How a Judge Changed My Life at 15 - Dante’s Story - The Journey to Freedom Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
When I was 15, I was in a very, very bad spot where I
was looking at going to grouphome or shelter and she stepped
in with her husband and theyallowed me to live with them at
15.
This woman was a judge, herhusband was a lawyer, both her
sons were attorneys, and so mylast two or three years in high
school I lived with them andthat's really where I began to
take off.
At that point I was in thatenvironment.

(00:21):
The osmosis effect played arole.
I got to see people who reallyworked hard, who were very much
like me.
They love books, they lovecultural competency.
These were the premier peoplein my life.
Once I got there I said, okay,I got a chance.
I was maybe wasn't on my radarbeforehand, but I got a chance.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
All right, welcome, welcome, welcome to another just
incredible addition to theJourney to Freedom podcast.
And I'm Dr B, I am your hosthere and I'm excited.
Today it has just been one ofthose days.
It's raining outside right now.
I've got my workout in all thewonderful things that I wanted
to get done today, but one ofthe things I've been looking

(01:13):
forward to all day is havingthis conversation with Dante,
and so when I think of thejourney to freedom, dante, I was
able to to take in January, 18black men to do a civil rights
tour in Alabama and there'd onlybeen, like you know, out of the

(01:35):
18 men because we're mostlyfrom the West Coast and don't
spend time in the South, hadnever even been to Alabama and
so you know I had.
I went last year, so this is mysecond trip.
But just starting to thinkabout our world and where we
live in right now and all thethings, and I felt like I went
back in time.
I felt like I was in Birminghamand we're doing a tour and I'm

(02:00):
like this feels like the 1970s.
Now, I was a little kid, I wasborn in 65.
So 1970, I was, you know, fiveyears old, but I saw stuff on TV
.
You know the things that westudied in school.
It's one thing to study inschool.
It's one thing to see the movieSelma.
It's another thing to walk overto Pettus Bridge after seeing

(02:22):
Selma and go oh my gosh, thisstuff really happened here.
And so I've been able to startinterviewing some of the folks
that went with us on the trip,and what they're doing now and
to a T-boat, like a lot of themare just saying, I couldn't have
that experience and come backand not do anything about it.

(02:42):
And I started thinking aboutthe things that we get to do and
the place that we hold in oursociety and the things that we
hold in our country.
And you know our ability to gothrough.
I know you've been.
You know you were able to go tocollege and you were able to
get a degree, and you were ableto get a law degree and you were
able to do all these things.
And I know you're a person whowants to give back and do things

(03:14):
and make sure your community isa better place.
And sometimes we get into thesecycles of you know, I don't
know what to do, or I'm not surehow I can help, or this place
is just crazy.
Right now I don't even you know, the guy interviewed a little
bit earlier.
He was telling me he's like youknow, what is amazing is I went
there and we went through thesetours and we went through this
time and we had this story stuffand it feels like we haven't
progressed.
What the folks were willing todo, it is we had a meeting with

(03:39):
a lady named Janice Kelsey andshe was almost 80 years old now
and she was in high school whenthey had the children's marches
and they you know they were thefire hoses were on them, and
then she went to, she left highschool to go to jail and she
talked to us about that time andhe was just talking about the
things that they were willing todo.
Are we willing to do some ofthose things in order to make

(04:03):
sure that we have?
And I'm like you know, I thinkwhat we do is different, but
there's so many folks that arejust concentrated on, you know,
ourselves, and so when I came upand started doing the journey
to freedom, I wanted to.
You know, I went to a trust.
It was called the Trusted EdgeLeadership Conference.
It was in Minnesota and it wasa gentleman who was probably one

(04:24):
of the world's leading expertson leading with trust in, and
trust is.
The problem was is we wentthere, 400 people in the room
and there's like 30 folks ofcolor, I guess typical from.
You know, the higher you get upin some of these circles, the
less of us there are.
And so my thought why is mycommunity not getting this?
Why are we not talking aboutthese issues?

(04:45):
We have some trust issuesSometimes we have.
Not only do we not trustourselves, we don't trust our
women, we don't our women don'ttrust us, we don't trust the
white, but we just don't trustour communities.
And so how can we take some ofthis information and disseminate
it in ways that make adifference?
And so I got to start thispodcast and you know, like I

(05:06):
said, 175 episodes later, I getsome incredible stories of
people who are doing things thatI had no idea that they were
doing, and a lot of it is justbecause we talk in the
barbershop or we talk in, youknow, sports events, sporting
events and that kind of stuff,but we just sometimes don't get
to talk about some of the thingsthat we get to do.

(05:28):
And so that's why I'm so excitedabout our conversation today
and us being able to talk, andjust you know the things that
you've been able to do, and soI'm going to give you the
opportunity right now to justtell your story and tell us you
know not just what you do, butwho you are and how you became
the man that you are today.
And then I mean, you just toldme you're getting ready to get
married and so excited about youknow that chapter of life and

(05:51):
what that means and what doesthat mean with the family and
all those wonderful things thatyou kind of have a vision of
what that's going to look like.
And then how do we come behindyou as a community and say let's
make this work in a way thatjust not only lets you be an
example but then lets you thriveas well, and so go ahead and

(06:12):
start your story wherever itstarts at, and then we'll just
continue to move on from there.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
So thanks, yeah, absolutely.
I do want to say, dr B, just tojump off of what you said, what
you're doing is so importantbecause you really are a conduit
between all of these differentpeople doing different things.
And you said you just took 18people down to Alabama.
You guys got to walk the bridgethat we saw in the movie Selma
and it's so important to reallyunderstand.

(06:37):
You know, listen, we are not asdifferent as we make ourselves
out to be.
No, we all have, you know, somekind make ourselves out to be.
No, no, we all have, you know,some kind of commonality to us.
So what you do in the podcastand the name is beautiful
journey to freedom.
Because the journey, you know,you hope the journey at some
point ends with you actuallyfinding the freedom, whatever

(07:00):
the freedom means to you.
That can be a financial freedom, emotional freedom,
intellectual freedom, whateverthat means for you, historical
freedom.
And I think it's just soimportant to have these
conversations, to take thosetrips, to do all of that type of
stuff.
So you are becoming a conduit,I would say, because you're
connecting all of thesedifferent people through these
conversations that are very,very important Because, like you

(07:21):
just said, they're no longerremaining inside the barbershop.
We're trying to now get thisout right.
Spread this information, soit's beautiful.
So thank you for doing this,man.
I'm happy to be here.
I'm looking forward to talking.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
Excited.
Yes, so tell us about who isDante.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
Yes, sir, yes sir.
So, dr B, I am a child.
My mother had seven children.
She is from New York originallybut I'm from Virginia.
I was born in Surry County,virginia.
It's a very, very small town.
It's 6,000 people in the county, so very small area, and that's
where I was rooted initially.

