Ep 4.15 - Covette Rooney

Alvin and German conduct a compelling conversation with retired U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission Chief Administrative Law Judge, Covette Rooney ’74. A member of Colgate’s first coed first-year class, Judge Rooney joined the Review Commission as a Federal Administrative Law Judge in 1996 and, in 2011, became its first African American and first woman to be named Chief Administrative Law Judge.   As Chief Judge, she presided over complex and significant disputes related to Occupational Safety and Health Administration citations. She was also responsible for case management and oversight, as well as hiring and training staff, including legal assistants, law clerks, and judges, across the Denver, Atlanta, and National offices.   Earlier in her career, Judge Rooney served as a U.S. Administrative Law Judge at the Social Security Administration in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where she received the Hattiesburg School District Outstanding African American Award. Before taking the bench, she had a distinguished 14-year tenure with the Philadelphia Regional Office of the Solicitor, U.S. Department of Labor. There, she served as Regional Counsel for the Mine Safety and Health Administration Black Lung Program and as a Senior Trial Attorney.   After graduating from Colgate University with a BA in Political Science, she earned her Juris Doctorate degree from Temple University School of Law. During her time at Colgate, she was a drum major for the football team, a dancer, and an theater enthusiast.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The following podcast is being brought to you by the
Defile Life podcast Network.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to Aftergate, powered by the Defile Life Network.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
Are you all Ready?

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Aftergate is a podcast series highlighting Colgate alumni of color
in their professional endeavors.

Speaker 4 (00:23):
Aftergate Are you all Ready?

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Aftergate is hosted by Alvin Glim aka al and Herman Dubois.

Speaker 4 (00:31):
Aka A Jerry?

Speaker 3 (00:32):
Are Already?

Speaker 2 (00:33):
We are doing Aftergate because Colgate University has produced innovators
who have changed the world every day. Yet many alumni
of color and the mainstream Colgate community are unaware of
the amazing accomplishments of alums of color?

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Are you all ready? Welcome? Welcome, Welcome to another episode
of Aftergate. This is your boy, Alvin Glymph and it
is my pleasure to be here, co hosts in this

(01:07):
podcast with my home Mee Rdedde class of nineteen ninety one,
been rolling together since the summer of nineteen eighty seven.
Mister head of Moon du bois aka Jerry. What's going on?
My brother? How you doing? Sir?

Speaker 5 (01:25):
All as well? All as well. Although we are preparing
for Mother Nature's wrath down south here, you know we're
used to it. We're built for this, and so Kogate
Winters prepared us for these tropical storms.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
Yes they did, Yes, they did tell you how to
hunker in, be bilient and make the best of it,
but survive.

Speaker 5 (01:44):
Right, So absolutely, absolutely, how things up in at because y'all,
y'all are prepping too, We.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
Are definitely you know, people have been calling and texting
me all day. You all right, everything, all right, man,
My head's been down. I haven't even been paying attention
that these things coming. So I came home and watched
the news. So but we're good. You know, family is
good and just in this case praying, hoping for the

(02:11):
best and we'll see what it looks like afterwards. But
in this case, it is definitely good to see you,
to be part of this weekly podcast that we've been
doing now coming up on ninety episodes, season four, and
it has just been amazing how we've been able to

(02:33):
really time after time, conversation after conversation, engage in some
amazing stories, listening to the journeys of alumni color from
Koga University. So fascinated to be like to be here
to even say season four, to even say ninety episode,
because when we were sitting here four years ago. Just

(02:58):
don't think we ever imagined it we would be here.
So thank you for the bride, appreciate it and is
it all right? Can with that being said, can I
get your blessings to bring our guests of the week
into the room.

Speaker 5 (03:18):
You know the church is anxious and waiting. Yes, what
they we haveom so yeah, no, without without further ado.

Speaker 3 (03:28):
Without further ado, Colgate AOC Aftergate listeners, family all around
the world, I'm asking your blessings to bring in the one,
the only Miss Covid Rooney class of nineteen seventy four.
Welcome to Aftigate, my sister.

Speaker 4 (04:00):
Hello, thank you for the invitation, and let me first
start out by saying that continued blessings to both of
you during the upcoming forty eight hours.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (04:14):
I certainly certainly pray that you don't see what they're predicting,
but if you do, I'm sure both of you have
made the adequate preparations. After all, your Colgate alumni and
you know, have it, have it tough it out right.

Speaker 5 (04:30):
You know that gritate, grit.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
Coldeh, grit right, So thank you for that. We received
that and that's definitely going out to everyone listening as well,
and so let's let's jump in. So, in our tradition
of how do we kind of kick off our podcast,
we always like to share, is there an instance where

(04:56):
our paths have crossed? How are we familiar with this
particular guest this week? And this one is extremely interesting,
extremely intriguing, this history, but also fairly recent. Right, And
so this past June during our reunion, and we have

(05:17):
mentioned this on our podcast before, as we came afterwards,
we got the opportunity to meet you as you and
a whole crew of sisters were up on campus celebrating
fifty years of really fifty years since you graduated, fifty

(05:38):
years since the first class of women graduating from COVID,
And so it was for us, as we recognized in
the moment, but also as we recognized on the show afterwards,
for us it was things. I don't know if we
appreciated being there as part of that history as we
were kind of coming up there what we were going

(05:59):
to be part of, but it was something we took
note of to say, wow, this is extremely special, and
so I appreciate your willingness coming out of that weekend
to be part of this program.

Speaker 4 (06:15):
Well, thank you. That was a remarkable weekend. At that
during our meeting, I think you met my twin sister, Cosette,
and my lifelong friends Deborah Booker Matthews, and Angela Nolan Cooper.

(06:35):
The four of us went to high school together. Four
of us went the Colgate together. Angela and I went
to law school together. There were two other women from
black women from Philadelphia who were in our class, Race
Scott Jones. She also went to law school with me

(06:59):
and I knew her she was a childhood friend from church.
So I so really all of us are lifelong friends.
Out of the fifteen black women that came on to
campus and that first class of women, six of us
were from Philadelphia. And I bet there hasn't been six

(07:20):
black women from Philadelphia in one class at Colgate University
since that class.

Speaker 3 (07:27):
Wow. Yeah, that is something special. That weekend with something special.
And also the synergy, the energy that was so evident
amongst in terms of your friendship was also something that
special and it was really obvious to us as we
was there. So shout out to y'all. So that that

(07:48):
definitely leads into my first question, So you are you're
born in Philly?

Speaker 4 (07:53):
So yes, born and raised in Philadelphia. I went to
Overbrook hon High School. Four of us went the Overbrook
High School and two went to the Philadelphia School for Girls.

