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Aug. 4, 2018 - Real Coffe - Scott Adams
39:16
Episode 166 Scott Adams: Hawk Newsome on the Agape March for Love, Food equality and More
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Time Text
Ba-da-bum-bum. Bum-bum-bum.
Bum-bum-bum-bum.
Hey, everybody. Come on in.
Gather around.
We're going to be talking live to Hawk Newsome, who is actually marching even right now as part of the Agape March.
Agape, agape, agape, agape, agape, agape.
Agape. Alright, we're gonna, as soon as I get to a thousand, I'm almost there.
We're gonna start talking.
And hey, come on in everybody.
Alright, let's start up.
So I'm here with Hawk Newsome, and they're live marching right now as part of the Agape March.
That's hashtag Agape.
Agape March.
Agape March. Hawk, tell the listeners what that's all about.
Well, Agape Love is something that Dr.
King Preached on a lot.
It was one of his core tenets.
And it was talking about this sacrificial love.
That it's like this extreme dedication to your fellow man and woman.
So what we're trying to do with this march is we're trying to resonate that in people.
Like this feeling of love that will allow them to stand up and say, hey, you know what?
I'm against racism.
A lot of people have asked me for solutions in the past, so this march is about presenting solutions.
Alright, now, this march is not associated with Black Lives Matter, is that correct?
No, no. Even though I remain the president of Black Lives Matter New York, and there are two other members of Black Lives Matter New York here with me right now on this march, this march doesn't necessarily fall in line with their core tenets.
Now, would you say that this march is sort of an attempted antidote to the divisive attitude in the country right now?
This is what it's all about.
This march is multi-ethnic, you've got everybody, and the point of it is to reduce the divisive feeling, is that correct?
Yeah, but you and I talked at length about finding common ground.
So what we're introducing on this march Are places where American citizens can say, hey, you know what?
These are some ways to overcome systemic racism.
And as a country, we could agree on the imbalances that we're pointing out.
Right. And tell me a few of the top things, like the food equality, if people haven't heard that term before.
Could you describe that?
There's this phenomenon that goes on across the country in black and brown and even white communities that don't have a lot of resources, don't have a lot of money, and they're called food deserts.
And in these food deserts, it's hard to find access to healthy food.
And I'm sure that we can all agree that obesity is a problem.
And a lot of people say, hey, hawk, What about black on black crime?
And I just want people to know that black on black crime isn't the number one killer of black people.
And what's really doing the most damage to us is preventable diseases.
Diseases like diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, heart disease, things of that nature.
And if you really want to look at the source, then you can look to the fast food and the beverage companies.
Who promote poison.
I'm sorry. Who promotes their highly unhealthy foods in poor neighborhoods.
And that's what folks have access to.
And there's been studies that show we're working with doctors on this.
And when I talk about this being a diverse coalition, the number one doctor we have on this topic is Dr.
Mark Hyman. He's a Jewish guy who's like the Deepak Chopra of food.
And what he pointed out to me was that they run chemical tests on how to get people addicted to food.
I repeat, they run chemical, they run tests to see how they can get people addicted to food, how much sodium, how much sugar to put in these foods, and they're just terrible.
And these foods are on every corner in the ghetto.
These foods are in all of our schools.
So what we're saying right now is, let's support, let's find funding through the public or through the government that will teach people how to eat properly, that will also teach them how to shop for and prepare healthy food.
And people say, hey, well, why would we want to spend more government money?
I get it. If you spend the money now on these programs and get people healthy, you don't have to pay medical bills later.
You don't have to pay to treat people having heart attacks or people who are having amputations because of diabetes.
You don't have to pay for their hospital visits because they're getting healthy.
These solutions are about empowering people, empowering people to take care of themselves.
So that's what we say when we talk about food equality.
And we're on the highway now.
I'll show you. I'm totally with you on the food equality thing.
The other thing that people don't talk about as much is that if you don't get your health and your fitness right in general, then how can you work?
How can you get hired?
How can you have the energy to do the stuff you need?
Some people might have to work two jobs or go to school and work to take themselves to the next rung.
If you don't get your health right, you don't have a chance.
That's a really good point, because what happens when people are unable to work?
They go on Social Security, and they get welfare.
So, I mean, I'm laughing, but this is a serious problem that we can resolve if we get into the neighborhoods and do it properly.
Right now, this March, What I've created, after about nine months of thinking about it, is an organization called Rejuvenation.
Hold on, there's a loud car coming.
