00:09 - Everyone.

00:10 - It is great to have you here at gettysburg college tonight.

00:15 - My name is Tracey potts I am the executive director

00:17 - of eisenhower institute here at gettysburg college

00:20 - it's great to look around and see.

00:24 - Our students I've seen

00:26 - staff and faculty and of course always very important to me

00:31 - and it's great to see members of our greater community we

00:35 - are all one community and so it's great to have you here

00:38 - I am here today

00:39 - to very briefly

00:41 - introduce to you the him Henry m scharf memorial lecture

00:44 - which we call in short the scharf lecture

00:47 - and also to introduce you to our our speaker tonight so a little bit about this

00:52 - lecture and how and why it happens and why it's

00:54 - sponsored by the eisenhower institute every year

00:57 - dr f Williams sunderland who was a member of the

01:00 - gettysburg college class of nineteen nineteen

01:03 - established the Henry m shark memorial lecture

01:07 - on current affairs back in nineteen nineties us seventy seven

01:10 - seventy seven

01:12 - to honor his long time friend

01:13 - Henry scharf

01:15 - who was a member of the class of nineteen twenty five I was the builder of the

01:20 - majestic theater just down the road not sure if everyone knew that

01:24 - and that was the venue that the eisenhower's frequented when they were here in town

01:28 - with the broad the focus of current events at this annual

01:32 - lecture provides a podium and has provided a podium

01:35 - for many distinguished speakers including our speaker tonight

01:39 - Lee Hawkins I'll tell you a little bit about lie

01:41 - and then invite lie to the podium

01:43 - just to give you an idea of

01:45 - the structure for the evening

01:47 - Lee will speak to us and then lie he and I will

01:50 - have a conversation

01:52 - in which I am excited to include you

01:55 - and include your thoughts in your questions in that conversation

01:59 - Lee Hawkins is an American investigative journalist and author

02:03 - who was a finalist for the pulitzer prize in two thousand twenty two

02:07 - his most recent work documents the the lives of black American descendants of slavery

02:12 - and Jim crow survivors exploring the intergenerational impact

02:17 - of racial violence and racism

02:19 - on their families

02:20 - his reporting also addresses those affected by multiple adverse childhood

02:25 - experiences aces we're going to talk a little bit about that and childhood trauma

02:30 - which highlights the long term effects on health

02:33 - and life expectancy

02:35 - leaves a former wall street journal reporter

02:38 - he worked there for nineteen years covering

02:40 - all sorts of dimensions of entrepreneurship corporate investing world

02:45 - focusing on the generational effects of economic discrimination

02:50 - racial covenants

02:51 - land that the impact of economically motivated homicides

02:55 - on families of color

02:57 - and he's going to talk a little bit more about that

03:00 - from a personal experience as well

03:02 - his book I am nobody's slave which I see a few of you already have

03:06 - how uncovering my family's history set me free three

03:10 - it's an introspective journey

03:12 - into Lee's family history tracing his roots

03:15 - back to the pre revolutionary era

03:18 - utilizing genetic testing.

03:21 - Investigative reporting historical documentation he explores four

03:26 - hundred years

03:27 - of his family's lineage

03:29 - and as an app African American I hopefully

03:31 - will take a minute to talk a little bit about

03:34 - the importance of being able to go back

03:36 - four hundred years through his family's heritage

03:39 - I'm revealing the intertwined lives of black families

03:42 - and white families their resilience their suffering

03:45 - and as I mentioned earlier the impact of

03:48 - historical

03:49 - trauma this is also oh part of a broader commentary on the importance

03:53 - of genealogical research in healing and bridging racial divides

03:58 - in contemporary america

03:59 - so

04:00 - I don't want to take up much of Lee's time he has a really long bio for very good

04:04 - reason that you're going to find out.

04:06 - He is both a print and now a broadcast journalist

04:10 - he has been awarded.

04:12 - A number of honors including

04:14 - the national fellowship at the us c center

04:18 - for health journalism which is actually our connection because we were fellows together

04:23 - and just one year apart

04:25 - he is a five time winner of the salute to

04:28 - excellence award from the national association one

04:31 - of black journalists

04:33 - and I was raised and I this is a good segue into Lee in Maplewood Minnesota

04:39 - in the historic rondo community

04:41 - in st Paul Minnesota he has been an active advocate

04:45 - for nonviolent social change inspired

04:48 - by Martin Luther king junior and we're going to learn tonight about a few two others

04:51 - who inspired him as well so please join me in welcoming

04:55 - for this year's annual Henry m scharff memorial lecture

05:00 - journalist and author Lee Hawkins.

05:02 - Huh.

05:11 - Thank you so much it is a distinct honor as well as an imminent privilege to be.

05:16 - At gettysburg college today I want to thank you Tracy and.

05:21 - Diane and everybody who helped out

05:24 - in getting me here

05:25 - and.

05:26 - I love to speak to colleges

05:28 - because.

05:29 - There are so many differences between

05:32 - the generations

05:33 - and in the way that

05:35 - our worldviews.

05:36 - Can change.

05:38 - In accordance with the way

05:40 - that

05:41 - the business sector is changing especially you know.

05:45 - I focus a lot on

05:47 - the transition between the industrial the economy.

05:51 - All the way to

05:52 - the creative economy that I I was born into and now I see we're moving into I don't

05:57 - even know what to call it an automation economy or AI economy

06:01 - and it sounds so wall street journal lie

06:05 - but the truth is is.

06:07 - The prevailing society affair

06:09 - so much

06:11 - of the world view of every generation and a lotta times you

06:14 - know it's exciting but it also leads to some polarization

06:18 - and disagreements within family not just with

06:21 - politics but with how you should lead your life.

06:26 - As you go out into the world and start to.

06:29 - Two

06:31 - to graduate and and see what what your future is going to look like

06:35 - less and less you're you're able to depend less

06:37 - and less on previous generations to give you

06:40 - the guidance because as I was telling Tracy.

06:43 - We don't know where things are headed right now but what we do know is that.

06:48 - The future can be bright if you plan it so I want to talk a lot today

06:53 - about the concept.

06:55 - Of polarization.

06:57 - That is impacting.

07:00 - Our world and I'm going to talk about it more on the family level

07:05 - by giving you some experiences that came out of I am nobody's slave.

07:09 - Looks like a couple of people have read the book

07:12 - but so I won't but I won't ruin it for the rest of you because I think that.

07:17 - It's about my family but there are a lot of universal.

07:21 - Themes in there and you really should get the book signed because

07:25 - I heard that you could get five extra bucks on eBay if you have the signature so.

07:30 - Please do that.

07:33 - I am nobody sleep how uncovering my family's history set me free.

07:39 - Was a book that took me.

07:41 - About ten years all in to write

07:45 - and you know it it's not

07:46 - I'm not

07:47 - going to say it's a literary masterpiece but

07:50 - it certainly took

07:52 - a lot for me to finish it.

