June 10, 2020 • 29 mins
Bakari Sellers is a Morehouse graduate, and he made history in 2006 when, at just 22 years old, he defeated a 26-year incumbent State Representative to become the youngest member of the South Carolina state legislature and the youngest African American elected official in the nation. In 2010 he was named to TIME's "40 Under 40." In 2014 and 2015, he was named to The Root 100 "Most Influential African Americans." he practices law with the Strom Law Firm, LLC in Columbia, SC and is a Political Commentator at CNN. He is the author of a great book that I read this week, and we will be talking about during his interview, MY VANISHING COUNTRY: A Memoir. "My Vanishing Country" is a memoir of his childhood in rural South Carolina and his education from movement leaders, including Julian Bond, co-founder of the Institute for Southern Studies, publisher of Facing South. In it, he explores how two high-profile incidents of racial violence — the Orangeburg Massacre of 1968 and the Charleston Massacre of 2015 — have impacted his life and his work. He is on the show to discuss, civil unrest and his new book My Vanishing Country which is also a love letter to fatherhood—to Sellers' father, his lodestar, whose life lessons have shaped him, and to his newborn twins, who he hopes will embrace the Sellers family name and honor its legacy. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations, Bakari Sellers.
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(01:04):
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(01:49):
and how to live a balance life. My next guest
is a More Halls graduate and he made history of
two thousand and six when they're twenty two years of age.
He defeated the twenty six year income with state presented
to become the youngest member of the South Carolina State
Legislature and the youngest African American elective official in the nation.
In ten, he was named Time Magazines forty Under forty,
(02:12):
and fifteen he was named to the group one hundred
Most Influential African Americans. He practices law with a strong
law firm in Columbia, South Carolina, one of my favorite cities,
by the way, and it's a political commentator at CNN.
He is the author of a great book that I
read this week, and he will be talking about that
during our interview, My Vanishing Country, a memoir. Please welcome
(02:33):
to Money Making Conversations, my man, but Cary Sellers Man,
thank you so much for having me on this platform. Brother,
it means a lot to be here with you today, man,
So thank you so much. First of all, Um, thank
you for coming on the show, and thank you for
you know, let's talk about We've got two breaks, but
eight minutes to talk because it's a lot, man, because
(02:56):
you're you're presenting information to our lives down that I
didn't have when I was growing up. Books like this,
you know, these are these are these are important books.
And uh like we talked about big country, the difference
between country country folks, and I was I was sitting
on my front porch and I had my love, I
had my I had my tomorrow bottle of water. I
(03:19):
read this book on my front porch, and one evening
this week. This in fact, that there's no Memorial Day.
That's why I spent my moral day with your book
for card, because that's that's that's all you needed. With
some ball peanut, and we had a full thing, hey,
my man. And I was feeling good because you know,
when I read this book, there was there was a
couple of things that were missing in the book for me. Okay,
(03:39):
the book is great, by the way, this is not
a negative, but I was I needed some pictures in here, man,
I needed some pictures. I gonna lie to you, man,
I'll go. I needed to see the picture of your
six ft two sister. I needed to see the picture
of two sut next to your five ft three inch
tall wife. I needed to see a picture of pop.
I needed to see a picture you Mr q Tip
(04:02):
skinny dude with the a frow. I needed to see
a picture of your dad with the a frow when
he was younger. Yes, yes, yes, I we we tried.
We I tried to paint a picture with my words.
But as you as you laid it out. Man, you
know the imagery that we laid out of my vantaging country.
I think this special. And you know these stories we
(04:22):
have down here in the South, Man, it's important that
we tell them with our imagery and tell them without words.
And you're doing it. You're doing it. That's why I
want to see them because of the fact that you
know that when you talk about that picture that was
taken on stage with you and president of Brocker Ball
and Kara Washington and Chris Tucker and Ussha, I want
to see that picture. I want to see it because
(04:42):
you're like, man, I should wish I could see that
picture because you're such a good In the paper book,
in the paper books, in the paper book section, I
will talk to my my people over Harper College that
you know very well, and I will tell them that
I was having a money making conversation and one of
the suggestion was we asked the picture. I s to you.
I swear to you because you are This is such
(05:03):
a great book because of the fact it's historical. You
lived that you live as a young man. You live
you know like you said you was, you was like
said you was a little political baby. You know, all
the black people, all the pologists comes there. They had
the hug liber Carly, come here, look cute, little come here,
take a picture with you know, use the little picture
take a baby and so and but let's let's let's
go back a little bit. But the first thing I
(05:24):
want to talk about is you've been a more Halls graduate.
Talk about that HPCU experience and the importance of it. Man. Look,
so we're going to the Morehouse College. And I was
really young when I went. I was only sixteen years
old as but the experience at Morehouse, the experience at
Morehouse told me a few things. One one, I could
be unapologically black, be comfortable in my own skin. But
(05:46):
it also taught me I could compete anywhere in the world.
You know, Morehouse, as they say, your places crown above
your head, so you can grow into it. And it
just sets that level of expectation. And so being a
black man and you know, uh Rashaun right now, as
we're going through just the tragic in our country, the
grief that it means and you carry as a black man.
Um you know, going to more House that helped me
(06:08):
have a sense of pride and make sure that, um,
you know, I speak for those whose voices sometimes go
and heard and I rise. I rise to that level
of expectation. And so more House was was was amazing
and helping me feel comfortable in my blackness and going
out and being able to have pride in that and
in my everyday life. It's really important because of the
(06:28):
fact that it was in the book when you're talking
about which I which I always found so relatable. When
you're talking about that, you know, the guys from different
parts of the country. You know, the Houston boy. I'm
from Houston, So so I took the Houston board to
water Polo books. You know what I'm saying. And that's
if you get into college right man, and you get
on campused you do. I had my boars from New Orleans.
That was the same all boys. I had my boys
(06:51):
from from New York. You know, they dressed a certain way,
and I had my boars from Chicago, they dressed a
certain way. When you get that college experience. I always
tell people go to college. I always tell young people
go to college. It defines who you could be, who
you could be, and that's the diversity that the diversity
that people don't even imagine exists. You've got You've got
(07:12):
people who are coming the brightest from all around the world. Um,
you know what they're saying. All boys, they still are.