So it's three words, Rejuvenation.
I'm sorry. So with Rejuvenation, let me see if I can find some headphones.
Mario, you have headphones?
Sam? Do you have a microphone?
I might lose you if you put on headphones.
I'm not sure if we'll keep this in.
I'm sorry. I'm getting some headphones right now so I can hear you.
You can hear me. I can hear you fine.
We got good sound on our side.
Yeah, so it's rejuve space uh space nation.
Yeah, and the hashtag It's just one word.
It's Rejuve, spelled out, R-E-J-U-V-E, A, Nation, N-A-T-I-O-N. Alright, now, one of the things I've only...
One of the things I've always liked about your activism is that you're looking for ways to come together, not ways to make things worse.
That's always been kind of your trademark.
I like that you're taking this Dr.
Luther King kind of vibe, taking it to the street.
Now, the march you're on, the Agape March, that's a multi-city thing, and you're culminating in Washington, D.C., right?
Yes, we left the Bronx yesterday, and now we are somewhere in New Jersey.
Funny thing about me, you know, New Yorkers live next to New Jersey, but New Jersey is like, you know, Antarctica to us.
We only pass through when we have to.
You know what I mean? Or if there's a Giants game.
But we're boycotting football, so I haven't been there in a couple years.
Anyway, what's really happening is...
I'm tired of fighting.
I'm tired of fighting, you know?
I'm on... I've traded in the word fight for the word mission.
Right now, we're on a mission to heal not only our country, But to heal our communities.
Rejuvenation is launching in the projects of the South Bronx.
And when we talk about health and food deserts, the Bronx is the unhealthiest county in New York State.
And it's been that way for 10, 15 years.
These politicians haven't been able to figure it out, so we're going to figure it out for ourselves.
How much of it do you think is education in terms of the people themselves?
Do they need to know how to eat better or is it really a case of providing the food because they wouldn't have any options even if they knew what to eat?
It's both. It's both.
There are no options but more importantly there has to be an education element And I'm glad that you started talking about education, because part of rejuvenation, part of the solutions we're marching with, is that we're holding financial literacy classes in more communities.
Like, you have to understand, homeowners, professional people, people who own businesses, they know Money.
They have a working knowledge of money and they know a little bit more than the average poor person.
That's why they may be doing better.
But the conversations at my dinner table, or in a lot of people's dinner table, they're not about money in a healthy way.
Our conversations about money is You know, we're stressing over it.
Everyone stresses over money, but we're really stressing over the money.
And we need to start teaching people how to make money.
We need to start talking about trades.
I know a lot of people say, hey, this robot revolution is malarkey.
Actually, it's not.
So what I want to teach people in our community are trades.
So when these things do happen, when robots start taking over their jobs, They'll know what directions to go into.
Entrepreneurship classes, having business people come in and teach people how to create businesses, how to run businesses, teaching them management skills.
Right now, what we're asking for is...
Actually, we're asking for government funding.
But in addition to that, we want to give people a safe way to help out.
We're organizing, you know, we've been working on this for a long time with people in our network, and we're really out here trying to help them get on their feet.
Rejuvenation. Think about the principle, the words.
We're trying to bring light back to a deflated people.
So, did you have a chance to look at, there's some kind of new legislation about teaching trades?
The administration just passed some kind of a bill.
I haven't really looked into it.
Have you looked into that at all?
No, I haven't, but I've been saying this for the last five years.
Okay? I've been saying this for the last five years.
What are you saying? I'm sorry.
I don't know if the new legislation is enough or the right kind, but I believe it was designed for this very thing.
So I'm going to educate myself on that a little bit and see what's up on that.
Maybe I'll look at it tonight in my downtime, right?
And we can talk about it tomorrow, maybe.
Okay. I don't know if you're on the road for a while, brother.
Yeah. Well that looks very healthy.
At least you're getting your fitness there.
So if people wanted to contribute, where would they go?
Is there a way to do that? Oh yes.
They can go to agape, H-E-A-P-E, March, M-A-R-C-H dot com.
Alright. Go ahead.
I just want to show you something.
Who has the snacks?
I just want to show you something.
Okay. Sam, show them the sign.
I just want to show you something that we've been doing.
This is Sam, college student.
And this is Mario.
Mario is a teacher.
And he started his old school in the South Bronx.
Oh, wow. Based on the principles we teach.
So what we have here is some fruit, some nuts, and a granola bar.
A lot of protein.