07:55 - There were some days that I was you know just completely exhilarated and really

08:00 - excited about getting into the work and then there

08:02 - were some days that I just couldn't get out of bed.

08:06 - Because of the things that I had some of the things that I had uncovered.

08:11 - But I think when I started

08:13 - to do that and push myself to start to write about those things.

08:18 - In the most authentic

08:20 - way possible.

08:22 - That was where

08:24 - the how uncovering my family's history set me free part it was the hardest part.

08:30 - About my family story

08:32 - and my relationship

08:35 - with my parents in in particular that.

08:39 - You know

08:39 - both paying me deeply and also

08:42 - set us

08:43 - us free in our own way and in our relationship with each other.

08:48 - And when I speak of the family just before I get too

08:51 - deep into this I want you to know that I'm speaking about

08:54 - the nuke earlier family

08:56 - and the extended family but I'm also speaking about

08:59 - the American family.

09:02 - A lot of us

09:03 - you know we come from different backgrounds and we

09:06 - you know I'm at the home of

09:07 - gettysburg address right we come from.

09:10 - A

09:11 - a

09:12 - Different heritage's but we all sort of inherited the same set of circumstances

09:19 - and

09:20 - the scourge and and the pain of the civil war in

09:24 - this question

09:25 - that all continues to linger is there would there be a cosmic debt to pay.

09:31 - For the inability eighty two atone.

09:34 - For the sins of our forefathers are the things that have happened in the past and to

09:39 - to really confront those things so that we can become.

09:42 - The more perfect union that

09:45 - the founders and president Lincoln and

09:47 - Martin Luther king and president Obama.

09:50 - Wanted to see us become

09:52 - so so when I say the family

09:54 - I'm saying that you are my family

09:56 - as well.

09:59 - You're going to hear a lot of things in the discussion.

10:02 - That

10:02 - if you are a person who

10:05 - needs it to be one way or the other you you may be

10:08 - frustrated because I'll say on one hand I'll be critical

10:12 - of the country but on the other hand I'll talk about how much I love the country

10:17 - and I do not see those as in

10:19 - will concepts I actually see

10:21 - our love for the country.

10:23 - As being.

10:25 - Fundamental to being

10:26 - or being critical to as being fundamental to the love of our country which is why

10:31 - you know one of the more controversial things that I I say is.

10:35 - I

10:35 - I really you know I didn't necessarily

10:38 - do.

10:39 - I wouldn't have knee led

10:41 - for the flag

10:43 - but I really love that Colin kaepernick did

10:47 - and the reason I do is because I know what he was kneeling about he was kneeling about

10:52 - police brutality

10:53 - and when you look at that that's talking about the

10:56 - enforcement of our laws and equal justice under the law law

11:00 - which is

11:01 - a supremely American concept

11:03 - and I don't see how anyone could ever have a problem with anybody

11:07 - who would.

11:10 - Who would do that

11:11 - and here's why.

11:13 - Because we tend to sanitize things.

11:17 - In a very unhealthy way.

11:19 - Your generation

11:21 - the students you may not remember this but

11:24 - how many of those

11:25 - in the audience today remember.

11:28 - Walking into your kindergarten class or your first grade

11:31 - class and hearing the story about George Washington

11:34 - cutting down the cherry tree

11:36 - and when his father asked for about he said I will not tell a lie.

11:40 - Does anyone remember that

11:42 - okay so

11:43 - the even you

11:45 - you're a college student ray

11:46 - okay so they're still telling you that

11:49 - they're still pumping your brain with the social engineering but.

11:53 - The reason I call that social engineering.

11:56 - Is because everybody told a lie lie ray and the senses

12:00 - when we come into the

12:02 - the educational system were taught.

12:05 - In a way to not question our government.

12:09 - That our government is always honest with us and that our government is pure and

12:14 - you know in some ways it's the same

12:16 - way we see our elders right we

12:18 - we can't criticize the way we were raised because it seems

12:22 - to be especially in my African American family

12:25 - it was very very almost blasphemous to do that

12:28 - we can improve.

12:30 - If we if we don't

12:32 - challenge

12:33 - and so.

12:34 - We're seeing all of these different things

12:37 - unfolding now now in modern times

12:39 - such as the Epstein files where there are people

12:42 - who are saying well we filed the foia request why can't we get the documents

12:47 - the constitution says right here.

12:50 - As if

12:51 - there hasn't haven't been unfair redactions

12:56 - and there haven't been.

12:58 - So situations where high profile

13:00 - powerful men have

13:02 - engaged in the sexual assault of young women in the past

13:05 - we know the story of Sally hemings right so then we know

13:09 - that that's not the truth but it's beginning to circle around in a very

13:13 - major way to affect everyone not just minorities people

13:17 - and now we're so starting to see people who are having to come to terms

13:21 - with the.

13:23 - Part of

13:24 - the story of our democracy that.

13:26 - Is based in mythology and not truth to to really

13:29 - the difficult things that we've experienced in this

13:33 - so

13:34 - I'm

13:35 - not an advocate

13:37 - I'm not an activist I'm

13:39 - a journalist and I strive

13:40 - to to

13:41 - be

13:42 - Really

13:43 - as

13:43 - Objective as possible.

13:46 - But my

13:47 - advocacy

13:48 - in my activism

13:50 - that I do do is about truth.

13:54 - That's what I want I want to rip the scab off of a lot of the different issues that

13:59 - and other journalists aren't talking about I like to go into areas that

14:04 - are are really

14:06 - still right in front of our face yet nobody knows for instance

14:10 - how many of you grew up in a state where corporal punishment was legal in schools.

14:16 - Okay we have seventeen states right now

14:18 - where they can hear the kid with a wooden paddle

14:22 - and.

14:24 - The argument is that.

14:26 - Well it doesn't happen in many schools.

14:29 - And when it happens it doesn't happen to all the kids.

14:33 - So what does that mean.

14:35 - It means they're.

14:37 - The kids it's happening to are getting it

14:39 - over and over and over and over and over again

14:41 - and so.

14:42 - I

14:43 - Am the kind of journalist who wants to get into that why.

14:47 - Because the hardest part of my book was dealing with that was

14:52 - the fact that despite I came from a very loving family and

14:56 - the choice of

14:58 - discipline was to use a bell

15:01 - and I always wondered where that came from.

15:04 - There were a lot of different things

15:06 - that I questioned

15:07 - and I wonder I was very curious about

15:11 - and about my childhood.

15:13 - For a lifetime and then when I became a journalist I was able to dig in and get the

15:18 - and start to go back into the four hundred years

15:22 - of family history

15:23 - and get the reason as to why my father fell

15:27 - and my mother felt that if they didn't hit me with a

15:30 - belt that they didn't scare me into perfect behavior

15:33 - not I would just get in trouble but that I would get killed

15:37 - and that the entire family could be lynched.