Speaker 3 (08:07):
Okay, so take us back then to that time so
that we could get a sense of what your world
is like, what the world is like before you're entering kolgiate.
What do you remember about those times? Do you remember
about your world and what was life like for you?

Speaker 4 (08:25):
Oh? I had a wonderful time in high school. I uh,
you know, my the four of us were in high school.
We three of us were cheerleaders and one was a
drum major. I was the president of the Honor Society.
My twin sister was the secretary of the honor society.

(08:47):
We all were in gymnastics, we were in the theater.
I mean, we were the clique that you know, everybody
was like, oh, I want to be like them. I mean,
I just have to say it because that's true, and with.

Speaker 5 (09:05):
Swag since it was for y'all from high school together.

Speaker 4 (09:09):
So absolutely, and we were recruited by someone who was
from our high school. As a matter of fact, I
had never heard of Colgate University except for one day
I decided I wanted to miss gym class. I had
never missed gym class, but I had gone into Counselor's

(09:31):
office and I saw signage, this poster up that said
Colgate Recruiting, and at that time I thought it was
cold the tues paste company, Colgate pop Olive. So I figured, well,
what if this will be great? I can miss Jim
and I'll just go and hear what these folks have
to say about working for them. And when I went

(09:53):
into the auditorium, there were these two very nice looking
black young men in the with these huge frozze and
these leather jackets that said Colgate University. And I look
at them and say, I guess you're not from Colgate
pod Model Department, right, exactly right, And I said, look,

(10:26):
I don't know what you getting made to tell me,
but I think my twin sister and I got some
of the exactly and because they just very quickly said
to me, we're from Colgate University. We're recruiting the first
class of women, and we're going to take you up
to Colgate if you'd like to come visit. And I said, well,

(10:47):
I know my parents are not going to let me
go with these two very very easy on the eyes.
Men in a car, you know, on a six hour drive.
I gotta go get my twin sister, I said, I'll
be back, and my sister and I. This was the
only school that the two of us had applied to
that we were going to go. Both of us had
applied to, and so I bring back the four of

(11:12):
them because we were all in the same gym class.
And I said, you all got to come to the
auditorium with me, and yeah, and they were great. It
was Ricky Gilliam and Steve Bratcher and at the time

(11:32):
they were admissions for they were students at Colgate that
had been part of that group that had taken over
the ad building and they had sat down with the
administration when they had committed to get women, and they
made sure that black women were included in that first
class of women. That was one of the demands that

(11:54):
they were making. And Steve Bratcher came to Philadelphia and said,
I'm going to find some.

Speaker 3 (12:02):
Students for y'all.

Speaker 4 (12:04):
And the school paid for everything. I mean, we actually
our first trip there. It was in January, and you
can imagine what the campus to all of us. It
was so pretty because at that point in time, you know,
it had just snowed. You know, it was so isolating.
I remember being in the car and coming up onto

(12:26):
this campus and it was dark, but you could see
the moon shining through the trees and the icicles. It
was like, Wow, where the heck did we land? And
we ended up having a wonderful weekend and was you know,
at that time, it was all you know mail, it
had not been co ed. And the guy, the black

(12:48):
guys that really took care of us, and Priscilla Sellers
and race guy Jones. They were recruited from Girls High.
They also made the rounds to roll up the high schools.
And I always remember how all of our parents got
together and they met there so they could meet these

(13:09):
guys who were taking their daughters. And that's how Pible
got there.

Speaker 3 (13:15):
So what was your high school like demographic wise and
your community like in terms.

Speaker 4 (13:21):
Of well I grew up in a high school where
there were one thousand people in the graduating high school class.
It was a large class. It is a well known school.
I don't know if you all ever heard of Wilt Chamberlain,
the basketball player, Wally Jones. It was an athletic school.
As a matter of fact, my my pictures in the

(13:44):
Hall of Fame because I became i guess, as you know,
a federal administrative law judge, and when that happened, the
school honored me. So my picture hangs beside Will Chamberlain's.
So it was a hot It was a school that
was We had a fabulous basketball team, football team. I mean,

(14:08):
our games were something that folks in the city of
Philadelphia would always say, you go into the Overbrook Franklin game.
You know, they were always you couldn't have the games
at the school because there's always be a fight, so
they would bust us to the suburbs. And but you know,
we were We won the city championships, the game was televised.

(14:31):
I mean, we were really a school with a lot
of notoriety. The community that I lived in was one
that at that time had been predominantly white, predominantly Jewish,
and it was during the time and you know, my
parents moved there in the sixties when we were like

(14:51):
the third black family on the block, and so I
had the experience of growing up in a community like that.
At However, you know, as time went on, the community
got more and more integrated, the school had was predominantly black,
but we still had a good number of Caucasians. My

(15:15):
father had gone to that school and as a matter
of fact, it's getting ready to celebrate its one hundredth
year anniversary this year, the high school. So it's a
renowned school in Philadelphia.

Speaker 3 (15:29):
Okay, Okay, So what's that transition like as you are
going from this school diverse, diverse community, but now coming
to a school one coming off of the sit in

(15:50):
and the takeover, but also coming into a situation where
women are now on campus. What do you remember about
that time?

Speaker 4 (16:00):
What I remember is feeling unprepared. I had never been
to school with folks who had come from me, so
I mean where I went to school, it was an
inner city. Everyone's parents, I mean they were school teachers,
postal workers. But I didn't know people who had going

(16:20):
to private school. I had never read Socrates a Plato,
So my initial impression on campus was where the heck
did I land? But I knew there was no turning
back because they had given my sister and I, you know,

(16:41):
my parents. My father was a postal worker, my mother
was a saleswoman, and they had given us substantial money.
So I knew once I got there, and I had made,
you know, all kinds of promises about how well I
was going to do so that you know, my parents
were okay with me going because you got to realize
my mother, who was from North Carolina, and when she

(17:01):
walked up on campus where they dropped us off, up
there playing the drums and welcomed you know, all the
black women. We were on the same floor. And still
then she was like, well, where's the dorm mother, And
you know, this guy says, there is.

Speaker 3 (17:19):
None who's gonna watch after my daughter.