You know, they wear them letterman jackets their entire life.
They forty years old still wear the hon let him
in jacket. But um, you know you still have You
get a chance to learn and cultivate. An iron sharpens iron,
and you're able to grow with each other and those
friendships last for a lifetime. And so I was very,
(07:33):
very lucky to be able to go to more House.
I tell my kids right now, you can go to
any college you want to go through in the entire country,
as long as it's an HBCU. Absolutely I didn't go
to an hp U HBCU. But I'm doing I've doing
a lot of work and promoting the brand. And I
just did that big special with ESPN with Stephen A. Smith,
who I represent, did a big broadcast for ESPN and
(07:54):
raised over four million dollars in scholarships and registered twelve
hundred students for HBCUs. Who was last September, And we're
gonna do it again this year. Hopefully this pandemic calms
down so we can do it again because of the
fact that I understand the value of that form of
education that sometimes gets warmed down. Yes, yes, And we
just have to make sure that especially as black folka
(08:16):
are not just suffering the most in terms of public
health from this COVID nineteen UM, but our businesses are suffering,
and our institutions of higher education and suffering. So I'm
grateful for somebody like you reaching out and reaching up
and giving people a hand up. I have to I
have to that. That's the rules were playing, like, let's
talk about my vanishing country, you know, uh memoir. Talk
to tell us about why you wrote this book first.
(08:39):
So I will tell you this. Man. Look, I didn't
want to write a I didn't want to write a memoir,
per say. I wanted to write a political book. Um,
but no one wanted to buy it. I mean I
I got kept getting turned down. And so I sat
down with Tracy Sharado or at Carpercollins, and she said, look,
tell me your story. And I told her about my
father being shot in the orange Y massacre. I talked
about the trauma of living with with that entails. I
(09:01):
talked talked about being the youngest black elected official in
the country, and you know, living in South Carolina and
working in South Carolina to the hospices of the Confederate Flag.
And I talked to her about losing my good f
Inclemente Pinkney, UM in the Charleston shooting. And you know,
throughout all of those experiences that trauma. Realized that my
trauma may not be your trauma. But if we get
a level of understanding, then we can persevere together. Um.
(09:24):
And she said, you gotta put this time, you gotta
put this down on paper. And you know, the you
never know when your book is gonna come out when
you write it. And I had no idea that my
book was gonna come out during a time where black
folks were dying at extremely high rates, um due to
the coronavirus or pandemic. UM. I never really abou to
(09:45):
have imagine. I mean that we would have had the
depths of of Brianna Taylor, the death of amd Aubrey
UM and now another death in Minnesota. UM. But UM.
You know, so the book comes out in the words
and I'm that I'm on that page UM or those
pages that speaks to the issues of race we have
in this country issues we've never truly dealt with, and
(10:07):
we have someone in the office that's often seems like
he's fueling the problem instead of trying to remedy the product.
And so what that is With that being said, you
know you are a political commentator and this book, Uh,
I just wanted letter everybody know how special you are
as a young man. I want to everybody have special,
(10:29):
but how your parents are. Let's go to your parents
because that's the that's the unknown story that really really
just had me going from page to page to page
to page. Tell us about your dad? Who you're who?
Your friend from college? Your roommates said, he's out Martin
Luther King Jr. Your dad, Yeah, my dad was a
(10:50):
member of Snake. My dad dedicated as life the justice.
My dad was dedicated as life the freedom in the
pursuit thereof And so you know, February Ate, my dad
was shot UM and what's called Arngerek massacre. UM. Three
others were killed Henry Smith, Samuel Hammond, and Delano Middleton
and UM there was a total of twenty nine that
were injured. UM. All the officers who fired shots into
(11:10):
the group of students were tried, they were all found
not guilty. My father ended up being the only person
that UM they charged, tried and convicted of that night's
violence they charged them and being the first and only
one man right in the history of this country. UM.
And you know my mother, My mother helped integrate the
schools in Memphis, Tennessee. And UM, my parents, they all
(11:31):
came from this um worldview that you had to become
a part of something larger than yourself, that you had
to um push this country to be a more perfect union.
And that came along with a great deal of trauma.
But they instilled that in all of us. So um
as I as I go through life, I just go
through life trying to be a change agent and make
my parents proud because they poured so much into me.
(11:53):
They poured a lot. Before we go to break, I'm
gonna give out some a little nice little nuggets about HBCUs.
There over one HBCUs as the country. They rolled tim
percent of African American students, and despite constituting only three
percent of four year colleges in this country, HBCUs have
produced eight percent of the black judges, of the black lawyers,
(12:13):
of the black doctors, forty percent of the black engineers,
forty percent of the Black members of Congress, and intent
of the black CEOs in America. That's what HBCUs do
for this country. Continue to do for this country. I
am talking to my man, but Cary Sellers will be
right back after this break to hear more about his
amazing book. It's a page turn of y'all, My Vanishing Country,
(12:36):
a memoir, and has a cute little picture of him
on the cover. So that's what got me mad. I
got a cute little picture of him on the cover,
but I don't have no cute little pictures on him
inside the book. We're gonna talk about that later off
because he's my man if we're gonna preach this relationship.
But otherwise that's just my little side comment. This is
a great book because it's inspiring. It's inspiring because of
the fact that he lived a life in the relationships
(12:58):
that he's been allways. Tell people is important to have
mentors around you. And I'm gonna tell you a story
about who my mentor wars and how mentors can be
important to you and how they can also lead you
in the wrong direction, because that's all you know that's
all you do. Be right back with more money making conversations.