15:40 - That sounded crazy to me

15:42 - as a kid as a black kid in Minnesota

15:45 - but when you read the book you'll start to see why

15:48 - so

15:49 - And

15:50 - my father Leroy Hawkins sr.

15:53 - Was my best friend we were very very close I came from a family

15:58 - of.

16:00 - I would say a

16:02 - a nuclear family of strong

16:04 - missionary baptist people.

16:06 - Good on

16:07 - good Americans I would say

16:09 - my dad was born in Alabama and he moved to Minnesota when he was twelve as part of

16:15 - what we were told the great migration.

16:18 - The great migration was supposed to be something that lead black people to move

16:22 - because they wanted a better opportunity

16:25 - to work and

16:26 - think

16:27 - things like

16:28 - companies like factories for

16:30 - Ford

16:31 - and general motors and Chrysler and

16:34 - to start to boost the black middle-class.

16:37 - After.

16:38 - Or during the era of

16:40 - Jim crow yo segregation

16:43 - and we were taught that Jim crow segregation

16:46 - was.

16:47 - Rosa parks

16:49 - right there and it was Martin Luther king

16:51 - you know in that the hardest part they led a protest

16:55 - because black people and white people were separated

16:59 - and the idea was that

17:01 - and

17:02 - the worst of it was that we couldn't have proximity to white people

17:07 - and

17:07 - Martin Luther king marched in

17:10 - we went we did the civil rights act in the in the march on Washington and.

17:14 - After that and and everybody was a happy family and

17:18 - the people in the north were.

17:20 - For freedom and the people in the south where for

17:23 - for slavery and Jim crow and and

17:26 - the worst of

17:27 - of america and though that was the sanitized

17:30 - version that was our George Washington

17:32 - story.

17:35 - And that was a story that I

17:37 - believed for a long time

17:39 - but as a kid I then would question because I would say well

17:43 - if that's the case then why is it that every couple of months I'll hear my father's

17:49 - crying out in the night.

17:51 - Having a nightmare

17:54 - and my mother would be waking him up and saying Leroy

17:57 - it's okay sweetie you're having a dream or having a dream

18:00 - and why was it

18:02 - that when I would ask my father dad what were you dreaming about.

18:06 - He would just look at me and say

18:08 - Alabama son.

18:10 - Alabama.

18:13 - If Alabama was segregation in the worst of it was that.

18:17 - They had to drink out of a surf separate water fountain

18:20 - than white people but everybody was happy and everybody was separate but equal

18:25 - why would that give a person nightmares

18:28 - and that was something that

18:30 - you know is really

18:31 - the central question

18:33 - to I am nobody's slay.

18:35 - Because I felt that I had been sold.

18:38 - A bill of goods and so.

18:40 - As time went on.

18:43 - I grew up.

18:45 - I somehow got involved in the school newspaper in

18:47 - high school and then I got involved in the school

18:50 - newspaper in college and I ended up in a newsroom

18:54 - and I was really bad at it by the way

18:56 - when I started

18:58 - but

18:59 - I would fancy myself as

19:01 - somebody who would go around and interview people

19:04 - and there were times where I interviewed old fam like elder family members and

19:10 - there was one time where my father got the courage to go

19:13 - to Alabama because my sister was graduating

19:16 - from a historically black college in.

19:20 - In

19:21 - North Carolina

19:22 - and he decided that we would drive to Alabama

19:25 - and interview an uncle who was at the time about ninety two years old

19:30 - and

19:30 - he wasn't sick or anything but my dad realized you know.

19:34 - I left Alabama and I never really went back except

19:37 - for a couple of visits and if I don't go back now.

19:42 - I'll never see that uncle again there are a

19:44 - lot of questions that I want to get answered

19:47 - and so we got to and we got to interview him

19:50 - and

19:50 - without going too deep into it.

19:53 - I'll just tell you that.

19:57 - My uncle told

19:58 - us and he

19:59 - had a beautiful farm

20:01 - and he told us

20:03 - you know

20:03 - the farm that I grew up on was much bigger but they killed my daddy for that

20:09 - and he said

20:10 - one of the biggest regrets that I

20:12 - have had in my life was that.

20:15 - I never got to kill the man who killed my father.

20:19 - Which was really

20:21 - a hard thing to hear because we are we were.

20:24 - We fancied ourselves as good Christian people and even this man was a

20:28 - Deacon in the church for many many years.

20:32 - Here he was in his ninety's still mourning.

20:36 - This this this injustice that he felt that the family went through.

20:41 - Because of the fact that they lost the land because

20:45 - of the fact

20:46 - that they had to

20:47 - they had to move in the middle of the night

20:50 - and that they went through

20:52 - court cases

20:54 - and the guy

20:55 - ended up being acquitted in less than a few minutes.

20:59 - According to the Montgomery advertiser but.

21:02 - What's crazy is I didn't find the articles about the murder until years before

21:07 - or until years after once I became a reporter and I

21:10 - found that everything that he told us in that interview.

21:15 - Was right on the Mark.

21:18 - And I kept digging into the archives and I kept seeing

21:22 - murder after murder after murder after murder after murder

21:26 - and found out that every generation since eighteen

21:29 - thirty seven I've had a murder in my family.

21:33 - In the south usually over one of two things land or livestock.

21:38 - So

21:38 - You know this is.

21:41 - I found this to be a classically American story.

21:45 - In the formation of our country there was so much fighting

21:50 - and jockeying for resources

21:52 - and in the process of that there was genocide

21:54 - and the process of that there was slavery

21:57 - but there was also this idea of the culture of honor that was brought brought

22:02 - over from the united kingdom

22:04 - and there were nasty duels and there were

22:07 - all kinds of things.

22:09 - That.

22:11 - Really sort of set the groundwork for our nation's

22:15 - for the the parts of the

22:17 - story

22:17 - American story that are

22:19 - are difficult the violent origins

22:22 - of our nation and I think president Lincoln spoke pretty eloquently about about that

22:28 - and

22:28 - told him my

22:29 - family's case it was rape so violent but in a lot of other families cases.

22:35 - There are atrocities that

22:36 - affect families for generations

22:39 - and.

22:40 - Such as the holocaust or.

22:43 - Armenian genocide or

22:45 - Japanese incarceration.

22:48 - Irish displacement.

22:51 - Italian displacement.

22:53 - There are all kinds of tragedies that can happen.

22:57 - Previous that.

22:59 - Two or three generations

23:01 - family still haven't reckoned with

23:03 - and that can present itself in all kinds of ways.

23:07 - In my family it was the protectiveness it was the hyper

23:10 - vigilance of my parents it almost seemed to be like a

23:14 - post traumatic stress disorder particularly of my father

23:18 - when it came from to Alabama but I try not to call it post because

23:23 - posts implies that it stopped.

