i'm pleased to see so many

people here. of course, as johnnie said, i just literally landed. i jumped out of the plane got into the car, didn't i was actually going to make it. but i'm just honored, privileged to be a part of this group and to get to know. to be able to introduce this series. i was at hope to download the book and listen to it on the flight down and, then all the way back up. but as luck would have it, my apple iphone didn't download it so i can't tell you much about the book and you guys already know brian. so without ado i'd like to bring brian up here for. the exam. okay. as it was nice to be here. thanks for coming. here is i appreciate it. if you have one if you're

introduced by one name, you either a great philosopher or a fantastic soccer. so it's one of the other. thanks so much for coming out of truly thrilled to be here to be invited to come down. it worked out me because i was having lunch of the bidens and i said, you mind if i run out for a minute and said, no problem. and of course, he couldn't ask me right away. he had to see no card he was on. and then he told me, oh, no problem, you can go over there. and then he also said, i don't know there was an isi in in the area we're going to have to handle that. so now i'm thrilled to be because i love history. i love the history of our country. and i didn't how rare a commodity that would be. but that's where i was pushing back and making some progress. and what i've enjoyed most about the books, people say. brian it's easy. it's easy to write the book. then promote the book. you have to go out and travel the country. i have it. i meeting people. i love the people. they watch the channel, they listen to the radio show because. they care about the country and they do it whether they're in business, whether they're

landscape shapers. sometimes you just lose track of history. i you know, i took history. i took social studies. i didn't really keep up with going on. i never really knew about bad teacher. it's okay. but if i'm able to go through my books and talk about america's not like i'm above them, but i'm one of them, let people realize on the same team and you should embrace our history, not just about your sports teams, about our country, and understand about a what philosophy you're in, what you believe, who you for. we're we're in the same jersey. and if i could get people to look instead of worry about what's happening, number one, you get a prospect if the world's not coming apart, that we've never it's never been so bad is not a correct statement is one of these things that happens with great countries after a while when you're in first place for a long time sometimes the locker room gets a little rough right now, the locker rooms a little rough and a lot of it spent in the courtroom because of what other people are saying in the locker room. if you understand my analogy. so i've had a chance to go in

the past and not plowed ground for example we know washington, we know about jefferson, we know jackson, we know about sam. you know about frederick douglass. abraham lincoln. you know how they're related to each other and the around them that make our country great. and i think you agree with me as great as our founding fathers were our countries up of everyday people, so-called everyday average people, extraordinary things, not for themselves to get famous because they believe in the cause and the country. and if i could give some attention that i wanted to do it so of coming up to delaware and spending a couple of hours with you guys, it's my especially to talk about these two guys, teddy and booker t and that was the wrong direction. so they okay, i was a little bit too far ahead. don't look don't look. okay. so this is how two men in a time in which everyone's talking about your george floyd and how we're divided, i'd to talk about

a different time, which we clearly were divided with segregation. and jim flourishing, these two men found a way to come together from very disparate lifestyles. think about it. you couldn't be more different. so you have booker t washington. you talk about a guy born in slavery who never knew who his father was, never had shoes, never had pants. he also remembers when union soldiers came to his house, to the big house on the plantation, and he told everyone come. and they made the announcement around what he believes was the emancipation proclamation says essentially a free looked at his mom and he said she was crying but she was happy and next year they got back to the house and they said, well, what they thought was the house said, what do we do now? well, she had a companion and they headed to west virginia. all he wanted to do was get an education. all he had to do was he had to work in the mines and in the mines. was but something that he would do from the age of 11 to 13.

and he was claustrophobic and it was hard to breathe and him and his brother would show up and always say his mom i got to learn how to read. so finally she said here's a book it's the dictionary. and he would just read the dictionary. and then day coming home, he hears kids his own age talking about i'm quitting. i'm not doing this job anymore. which job is that? he said working for this woman? she's a task master. all she wants to do. whatever i do it's not good enough because. what do you mean? he goes, yeah i work inside the house. so we went up and he talked to it, went to his house, says, can i work for this woman? and it turns out all she wanted things done right and all booker t washington in wanted was to do things right and to and what you realize how astute kid was that determined he was. so what you what do you need because i love to learn to. reena right. she goes, i was a teacher, a husband was the richest guy in the area and she was all alone all day. and he became she became mentor and he began to read.

he began to write and learned how to walk. you learned how to keep his shoulders back to keep his head straight, understood how to talk to people because she got rid of his dialect. so he wanted to go to the next place. and one day he's walking home and he hears to other people talking kind of loud. and he said, you know, if you can get over to hampton college in virginia, they have to let you in. so he asked his parents, can i go? he had $20 in his pocket anyway. and it reminds me almost like, do you remember, jerk, when you walk outside your house, just hitchhike. he walked outside. there's nowhere to go. and he just started walking in direction, ran out of money halfway work for people, got some more money, slept on the docks, got his way to, virginia. he showed up. he was a mess. and they looked at him and said, who you are? i don't know who you are, but you can't come in here. came back the next day. he's described sleeping between breaks in the sidewalk, came back the next day and the next day. and the next day. finally, he realized, wasn't getting in. so he started working again in the docks and he started working

very successfully. he cleaned himself up and he came back and she said to him, you're you again. she goes, well, what do you want? she goes, right now i opening, but first thing i need my classroom. well, guess who taught him how to clean the classroom. guess who taught him how to clean the classroom better than anybody. everything he did was efficient the dusting was perfect. five down to the end degree. and he walks in, she goes, who helped you with that? she goes, i want to watch you do one next. you know, they clean the whole school. she goes, can be a janitor. the day you could go to school at night, booker t washington became the best student he would go back and graduate. and then when he left for a while to become a teacher, they asked him to come back and teach the night school, then organize the night school. and his mentor was general armstrong and he mentions people and never mentions the color of their skin. i had to go back and look at pictures. gerald armstrong was a union hero. he ran hampton. he took a liking to kid who

