 Hi, good afternoon everybody. Tom Stewart here. I'm with Liz Trotter. Hey Liz And I've got my friend and fellow cleaning business owner Alonzo Adams. Hey Alonzo. Hey Tom. Hello Liz. Thank you for having me We're gonna be taking most of the next hour we're gonna be talking about racism in America and we're gonna be talking about what that Means to our society what that means to you know, the people that work for us but that means to the people that we provide service to with that for me means to us as a cleaning business owner and what opportunities and obligations responsibilities we have and in terms of making smart business moves and making smart social Responsibility roles We'll jump into that a lot more here in just a second But I want to share just one piece of news before getting too deep into that that I Think some of you guys might might find interesting because in some previous discussions. We've talked about the idle ones the economic Disaster Injury disaster one For a good while there unless you were doing something in agriculture You couldn't apply for this one the window for like cleaning businesses have been closed But the window is now open again, and I'll take this link And drop it in here and if you have not yet applied for an idle one and One Yeah, and if you want one in part of what you're qualifying for is the advanced loan Which could be up to ten thousand dollars, which you would not have to repay So if you want to put your name in the hopper for the potential of getting up to ten thousand dollars from the government that you Don't have to repay You would click on this button here, and I just drop the link so really if you have employees and And And you don't apply for this I really want to know why because if you have employees even if you don't want the money you don't want the loan still the You have been and you know economically Disadvantaged we all have been even if you're not seeing it right now You're like well, it's not that bad you have been and the grant portion of this loan is free money That's what grant means free money to you from the government to help you so that you don't get disadvantaged Any worse than you already are so if you're not taking the money because you're afraid of the loan Keep in mind that you can return the loan But you have to apply for the loan to get the grant So just I'm hoping that everybody applies gets at least the grant money And if you don't like the loan piece Doesn't cost anything Yeah That's exactly where I am with it that you got absolutely nothing to lose to apply and if you get the advance loan then That's the closest thing to free money you're ever going to find So So Leslie's got a good point the paperwork She doesn't want to deal with the paperwork and she already got her PPP so she's not going to get an additional 10 grand the point Leslie She's right, right in her case. She doesn't want the loan. She doesn't need the loan So there's no point in her applying for the idol because the grant monies are already in Her PPP money So With that being said let's let's go ahead and jump into the reason, you know what we're here today and Alonzo I really really appreciate your help with this. I mean, we've all seen what's what's been happening you know in in society and You know, I guess the George Floyd murder was just kind of got us all looking at the world a little bit differently, maybe a lot differently and and You know, I'm sitting here obviously as a white guy and I would be the last person that would Say, you know, think I'm racist and I guess there's maybe a lot of different connotations a lot of different definitions of that I never thought of myself that way before but quite honestly since George Floyd has gotten me thinking you know you know, maybe You know, maybe, you know I don't see myself as part of the problem But at the same time, I don't see myself as being much part of the solution either so if I'm not part of the solution Maybe I am part of the problem and I just didn't see it the way I should have and You know, this is hard. I mean, this is the hard topic for us all to discuss and I guess just full disclosure Alonzo and I you know had this discussion, you know last week and it's like Hard things need to be discussed, too And we have an obligation to get this out there for the benefit of professionalizing the industry and all of its stakeholders and this is Probably one of the most if not the most important discussion. I think that we've ever had on smart business moves and You know together, hopefully we can you know Let me also say that if it's not obvious by now for you guys who typically join us on These Facebook lives we don't spend a whole lot of time scripting stuff out and planning it out We just kind of go out there and do it We're definitely going to demonstrate that here today, but I personally am asking for grace because y'all know my Mouth works faster than my brain many many times So I'm asking for grace if I stick my foot in it most of you all know me at this point So ask me a question list. What did you really mean by that? Check it with me. Make sure that I'm not saying the thing that is as stupid as it sounds Because I'm hoping and praying that I don't but I have been known more than once on one of these smart business moves calls To say something where Tom later was like so Liz Can we have a little chat about that? All right, so asking for grace So Alonzo would you like to maybe just get us started here and share with us Maybe maybe frame up where where you see we we are as a society and as an industry and as cleaning business owners as it pertains to racism and Yeah, that's what we're looking at. How did we get here? What what caused all this to stir up and You know got this conversation and media and frenzy and you know Facebook going wild people attacking each other arguing and you know, it's it's a it's really a difficult tough Conversation to have because we are in disagreement on issues that we don't understand And a lot of these things are based off of our belief systems These are things that we either inherited or these are things that were passed down to us and some of us just Keep moving throughout with these same beliefs and we haven't made change or or progress Because we all need to make Because we're still talking about racism discrimination Justice of quality here 60 70 80 years later. Why are we still here? Why are we still stuck at this place and the reason what? Why people decide to protest why we see things burning and riots? This is a compound effect. This was about to erupt and explode. Is this just about George Floyd? We were having this discussion if there wasn't a video the video is what led to all of this but it was already there it was festering and what happened is when we saw the video and we have seen these things many times before and The funny thing about this we have seen this in the 50s 40s 30s 20s. This has always been there It's just never been on video So the point that it's on video it sparks emotion and when that emotion gets stirred up you're gonna bring out different things and people and The one the one biggest thing is when I spoke to women and