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O T T E R dot Ai. Hi. This ra
Sean McDonald and you're listening to money making conversation My
Vanishing Country a memoir, But cary Sellers is on the
phone the cary Um. When I was going through this book,
and it was almost like a history lesson. It was
(15:31):
kind of like two books and telling me stuff I
didn't know, things I did know. Now, your major in
college was in African American Studies, it was it was yes,
And I bring that up because my degrees in mathematics,
and I did and my minor was in sociology, and
I took African American Studies, which changed my life, by
(15:51):
the way, because I can remember because I realized that
that I went to public school, they just teach you
nothing about what African Americans have accomplished. A free you.
Then you make it to the brow to the border education.
Then all of a suden you make it to the
Martin Luther King speech and that. But that's what it
all did, the Mark Luke King assassination. That's why it
(16:11):
pretty much ends in public school with education. Then we
go then we do the Black History mark, and it's
the same individuals and Black History mark that we talked about,
which they are important, but we've accomplished more than like
six people. And so when I took African American Studies,
it evolved so much information to me that it brought
me to tears many times because I went I didn't know,
(16:32):
and and and and it's said talk about that that
education and lack of information, how it just keeps the
nine African Americans or people of color over and over again.
You know, one of the things that I when I
was writing the book, UM, you go back in your
read sentences that that stick out to you in one
of those sentences that sticks out to me is when
I was writing UM and and My one of the
(16:56):
lessons my father taught me, which is that heroes walk
amongst us. My father and my mother they never wanted
us to believe that the only heroes we had were Martin,
Malcolm and Rosa. Um. You know, I grew up around
the Stokely car Michaels and the merryon berries. UM. I
studied the Majesica Simpkins and septem of Clarks, as well
as the Elevators and Fanny Little Hammers, and so all
(17:16):
of these I call them my aunts and uncles, all
of these people who are part of my my my village.
You know that I'm a product of the proverbial it
takes a village to raise a child. All of these
people were part of my village. And you know, we
had an opportunity. I had an opportunity of growing up
to live and breathe that history. The unique part about
growing up in the South, though, is that you don't
have to just read your history in books, and you
(17:40):
can actually go out and touch and talk to people
who uh, you know, they smelled, guns smoked, they laid
on those courthouse and jail house floors. You know, those
old ladies that sit on the first and second row
of the churches, to where the big hats, the two
or three sticks of butter, and the and um, coconut
pies and as we potato pies. Those ladies have seen
so much and and they hug you, they sustain you.
(18:01):
They give you so much life, but they also give
you that wisdom. It's just like the old man in
the barbershop who ain't thinkinging the haircut, but he's telling
you the stories about when he saw Sunny listen fight,
and when King came through town and all of these
individuals and stuff. I tried to give all of those
people voices and and and have some historical context because
this is this is the key. When we talked about
(18:22):
race in this country, Um, it's a it's the most
difficult conversation we have to have. But white folk only
look at race through the context of their lifetime. And
so in this book, what I tried to do was
show how race has impacted us through a continuum. And
so you can see the progression from my my grandparents
to my father and mother to where I am now.
(18:43):
So you understand that trauma. And if black folk read
this and get a sense of pride and white folk
read this and get a sense of understanding, I think
we can have some difficult conversations with compassion, those conversations
that are necessary. Really, like you said, years and counting,
I believe that's where you say in the book. You know,
I want to read this portion said I always tell
(19:04):
people that we chipped away at the glass ceiling. Glass
ceiling mean uh. Voters in South Carolina and I won
forty one percent of the vote, and Georgia Stacy abros
one forty nine percent, and in Florida and Drew Gill
him he won forty um. We're talking about states that
are read states. We're talking about states that blacks do
(19:26):
have a majority in certain situations, but they are fearful
of outcomes. Are they are They're so beaten down that
they don't feel that their vote matters. As we go
into twenty sixteen and you're being a political commentator and
you're writing a book called My Vanishing Country, our Memoir,
talk to us about that. What what what? What? What
do we have to overcome? What do we have to do?
Those numbers you laid out across but they're not victorious. Yeah. No.
(19:50):
The first thing we gotta do is overcome Voter suppression
is something that people don't talk about it nothing in
this country. You know. I tell people you gotta show
up and vote. You gotta show up and show out
at the polls. And you know, if voting wasn't so important,
people wouldn't work so hard to take it away from
it as first. Um, So we gotta overcome that. We
gotta we gotta push our candidates to be better. You know,
I don't mind people pushing Joe Biden to be better,
(20:12):
to be a better candidate, to have an agenda that
positively affects people of color. But I also can state
unequivocally that I'm gonna do everything I can to vote
for Joe Biden and get Joe Biden over the hump
because my children don't deserve to grow up in a
country where Donald Trump is president of the United States,
and so we have to be willing to do that.
And like, one of the things that I want to
see us do is activate I want to see us
(20:33):
activate our base. I want to you know, it's one
thing to go vote, but it's another thing to go
pick up your cousin who sits in front of the
gas station every day, just hillering at people who hadn't voted,
probably since Barack Obama. He voted, and he voted in
O eight and twelve and that was it. I need
you to go get him. I need you to register
your high school uh um, students in your community to vote.
(20:53):
I need this to be a participatory effort. I need
everybody to get involved because I'm gonna tell you this,
those Trump supporters they're gonna show up, They're gonna vote,
and we have to be there and we have to
make our voices heard. If not xenophobia, racism, and biggotry
are going to continue to reign supreme absolutely. Uh You
were from North Carolina, born in North Carolina, grew up
in Denmark, South Carolina, home of a piggy wigly store Okay,
(21:19):
now you stay in your book. A legal desegregation ended
in Denmark in eighteen seventy two. I'm from Houston. That
was my freshman year in high school. The fact that
I'm living, I'm where worlds away from you, and you
send legal desegregation in it in Denmark in eighteen seventy two,
So that imbalance of what we call freedom of the
(21:39):
opportunity to succesed was not available to all blacks on
all parts of the country at the same time. How
was it growing up in a community like Denmark, South Carolina.
I mean, so Denmark was an interesting community because we
had you know, we had train tracks that went north, south,
east and west, which was rear in the south. We
had a bubbling we have bubbling small businesses. We had
(22:01):
two historically black colleges and Universe one is a two
year technical college. UM you know where where I get
friend may Rest of Peace J Anthony Brown used to
go to Denmark Technical College m and Vorheeses and Vorhees
College and so you you we had those two colleges.