would not be denied unbelief, the kind unbelievably hard working, extremely smart and always wanted to learn. so general armstrong said they just got this note in alabama story in the school it's going to be this it's going to be named after the local town is tuskegee because you're the perfect one to running it 24 years old they they wanted a white guy goes i got a black guy and he's going to be the best thing ever did for you. he shows up. it's a torn up shed and a dilapidated church when are you going to teach? there were holes in the roof and the biggest guy would hold an umbrella over said as he taught he had two weeks to get class together we got 36 people. almost every one of the class was older than him. and then he would grow it and grow and grow and. then he used the students and he said, going to build this better, we're going to make it bigger. and why? he said, because we're going to learn trade. just because you're in school, learning to read and write and to raise your open your mind. you always have to learn a skill he says white people in this

area aren't willing to hire you yet. you have to be indispensable. so they would do it and almost a page of the karate kid, they would build the school and then they'd work at night they go to school and i work during the day or going to during the day and work at night. women allowed to. they also learned to trade. they also got educated. they also became. and what was his goal to send african-american kids into the town and become teachers and spread the word change? 200 years of perceptions. what white people about black people and to hear booker t washington say it was just phenomenal. he said you have to understand that these people we told for the longest time they were inferior. it's going to take them a while to understand we're not. now think about that philosophy unbelievably mature looking at the big view and he also said i could go he found out early that a lot of people wanted to help andrew carnegie jpmorgan samuel huntington with trains. everybody saw this in the potential and tuskegee and what they were doing and they were

pumping up thousands of students who were graduating more than harvard. a saw was happening wanted to help and he could have went to the north and lived like a celebrity could went to europe and lived very easy life making money off speeches. he says, no, i'm staying. the south, an income segregation incomes comes jim crow it unbelievably difficult. but for the people that knew him, for the thousands graduated, there were little by little changing the perception of blacks america. and that's why i just can't get enough of booker t washington and how much there is to learn from him. how much he wrote, and how much he wouldn't be denied. it also taught me something else about. vision and and you know, we talk about norman peale, we talk about anthony robbins. we about napoleon hill and talk about thinking grow rich. booker t washington beat all of them to the punch because in his mind, he pictured successful. he would not be bothered by people that hated him. he says, i wouldn't hate anybody. i don't want to give them that energy because it takes too much

time to hate somebody. i got too much to do. and i remember one joke that was related. it was his book, so i know it's true, he said and we're going to get to this after controversial dinner he had with teddy roosevelt the white house, he's sitting by a train and a guy walks up to him and says, are you booker t washington? it's a white guy is like, yes, i this is going to go wrong. he goes he goes you are one of the finest men in america. and he goes, sir, thank you very much. but i have to think it's president roosevelt. he said i used to think so until he invited you for dinner dinner. and him and teddy roosevelt at it. but no, he also said i realized i can't help that guy. i have to let his words were i have to let sleeping dogs lie and i'm going to worry about people that. i can change their mind and understand next generation that's coming in. and the more i read it, the more you read about how tough things were for blacks that time. i'm just in awe of what he so is what led me to this moment. i started in sports as a sports

guy with a passion for history and a fascination with news. so i did the games du and why did i write that book? i did because i wanted to be a great soccer player and wait a second. oh, i remember. i wasn't. and i played since i was five and all i talked about played 300 days a year and i was an average division two player. and the more people i to they weren't michael jordan, they weren't mike tyson. they were people who tried. they did what they could, whether it injury, lack of focus, unfortunate, maybe whatever it is. but those moments helped shape them. so i wanted to prove people used to say to me brian why do you care so much a division two team where you the only that show up for your games in college are your parents. i got i don't know that's how i keep score and then i wonder the games do count. they do because what you learn, you learn how to overcome being bench by somebody saying that they're better than you or you have to work harder and work smarter. and if you learn from life things that don't go well, i think you benefit it. in that book of 72 people from gerald ford to richard nixon,

the people that had passed away at the time to george h.w. bush, to george w bush, to john kerry, i have from every walk of life and people that passed away, i got the biographers which led me to which led me to it's how you play the game. i want to prove that people like george foreman and george patton, no difference, because pat wanted to be a great football player. the problem is he was 135 pounds. he was a linebacker and he wanted to be great. he did. and he we found letters of him writing to his future wife saying, what's wrong with me? am i ever going to achieve anything in my life. and when i read that, i felt so heart and i'm like, here. patton was doubting himself, the world's best general. but i also assess this. the george patton is the people's general. he could understand and know what to say to to go be a grunt and, be in a be in the mud, in the grime, be one of the guys. because he knew it was like to sit on the bench and be an also i think that helped shape them he also an olympian and then i

had this idea and i saw bill riley writing these books and bill rose writing books about history and i'm like, it's going to sell because this bill o'reilly. and then i read it and i said, well, lincoln assassination, killing jesus. which by the way, i hate to give away the ending in the title, but in that one it he also said this thing he goes, i did a killing jesus coming out. i got new stuff in it and really it's not in the bible. i'm okay. bill o'reilly trumps king james. so so but they fantastic books it got right to the point wasn't written for the scholar they were written for the everyday american. i go bill i got one story. have you ever heard of it? i george washington spies. what are you talking about i what happened right where we live. i live in mashpee. he lives in manhasset. i go for three and a half years. he kept their secret topic. it top secret until 1930. no one could put it all together. what they did behind the scenes in the war. the war. those weren't my words. those are the words of george washington himself.

if we don't have the spy ring, we don't win the war. and i go, good, because i can't relate to george washington's greatness. you read about it. he lives up to the hype. but what if told you a farmer? what if i told a longshoreman? what if i told you a printer or a grocery store owner and? a bar owner all combine to learn the craft of with invisible ink and and dead drops all the middle of a war. i went to the cia to their history department to. make sure that i'm got the story that are so caught up in it that i'm not i'm writing something. it didn't happen. and i walked into the history department, the cia at langley. a couple of things to keep in mind. when you get your background check, you need your driver to get a background check because i couldn't get it past the gate. so in 100 degree day of the walk, know the two or you? george by myself, i get there. i'm so and then i get there deep into the bowels of the history section of langley in the cia. and i'm going through right before i get to the history section, i see a gift shop. i just has i got don't blame yourself if you don't get much

traffic here today, who's going to the gift shop at the cia? if you could invest in background check. but i digress. so i sat down there with them and i said, look, can you just tell this spy ring of this original spy ring that people talk about and? i go, can you tell me what you have? because you tell me what you have? so i told her and they got the books, they shot them. it's no, no. we talked about this and william did a lot of work on this. former cia director. this is true. and i go, what do you to help me out? so i was to put together the pedestrian spy ring. and what they did was so extraordinary. you would find a british officer. george washington didn't fight. he out spied us. and i go, that's the americans story. average everyday american doing extraordinary things for thought of what a country could be defeating the world's superpower. that's your country. so i looked at this thing for 20 years before i had the guts to write the so i was done and they said, brian, the book is sold a million copies last month well over, a million copies. and they did a study.