Speaker 4 (17:25):
Exactly, And when she left there, she was in tears.
My father had to like pull her away. She was like,
we could not leave them in this. But you know,
when I first went to class, that's when it really
hit me. You know, I looked to my left, I
looked to my right. There very few women. I'm the

(17:45):
only one in this political science class. I always remember
that eight am political science class with Professor nath He
was German and had a very thick accent. And I
would always sit in the front of the class. That's
because I knew number one, I was tired, and if
I sat in the back of the class, my head
might fall down and was trying to figure out, you

(18:07):
know what it was he was saying. And at that
point in time, having going through maybe that first week
or two at school, I really realized that all of
these folks I felt were smarter than me. But it
also hit me was that they looked like regular people

(18:28):
that put on their pants and coats, just like me.
And so I made it my mission that I was
going to get out of there and I was going
to do as well as they were doing. And I
realized it was going to take a lot more. I mean,
it really hit me that this was not going to
be the breeze that I had in.

Speaker 3 (18:47):
High school, right right, right right? So you stayed instill men, yep.
I've heard often about how prepared Kolgate was in terms
of there were urineo's everywhere in all of the bathroom.

(19:08):
So I'm like, how does that How does that lack
of preparation hit you as you're coming here in your length?
All right? I know, we the first class, but someone
could have thought this out well.

Speaker 4 (19:21):
I mean I think that we knew well, at least
I did. I felt as though this was all new
to everyone. So when I saw that the only thing
that hit me was where's Jay Cox? You know, the
guy who's in charge of financial aid. He got something
to do with the money. Let me run down to

(19:41):
the administration building and meg a complaint. But I didn't
feel I mean, I didn't feel as though I that
was going to be a challenge. That was not the
challenge for me. Those were things that I knew were
like cosmetic, so I didn't look at I was not over,
but that sort of thing I was more overwhelmed with

(20:03):
every day when I walked to the class.

Speaker 5 (20:05):
If I was prepared, How was that academic transition? Because
we talked a lot about socially, a little bit about
the gender transition, but what was it like academically in
terms of how were you as a student in high school?
You said it was a breeze. What was the adjustment?
And how'd you manage that?

Speaker 3 (20:23):
For four years?

Speaker 4 (20:25):
I knew I had to study hard. Now I had
a very very good time a coca, believe me, but
I also knew that it was going to take me
a lot longer to study. And at that time I
had enough sense to say to myself, and I think

(20:45):
this is what really saves me. This school is small
enough that I can go to the professor and talk
to him, or I didn't have any hers in my
first year talk to him about what's going on in class.
And I developed relationships some better than others. But I

(21:05):
was like my parents. I got a scholarship, and I
realized my parents are putting out some money, and I
recall my father saying, if you don't understand something, then
you know, I'm paying for you to be up there.
You go talk to whoever's talking to you, and that
is you know. I found that there were some professors

(21:26):
who were more receptive than others, but I didn't care
because I wanted to make sure I understood what was
going on in class, and if I didn't, I had
to figure out a way to either find someone else
who understood who could assist me, or I knew I
had to just study harder, and so I was never

(21:49):
I never felt as though I would fail, but I
knew I had to work a lot harder.

Speaker 3 (21:55):
Were there in place yet the support CCE storms, the you.

Speaker 4 (22:02):
Know, the university scholars I had never heard of that
when we got on campus, so I hadn't had that
opportunity and of us from Philly had to do the
summer on campus.

Speaker 3 (22:14):
Okay, so it was, but it was in existence. You
just didn't go through that program yet, right, But.

Speaker 4 (22:22):
It wasn't set up as it was a lot looser,
and it seemed like everyone who was from New York
knew about it, but those of us who were coming
from Philadelphia and we didn't.

Speaker 3 (22:35):
Know about it.

Speaker 4 (22:37):
So I felt like they knew or had a little
bit more on the ball. And those were people who
I could go to and talk to and who would
encourage me. If you don't understand something, talk to professors.
And I can say the upper classmen who were there,
the black males, made sure that we took whatever opportunity

(23:00):
was being offered. And they were the ones because you know,
they had to talk to the folks in the administration
building to get get us like that cultural center. So
they were like, look, you just go down to the
professor's office, or you go down today a built and
you just sit there till somebody walks over, since can
I help you? And that is you know, I can

(23:20):
say that those black males who were there before us
really really paved a way for us. They made us fearless.
They really did.

Speaker 3 (23:33):
Awesome so chair some of the experiences as a cheer
leader from that, because I'd love to get that on record.

Speaker 4 (23:41):
Well, let me say this. Once we got the Colgate,
we realized on the weekends wasn't nobody would be there,
and that only took one time to figure that out.
And then I never knew about all the all female
colleges around Colgate, and so you know, I'm looking at
my girls and I'm like, well, look, everybody's leaving campus.

(24:03):
How are we going to leave? And I mean, I said,
you know what, the football team leaves every weekend. So
that's why we decided we went down to the gym
to find out who the cheerleaders were because we knew
we could do something, and of course there was no
preparation for us. We assured everyone we could make. We

(24:26):
made our first uniforms, you know, we bought the sweaters,
we made the skirts. But I, on the other hand,
decided I was going to be the drum major because
when we went into the band room, I saw the
hat and I said, is there a drum major? And
they were like no, and I'm like.

Speaker 3 (24:44):
Hey, I can do that.

Speaker 4 (24:47):
So let me just say that was a short lived
period of me being the drum major because I had
no clue what the heck I was doing. But anyway,
the first game were coming down, you know, like Main Street.
You know, they'd had the parade in Talent and all
the folks are like lined up watching the Colgate band

(25:12):
coming in town. And when they saw me, and then
they saw the black cheerleaders behind me, right, you know
how everybody's streaming hollowed. Was suddenly like you didn't hear anything,
and folks were looking and staring and there, you know,
we're going past the frat houses. Some people were shouting

(25:36):
and it really and I think that's when it really
hit us that there's a lot of people here who
don't like us, right. And it's interesting. When I was
at the reunion, there was a guy who was in
the band, and he said to me, his wife came
over and said to me, you've got to talk to
my husband because he has this story about you that

(25:59):
he's been telling for fifty years. And I'm like this
and he says, he always remember we were at the
Yale game and we were coming out on the field
and I was leading the band out and there was
a group of boy scouts who were in the stands
right above where we walked down onto the field. And
as we're waiting, the boy scouts took soda bottles and

(26:25):
cans and threw at us. And he said, what the
boy scouts And he said he was sitting there the
band was like waiting to see how I was going
to react. When the can you know, hit my because
my head went to the side. And he said, I
didn't know what you were going to do, he said,
but all you did was the band leader blew the whistle,

(26:51):
and you led the band out. He says, I was
never so surprised in my life. He said. I just
knew either you were going to get out of line,
You're gonna say something, you were going to be upset,
he said, But you acted like you did, he said,
and I know you felt that. And he said, I

(27:11):
always wondered what you thought or what you were thinking.
And I said, I knew I had to lead the
band out.

