International Black Summit Interview Series
The International Black Summit Interview Series is a Podcast that interviews current and past participants and facilitators of the International Black Summit. The Podcast explores their Summit experiences and the ways in which they use the Summit Tools and Distinctions in their lives. The International Black Summit, Inc. is a 501c3, 100% volunteer-led organization. Founded by, attended by, and delivered to people of Black African descent committed to empowering and transforming the lives of people of Black African descent around the world. The purpose of the International Black Summit is to provide an opportunity for participants to bring into being their vision for the Black community and the world.
International Black Summit Interview Series
International Black Summit Interview Podcast: Ted Marsh
June 5, 2022
Black Summit Interviews
Season 1, Episode #3 - Ted Marsh
In this podcast session, Glenn Greenidge and Grace Lawrence interview Ted Marsh about his work as a community Elder and master coach who effectively uses the Summit Tools and Distinctions in his work and in his life.
Baba Ted Marsh is a community Elder and a master coach committed to transforming the narrative of the peoples of African descent. For over 30 years, he has operated a communications consulting firm, Two Win Communications, which specialized in intensifying and expanding winning relationships in a rapidly changing social climate.
A decorated Navy veteran, Mr. Marsh served as a contract officer with Naval Construction Forces and Naval Facilities Engineering, Washington, D.C. He is a co-founder of the Northern California Black Employee Association and the African American Human Resource Forum. As co-founder of the East Bay’s men’s support group Gathering of Black Men, he continues to coach selective, high potential males to facilitate advancing their growth into responsible manhood, applying the principles of his comprehensive guide, The Journey of Manhood.
Mr. Marsh was selected to be on the Board of Directors for the Mentoring Center, the executive board of the International Computers & Communications World Leaders Council. He also served as a senior counselor for Lee Hecht Harrison, a national employment transition firm and as Chief Coach for the CIE Institute.
For more information about the International Black Summit, please go to:
Website – blacksummit.org
Twitter – @blacksummit
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IBS News Sign-Up – bit.ly/IBS-signup
IBS Annual Summit Event Registration – blacksummit.org/ase
The views and opinions expressed by the person interviewed are their own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the International Black Summit.
[THIS TRANSCRIPT HAS NOT BEEN PROOFREAD OR EDITED.]
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Welcome everyone to the International Black Summit Interview Series, the International Block Summit.
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For those of you who aren't aware is an organization a nonprofit organization that was created in 1991.
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and the purpose of the International Black Summit is for participants to bring into being their vision for the black community and the world.
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And we recently launched this podcast to provide people who are familiar with us and people who are not familiar with us, an opportunity to get to know a little bit about us by interviewing current and past participants of the international black summit and
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facilitators of the International Black Summit to discuss with us how the International Back Summit has affected their lives, and how they use the tools of the summit and the distinctions of their summit.
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In their work, their careers, their lives, their families, and their communities.
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So thank you for being with us tonight.
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I'm Grace Lawrence, and I'm Glenn Greendige. Welcome to the IBS podcast and without any further do I'm gonna invite Mr.
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Ted Marsh to come on and be part of this podcast welcome.
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Ted. thank you Glenn it's always a pleasure to see you.
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I'm always in the right place when you're on the zoom.
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Well, thank you, sir, thank you. So ted would you give us a little little bit of your background, so that people have a sense of who you are, and the and what you're up to in the world sure be happy to
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let me start from the meaningful part first of all I'm.
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An escape from the corporate plantation I worked for 2 major corporations, which I will leave unnamed.
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But they're recognizable in every household so the the journey for me started when I left the the corporate environment, and alright went to work for a small business consulting firm local here and I also went
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to work for. oh, in a yeah, small business consulting firm, and I went to work for a following that I went to work for a black consultant firm.
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As I wanted to work with black business and sorry it's been an interesting journey.
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In 1990 I started by firm called to link communications and I've been focusing on healing like community working in the black community to heal ratio and ethnic issues and also bridging
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the gap between different organizations regarding communications.
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One of the things I had learned earlier was, is that oh, almost 100% of the issues that companies dealt with for communication space.
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And I thought that would be an excellent lane for me to operate in.
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And so I've been focusing on that up in the time I shut my formal part of my business down around 2,016.
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Oh, I have 11 years as a Naval Reserve officer.
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I serve 14 months in Vietnam with the maybe construction forces, and although I finished first in my class, my officer training class and seamanship and leadership, I never got a chance to actually serve on the ship and I love the
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water. but working with the navy, Cvs was A was a very rewarding experience.
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I actually learned a lot about my personal leadership style, because oh, 95% of the people who reported to me.
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We're white instruction workers and and I learned a lot from that particular section of the population.
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So that was that's what I did on the side as I was working to build my own business, and and to serve my community.
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I in 1994, I started an organization called Noted California Black Employee Association, which brought together 42 corporate black affinity groups in the Bay area and worked with them for about 7
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years, hosting our full day conference every quarter, and what I paying the grips with and working with those different organizations was how divisive!
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Oh, different factions of those organizations were in terms of being resistant to actually leveraging best practices from one organization to another.
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And of course, I found that to be very frustrating.
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When people are unwilling to share best practices only because they perceive employees from another corporation to be competitors, even though we were all of the same ethnicity.
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So in 1996, I started doing healing from enslaving retreats up at one of our local resorts.
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The Dea Bay, which is a beautiful area, and
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So I did that for 7 years, in 2,003.
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I I am my co facilitator. actually begin.
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Hosting blackmail support groups. we called it the gathering of black men. And in that experience I ended up actually offering.