they asked people why they bought it and. it turns out it's because i'm cute. that's that's that's where they says, guys, i know you're thinking so. so i go, what else are you interested in? i go, i'm caught up in the war on terror. and every time someone talks about the war on terror, they talk about what jefferson did in the barbary wars, which got thomas jefferson, the tripoli pirates. and that is, you know, about but you know about william eaton. he was basically half the rockefellers versus stallone. this guy was a brilliant guy knew three languages was able to go hundred miles through the desert to, take derna and almost take tripoli. if didn't cut a premature deal and, stand up to terrorism. while all europe paid tribute, paid ransom america took them on part of the reason was we don't have any money. and the other part of reason was, well, we were able to adapt to and said piracy and hostage taking is not going to work. but as long as we have having more problems with, the middle east, just kidding. we have a lot of problem. and then i go into, the war of 1812, andrew jackson, the

miracle of new orleans. if i told you of james monroe, james madison, thomas jefferson would become he wouldn't be surprised. but if i told you that an orphan kid at 11 years old who would volunteer for the revolutionary war loses family in that war, his mom would die right? the war ended. be an orphan would emerge as a two time president, a general senator, a self-taught general, i should add a congressman, a lawyer and a judge. only in america can that happen without a social safety net. andrew jackson, you need to know that story and the people that helped him which brought me to the guy he mentored, which is sam houston, the alamo avengers. sam houston was on his path. greatness got himself. ins got his own way a few times. turns out drinking a lot and fighting. not the. best thing for your career. but he ends up coming of it and leading us texas to their freedom. i always to talk about what happened after the alamo. people in texas get this every other year they believe that is the only history. but what happened in battle

stage in syntel when a group of americans rallied in 70 minutes, defeated the mexican in santa ana? that's a story i think we had to know which brought to the president freedom fighter in the middle of george floyd. i didn't really relish talking about race in america i couldn't do a better lincoln story than all these great books. i couldn't do a better frederick douglass than david blight. but what if i talked how they came together from? the most extreme extraordinary circumstance aunties to lead america during a most vital time. and if there is philosophy that comes through this book that comes to all when you study history is america seems to get the right people, the right time when we need them the most. can't figure it out, but it happens. most unlikely places you can imagine. part of that is jackson. part of that is houston and my goodness, part that is for frederick douglass as well as frederick douglass in abraham lincoln. abject poverty. lincoln, one year of formal schooling he learns to read learns write runs for office loses most the time, loses a

senate race and, captures america's imagination, starts this new party at the perfect. the party splits enough for him to win with 5% of the vote and half the country voting for him ends up being arguably our best president. and when i talk about a in frederick douglass born in slavery, never knew his mom, never knew his dad, just determined to matter in life, got himself educated, overcame things i can't imagine reminds me of half luther king, malcolm x or third malcolm x up luther king and muhammad ali. he was privy active. he was direct. he was he was charming, was charismatic. and the guy had a inspirational. he ends up being his own editor, publisher a self-taught, charismatic speaker. i can't begin to tell. can't get my head around what he overcame to be this impactful player. one of the greatest americans ever that had every reason to be angry at america. but all he wanted to do was make america because he knew it's constitution. we weren't living up to.

we didn't have a flawed constitution. he evolved to that. which brings me to and booker t now is anyone like the rocky movies. what's the best thing about the rocky movies? so one of the best things, one part leads to the next. so i love the way sam houston fought the fought in the creek war horse. you bend and he fought under andrew jackson was able to pick up where that left off and where frederick douglass and booker t. i'm like, what do i what do i do between booker t and and teddy roosevelt? what's the link? and it's pretty obvious for teddy roosevelt. we found out that that is him at eight years old and he's looking out over broadway. you know who's coming through broadway? lincoln's body. and his dad says lincoln's assassination is something you got to remember. i want you. and he brought him to his grandfather's house and he's looking at lincoln with somebody he used to talk to the picture and statue of lincoln, it would got in the rest of his life. he actually envisioned that he had a relationship with them

they were love jefferson love lincoln now for douglass that's him you know where he is? tuskegee. so picture this booker t washington up to one man more than anybody else. and it was frederick douglass picture. great. it must have been for that 20 something to have frederick douglass come visit the and give him his blessing. it's beyond belief in many respects. so as i told you about booker washington and what he got to get to tuskegee, i'm giving you the short course because i still want you read the book. but i do want to give you an idea about teddy roosevelt, because i know a lot of you are sitting there saying bright, it's huge stretch to compare the two. i get it. slavery, that's that's beyond hard to get through i'm not comparing them directly but teddy roosevelt had money. the one thing he didn't have was health the kid grew up. he had bad asthma. his parents described. and i talked to his great grandson who helped me with the book. he's 80 who knew teddy roosevelt's wife. she lived much passed him into the i think 1959. and i one thing he had is that asthma and when you have asthma

as a kid back then, you could do nothing. you just sit and watch. your kid may be choked to death. they had this great idea. give them whiskey and blow cigar smoke in his face. i'd get a new medical if that was my recommendation. yeah. so you know what i'm talking about? i thought. thought that was. i thought i was reading a children's book and they were trying to get me to the end, but that was true. so he sat and he basically had trouble leaving the house. and when he did get up, he weighed about pounds. you get beat up all the time. he had very few friends, so though he had money and affluence, he had an unbelievable parents. he didn't have the one thing he needed most, a robust life to be able to go outside and play, do things that normal kids do, even though he was surrounded by opportunity when he would gradually grow out of it, they went to the nile and they went on trips and he began to lose that asthma. his dad said, you got a great mind. you spend your free time reading, but you got to build up your body. and he read books and found out how to build up his body, his tangos. i can't believe how robust you are. i'm going to get you weights