23:27 - It never stopped and my dad you know my dad was a very

23:30 - strong upright tall man who.

23:33 - Wants it again I idolized my dad just like most boys do

23:37 - and I thought he wasn't afraid of anything but he was afraid of the world he was

23:42 - somebody who could never

23:44 - like really get calm

23:46 - and and a lot of that

23:48 - I learned.

23:49 - Had to be from.

23:51 - The.

23:53 - Murders that I had.

23:55 - Affected my family in a very close way.

23:58 - I later found out.

24:00 - That my grandfather was murdered.

24:03 - When I found out that both of my grandparents mert

24:06 - family

24:06 - bothers were murder when they were five and nine

24:09 - but my grandmother and father never told my dad

24:13 - that their fathers were murdered

24:15 - and my dad never told me.

24:18 - That his father was murdered.

24:20 - So they went through the world

24:22 - raising these kids

24:24 - trying to protect their kids

24:27 - but also not understanding that by not

24:30 - reckoning

24:31 - with

24:32 - those very difficult.

24:35 - Parts of

24:36 - their lives.

24:37 - That they could never heal and really get beyond goals and that they would

24:42 - then.

24:44 - Live in this fear

24:45 - and they would then

24:46 - be led

24:48 - to

24:49 - Instead of saying hey you know what I'm going to make you write a paper on.

24:55 - Using profanity ray

24:57 - because I use profanity as a kid

24:59 - and

25:00 - I got the belt and I got the belt probably over one hundred and fifty times.

25:05 - During my childhood and so

25:08 - and I wasn't the only one I mean there were a lot of kids who I knew who were black

25:12 - American kids and beyond who did and if your parents

25:16 - were particularly from somewhere like Mississippi

25:19 - and it was worse and I felt like.

25:22 - Anecdotally I don't have anything to prove but I always felt like the kids.

25:27 - Who came

25:28 - from certain states

25:29 - originally

25:31 - really had.

25:33 - Much more brutal discipline

25:35 - and then when I

25:36 - dug into the research.

25:39 - I realized that Alabama led the nation in murders and when my father the year my

25:44 - father was born in nineteen forty eight and I also learned about the severity of

25:50 - the slavery.

25:52 - In Mississippi in

25:53 - Mississippi was probably

25:55 - the worst but I do not focus disproportionately on slavery.

26:01 - In my book.

26:03 - I focus a lot on Jim crow.

26:06 - In the reason I choose Jim crow apartheid was because

26:09 - you know when you hear the critics talk about

26:12 - slavery what they'll say is well we you know.

26:16 - You're going to go all the way back to something that

26:19 - ended one hundred and fifty years ago and we had a civil war and there were many

26:23 - white people who die to free the black people

26:26 - and you're still talking about that you weren't even here for that right

26:31 - and of course

26:32 - I disagree I do see the effects of slavery

26:36 - all over the place and I definitely felt it in my

26:38 - life but I don't even have to go back to slavery

26:42 - to find

26:43 - American style.

26:45 - Trauma that came from.

26:49 - The the systems in our country I can go back to my dad.

26:54 - Because

26:55 - and this is a fact and this is like a really controversial fact.

26:59 - That leads people

27:01 - to view it as almost like a partisan

27:04 - thing or an opinion and it it's not partisan I'm not

27:08 - a democrat I'm not a republican I'm an independent

27:11 - and

27:12 - I try my best

27:13 - to see things through rw

27:15 - again the lens of truth

27:17 - in here is a real fact if you really want to know about our country.

27:22 - For all of our country's existence.

27:25 - Except for sixty years.

27:28 - White supremacy not the political

27:31 - part of it not the

27:32 - opinion but white supremacy as in

27:35 - white people are supreme in white people are the only ones in the country with

27:39 - full

27:40 - constitutional right white supremacy has been

27:43 - the law in this country for all but sixty years.

27:48 - Which means.

27:50 - Even though.

27:52 - I am a descendant

27:53 - a revolutionary war soldiers

27:55 - I am a descendant of civil war soldiers

27:59 - and my family came to america in sixteen

28:02 - hundreds in the sixteen hundreds.

28:04 - I consider myself.

28:07 - A first generation American.

28:10 - The reason is because I am part of the first generation in my family

28:15 - to have constitutional rights equal to a white

28:19 - person that is not something that my father had

28:24 - and I saw

28:26 - that and I realized when I really

28:28 - sat down and and focus on

28:31 - the history

28:32 - that that was the source of my father's nightmares

28:36 - because of the fact that there were the murders but there was never

28:40 - hardly ever any justice most of

28:43 - the

28:44 - murders in my family

28:45 - that experience

28:47 - by my family members.

28:50 - No one was ever brought to justice for those

28:53 - and I don't know

28:54 - there's somebody in this room who has a family member

28:58 - who

28:59 - was the victim of homicide and let me tell you

29:01 - it's not to say it's not

29:03 - something to play with it's not something

29:06 - to dismiss in a cocktail our party argument to say

29:10 - do you know why don't you just get over it it it it it

29:13 - didn't affect you yes it did affect us if there was no

29:16 - due process and there was no

29:19 - and.

29:20 - There was no closure there was no one ever held

29:22 - accountable it did affect us and it was our country.

29:26 - The country that we loved

29:28 - what we served in wow world war my father was an

29:31 - enlisted in the Vietnam era.

29:35 - Air force he he he wasn't drafted.

29:38 - In the guy wasn't even born

29:40 - with civil with

29:42 - constitutional right so when Kennedy said

29:45 - ask not what you do for this what your country can

29:48 - do for you but what you can do for your cut three

29:51 - it he was talking about black Americans

29:53 - because we did for our country

29:55 - we loved our country when our country didn't love us back

29:58 - and so I speak very passionately about that not to make anybody feel guilty

30:03 - but to give you the backdrop.

30:06 - Of.

30:09 - I

30:09 - Am nobody's slave

30:11 - because.

30:13 - I'm a dude who grew up in Minnesota

30:15 - right I'm not at probably the least

30:18 - of.

30:20 - Of the pundits or the journalists attitude that you come across that could

30:24 - really legitimately be called

30:26 - woke

30:27 - in the stigmatizing

30:29 - sense of the word I worked for Rupert Murdoch for twenty years for Christ sake.

30:34 - And so we can't really say that

30:37 - but this is the observation in a very.

30:40 - Effective way that I've tried to.

30:45 - To reckon

30:46 - with this and trying to

30:47 - set this out so I could understand what happened in Alabama

30:50 - we have a couple of minutes okay about five minutes okay

30:53 - before we start our conversation this is like really the critical part because.

30:57 - I never want my speeches to just be about me.

31:01 - I want you to be able to go

31:03 - into.