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Hey? yeahathering the black Man Participant Handbook. And I also created a gathering of left in Leader Scott.
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I give the handbook away. but in order to operate with the leader sky, you have to go through some formal training, and you have to.
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Actually I give away the leaders guide as part of the formal training, but it's not free So I worked with that organization until 2,010.
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I was asked to be part of a founding organization called the Brotherhood of Elders.
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At that time I had already been working to really define what community elderhood should look like.
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Oh, I did a lot of research and create a framework.
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Oh, or community overhood, and it was it was part of the consulting extension to my of my professional life, because I was asking 3 key questions.
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One what's working in our community secondly what's not working in our community.
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And then a third question was, what's missing and one of the things that I came up with in terms of what was missing was a community elder, but or both men and women and in 2,010 I had the pleasure
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of working with Dr. Wade Nobles, and Dr. Woody Carter and Dr.
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Kamani. they were part of my planning and development team as we put together a betting and instillment process for community illness. and I still have that document today, and and the pleasure of course working with those particular
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steam that individuals. Oh, Ted, ted i'm gonna ask you So what?
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When when actually did you do? the was your first summit.
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My first summit was in Memphis, and you probably could tell me which number that was, I actually pulled into 1,003. Yeah, I flew into Little Rock and drove up to Memphis. Does southwest.
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Did not have it direct flight. and and then I did.
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The Toronto summit that following year. So those were those were the 2 summits that I actually participated in initially.
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Now since then, Of course I did. did Detroit Summit, and I did several virtual signs. So, Ted, what had you?
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What had you decide? So i'm actually thinking memphis might have been 2,001.
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What had you decide to to come to that first summit that you attended back into 2,001?
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Well, I knew Susan Shelton personally, and and of course, 2 of our colleagues talked me into it.
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They had attended my healing from enslaving retreat.
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And as a result of going through that weekend immersion, experience is, they thought, oh, the same.
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The summit was in was a natural extension of the work that we had done.
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Oh, at the healing from enslaving the true.
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And when you started going to these summits was there you know what were the things that were most pronounced for you the things that you initially took away from the summit that had you decide i'm gonna come back to more than
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one. Yeah, the first thing is and I have a wonderful sense in terms of the energy in the space.
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And I remember walking into the a major conference room in midfast, and the moment I stepped into the space it was like it just felt so much at home, and it was so welcoming.
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And there was love in the room, and that was the first thing I noticed.
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And then I was assigned in in terms of the different groups.
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When we did our breakout groups I was assigned to improve.
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Luckily. we're patricia order read or reporter.
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Yeah, it's your quarter ree and 2 of the other founders were in my group, and so it was like, oh, the universe sent here.
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They sent me here at this particular time, this particular place for me to arrive a little bit late because I was driving up from Laura that I got put into this elite group, and so we had a wonderful oh, discussion.
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Interaction, and and I just felt love for the entire time.
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I would send them this , Ted. What what the, what were the distinctions that that call to you, that that that resonated with you?
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The well, you know i've listed out all 17 and It's very hard for me to remember which ones came first.
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But thing that probably stuck in my mind.
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First of all was there was no out there. and that was consistent with my spiritual belief.
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System let me just share as you as you continue to look at that.
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And we ask you a little bit more about that, Ted.
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I just want to share for the people who are listening on the podcast, and who might not be familiar with the International Black Summit.
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What we mean by distinction. So the International Black Summit has what we call distinctions which are terms or words that may be regular English terms or regular English words.
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But that we use them in a particular way. we we define them, we distinguish them in a particular way, and we use them for our exploration in the conversation, and for looking at life, and engaging with life and with the world a particular
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way. So we call those things those tools, distinctions, and one of our distinctions is no out there.
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Thank you, Ted. So so, Ted, what what about? No, out there was was was calling you.
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You said that it was it was tied into your way of being, or you're kind of your philosophy, is that. that.
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Did I hear that correctly? Yeah, my my spiritual belief at the time was one, and it still is.
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Don't wanna Dave it still is my spiritual belief is first of all, is that the world that I live in is projection of myself.
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And so the inside my inner world and my outer were are just mirrors of one another, and and so I it It allowed me to access power that says you know I can't blame something out there cause i'm not
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separated from out there and then. it gave me access that says, Oh, and I have the power to change it.
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So as I. as I change internally, it gets reflected in in the world that I get a chance to play in.
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So it. It also opened up the venues in terms of what i'm. an amateur philosopher.
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It also gave me access to new channels of thought possibilities that I did not have access to previously.
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And so that was what that was. one that really stood out for me, and and I like to play with where it's like not.
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Here or nowhere. so on and so forth, I play with those annual grams in terms of of you know what's possible, and to gain access and insight, different points of view.
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Try to expand my perspective, and as a communications consultant Oh, and a master coach.
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By the way, I jump past the master coach piece as a master coach.
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I always look like it to build the bridge from my client side of the river rather than from my side.
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And when you think, Master Coach, you mean Master Life coach right as not like a master life coach.
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Yes, and of course there was some experiences I had. I used to play basketball, and I also coached basketball, and
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So when I was in my thirties, my twenties and thirties, I I played, and it coach, basketball.
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So I was very familiar with the basic principles and tenants of team work, and also being able to motivate.
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And and align people on my team, so that we could focus in on our common purpose.
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But in 1997 I made a decision, even though I was doing what I call small business consulting in 1997.
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I made a decision to go through some formal coaching certification programs, and I did that locally with one of the San Francisco firms.