(08:00):
So she had her first sixchildren in New York, moved to
Virginia, met my dad, had mewhen she was 29.
So at 29, she had her first sixchildren in New York, moved to
Virginia, met my dad, had mewhen she was 29.
So at 29, she had sevenchildren, which is Wow, wow, wow
is exactly the response I havenow as a 31 year old man.
I just can't imagine having thatmany children at 31 years old.

(08:21):
She was 29 when she didn'tfinish high school.
My father didn't finish highschool, so education was not
something that we were.
Clearly we didn't know a lotabout it.
But what I will say is that,you know, she was a very loving
person, she was a sweet personand she did try her best.
She just she didn't have a lotof support.
So that's where I started, youknow, in a household with six

(08:42):
older siblings chasing afterthem and just running around
playing video games, playingsports and, to my knowledge, at
that point I had a pretty happychildhood.
I didn't know what was aroundthe corner for me, I didn't know
what was going on and, you know, most times there's always a
tribulation that's right therewaiting for you.
No matter where you are in life, you can be at the highest high

(09:03):
.
A tribulation can just pop upon you.
No matter where you are in life, you can be at the highest high
.
A tribulation can just pop upon you.
So at that point, when I wasfour, we all got removed from
the house and we got dispersedto different homes and my
journey really started fromthere.
And that's when things kind ofjust took a turn and it became a
little bit more difficult.
And I lived with a grandmotherfor a while and then she got
sick, lived with a cousin for awhile.

(09:23):
That didn't work out because ofwhat she was going through.
So I kind of popped arounddifferent places, stayed with my
dad for a couple of years andthat didn't work out because he
was going through certain thingstoo, and so I was just kind of
being moved around place toplace to place.
And when you're displaced somuch, you know, as a young
person, a lot of emotionaltrauma is attached to that.

(09:45):
You feel abandoned to a degreeand you have to deal with that
as you deal with it and you justtry to wonder, okay, well, what
am I doing incorrectly as achild?
So that was my start, you know,and the journey kind of went
from there and we can dig moreinto that.
But I eventually went tocollege, got a bachelor's degree

(10:06):
, I went to law school, got alaw degree and passed the bar
examination, which is what youhave to become a licensed
attorney.
And I just kind of went fromthere and I kept going and it's
a lot in between that, butthat's the bird's eye view of it
.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
Hey, it's Dr B and let me ask you something just
here real quick.
Are you tired of doing the samething over and over and not
getting the results you want?
Are you serious about makingsome changes this year that will
impact you in a huge way?
Maybe you're putting outcontent right now and it's not
turning into customers.
Or maybe you're uploadingvideos, but you're not sure why
or how it's even going to help.
You know, I see a lot of peoplethat are making a whole bunch

(10:41):
of cold calls to the wrongpeople and no one's answering.
No one wants to talk to you.
It might just be that you'rejust doing what you've been
doing and crossing your fingershoping it finally works this
year, but let me tell you what.
That is not a strategy and itwill continue not to work.
That's why I created thepodcasting challenge and it's
coming up fast.

(11:01):
In just a few days, I'm goingto walk you through the mindset,
the tool set and the skill setyou need to create a powerful
podcast.
That's right, a podcast.
You won't believe what apodcast can do, one that builds
real value and creates newclients.
And if you grab a VIP ticket,you'll get to join me for a
daily Zoom Q&A sessions whereI'll personally answer your

(11:22):
questions and help you tailoreverything to your goals.
This is your moment.
This is your year.
Go to thepodcastingchallengecomright now and save your seat.
The link is in the show notesand the description.
Thank you for watching thesepodcasts.
Now let's get back to theconversation.
Oh my gosh, wow.

(11:43):
So much to impact there.

Speaker 1 (11:44):
A lot to impact.
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 (11:47):
And you're 31.
So I was born in the 60s and soI have eight children, and out
of the eight children that Ihave, my oldest is 36.
He works for Pop Pixar.
I have a 35-year-old, myyoungest is 29.
So you would fit right in themiddle of, which is just so cool

(12:10):
because, you know, as I askedthem questions, and so three of
the three of the uh folks ofthose 18 folks that I got to go
to Alabama were my boys, youknow.
So I have five boys and threegirls.
Uh, and them come back.
My 36-year-old came, a35-year-old came, and then, oh,
so I had those two, and then Ihad two son-in-laws, so my

(12:33):
daughter's- husband were able tocome.
Oh my gosh.
And so you know.
So they're kind of in that sameage group and to see what
they're doing now and seeing howthey progress.
And you know, so proud of youfor the things you're doing at
such a young age with all the,all the stuff that you had in
there I was.
I did a show that you'll wantto look up.

(12:53):
That James Smith is the guy whodid it.
He was an attorney, a prominentattorney in North Carolina back
in the likes and 90s, one ofthe few black attorneys that
were there and just superprominent.
He got into gambling and hesaid I'm going to kill myself.

(13:14):
He has his 20.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
He's going to shoot himself in the head, looks
across the street, sees a bankand decides, instead of killing
myself, I'm going to go rob thebank, the lesser of two evils,
huh yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:35):
So he's driving home from the bank and he gets pulled
over because he's drivingerratically and the policeman
says you know, mr James, youneed to slow down.
You need to calm down becausethey all know he's the attorney
right.
So they let him go.
He gets pulled over again, theylet him go again, goes home and
they finally realize he's theone who robbed the bank, ends up

(13:57):
spending like seven or eightyears in prison and then comes
out and now he's like one of thelargest churches as a pastor,
that's in.
But just to think of the youknow the things that we go
through and the struggles thatcan still turn into these
amazing things.
So I would love to kind of justif you can impact your identity
during this time, becausethat's got to be.

(14:19):
When I think of somebody who'sbeing displaced, or all these
different schools you're goingto and all these different
friends that you're going toliving with different relatives,
how does that impact theidentity?
Like, if you think back to youridentity as a child and going
through this, was theresomething that was constant,
that said I have this to achieve.
Or there was a, I mean, youwent to college in which

(14:42):
probably didn't seem likely.
I don't know how many of yoursix brothers and sisters were
able to go to college, yeah, sowhat was different about you,
that had that identity, thatallowed you to to excel.

Speaker 1 (14:55):
You know, I don't necessarily know if there's a
there's this one answer to whatI have to be, but what I will
tell you is that at a very earlyage I cared so much about
academia and I cared aboutreading a whole lot.
When I was nine, they put meinto the local paper because I
read over 200 books.
When I was in fourth grade Iwas just an avid reader.