And what we're doing is we are giving these to homeless people and people in need as we encounter them on the march.
Wow, that's great.
Yeah. So if people go to agapemarch.com, there'll be a link there where they can donate?
There'll be a link on your website where they can donate.
Yeah, it'll say donate.
We take our donations through PayPal.
You gotta understand that this thing came about in the last eight days.
The reason why we're going to DC is because Jason Kessler and the KKK and those white supremacists who actually killed someone in We actually killed someone in Charlottesville last year.
They have a permit to hold a rally that's based in hate in front of the White House.
And what we want to do is we are holding a rally in Washington, D.C. on August 12th in front of the Martin Luther King Monument.
Because what we want to say is our love is stronger than their hate.
And we're asking anyone and everyone who has love in their hearts to turn that love into action and come out there that day and hear these solutions and show their support.
More importantly, to take a stand.
To take a stand against a terrorist organization who have been operating on U.S. soil for over 200 years.
Yeah, you're talking about the KKK in particular, right?
Yes. Now, I think everybody watching this is going to agree with you on that.
You know, I'm going to cue you up to say something that would be very popular with the listeners here.
Can you hear me? So I want to cue you up to ask you for a clarification that I know the people watching this are going to ask for.
When you say an end to racism, you really mean racism against anybody from any source, right?
You're not limiting that, are you?
No, I'm not.
I'm not. Last year, I saw signs that said, kill Muslims.
Killed Jews.
You know what I mean? People with us were called nigger lovers.
And they killed a white woman last year.
Last year it was a white woman that was killed.
Okay? So these people really have hate in their heart.
We're talking about neo-Nazis as well.
Like, these people are really hate groups.
And they were walking around Charlottesville last year.
And let me tell you. They had Trump signs.
So right now, a large portion of the public believe, and this is the God's honest truth, believe that Trump supporters support these groups wholeheartedly.
There's no division.
Let me stop you right there.
What do you believe? Excuse me?
What do you believe?
Do you believe Trump supporters support the Tiki Torch people?
No, not all of them.
But some of them do, and it's time to draw a line in the sand.
Okay, I have people that I went to law school with that were pretty liberal that voted for Donald Trump.
And to be perfectly honest, it was shocking to me.
And you know, they gave me their perspectives, and it is what it is.
But the bottom line is, I consider myself enlightened.
The majority of folks who See what's happening in this country.
Believe that most, the high majority of Donald Trump supporters are racist.
They don't like blacks.
They don't like immigrants.
They don't like Jews. And I think the ones that don't feel that way need to come together and work on solutions.
And work on solutions.
One of the reasons why there's three of us marching the whole way, committed to this whole entire journey, is because we saw hate firsthand.
We were in Charlottesville last year, on the front lines.
Rocks flying, bottles, there were guns out, there was tear gas, pepper spray.
We saw that. And we understand that open confrontation, hand-to-hand combat, It's not what's going to fix racism in this country.
You know? Now, I won't tell you that I'm completely non-violent, because if someone shakes a hornet's nest, they'll get stung.
But when we're talking about solutions to these problems, it has to be done through a place of love, through a place of unselfishness.
Like, hey, you know what? My relative, May never be choked to death by a police officer, but I know that's wrong, and here's how we can fix it.
One of the solutions that we're marching with is something that you and I have discussed previously, and that would be to prosecute and jail police officers that falsify reports where there is a valid claim of police brutality.
Hold on, Hawk. I'm watching the comments.
I'm watching the comments and they're asking...
I can't hear you. I'm watching the comments.
Can you hear me? Yes.
I'm watching the comments coming in and they're asking for a clarification.
Because I think some people think that you believe a majority of Trump supporters are racists.
And that's exactly not what you said, right?
No. No, there are large numbers that are racists.
There are a large number that are racist that have expressed racist views.
And this is a reality that a lot of us know.
And now is not the time for sensitivity.
Now is the time for realism.
Okay? Okay?
Let's be real about this.
There are people out there who feel that way.
Let's not act like it's a secret.
However, if you want to help, if you want to get involved and Personally, put some skin in the game to end racism, then get active.
Get active. So, let me give you some persuasion advice.
It would be very useful if you could note that there are people in both parties who are racist, and way too many of them.
Okay, here's the thing, right?
Here's the thing. I'm going to tell you.
Something that I learned because I played basketball in school in Texas, right?
Alright, go. There are two different types of races.
There's a northern racist and a southern racist.