Speaker 3 (27:18):
M amazing story. So there was no cheerleaders before, y'all right, none, And.

Speaker 4 (27:27):
So you know we were doing our over our inner
city cheers and by a certain game, people were like, look,
you know, the alumni were getting very upset. And it
was at the Lehigh game. It was a windy game
day and it was televised and my I'm leading the
band out and my hat blew off. Well, you know,

(27:49):
anybody on stage, when your hat blows off or something happens,
you just keep performing right right, goes on exactly. But
I went and picked up the hat had like rolled over,
were putting back on, you know, like I said to
the band, hold up, it's wait a minute, right right.

(28:09):
And so there were a number of alumni who at
that point in time must have went to the band
folks into the athletic department and said, you know what.
And the next thing we know, we got Jill Strand,
whose husband was a professor, and they must have said
to her, we've got these black women who were bringing
up the Colgate band. It don't look good. We need

(28:29):
some white girls in here, and we need some new cheers.

Speaker 3 (28:35):
I can only imagine what the real cheers.

Speaker 4 (28:42):
And so uh it ended up. I think by my
second year I was getting kind of bored with that anyway.
But Debbie and I know my sister were went into
basketball team. It's basketball season. I did it my first year,
but like I said, my only purpose was to get
off campus. I wanted to see what you know, yeah

(29:04):
look like and you know darkness and say I had
been there and you know, get away, because that was
the only way we were getting off campus, right. But
you know, by the time this our second year, had
rolled around, we had formed our own African dance group.
So we were going all over upstate New York perform

(29:25):
me m m.

Speaker 3 (29:27):
Do you remember the name of the group.

Speaker 4 (29:31):
I don't even. We were just the Colgate African Dance
on song yeah, and the guys were playing the drums
and we had a ball because we used to always
practice at the Cultural Center. Again, we made our you
know outfits. We did the same dance for four years.

(29:54):
But it was great because we got to visit so
many campuses.

Speaker 3 (29:58):
Ye, fascinating, like this history are the other things that
you look at as like these are the highlights, things
that you really, I guess acknowledge or put as accomplishments
when you look back at those four years.

Speaker 4 (30:14):
You know, I remember, well, I can't say it's an accomplishment,
but I remember Minister farrakn coming up.

Speaker 3 (30:22):
On campus to coate.

Speaker 4 (30:27):
Yeh. We had him come up and at that point
in time, you know, because I was a cook, you know.
I learned to cook at Colgate because my work study group.
My work study was originally in the library, but as
soon as that cultural center opened up, they needed people
to staff it and I was bored in the library.

(30:48):
So I said, well, I'll cook. And Angela Nolan was
a very good cook, so she said, look, you apply,
you can be my assistant. Because they still had to
go out and get a cook. So I learned how
to cook along my best best friend, Angela Nolan. We
finally got a cook. But during that period of time,

(31:12):
I mean when I was a cold game, we had
everyone from Stokely car and Michael Nikko, Giovanni, Minister farrakhn
Mere Barack. But when Farra con came, that was the
time when there was a snowstorm in Angie and I
we hitch hiked to town to make sure we bought

(31:35):
oranges so we could do fresh screeze, the orange juice,
fish and everything. But I think I mentioned to you
that I knew Ray from church. We were Pistopalian. Matter
of fact, our church is the first black Pistopalian church
in the United States. Saint Thomas that Absalom Jones founded
but I had when I had gotten I had gotten

(31:59):
confirmed this cross that I had worn probably since I
was thirteen years old. But the time Minister Farrakon came,
that was during the period of time when you know,
we had the school had let us have a course
on the Nation of Islam, and you know, we were
learning what we should be wearing. And it was really

(32:25):
really idyllic because we weren't learning it from the Nation
of Islam as it was in the city. It was more,
you know, learning it in a very isolated situation. So
I'm only saying that to explain why I still had
on my cross, and I was dressed the appropriate Muslim woman.

(32:49):
So as I am serving him, I didn't realize that
my cross was going back and forth. Was like wait,
like in his face. So he's in the chapel and
he's getting ready to start, and I'm sitting on the
front row like I am the good Muslim woman, and

(33:10):
he says, before I start, I got to get the
devil out of here, thinking to myself, well, who don't
come in here, you know, maybe some townspeople or something,
and they're gonna fend the minister. And he looks down
at me and he says you, and I'm like me,
I'm thinking to myself, me who had the hitch height

(33:31):
to go get you some fresh orange?

Speaker 3 (33:33):
I'm the devil man.

Speaker 4 (33:35):
He said, get that piece of the devil from around
your neck and then I took it off, and then
he said, now I can start, and he you know,
went on. But I always but you said, what do
you remember? You know, that's something that I'll never forget.
But you know, we were able to bring in so

(33:57):
many folks to speak I'm all over you know, the country.
We were able to have the cultural center. I'll always
remember that. That's something that I was so happy I
was a part of get library together, entertaining folks there,

(34:18):
having black weekends. And then at the same time I
was able to, you know, have the opportunity to interact
with people who I probably would have never met or
interacted with anywhere else. I mean, those are to me
the highlights of Colgate. I think I got a great education.

(34:42):
I was in the political science department. I was supposed
to be going to India. I had studied Dan Saconia
and I for a whole semester. But there was a
war that was breaking out between India and pakistanis three
weeks before we were supposed to leave the State Department
that pulled our thesis and said we couldn't go.

Speaker 3 (35:04):
That's not a good idea, not a good time. But
what'd you make?

Speaker 4 (35:12):
You make it in political science? And I also did
a lot in the theater there because at that point
in time, I knew I wanted to be a lawyer
and I wanted to be able to speak in front
of any group of people. And at that time, I
thought I was going to be a like, you know,

(35:35):
Flee Bailey or something. I had to be able to
convince Jewelies, you know. I had to thought all of
that out, and I knew acting you have to become
someone else. You have to persuade the audience. So I
took a lot of opportunity spending a lot of time
in the Dana Arts Center, and that was really good.

Speaker 3 (35:58):
So we're going to take opportunity to take a pause
right here so that we can show some love to
our sponsor. But then when we come back, we will
learn more about your journey after graduation to become the
lawyer and the judge right after this break. So this
episode is sponsored by Hope Murals Hope Murals is a

(36:20):
nonprofit that provides adolescent youth with an interactive experience of
creative expression via an urban arts platform that stimulates both
mental and physical development. Please visit that website at www
dot Hopemurals dot org to learn more and find ways
you can support the work they do. Welcome back, Welcome back.