(15:16):
As a matter of fact, I can pullthe thing for you right here.
This is what they did when Iwas in fourth grade.
I cared so much about readingand academia and I was a very
competitive person.
You know I knew at that pointthey said oh hey, dante, this is
the record for the last childwho read this many books.

(15:37):
If you read this many, you canbreak this record, and I just
went all for it.
So I cared about grades, I caredabout competition, I like
sports and that's kind of how Ideveloped who I was as a person.
I just held on to that.
No matter where I went, Ialways made friends.
I could fit in pretty well.
If you're smart and you canplay sports and you've got a
nice personality, you're goingto be okay pretty much in life,

(15:58):
you'll be all right.
So I was always fine.
I had no problems makingfriends.
I still have great friends fromall these different areas where
I live, but I just I cared somuch about sports and academia
and I just wanted to becompetent.
I just cared about beingcompetent, that's all I cared
about, and so I knew, if I stuckwith that, you can drop someone

(16:20):
like me into differentatmospheres.
But if I can just adapt to theatmosphere and I care about
being a competent person, Ithink I will be OK.
And I was, and that's reallywhat I cared about.

Speaker 2 (16:33):
What's so amazing about that?
Because, if success leavesclues and you know, through my
life you try to find people thatare successful and it is all
come down to, I think think oneof the number one traits of a
successful person is who youassociate with, who you hang
around, and when you tell me bythe you know, by the nine years

(16:54):
old you're reading 200 books,that's 200 associations, that
you had that most of the peopledidn't have, because you're
learning from the experiences of200 different people and that
ability to read and to continueto read and that love for
reading continue going will justtake a person who's here like

(17:19):
that all day long because you'reinterested in what everybody
else is doing, not just on you.
And I would probably be able toget that if we looked at your
family and compared the amountof books that they read compared
to what you read.

Speaker 1 (17:35):
Probably a stark difference.

Speaker 2 (17:38):
A huge difference, you know.
I guess the other part of it islike who in your life was
encouraging you?
You know the competition isgreat and you know I know a lot
of us talk about sports so muchand you know, sometimes you know
, as you're getting ready tohave a family and you know we go
to the bar, we were aroundpeople They'll know more stats

(17:59):
about, like a Michael Jordan orLeBron James or you know Kobe
Bryant or all these folks thatand then they'll know about
their own kids and their ownfamily things that are going on.
You know the sports were a partof it, which I think is
important.
I was an athlete and it paidfor college and stuff for me,

(18:20):
but at the same time I'm notlike always talking to.
I don't want any other man'sname on the back of my jersey,
right, I want my name on theback of my jersey.
So how did that progress foryou?
That you were able to find thatyou know the love of reading
and then be able to not just getcaught up into the community
and the normal things that ourculture tends to do all the time

(18:43):
?

Speaker 1 (18:45):
I really wanted to see whether or not I was someone
who could do something that wasbeyond what even I believed I
could do.
So I was very self-driven.
So no one ever told me Dante,do your work, I do my work.
It's perfectly fine, you know,I will take care of it, because

(19:06):
I want to feel as though I'mcompeting with people around me.
I'm like you know, these peopleare smart, they're very
intelligent, and I just want tobe someone who can stand next to
the Dr B's of the world and say, ok, we can have a conversation
, we can have dialogue, and Iactually belong here because I
put the work in to be here, andso I just wanted to.

(19:26):
I really wanted to be competent.
Now, a large part of it thatoccurred for me too.
When I was four years of age,dr B and I think this is the
person that you shoulddefinitely bring on the podcast
my brother took my bicycle andhe ran out into the street with
the bicycle.
My brother took my bicycle andhe ran out into the street with
the bicycle, and so I chaseafter him.

(19:46):
And again, I'm four years ofage.
My mother has seven children inthe house.
She can't look after everybodyand keep a lot of single child
Right.
So I chase him into the streetand at the same time this
vehicle pulls up and the vehiclestops and this woman gets out
and almost like a halo was overher head, I swear.

(20:08):
And she pushes back into theyard and she says man, your kids
are out here playing in thestreet.
You should really keep youreyes on them.
So I have seven kids.
I'm sorry, I'm trying, I'mtrying.
And that woman happened to be ajudge.
The black woman was a judge.
And so from there she goes andshe buys this big van to start

(20:31):
transporting us to the skatingrink and the swimming pool and
football games, just spendingtime with us.
And it was incredible because Isaid who is this woman and why
is she doing all of this?
Is she a distant cousin?
Who is she to us?
And we had no blood relation.
But this woman was a judge, herhusband was a lawyer, both her

(20:54):
sons were attorneys, and so wedeveloped this bond at that age
and it just kind of took offfrom there.
So we developed this bond atthat age and it just kind of
took off from there.
We kept in touch.
Later on in life, when I was 15,I was in a very, very bad spot
where I was looking at going toa group home or a shelter.
She stepped in with her husbandand they allowed me to live

(21:15):
with them at 15.
So my last two or three yearsin high school I lived with them
.
That's really where I began totake off.
At that point I was in thatenvironment.
The osmosis effect played arole and I got to see people who
really worked hard, who werevery much like me.
They love books, they lovecultural competency.

(21:36):
I mean these were the premierpeople in my life.
I thought they were amazing.
They are still amazing.
So that's really where you know.
Once I got there I said, okay, Igot a chance.
I got a chance.
Now, you know, college maybewasn't on my radar beforehand,
but I got a chance and she wassomeone.
She's from Louisiana, batonRouge, and she moved to Virginia

(21:56):
after she finished law schoolat LSU.
Then she lived in DC for alittle while.
She came to Virginia, met herhusband and she's like a
historical woman out here.
She was the first black judgein a certain area in Virginia.
She was the first black electedcommons attorney which is a
prosecutor in a certain area inVirginia and she's just an

(22:16):
incredible person.
So if you look at the website,that's her next to me on the
website.
So if you look at the website,that's her next to me on the
website.
Our story has been covered bythe local paper, by the
Christian Broadcasting Network,and you know it's really been an
amazing connection that I'vehad with her.

Speaker 2 (22:33):
So that's really where I think I took off.
When you think of, like, howGod places us in different
places that allow us to be ableto thrive.
And then you know back to myassociations, right, not only
association but an example.
You know, like when you seesomebody like that that is
taking you in, you believeeverything's possible.
A lady who came from Louisianaif she could do all this?