they said What would I do if my son? was crying for me and somebody Knee was on the back of their neck And I heard from women saying I would have torched the whole place Not that I'm saying that's the right thing to do But this is what happens when things brew you don't get the best of people you get the worst of people And this is what's happening because you don't understand the environment that they come from and so a lot of people that are of White that are white. They don't know what it's like to be in that environment. They don't go into that environment They're scared to go into that environment the environment shapes people you can take people out of out of the environment and Then you can look for some changes But as long as those people are in that environment They're exorbitant that environment and so the reason why I thought this was so critical and so important when you look at The cleaning industry and this cleaning industry I've been in every since I've been 13 years old and when I got in this cleaning industry It was basically the workforce that I saw at that point was 75 80 percent colored people doing this work We were dominant in this workforce and what I saw there was people at low entry levels They weren't in management positions. They weren't in that kind of Positions they were in low-level positions empty and trashed vacuum or clean in the baths. So When I when I when I think about just being in in this cleaning business in the industry itself We do have minorities that are looking for us as leaders to utilize our platform So Tom, you're not out there protesting Liz. You're not out there protesting. I'm not out there protesting But this is our platform as leaders and we have to use our platforms And our staff and we have minority minority staffs trust me. They are looking They are paying attention to your Facebook. They are paying attention to are you going to step up and say something and I spoke to Employers I spoke to employees and I've even read letters from CEOs to presidents a big major Major companies that have reached out to their staff to just see how they're doing to let them know where they stand We're to support live they decided not to be silent and I've heard these employees said, you know, how much they made They made me feel inside, you know, how much I felt Connected do you know how much I felt that that CEO and president took that time out of their day making millions and Dollars but they they stood up and they use their platform That phase over Amazon did not have to say what he said that black lives matter for what the richest man in the world Who cares what's going on out there in the city of Chicago? Who cares what's going on in Washington? Who cares what's going on in San Francisco? But he decided I'm gonna say something and he's gonna say something that needs to be said and if we don't do that Later We're failing. I just don't see any other way We're failing because you're not thinking about some of your people are coming from that community that was burned down Some of your people are feeling stressed about what's happening in their lives and what's going on with America right now And it just takes a small Conversation a quick email Put your arms around him by and just let them know I'm here. I support you I care for you and that's just compassion. That's just being a human being. That's just being the leader that we need That's what leadership is about and when we get lost in this whole thing with color And about race and we stopped talking about the human race. We already lost And that's where we're at. We're lost and we're trying to find direction and we're waiting for that leader We're waiting for him to come forward in the lead up certainly making a statement being out being visible and You know, you got me doing a gut check on that I'll be honest with you when you say give somebody a hug the only thing I'm thinking about is six feet social distancing That part up so we got to find You know, we want people to be responsible in that regard too. We're fighting a couple of battles at the same time here You know that Tom which is key because a lot of people were saying well, look at those crazy people They're out there in the packs. You're all ready together. You know what I heard people saying out there on the streets They said I would die for this cause. You're not powerful. That is when someone say they will die for that cause You're not powerful That was more Martha Luther King knew every time that he went out there every time and we want to talk about COVID so we got there maybe we're gonna catch something maybe we're gonna die But if Dr. King didn't do what he had to do when he know he was gonna get shot Or killed at any moment or he was gonna get a bomb that was gonna blow up a car He still did what he had to do as a leader and that's what happens And sometimes we want to take the passenger seat We wanted we want to get in the back, but there's leaders that have put their lives out there Gandhi He put his life out there, you know You have these type of leaders that put their lives on the line for others for others Not just for our art our well-being not for their lifestyle because let me tell you something. I have money But I have a responsibility But the one key thing about me as a leader, I never forget what my purpose is That's what will always distinguish you from anybody. I know what my purpose is And if you don't know what your purpose is forget your culture your culture is a whack It's what you want to put something on the board. You want to hang something up? I want to see your actions I want to see you as a leader stand up for something I don't want to follow somebody that that doesn't know what they stand for Because listen if you don't know what you stand for you're gonna be like everybody has your fall for anything and the problem What what people nowadays 90% followers 10% leaders we need leaders Well, you know I always Love hearing you speak because you are very passionate always makes me feel good, right Stephanie saying the same thing here She's saying that she feels your passion and You know, I also feel that and a couple things that you said just really Stuck out with me. I just made a couple of notes. I'd like to comment about again asking for grace here But when you were talking about like the video would would we be having this conversation with any of this be happening if we hadn't had a video No, absolutely not, right? We wouldn't But the flip side of that is that I don't think a lot of people have have thought about and again, great is Like for white people like me. I didn't know until I saw that video part of me had a thought of It can't really be that bad what you focus on gets worse if you think you're you know I had all of that stuff and so and you know, that's what you hear But when I saw that video Like that's the truth right there You can't get away from that and I think a lot of people were like me. It was such a hard snack But we've seen other videos over the last Years well, there's a general That there's a gentleman with Charleston mr. Scott isn't that first name escapes me at the moment who? Took