and. he became the most physical, aggressive president ever again. the one message that i don't think i have to tell anyone in this room, but maybe you want to relate to kids the next generation is that you could make your weakness, your strength, if you choose, and then you become a better person because of it. you're going to tell me that teddy roosevelt didn't spend the rest of life sticking up for the little guy because. he knows what it was like to be that little frail. and then when he goes to college the first time he's really with other kids, he ends up trying to fit in, finding groove, finding himself, using great brain to write this definitive on the naval wars of the war of 1812. talking his uncles who were kicked out of the country for fighting for the south, for fighting for the british and used them as weapons and use them as resources so teddy roosevelt became a guy that became a police chief looking out for the little guy going into the tenements filled with italians rolling cigars six and eight years old finding out what was going on with the cops why

they were drinking during the day not wearing uniforms, setting up academy, creating an organization. and then when it came to for office, all he wanted to do the right thing. no man owns me. he would never do anything except the thing which made him totally palatable to the power. so they would fighting him whole time like somebody else. i know it's on the tip. my tongue doesn't. sorry about that. sometimes it happens when you get older it's it's like about somebody else. so he ends up going to bat for benjamin harrison president you probably don't remember stick him in right in between grover cleveland administrations as benjamin harrison goes. yeah i don't have a great job for you, but i want you to clean up the bureaucracy with these government workers and he he went in and he did he realized it needed incentive yet to thin the place out, made them responsible. and he understood how to work the bureaucracy so he knows law and order. he knows what it's like to stick up for the little guy he, knows it's like not to be on and then he knows what it's like to clean out a bureaucracy. he's getting there and then he

starts making some waves, make some real ends to the point where grover cleveland wins back. he's democrat when he wins back the white house, he goes, i'm leaving teddy roosevelt. so he left, stayed another two years, came back and then impressed enough to become assistant of the navy. the war breaks out. he goes i'm volunteering becomes an officer colonel you know what happened so he goes out. the military guy knows law and order. he knows it's like the stick up for the little guy. he knows what it's like to have money. they hung out with his family, knows what it's like not to have money. so he is the perfect guy until he's running for office. gets that office, he comes home one day to find out his wife and, his mom die in the same day. so teddy roosevelt, to clear his head, goes out to north dakota where they were just territories. he's mister rich guy is sleeping on the ground the ruggedness of ranchers wearing glasses they look down on him but he earned their respect so this guy is building up the perfect to lead our country comes back a war hero becomes governor and they

want to get rid of him because he's getting rid of all the corruption. so they make him president. he doesn't want to do job. he's like, it's a place where careers, he's in the mountains and finds mckinley shot this horrible human being that's going to be a disrupter is not worthy of the office, is too raw too much of self-promoter becomes president of states. well one thing you wanted to do is address race in america. and he read up from slavery. that's the autobiography of booker t washington he has his wife read it. he says, we have to meet this guy. so the book that got me excited. that would get you excited. gets teddy roosevelt excited. in 1901, they meet in new york city. he also comes with the vice president. now, want to president one day, but let's work together. he goes you're going to come to tuskegee was i loved him mckinley get shot he dies. he writes a letter knocking able to make it tuskegee you're not going to believe mckinley's dead. and i'm president. is it? why did you visit me so? when he comes in, word gets out the booker t washington there. so teddy roosevelt says, come

see. and that creates. the visit. is the white house? no, just a sketch. why it a big deal? because in the south were not ready for a black man. even the most prestigious famous one of the country to go to a white house at the white house. as despicable as that is, that was america at that time. it created the most hideous headlines. it's all in the book that you could imagine. and they no idea it would cause this in teddy roosevelt's mind is a great man, self-motivated he's going to teach me how to take the south and how to make life better. and a booker t washington is mine. the more power i get doesn't want it for himself. he does want to be rich more power i get. the more money for african americans in the south, more money for tuskegee. and historically black colleges. they realize blew up. we have to keep our we have to keep our relationship low key and they did and guess one of the key advise -- for teddy roosevelt for seven and a half years was booker t washington.

so think that in a time in which people blacks were inferior to whites in the great part of our country because of a compromise we never should have made because of an election controversy that never should happen. rutherford hayes to be president. a compromise was cut and they said what the south wants. the republican who can present pull troops out of the south and let us run our own gladys, run her own shop. they said, you better. that's fine. but remember, the war is over everyone's equal. remember that many people did and lot of the segregationist democrats were looking to turn back the clock. and that's the life that the tuskegee president had to deal with. and instead of saying, woe is me, he said, how do i deal with this and make it better for himself? but for everybody? he wouldn't take carnegie's money. he wouldn't take jpmorgan's money, said, if you give me, money's going right to the school. they said, you got to take a vacation, general armstrong got a heart attack, wrote him a letter. you were too hard. you're going to end up like with

a heart attack. he goes, all right, i'll take a vacation so he takes a two week vacation, goes to europe, finds out. they want him to speak the whole time he comes back. he's a global phenomenon, but he's not just setting up the tuskegee. he's setting up these schools along with the founder of sears rosenwald. so he's training a whole generation i don't know what it's like to make that type of an impact on america. i don't know why he doesn't have his face on the side of a mountain, but if you ask teddy roosevelt, he'd put it there because he served on his board he was in awe of what he saw. we have a speech all made to give the commencement address. he basically when he was so excited to see what he was seeing, he basically destroyed the whole speech and just winged it. but the speech is still written. it's in booker t washington book. his goal was just make a maximum. it started with mckinley and then teddy roosevelt knocked it out of the park. but it was all about my last point is it was all about the best thing for country and the people when roosevelt decides to come back and run against taft,

he said, hey, booker, you buddy. teddy, i need your endorsement. nobody said, can't do it because if you it's going to hurt my school. and he said, i understand. and when booker t you know when teddy roosevelt had to make some decisions and ignore to ignore booker washington's best advice which he should have gone to is like i understand you're the president doesn't mean it's going to hurt your relationship. it's what's better the country so a few quotes that i think defined it and i want you guys to answer questions. i could go on for hours because i'm so passionate about this, especially when i'm looking at an audience that cares more than me. some things about booker t washington this is a fact. with few exceptions, the -- youth work harder and perform his task better. a white youth in order to secure recognition out of the hard work though and the unusual struggle through with it, he's compelled to pass. he gets a strength and a confidence that one misses whose pathways smooth by reason of birth and race look, you know what life did he was living you