Speaker 1 (22:59):
how could I not be able to do that?
I can show you that picture ofher in law school.
It is her and one other blackwoman and about 30 or 40 white
men.
There's no black men there,it's just two black women and
about 30 or 40 white men, andshe had to go through all of
that.
So please continue.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
I just want to tell you, yeah, when she did it in
the time in our country, inLouisiana, in the South.

Speaker 1 (23:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:21):
Oh man, yeah, I can't wait to interview her.
She'll have me on the podcast.
She's phenomenal.
She's phenomenal, but then alsojust thinking about the
experiences.
Is that other part, whensuccess leaves clues?
You think of the experiencesthat you were able to now have
as a result of you running outinto the street that you

(23:41):
wouldn't have had, like how youknow how many of us get to end
up going to the swimming pooland learning how to swim, and
learning how to do up in a vanand probably going to museums,
all kinds of things that soundslike in your, in your world, as
your mom was doing the best thatshe could, that those things
would not have happened.

(24:01):
Those things would not have beenpart of your trajectory, into
where you're at and just torealize that if we can create
experiences, if we can createexamples, if we can be those
examples and be thoseexperiences and and have help
people with those associations,what an amazing.
So you take off.

(24:23):
You know, you have an example.
She lets you live with her.
You're still reading, you'remeeting new people and you
decide to go to college.
Did you already know that youwanted to be an attorney?
Was it because of, maybe, her,or was it just that was
something you thought, hey, thisis what I'm going to go.
Do I mean?
Did you know that when you wentto college?
Or you found that out?

Speaker 1 (24:43):
Oh no, oh no, dr Dean .
So again I was at that point.
I said, well, you know, okay, Iactually got here.
I got in, you know, I'm here,I'm doing fine.
But in my mind I thought myluck would run out at some point
because I had been so unluckyearly on in life and so much had
happened.
And so I said, okay, well, atsome point something's going to

(25:06):
happen, Like maybe I will makeit through college, maybe I will
somehow flunk out, I don't know, something's going to happen
and so this is not going to workout for me.
But then I get there and Ithrive, I do very well in
college, and I get to my senioryear and I said, oh, hey, listen
, I'm going to take the LSAT.
He says, ok, go for it, I'mgoing to do it really.

(25:30):
He said, ok, you shoulddefinitely do it.
Go for it.
I said I'm going to apply toHoward University because that's
where your son went.
That's I'm going to go.
Ok, you can get in, down toyour, your brilliant, you're
going to be fine, go ahead anddo it.
And so I signed up for thisLSAT class and it was like every
Tuesday from 6 pm to 10 pm,very boring, very mundane, but

(25:52):
necessary, yeah, professor.
And so I take the LSAT and I dowell, and I get into maybe 10
or 11 law schools and Howard's.
One of them didn't chooseHoward, but Howard was the first
one that accepted me and I wasvery happy about that.
I felt good, like I felt that,okay, wow, I got into the same
law school as one of her sons.
This feels great.
And I chose to go to law schoolin North Carolina central and

(26:14):
Durham, north Carolina and I hada great experience there.
I made some really, reallygreat friends that I love to
death, and it just went fromthere.
Now, when I got into law school, the first week is called Law
School 101.
It's the orientation to get youcomfortable if that's even the
word you can use with law school, to acclimate you to what law

(26:37):
school is, and I recall theolder students and the
professors saying a third ofyour class is not going to make
it through the first year, andwe had 180 people and they were
not at all incorrect.

(26:59):
After, after the first year, welost roughly about 60 people
and by the third of the class,and I recall saying OK, you know
what?
Here is where I finally tap out.
This is probably going to be it, right, but even even me
getting here is so beyond beliefthat if it does not work out, I

(27:21):
don't think they would bedisappointed in me, so that was
my mind for like the first halfof the year.
But I did fine, I did well.
Actually, I finished withhonors.
I did perfectly fine, perfectlyfine.
And so now I begin to beconvinced that, okay, this is no
longer luck.

(27:41):
There's probably maybe someluck into how you met this woman
, but this has to be some levelof destiny that was driven by
God or divine intervention,because you got here and you
didn't struggle your way through.
You actually did very well andyou're doing very well, and it
not what you thought.

(28:02):
I thought it'd be aninsurmountable mountain that I
just could not even begin tothink about summoning, but that
wasn't the case.
I did it was challenging verychallenging, but I did well.
I had good support, goodfriends, so that's what I came
from.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
Yeah, well, somebody who reads 200 books when they're
nine years old and I'm thinkingprobably close to a thousand
books by the time you're at thispoint where you're yeah, I
still read, I love it, yeah,yeah, oh my gosh.
And so so you make it throughlaw school and then you decide

(28:38):
this is what I want to do.
So now your undergraduatedegree.
What was that?
In Criminal justice?
So, criminal justice.
So you were in the lawenforcement, criminal justice
side of the world Say, okay, I'mgoing to go to law school, I'm
going to become an attorney.
What kind of attorney did youdecide that?
I mean, what kind of attorneyare you?
I guess?

Speaker 1 (28:59):
Yes, I do criminal defense.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
And I'm a prosecutor.

Speaker 1 (29:03):
Yes sir, so I do all criminal.
Well, I do mostly criminal law.
I do personal injury too, whichis like auto accidents, things
like that, but primarilycriminal law is what I do.

Speaker 2 (29:12):
Okay, Gotcha.
And then, and what is like?
Now that you're, you went backto Virginia, so you left North
Carolina, got done with schooland I'm not hanging out in North
Carolina for the rest of mylife.
I'm going back to go back home.
What has life been like since?
Since you've graduated and nowyou're an attorney and now

(29:33):
you're working and you know, Iknow, you have probably have
many other goals and dreams Imean, you're 31.
So there's got to be, you know,a set thought or things you
want to achieve.
What does that look like foryou?

Speaker 1 (29:45):
So when I returned to Virginia, it was in the really
in the midst of COVID.
I think it was 2020 when I Mayof 2020 when I initially
returned, so it looked a lotdifferent, you know, than the
way it looks right now.
The, the courts were prettymuch closed for the most part.

(30:06):
You know, we had somerestrictions and we did some
cases when I, when I got here,but, yeah, when I got here, I
actually before I came back toVirginia, dr B, I was living in
New York for a year, in NewJersey for a year, and I was
licensed to practice law in NewYork, and so I was working for a

(30:27):
company out there.
And when COVID occurred this ismaybe March of 2020, maybe, I
guess and so we go remote and Ithink I stayed in New Jersey at
my apartment for maybe four tosix weeks and I said, ok, well,
I could go back to Virginia.