several rounds in the back from a cop and a part that's just right down from my offices and You know what happened part of that really doesn't make any sense The dude was just running and he hadn't I mean wasn't as wasn't as bad as the that the X number of minutes that that George Floyd I guess that's what made that so horrific was it wasn't as instantaneous as a gunshot it went on for minutes and It was like a spectator sport who know why did nothing happen nobody did anything That that's what it was with the other stories. It's always been yeah, but there's always that thing of yeah But you don't know what happened what led up to it. Yeah, but you know, you you don't know what he did whatever I Saw I saw what he did he did nothing. He was begging for his freaking life That's what I saw, you know, I mean how you can't get away from that and I You know everybody took something different away from this as well as they're taking something different away from the protest and What this is this is not about? We're single you're singling out the police. Okay black people hate police or Black people against white people, you know, this is this is a compound And this is a accumulation of a lot of issues that have not been resolved from a political standpoint from a government standpoint It has not been resolved. So when we look at COVID-19 happening right now, okay, we we can focus more on these issues than we ever have So now people that they're not working as people unemployed and they're watching these things and they're seeing these things and they're fed up and They're joining together and they're marching together and this is this is this is here's the beauty about this whole thing It's not really about the riots don't get me get get me wrong because the writing is not need to happen or occur That's not what this is about the protest. Yes, it must happen It needs to happen But this protest would not be effective if we did not have white people joining in. Do you think that the writing was it? I mean When to mention of it I can I can see why you would say it wasn't necessary at the same time if it wasn't for the writing Do you think that? Is much focus and attention. Do you think that? Bezos and the other CEOs would be stepping up as Strongly as they have it wasn't for the the writing or we would be talking about well, yeah, that's bad We need to put together blue ribbon commission and study it a little bit You know, I mean There's been a lot of other issues or a lot of other opportunities for for people stuff up and that opportunity hasn't been taken So I'm not an advocate of writing don't don't misunderstand that but in some regards You can talk about the economic loss, but I'm not sure if there wasn't some value created on the other side of the equation because of that too And again, I'm asking for great Right, but here's here you're right on that here's from my position from where I set So I say it wasn't necessary But I don't sit in the position of the many that are feeling the effects of those different Circumstances and those different ingest that they're feeling at that level in those communities. So I'm not listen I'm not criticizing it. I just don't think that is right That is the right way that we want to protest but Tom to what you're saying You know what it's been quiet for a long time on these issues and you you saw Kaepernick kneeling You saw it kneeling But you know people want to go crazy. Why is he kneeling? Why is he against the flag? Why is he against the military and try to really Take take away from the issue at hand and that was about injustice that was being done by the by the law enforcement to black individuals or minorities whatever you want to call it And that's what he wanted to bring attention and shed light on to And so yeah Anything is going to have to get louder You know and if that's what it if that's if that's what some people felt it took That's what they went out and did I'm just going to say it's something that I would say I felt it wasn't necessary But again, I'm not in your position. So sometimes people go quick to judge and tell people You know how they should go about things, but guess what? You're not in their shoes You don't see with the every day You don't deal with with the with the circumstances. They have to deal with so a lot of these areas I hear people comment and it's like if you're not doing your volunteer work and you're in that community and you're working in that community I don't think you have a voice to be speaking the way you're speaking because you're not out there doing any kind of Service in those communities because you're probably scared or you don't even want to be out there because you're feeling that you don't fit in But trust me you do fit in But yes, those communities need help they need us they need leaders We we cannot think we're going to do everything we can sitting where we're sitting It takes us to go to people where they're at That was the one thing that made jesus a great leader jesus went and met people where they were at He didn't say just come where i was at he went into those places where those people were struggling at So help me with a little bit help us with with Going down that path We need to be the leaders that our communities our Our employees our businesses need us to be We need to step up. We need to take a position But at the end of the day Those are just words. Maybe it makes people feel good. But is that really making change? What more should we be doing could we be doing as as as business leaders? I think anytime you do anything with showing support By training by trying to educate people by growing people Which is my purpose That's when you show people you really care because just to stroke somebody a bonus check You know or or i think it was god. What was it? Apple they gave a hundred million dollars I just appreciate it really is that those communities need it, you know, um and those programs need it as well But it really takes us to really give them opportunities as well. Don't just say oh sure You can get that position People have to really believe that they got an opportunity to shot at that job and at that position or that advancement Don't just have me working as a salesperson in the apple store Let me know that I can actually rise up to the executive level show me how to do it Teach me how to do it. Give me give me listen. Don't give me a fish. Teach me how to fish because I need to do myself So black people are not asking for you to do do affirmative action That was something that was back in the Kennedy days that came out as like black people on affirmative action Okay, black people want equal opportunity. Give me the a fair shot. Let me get my shot You know, don't don't try to undermine me. Don't come up with bigotry Don't try to create a way that makes it impossible for me to get what I want. Give me that opportunity I was going to say is um, you know white people want that too But the problem is we don't even realize a lot of times that we are part of the problem Everybody is sitting back saying and I'm including myself here. Everybody is sitting back Thinking I don't feel like I'm