31:05 - The world

31:06 - thereafter

31:07 - and in and read the book

31:09 - and be able to take something that you can bring back

31:13 - to your family

31:14 - and

31:15 - sometimes

31:16 - we carry the weight of entire generations of our families on our back especially if

31:22 - we're immigrants especially if we're

31:24 - first year narration Americans especially have where people whose families

31:28 - may be were.

31:29 - Didn't have the opportunity to go to college or.

31:33 - Or

31:33 - You know were carrying these or went through a holocaust or went through

31:38 - a situation where there was a fire

31:40 - and somebody died in the fire and certain people didn't

31:44 - heal some time it's the next generation

31:47 - that can take

31:48 - to carry the weight

31:50 - and start to change the bloodline.

31:54 - In a positive way so that you can take the best

31:57 - of what you had as your

31:58 - as a family

32:00 - and bring that forward but also Bury

32:02 - some of the toxic.

32:04 - Pratt stasis and why do I do this because.

32:09 - I

32:09 - Speak to a lot of audiences who are in no cant

32:12 - contact situations with at least one family member is there anybody in here

32:17 - who is in a no contact situation

32:20 - with any family member.

32:23 - Okay there's one

32:25 - and then there's a couple who don't want to raise their hand and that's ok too but

32:28 - the key is that even if you're not living it.

32:32 - You may

32:33 - and you also probably have friends and family.

32:36 - Who are living it themselves

32:38 - so what was

32:40 - the situation with regard to me and no con tact and polarization

32:44 - and

32:45 - it was.

32:47 - When I got hired by the wall street journal.

32:50 - I had worked

32:52 - really hard for a lotta years broken a lot of stories

32:55 - won a lot of awards and I got

32:57 - the call what my dad used to say are up to the Yankees

33:01 - right and so I ended up working for the journal covering

33:04 - general motors in Detroit

33:07 - and I was living in Detroit

33:09 - and when I started my job I dunno why it was but.

33:13 - It triggered something

33:15 - to the point.

33:16 - That

33:17 - in the middle of the night

33:19 - for probably about.

33:21 - I dunno

33:22 - probably about four times a month

33:25 - for probably about six months.

33:27 - I started having nightmares

33:29 - about some of the

33:31 - whipping from my childhood

33:34 - and I could not

33:35 - rid myself.

33:37 - Of those dreams.

33:39 - It gave me brain fog.

33:42 - Kept me up at night.

33:45 - Made me think about it during the day almost like negative loop thinking

33:50 - and

33:51 - and you're going to see in the book that at that time.

33:54 - It was so debilitating that I had to.

33:57 - Do something because I wasn't able to concentrate at work.

34:02 - So in the middle of the night I rip the phone off

34:04 - because back then this telling you how old I am

34:07 - rip the phone off the hook and called my dad.

34:11 - And said why did you beat me

34:14 - as a kid

34:15 - in the middle of the night.

34:17 - And that set off.

34:20 - A period about two years that I didn't speak

34:22 - to my parents you'll see the whole story.

34:25 - In the book but the but the truth is it took me.

34:29 - Through

34:30 - this process of

34:32 - needing to get my parents to get help

34:35 - for the unresolved trauma of their childhoods.

34:39 - In order for us nice to be able to move

34:42 - forward so that

34:44 - at the time my sister.

34:46 - My sister had already had two children

34:49 - and I was worried

34:50 - that the

34:51 - the subsequent generations should not.

34:55 - Be.

34:56 - Victims of a belt.

35:00 - And that was a big one

35:01 - because

35:02 - at the time I did not know where the belt came from

35:06 - but when I dug into my family history and I studied the business of slavery

35:12 - and I was able to take a DNA test

35:15 - and found out that eighteen percent of my DNA trace b back to white people from wales

35:21 - and I was able to contact bat family

35:24 - and get to know them

35:25 - and they opened up fourteen

35:27 - four hundred years of records I knew where the belt came from

35:31 - and I also learned a lot.

35:34 - About

35:35 - healing.

35:37 - Across racial lines and families.

35:42 - Healing across generational lines.

35:45 - Harrowing healing in ways.

35:48 - That allow us

35:50 - again

35:51 - to take the best

35:52 - of who we are forward so that future generations don't have to carry.

35:57 - The burdens that we had to carry

35:59 - and so the last thing before I get into the key conversation with Tracy is that.

36:06 - I don't say this to depress you because I really want

36:10 - you to be hopeful and I really want you to know.

36:13 - That

36:14 - the root of my work being adverse childhood experiences

36:17 - and how to get beyond them.

36:21 - Through

36:21 - unification of families using genealogy as a tool.

36:26 - Is really.

36:28 - Helped by the fact that

36:30 - it's not a death sentence it can be

36:33 - if you have a childhood that you haven't reckoned

36:35 - with it can affect your health and wellness.

36:38 - It can actually shorten your life expectancy by about twenty years

36:42 - and you can.

36:44 - Die primarily of heart attack diabetes.

36:47 - Or cancer and so the idea is that.

36:51 - We come up with tools

36:54 - genealogy and my

36:56 - genealogy and my way

36:58 - and also a

36:59 - nonviolent social change change

37:01 - as a way

37:02 - to begin to.

37:04 - Mitigate the effects of childhood trauma

37:08 - and to

37:09 - be a source of education for

37:12 - the generations that were not in contact with so we'll

37:15 - start we'll stop there but thank you very much and.

37:18 - I hope

37:19 - if you have questions you're right

37:21 - I'm down and we can talk about them later thank you.

37:24 - Huh.

37:34 - So I hope you have questions because I have probably

37:37 - about ten but I would much rather hear yours

37:40 - but I'm going to start off

37:43 - with

37:44 - something I've heard you talk about lie which is being an original thinker

37:50 - and some of the people who have influenced you to do so

37:54 - which kind of run the gamut from what we would describe today is

37:59 - liberal to conservative talk about some of those influences

38:03 - and how they've taught you to think we're at a college we

38:06 - spend a lot of time talking about monkeys some of my faculty members and and others

38:11 - we spend a lot of time talking about how to.

38:16 - Create critical thinkers

38:18 - how has that played out for you and who are some of those influences.

38:32 - Oh.

38:33 - Got it.

38:34 - Now you can hear my human beat box.

38:37 - Can you hear me okay.

38:39 - Okay.

38:40 - Yeah so.

38:42 - I went to college at the university of Wisconsin Madison

38:46 - and we have.

38:48 - This concept that we call sifting and winnowing.

38:51 - Sifting and winnowing through.

38:54 - Books and

38:55 - all kinds of different information to get

38:58 - to the root of the truth.

39:00 - You can only get to the truth.

39:02 - Through through dialogue

39:05 - and you know I dunno if this is true but I have always thought

39:08 - I dunno if this is really what it means but I have always thought of university

39:13 - to mean

39:14 - unity in diversity

39:17 - and not necessarily

39:18 - just racial diversity but

39:20 - diversity of ideological I thought

39:23 - being exposed to a lot of different ideas instead of

39:26 - living inside of an echo chamber

39:29 - and.