And here's why I appreciate the southern racist is because in Louisiana and Texas, they'll call you nigger to your face, right?
In New York City, they'll smile and be your friend and then go home and call you nigger behind your back.
I appreciate people who say, you know what, I am a racist.
Let me know where you stand.
Don't hide it from me.
Don't hide it from me.
So when you look at, you look at, I'm stepping in, I'm stepping out on thin ice right here, right?
There are a lot of Republican policies that are viewed as anti-black.
These are the facts, right?
However, you have The Democrats who run around like, hey, I'm your friend.
You know, they show up to the concerts, they dance with us, they act like they love us.
However, they are not helping us.
I'd rather an enemy that I know is an enemy than someone who's pretending to be my friend that's not helping me, you know?
And that's just the reality of it.
So, me, my actions, are bipartisan, right?
As far as I'm concerned, it's the people against the government.
I'm sorry. I think the government is controlled by special interests, and I think both parties cater to them, and I think we, as a people, need to take back control of America and make it what we want it to be.
Now, I had a realization recently, you said earlier that the government's policies are racist, and I had a realization that every policy that affects a lot of people is racist one way or the other.
There's no way not to do that, simply because the ethnicities occupy different parts of, you know, in terms of the average.
Anything you do, whether it's a tax change, it's going to affect people differently because they're not in the same economic strata.
It's pretty much universal, isn't it?
I'm not sure. Because you take something like affirmative action, right?
There's no secret that employment practices are biased.
This is just the America we live in.
Can we agree on that?
Well, they're biased in both directions, wouldn't you say?
Who does it have the most disproportionate effect on?
Well, keep in mind, Hawk, that I've personally lost two jobs because I was white.
Really? What happened?
I want to hear this now.
I want to hear this. When I worked for a bank, the bank got caught for not having enough diversity in management, and my boss actually called me in, it was a woman, and said that she apologized, but management said that I could never get promoted because I was a white male.
And so I quit the bank.
And by the way, they were very honest.
They said, I'm going to tell it to you straight.
I can't promote a white male.
So I left. And I went to work for the phone company, and I got on the management track, and it looked like I was headed for the top.
And one day my boss called me in and said, we got caught not having any diversity in senior management, so until further notice, we can't promote you.
And they said it in straight language.
No equivocation.
And that's when I decided to become a cartoonist.
Now when I became a cartoonist, things went really well, and I started to...
So then I started a Dilbert TV show.
It was on the UPN network that doesn't exist.
And we got cancelled in the second season because the network decided to change their programming to be primarily an African-American channel.
That didn't work out for them.
But I've had three careers that were explicitly ended because of my ethnicity.
So, let me tell you what that does to you.
Now, it's also true that I have the advantages of being white in other ways, and advantages of being male, and I tried to take advantage of those as much as I could.
But, when it comes to racism, I say fuck everybody who discriminates and I don't care which direction it's coming from.
Because I've been on the receiving side and it sucks more than just about anything.
I'm certainly not going to say my situation compares There's somebody who's, let's say, in an urban situation, and they've got a lot of other problems going on.
But it is a fact, nonetheless, that there are plenty of people in my situation who have experienced it, usually from the Fortune 500s.
It doesn't really come from small business, but the Fortune 500s are very biased against White males.
And I've also been in the room when we were making hiring decisions, and we would explicitly say, let's not hire a white male.
Yeah. Now, I think it's terrible, and I'm glad that those experiences made you stronger.
But what The way that I see this, right, is when that happens, they're saying, hey, listen, it's too many white people here, right?
So let's make space for minorities.
When companies talk about diversification, they're talking about allowing blacks, browns, and women Into these spaces so they can occupy these positions.
And in no way are they saying, let's make them a majority.
You know, if you look at high-level management, these CEOs of these companies, these corporations, you look at the executives, the numbers are so disproportionate.
To the population of the country.
So when...
And I'm just speaking from...
What I do is I speak from my heart.
They're saying, hey, there's too many white people here.
Let's make some space for black people.
Right? Let's give them some access.
And, you know, I really don't talk about...
I want equality.
I want everything to be equal in America.
No. It's just some people have more access than others.
So let's talk about that for a moment.
I think that what you and I are doing right now is incredibly productive.
And one of the things that you can do that other people can't do, let's say other African American men, is that you have access to me and I have access to other people.
So in terms of networking, you're way ahead of the game because you've made the smart choice to open up your network to anybody that makes sense.
I've often thought that some kind of a mentoring connection network would be a huge step in the right direction.