part of the problem. I'm not one of the those people that are doing that But like tom said early on right? Aren't we part of the problem just because we are not part of the solution? No, if we're not You are when you're in silent When you're what when you're being silent That's never silent I don't have that affliction never silent It's hard, you know, I was thinking about this and I was thinking about this from from like therapy a therapy session I'll say okay, so you're going for like marriage therapy, right? And we have that marriage therapy you have the husband you have the wife And so they start bringing out these issues that the other partner didn't necessarily know what's an issue And the man tom we're we're thinking like, uh, here she goes again We don't really want to hear we want to just yeah. Yeah, I hear you honey I hear you honey We want to we want to get past that as quickly as possible and we want to Look up to the back but the woman wants to go into the deep issues She wants to tell emotionally how she feels what she's been experiencing in that marriage and that relationship But the man is really trying to get the therapy session over He's hoping he can get the session done in two sessions But that but that third is saying you're going to need 10 sessions But he's only he wants to accomplish this in two and he doesn't want to listen He doesn't want to fully apply yourself to it because he's uncomfortable He's uncomfortable about the truth that she's expressing emotionally And this is why I look like this is racial therapy that we all need to go to You know, you really need to put and be okay with it. It's okay You know Black people don't hate white people. You know and and that's a large amount of white people don't hate black people We just have difference. We are culturally different and that's okay There's people that love that's white people that love black culture Look at this new generation that's coming up generation z they love black culture. That's why they're out there That's why they're they're walking for five eight ten miles. That's why they're standing on their feet all day Because they want to see a change. They want to see justice. They want to see equality They're tired of their millennial parents Their grandparents that didn't do anything that they kept their mouths shut and then and didn't make the impact So they're going to be the generation that wants to make the impact they want to make the difference So when you turn on your television or whatever and you see these people still going at it night and day in the rain And in in the scorching heat They're out there because they they're a force. They're out there taking tear gas They're out there taking a beating because they're fighting for a cause That's why they're out there and they're not they're not they're not afraid They're not going to back down. They don't care who's in charge Whatever president is that's going out and making threats or whatever They're they're going to keep giving it to you and then in they're going to win They're going to win. This isn't about my generation or your generation lives in town This is about the generation that's coming coming up and this is what they're fighting for Fighting for our world is going to be better for their kids Their grandkids because we didn't do what we needed to do the way we needed to do it And we we we took our foot off the gas Yeah You mentioned earlier like the CEOs of publicly traded companies and The positions they're taking excuse me, I mean It's hard not to I don't know cynical isn't the right word, but you know question people's motives and people motivated by You know a long list of things and i'm sure the injustice part of this You know you can't be a human being if if you aren't touched by You know some of the videos and things that that that that we've seen but you know Part of the motivation as well is probably what you're just saying about you know the next generation and just the economic aspect of this if You're not getting ahead of this you're getting behind it if you're getting behind it you're not going to have a future Is that is that what i'm is that kind of the takeaway or one of the takeaways from this? United we stand united we fall We got to find a way to unite all these other countries are watching us They're watching us trip over each other about color about the color of our skin our differences in in culture and This is this is sad And if you look in where people are talking about the military talking about flags Isn't what we're fighting for isn't there something that talks about unity? You know isn't there something that talks about one nation? So what you're supposed to be is one nation because it'd be united So all this other Bigotry that's coming out in this division and being divided. I don't get it. I mean i'm with i'm i'm with generation z You know, I want to see people uniting. That's when we're powerful That's when we're at our best we wasted too many years too much time Been in time about having a white bathroom a colored bathroom. Uh, I mean Really, how stupid was that? I mean that's one of the stupidest stuff now you're doing the same bathroom together now But you wasted all those years on stupidity and then you think about how we were so stuck on Segregations for schools and now we go to school together. So what was really the problem there? So we created all these issues and we created all these problems. You tell me that's not madness So if we wouldn't unite it together and done big things together and wouldn't have been so distracted or fixated on Ignorance you think of where we would be as a country. Maybe there would be a cure for cancer Maybe there would be a bigger opportunity happening for this for this united state in our children and grandchildren But we spent too much time on ignorance and stupidity And now we find ourselves coming back and fighting back back and forth over each statue It's symbolic things images And if you think about the year 2020 2020 how far have we really evolved? That's why the whole thing is about progression Progression where where are we progressing as the united states and as people technology wise? Yeah, we're progressing But when you start to look at the individuals when you look at depression anxiety all the different struggles to suicide rates Where is the progression? Backwards in a lot of areas and in where the progression mattered too. There's this whole saying there's a difference between Doing what's necessary and doing what's sufficient, you know, it's like having a headache and taking half an aspirin You know that's necessary, but not sufficient. So Whatever progress we're making you got to really ask yourself, you know, are we, you know Well, you know, how many lifetimes have to go by before we can come close to getting this right Man, if you're not progressing as a person, you're not trying to be the best you can be You're not trying to make your family the best. You're not trying to make your children the best you failed You failed you did not do your responsibilities of being on this earth You're on this grade here. It's past fail That's right. You're on