39:30 - I.

39:31 - Only hanging around with and engaging with people who.

39:35 - Echo your beliefs and.

39:37 - Are pretty much homogeneous and in a lot of different ways

39:41 - I tried my best

39:43 - from a very young age I think

39:45 - for

39:45 - the fact that I grew up in a Scandinavian

39:48 - neighborhood kind of helped but it made me me.

39:52 - I

39:53 - Really didn't have a choice but to to really be

39:55 - able to get out and meet a lot of different people

39:57 - so the people who

39:59 - inspired me to think

40:02 - and try my best to always be.

40:04 - Challenging myself

40:07 - and to be exposed to original

40:09 - ideas were

40:10 - people like William Jeff Buckley.

40:13 - He was an influence on me and the reason

40:15 - he's a

40:16 - ultra conservative re reactionary conservative.

40:20 - Man may he rest in peace but the great thing about

40:23 - bill Buckley even though I didn't agree with a lot.

40:27 - That he spoke about was that.

40:31 - I was that student who came

40:34 - to the lectures

40:35 - and I was also one of the students who.

40:38 - Brought

40:39 - speakers

40:40 - to the campus and one of the great things about that was that we got to.

40:45 - Im up at the airport

40:47 - and

40:48 - I got to interview him because I was a.

40:51 - I was editorial page editor of the school newspaper and so.

40:55 - I

40:56 - I learned

40:57 - what I really was most impressed with him.

41:00 - About was that.

41:02 - He did a debate.

41:04 - In the nineteen sixties against James Baldwin

41:06 - who was I think James Baldwin annihilated him but

41:10 - but.

41:12 - William f Buckley was a brilliant brilliant speaker

41:16 - and the idea was to speak about

41:18 - the can

41:19 - the condition and the future of the American negro right

41:23 - and they had a wonderful

41:25 - discussion.

41:26 - At Oxford university

41:29 - but that was

41:30 - something that I was able to watch.

41:33 - Way back when I was in college to really get a sense that while you know there's a

41:37 - level of respect between these two people.

41:40 - That allows them to stand across from each other

41:44 - and argue.

41:46 - Things on the merits

41:47 - and I thought that.

41:49 - I guess that I was blessed because I.

41:51 - I got exposed to that I got exposed to nat hentoff.

41:55 - The editor of the village voice and now let me just explain to you that.

42:01 - There was a funny experience that I had with not

42:04 - off when.

42:06 - I would keep in touch and I would send these guys my clips and things

42:10 - just to see if I could get

42:11 - feedback on what they thought about the horrible things

42:14 - that terrible

42:16 - stories I was writing cause they weren't very good but the

42:19 - good thing is.

42:22 - Nat hentoff told me he said hey well you know

42:25 - if you have any other questions just give me a call and I said well what do you mean

42:28 - and he said well just give me a call and as.

42:31 - I said I don't have your number and then he said.

42:35 - It's in the phone book I'm a journalist damn it you know and so the key was that

42:40 - this idea of x zest ability

42:42 - and

42:43 - even the deepest.

42:46 - The most successful

42:48 - people were engaged

42:50 - in trying to help the next generation learn.

42:54 - How to.

42:56 - Have conversations

42:57 - and how to think about critical issues

43:00 - and that always stuck with me because

43:03 - now I feel like.

43:05 - Your generation the

43:06 - the students today

43:08 - are in a situation where

43:11 - and.

43:12 - That's discouraged.

43:15 - And

43:16 - it came out winter when a

43:18 - Luigi mansi only killed the united healthcare

43:21 - ceo

43:23 - and there was a study that came out that said forty percent.

43:27 - Of.

43:28 - Young Americans under thirty believe that violence is justified.

43:33 - In

43:33 - The cases of some some.

43:35 - Political disagreement

43:38 - and I don't blame you for that

43:40 - I don't blame your contemporaries who believe that because this is

43:44 - the violent

43:45 - world that they inherited this is the view that this is what we

43:49 - in previous generations

43:51 - have left them.

43:53 - And so

43:54 - nonviolent social change is a part of

43:58 - my

43:58 - Perspective.

44:01 - Which has to do not just with

44:04 - the idea of following Martin Luther king and believing

44:07 - that we should be nonviolent in our protests but also that we should

44:11 - turn that inward and be nonviolent in our families and in our schools and in our

44:16 - communities so we are no longer in a world where people are seeking

44:20 - the William mm f Buckley's and the nat handoffs as you know people are

44:25 - picking sides people are one way or the other

44:28 - the audience is polarized our politicians are elected officials are polarized

44:35 - do you think that we are.

44:38 - You know have we gone too far like are we in a word world

44:41 - where we can come back to a place

44:44 - where people do seek.

44:47 - Original thought where do people do seek to.

44:52 - Hear and see different sides of an issue or have we gone too far

44:56 - I feel like when I talk to students about this I

44:59 - obviously have a different generation than than my students but I feel like

45:04 - we lived through that world so we see that it's

45:06 - possible oh and I feel like when I talk to my students

45:10 - they haven't really seen that until they don't see that

45:12 - it's possible do you think we can get back to that.

45:15 - Some of us.

45:17 - Think some of us are doomed.

45:22 - And I mean that.

45:24 - In the former self sabotaging cars some of us are not interested

45:28 - in ever.

45:30 - Having a dialogue across the aisle you know people

45:33 - dig their their you know and I should mention

45:36 - to those of you who are not familiar with with

45:38 - nat hentoff nat and off in the village voice is very left

45:42 - and so my point was that I sought out.

45:45 - Mentors

45:47 - who were people who were you know

45:49 - Liberty Marion's people who were.

45:52 - Radical left

45:54 - extremists right

45:55 - anybody who I could get to talk to I even went to a social democrats.

46:01 - Convention when I was a kid

46:04 - and my friends said what if you go into politics you're you're you're going to be

46:07 - down as having attended this this

46:10 - thing and I was

46:11 - like well I'm curious and that's all I wanna do it so

46:14 - do I think that we are doomed and

46:16 - I think that some of us can get to a place.

46:20 - Where

46:21 - we open ourselves up more

46:23 - to

46:24 - The

46:24 - differing perspectives

46:26 - and how we do that as we start to.

46:29 - Take some of the heat off of and I'm saying this out of college

46:33 - off of

46:34 - qaeda twelve and.

46:37 - Colleges.

46:39 - Because a lot of times people.

46:42 - We'll hear a set of facts or.

46:45 - Or

46:46 - Read an f b I

46:47 - unclassified sb ifi or

46:50 - and and say well I never was taught that in college

46:54 - and they almost believe

46:56 - that

46:56 - all of your education that complete.