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And after I after I did that, I said oh, well that was you're very insightful, and I saw some personal growth.
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So I elected to go through 2 others following that in order to expand my skills as well as the different approaches in terms of of navigating this journey, we call life.
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What Ted, would you say that? Would you say that the being in the summit has enable you to expand some of your
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Your facility facility with life, coaching and and or business coaching. yeah.
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And you know, one of the things that came up is goes up until and during my professional life I had this habit of separating professional time from personal time, and many people get caught up in that.
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And so, after going through my life coaching experience, I recognize it was all personal time, you know.
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It was like hey? this is Mac, you know and this doesn't belong to the company, and this doesn't belong to this is mad.
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It's all mine, and it allowed me to treat it as as a sacred and and i've come to learn that, you know time is one of my most sacred and valuable assets, and it's up
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to me to manage this, and I can, you know, filtered away or flittered away, or I can treat it as a sacred entity that it really is.
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Let me ask you this ted cause you're your background is so expansive, and you've touched on so many things from from the military to business to life.
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Coaching and small business coaching, or the corporate world.
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All of those things. now that you have, participated in the summit multiple times, I'm: curious When do you given all of the breadth of the tools that you have when do you reach for the summit tools rather than other tools that
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you have well, actually, I integrate them all and and that's the magic of it.
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It just reinforces it makes available how I can choose to show up.
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And recognized. Many of my clients have different needs, desires, expectations.
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You know I can change my language in order to accommodate the needs and the perspective from from my clients perspective.
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And that's what I meant by building the bridge from their side of the river.
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So And and I wanted to elaborate in terms of coaching, because that yeah, in the last 10 or 15 years or so is so. the original approach that I was taking along with my colleagues who were going through the training at the
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time. Our our responsibility is not to guide people in terms of what their life journey is.
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Our responsibility is actually to ask those questions that allows they're life purpose to show up in them, and so consequently the solutions and answers that they're seeking already lies within them, and the art and the skill of life coaching
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actually is for us to pull that out of them so it's like hey?
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I don't have any answers I don't have answers for you.
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I'm still struggling with the answers for me when I have some great question, and the magic of those questions is, I can ask questions of my clients that they're unwilling to ask of themselves, and then that process open
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up new windows for them to take a look through, and new lenses from which to operate.
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Oh, that give them greater access to their own power. Thank you for that, Ted.
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You know, as we said at the beginning of the of the session.
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The reason that we created this interview series was really to have an opportunity to find out how participants are or facilitators of the International Black Summit have used the tools and distinctions in their lives and careers and so
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i'm curious looking at your life and career? have you noticed or can you think of any specific times where you have used the summit Tools and distinction is in a particular situation?
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Yes, I was true as an engineer, and, and so much of my career in corporations was to, of course, identify problems and then find the solutions to those problems.
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And, in fact, hi ahead, probably gone overboard in terms of being a troubleshooter.
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And so I love finding problems, solving puzzles.
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So on, and so forth, and but I got locked into what I identify Now it's binary thinking.
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Oh, yeah, after a while everything started to look like a problem.
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It's like I got caught up into saying Oh, that's a problem.
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Now let me go. Try to fix that, you know. And so the distinction, no right way to be, you know, popped up in terms of both.
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Oh, that is I can't. fit that in to buyinary thinking no right way to be. and so for me it was like I started to see the world a different land. it's like hey?
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There's nothing wrong with the world. The world. is perfect as it is. and and my spare up to teaching, of course, is, you know, that that was consistent with a spiritual thing.
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The world is perfect, because it is it's just how we show up and and how I was able to integrate that in terms of their snow out there where it was perfect, as it is, it's a production I mean for me and that any
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drama or difficulty that i'm experienced not only am I creating it.
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But I also have the I have the sufficient response to to actually address whatever issue or discomfort or problem that I I was engaging in at the moment.
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And so that that made the world shift for me.
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So that was another way that I was able to integrate again.
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This is extremely important is is for me to be able to hook those distinctions, those key distinctions on something that show is up for me.
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Perhaps in the past are in the present, and and to be able to a view it from a 3 dimensional perspective rather than from a 2 dimensional perspective.
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Does that make sense? Yes, it does. that have made a difference.
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And in your that be one being there's no out there and the other being no right way to be these 2 distinctions.
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And and we're not gonna get deeply into them tonight. But we do as in in our international black summit events and programs.
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But as you were speaking, I was also hearing a couple of other distinctions that you may or may not have been actively using.
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But I hear in what you were sharing. I hear the summit distinction ownership for me.
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I really heard that in what you were sharing, and I also heard the summit distinction, self generation.
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I heard that as well in what you were sharing self-generation, that distinction.
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So I think I may speak to those because that's the ownership piece is really important.
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And the metaphor I use even in my consulting businesses is that unless I take ownership, it's very difficult to change anything, and and you know it's like, I use the metaphor and terms of if I go
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out and rent a car particularly if i'm out of town like I never checked the O.
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I never even checked the windshield washer you know regardless of what the climate is.
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It's just I just don't take ownership of it it's like, hey, that's somebody else's car.
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But I recognize that when I a way I treat my own automobile is the way I treat my life, and and it gave me access to say, Oh, well, you know, as long as I'm saying, Hey, the problem with the Us.
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Government is i'm i'm actually putting it into the realm of a real car.
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They need to do something to change the oil in that rental call, you know.
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And it gives it takes away my connection to it. And
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So just by saying, Oh, i'm gonna treat this as if I own it, because it shows up in me in order to be able to see it in others.
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And and when I treat it I I may. And this was very important.