this earth to make a difference and and help make this a better place to live That's what i'm here for So Stephanie has a really, um, um I love this question and I hate it at the same time I feel like this question can can polarize people which is what I don't like about it So i'm uh, i'm going to read it here. Um in the hopes that we can Um, give a good example of what it's like to have unity right come together here um, so the question is And it's kind of a statement slash question. I have a very good african-american friend She's in her 80s from chicago and she doesn't agree with a lot of what's happening How do we justify systemic racism claims when we had a black president for almost a decade a secretary of Secretary of state on and on is that racism? So I will talk first and i'll let you guys talk second because I get to stick my foot in at first, okay So what i'm gonna say to that Stephanie is um When somebody feels like they Regardless of what it is when people feel like they are victims until you accept that that's how they feel and help them not feel That way they're victims Regardless of what it is. It doesn't none of the rest matters People are victims as long as they feel like victims and as long as we have people that are feeling victimized We need to fix that problem first There's always somebody that has to decide to to help first whatever the sides are you got two sides one side has to say Okay, we'll deal with your issue before we deal with my issue and what I see is Their issue that issue right now is people are being killed black people are being killed by white people That problem has to get fixed first Feels like the bigger problem after that Then we can deal with the rest that that's how I think of it Yeah, this has been going on for a long time and I mean Yes, we've we've had you know African-american leaders in in various capacities and in some regards I guess you could call that progress, but at the same time um You know, I'm a white guy and that's an advantage. Any way you slice it There's a lot of breaks that I get because of that. I mean, I didn't it just worked out this way. Okay, but Yeah, and you know, do I Go out of my way to point out when Somebody's disadvantage that hey, that's not right. You know, they need to have uh, you know the same consideration as I do That doesn't come easy because you're kind of You know, let's just be real, you know, if the rules are tilted in your flavor It's it's not human nature to want to tilt them anywhere else. I mean Why don't want to why don't want to change the rules? It's working okay for me but You know, that's not really That's a that's a and I'm trying to you know Every once in a while I use a word that I shouldn't and I'm trying to catch myself here, but That's not the way that's not the way decent human beings should should should should be You know, you know, what's you know, what's uh, an important thing that happened in my life was growing up with a stepfather That was racist You heard that Yeah, stepfather racist Okay Can stand white people, you know, and let me tell you why you couldn't stand white people because Where he grew up And what he experienced so he grew up in the south He had to go to work Then work on a farm to help his family when he was in the fifth grade He stopped school. He had to leave and he had to go help He watched white people killed their land Mipolitan He watched him burn property destroy property watched him put friends and relatives In jail over things they didn't do And he decided that he didn't want to be in the south and experience that sort of racism where he couldn't even look a white person in the eye He came to pennsylvania to the north And he came to the north with still racism in his heart And I couldn't understand why someone was so racist I couldn't understand what was why did he say the things he said about white people But until I took time to really understand where he came from his story What happened to him How this all got to this point of the kkk hanging and all these different things I would have never understood racism until I actually watched things like roots And maybe some people need to and I encourage black people and white people Go watch roots Watch don't read it watch roots and if black people watch roots That's going to make you want to really step your game up too White people watch roots. That's going to make you understand how that how things got broken And why things need to be fixed things are broken in the black community in the black home That has to be fixed So I can tell you from living in a white community or white development so black people in my development and I can tell you that my experience is completely different than people that live in philadelphia And what they go through and what they experience with with the police and what they have to deal with at their at their jobs So I mean it's real hard to try to talk to black people that don't that don't live in those areas It's real hard to try to talk to black people that didn't have the same experience My son didn't know anything about racism or prejudice until he had an episode that happened to him When he was 17 years old he was coming from work and when he's coming from work He was walking with headphones on and he's walking through an all dominant white area by a golf country club Because that's where my first home was that and in the cops Rushed him and they rushed him at 17 years old with guns drawn and threw him to the ground with guns pointed on him And at that point He didn't know if he was going to be shocked He didn't know if that was going to be the last time that he was ever going to see See his parents or anything again and when he got home My son's uh, my son's not a scary type of kid. You know, I don't I don't I raised my my kids my my daughter They're strong kids. They're they're not babied. They're strong tough individuals and my son's not a he's he's not emotion He's not emotional person I'm not either but when I saw my son coming in with tears in his eyes And he was shaken from the experience that he had to go through because they said the same thing that we've all heard before We got a call In the description met matched your description. That's why we Not pulled a gun. How are you going to pull guns on a 17 year old that had a backpack and headphones on? And you're going to throw him to the ground with force Without questions So Where is that going to happen to a white person? Where is that going to happen to a white 17 year old? That was the problem. He was in a white area So anybody that has any questions or anything because let me tell you something I got about a good amount of stories for you that I experienced I don't have to share from other people's experience because I've dealt with racism From the time I was a little boy To a grown man from employee to employer and I've been called nigger even being an employer So anytime you want to really talk to me about racism I encourage you don't hesitate to give me a call because I can give you a thorough education from a black man to what racism really looks like In the ugliness of it. So I don't have I don't want