We and it was the epitome of UM, these black
(22:21):
small towns which had this upward economic mobility. UM but
when trade came through, Um, you know, the manufacturing plants left. UM,
the small businesses shutter. Um. We we when you know,
government played its role in petty politics and we didn't
expand medicaid. Um, you know, the the hospitals left. UM.
(22:42):
And so people ask me what is it like now,
and I say, I write about it clearly in my
vanishing country. That's why one of the reasons that the
title is my vanishing country. You know, when you look
at when you look at places like this where a
lot of black folk in the United States of America lived,
you have food deserts where you can't go to with
three miles and get healthy fruits and vegetables. Um, you
(23:03):
have you have a lack of access to care. So
my closest hospital is thirty minutes away. Um, you're drinking
dirty water. There are a hundred cities in the United
States that have a um that have a water that's
worse than Flint, Michigan. And many of those are black
and brown cities. Um, You're you're breathing in dirty air.
And so you you take all of these things, you
take all of these systemic levels of injustice and oppression,
(23:25):
and you layer them, um with now we're in a pandemic. Um.
It's just it's it's a really, really tough time to
be black in America. That's a fact. Well that that's
that's that's very true, and I I deal with it,
and I um and I'm often time confused because I
don't have options to how do I make it better?
But the one way you can make it better, like
(23:47):
you said, vote, exercise your right to vote, participate, don't
be a don't be a silent participant. But also don't
let people take away you're hoping. Don't let people take
away your faith. I'm very hopeful, and I maintaining faith
because I have to fight so that my children can
be free. So you know, I don't I don't play
it pamp. I don't paint a dystopian view. I paint
(24:10):
a view that's very real and honest, saying that we've
made a lot of progress in this country, but we
still have it other ways to go. And so now
it's our duty. It's my duty to continue the legacy
set forth by people like yourself, my parents, et cetera,
and carry that time forward so that my children live
in a better country. And I still believe in what
Lincoln call the better angels of our nature. You know, Uh,
(24:31):
Paccari when I when I was going through the book,
and like I said, so Many Lawyers is a great book.
And I'm talking about the book My Advantaging Country, a
memoir written by Baccari, sellers out of HarperCollins UH Publishing House. Um,
your friend Pop, he was older than you. Um, he
had aspirations until the death of his dad. Uh, and
he chose sports. And there's so many Pops in our
(24:56):
neighborhoods I can remember. I have a version of Pop.
They grew up with me and didn't He made it out,
but he didn't accomplish what he should have been able
to accomplish because of mistakes. And we should all be
able to overcome our mistakes. Talk to us about Pop
from your neighborhood in Denmark, South Carolina. So, you know,
I don't know if Pop will hear this episode of
(25:17):
me on money Making Conversations. Where's he based there? Now?
Where was he? What was he living there? Right? Now?
There's a war his college campus radio station. Good well,
good well, I'm gonna make sure he listens to it.
And the reason being is because I want Pop to
know that he was the success. You know, we always
have this attension, We always have this these these very
(25:38):
difficult conversations, and you know, Pop is very emblematic of
what it means to be a black man in this
country and trying to overcome. UM, even though you have
those obstacles that are placed in front of you and
my family, we opened our doors to Pop. Pop as
my brother, he has a piece of my heart, always
will and so you know, I feel challenged sometimes and
difficulty trying to figure out, UM, you know, how we
(26:01):
can improve the relationship and which which direction we should
go in. UM. But even more but even more importantly, UM,
as he grows into being a father, as he continues
to work hard, and you know, he graduated from college
and he's doing everything he should do. You know, he's
a success. And what all he's going to do is
make it make it easier for the next generation, UM
(26:22):
to to be better. And so UM, you know we
have to lift up our brothers especially and during this
climate and during this time, well, you know it's really
important that you say that, and because it was it
was a very UM I always say, you know, it's
about opportunities a very um poignant moment in your book
when he says, why did y'all come get me? You know,
and because he felt that if you guys would have
(26:43):
gotten him, pulled him into y'all because he basically lived
y'all life. He was with you guys, but he lived
on the other side of the track, and so and
just just explained that that whole different world dynamic and
how how it affected him and how it affected you
and you're stern brothers. So I mean it was humbling
(27:03):
for us because, um, you know, we we were always
aware of um the blessings we had and even more
aware and in tune to those who didn't. And so
we were raised to make sure that anything we had,
we we gave as much as possible. And my parents
poured so much into Pop, just like they poured into us.
(27:24):
And so, um the challenges, you know, what do you
do with that? And as me and challenge continue, as
me and Pop continue to grow older, we challenge each
other right now to be better husbands and better fathers.
And that's that's that is for us, the definition of success.
And UM, I hope people read about Pop and realize
how many pots they have in their life and just
worry about not giving them a hand out, but giving
(27:46):
them a hand up. Wow, that's great. I hope this
book becomes a documentary because um, it's it's so many
stories additional stories that I that uh motivated me out
of this book, Bacari. I want to thank you for
coming on the show to talk about your book, My
Vans Country of Mental As you can see man on
moral day, I was reading your book and enjoying it.
(28:08):
By man, I just didn't have the peanuts, that's all.
Thank you so much for allowing me somebody if your
statue to utilized this platform means a lot of humble
so I'm grateful. Thank you so much. Definitely we'll put
it in my if I got a fan club send
out newsletter thinety thousand fan club members. My social media's
always a million, so I will be promoting your book,
my friend. Be safe and keep listening. Okay, thank you
(28:31):
so much. If you want to hear more episodes of
Money Making Conversations, please go to Money Making Conversations dot com.
I'm Rashan McDonald. I'm your host. In this season of
Giving Cools has gifts for all your loved ones for
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(01:04):
making Conversation. I am your host, Rashon McDonald. Each Money
Making Conversation talk shows about entrepreneurship and entertainment, I provide
the consumer and business owner access to celebrities, CEOs, entrepreneurs
and industry decision makers. I recognized that we all have
different definitions of success. For some, it's a sizeable paycheck.