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When we were doing the summit in Detroit, and we talked about triggers and filters.
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And yeah authentic self. you know it. it. What really showed up for me was getting access to my filters.
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Now I already understood what triggers were Oh, and i'm going to use this as a demonstration right there.
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And did you join somebody with life? I put these lenses off?
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Yeah, I said to myself, Oh, these are polarized lenses. They're blocking out what's available for me to see.
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Now it's like Okay, yeah, that's actually a mechanical example of my filters.
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And I notice whenever I put my polarized sun classes on, I couldn't read my watch because what's also the watch face was polarized, and so it it gave me access to says, Oh, so you know I
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operate with these emotional filters. all the time and there's a way for actually there's a way for me to buy to pass those filters.
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And and so I can again. it got tied into.
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Oh, okay, my professional life in terms of saying, oh, so how many filters do?
00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:50.000
I employ when i'm talking with fun client when i'm working with my client, and once I learn how to drop those filters and bypass them, or by I bypass them.
00:26:50.000 --> 00:27:02.000
Is, it gave me greater access 2 the spirit of my client, as well as being able to connect with them spiritually from my spirit to theirs.
00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:15.000
So. and I I came to realize, and I concluded I said, Oh, if there was a way for all of us to bypass our filters, what would our relationships look like?
00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:22.000
Then, and so it just opened up all kinds of possibilities for me.
00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:34.000
Ted. you know you talked a lot about leadership and and a lot of the distinctions, or I heard in those distinctions that they open up leadership.
00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:50.000
What would you say to someone who is looking at doing the International Black Summit would be some of the advantages or some of the things that I would get around leadership?
00:27:50.000 --> 00:28:09.000
Yeah, that's a great question. First, of all I wanna distinguish that word leadership because many of us, particularly those of us who escape from the corporation is we still view leadership as a position and and what I got open to
00:28:09.000 --> 00:28:16.000
is leadership is not a position. it's a relationship and so I have a relationship with my clients.
00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:24.000
I have a relationship with the people that who have worked with me and the people I've worked with, and the context of that relationship.
00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:32.000
I actually defines what leadership is. And so you know it.
00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:46.000
It just opened up all kinds of exposure to first of all, I've been conditioned and programmed to bit into a toxic environment, and I needed to actually re-examine my whole vocabulary.
00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:57.000
And so when I talk about leadership, today, it's always in the context of at least one other human being in terms of how are we relating to one another?
00:28:57.000 --> 00:29:19.000
And you know, for both of you. you understand that, you know. Once I became a community elder, I actually took on the address of being Boba Tip Mark, and I and I was looking for not just people in my network to address me as
00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:37.000
Bobbyton March, but also members of my family such that even my wife, now more often not So it's you know It's It's a mindset that that is a reflection of the behavior in the relationship.
00:29:37.000 --> 00:29:44.000
That we have more so than Oh, this is set of letters behind my name.
00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:49.000
No, I think that's so interesting when you talked about the mindset that they're Ted.
00:29:49.000 --> 00:29:57.000
You know, I do also relate to how the summit distinctions can support an empowering mindset.
00:29:57.000 --> 00:30:14.000
Right really giving us the tools to actually adopt a mindset that is most fulfilling to us most aligned with what we're committed to most in sync with the future that we're out to create
00:30:14.000 --> 00:30:28.000
you know all of that. So, looking looking at leadership from the relationship, respected of leadership as opposed to leadership, just being power and control, and also looking at leadership from self leadership, which is what you've been demonstrating
00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:39.000
in your conversation tonight. self leadership stepping into the role of leader out of self leadership, out of self-generation out of ownership.
00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:50.000
And then taking that out into your family, into your community in relationship as well like how these, how these, how these
00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:55.000
How these different aspects, all intertwined and become possible out of what you talked about.
00:30:55.000 --> 00:31:03.000
My mindset and the tools that actually enable us. empower empower.
00:31:03.000 --> 00:31:11.000
Yeah. and and let me talk a little bit more. Thank you for opening up that channel for me.
00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:22.000
So I became aware that I have talents and skills that we're locked in drawers that I have never opened.
00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:29.000
And what had you what had you become aware of that cause i'm thinking I'm.
00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:40.000
Thinking, perhaps, the distinction noticing Yeah, so there are several things that simultaneously occur.
00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:46.000
It's very difficult for me to even call one out Oh, I was seeing.
00:31:46.000 --> 00:32:01.000
Oh, I was saying, behavior and and relationships within the senior Facilitator group, that it was like I was in awe.
00:32:01.000 --> 00:32:10.000
And i'm the person who takes ownership so it's like once I see it and somebody else it's like that's available to me, too.
00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:28.000
And it's like so I wanna go and be around that person, and perhaps some of that rubs off on me, because, even though it may be not as practice and as amplified in me, the seat is already there you know and so it's like the fact
00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:35.000
that I'm aware of it now, and and so you know I had an experience when one of the senior facilitators were.
00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:45.000
Oh, that Glenn is is close to where it was, like people just gave her stuff, you know.
00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:57.000
And so she had this quality of attracting money, and and I remember going into a little convenience store, and she had left her purse in our car, and it was like, go into the convenience storage So she picked things up and put it
00:32:57.000 --> 00:33:04.000
in the basket and she got to the counter and it was like, Oh, I don't have my first I left it in the car.
00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:08.000
I'll be right back and and the cashier said Oh, no, lady.
00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:21.000
You know. i'll bag it up for you you don't have to go get your purse and it was like I saw that I said, I want that in my life.
