decisions made about my life and the lives of my people.
When a white person votes, they are given their opinion on issues relevant to
a country where people that look like them, think like them,

(01:13:42):
and want the things that they want have power.
When you cast a ballot, your vote is an opinion. It is not a decision.
As black people in America, we are powerless and oppressed.
Our vote is giving our opinion to a group of people who don't look like us,

(01:14:05):
don't think like us, and don't care about us. I am 27 years old.
I have voted only one time in my life.
I am an educated, politically conscious black woman.
I am well aware of the struggles that African-Americans went through in order
to gain the right to vote. And I don't take it.

(01:14:27):
I don't take any of that lightly.
I know that people die attempting to register to vote.
I don't choose not to vote because I don't care.
I don't vote because voting the way it is popularly conceived at this point

(01:14:48):
in African-American history is an empty and impotent act.
That was what she had to say.
Your thoughts. Let's start with you, Marcus. Wow. It's a lot to unpack there. It's a lot to unpack.
I disagree, obviously. I disagree. And one thing, and I appreciate the perspective she has.

(01:15:15):
I understand that historically and otherwise.
But let's not just make it about race or circumstances.
Understand historically how society and countries have changed over one or two votes.
Votes adolf hitler and his party was voted
in in germany before he became the chancellor of on
one vote right we can affect things if

(01:15:36):
we're not politically active now do we always as african-americans get the best
candidates or do we always get no of course not right and just by the way don't
vote for me just because i'm black for example but that you like the positions
i've articulated and you feel like i'm going to effectuate the change that that's
needed here But putting that aside, if you don't vote,
it's so limiting to you. It's so limiting to us.

(01:15:59):
Right. And you have to me, I'm always going to be aspirational in these things
and these opportunities that we have because people did die and people.
And by the way, it's still under attack.
Let's not forget that. It's under attack right now.
We're not going to talk about that guy and his name, but he said, this is what he said.

(01:16:20):
He said at a crowd, I think it was a week and a half ago, well,
vote for me because this is the last time you want to vote after this.
What he said, you don't have to vote after this.
That's fascism, right? That's more than fascism and some some other things.
So we have to take these things seriously of the liberties.
Although it's a flawed country, obviously, in so many areas,

(01:16:42):
we have got to protect our liberties and votes regardless.
And the aspiration is striving for our elected officials to do better as well
for us and by us. And that's my duty too.
So I'm sorry she's so jaded. I understand it, but I don't agree with it. I don't.
Leonard, what's your thoughts? Yeah, I mean, I agree with Marcus.

(01:17:03):
I definitely don't agree with it. I would say if she is not going to vote,
don't complain about nothing that happens.
Like don't complain about no fines, fees, taxes, laws, ordinances, anything.
Now, the one thing, and Dave, while you're reading, I had a great point and
then I couldn't remember what you said, I had to find the article myself.

(01:17:27):
But so at one point in the article, she said, I don't believe that simply casting
a vote on Election Day for whatever candidates are on the ballot is going to
change anything real in the black community.
And I think this takes it back to what Marcus was saying.
The change that she's looking for in her community is most impacted by her vote in that community.

(01:17:51):
So, you know, I feel like if people don't know any better, they don't know any better.
And I think she just does not know any better, because if she knew better,
she would know that if she wants change in her local community,
then her vote matters more than what she knows.
That's right. Well said. well put well put

(01:18:13):
okay you know the reason i wanted to read that is because i i actually was going
through looking for something to post you know a story to put out there and
i came across that and i was like wow this is deep but then it's probably not unlike.
What a lot of people are thinking right now, you know, and it's unfortunate

(01:18:35):
because if anything has been proven over the last 10, 12 years,
as far as voting is concerned, is that your vote does matter.
You know, we know what we went through, you know, with President Obama and,
you know, getting him elected, you know, we saw what happened with Hillary Clinton.

(01:18:57):
And even though she won the popular vote, you know, she still didn't get in office, you know.
So voting does matter. It definitely does.
Now, of course, unfortunately, you know, we have some people that are jaded.
We have some people that that have seen some things and been involved in some

(01:19:19):
things that they really feel like this young lady does.
But we still have to get out there and do what we need to do so we can have
people in office like the gentleman we're talking to today.
I mean, you know, this is important that we have these type of people in place.
And it doesn't necessarily, you know, some people, it does matter about skin

(01:19:44):
color and so forth and so forth.
But that shouldn't be the important thing. It's what's important is what they
can what they can do to help you, what they can do for your communities,
what they can do for your local government.
You know, you know, people were a little bit upset, you know,
with the running mate that VP Harris.

(01:20:10):
But then when you do, if you if you sit and read and you and you understand
the reasoning behind it, it's a brilliant move.
It really is, you know. So that's why you have to do your research and you have
to get out there and you got to do your due diligence and and vote.
I mean, that's the way I feel about it. I agree.

(01:20:32):
OK. All right. Coming to our last part of the show, which is Leonard's favorite
part of the show, by the way, Marcus. Cause he Dave's corner.
I, you know, I'm a big influence on him. So he gets more lies.
Oh, what happened? You lock you saying I'm lying. That's a shame, man.