nothing from nothing from white people But you know what let's be let's let's play fair. Let's play fair. Let's be real. Let's be honest. Let's be authentic I don't I've never asked for anything. I tell you what I'm a self-made man You know, so don't get it wrong. Some people are getting it twisted that black people are looking for sympathy They want for want people to feel sorry for them. It's like I don't don't come with that that you're in a wrong place with that nobody's looking for sympathy Nobody's looking for any of that people are just saying you know what we just want to have open and Open communication that's going to lead to justice political change and for things to really happen And you know what when we talk about that generations etom at generations day They want political change Some of these people that's been sitting in these offices and positions for 30 40 20 years It's time to go It is it's really time to go because they they're too stuck in their ways They're too stuck in their beliefs and they don't really see the way the world was going and the world was changing And they're trying to keep the world the way it was So there's a lot of people that's fighting to keep the world the way it is because of fear Fear that black people are going to get too high or get too far They see what's happening already where the latinos has has moved up You know, it's it's a change this change is coming here. It's a lot of race mixing that's going on People are scared That's that's from from from the 50s to 60s. You're scared Because they're they don't like what they're seeing and they're trying to stand and hold on to that The same way the south was trying to hold on after that the uh the civil war they were trying to hold on to it Man they held on to that confederate flag and now you see it being removed because they wanted to steal trying to have something That symbol something that resulted in a lot of deaths And a lot of misfortunes and a lot of destruction in this country And it's a shame and people really need to educate themselves study history Get get off when I get off with this thinking you need to google stuff get in your book get in your book Learn educate yourself. Don't let people do this when you start to really educate yourself and see it's a eye opener It's a big eye opener because black history is more than This black man called dr. King that had a dream or this black woman that was sitting on the bus Rosa parks that they want to move out her seat. It's way bigger than that That's that's just that's just a little portion Really need to dig into to to where this country how we got here and how some of these countries became these billion dollar Enterprises that they are people forget they don't understand they better read and then you learn your true history Not just white history, but learn American history I'll tell you though Alonzo when when I've had tried to have conversations like that with people It doesn't go down a good path. It goes down a worse path. It goes down the path of That was then this is now, you know, they need people need to look at what's happening today not Trying, you know, then it comes to playing the victim thing. It's all of that. It's like that goes down a bad path I'm like, I don't understand why okay, so one something that you said confused me So one thing that you said I have never heard before With the white people that I talked to and I know a lot of white people that they think That they are not at all racist, but they defend They they get into this defensive position I'm no more racist than that guy and then that black guy is because he's doing this It's the same thing as that I do right. I hear that But I have never heard somebody saying that they're afraid Of like black people rising up or I've never heard anything even close to that what I hear is fear that I'm gonna be wrong that they're making me wrong. They're making me into a bad guy. I'm not a bad guy I'm a good white person that is all about everybody And that that's what I hear Like and the people okay, so when you're in a group of white people I don't know what it's like a group of black people when you're in a group of white people and you're all everybody's white All the white people talk about they say whatever they want to say like it will 100 percent be accepted by all of the other white people and Even if it's not Like even if you say something like yeah, I don't agree with that They just ignore you like oh, you're one of those kind of people Oh the truth is And it's more that like they're they act like I don't want to be made wrong You know this I just want to be honest with you just like I said at the beginning 90 percent of people are followers. You only got 10 percent are Leaders so followers do what followers do they follow they're conditioned to follow Leaders speak up and say what's the right thing. They don't just go alone to get along So I've never in my whole life been that type of person You're either going to like me or you don't but this is why I always I was I always loved about Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali didn't care. He spoke his mind Even though he risked millions and millions of dollars to say what needed to be said he stood for something So anytime Body that I consider to be What I would say that has any substance to themselves There are sort of people that can truly speak up and say what needs to be said. I'm not worried about shallow hollow people I I'm more engaged and more intrigued by people that can truly Speak their mind and they don't worry about what other people think or what other people feel If you truly believe Believe something you should stand for a purpose And that's the whole things that most people don't even stand for a purpose and some of the stuff that they're standing for They should have left that stuff back back where they found it I love this book that you popped up here. Tom. I I haven't heard of it But I'm already trying to google it to buy it or amazon it. I was uh It was the ceo of american airlines. I guess uh, I saw him on cnbc last week and he was talking about this book And how it changed his perspective. So I bought it you know audio and The lady who wrote this book she's a white lady and she's uh does diversity training and she's Like starts off her story by by explaining like all the pushback and resentment that that that she would get from People working in companies that she was doing this training for it's like we don't need this. We're not racist, you know There's no problem here And it's like a a room full of white people and it's like well, there's no problem here How come there's no diversity here and she really kind of digs into You know just because you don't use the n word and just because you don't you know have a Confederate flag in your Drive doesn't necessarily mean that you're meeting your obligation in terms of of you know Doing right by all people we have a bigger obligation Then just not being part of the problem We have an obligation to be part of the solution and it's uh, I'll drop the um That's the awesome tone. I'll drop this in the um chat there You know this book