00:33:21.000 --> 00:33:29.000
Is like, what is that i've never that never happened to me so it's like I want that in my life.
00:33:29.000 --> 00:33:39.000
I went. Folks do, too. I wanna be open enough and receptive enough to to receive, and and I and it took me back, you know, 20 years.
00:33:39.000 --> 00:33:43.000
Oh, where I was doing all this support for a whole lot of people.
00:33:43.000 --> 00:33:49.000
But I was closed in terms of receiving support from others, and and
00:33:49.000 --> 00:33:56.000
So one of my dear friends and colleagues that ask the question, Are you open to receiving?
00:33:56.000 --> 00:33:59.000
And it was like it just hit me like a ton of bricks.
00:33:59.000 --> 00:34:04.000
So, anyway, i'm getting back to the toolbox it was like, Oh, I got some locked drawers.
00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:09.000
I need to go check some of those drawers and see what else is available.
00:34:09.000 --> 00:34:21.000
And so the more I was watching of people who are very effective and making an impact, the more I noticed that I was able to tap in that seat.
00:34:21.000 --> 00:34:34.000
It fits at me, also it's just that I didn't know it was there, and so if I nurture it and water it, and and and treat it and because now that i'm aware that it's
00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:41.000
there is, I can actually access that particular tool, or we call it skills and talent.
00:34:41.000 --> 00:34:45.000
I can access that now that I know I have it. and so I do.
00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:51.000
That actually with my clients, too, is once I see that they have a special gift or talent.
00:34:51.000 --> 00:34:58.000
Is, I call it out? And then I asked them. The question you just asked me is, you know.
00:34:58.000 --> 00:35:02.000
How do you employ that? Just like what are you talking about?
00:35:02.000 --> 00:35:06.000
That particular gift that I noticed that you have that quality that you have.
00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:11.000
You have a quality where people automatically are attracted to you. How do you?
00:35:11.000 --> 00:35:19.000
How do you actually that in your life, in order to bring of football, then, or carry out your life purpose So on, and so forth.
00:35:19.000 --> 00:35:31.000
And And so, just by calling it out you know we actually bring it into existence, and and that's one of the carry forwards in terms of being part of the international Webinar.
00:35:31.000 --> 00:35:39.000
So it, you know. I Initially, it looked like magic to me until I realize that we all have it.
00:35:39.000 --> 00:35:44.000
We all have access to it, and once we understand that it's available to us.
00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:50.000
Then it's no longer magic, and I can tap into it at will.
00:35:50.000 --> 00:36:03.000
And so that's that's how my life actually got enriched in the unfolding in terms of opening up some of those locked drawers that I had hidden away and getting rid of this binary, thinking
00:36:03.000 --> 00:36:12.000
which my engineering training, condition and program need to see the whole world as a problem to be fixed.
00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:29.000
That Ted you talked a little bit about eldership, and and I wanna hear a little bit more about that area, and and how the summit has also opened that up for you because it sounds like it
00:36:29.000 --> 00:36:46.000
there's no part of your life that's been untouched by the international Black Summit, and I think eldership is something that that I I would hope that we all would would like to get to but a lot of.
00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:53.000
Us don't know a whole lot about it and you've done some work around eldership, and then still doing some work around eldership.
00:36:53.000 --> 00:36:57.000
So would you share some of those insights with us?
00:36:57.000 --> 00:37:02.000
Yeah, initially, I got struck by the bug of what is an elder?
00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:09.000
And why is it that of certain cultures in certain societies function more effectively than others?
00:37:09.000 --> 00:37:16.000
And why is it here? in the United States that once an individual it's over 50.
00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:25.000
We set them out to pasture. you know it's kind of like their income plateaus, and we set them out the past year, and it's like, why do we do?
00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:38.000
That if, in fact, we actually subscribe to this thing called wise people, wise men, wise women, shaman so on and so forth. it's like other cultures, don't seem to do that so I got very curious and
00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:46.000
I started investigating and and defining. How would that look here in the United States as a countercultural kind of thing?
00:37:46.000 --> 00:38:04.000
So as I did my exploration I realized Oh, That's what's missing is is the passing on the wisp, and some some a group of people who elect to become elders.
00:38:04.000 --> 00:38:10.000
Who can actually operate outside of the formal political structure?
00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:18.000
That provide a trusting authentic. Hi!
00:38:18.000 --> 00:38:31.000
Integrity, high character, guide. that others will come to in order to wow, eliminate doubt, eliminate doubt, and bring clarity, and they're speaking.
00:38:31.000 --> 00:38:37.000
And so that's what me and my team focused on for 2.
00:38:37.000 --> 00:38:56.000
We met every week for 2 years. Oh, and it was generally 3 to 4 h And and we really set in the inquiry of what does that look like here in the United States, and specifically what it would look like or black Americans here, in the
00:38:56.000 --> 00:39:05.000
United States. and so we we did all the meditation and stuff, and and and eventually we came up with, you know, a framework.
00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:18.000
And so we we identified. It was going to take 24 months for a candidate who had to be over 60, a Canada to actually complete the betting process.
00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:25.000
And because I was over 60 at the time, and I had gone through
00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.000
Many of the rights of passages that we had identified in the vetting process.
00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:33.000
It gave me a certain insight and clarity On now.
00:39:33.000 --> 00:39:42.000
2 of the individuals went on to actually become shamans and elders from an apprentice.
00:39:42.000 --> 00:39:51.000
I have not done that. I actually I use the the vetting process and the installment process that we had created here.