(36:46):
We are here on the second half of this conversation
with Covet Rooney class of nineteen seventy four. But before
we get into what life has been like since Kobe,
let's make sure sure we show some love to our sponsor,
Hope Murals. Hopemurals dot org is a website at Hope

(37:07):
Murals is the social media Get on their website check
out their social media. They have been uber busy this year,
so find out what their life has been like as
they are just really leaning in making sure they're doing
what they can to really inspire our youth through the

(37:31):
through urban arts and really integrating that into trying to
affect them through chain, trying to impact their development. So
show some love to Hope Murals and make sure they
know that aftergate censure, also want to show some love
to our network lead the fire Life Network www. Go

(37:52):
to filelife dot co is their website. A lot of
interesting in power and written content on that site. They
also have a podcast hub find Aftergate at the fire
lifepods dot com. A reminder, you can find our show
on all of your major podcast streaming services that is Apple, Podspriaka, Spotify, iHeart,

(38:14):
et cetera. And we always like to show some love
to our alums that have been guests because without our
aocs who have jumped on with their stories and their journeys,
wouldn't be an after Gate show. So if you want
to be a guest, make sure you hit us up
Aftergate Podcasts at gmail dot com or sign up on
the sign up page. Let's jump back into this conversation

(38:38):
and this is a topic that we have not touched on.
So my question to you is, would love to get
your thoughts on the decision to overturn Row versus Wade
and what are your thoughts on that overturning the decision

(39:00):
impact going forward because you have an interesting seat in
terms of your career but also being a woman, So
would just love to hear your thoughts on this decision.

Speaker 4 (39:20):
Thank you for the bringing up the topic again. It's
been fifty years since I've come out of Colgate, and
this as I look at the decision, the Dobbs decision
that overturned Roe versus Wade, I remember being a student
at Colgate University and learning about women who had to

(39:45):
leave campus to go to New York City to get abortions.
And at that time, abortions were illegal. Folks were afraid
of whether or not you know your friend, We're gonna
come back, okay. And I recall how elated I was

(40:07):
when the Supreme Court, you know, finally came down with
the Rod versus Wade decision. Early when I first moved
to Washington, I was on the Planned Parenthood board for
about six years, and so I r you know, I
brought out my nieces and friends daughters to marches for

(40:31):
women's rights where we were applauding the Road decision. And
so for me to see the Dobs what happened with
the s us Supreme Court did in Dobbs was to
overturn that really sad me. And I'm at a point
in my life where I just never thought I'd see

(40:56):
something that we all had fought so hard for be
overturned and be dismissed. And it's so interesting to me
because not only is it just affecting that decision, but
it also shows you and the political climate we are
all the rights that we have are not guaranteed. This

(41:18):
is just one right, but the Civil Rights Act, you know,
voting how you vote, all of that. I mean, we
have seen it. But to me, when I saw and
read the Dobbs decision, it really hit me that all
that we had fought for, you know, the feminists and

(41:41):
the women who fought for er back, you know, back
when all of that work can just be wiped out
by one decision. And it also says to me that
there's so many people in America who are looking at
that as like, well, that's a woman's problem, but it's

(42:02):
really not a woman's problem, because you know, of course men,
it affects men also. But the ramification of how the
laws can be switched, to you, how folks who were
you know, we all watched their confirmation hearing is and
they said, you know, roe was the law of the land,

(42:24):
and you know the Supreme Court, you know had you know,
that was case precedent and it was something they would
always follow. And you just saw how all of that
can turn And I just say to myself, I hope
that the young generation learn something from that, because everything
that you have today can be taken away from you

(42:46):
by who you put in office.

Speaker 3 (42:48):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (42:49):
And that decision, to me just really really magnifies how
sacred voting is and how our world the lights can
be switched off in a minute, and if you don't
pay attention, it'll happen to you. You know, you think

(43:10):
you can continue down one road and they'll be a permanent,
permanent block of that road. And that decision represents that
how sacred rights are, and how those sacred rights that
you have and the rights you're taking for granted can

(43:32):
be taken away and you'll have to fight for them.
It will be another fifty years. I mean, hopefully it's
not a fifty years, but it could be because you
know a lot of people that's you know, when you
look at this election that's coming up, those of us
who are in the Northeast are more attuned to that,
I think, But if you look at a lot of

(43:53):
people who are in the Midwest, you know they're looking
at you know, the immigration, the borders, they're looking at
issues the economy. Most people are looking at you, look
at how union workers. You know, the teamsters said, you know,
we're not going to select one side or the other.

(44:13):
We're not going to you know, support And you know,
I was listening to some interviews of you know, union workers,
and rightfully so their issue is the economy. Can I
go to the grocery store. You asked them about January sixth,
You asked them about Dobbs. They're like, yeah, I heard
about that, but let me tell you what why.

Speaker 3 (44:33):
What's important to me?

Speaker 4 (44:34):
So yeah, so that to me is something that I'm
passionate about. And now I'm recently retired and I'm you know,
thinking I'm going to take a break from doing a
lot of things. But you know, I've always been involved
in giving back and pulling forward, and I know that

(44:57):
that's going to be a direction or that that issue
is going to be one I'll just continue to fight for.

Speaker 5 (45:04):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (45:08):
I know we say we often don't rule, but I
have to ask this question. I always understood our legal
system in that once the Supreme Court makes a ruling,
that's it. And so just from educate us, in this case,

(45:33):
it wasn't. So how does that happen? For those of
us who don't know, how does that happen?

Speaker 4 (45:39):
Well, you know what one thing you can say that
I learned when I went to law school. There's never
a right answer, and that was something I learned when
I was lawt You just have to have folks who
can persuade you that their argument is correct, and you
can read the law a number of ways. And that's
what happened in this case. I mean, you get folks

(46:01):
who have a very conservative view of the law and
they're reading it differently than if you have a liberal judge.
And you know, having been a lawyer and a judge,
I thoroughly understand that. And as I told you, I
always thought that, you know, acting and drama and that

(46:23):
sort of thing was very important, was a very important
skill and being a member of the bar. And if
you're making an argument in court, you can have a
client and I mean I was a defense attorney for
a minute. You can have a client who you know
is guilty as heck, but if you make the right argument,

(46:44):
you can convince a jewelry they're not guilty.

Speaker 3 (46:49):
Okay, let's learned.

Speaker 5 (46:54):
Your education.

Speaker 3 (46:56):
I did, Yes, I did, Yes, I did.

Speaker 5 (46:58):
With that being said, and you know, with the first
half of the show, kind of sharing with us your
experience getting to Colgate, getting through Colgate, now graduating Kogate.
Walk us through you graduate Colgate seventy four. Did you
have a master plan of what you were going to

(47:18):
do next? Did what was that like? And sort of
walk us through the highs and the lows of the
last fifty years, through your retirement, and both personally and
professionally recap for us.