(01:20:52):
But anyway, this is, this is his favorite part of the show. We've been doing
this show over three years, Marcus, and everybody knows this is his favorite part of the show.
So every, you know, so, so, but this is Dave's corner.
And usually what we do is we ask, I usually ask a philosophical question here.
And so this is today's question.

(01:21:13):
And for both of you, if you had the power to correct three major problems in
the world today, what would what would you fix those three things that you would fix?
Let's start with you, Marcus. Oh, that's a good question.
Food insecurity, number one, food insecurity around the world, right?

(01:21:34):
Yes. food insecurity around the world as it relates that folds into poverty.
Housing housing worldwide housing access don't want to get too deep on finances
but i think there needs to be some stabilization in in our markets our world
markets especially there's some instability in our marketplace i think it'd

(01:21:57):
be great if we create some kind of I don't want to get too technical.
I think the way we value currency exchange and how it works in the markets,
I think there needs to be some correction there to stabilize things,
especially with what Western Europe is trying to do and just a healthier economic
outlook in our global markets. I think we need to stabilize some of these things.

(01:22:18):
So food, housing, financial markets, stability.
All right. Okay. Mr. Leonard. Yes, I'm thinking, and food was my number one,
one. I'm going to say healthcare.
And I am going to say food.

(01:22:40):
Try and think of what my third one would be. So I probably say this because
my wife and I, we have four kids who are all teenagers.
So I will say free education, access to free education.
That's good. That's good. That's good. All right. Cool. Cool. What about you, Dave?
If you had the power to correct three major problems in the world today, what would they be?

(01:23:05):
Well, my first one that comes to mind would be homelessness.
Kind of, you know, talked about that earlier. Would definitely flood the market
with more shelters and income-based housing,
along with proper counseling to make sure that people are able to maintain in
today's world and society,

(01:23:27):
you know, to make sure that they have the proper tools to be able to do that.
My number two would i would take a
good look at the pay scales we have in
place and make sure that men and women who do
the same jobs get paid based on the jobs
they have and not according to their genders i think that's a big thing especially

(01:23:48):
nowadays you know because the pay scales just seem to be so off you know when
it comes to jobs and people based on the same people with the same knowledge,
not getting paid the same thing. You know what I'm saying?
Then my last thing would be do away with violence and war in our streets and in our countries.

(01:24:13):
If I had the power to be able to do that and everybody just got along,
maybe we wouldn't be talking about that candidate that we try not to mention their name.
And he wouldn't even be a factor in this. You know, the fact that he even is,
this tells you that we have some major problems. We definitely do.

(01:24:35):
So those would be my three. And that's what.
I'm sticking with it. I'm going to leave it at that.
But all of these are good answers, folks. When you get a chance,
let us know what your thoughts are.
Give us your thoughts on that and give us your choices as far as those are concerned.

(01:24:56):
Usually at Markers, we have people that always have their comments as far as
what they feel that they would choose when it comes to one of these questions.
So here's your opportunity to say what you would do. All right,
Marcus, we want to give you the opportunity one more time to tell people why you the man.
OK, so so this is a chance to give you social media pages.

(01:25:20):
And do we have do we have the music in the background, Leonard,
tuned up for, you know, the markets, you know, the Uncle Sam music, you know.
So, but Marcus, it's your shot to go ahead and tell the people what they need to hear.
Thank you. Thank you again for having me on the show. It's been the most fun

(01:25:42):
I've had in weeks. Thank you. I'm going to start. Thank you.
This is fun. I'm Marcus Henry. I'm a candidate for New Castle County executive.
I'm born and raised here in New Castle County, Delaware.
I'm raising my family here with my wife. I am committed to good government service
and serving you and improving your quality of life.
And New Castle County government does a lot to affect your life in that area.

(01:26:06):
I have over 20 years of experience in government management,
11 at New Castle County alone. I'm a business owner.
I own a medium-sized healthcare company here in the state of Delaware.
I have the private sector experience.
I have the public sector experience needed to run New Castle County government.
I would so appreciate your support on September 10th.

(01:26:26):
More information on my campaign, please go to MarcusHenryDE.com.
And thank you for your time. Thank you.
Yeah. Oh, and let me ask this.
I know you said go to your website. Is there an email address or anything you wanted to give out?
Or we can put your website in, I guess, when we go to post. And it's on there. Yeah. Yeah.

(01:26:49):
Okay. All right. Great. All right. Well, there you have it, folks.
The man, he came, he spoke, and I hope you listen because that's what we need you to do.
You know, he's running for office.
Hopefully, he says some things that will help you with making your choice as

(01:27:10):
far as who should be our next county executive in New Castle County.
And we want to both say thank you for taking the time to join us today.
And hopefully, Leonard gives you back your Atari.
I kind of want that. I'm kind of leaning in.

(01:27:31):
You know, so that you guys can be good friends again.
But with that being said, folks, thank you for listening.
We always appreciate you. Until next time. Have a good night.

(01:27:54):
Join us next week for another edition of News and Trends with your host, Dave Anderson.
Music.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Empowering Voices: An Evening with Marcus Henry, Candidate for New Castle County Executive

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

All Episodes

Empowering Voices: An Evening with Marcus Henry, Candidate for New Castle County Executive

Stuff You Should Know