00:39:51.000 --> 00:39:59.000
Oh, in the Bay area. and but what it allowed me to to see is is that one?
00:39:59.000 --> 00:40:04.000
We have all the resources we need is black Americans in order to address all of our needs.
00:40:04.000 --> 00:40:08.000
You know we generate 1 point: 3 trillion dollars in revenue every year.
00:40:08.000 --> 00:40:15.000
We have access to the Internet, which means that we have infinite access to all the information that's available.
00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:31.000
We have the communications channels that are available. and what we know, of course, is there are pockets and silos all across the country where folks are doing the same work, and it's kinda like, Oh, Well, what is how does how does that?
00:40:31.000 --> 00:40:34.000
Work, if, in fact, we were not operating in silos.
00:40:34.000 --> 00:40:44.000
But we were experiencing what we I had noticed occur in the Harlem Renaissance here and in the next, patriots who lived in Paris.
00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:49.000
In the 1920 s in the 1930 s.
00:40:49.000 --> 00:40:55.000
How how would that occur today? How do we manifest in environment and create a space?
00:40:55.000 --> 00:41:04.000
The leverage that creativity that those particular 2 experiences did so.
00:41:04.000 --> 00:41:07.000
So, coming into the International Black summit, gave me access to that.
00:41:07.000 --> 00:41:18.000
So with the with the senior and the the rest of the facilitator body just being in conversation with those individuals.
00:41:18.000 --> 00:41:37.000
Created that kind of setting for me. It was real it was non hierarchical per se and in the alignment and the support in terms of the behavior created a model that I could carry back to my man's group
00:41:37.000 --> 00:41:48.000
networks to my a local brotherhood of elders, a network here, locally, My, a black coaches network.
00:41:48.000 --> 00:42:02.000
Just emulating what I saw occur with the international black summits for celebrate her body just to give a little background again for people who may be listening around that interaction.
00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:07.000
So the International Black Summit has an annual event.
00:42:07.000 --> 00:42:15.000
The the first full weekend in August every year, and in addition to a prerequisite course and other courses and programs.
00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:25.000
And at that event in the past there were an original set of 5 original facilitators, the senior facilitators of the summit.
00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:38.000
So i'm assuming ted that you're referring to them, and that the facilitator body members of the facilitator body are trained inside the summit structures to lead the conversation at the annual
00:42:38.000 --> 00:43:02.000
event, and at our other programs to lead the conversation, both from the front of the room and the back of the room, and the conversation is led in a collaborative in the most engaging process, where there is no single instructor at the front of
00:43:02.000 --> 00:43:18.000
the room. It is a dynamic, flowing process, in which each facilitator steps in in the moment to give the conversation what is coming to the conversation through them.
00:43:18.000 --> 00:43:36.000
And and I for me, I agree at Ted For me it was a a new experience, and so, being able to witness that and take that that kind of collaborative facilitation and leadership into other spaces so just to give people who are
00:43:36.000 --> 00:43:40.000
listening a bit of a sense of what what you're referring to there.
00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:46.000
Yeah, and And let me also add that that as of the facilitator.
00:43:46.000 --> 00:44:03.000
What you're doing is listening so you're listening the space you're listening for what's being brought up in the room, and the facilitator I I also have to quote my my buddy orren who is also
00:44:03.000 --> 00:44:19.000
facilitator. we have nothing to give you but we're in the conversation, listening and together the collaboration that Jackie Grace just talked about that collaboration is that we learn together.
00:44:19.000 --> 00:44:35.000
We hear something newly in the conversation as we're both listening. so I, as a facilitator, i'm gaining something as well as the listener, or the person that we're engaging with is also the receiving some insights
00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:47.000
and some information that as you heard earlier that ted talked about opening up, open it up some spaces that that he had realized that we're there.
00:44:47.000 --> 00:45:04.000
I know that for myself, when i'm facilitating there are times when when I find a new insight even into the distinctions that we've been using for years, and years, because in that moment in that space there's something else
00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:22.000
available newly, and and that's the part of the discovery that the is so eloquently received, and passed around, and whether you're sitting in your seats or you're standing at the mic engaging with the
00:45:22.000 --> 00:45:33.000
facilitation at the front of the room you're receiving you're receiving nuggets of insight that help you to open up.
00:45:33.000 --> 00:45:43.000
So I just wanted to just kind of underline that that conversation because it's not something that I see or have seen anywhere else.
00:45:43.000 --> 00:45:52.000
Not that it doesn't exist, but not on the consistency that occurs inside the International Black summit.
00:45:52.000 --> 00:46:10.000
So we're talking about Friday saturday and a Sunday for the annual summit event that this is occurring, that the conversations are being engaged, and and these are conversations that are coming from the body of people in
00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:27.000
the room. I might also add that we also have. Not only do we have the adult space, but we also have the use space, and we have the young adult space who are simultaneously occurring in different locations.
00:46:27.000 --> 00:46:35.000
On site, or virtually as we are. pandemic, virtually Okay, occurring as well.
00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:57.000
And And so these conversations are being established and integrated into different levels of conversation used young, adult, and adult, something. Blynn that was really critical, and that is the power of listening and again, it's it's.
00:46:57.000 --> 00:47:05.000
In my relationship with the facilitator body that I got clear about the power of listening.
00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:17.000
And what I was bumping up against, which is another distinction, was, you know, the always, always already already.
00:47:17.000 --> 00:47:31.000
Always listening in terms of the script that I operate from because I considered myself be a pretty bright person, and i'm logical and rational, and my thinking, and I had this conversation with my brother last week, and he's still
00:47:31.000 --> 00:47:45.000
in that binary mode. Oh, but the emptying out, the the the emptying out, and then listening, or something different to show up was very critical.