Speaker 4 (47:33):
Well, I knew when I was about eight years old
I wanted to be a lawyer. Okay, so I owe
everything I did. I mean, and when I went to Colgate,
I knew I want to be a lawyer. That's why
I went to the political science department. I originally I
thought I had read a book he had to know
Latin to go to law school, right, So throughout high

(47:55):
school I took Latin. Then I get to Colgate. You
got to pick a language, and I'm like, well, you know,
I really didn't learn that French and Spanish, so I
figured I'd take Greek. I said that would probably be
like Latin. Right. I was in that class for three
weeks and I said, if I don't get the heck, Abby.

Speaker 5 (48:10):
Here.

Speaker 4 (48:14):
Exactly, you got it. But you know, when I left Colgate,
I went straight to law school and I went to
Temple University in Philadelphia. At that time, that was you know,
that was another great experience. I missed the opportunity to
study abroad when I was at Colgate. When I got
to Temple, I spent a summer at the University of

(48:37):
Acra and studied law in Ghana. I was able to
have my first trial because it was a very good
trial advocacy school. When I was my third year law school,
I had a case civil rights for inmates where I
represented a guy who had been in solitary confinement for

(49:00):
eight years and had murdered three people while he was
in prison. But it was my argument that it was
cruel and unusual punishment to keep him confined. Needs to say,
long story short, I did lose the case because my client,
when he got on the stand, he had never he
hadn't been around that many people, and he became mute.

(49:20):
He couldn't talk, and every time I asked him a question,
you know, the judge and he wouldn't answer. The judge
got very very upset. So but it was a great
experience and when I left there, I clerked for a
judge in the Quarter Common Please, and for two years
I was able and this was very important in my career.

(49:43):
I was able to not only clerk for the judge,
but take criminal court appointments, and so I was able
to be co counseled on a homicide. I was able,
you know, I would go to the prisons and interview
folks and represent them in court. And and it was
difficult being a young black female. I was only twenty

(50:03):
five years old, so most of the prisoners were much
older than me. They thought I was a joke, and
that's another long story. But as a result of that,
I had a lot of confidence that I could try
a case. So I ended up going to the United
States Department of Labor because I said, let me go
somewhere where they might take me a little bit more seriously.

(50:25):
The federal side might because I was in the state
side with the criminal defense work. So I went to
the United States Department of Labor. And at that point
in time, the Mind Safety and Health Act, along with
the Occupational Safety and Health Act had been promulgated by
Congress in nineteen seventy, and the litigation in those areas

(50:47):
was just really commencing, and so they needed trial attorneys
to try these coal mining cases down in these very
very Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia. And I went in there
and sold myself with I can try anything you put
in front of me. Needless to say, when I walked

(51:09):
out of that interview, I'm scratching my hands, and you know,
I didn't know people were still working in coal mines, right,
But I ended up learning. I mean I was able
and Colgate gave me all those tools to go to
these small towns. Only black person there, and at that time,
women in coal mines that was a no no. So

(51:30):
the people I'm representing, you know, the coal mine inspecters,
they really are not feeling me because they're like, why
would they send Why would the government send a woman
to try this case? You know, women in coal mines.
That's bad luck. But I rose to be the Regional
council of the Mind's Safety Administration in like fourteen years,

(51:53):
and during that time I was also trying occupational safety
and health cases along with Wage hour and Labor Department.
I always tell folks that if you want to learn
litigation other than the Justice Department, the Labor Department is
the only other federal entity where you're going to get

(52:15):
real litigation experience. And I certainly certainly was blessed to
be able to try whatever I wanted to try, and
it caused me to travel all around the country representing,
you know, the government and various under various acts. I
then applied to become a federal administrative law judge because

(52:38):
as I'm trying these OSHA cases and mind safety cases,
I'm like looking at these judges, saying, now, who these people?
How do they get to be judges? And at that time,
people were, well, you know, black people don't do this,
and women certainly don't do this. And I'm like, but
why not when you got to know somebody, You got
to be a veteran and this and that, And at

(53:00):
that time, we didn't have internet, I said. So they
said to me, You've got to make the phone calls
down to the Office of Personnel Management and find out
when they're going to have the exam, because it's a
year long process where you have to take an exam,
you have to be interviewed, do you have to fill

(53:20):
out this ardulous application. You've got to have background checks,
And I said, you know what, I'm going to do it.
And it took me a couple of years, and one
day I made the call and the lady said, you
better get your application in like immediately, and I was
able to do that. And once I got on the register,

(53:45):
then it's a matter of where it is that you're
going to sit, because they are fourteen hundred administrative law
judges in the United States, twelve hundred here social Security cases,
the other two hundred here all the the federal agency cases.
And so in order to get my foot in the door,

(54:06):
I was offered a position that nobody else wanted. It
was in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Speaker 3 (54:12):
Oh.

Speaker 4 (54:12):
So the when I got the call, the lady said, well,
you know, we got this one spot in Hattiesburg. And
I said, first I thought, she said Harrisburg. And so
I'm thinking, what, Harrisburg is right down the road from Philly.
That's no big thing. And so she says, but I'm
gonna give you twenty four hours to think about it,
because that's a big move. And I said, well, you know,

(54:32):
it's not a big move for me because it's right
down the road. She said, no, I said, you know, Harrisburg.
She said, I didn't say Harrisburg. I said, how did
you spell that? When she spelled it for me, I said,
where the heck get that? She said Mississippi. And I
said to her, right then and there, I'm not going
to take twenty four hours to think about it, because
if I do, I won't do it. I'm going to

(54:52):
tell you yes right now, sign me up. And the
next thing I knew, I was selling my house and
I was on my way to Hattiesburg. I was not married,
I didn't have children, so there was no reason. I mean,
I had a house that I had just renovated. But
I said, Covette, are you going to stay in Philly
with the house or are you going to follow your dream?