guys are broke read the stories know these situations he's like by making my path so much harder, i'm going to be so much greater. you could get in my way, but it's not going to stop me. nobody is going to be more appreciative and more steeled for success when i get through it. that's the philosophy he told his students. his kids, his wives. he had three of me. a tragedy non stop. so they thought of each other i think is important to. booker t on teddy there is no man who has been in the presidency since lincoln who has been so deeply interested in the permanent and sensible elevation our race. look, teddy roosevelt says, some things that showed he definitely had some spots and even his family would tell you that. but he was a person of his times. you can't judge people by the times live in. you got to just judging what they lived in because no one can live up to that. the last perfect person we need to a cross so we should be able to study our history and feel heartened by the fact that they weren't and they were a person.

their times eight tell you barack obama in 2008 said marriage between a man, a woman. end of story. and then in 2012 he said same sex marriage is part of it and it's generally settled in america. whatever you think was barack obama a terrible person in 2008 or is he a person his times and that's i look at it i hope you guys understand that because i don't see that as the crowd to take down statues because i think it really destroys country in a way i have never felt so disturbed thankfully i think we'll through in this quote teddy on booker t it's not hyperbole to say the booker t washington was a great american for 20 years before his death. he has been the most useful well as most distinguished member of his race in the world, and one of the most useful as well as of the most distinguished american citizens of any race. i mean, this is the mutual respect at a time which that wasn't happening. and a lot of people say, how much did he do together? they did a lot. but i also look as role models.

how many people, how many kids were raising it? how many parents were raising their family going, yeah, there's no difference between the races. look at booker t and teddy roosevelt. look at how many appearances they have looked, the way they talk about each other, look at the way they write about each other and how many people's would change the perceptions which were fixed forever, because these two guys who decide to leap their times and say, make things better. but the other thing to keep in mind too, is they both had to be practical. they say america can only move so fast. that's what they learned from the white house dinner. we got to move in a way that isn't so disruptive that. we turn people uncomfortable, which turns things with burning crosses in schools going on fire. and he had watch that. that's why w.e.b. dubois and others said booker t, you too compromising. you too understanding. it's not right that america is not equal, that people treat people differently. and he says, i'm dealing with the america in and i know where i wanted to go. i want to help and dubois, in many respects was never a slave,

did not experience what he experienced. he had great education. unbelievable. founder of the naacp he should be looked at. but the debate can go on and it's worthy of discussion infinitum. but you can give me booker t washington because he said what he did was practical and he what was possible while always staying and inspiring millions of people by not cashing in, but only trying to help out raising teachers, being example and indefatigable in raising money for his school, not for his wallet. i just don't think he gets enough. and this makes me feel terrible both these men did this before they were 60 and they died. and think about what they could have done. they lived to 80. how much america, how much better off america would. and when people look at this country and say, wow, look, you know, i divided. we are. i'll give you a divided. i'll race relations. i wish they could be better. yeah. i always want everything to be perfect. but look at the progress we've made. and, you know, we make more.

but i think with anybody who keeps their eye on the country, i think as that philosophy we'll do it the most successful multicultural country in the history of the world. and we're still the envy of the world. that's why they're breaking our border to get in. and we'll do everything to stay. so thank you so much for the time at this point, john, you want to come up for take questions. appreciate. all right. well, thank you, brian. that was incredible. we've got we'll ask you a couple of questions here and then we'll turn it over to the audience. so i'm joined by my colleague. because she is a brian kilmeade super fan since she also did a heck of a thesis. i my thesis on booker t washington and w.e.b. yeah, that's right. it's a double whammy.

yeah. what am i doing here? so i'm actually going to let ashley ask the first question. yeah. so, bryan, i'm glad you brought up at the end there. w.e.b. du bois, he he was phenomenally educated, a phenomenal leader. but booker t washington offers a really unique perspective because. he in his life was, a slave, a free man working, and an outstanding leading citizen. so he offers a very unique perspective. and with that, i think of that we should take his philosophy and his principles very seriously. and obviously his main tenet was merit. you know, we're going to cure the poor race relations by other than merit. we need to prove that we are, you know, black citizens need to prove that they are just as dignified as white americans because white americans at time in the post-reconstruction south, they believe that. so he said, okay, we need to it as a race. and so that kind of background,

you know, you look at today and you have things like dna and affirmative action. those i dare say would be t washington's worst nightmare. and so my question for bryan is and you're right, you said we made so much progress in race relations in the u.s. but in your opinion, is there a future in the united where we don't have dti, we have affirmative action, and it's taken away and it's not not perceived as an act of hate or a racist act to. take those things back or are we stuck them and do we have to find a way forward? well, we've got a long to get rid of affirmative action. i think we basically have done it. yeah. some my my my hope is i remember when do you remember when all the celebrities got caught making believe they had athletic scholarships they didn't want more. you know, the desperate housewives women and everything. i remember i saw this one, blackstone. they went on campus say. how do you feel about this one black student saying? now you know how it feels because most looked on campus and saw celebrities because the

only you're here is legacy. and most people look at us and say the only reason you're here is because of affirmative action. and this guy says, i had a 99.9 average. i was for class. and people think i got here because of affirmative action. i wow. that's that's jarring. i you know, i would no one invited me to an ivy league school, so i would i would not even know what that is. my hope is that the playing field is level enough where that's not where you don't need any of those things. and my hope is there'll be type of governing philosophy where after ten years, if we out that there's a problem to be addressed. but i do believe most people i talk to and there really should be african-americans on the stage with us, but most people i talk to and if a soccer player had this, i was known as the american on my team, i was one of three americans, no one from america was playing soccer in the seventies. so i just do. the somali kid was most likely fast. the kid was most like a great defender. so i never felt like i was seeing color ever in most