00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:59.000
And And what I found in this very loving, safe, sharing, aligned environment was new.
00:47:59.000 --> 00:48:06.000
Perspectives would pop into that emptying out, and and the metaphor I use particularly with my clients.
00:48:06.000 --> 00:48:12.000
Now, I said, you know once a year I go in and clean up your garage, and I always discovered something.
00:48:12.000 --> 00:48:18.000
You know he claimed that the correct but I always had difficulty, because I stopped at that.
00:48:18.000 --> 00:48:31.000
Look at it, and it's Oh, Yes, and this took me back. You know It's an emotional journey in the past. every time you pick up something that has emotional value to so I recognize I never get this garage cleaned out if
00:48:31.000 --> 00:48:35.000
I stop and revisit all the stories attached to each one of the Ad.
00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:42.000
Items, and like going to your attic. you know so I I came up with a different approach with was that's empty.
00:48:42.000 --> 00:48:59.000
Everything out of the garage. put it in the driveway and that's the empty guy better for you got it. And now i'm just going to put back into the garage those things that I have used or or those things that i've
00:48:59.000 --> 00:49:02.000
used in the last 6 months. if I haven't used it in a last 6 months.
00:49:02.000 --> 00:49:14.000
It stays out in the driveway. And so you know, the metaphor and the distinction of emptying out is extremely critical for us to trying to clean out our beliefs system.
00:49:14.000 --> 00:49:18.000
Because, you know, our belief system are just there to protect us.
00:49:18.000 --> 00:49:26.000
It. it is not but true it's not factual it's just something that I have adopted in my coping process when I talked about coping.
00:49:26.000 --> 00:49:45.000
I'm just talking about maintenance and my coping process to to keep saying, and so the emptying out distinction and the listening to allow something different to show up was again the initial until you know I adopted
00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:54.000
it as a regular tool that I can use when i'm faced with difficult decisions.
00:49:54.000 --> 00:50:04.000
Yeah, you know the the direction the clar, the clearing out, or the distinction clearing is what Baba Ted is is pointing to.
00:50:04.000 --> 00:50:16.000
And we use that particular distinction to to self-evaluate to to to look to see all those are those tools.
00:50:16.000 --> 00:50:21.000
Are those things working in life? and as as boba ted said he.
00:50:21.000 --> 00:50:26.000
You know what what's working or what he's used recently that's work.
00:50:26.000 --> 00:50:30.000
Puts it back into his garage, or we put it back into our life.
00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:37.000
And the things that are not working. we discard of but we're constantly looking and self-evaluating.
00:50:37.000 --> 00:50:43.000
Is it working? The is this giving me the best of me?
00:50:43.000 --> 00:51:01.000
And And so the so there's constantly looking and constantly changing and constantly expanding, where i'm looking from inside of the conversations network of conversations that are part of of this conversation and and part of the distinction
00:51:01.000 --> 00:51:18.000
clearing, and it's only part of it for me is is Both the physical clearing that you talked about Ted, but also the mental clearing, like a process of mentally emptying out a process of emotionally
00:51:18.000 --> 00:51:25.000
clearing out, and so being able to clear on all of these different levels the mental, emotional and the spiritual.
00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:39.000
And you talked earlier. in the physical. You talked earlier, Ted, about the inner reflecting, the outer, you know. A cluttered mind and cluttered emotions being reflected out in a cluttered garage.
00:51:39.000 --> 00:51:47.000
Perhaps you know all of all of that kind of thing. So you know, part of this is also making me wonder.
00:51:47.000 --> 00:51:52.000
Not just this last conversation, but this whole session tonight is having me wonder about your vision.
00:51:52.000 --> 00:51:56.000
One of the things that we say and the purpose actually they speak.
00:51:56.000 --> 00:52:07.000
The purpose of the International Black Summit is to provide an opportunity for participants to bring into being their vision for the black community and the world.
00:52:07.000 --> 00:52:13.000
So, Ted, Are you present to what your vision is and if so, can you share it with us?
00:52:13.000 --> 00:52:18.000
Oh, yeah, i'm i'm really clear in terms of my life purpose?
00:52:18.000 --> 00:52:24.000
Why I came to the planet and all my past experiences, of course, directed me.
00:52:24.000 --> 00:52:29.000
It took me a whole year of meditation. get clear until I was in one session.
00:52:29.000 --> 00:52:38.000
I was conducting one session in one and one of my participants, stood up and said, Oh, it doesn't take a year, you know it's like we don't.
00:52:38.000 --> 00:52:52.000
It only takes a few minutes. so be he introduced me to a process where I could actually, review what I have meditated on for you, and it turned out to be absolutely in alignment.
00:52:52.000 --> 00:53:06.000
And so I I was able to use that But but my life purpose is to actually provide access to my to the phone community the power that they already are that they already are.
00:53:06.000 --> 00:53:12.000
It's not like a is what you need to go get There's nothing to go get you're already very powerful.
00:53:12.000 --> 00:53:19.000
You're already creating a world in which we operate and so my life purpose was to bring that awareness.
00:53:19.000 --> 00:53:25.000
Oh, to the black community in which I reside and influence.
00:53:25.000 --> 00:53:32.000
And so that became my vision, my latest So just to just to just to get clear on that for myself.