(55:13):
And I moved to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and everyone thought that
I had like lost my mind. But I always tell
folks that year and a half I spent in Hattiesburg,
Mississippi was one of the best years of my life.
I've met lifelong friends. And let me just say this,
My last case as a OSHA judge hearing OSHA cases

(55:35):
was in January and it was in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and
it was a case that involved a guy who worked
at a poultry factory of a poultry plant who had
gone in and it's gotten his fingers cut off when
he was doing some electrical work. But when I left

(55:56):
to go to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, I called every chief judge
who I had ever practiced in front of. I just
called them and said, I'm on my way to Hattiesburg.
I really don't want to do social Security all my life.
If you ever have an opening, call me. And it
just so happened that. And I didn't know this when

(56:20):
I called Ahrick, the first black federal administrative law judge
who's now in Atlanta. He's ninety nine. Paul Brady, his
wife is and I'm sure because you're in Atlanta, you've
heard of I think her name is Zanala, who does
the Trumpet Awards with Yeah, well right. She's married to

(56:44):
Paul Brady, who was the first black federal administrative law judge.
And he had told the chairman of the Ashrak Commission,
I want to retire because he had just got had
they had just gotten married. She wanted him to retire.
Moved to it and be able to travel with her
and help her with the Trumpet Awards. So he said,

(57:05):
but I'm not leaving until you find somebody that looks
like me. And I just happened to call this guy.
It was his first day on the job. He was
the chairperson who makes the selection of the judges, and
he only picked it up because he did had a secretary.
And I talked to them and introduced myself. And when
he got off the phone, the chief judge walked in

(57:28):
his office and he said, I just talked to this
woman named Covett Brooney. She told me she's an attorney.
She's tried all these Oshie cases. He said, oh, yeah,
she's great. We gotta hire. And so a year later
I was moving to Washington, and that chief judge when
he retired, I became the chief judge and I retired

(57:51):
July twelfth, and let me just say this. I was
able to leave there. The person that took my place
is a black male whove I've met the years. And
I say say to folks, people, you know I could have.
You know, federal administrative law judges, a lot of them

(58:12):
stayed till their eighties and nineties. Not that I want
to do that, but I said to myself, I'm going
to make sure I make room for the next group,
the next generation. I don't want to overstay my stay
and I want to leave when I have some control
over who succeeds me. And that's something that I've always

(58:35):
that's always been something that or value that I've always had,
and I said, this is the time when that can happen.
I don't know who the next president is going to be,
but I know what I can do now. And I'm
so happy that that happened because I say to myself,
at least in that federal agency, that's going to be

(58:55):
another black person who's going to be there. I mean,
we have judges, it's a great group of judges. But
it would just make me feel good to be able
to do that. And he's a fine he's he is
a fine chief judge.

Speaker 1 (59:12):
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(59:33):
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Contact us at info at godfirelife dot com. Every week,
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(59:57):
learn more about how we can benefit you.

Speaker 5 (01:00:02):
Thank you for paying the forward.

Speaker 3 (01:00:04):
Yes, stepping back so someone can step forward is awesome.

Speaker 4 (01:00:09):
You know.

Speaker 5 (01:00:09):
It's something that we often hear in our interviews with
our Aluma color that this idea of this sort.

Speaker 3 (01:00:19):
Of model where you are.

Speaker 5 (01:00:23):
A recipient of upperclassmen who take you under their wing
and kind of show you the ropes from professors and
classes and how to navigate on campus socially, culturally, educationally,
and how that seed stays with us post code and
no matter what industry you work in and what level

(01:00:43):
and what position, there's this re occurrence of this spirit
that you owe so much to your success to those
who came before you, and the best way to honor
that is to replicate that opportunity for those who come
after you. And so to hear you reference that, you know,

(01:01:05):
sort of without any ques both while at Kogate and
through your fifty year career. It's pretty awesome and honorable.
So thank you, thank you for that.

Speaker 4 (01:01:16):
Well, thank you, my sister. It's interesting has sort of
the same track. She retired like twelve thirteen years ago
from the Philaelphia School System as an administrator, but she
went back to well didn't go back, but what she
did she went to the University of penn and was

(01:01:37):
working with the Philadelphia Writing Project and started through the
graduate school mentoring students who were coming and she was
getting penance all these you know, from the time she
retired to the present at mentoring students who were going
to the graduate school and there were very few that

(01:01:59):
looked like us, as she wanted to make sure she
was there to guide them. And these students are graduate
students who are going to inner city schools and she's
mentored them. And she is still in touch with the
students who she started with, like will they now you know, professors,
and from the very beginning to the present, she's still

(01:02:25):
in touch with them and she's still and as a
matter of fact, I was trying to get her on today,
but she is working on a project with the Philolphia
Writing project and they were meeting tonight.

Speaker 5 (01:02:38):
Well, we got to get her signed up for sure.
So I'm sure after she hears your interview that motivate
her just a little bit, just a little bit.

Speaker 4 (01:02:47):
And you know, her story, her story is so different
from mine. You know, I love Colgate. Now she will
have a whole difference.

Speaker 3 (01:02:54):
But which is you know? But I think, well, one,
I'm married to Kogi Grad. We will celebrate our thirtieth anniversary.
Oh really, and we too have different perspectives in terms

(01:03:16):
of our time at Kogate. Right, All of our journeys
are unique, right, And I think there is this sometimes
just this assumption that if you are a person of color,
your experience was exed. Honestly, when you listen to our episodes,

(01:03:39):
everyone's journey is so different. And I think that, to
me has been one of the major takeaways and reminders
about perspective about experiences and everything is different for everybody.

Speaker 4 (01:03:53):
And you know, I applaud you off for doing this
because I do think having spoken to students on campus,
you know, during the reunion weekend, this is you know,
they got to know their history, They got to know
who was there before them, so that they know number one.
What they're experiencing is not new, the negative and the positive,

(01:04:18):
and you can succeed. And you've got to be able
to one thing I learned about at Colgate. I walked
away from them not expecting everybody that loved me, But
I knew, even if you didn't like me, if there
was something that you had that I wanted, I'm going
to make sure I get it.

Speaker 3 (01:04:34):
From you, you know.

Speaker 5 (01:04:38):
And and interestingly enough one of them to piggyback on
something you just said that that goes back to your
commentary about the role versus Wade turnover, is that students
today at Colgy, students of color in particular, need to
know the history to understand what the experience of students

(01:04:59):
of color was before them, but the opportunities that exist
on campus now as a result of those experiences in
those sacrifices, because it's very easy to appreciate a cultural center,
the new cultural center now when you don't realize that
there was a time when that didn't even exist, right
right and when? Or to or to have the option

(01:05:21):
of majors that didn't exist fifty years ago, or to
have professors on campus that look like you that didn't
exist fifty years ago to have dorms that coming gone,
you know, and so that there is a value in
having that storytelling that that historical context, that you realize

(01:05:44):
that until it's gone or there's no gatekeeper of the story,
you questioned, well, what happened? And it might be too
late to ask that. So we must continue to go
back in the same conferent spirit, you know, sort of
share the legac see of the origins of our founding
fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters who who paved the way,

(01:06:06):
and then continue to do that Postcolgate.