valuable player on our on our fox and friends team is the form manager. he's black. i don't look him as black guy as look at me as a great field general. i mean, he's in charge i hope we're getting to that spot but i don't want to answer for african-americans in the audience who might say. brian, you don't know. so i'm not going to save money from mike's perspective the people i am with nobody sees color. and i believe all americans. i would love to do a reverse call on the hyphens. i love to be italians, american irish, american, africans so with the heritage. but it's always american. i find that if we're going out of our way to keep saying, oh you're this, you're puerto rican, you're this hispanic, you guys, can we be americans for a while. so again, i'd only speak for everyone. i just know the people that i'm with go out of their way. but if the people in the african-american community feel

as though i'm wrong on that. let's talk about it. and figure out a way to do it. because i know people, i know people, you know, i was with i don't mean to drop names, but master. so percy miller, these are basically billionaire, self-made. his story is unbelievably and he goes he has cereal in stores and they're not his cereal up front. but it's not because of black. it's because i wouldn't go with general mills. and he's like, so i'm telling him. it's snoop dogg and all these other rappers have cereal and goes to everyone's telling all this because you're black is no i just wouldn't go the big guys i want i want to be the big guy he goes when i go to meet with other ceos are billionaires. i'm the only black guy in there. but all they want to do is help. they're like, how can i help? they're not saying, close the door, you and this is him telling me off mic, off television like, okay, i go. we drove. he goes, my parents only emphasize education.

now he's got a son going. university of houston, full ride. top five player in the country in high school but he goes all i'm talking about 101 average in school day no it's studying first first he has to coach i want my kid to say he's going to make his own decision whether he's going to stay in school. but, you know, he's getting a degree. but he has now money, which means $1.1 million. he got an 11th grade. so things have changed a little. but in talking to him, he gives me a great perspective. he has no patience for people that want to work. but he goes back to schools to inspire kids. he goes back to his grammar school. he sponsors classrooms for classrooms in auxiliary units. he updated gyms, he bought computer units. he went to his senior center and doubled the size his senior. he also got shuttle busses because they were too nervous to get on on busses to go into this bad section of new orleans. so he gave me an idea was out there and he says to me, i've never in my life met more white people that want to help. so i think that's most people feel felt really bad about

george floyd they weren't angry like oh my goodness, how do we fix this? and the question, was it an overreaction to pointing out things in our country that nearly as bad as being portrayed? but it was one of these things after a horrendous incident that maybe got blown out of proportion. brian, let's let's move to education. so one of my favorite, teddy roosevelt quotes is that the average citizen must be a good citizen if our republic is going to succeed. i think that really gets to the heart of education. if you look at, you know, booker t washington douglass, it was their education that was their path to to kind of freedom and success in life and. you know, i think a lot of is i look at our contemporary culture. i think education is really at the heart of a lot of the problems and maybe that's because we're not doing as much storytelling. and what i really love about your books is that you're not just talking about the abstract. you're telling stories that no one's ever heard of. and when you tell those stories, think it changes their perception of, you know, what america is and what it can be.

so what do you think the role of storytelling is? and perhaps, you know, educating the next generation? here's the thing. i don't want to talk about democrats or republicans. i think the next candidate. i think we're too dug in with these two candidates. and we know what if stand for but i love the next candidate to do to talk about education but not conservative or liberal just american history taught in a way warts and all, because i watch roots when people say, bryan, you know, you had a rose colored glasses on your upbringing. they would see roots. 1976, the number one miniseries ever. it was brutal. and alex haley put it out and out there. i remember no one ever whitewashed it in my school and i just a middle class neighborhood in massapequa, new york we we learned about it no one no one whitewashed it. but i would love to get a fundamental. i know people don't want national education. i know people get worried about that. libertarians, conservatives. but i would like some fun and mental principles about our past

and about history and the classics that we all have to get through. and then this way we could level the playing field with level knowledge and they won't be. well, the sats aren't fair. well, they are fair. if you had the fundamentals maybe up to sixth or seventh grade, i'd love to see. people hitting their standardized marks. but first of all, the best thing is i like to know what that curriculum looks like. my daughter just graduated, is going for a master's education. she has already taught me more about education. the science behind it, what went into it than i would ever know that i'm talking to people, school choice and they're telling me what that means. well, i would love people get that $7,500 that you get to go to your private still public school to to your local school and then i'll make better because this thing called american competition, we got to get better i want kids going down the block to st mary's. we got to get better. the other thing i learned too is st mary's many times doesn't want everybody they. they want their school to be elite. they want tests. so if you show up you 7000,

7000, $500 from the it blows up their school, they're not able to handle it. so there's got to be more private schools in some of these smaller towns. but i think competition do it. but i'd love to hear people talk about but what it looks don't just get better education what does that mean you know we used to think the controversy thing was new math remember are they doing math different. i can't even help my fourth grader with their homework. those are the good old days. now we talk to people so we learned i'm in seventh grade. i didn't learn history. i really haven't taken american history class until seventh. really? how could that be? and then when people say, i don't love or history, i just say, do you like stories? yes. you like true stories? yes. you like stories about your country? yes. i got all three. really happened. explain it. and then it's like we have for every one of my books is a 45 minute documentary with it. there's so much stuff on youtube now. they give people quick course about what happened in the revolution. once you have the foundation of

what happened, then you can talk about you could work on the the some of the nuances of where the battles took place with the turning point was who some of the personalities were but some people don't don't know who was in the revolutionary war. some people some politicians didn't know who on whose side in world war two. i mean that's not because people are dumb. it's because that that that's just left out of their education. so bryan, probably last question before we turn into the audience q&a on the of education, i says tagline, i say educating for liberty. and as we were talking before, it's a great tagline for a topic like tonight because you know booker washington he really was educating for liberty liberty in its fullest sense and so bringing what you've what you brought up what is a good education according to you you were saying let's let's let's talk about it. so what is it for you? i mean it's the core of courses. but i love education that gets you thinking because the more

you love, more you know, the more you realize you don't know. and what i was like when people feel like shut the door on what they have to learn, you know, they haven't been they even been enthused or excited about all the opportunities are out there. and the more i learn about this stuff like i walked into your library today, i looked at that i got i got to read all those books because i just i just want to learn so much about it because there's so much i don't know. and i think that should pay our teachers more. they got to be performers. i mean, i see, cynthia, when people go to church like church a little boring and also and you get this unbelievable priest that puts on a show and i got him i can tell you what the first and second and third reading were because this guy just nailed it. and if you're passionate about teaching, make it rewarding. but they don't get to get another part time job in new york. they pay enough for most people don't get paid enough. that's why the jobs are wide open. i'd love to get more money into them. i'm one of these people. i'm pro teacher. too much money into administration. i think you can look at the budgets now. it's distributed, but for the