Mine is helping people wake up and inspiring them to
(01:26):
accomplish their goals and live their very best life. These
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The life is going to present to you. The Money
Making Conversation interviews provide relatable information to the listener about
career and financial planning, entrepreneurship, motivation, leadership, overcoming the arts,
(01:49):
and how to live a balance life. My next guest
is a More Halls graduate and he made history of
two thousand and six when they're twenty two years of age.
He defeated the twenty six year income with state presented
to become the youngest member of the South Carolina State
Legislature and the youngest African American elective official in the nation.
In ten, he was named Time Magazines forty Under forty,
(02:12):
and fifteen he was named to the group one hundred
Most Influential African Americans. He practices law with a strong
law firm in Columbia, South Carolina, one of my favorite cities,
by the way, and it's a political commentator at CNN.
He is the author of a great book that I
read this week, and he will be talking about that
during our interview, My Vanishing Country, a memoir. Please welcome
(02:33):
to Money Making Conversations, my man, but Cary Sellers Man,
thank you so much for having me on this platform. Brother,
it means a lot to be here with you today, man,
So thank you so much. First of all, Um, thank
you for coming on the show, and thank you for
you know, let's talk about We've got two breaks, but
eight minutes to talk because it's a lot, man, because
(02:56):
you're you're presenting information to our lives down that I
didn't have when I was growing up. Books like this,
you know, these are these are these are important books.
And uh like we talked about big country, the difference
between country country folks, and I was I was sitting
on my front porch and I had my love, I
had my I had my tomorrow bottle of water. I
(03:19):
read this book on my front porch, and one evening
this week. This in fact, that there's no Memorial Day.
That's why I spent my moral day with your book
for card, because that's that's that's all you needed. With
some ball peanut, and we had a full thing, hey,
my man. And I was feeling good because you know,
when I read this book, there was there was a
couple of things that were missing in the book for me. Okay,
(03:39):
the book is great, by the way, this is not
a negative, but I was I needed some pictures in here, man,
I needed some pictures. I gonna lie to you, man,
I'll go. I needed to see the picture of your
six ft two sister. I needed to see the picture
of two sut next to your five ft three inch
tall wife. I needed to see a picture of pop.
I needed to see a picture you Mr q Tip
(04:02):
skinny dude with the a frow. I needed to see
a picture of your dad with the a frow when
he was younger. Yes, yes, yes, I we we tried.
We I tried to paint a picture with my words.
But as you as you laid it out. Man, you
know the imagery that we laid out of my vantaging country.
I think this special. And you know these stories we
(04:22):
have down here in the South, Man, it's important that
we tell them with our imagery and tell them without words.
And you're doing it. You're doing it. That's why I
want to see them because of the fact that you
know that when you talk about that picture that was
taken on stage with you and president of Brocker Ball
and Kara Washington and Chris Tucker and Ussha, I want
to see that picture. I want to see it because
(04:42):
you're like, man, I should wish I could see that
picture because you're such a good In the paper book,
in the paper books, in the paper book section, I
will talk to my my people over Harper College that
you know very well, and I will tell them that
I was having a money making conversation and one of
the suggestion was we asked the picture. I s to you.
I swear to you because you are This is such
(05:03):
a great book because of the fact it's historical. You
lived that you live as a young man. You live
you know like you said you was, you was like
said you was a little political baby. You know, all
the black people, all the pologists comes there. They had
the hug liber Carly, come here, look cute, little come here,
take a picture with you know, use the little picture
take a baby and so and but let's let's let's
go back a little bit. But the first thing I
(05:24):
want to talk about is you've been a more Halls graduate.
Talk about that HPCU experience and the importance of it. Man. Look,
so we're going to the Morehouse College. And I was
really young when I went. I was only sixteen years
old as but the experience at Morehouse, the experience at
Morehouse told me a few things. One one, I could
be unapologically black, be comfortable in my own skin. But
(05:46):
it also taught me I could compete anywhere in the world.
You know, Morehouse, as they say, your places crown above
your head, so you can grow into it. And it
just sets that level of expectation. And so being a
black man and you know, uh Rashaun right now, as
we're going through just the tragic in our country, the
grief that it means and you carry as a black man.
Um you know, going to more House that helped me
(06:08):
have a sense of pride and make sure that, um,
you know, I speak for those whose voices sometimes go
and heard and I rise. I rise to that level
of expectation. And so more House was was was amazing
and helping me feel comfortable in my blackness and going
out and being able to have pride in that and
in my everyday life. It's really important because of the
(06:28):
fact that it was in the book when you're talking
about which I which I always found so relatable. When
you're talking about that, you know, the guys from different
parts of the country. You know, the Houston boy. I'm
from Houston, So so I took the Houston board to
water Polo books. You know what I'm saying. And that's
if you get into college right man, and you get
on campused you do. I had my boars from New Orleans.
That was the same all boys. I had my boys
(06:51):
from from New York. You know, they dressed a certain way,
and I had my boars from Chicago, they dressed a
certain way. When you get that college experience. I always
tell people go to college. I always tell young people
go to college. It defines who you could be, who
you could be, and that's the diversity that the diversity
that people don't even imagine exists. You've got You've got
(07:12):
people who are coming the brightest from all around the world. Um,
you know what they're saying. All boys, they still are.
You know, they wear them letterman jackets their entire life.
They forty years old still wear the hon let him
in jacket. But um, you know you still have You
get a chance to learn and cultivate. An iron sharpens iron,
and you're able to grow with each other and those
friendships last for a lifetime. And so I was very,
(07:33):
very lucky to be able to go to more House.