(30:47):
It's a very rural area, won'tbe as many restrictions and I
can still work while I'm downhere.
And so I came to Virginia andwhile I'm here, I'm working.
I said, hey, I'm going to takethe Virginia bar exam to see if
I can get licensed here, becausemy license in New York didn't
qualify me to practice law inVirginia.
These are different bar exams.
And she says well, you can takea second bar exam.

(31:11):
And I said well, you know, if Idon't pass, option and a choice
to make to see whether or not Iactually want to return to
Virginia and try to build on thelegacy that you all have left
here.

(31:31):
And so that was my primary goal.
And so I just and you know, shecried the day that I passed
Virginia because it was like, ok, I have a son that's now coming
back to Virginia to actually bean attorney and I think that
was a very, very monumentalmoment for her.

(31:51):
And I recall her crying and shecalled me oh my God, you passed
, you passed, you passed, and itwas very beautiful, it was very
beautiful, very beautiful, itwas very beautiful.
And so I get back to Virginiaand she makes a phone call to a
friend who is now a friend ofmine and all like an older
brother, mentor, vincentRobertson, and he said hey, I
got a job for you here as aprosecutor.

(32:13):
And I said I've never done onetrial in my entire life.
I have no idea what I'm doing.
I don't know what I'm doing.
He says well, you'll learn,don't worry about it.
You know it's trial by fire,you'll figure it out and I'm
going to be here to kind of walkyou through everything.
And so I started there.
I started working there.
I had no idea what I was doing,made a fool of myself in my
first trial, but you know, I gotbetter, learned the ropes.

(32:35):
He taught me a whole lot.
His second in command, reginaSykes, was fantastic.
She taught me a whole lot andeventually I kind of find my
footing as a trial attorney andI become a lot more comfortable
with what I was doing.
And I did that for about threeyears and I'm leaving and I say,
hey, talk to my mom at thispoint.

(32:55):
I said what do you think aboutactually opening a law firm?
Like you know, you've been kindof in semi-retirement mode for
the last few years, but you'restill enjoying it.
We should join forces.
And she was all for it at thatpoint because I had my
experience, I had proven myselfand, as a matter of fact, I

(33:17):
prosecuted in the same countywhere she used to be a judge.
Oh, wow, okay.
So you know we had thatconnection and it went from
there.
We opened a firm and then I gotengaged a year after that and
you know, now I'm there workinghard, working long hours, having
a good time helping people,trying to fight for people,
advocating for folks.
So it's been good.

Speaker 2 (33:38):
I love it.
You're 31 years old, it's beengood, I love it.
You're 31 years old and ourcountry has changed since.
You know I kind of started outtalking about, you know, alabama
.
You've been to North Carolinaand I don't know if I've ever
even asked anybody this.
You know, cause I don't knowhow many.
You know I've had some youngfolks on, but was there

(33:58):
awareness that you were blackand that the experiences that
you had did that shape anythingthat you did or change?
You know how you were doingthings, or did you have to
compete to get where you're atdifferently than what you
thought other folks did?
You know, cause I know for me,as I, you know, there was a
whole lot of.

(34:18):
You know my mom and dad movedus to a white neighborhood.
We had names written on wallsand everything else.
We had to fight because of it,but I tried to keep my kids
where.
It didn't matter, and then theystill said it did.
But I would love to hear yourexperience on that, maybe even
like the fraternity that youdecided to pledge to and that

(34:42):
kind of stuff.
How is your experience of beinga black man at 31 maybe
different than what you see therest of society as?

Speaker 1 (34:54):
So my experience, I think, has been I don't know
whether it's been unique or notas as being, you know, a young
black man, and at least in myera.
What I will say is that I wasvery much aware of my station in
life and my older brother,chris, when I was in ninth grade

(35:16):
, told me hey, listen, man, I'llpay you 50 bucks If you read
the autobiography of Malcolm X.
I said I'll read it for free,like you know, like I'll just
read it, I'll just read the bookfor free.
And I recall reading that bookwhen I was 13, 13 to 14.
And the book may be just threeor 400 pages long, but it's a

(35:36):
fantastic book, fantastic memoir.
You learn about stories of himand Red Fox back in the day when
they knew each other and allthese different things.
When I read that book my mindwas open to okay, this is not
actually the way things, the wayyou believe things work and the

(35:57):
way you believe you were viewedupon by society.
Perhaps it's not actually thatway.
Dante and I just began to delvefurther into it, into the
history, and reading other books, the Miseducation of the Negro,
all of these different booksthat I just really started to
check into and I just gotfurther and further into it to
try to fully understand where Iwas situated and really

(36:19):
understanding, too, that youknow, education takes you a long
way.
It opens certain doors, putsyou in certain rooms.
Like you just said, theconference you went to, there
were 30 blacks there of 400people or so is what you said.
So it'll put you in certainrooms if you really, you really
really open yourself, open yourmind to it.

(36:39):
But you should not forget thatif you are in this room,
somebody else is not in the roomand you need to try your best
to bring them into the room yeahand so that's where my mind
went.
and I also recall in myfraternity we did a what we call
a forum.
We would invite people out fromthe campus and we would have
this open debate and my forumtopic that time that year was

(37:02):
Malcolm versus Martin LutherKing.
You know, whose side are you on, whose perspective do you agree
with, and people they wouldraise their hand and they would
say certain things and say whythey agreed.
And so I was super aware youknow of my position in life and
my station, and I took it veryseriously and I respected it
very much and I still do.
And I think it's very importantthat we educate ourselves on

(37:26):
our history, and there's so muchhistory that I don't know and
that I'm never going to know,because I can tell you the big
names I can give you the Martinsand the Malcolms and people
like that, but there are so manythat I don't know about and I
shouldn't know about, and at 31,I can't use my age as an excuse
because I should know more andI gotta do better.
So I'm trying to do better.

Speaker 2 (37:47):
oh, my gosh.
Well, that's cool.
I mean the, the awareness isthere, but then still knowing,
like you said, your station andand the social economic side of
it, and I'd love to have youcome down to Alabama with us.

Speaker 1 (38:02):
Let me know Dr B, I have a really, really good
friend, like an uncle, who'd bea great person for this podcast
as well.
He has a fantastic story,richard Dickerson, who has a
house down there, still, Ibelieve and he knows all about
all about Alabama.
He has, I mean, this guy hasexperience in politics that go
way back to the eighties andstuff, and so you know he and I

(38:24):
would just sit back and talkabout all of this stuff, have a
good conversation and yeah, so Ilisten if you tell me he would
love to come as well, becausehe's all about that stuff, he
loves books, he can even sharethings that we don't get to.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
That we don't know about that.
Yeah, you know, as BryanStevenson made the your one of
our.
You know, culminating thingsthat we do is in Montgomery.
We go down to the BryanStevenson Equal Justice Museum
and you know, that is just anexperience that you know.
You live in Virginia so you'veprobably been to the
African-American Museum that'sin Washington DC, but there's

(39:00):
nothing like the Equal JusticeMuseum.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
I've been to both.