this is great news too here This is awesome news. So I always use the library to get my books my audiobooks Not always, but I get a lot of my audiobooks there. Guess how long the hold is on this book y'all how long 26 weeks no kidding. Wow six months so i'm buying the book obviously But how great is that that that sick this these books? There's multiple copies are all on hold for six months I'm happy about that that that makes me feel a little bit better too like people want There's a large chunk of people that want to do better. We want to be better We want to we want to be better not just do better, but be better and it's it's not easy To to be better doing better is easier than being better. Um, I just want to tell a quick story about My operations manager Mindy you guys most of you guys have heard stories about her so um She has a story that she tells all the time that I think is really apropos here and it's like kind of gives like an understanding of how How racism exists in a what we would consider a really small way which makes us not racist, but really does is she um When she was growing up She was raised to believe that the only people that were allowed to wear white wedding gowns were virgins And so, you know if if you were wearing a white wedding gown You were a virgin and if you weren't you had to wear off whites or cream color or something like that And so she you know, we're older. So that's kind of normal in our day And she knows that that's not true Right. I mean obviously logically she knows that is not true That's not a thing that people don't have to do that They don't have to follow that and if someone's wearing a right a white dress doesn't mean that they are subconsciously trying to tell you that they're a virgin, right? She knows that logically But when she sees someone in a white wedding gown the first thing that still pops into her 62 year old mind is liar And she has to tamp it down She has to tamp down that idea because she realizes that's not the right thought I gotta I gotta get rid of that thought and in my mind That's kind of what racism is like even when those thoughts come up that are not quite right If if somebody's telling you they're not right, you gotta tamp them down Even if you're like, yeah, but no, I don't care. There are no. Yeah, buds. There are no Yeah, but my no stop right tamp it down Tamp that baby down. You gotta listen. You gotta listen. You got to be on the listening side first I always love uh What even covers has in it and the habits one of the habits is seek first to understand It's good and people always again, they want to be understood, but they don't want to understand Yeah, and that's what I meant by somebody's got to start first, right? And so we got to start first everybody has to start first I have to I have to listen first You have to listen first tom. You have to listen first if we're all focused on listening first Dude, that's a win. That's a win. We all win So yeah, what is this? Everyone needs to watch the Oprah Winfrey own spotlight special. Where do we go from here? So I don't know about that. Do you have more information about that Karina or a link? Do you know about that you guys? I don't Got a hashtag so I'm sure we could put it on facebook and get some information about it Thank you, Karina. Yeah, I know I would like to Um, Caleb, did you see the audiobook recommendation that tom just put out there? He was asking what audiobook should we listen to thank you for the roots movie recommendation Yeah roots is an old movie And so I didn't even realize that young people hadn't hadn't seen it because in my day Every single person had seen it. You couldn't find somebody that hadn't seen it and it was Bad it was scary But it kind of contributed a little bit to the problem. I have to tell you Alonso because that's part of what makes me think Look, I'm not racist. I would never Nothing anywhere. I don't think like that. I don't work like that But racism isn't in the big things a lot of times I think a lot of times it's in the little things Your little poor little things that you don't camp down that you think liar cause problems That you don't know contribute to that You know the one thing is that when I'm around You know a person that may be white and they have to say they're not a racist That right there sends up a bad flag Because I've been around a lot of white people. Most of my friends are white and The ones that don't have to say that They're not because they just they just don't think in that manner and they don't operate in that way You know, sometimes white people are spending too much time trying to defend themselves Just let your actions speak for themselves. You don't have to say, you know, I got a black friend It's just like what does that mean? You know, what does that mean? I have a bad friend, you know But I think if we focus on being the best that we can be by treating each other with respect Um, and it starts out the same thing as what us to start with our children and teaching people how to be kind That word nowadays is like does it even exist kind? You know, Stephanie was asking how do we do that? You know, we got to start with our kids And you got it and you got to really, you know set the set the right tone and and um Have the right values, you know the right values in your home People just don't have values in their home and some of the culture inside the home is is a mess and a disaster But again, we go back to about leadership, you know parents have really forgot that they are leaders You know, you are leaders and you do have a job description And people have really got confused about what their job descriptions are as being parents And my my my responsibility And my number one job job responsibility is to be the best father that I can be For my children and that required me being the best me, you know, not to watch my words I have to watch my actions, you know, and I have to be responsible number one thing I have to be accountable Accountable and you know, this is the one thing I have posted about what happened with the way this world is going People are just not accountable anymore. You know, we don't hold people accountable In the highest in the highest office. We're not holding people accountable And you know leadership has just went to the wayside and now what we think is true leadership You know, some of these people even like the generals are coming out and just like That's not leadership. It's not what that's not how leadership works You know, that's and that and that's not that's not that's not playing the long game in leadership You're playing a short game in leadership when you decide to leave from that position You know, so I'm about winning but I'm about winning the right way Um, I'm not going to disrespect anybody, you know, I I look at the same thing with law enforcement That doesn't need to change It needs to change Do they need to be uh defund it? But those funds need to be allocated and it needs to be put towards the proper training and cleaning up departments In cleaning and not letting it go not not letting the the small behaviors happen It's because of the unions and you have