I tell my kids right now, you can go to
any college you want to go through in the entire country,
as long as it's an HBCU. Absolutely I didn't go
to an hp U HBCU. But I'm doing I've doing
a lot of work and promoting the brand. And I
just did that big special with ESPN with Stephen A. Smith,
who I represent, did a big broadcast for ESPN and
(07:54):
raised over four million dollars in scholarships and registered twelve
hundred students for HBCUs. Who was last September, And we're
gonna do it again this year. Hopefully this pandemic calms
down so we can do it again because of the
fact that I understand the value of that form of
education that sometimes gets warmed down. Yes, yes, And we
just have to make sure that especially as black folka
(08:16):
are not just suffering the most in terms of public
health from this COVID nineteen UM, but our businesses are suffering,
and our institutions of higher education and suffering. So I'm
grateful for somebody like you reaching out and reaching up
and giving people a hand up. I have to I
have to that. That's the rules were playing, like, let's
talk about my vanishing country, you know, uh memoir. Talk
to tell us about why you wrote this book first.
(08:39):
So I will tell you this. Man. Look, I didn't
want to write a I didn't want to write a memoir,
per say. I wanted to write a political book. Um,
but no one wanted to buy it. I mean I
I got kept getting turned down. And so I sat
down with Tracy Sharado or at Carpercollins, and she said, look,
tell me your story. And I told her about my
father being shot in the orange Y massacre. I talked
about the trauma of living with with that entails. I
(09:01):
talked talked about being the youngest black elected official in
the country, and you know, living in South Carolina and
working in South Carolina to the hospices of the Confederate Flag.
And I talked to her about losing my good f
Inclemente Pinkney, UM in the Charleston shooting. And you know,
throughout all of those experiences that trauma. Realized that my
trauma may not be your trauma. But if we get
a level of understanding, then we can persevere together. Um.
(09:24):
And she said, you gotta put this time, you gotta
put this down on paper. And you know, the you
never know when your book is gonna come out when
you write it. And I had no idea that my
book was gonna come out during a time where black
folks were dying at extremely high rates, um due to
the coronavirus or pandemic. UM. I never really abou to
(09:45):
have imagine. I mean that we would have had the
depths of of Brianna Taylor, the death of amd Aubrey
UM and now another death in Minnesota. UM. But UM.
You know, so the book comes out in the words
and I'm that I'm on that page UM or those
pages that speaks to the issues of race we have
in this country issues we've never truly dealt with, and
(10:07):
we have someone in the office that's often seems like
he's fueling the problem instead of trying to remedy the product.
And so what that is With that being said, you
know you are a political commentator and this book, Uh,
I just wanted letter everybody know how special you are
as a young man. I want to everybody have special,
(10:29):
but how your parents are. Let's go to your parents
because that's the that's the unknown story that really really
just had me going from page to page to page
to page. Tell us about your dad? Who you're who?
Your friend from college? Your roommates said, he's out Martin
Luther King Jr. Your dad, Yeah, my dad was a
(10:50):
member of Snake. My dad dedicated as life the justice.
My dad was dedicated as life the freedom in the
pursuit thereof And so you know, February Ate, my dad
was shot UM and what's called Arngerek massacre. UM. Three
others were killed Henry Smith, Samuel Hammond, and Delano Middleton
and UM there was a total of twenty nine that
were injured. UM. All the officers who fired shots into
(11:10):
the group of students were tried, they were all found
not guilty. My father ended up being the only person
that UM they charged, tried and convicted of that night's
violence they charged them and being the first and only
one man right in the history of this country. UM.
And you know my mother, My mother helped integrate the
schools in Memphis, Tennessee. And UM, my parents, they all
(11:31):
came from this um worldview that you had to become
a part of something larger than yourself, that you had
to um push this country to be a more perfect union.
And that came along with a great deal of trauma.
But they instilled that in all of us. So um
as I as I go through life, I just go
through life trying to be a change agent and make
my parents proud because they poured so much into me.
(11:53):
They poured a lot. Before we go to break, I'm
gonna give out some a little nice little nuggets about HBCUs.
There over one HBCUs as the country. They rolled tim
percent of African American students, and despite constituting only three
percent of four year colleges in this country, HBCUs have
produced eight percent of the black judges, of the black lawyers,
(12:13):
of the black doctors, forty percent of the black engineers,
forty percent of the Black members of Congress, and intent
of the black CEOs in America. That's what HBCUs do
for this country. Continue to do for this country. I
am talking to my man, but Cary Sellers will be
right back after this break to hear more about his
amazing book. It's a page turn of y'all, My Vanishing Country,
(12:36):
a memoir, and has a cute little picture of him
on the cover. So that's what got me mad. I
got a cute little picture of him on the cover,
but I don't have no cute little pictures on him
inside the book. We're gonna talk about that later off
because he's my man if we're gonna preach this relationship.
But otherwise that's just my little side comment. This is
a great book because it's inspiring. It's inspiring because of
the fact that he lived a life in the relationships
(12:58):
that he's been allways. Tell people is important to have
mentors around you. And I'm gonna tell you a story
about who my mentor wars and how mentors can be
important to you and how they can also lead you
in the wrong direction, because that's all you know that's
all you do. Be right back with more money making conversations.
I'm Roushan McDonald. It's finally here, the season of celebration,
(13:20):
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(13:43):
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(14:05):
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or download the app for free auto dot Ai. That's
O T T E R dot Ai. Hi. This ra
Sean McDonald and you're listening to money making conversation My
Vanishing Country a memoir, But cary Sellers is on the
phone the cary Um. When I was going through this book,
and it was almost like a history lesson. It was
(15:31):
kind of like two books and telling me stuff I
didn't know, things I did know. Now, your major in
college was in African American Studies, it was it was yes,
And I bring that up because my degrees in mathematics,
and I did and my minor was in sociology, and
I took African American Studies, which changed my life, by
(15:51):
the way, because I can remember because I realized that
that I went to public school, they just teach you
nothing about what African Americans have accomplished. A free you.
Then you make it to the brow to the border education.
Then all of a suden you make it to the
Martin Luther King speech and that. But that's what it
all did, the Mark Luke King assassination. That's why it
(16:11):
pretty much ends in public school with education. Then we
go then we do the Black History mark, and it's
the same individuals and Black History mark that we talked about,
which they are important, but we've accomplished more than like
six people. And so when I took African American Studies,
it evolved so much information to me that it brought
me to tears many times because I went I didn't know,
(16:32):
and and and and it's said talk about that that
education and lack of information, how it just keeps the
nine African Americans or people of color over and over again.