people that grind it out every day from 9 to 3 in the morning, they'd have worry about the kids that don't have clothes. they money out their pocket for the bulletin boards and education would be i love to talk to the superintendents and keep the freedom there to train the superintendent to have some to teach your teachers. and i would love to build an incentive into great fourth grade teacher. what they do is they take these great teachers and they rise them up to the point where they're not anymore. and i'm like my, goodness, you just you just took your center forward and told them to stop scoring. you know, you made them the assistant coach. so i would love for those teachers stay where they're at. i would like this out. if i was going to run for president or senator i would sit down with some of the leading educators disagreed and i'd hash it out. i'd come up with an education philosophy on how to move us forward because one thing the chinese have above us, it's the education. they hate their teachers. they hate their country. there's no freedom. there's no ability to move.

there's not much innovation. but man, do they work hard? do they have their fundamentals down? so i'd love to get that. i'd love to incentivize teachers to i would love to give them raises. and if there was a way to judge them, because i don't want teachers rid of kids that are slow or challenging because it brings down their gpa. but i think got to be addressed. i know george w talked about being the education president, but man, now it's a. i think we have some time for audience questions. so i've got a gentleman right there. we'll be bringing the microphones to you. so hold on one second, his voice transcends. yeah. all right, brandon bryce, first of all, this is such an important conversation. brian, i got a question. why do you think that in black and brown communities are edgy? keisha is not seen as the civil rights issue of our time and to the second part of that is, can you talk about teddy, the booker

t was a huge fan of the trade school initiative. why aren't we seeing more trade schools as an alternative to the failing schools in america? okay. on the trade schools, good news up. enrollment is up 2% over the last five years. not only that it's paying a lot, paying good and $94,000 for tufts university. are you kidding me? they are tops. you know what could possibly be $94,000 to a 19 year old? that is, it's out of control. but teddy roosevelt was both right. you cannot graduate without knowing trade. so whether it was arket, whether it was farming you could not graduate without earning trade, you had to be indispensable. i wish was pushed in my school. i took one woodshop class and i still got my same napkin older. i don't need it. you guys, but i want to see that in schools i didn't take metal shop. i took home economics because i used to like to explode the cakes by too much baking powder in. but. but i would love to see it now

this is the problem is our parents i remember like when you hang at graduation these parents don't want say my son is going to be a mechanic parents. i want to say yeah, my my son is, you know, he's going to be working in a metal shop. they don't want to do it. i think people have to change the parents perception of what a success is for kids? yeah, my kids going to welding school, a graduation party for 18 year olds instead of saying, oh, i'm sorry to hear that. or thinking it. so that's awesome. there's a need for that. yeah, we have we're trying to build ships. we can't get people work on it. so i would think we've got to change the perception it and that could be done through ads same thing with the army. people are why don't people join the military. have you seen anything that wounded worry in tunnel to towers green organizations but the perception the 15 year old is everyone loses a limb and loses their mind. yeah so where are we going go? where are we going to see the people talking to them? 22 i was 20 years old. they had no direction i wasn't in the army.

and i came back, i had a family. i learned what courage and discipline was. and now i went to columbia university and i've had a chance to start my business career. the ceo of i ny is a bush was a navy seal was me, you know. i didn't know what i was going to do. i went to the military came out use that discipline now he's a ceo of anheuser-busch and it wasn't his idea to put dylan on that beer can. but i would love to see i would love to see the perceptions. right. can we some commercials and perceptions kid you combined with corporate america to do just that the other thing is i keep hearing we need welders and we need this can we get some sponsors from these companies to them in so a lot of people when they graduate come from the inner city it costs $5,000 to go $10,000. mom and dad or just mom is not there to write the check. you want a welder? why don't you pay for that? why don't you say i got a scholarship to, go to welding school is going to take me two years, but now i'm going to be making. $120,000 by the time i'm 25. and that's a fact. and why do i talk like this?

because mike rowe comes on every month and he drills it into me and and i think that would be good about about the education. barack obama, i remember saying the same thing and i remember said, i forgot the name is the name of his group of he a he had a foundation. they started when he was in and he said to a to the east room. he said we have to stop ridiculing kids that are carrying books in the black and don't think school was cool or free to get good grades. it won't be accepted. that was the first time i heard that. and that's the president. united states. by the way, barack obama's got a tremendous story. i wish he would tell it. his book was a bestseller because it was inspirational and he should be talking about that all the time. and do you want to go, okay, enough but that's that's what people need to single parent family studying the clock mom helping you with the homework grandparents chipping in finding a way to get him to college, using his basketball ability to

get attention, obviously using, intellect, nobody doubts his political skills, his ability to speak. i don't if you agree with anything he said he is an inspire oration to many people. you can become president. that's a reality. i want to hear more more about that. but i can't change that. i'm fascinated by that. paul ryan said the same thing and was called insensitive, but said in the black community, i'm finding that people don't really want to tell people they do well in school and. i'm thinking, can we change that? couldn't that come from parents? so other questions here in the front row, chris. yeah, we've got a microphone coming. you well for the recording. we're on c-span. yeah. so i read the book and. it's one of my most favorite books, but another point came up in the company that i own, i'm the back. sometimes when deliveries come in and a lot of these guys that are driving the trucks are these foreign countries and they are

all black women are black. and i talk to them and i sit there for a half and 40 minutes and i ask them, how did they succeed here? what what do they think of america? they are 100% so excited about the opportunity to in america because we're the pot and people traditionally look at the soul and the integrity, the person and these people are succeeding to the point where the one gentleman had six kids. he brings back to the caribbean every year so he can see and show kids what is not. bring them here and show them what is. so i think education is extremely but it's also the understanding adding that how these people can succeed and not accept any excuses booker t washington i'm going to succeed no matter what and i think it's instilled in a lot of our communities today that.