situations where some of these officers have bad records And we talked about the bad But they move to other police departments and they have Three and four and five things already on their record and they're allowed to keep going without getting some type of psychological Evaluation they're not going through anger management, you know and a lot of them again They have personal issues, but they're allowed to work in law enforcement And they're not going to be able to dis disescalate anything or brain calm or peace to anything They're not even talking in a reasonable manner some of them I mean, there's some great police officers that have great training great mannerism And I mean I tell you they're they're professional. They're stand up Stand up type of people, but there's some that again They just need proper training and maybe some that just don't need to the job's not for you You know And you're pointing out exactly what we deal with in our business all day long You know you you can't get that really bad employee And how many times have I been coaching a business owner that says yeah, but she cleans so well I don't care how well she cleans. She's cancer Caught her out and until you cut her out your whole company is riddled with cancer But once you cut her out when was the last time you heard a business owner that got rid of that really bad apple and said Gosh, I really wish I could have her back never Nobody says that Well, Liz you have you have good culture, you know, and here's the one thing whoever said that that particular police Station has good culture So we just assume You know everything is great because they're a police officer No, the culture could be really disturbing the culture could be really out of place and all balanced and all and and completely out of whack So therefore is anyone evaluating that is anyone is anyone stepping in and say, you know That culture inside of that department needs to be corrected because when you look at the LAPD You look at the new york police department philadelphia police. They have all been up under major investigations by fbi They have been under Investigations where being in narcotics have been in in situations where they have even worked for the mob Mafia and different things to these situations. So don't ever tell me that everything is is is cleaning good Everything has to go through a cleansing process Yeah, you know and so all these With with covid everything that's happening right now with with these protests and everything This is a holistic cleansing process that needs to take place It needs to be That's going to Stephanie's question. So is it a black culture issue or a world issue? Both That's why you see it throughout the world. That's why you're looking you're seeing france. You're seeing london You're seeing australia. You're seeing everybody jumping in this This is a worldwide problem Yeah, but the problem is this The united states has looked at towards as the leader We're looked at as leader other countries look towards us So when you look at as that leader, they're going to see how you're going to handle things how you're going to deal with things Are you going to be able to fix those things and correct those problems and those situations? Are you going to truly be the united states and unite together to be stronger? That's what's happening We often make the comment in our training sessions that we need to be the leaders that our businesses need us to be You know, we need to be the leaders that our communities need us to be we need to be the leaders Our employees need us to be we need to be the leaders that our country and our world needs us to be And this isn't the end of this Discussion, you know for anything this is the end of the beginning of the discussion Alonzo I would I like to ask you to please, you know come back sometime in the near future and Pick up on the next steps Let's give some thought as to what more tangible things we could be doing as as as as owners and maybe we can help be I don't know if prescriptive is the right term, but actually here are Like tangible examples of more things that that that we could be doing. Do you think that we could do that Alonzo? I'm all for You know always coming over here and joining you guys. I mean, but you're also busy You're a busy guy. So do you have time to to commit to this? I mean, I feel like this is super Super couldn't these are unprecedented times and this is the time to make the big It changes, right? I would say, you know what we talked about purpose You know, I can't look at you know, just money's not my purpose My purpose is people, you know, and I know what I know what I'm here for I'm here for people and that's people will always all color So let's let's set up let's set up a time and you know, let's discuss it and Let's make it happen because that's our responsibility to use this platform to So to help navigate, you know, the waters here to what's going on and to better the industry to better better The world itself. That's what that's what we're that's what our purpose is Yeah, we spend a lot of time in smart business moves talking about how to get cost a good sold down Half a percent or how to get more leads or do a better job recruiting For all rational reasons and that's all important. There's important and then there's important and I don't think that we've Had a single scan. We've had a lot of discussions about public health and safety and I mean we've talked about a lot of important things, but I think that we've just Put this up at the top. So and y'all wouldn't it be crazy if the residential cleaning industry Was a leader in this fight against racism Wouldn't that be just crazy? If we there are a lot of residential cleaners out there in the world, right? How many and if we were all on the same page, that's a huge we could make a huge difference We really couldn't we got age, you know and And again, we're going to see some some huge things happen, you know as we start to do this Just a big project and it's going to take it's going to take take time You know and it's going to take us, you know, let go of things to embrace new things We're too we're too much holding on to old things when we start to let go of those old things and embrace new things Then that's when change happens and that's when it becomes powerful I just posted the link to robin d angelo's book again if You have questions or trying to figure some of this out. Um, I can tell you it That's that's a good read. Um, we're we're we're at the end for today Time of course. Yeah, we get our housekeeping at the beginning though because we had a feeling this might happen. So Yeah, I know that's your favorite. Thanks Stephanie. Thank you Karina. Thank you Everybody for coming. Yeah, I'm speaking up and everybody. Huh not easy, but gosh better Yes, it's tough. It's tough conversation But that's it. It's a journey and we keep working out of we'll get easier and then we'll look back and laugh Why was it so hard? I hope I hope right your your lips to god's ears tom that we're laughing We're looking back and laughing Thanks so much. Alonzo as always. Thank you. Thanks again. We'll talk Okay Thank you guys