You know, one of the things that I when I
was writing the book, UM, you go back in your
read sentences that that stick out to you in one
of those sentences that sticks out to me is when
I was writing UM and and My one of the
(16:56):
lessons my father taught me, which is that heroes walk
amongst us. My father and my mother they never wanted
us to believe that the only heroes we had were Martin,
Malcolm and Rosa. Um. You know, I grew up around
the Stokely car Michaels and the merryon berries. UM. I
studied the Majesica Simpkins and septem of Clarks, as well
as the Elevators and Fanny Little Hammers, and so all
(17:16):
of these I call them my aunts and uncles, all
of these people who are part of my my my village.
You know that I'm a product of the proverbial it
takes a village to raise a child. All of these
people were part of my village. And you know, we
had an opportunity. I had an opportunity of growing up
to live and breathe that history. The unique part about
growing up in the South, though, is that you don't
have to just read your history in books, and you
(17:40):
can actually go out and touch and talk to people
who uh, you know, they smelled, guns smoked, they laid
on those courthouse and jail house floors. You know, those
old ladies that sit on the first and second row
of the churches, to where the big hats, the two
or three sticks of butter, and the and um, coconut
pies and as we potato pies. Those ladies have seen
so much and and they hug you, they sustain you.
(18:01):
They give you so much life, but they also give
you that wisdom. It's just like the old man in
the barbershop who ain't thinkinging the haircut, but he's telling
you the stories about when he saw Sunny listen fight,
and when King came through town and all of these
individuals and stuff. I tried to give all of those
people voices and and and have some historical context because
this is this is the key. When we talked about
(18:22):
race in this country, Um, it's a it's the most
difficult conversation we have to have. But white folk only
look at race through the context of their lifetime. And
so in this book, what I tried to do was
show how race has impacted us through a continuum. And
so you can see the progression from my my grandparents
to my father and mother to where I am now.
(18:43):
So you understand that trauma. And if black folk read
this and get a sense of pride and white folk
read this and get a sense of understanding, I think
we can have some difficult conversations with compassion, those conversations
that are necessary. Really, like you said, years and counting,
I believe that's where you say in the book. You know,
I want to read this portion said I always tell
(19:04):
people that we chipped away at the glass ceiling. Glass
ceiling mean uh. Voters in South Carolina and I won
forty one percent of the vote, and Georgia Stacy abros
one forty nine percent, and in Florida and Drew Gill
him he won forty um. We're talking about states that
are read states. We're talking about states that blacks do
(19:26):
have a majority in certain situations, but they are fearful
of outcomes. Are they are They're so beaten down that
they don't feel that their vote matters. As we go
into twenty sixteen and you're being a political commentator and
you're writing a book called My Vanishing Country, our Memoir,
talk to us about that. What what what? What? What
do we have to overcome? What do we have to do?
Those numbers you laid out across but they're not victorious. Yeah. No.
(19:50):
The first thing we gotta do is overcome Voter suppression
is something that people don't talk about it nothing in
this country. You know. I tell people you gotta show
up and vote. You gotta show up and show out
at the polls. And you know, if voting wasn't so important,
people wouldn't work so hard to take it away from
it as first. Um, So we gotta overcome that. We
gotta we gotta push our candidates to be better. You know,
I don't mind people pushing Joe Biden to be better,
(20:12):
to be a better candidate, to have an agenda that
positively affects people of color. But I also can state
unequivocally that I'm gonna do everything I can to vote
for Joe Biden and get Joe Biden over the hump
because my children don't deserve to grow up in a
country where Donald Trump is president of the United States,
and so we have to be willing to do that.
And like, one of the things that I want to
see us do is activate I want to see us
(20:33):
activate our base. I want to you know, it's one
thing to go vote, but it's another thing to go
pick up your cousin who sits in front of the
gas station every day, just hillering at people who hadn't voted,
probably since Barack Obama. He voted, and he voted in
O eight and twelve and that was it. I need
you to go get him. I need you to register
your high school uh um, students in your community to vote.
(20:53):
I need this to be a participatory effort. I need
everybody to get involved because I'm gonna tell you this,
those Trump supporters they're gonna show up, They're gonna vote,
and we have to be there and we have to
make our voices heard. If not xenophobia, racism, and biggotry
are going to continue to reign supreme absolutely. Uh You
were from North Carolina, born in North Carolina, grew up
in Denmark, South Carolina, home of a piggy wigly store Okay,
(21:19):
now you stay in your book. A legal desegregation ended
in Denmark in eighteen seventy two. I'm from Houston. That
was my freshman year in high school. The fact that
I'm living, I'm where worlds away from you, and you
send legal desegregation in it in Denmark in eighteen seventy two,
So that imbalance of what we call freedom of the
(21:39):
opportunity to succesed was not available to all blacks on
all parts of the country at the same time. How
was it growing up in a community like Denmark, South Carolina.
I mean, so Denmark was an interesting community because we
had you know, we had train tracks that went north, south,
east and west, which was rear in the south. We
had a bubbling we have bubbling small businesses. We had
(22:01):
two historically black colleges and Universe one is a two
year technical college. UM you know where where I get
friend may Rest of Peace J Anthony Brown used to
go to Denmark Technical College m and Vorheeses and Vorhees
College and so you you we had those two colleges.
We and it was the epitome of UM, these black
(22:21):
small towns which had this upward economic mobility. UM but
when trade came through, Um, you know, the manufacturing plants left. UM,
the small businesses shutter. Um. We we when you know,
government played its role in petty politics and we didn't
expand medicaid. Um, you know, the the hospitals left. UM.