Speaker 2 (39:06):
The African-American Museum is good, but it doesn't
put you into the South, in the18, 1900s, where slavery was
prevalent.
I mean it talks about it, butthe equal justice meeting makes
you feel like you're there, Likeyou walk through there and go
oh my God, this is for real.

(39:26):
They have a video of EmmettTill and all the things that
went on there and then so itgoes through the stages of the
African-American slave trade andthen it ends up with mass
incarceration.
So you literally sit down atlike the glass where you pick up
a phone, and then there's aninmate.
I mean, you know, it's a videoof an inmate that talks to you

(39:46):
about him being incarcerated andwhat he went through.
It all Wow.

Speaker 1 (39:51):
Wow, wow, wow, wow.
It is that's deep Wow.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
There's a time we go down to Selma, we go over the
Pettus Bridge and then we're inBirmingham and we're going
through all the way the bombingswere.
I mean it's just yeah, it's oneof those things that everybody
all of us should do at one pointin our lives.
I would love to make that trip.
When you think about, likehealth, you know I can tell that

(40:18):
you, you, you, you care aboutyour health and the things that
that make that.
What are some of the thingsthat you do that allow you to
have the energy to be able to doand work and, you know, spend
all these hours trying to helppeople.
You know, and there's so manyof us.
They say our average age islike 72.

(40:40):
I hope it's a lot longer,because I'm 60 now.
I hope I live a lot longer than12 years.

Speaker 1 (40:45):
You got 40, 50 years.

Speaker 2 (40:47):
My dad is 86 and he's still running in track meets,
so I feel pretty good about it.
What are some of the things?
Because our culture sometimesdoesn't do enough to stay
healthy.
What are some things thatyou've done?

Speaker 1 (41:01):
I think one of the first things that I have to tell
myself and I have to reallymake myself adhere to this
principle is that you reallyneed to get sleep.
That's the bedrock of it all.
You need to get six, seven,eight hours.
Get some sleep.
Number one, because during thatprocess all of this deep

(41:23):
healing occurs at a very, verycellular level.
So that's the first thing Tryto get some sleep.
I know we want to live in theculture where it's hustle
culture and you want to work24-7.
And we just can't do that.
I work a lot of hours.
I certainly do, but onlybecause I sleep at least six to
seven hours most nights.
So if I can get 14 hours ofwork in, then that's a pretty

(41:47):
good day for me.
You know I really like doingstuff like that, but I can't do
it without sleep.
That's the first thing.
The second thing I would say isthat keep it simple, just keep
it simple.
People want to adhere to all ofthese different diet programs
and workout regimens and it'svery complicated.
On this day, I do 25 differentworkouts.

(42:08):
On the next day, I do 17workouts.
I'm going to add three more onthe Wednesday.
It's cheap and simple.
Go outside and just go for alight run, go for a walk, walk
with your partner, just dosimple stuff.
Activity is the most importantthing.
Constant activity, I would say,is the most important thing.
Stagnation being still for toolong is obviously going to be a

(42:33):
killer because it's a silentkiller.
We have in our community.
We have hypertension, highblood pressure, we have all
diabetes.
I mean, you know, we, we arepretty much predisposed to those
, to those disorders.
So I would say, as far as yourworkouts, just keep it simple.
You know, say I'm going to gofor a 30 minute walk a day, hey,
I'm gonna go.

(42:54):
And you know, just move a fewweights, a few free weights, do
a couple of the machines, maybejump on the elliptical, jump on
the bike, do a few minutes thereEnough where it's sustainable.
And you're making this gradualprogress.
We have a hard time withgradual progress.
We say, listen, I got to jumpfrom here to the moon, yeah,
progress.
We say, listen, I got to jumpfrom here to the moon, yeah.

(43:17):
If I miss the stars, I don'tcare, I just want to hit the
moon.
The stars are also nice, don'tforget about those.
Clouds are nice, the stars arenice.
The air up there is probably alittle bit more thin, but it's
still nice.
Just try to enjoy it atdifferent levels.
I just keep it very simple, dr B, I will go for 30 minute jog,

(43:37):
maybe do some pushups, maybe dosome pullups.
Sometimes I'll just go walk,sometimes I'll go and do
calisthenics.
You know, just regular, I doregular stuff.
I don't do anything that's verycomplicated, I just try to be
consistent with it, that's it.
You know very complicated, Ijust try to be consistent with
it, that's it.
I don't do the best.
I try to do very well and bevery disciplined.

(43:59):
As far as my eating, I do wellfor the most part, but I got my
vices.
I like ice cream, love icecream, can't get over it.
I like apple pie Just can't getover it.
It's just certain stuff thatyou really enjoy.
You come from a certain type ofhousehold and, again, the woman
that I was with she was fromLouisiana and you know she can

(44:20):
cook.
Oh, I bet Fried chicken, allthe goods.
We had some yesterday here forMemorial Day.

Speaker 2 (44:27):
She can make some good stuff.

Speaker 1 (44:28):
But I just say, you know, health wise, keep it
simple as far as your workouts.
Be aware you, you know, get ablood pressure monitor.
Be, just be aware, take somesupplements, take omega-3s for
your heart, fish oil, takemultivitamins.
If you're a man or a woman,just keep it.
Don't try to overdo it.
You can add things into yourregimen as you go along, but

(44:51):
don't say, hey, I to go buyevery single piece of workout
gear just to even know.
Just go buy a pair of shoes.
Shoes work just fine, just fine, and to see, you see where you
go from there.
Get your checkups.
You got to get, you got to getscreenings at certain ages.
Be I mean be on top of that,because we know that prostate
cancer is a major issue forblack men.

(45:13):
I can, maybe men in general,but I know certainly it is for
us Black men.
Maybe men in general, but Iknow certainly it is for us
Black men.
Yeah, so get your screenings,go get your blood work done a
couple times a year and just seewhat's going on inside your
body.
And just don't ignore yourtemple, because this is a
vehicle and it's temporary.
We've got to be here as long asit allows us to be here.
So just do a little bit to helpit.

(45:33):
Get your oil changed every sooften.
That's what I say.
Yeah, I love it.