Speaker 3 (01:06:10):
And I think the other connection to the role versus
Wade and Dobbs decision is that just because something has
been around for fifty years doesn't make anything permanent. Great
great lesson, great lesson, And just speaking of lessons, that
kind of goes into this next question about perspective. Right,

(01:06:32):
So when you think about who you were going into Coolgate,
what would be some of the lessons learned, what would
be something you would share and put into your ear
as some wisdom to share with that eighteen year old
going on campus. And then also as you were graduating,

(01:06:56):
what would be some of the words of wisdoms you
would share with that person.

Speaker 4 (01:07:02):
Well, my advice to anyone going to Colgate now is
to take the next four years to develop a dream
and to let these four years be the time that
you tool up, that you develop tools, that you gather

(01:07:25):
the tools that you also take every negative experience and
say to yourself, what did I learn from this? You
take every positive experience and say to yourself, what did
I learn from this? And you look at these four
years as an opportunity because you'll never have four years

(01:07:48):
like this again in your life where you can look
at the good and the bad and take and say
what lesson have I learned? So when you leave there,
you have a toolbox to move forward and to realize
your dreams. And I think that when I went into Colgate,
I look at I developed skills, I developed an attitude.

(01:08:12):
I learned so much that I had not been privy to,
I was exposed to so much that I had not
had an opportunity. And when I came out, I believed
that I could do anything I put my mind too,
because I had this toolbox that was full from what

(01:08:34):
I had learned. Though I was at Colgate.

Speaker 5 (01:08:38):
There it is.

Speaker 3 (01:08:40):
Awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome.

Speaker 5 (01:08:43):
In this last component of the show, we really just
sort of want to use the network that the Alumna
of Color offers and the Cogate community offers, who give
the guests an opportunity to promote or share an initiative,
Hatcher project ways in which people can learn more about

(01:09:04):
what you're doing, whether it be mentoring officially or officially.
But the platform is yours to reach our audience.

Speaker 4 (01:09:11):
So please, well, let me just say that I have
been and I'm recently rolled off the board, but I'm
a huge support of Girls Inc. And I think you
know that's all over that that is an organization that
gives girls the tools to be bold and smart and strong.

(01:09:34):
And so you know, my thought is that for anyone
listening to me today to know that I'm a smart, bold,
strong woman, and this organization has the ability to do
this to provide those same skills to so many young

(01:09:56):
women who would not have an opportunity to know who
I am. But anyone who ever would want to get
in touch with me, and I do stay in touch
with students from time to time who were on the campus.
They can always email me at Covett brunet gmail dot com.
As I said to you, I've been retired like two

(01:10:19):
and a half weeks. I've got a year's worth of travel.
Plant matter of fact, I'm getting ready to go to
Portugal for two and a half weeks.

Speaker 3 (01:10:27):
Hey, nice.

Speaker 4 (01:10:29):
And you know I was with the federal government for
forty four years traveling, litigating cases and a lot of
those places I want to go back to and kind
of like enjoy because I was there working. So I
have like a year's worth of travel. But after that,
it is my intention to do something either back with

(01:10:51):
the DBS decision or the other passion of mine, and
which is where I began the Innocence Project folks who've
wrongly accused. I mean, I certainly would like to have
an opportunity to see if there's something I can do
to assist there. And then I'm also you might send

(01:11:14):
me back on the bench because I am a senior
judge and I can be called by any federal agency
at this point in time to hear cases. But at
this point in my life, I think, I know I
still want to do something in the law to make
so many wrongs right, and I think now I have

(01:11:36):
the opportunity to kind of go back to my passions.
So that's where I'm leaning.

Speaker 5 (01:11:42):
Well, get ready for that call from sister Harris when
she gets into Houstan, right, you and you hear the
Beyonce sound Beyonce soundtrack coming on. Yes, and y'all start
gathering up the fussy exactly.

Speaker 4 (01:12:00):
Yeah. Well I've been believe me, I've been working with
the you know, women of color. So that's been great. Yes,
as a judge, you know, I was not able to
participate in partisan politics, and so I'm having a ball now, believe.

Speaker 3 (01:12:17):
Oh yeah, I love it. I love it. I love it.
Any final words before we get out here. This has
been awesome.

Speaker 4 (01:12:26):
Well, no, thank you guys. You all are you all
are awesome, and thank you for doing this. You know,
I was so impressed meeting you. It really made me
feel so good to meet you know, those who have
followed me at Colgate. I've been back. I had been
back twice speaking to students and you all. I guess

(01:12:51):
we're not because once the last time I was there
was like in Rebecca Chopp was the president and I
can't remember who it was before that. But I'm always
just so elated when I meet, you know, the black
students who are there. Colgate is an experience that I said,
so few people have the opportunity to experience, and I

(01:13:14):
think all of us who have experience that we have
a special niche, We have a special bond, and nobody
knows that, but people.

Speaker 3 (01:13:24):
Colgate right right, there's a special kinship. And I think
for both of us, what we love about the seat
that we sit in as these co hosts is that
it has connected us and exposed us to not only
the kinship that we can kind of connect here, but

(01:13:46):
it exposed us to kinship of generations that we would
have never been aware of. And so I think that
is been awesome. And then just to be able to
see the through lines of from class the class, the class,
the class has just been awesome. So thank you for
all you've done. Thank you again for continuing to advocate

(01:14:12):
for the causes, Thank you for being on our show.
And I'll just officially wrap us up by say this
has been another episode of after Gate season four. So
thank you to our guests, thank you to our listeners.
After Gate is always powered by the fire Life Network,
so make sure you check us out in the future
on all of your favorite podcasts streaming platforms, with many

(01:14:36):
more dope episodes to follow. And remember that the codgate
of your day is not the coviate of today, and
it's certainly not the coviate of the future. Peace family.

Speaker 1 (01:14:51):
You hear that, listen closer that my friend is definitely sound.

Speaker 4 (01:14:56):
Focus. It drowns out all the useless know as that
can clutter. The nay sayers.

Speaker 1 (01:15:01):
Don't exist, haters, smaters, the peanut gallery.

Speaker 3 (01:15:06):
Who's that?

Speaker 1 (01:15:08):
When you're in your zone, all that noise and all.

Speaker 4 (01:15:10):
That buzz is just eleventor music.

Speaker 1 (01:15:12):
So enjoy your journey, focus on your goal in basque
and the choiret role that is progressing. Because when it's
your time to shoot that shot, spit that verse, or
close that deal, the only voice that matters is yours.

Speaker 3 (01:15:27):
The firelighte