(22:42):
And so people ask me what is it like now,
and I say, I write about it clearly in my
vanishing country. That's why one of the reasons that the
title is my vanishing country. You know, when you look
at when you look at places like this where a
lot of black folk in the United States of America lived,
you have food deserts where you can't go to with
three miles and get healthy fruits and vegetables. Um, you
(23:03):
have you have a lack of access to care. So
my closest hospital is thirty minutes away. Um, you're drinking
dirty water. There are a hundred cities in the United
States that have a um that have a water that's
worse than Flint, Michigan. And many of those are black
and brown cities. Um, You're you're breathing in dirty air.
And so you you take all of these things, you
take all of these systemic levels of injustice and oppression,
(23:25):
and you layer them, um with now we're in a pandemic. Um.
It's just it's it's a really, really tough time to
be black in America. That's a fact. Well that that's
that's that's very true, and I I deal with it,
and I um and I'm often time confused because I
don't have options to how do I make it better?
But the one way you can make it better, like
(23:47):
you said, vote, exercise your right to vote, participate, don't
be a don't be a silent participant. But also don't
let people take away you're hoping. Don't let people take
away your faith. I'm very hopeful, and I maintaining faith
because I have to fight so that my children can
be free. So you know, I don't I don't play
it pamp. I don't paint a dystopian view. I paint
(24:10):
a view that's very real and honest, saying that we've
made a lot of progress in this country, but we
still have it other ways to go. And so now
it's our duty. It's my duty to continue the legacy
set forth by people like yourself, my parents, et cetera,
and carry that time forward so that my children live
in a better country. And I still believe in what
Lincoln call the better angels of our nature. You know, Uh,
(24:31):
Paccari when I when I was going through the book,
and like I said, so Many Lawyers is a great book.
And I'm talking about the book My Advantaging Country, a
memoir written by Baccari, sellers out of HarperCollins UH Publishing House. Um,
your friend Pop, he was older than you. Um, he
had aspirations until the death of his dad. Uh, and
he chose sports. And there's so many Pops in our
(24:56):
neighborhoods I can remember. I have a version of Pop.
They grew up with me and didn't He made it out,
but he didn't accomplish what he should have been able
to accomplish because of mistakes. And we should all be
able to overcome our mistakes. Talk to us about Pop
from your neighborhood in Denmark, South Carolina. So, you know,
I don't know if Pop will hear this episode of
(25:17):
me on money Making Conversations. Where's he based there? Now?
Where was he? What was he living there? Right? Now?
There's a war his college campus radio station. Good well,
good well, I'm gonna make sure he listens to it.
And the reason being is because I want Pop to
know that he was the success. You know, we always
have this attension, We always have this these these very
(25:38):
difficult conversations, and you know, Pop is very emblematic of
what it means to be a black man in this
country and trying to overcome. UM, even though you have
those obstacles that are placed in front of you and
my family, we opened our doors to Pop. Pop as
my brother, he has a piece of my heart, always
will and so you know, I feel challenged sometimes and
difficulty trying to figure out, UM, you know, how we
(26:01):
can improve the relationship and which which direction we should
go in. UM. But even more but even more importantly, UM,
as he grows into being a father, as he continues
to work hard, and you know, he graduated from college
and he's doing everything he should do. You know, he's
a success. And what all he's going to do is
make it make it easier for the next generation, UM
(26:22):
to to be better. And so UM, you know we
have to lift up our brothers especially and during this
climate and during this time, well, you know it's really
important that you say that, and because it was it
was a very UM I always say, you know, it's
about opportunities a very um poignant moment in your book
when he says, why did y'all come get me? You know,
and because he felt that if you guys would have
(26:43):
gotten him, pulled him into y'all because he basically lived
y'all life. He was with you guys, but he lived
on the other side of the track, and so and
just just explained that that whole different world dynamic and
how how it affected him and how it affected you
and you're stern brothers. So I mean it was humbling
(27:03):
for us because, um, you know, we we were always
aware of um the blessings we had and even more
aware and in tune to those who didn't. And so
we were raised to make sure that anything we had,
we we gave as much as possible. And my parents
poured so much into Pop, just like they poured into us.
(27:24):
And so, um the challenges, you know, what do you
do with that? And as me and challenge continue, as
me and Pop continue to grow older, we challenge each
other right now to be better husbands and better fathers.
And that's that's that is for us, the definition of success.
And UM, I hope people read about Pop and realize
how many pots they have in their life and just
worry about not giving them a hand out, but giving
(27:46):
them a hand up. Wow, that's great. I hope this
book becomes a documentary because um, it's it's so many
stories additional stories that I that uh motivated me out
of this book, Bacari. I want to thank you for
coming on the show to talk about your book, My
Vans Country of Mental As you can see man on
moral day, I was reading your book and enjoying it.
(28:08):
By man, I just didn't have the peanuts, that's all.
Thank you so much for allowing me somebody if your
statue to utilized this platform means a lot of humble
so I'm grateful. Thank you so much. Definitely we'll put
it in my if I got a fan club send
out newsletter thinety thousand fan club members. My social media's
always a million, so I will be promoting your book,
my friend. Be safe and keep listening. Okay, thank you
(28:31):
so much. If you want to hear more episodes of
Money Making Conversations, please go to Money Making Conversations dot com.
I'm Rashan McDonald. I'm your host. In this season of
Giving Cools has gifts for all your loved ones for
those who like to keep it cozy, find fleeces, sweaters, loungeware,
blankets and throws, or support minority owned or founded brands
(28:53):
by giving gifts from Human Nation and Shame Moisture. And
in the spirit of giving, Coals Cares is donating a
million dollars to local nonprofits nationwide. Give with all your
heart this season with great gifts from Coals or coals
dot Com. Still living in manually taking notes, there is
a better way to start the new year with auto
dot ai automatically get meeting notes. Auto dot ai works
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for virtual meetings like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet.
Sign up on the web for free or download in
the app stores auto dot ai. That's O T T
E R dot ai. Sticky notes, email alerts, a string
around your finger. They're just not big enough. So here's
a big reminder from the California Lottery. Tomorrow's Megamillions jack
potties which three million play now, Please play responsibly. Must
(29:38):
be eighteen years older to purchase player pie
Host
Rushion McDonald
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