Speaker 2 (45:38):
This question is going to be fun to ask, because
you're not there yet, youhaven't been married yet you
don't have the family and allthe dynamics that go into it yet
.
But you've seen and seen a lotof examples of what seems to
work, what doesn't work, whatmakes it hard, what makes it

(45:59):
easy.
You've seen, you knowrelationships, like I did.
I was doing a podcast onSundays.
It was called why Love Weight.
Eyeopening to me that it saidthat almost 49 point something
percent of black women over theage of 40, uh, have never been

(46:20):
married, and out of that, 75% ofthem have at least one child.
And when you think of and thenthe whole show is based on what
women think about men and who weare as black men and what, what
we're supposed to be.
So I would love to know fromyou, like what type of, based on

(46:41):
all your experiences and allthe things that you believe
you're going to do because youdon't know, because it's just
you know all you could do is,you know, come up with what you
think, how, how do you plan onbeing the best husband and
eventually probably dad that youcould possibly be?
What are some things thatyou've already set up in your

(47:02):
mind?
Because you're a planner, Iknow that already about you,
yeah, so I mean, this issomething you've thought about
and so maybe share with us theman that you're up in.
Then we'll come back in 10years and we'll see how you did.

Speaker 1 (47:20):
Yeah.
So the way I view that, dr B,is that I have got to absolutely
conquer who I am as a person tobe what they need me to be.
So not that I'm going to beinvulnerable, because that's
impossible, but I need to havesuch a strong foundation in who

(47:46):
I am emotionally, physically,financially that whenever things
begin to sway, they can justfall back on me, you know, and
maybe I'll bend, but I'm notgoing to break Because, again,
I'm not invulnerable.
I'm not God, I'm not invincible, but I need to be very

(48:09):
steadfast in who I am for themand if I do that, then I think
we're going to be fine.
And by that I mean makingresponsible decisions when it
comes to our finances, when itcomes to the way that I am
towards my fiance, when it comesto her emotional wellbeing and
being someone that's availablefor her to talk to and things of

(48:30):
that nature to vent to, andeventually, when we have
children, it'll be that as wellwhen it comes to them, but also
having expectations, I would say.
You know, we tend to burythings down inside of us,
because trauma teaches us to dothat, and these things surface

(48:52):
in a very ugly way if you allowthem to, and I was someone that
never wanted to allow my traumato affect how I treat somebody
else.
That's just not like I.
I have.
I had to emotionally heal myselfthrough my own experiences,
which were nothing, nothing bad,you know, essentially as far as
what I did to heal myself.
But it was just me alwayshaving these conversations with

(49:13):
myself, just building myself up.
But it was just me alwayshaving these conversations with
myself, just building myself up,building my confidence up and
just being someone who wouldtalk to people, learn from
people and say, ok, cool, well,this person was able to deal
with their trauma by doing this.
All right, cool, dante.
This other person dealt with itby, as you stated, the guy you

(49:34):
were talking about.
He did gambling, he robbed abank.
That was his trauma extractingitself from his body and saying,
okay, this is how we're goingto act it out and that's the
absolute wrong way to do it andit's nothing to be ashamed of if
you do those things.
Don't rob a bank, obviously,but people live in shame

(49:54):
whenever they do things thatthey're not proud of because,
you know, trauma leads them tothat.
But I think their mistakes arenot there.
Our mistakes I make mistakestoo.
Our mistakes qualify us to helpother people, and so having
that mindset and my opinion, myperspective is is how I'm going
to be able to be the person thatmy wife and eventual children

(50:16):
need me to be, and that's how Igo about what I do in life.
I just that's how I carrymyself, that's what I believe in
and you know it's working sofar.
And I make mistakes.
You know I don't make all thebest decisions every single time
, but I try to be very, verylogical in my choices and make
sure I'm not impacting anybodynegatively whenever I make a
choice, to make sure I'm notimpacting anybody negatively

(50:37):
whenever I make a choice.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
Yesterday I was able to interview a submarine captain
whatever they are that spenteight years on a boat and all
the days.
But he's put together theseleadership things and one of
them is leadership inside of afamily and I guess whatever they
did in the Navy that said thisis our mission.
It was a one page and takingstrategic plans and putting it

(51:00):
all into one page no-transcript.
But he said the thing thatprofessionals do is we work so

(51:24):
hard at what we do and we getinvolved in what we do that we
say that our family is ourpriority.
But what our actions show isnot that, you know it's, it's
that call that comes at seveno'clock at night and you're
trying to, you know, workthrough something with.

(51:44):
You know a client or somebodywho's there because it's
important and it's life anddeath for them and that kind of
stuff.
And then you know you you dothat once and then you do it
again, and then you do it againand pretty soon your wife's
looking at you like I'm hereHelp, I would love you to spend
time with me instead of spendingthat 10 minutes and saying
you're going to have to waittill tomorrow.

(52:05):
You know you're going to haveto wait till then.
And it's just being congruent.
I think I went to Tony Robbinsthing one time.
He said the most powerful forcein the universe is being
congruent with the identity thatyou hold for yourself.
And if that identity is sayingthat my family and my spouse is

(52:28):
number one in my life, then domy actions show it.
And is there a checklist thatyou put together that says, all
right, this week I said you know, I want to have quality time
with my spouse.
I said you know I want to havequality time with my spouse and
I promised her that I was goingto spend five hours with her.
You know, this week and I'vespent one.
You know what do I need to donext week?
To either make up for that orjust put that five hours in and
don't let those continue to addup and have those balances and

(52:51):
checks.
If you do that, you're going tohave an amazing relationship
with you.
If that's the priority, yeah,and there's nothing, you know,
if you do that, then you'regoing to have an amazing life.
And then when you kids I meantheir kids say the same thing Is
there a game night?
Is there time we just spendtogether.
Is that because that time thatwe let go away and it's not

(53:14):
something that we do on purpose,it's not something that you
know, it's just our lives and weget involved and you know you
already have that great, amazingwork ethic and now you're going
to add another person to it andI'm sure she knows exactly what
you do because she talks to youall the time right now.
But it's easy to continue thatand not add that extra time.

(53:34):
So, whatever it's worth rightnow, as I'm saying that last
question that I have, and thenI'll find out from you what you.
What we didn't talk about isjust has faith played a part in
your life and if so, what?
What does that look like?

Speaker 1 (53:48):
Certainly so.
To take everybody back to thatday where I met Judge Gamal,
point next there, I always say,if she had driven by five
seconds earlier or maybe a fewseconds later, we never meet and
perhaps I never become who I am, maybe I become something or

(54:10):
maybe I become someone who isalso, uh, just another person,
you know, who fell to the system.
You know, fell victim tosocietal influences,
neighborhood influences, allthat impact that young black men
have to experience and try toovercome.
So I always ask, well, why wasI selected?