47:00 - The completeness of your education comes

47:03 - from school and that you're done learning once you leave

47:06 - leave school

47:08 - and the truth is that there are

47:10 - all kinds of books

47:12 - that come out on all kinds of subjects.

47:15 - Every year

47:16 - you know I just read

47:18 - for a second time

47:19 - a beaut awful book by Jonathan ike.

47:22 - About Mark the life of dr Martin Luther king there was another great book.

47:27 - Written by Nicholas.

47:30 - Boggs

47:31 - about James Baldwin

47:33 - there are all kinds of books coming out there are files being unclassified at

47:37 - John f Kennedy Martin Luther king

47:39 - Jr all kinds of books that are coming out all the time with different nuances

47:44 - where we have different perspectives from young voices who study

47:50 - and.

47:51 - Who have spent a lotta time in the archives and there is no

47:55 - short there is no limit

47:57 - for how much knowledge we can get especially if you start to look at

48:01 - YouTube and you start to look at AI and the in the way that AI the useful tool it is.

48:08 - For research especially as it becomes more and more reliable and so

48:13 - we.

48:14 - I would say technology is a lot like money

48:17 - have you has anyone ever heard the statement

48:19 - money amplify as the person who you are.

48:23 - Same thing with technology

48:25 - we talk about how negative.

48:28 - How damaging it is to be scrolling on the Internet and all of those things

48:32 - but we start we have to really be intentional

48:35 - about what we're curating because people are using the Internet

48:39 - and AI for different though things and if you use it to educate yourself

48:43 - then

48:44 - you're going to benefit

48:46 - if you seek out the different books across the

48:49 - the ideological spectrum

48:51 - and commit to for instance

48:53 - you know reading four or five books a year or or

48:55 - more or whatever then you're going to be somebody

48:58 - who is more inclined to be open and more

49:02 - ideologically tolerant than somebody who isn't and

49:05 - so not everybody is going to be able to do that

49:09 - because the social media for instance sphere.

49:13 - Doesn't work that way the algorithms reward people who.

49:18 - Do

49:18 - Are seeking information.

49:20 - That they

49:21 - agree with and what once you keep going down.

49:25 - That road.

49:27 - Without.

49:29 - Trying to get a diversity of perspective

49:32 - and you'll never

49:33 - be able to turn back and so it's up to every individual to do that to carry

49:38 - carefully the information that they

49:41 - seek out because

49:43 - the market

49:44 - is

49:44 - That the the marketplace of ideas is saturated

49:47 - right now and a lot of it is is garbage.

49:52 - So I

49:53 - failed to mention but you probably saw that we have two

49:56 - microphones on either side of the room they are for you.

50:00 - If you have a thought or a question I invite you to come quickly

50:04 - in the few minutes that we have left to those microphones and join this conversation.

50:10 - If you have thoughts either a about

50:13 - our conversation or some of the things that.

50:16 - That Lee talked about earlier.

50:19 - I'll start with you

50:20 - welcome

50:21 - tell us who you are.

50:23 - My name is why.

50:29 - As both really good questions I'll start with the second one.

50:33 - I'm biased because I'm a student of

50:36 - genealogy but I think that.

50:40 - The old cliche

50:41 - is

50:42 - Still true you know you you don't know where

50:43 - you're going until you know where you've been

50:46 - right and I think that it's important to

50:49 - study.

50:50 - Your family

50:52 - study your family history you know I've worked

50:55 - a lot with people who.

50:58 - Have varying levels of undersea.

51:00 - Of

51:01 - The countries that their

51:02 - their parents went there there that their ancestors

51:06 - were from some people didn't even know who their parents were some people

51:10 - have

51:10 - are people who are adopted

51:12 - or do I write I'm currently

51:15 - dealing with the case right now with the f b I

51:17 - identifying a family member who has has.

51:21 - Been found and has.

51:23 - Basically connected to me in terms of DNA but she's a murder victim and she never

51:28 - no one knows what her name was

51:30 - and she's a Jane Doe and so

51:32 - the technology exists for you now

51:35 - Colson to go.

51:38 - Back hundreds of years and a study where your family came from.

51:44 - What the political

51:46 - climate was what your family's economic position was

51:50 - what some of the sociological

51:53 - factors behind your ancestors in your elders were

51:56 - things that your parents I might not have told you about that you could use to go

52:01 - back and ask them questions once you study

52:04 - where they're from and

52:05 - if you study your family you really get a good sense of

52:09 - not only your family but again the American

52:12 - family you they're one of the best ways to learn

52:16 - about American history in global history is to study your family

52:21 - and so I would say from a

52:22 - standpoint of identity

52:24 - you study them and then

52:26 - and

52:27 - then study yourself

52:28 - you know maybe even go to get some counseling and

52:32 - and focus

52:33 - about

52:33 - on what is my identity what do I want it to be

52:37 - what

52:37 - who am I I

52:38 - who do I want to be in the future

52:40 - think consciously and intentionally about that

52:43 - and conflict.

52:45 - I think that's a very a very valid point that

52:47 - it's very difficult to deal with conflict

52:50 - because

52:51 - people.

52:52 - In are so invested now.

52:56 - In their ideology as part of their ear ego.

52:59 - As opposed to.

53:02 - Whining to

53:03 - be committed to the truth and defining that that search for truth

53:08 - and I would say developing empathy

53:12 - and listening

53:14 - and trying to

53:15 - learn the most about the other actually know the other side better than your

53:20 - your side

53:22 - so that you're confident

53:23 - when you

53:24 - are in positions of conflict

53:26 - ideologically especially that

53:28 - if you know what you're talking about on the other side

53:32 - and a lot of Ty timed

53:34 - you're less defensive

53:36 - because you've done the homework and so were you talking about ideological conflict

53:41 - or more broadly like family conflict.

53:46 - Actually.

53:55 - Okay

53:55 - one last thing I wanted to say been

53:58 - with regard to family which hopefully will be helpful for people

54:02 - when you get in these

54:03 - really emotional.

54:06 - Conflicts with family members right now a lot of people are having problems with

54:10 - with

54:10 - politics.

54:12 - You know

54:13 - you have people in your family who may be maga supporters or people in your family

54:17 - who may be

54:19 - socialists and supported the

54:21 - the new mayor in new York and a lot of times across generation and

54:26 - there are problems.

54:28 - I think.

54:30 - And then also

54:31 - there's trauma to

54:33 - a lot of people are dealing with

54:36 - family secrets

54:37 - that they're carrying about things that happened to them as a child

54:41 - and they try to can

54:42 - front.

54:44 - The preceding generation in the preceding generation doesn't want to talk about it

54:49 - and they blame the

54:50 - the the victim

54:51 - right

54:52 - and so that there's a lot of that going on too

54:55 - and in all of these conflicts we have to understand

54:59 - that.