you make excuses for yourself instead taking personal responsibility and. that's what i love about them and what chris i don't even think that's a black white thing. i think there's a lot i always saw dana white the other said this whole generation, soph, that's the bad news. the good news is, if you're not, you're going to succeed quickly. so, you know, they say the whole thing about, hard times make hard people. soft times make soft people. it's not their fault. they're born at time when we're not really at a war that's taxing more than 2% of the country, we still excel. economy excels. our debts are out of control. but still, everywhere you look, america already coming back. we just do the simple, basic things. we would be so further like control our border, support police officers, just basic. but we're still better on our worst day than any other country. and for people chanting death to america, i recommend one thing travel. and if you find someplace better, stay. you know what if you.

so brian has to get up at two in the morning for his tomorrow so we have time for one more question. anyone okay. we've got a hand. right. but can i just say one precursor? i i appreciate the questions, but i don't think i have all the i'm just giving you so hope i'm not insulting people because you have an area of expertise. your experience is different than mine. i'm just going to i'm a guy that's just written books, spend years studying it every day. i'm knee deep in the news, a minimum reading for four or 5 hours a day for the last 26 years. so i thought but i don't know everything you guys asking my opinion but i don't want you walking out of there thinking, brian, kill me. give me the philosophy of life, education, race relations. i don't i'm just giving opinion and what i think i do best is i ask of people smarter than me. so and this is where i'm able to

accrue and. my kids think i'm cool. but. all right, last question here. thank you. you that the you were hoping that a future president would take a position to really support education in this country every me when i was in high school john kennedy he brought the whole country to the point of mass of i heard that you saw that and speed reading so you could read three or four books a day. so you know, but the problem we see today, we can't seem to motivate the populace. even in delaware to take an interest in education. the educated, the we have a a of us board school election coming up in may our historic turnout is below 5%. and i would venture to say that most people in this room could not even tell us data that election and may what is having

a president enough or is there anything else you or society that we can do to get the population. well i thought virginia that thank you didn't virginia do that and of get everybody excited six months to a year ago and get and get in office by pointing the pandemic did it to the other sir this playing a major role is the attention span is shot because everyone's on tiktok and instagram and to sit down and read a book is a rarity. and i don't blame them for this and i don't even blame us. we don't even know what we're getting into, don't even know what's next. so and we were talking before rich, right? like would you. so you were there for the internet, the birth of the internet overseas and what could email do your company right. can you imagine that conversation? i think email can make your company better. we would laugh if i was a consultant it came in the office that way. but look it out. things are changing so i think we're hopefully to get a reset soon because water gradually got hotter. they didn't all of a sudden hand

us this apple phone. they gradually made it more and more the blackberry was the crackberry, right? but nobody was watching video on the blackberry because jumpy and this will never work now i'm watching people being put on the tv when they walk in the house. so some of it it's really not fault and it's not their fault. everything just got, you know, advertisers come in, people want to make more money. how do we get more guys? let's do this thing called algorithms. let's suck them in next. you know, people are 15, 20 years old. they've never read a book. so i think we have to reset. power has got to reset. i've seen this huge trend this country for 15 don't care don't get social media into your 15 don't bring phones in schools keep everybody off ainsley my fantastic co-host in her school they had to sign a letter saying. you have to keep your kids off instagram. you're kicked out and that instagram all social media to the 15 you know the power said as long as everyone's off it i'm

fine with that fine need to hear i'm the only i'm the only parent stopping my kid doing this so think we're getting a hold of it a little we have lost between the pandemic and all the other challenges us and to people told stay home, don't go to school, zoom and don't work out, you know, don't you know, don't anywhere without a mask i don't want to relive that. but we can and get control all these little things matter. all the little things matter. and i think it would be great great if you asked me about education the way you get the parents a parent teaches it when the parent meetings happen and people when they do show up, that's the moment to say, i need you to vote and you turn around and go, these are the seven people that are going for the four seats and this is what i need need to show up in that conversation. you have, the teachers need to be briefed by the pta how important it is for them to show up. and i think that we could get more hands opportunity. i never really knew about there

wasn't really a problem in our town but now people in my town that i grew up in, people are saying, oh, there's a huge problem with. the philosophy with their teaching with they're not teaching. we've got i guess one more very quick question right up here. yeah, yeah. i'll just hold on for the microphone. yeah. so my question is between booker t washington and w.e.b. dubois, because what happened is they were contemporary but dubois was taken as more serious or whatever. and he, in his view of education, etc., was accepted. booker t washington can you speak to why that might have happened? well all i can tell you is he didn't set up a series of schools like booker t washington and right booker t washington set a legacy of schools fundamentals in underserved areas along with julian, rosa, julius rosenwald of the founder of sears. they set up these schools that not only when i went to tuskegee to do the special, the guy that i interviewed was from niger and

he said, i go, i go, where? how did you get here? he said, it was my dream of going to teaching at tuskegee, since i always had a rosenwald school in africa. i'm like, oh my goodness, this guy affected almost every continent. so w.e.b. dubois, an unbelievable intellectual, i believe the first african-american ph.d. i read i read his books. i read his biography when he was in his seventies. he wrote it. so he outlived booker t wayne hsieh by 25 years. so he had a different life. but i think the legacy much stronger for booker t washington because he lived in an area where there was the most challenging and found a practical way excel and had other people excel where i think the w.e.b. dubois as impressive as he was could not have had the life experience that booker t had or lived in the south he had and thrived like he had. thankfully him. he didn't have to live a life of into slavery and struggle so much for an education and, he

did he did have an incredible mom that was extremely hands as booker t washington seems to have had too but they have different philosophies, different ways to get to the same place. i would have loved to have seen what happened if w.e.b. dubois had accepted the opportunity that booker t gave him was just getting out of college to teach at tuskegee. and next thing you know, you know, if you read w.e.b. dubois letter after booker t washington past, the beginning is good. in the end. did he just them? even in his so he didn't believe both philosophies can exist. they believe he would. they thought he was. he was way too tolerant and understanding. and i understand. i understand both schools of thought, but it's so much different to live in the eye of the storm and try to make it better as opposed to staying on the outside and judge for. on that note please give bryan another of applause. thank you very much. appreciate that.

we have we signed copies of his books available for purchase over there. and then thanks again to reggie and stratos