Because it's a country where who you know seems to make the most difference.
So if you're in the small group that doesn't talk to the big group, you can never get the advantages that the big group has unless you explicitly make a connection and then those people can say, oh, I know somebody from this job, I know them personally.
Yeah, see, okay, there was this study, right, that came out a few years back when I was at a law firm, a huge insurance defense law firm, and what they talked about was the amount of black associates that go to I think that there are a large number of African American men who have these relationships But what I'm focused on,
and I can't speak for what everyone else is doing, what I'm focused on is building a bridge between me, between my community, communities like the South Bronx, and province communities, and my network,
right? So if you and I were to say, let's build this bridge, and let's set kids from the Bronx up with executive mentors, Who are from different, you know, socioeconomic backgrounds.
And we can create this exchange.
There are a lot of programs out there like that, but there's always room for more.
And I made it my purpose to bring all of my connections back to, you know, to the struggle, to helping people.
And what we really need to understand is, the day Did we stop arresting blacks at disproportionate rates?
You know, this is something that the current administration is addressing.
Mass incarceration. This is real.
This isn't the boogeyman anymore, right?
Like, everybody's talking about that.
Okay? The day that we start helping black and brown people Become more productive is the day America goes to a whole new level.
Like a whole new level.
Now at the moment the economy is just screaming and you know the administration has said explicitly if we don't put you know black, brown people, women, it's less a problem for women I think, but if we don't put everybody to work including people who have been incarcerated We just can't get the work done.
So it's a good place to be right now.
Let's wrap this up because we don't want to go too long here.
What else would you like to say that you think people need to hear?
We had a critical time in our country.
There is a rise of hate.
And a good friend asked me to do the research on hate crimes.
And I did it. And there has been an increase in hate crimes because of this divide, because of the political climate.
And what I'm asking y'all to do is to help Help me put an end to systemic racism.
You ask what systemic racism is, and I'll give it to you in a really simple way.
It's unfair. It's unfairness.
It's unfair toward black people.
And we've come up with some solutions that we're working to implement.
I'd say get on board and try and find your way down to B.C. on August 12th.
So that we can show these white supremacists what America really is, not what they're trying to make it, or not what it used to be.
So I'll tell you, Hawk, for what it's worth, I don't know anybody, Republican or anybody else, who doesn't think that the white supremacists are just a joke.
So for what it's worth, the vast, vast, vast majority of Trump supporters, I can pretty much guarantee you, would like those guys just to go away.
But we'll lose our sound here a little bit.
Can you still hear me?
I can hear you. Okay.
So, the website is agapemarch.com.
Anybody who wants to jump in and help to heal the racial divide, Keep in mind, you don't need to agree with everything.
We're looking for the places that we do agree and try to work from there.
So don't get lost in I agree with every point.
Think about productive conversation and then we'll see where we can get from there.
Would you like to make a closing statement?
Yes. Please follow us on Twitter.
And if you believe in the message, promote it.
Like Scott said, you won't agree with everything I'm saying.
Nobody agrees with everything we're saying.
Not even black people.
But if you believe in certain elements, then that's where we can work together.
And I think that it's time that America really stood up and said it's time to end racism.
It's been 500 years.
And I understand that some of you I understand that some of you feel like, hey, it's gotten better.
A lot of us don't feel that way.
A large number of us don't feel that way.
So listen with the empathetic ear.
People tell me that this won't work, right?
People tell me that, Hulk, you need to be like Malcolm X. And I say that I am like Malcolm X after he came back from Mecca, when he started talking about inclusion And aligning people to fight alongside him from whatever colors, whatever background. It was about inclusion and uniting to end racism.
And, I mean, you look at Dr.
King, you think about that march on Washington, and you look at the people behind him.
Some of those people had on kufis, some of them had on yarmulkes, and there was a variation of skin hues.
So let's stand together.
And say that there's no place in America for hate.
Alright, that's a perfect way to close this out.
Thanks for joining and I'll be talking more about this as you march and I'll catch up with you later, okay?
Peace brother. Alright, peace.
God bless you. Alright, bye bye.
Alright, it's just me.
So I was monitoring the comments as we went.
I saw lots of pushback, which is good.
Because remember, the point of this is constructive conversation.
So you're not asking you to agree with everything.
Don't need to agree with him.
Don't need to agree with me.
But let's see if we can move the conversation to a better place.
I'm trying to help out.
I hope I can make some small difference and we'll see if we can go from there.
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