55:01 - They're not about us.

55:03 - They're not about us.

55:05 - They're not about our egos and the two people who are involved these conflicts

55:10 - are about the ancestors

55:12 - and one the ancestors in wanting.

55:15 - How much they want

55:17 - us

55:18 - To improve

55:19 - our families

55:21 - so that previous generation

55:23 - or future generations don't carry

55:25 - the burdens that they carry

55:27 - and it's about the children it's about the people

55:29 - who are coming after you

55:31 - and so when you think about that

55:34 - when you think about conflicts with families

55:35 - about being in the interests of the ancestors

55:39 - and the future and not about you

55:41 - the love for the bloodline

55:42 - for the liberation of the bloodline.

55:46 - It be

55:47 - it's coming

55:48 - from a place of love.

55:50 - It's coming from as Tracey and I were talking earlier.

55:55 - A place that no matter how deep the conflict

55:59 - is there's still always

56:00 - the respect

56:02 - for the relationship

56:04 - and wanting to preserve that relationship

56:07 - and I think that that

56:08 - really.

56:09 - Applies to a lot of different situations of conflict.

56:13 - Thank you so much for that question for both questions they're really good.

56:16 - It's amazing how fast an hour goes by but then am going to give you

56:20 - the last question I would love to hear it

56:23 - and then those of you who would like a book signed we will do that after.

56:28 - The conversation tonight.

57:20 - Yeah well that's.

57:21 - Another

57:22 - great

57:23 - question we always want to

57:25 - end things on a high note

57:26 - the thing for me is that

57:28 - I talked about the brain fog and

57:30 - the nightmares that I had.

57:33 - That was over twenty years ago.

57:35 - In the twenty years and once again a lot of this is in the book but.

57:41 - In the twenty years I learned a lot about childhood trauma and reckoning with.

57:47 - Those difficult parts of the childhood and how

57:49 - that can affect the body

57:52 - you know there's a book the body keeps the score

57:55 - and

57:56 - talks about.

57:57 - The effects of cortisol and adrenaline and all of the different things that.

58:03 - Can make us sick and lead to the life expectancy shortage shortening

58:08 - in my case a lot of it had to do with

58:11 - not necessarily getting the about but the anticipation

58:14 - of the belt so we would get tropical and we would know

58:17 - somebody broke a vase and mom and dad are coming home

58:20 - and somebody's going to get the belt and it would be.

58:24 - You know in a lot of times and that's probably how kids feel in schools

58:28 - when they know they're going to get the paddle and so it's the idea of.

58:33 - Holding all this

58:35 - this stress in your body

58:36 - I tell people all the time that i.

58:39 - Was.

58:41 - The stress of my childhood was much great and

58:43 - then any kind of stress that I can feel now

58:46 - and so when that stores in the body you really have to try your best

58:51 - to break free of it

58:53 - and what I did was

58:54 - a lot of exercise.

58:56 - I went to counseling

58:58 - and

58:59 - you'll see I went to counseling with my parents I also.

59:03 - I

59:03 - Do a lot of meditation focused

59:05 - intentionally on deep breathing focus intentionally

59:09 - on reconditioning my nervous system and

59:12 - helping myself understand that I am safe

59:16 - and that this boogie man which you know in some ways was not

59:20 - false but

59:21 - just because

59:22 - you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you right and

59:25 - because we had that my family had the murders to prove it

59:28 - but that doesn't mean that you have to live inside this dark place

59:33 - with no.

59:35 - No kind of redemption it means that you have to be conscious.

59:39 - About taking care of yourself and being good to yourself.

59:44 - And.

59:45 - Your diet

59:46 - everything it's all a holistic

59:49 - there is a very holistic process

59:51 - and and what's great about it is that

59:54 - in most families

59:56 - 184 the opportunities get better it doesn't mean that everybody is going to do we're

01:00 - 04.304 entering a place where we may not see everybody do

01:00 - 09.894 as well as the previous generation but we can definitely say that every generation

01:00 - 13.044 has more opportunity to learn

01:00 - 15.624 and to benefit from the advancements

01:00 - 17.204 of society the

01:00 - 22.004 and and the information we have about medicine and technology and all of that

01:00 - 25.724 and so applying that to rc selves into our lives

01:00 - 31.334 and being curious about not just things external to us but how we can use

01:00 - 34.197 our newly acquired information to improve our

01:00 - 36.674 lives and that's what I do my sister and I

01:00 - 38.604 are very close

01:00 - 41.424 and we talk a lot about.

01:00 - 44.414 Breaking the cycle of

01:00 - 46.034 type two diabetes

01:00 - 47.564 in our family our father

01:00 - 49.394 actually passed away

01:00 - 50.228 as a

01:00 - 53.004 from a heart attack but we didn't realize

01:00 - 53.684 that

01:00 - 54.704 the

01:00 - 57.644 type two diabetes said he had for many years

01:00 - 59.124 actually.

01:00 - 02.994 Weakened his arteries and made him more susceptible

01:01 - 04.784 to heart disease and so were

01:01 - 06.280 anxious about

01:01 - 07.860 the foods that we eat

01:01 - 12.360 because we don't have any genetic elements there's nothing in our

01:01 - 15.220 family history that's genetic but there are many

01:01 - 18.300 many people in our family who will say well you know

01:01 - 22.560 genetically we have you know we're genetically predisposed to have.

01:01 - 24.450 Kidney disease or

01:01 - 25.440 to have hearted

01:01 - 26.740 that's not true

01:01 - 29.830 that's not true at all but a lot of it is environmental

01:01 - 33.390 lot of it is about keeping your stress low and everything and so

01:01 - 36.008 when you have family members who have these

01:01 - 38.850 diseases and everything take a really quick look.

01:01 - 39.810 At

01:01 - 43.630 How their lifestyle is led and do your best.

01:01 - 47.046 With the information you have to improve and

01:01 - 49.560 you're doing that for them not just for you

01:01 - 51.580 to improve the bloodline.

01:01 - 55.560 Good note to end on thank you so much leave for joining us and

01:01 - 58.240 thank you all for joining this conversation

01:01 - 02.316 if you would like to hear more there's some things that lie and I talked about today

01:02 - 06.240 when we recorded ias perspectives fine cast and we did not talk about

01:02 - 08.760 tonight so that will

01:02 - 10.500 be available very soon

01:02 - 13.080 you can access it you know what did they say

01:02 - 15.390 Spotify apple wherever you get your podcasts

01:02 - 16.600 you want to join the

01:02 - 19.411 mailing list it's Lee Hawkins junior dot com or if you

01:02 - 22.440 have any questions just go to Lee Hawkins junior dot com

01:02 - 23.460 and we'll

01:02 - 26.570 probably have more chat down here so if you have a book and you wanted sign

01:02 - 34.760 that your table thank you all so much for being here with us traffic is so much.