(54:33):
I always ask well, why was Iselected?
Because you know you say, allright, well, we all have
something special to give to theworld.
I always say that too we don'treally know, unless there is
something or somebody who cantap into that and really extract

(54:54):
your potential from you,because it's hard for us to know
as we're coming up.
Okay, what should I be doing?
We need somebody to guide usthrough all these different
corridors in this labyrinth oflife, and it's very difficult to
know unless you have a guide.
And luckily, I met her when Iwas four, had no idea that she

(55:16):
would be this person for me andthat her husband would be that
person for me and that her sonswould be these people for me.
I had no idea and they couldn'thave known either.
I think you know they said,well, this is a great thing,

(55:38):
these are very nice kids.
And maybe it only goes as faras it goes and maybe that's
where it stops, because therewas no obligation to us
whatsoever.
And when I think about that andI think about the way faith
actually works, I always saywell, our experiences are meant
to shape us, not break us.
And that's what I live by.

(56:02):
And I think, when you thinkabout God, we always want to say
well, we pray to God for thesunshine and we don't want the
rain most times, and sometimesyou get the rain because you
need to appreciate the sunshine.
Yeah, and I had to really changemy mindset when I was a young

(56:22):
man, dr B, because I was veryupset that I had to experience
all of those things and Ithought that I was not loved by
God.
I said, why would I have tocontinue to experience this
after that and this after that?
And then you reach this placewhere you are eternally grateful

(56:46):
for the tribulations becauseyou found so much beauty in them
and they shape who you are as aperson, and without the
tribulations you can never walkyour current path.
So you should actually begrateful for hard times and you
should not try to avoid hardtimes, because the hard times
created who you are and I thinkyou know we're not going to ask

(57:08):
God to give us only hard times.
We're not going to ask for thatbecause we're rational people
for the most part.
But we should be appreciativewhen we make it through
something, because we all havethe choice is to lay down,

(57:29):
accept it and let the rest ofthe world walk over top of you
and say, wow, what happened tohim?
He stopped, he chose to laydown.
Or you take whatever isoccurring to you in stride and
you keep walking, and whensomebody else is laying down,
you say, hey, come on, get up,man, don't lay there, life is

(57:50):
not done for you.
You can keep going, get up.
And that's the mentality thatI've chosen to adopt a long time
ago, and my mind worked thisway when I was a teenager, and
so I began to look at faith thatway.

Speaker 2 (58:05):
I love it.
I love it.
What do we not talk about?
That you want to make sure thatour audience gets to hear or
know about Dante and the thingsthat you're doing and the things
that you're continuing to do.

Speaker 1 (58:20):
Only that.
I think we discussed everythingreally, dr B, but just that.
I want people to understandtheir true potential in life,
and I don't think we giveourselves enough credit.
You know, I think we sellourselves short and we choose to

(58:42):
not chase what our dreamsactually are because we're
afraid of the boogeyman, whichis failure.
And there is no boogeyman, youknow.
Failure is certain, but how youdeal with failure is actually
what matters most.
Failing isn't something to beashamed of, but not trying is

(59:04):
what you should be ashamed of.
And so just that there's somuch more that people have to
offer the world and they're notallowing the beauty of their
light to be seen.
They have so much, they have somuch, they have so much.
And I know this because I wassomeone who you would have

(59:24):
believed didn't have much tooffer If you only looked at my
background.
Pluck me out of a group ofpeople.
You say, well, wow, this kidhas a lot to offer, but pluck
somebody else because they alsohave a lot to offer.
So I would.
I would say that, dr B, and Ialso.
When I talk to my friends and Italk to particularly other men,

(59:46):
black men, about these things Isay whatever your internal
battle is, you shouldn't try toavoid that.
The battle is certain, so youreally can't avoid it.
Whether it's an internal battle, whether it's a psychological
battle, whether it's a financial, physical battle, the battle
cannot be avoided.
So you may as well go ahead andembrace the battle and try to

(01:00:06):
find the best weapon to useduring the battle and the best
weapon sometimes may be.
You know, I'll grab the Bibleor I'll get up.
I'll get some more work done Igot to keep working or I'll go
talk to my partner because wejust had a disagreement and
we're not in a good space rightnow.
This is a battle.
It is a battle every single daythat you're here, because you

(01:00:29):
need to understand the fact thatyou have to fight to keep what
you have and fight to get whatyou've always desired.
So that's what I'll say.
That's awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:00:38):
Well, dante, thank you so much for coming on to
sharing your experiences andyour wisdom and your childhood,
because that's not the things wealways love to talk about, the
things that we went through thatmake us who you are.
You just talked about thebattle, and one of the things I
love to say is you don't have todo the battle alone.
Sometimes we think, because ofour pride and because maybe

(01:01:02):
we've been shamed which is ahorrible emotion of the shame
that we have to do everything byourselves.
And there are folks like Dante,there are folks like myself
that are out there, folks likethe judge that helped you out in
such a way, that want to andare able to help out.
And so you know, don't try todo it alone.
Reach out, we'll find somebodythat you want.

(01:01:23):
I guess I would say, if you'regoing to commit a crime which I
don't say that you should andyou should not but do it in
Virginia, because then you canget an insurance.

Speaker 1 (01:01:35):
Give me a call.
Give me a call, I'll try mybest to help you, but do not
commit crimes.
I will not.
I will never hear it'scommitting crimes.

Speaker 2 (01:01:44):
Absolutely do not, oh my gosh.
But if you find yourself andyou are there, oh my gosh, what
an amazing man that you'rebecoming and that you have
already gone through and thatthings and I just appreciate you
spending the time with us todayto share those things with us.
And so, for those of you whohave, this is maybe your first
episode.
You know, Dante, you know sentthis out to you and you're

(01:02:07):
watching it.
Please subscribe, Please findsomebody else in the, in the
episodes that we have, that youcan identify with, that you can
either emulate some of thethings they did or say I'm never
going to do that because that'syou know, I see what happened
when this person went throughthis.
We'd love to have you hit thenotification, the subscribe

(01:02:27):
button.
We're going to continue to dothis.
I set out to do 100 black menin 2024 and we hit 105.
And so you know, the goal nowis, you know, hey, at some point
we're going to get to athousand black men who are
successful, who are doing thingsthat make a difference.
And so, again, thank you, dante, for being on, thank you for,

(01:02:51):
you know, just being part of theJourney to Freedom broadcast.
You know what you, I believe,as I say this every episode, you
are God's greatest gift.
He loves you, if you allow himto, and we look forward to
seeing you on the next one.
You guys have an amazing,awesome, just incredible.
Rest of your day.

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How a Judge Changed My Life at 15 - Dante’s Story

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