00:53:32.000 --> 00:53:48.000
So when you say i'm clear that that's your purpose and when you then see a vision, do you actually see a vision for the black community in the world, it's it's that they that it's all powerful or what do you
00:53:48.000 --> 00:53:56.000
see inside of that vision your the focus in my vision is the awareness piece, which is the step number one.
00:53:56.000 --> 00:54:08.000
And so I I was gonna say the subset that i'm operating from now is to actually to create a campus of healing takes us through the 5.
00:54:08.000 --> 00:54:14.000
What I call 5 steps there may be a lot more it's just the ones I've identified.
00:54:14.000 --> 00:54:30.000
So far the the 5 steps of working from a mindset of surviving and copying into a full access to thriving and and flourishing.
00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:45.000
And so I. My current vision is that we have a campus, a center where individuals can come and and gain the necessary first of all, but the necessary awareness.
00:54:45.000 --> 00:55:00.000
And then, secondly, the training to to nurture and create those skills and hidden talents that are available to them, such that they can become change a transformational change.
00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:12.000
Agents in each one of their communities and so that's how it shows up for me as we speak today. and that's the one i'm sharing with many individuals.
00:55:12.000 --> 00:55:18.000
Given that that's a real possibility in my lifetime.
00:55:18.000 --> 00:55:29.000
Oh, but again, from a from a legacy standpoint is my goal is to what is the next team generations have to deal with.
00:55:29.000 --> 00:55:38.000
And I as a community elder. how am I actually positioning what I ever leave what I leave behind in terms of my legacy?
00:55:38.000 --> 00:55:47.000
To address some of the needs of the next generation the next 10 generation, and and that's where I think the vision.
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Oh, it is a very critical to look beyond the horizon.
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Look beyond what is possible, look beyond in terms of what is doable today.
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Because I access this ownership piece in terms of I can create whatever I choose to create, and and and that's the possibility that i'm operating in to to established that kind of legacy that could
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be carried forward. Now, part of that goes right back to working with other individuals who may continue to carry forward that vision. and that's why the Lyman is very critical.
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Carry forth and manifest that vision after i'm gone, and and to recognize the that others have done that that allowed me to do this work, and that I have an obligation and responsibility to till the ground for others to follow
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behind me thank you that's great ted I know we've been having a very heavy intellectual conversation tonight.
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I wanted to ask you, and I wanted to let people know that we do have some fun at the summit as well.
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So. Do you have any funny funny things that occurred?
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I know you talked a little bit about the the cashier, and and the and so forth.
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Earlier. Would you like to share anything funny or fun that you've discovered at a summit, or even after after your summit participation
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What moves, what pulls people? And so I identified the cashier experience that I had.
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I also, had an experience with one of the facilitators where, went to one of my favorite restaurants.
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Didn't make a reservation and quotes talk to the major days put by name in it's like 45 min.
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Wait. and okay, can we go sit at the bar, and then, after we spent about 5 min at the bar, ventured, he came over and said, Hey, your table is ready.
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The people are still in line. It was like so one of the people online said, Oh, we we were here before those we were here before that couple, you know, and it was like, so it was like in the matured.
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He said, No, you weren't that's where was like no, this this couple was here first, and it was like I recognize. See this.
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This was the magic that was showing up and it was like Wow! Okay, it's not unusual for me to be wearing my Jadi outfit tonight.
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That was a jet I experience. But, you know, I I have a slew of those experience in terms of the power that is available to us, that we shape the space we shape and create the space such that people and events serve our interests when
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we are in that clearing that we spoke about earlier and so again the first time you experience it is like, Oh, what what happened?
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That's magic, and it's like until you realize it's available to all of us, and and so I laugh about that today at the time I was like how did that happen that never happened to me before.
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You know, and and to and then to be in the presence of the aw awesomeness awesomeness in terms of what's available to us Once we oh, access that clearing that we with that we spoke about So Yeah,
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there's that was fun for me that was fun for me if I can take duckets away, and because i'm a committed learner I still take classes at the local community college, and and so you know that's
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that's really what feeds me and you know to be in the presence of caring, loving, like-minded folks.
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Cool. Do not bring a whole lot of baggage in terms of distrust and crabs in the barrel, and I don't wanna even bring that into this space.
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But it was like what I would normally bump into if I just walked into one of the hotels downtown.
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San Francisco in a conference room is and to feel that energy, the the diversity of energy in there.
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It's I don't experience that when i'm with the body of the International Black Summit.
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It's like it's it's all loving supportive there's no contention that I have every experience.
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Oh, and and yes, feels like home. This feels like phone, you know.
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And even though I may take a vacation, it always feels great to walk through the door.
01:01:08.000 --> 01:01:23.000
Coming back home. Oh, wow! well, that's what I find to be fun and and to meet people like you and Jackie and others, and establish these.
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Oh, relationships that you know that you're honored and appreciated and respected, and and not criticize.
01:01:33.000 --> 01:01:45.000
So another couple got up got a table pretty quickly Well, you know The rest of that story will, as I said, . we're all we're all being .
01:01:45.000 --> 01:01:50.000
We actually concurred that the other cup, the other group, was there before us.
01:01:50.000 --> 01:01:53.000
We We disagreed with the and we said no.
01:01:53.000 --> 01:01:57.000
They were there first, and then and so my partner.
01:01:57.000 --> 01:02:05.000
At the go to the restroom, and and the New Yorker, who was complaining in the most.
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He came over to me and whispered into my ear, he said, Your wife is so regal, and this is from a New Yorker right?
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It was like. so he 1 s before he was really pissed off at. we were given preferential treatment, and then the next second, when we concurred. you know, it was like, yeah, they were there.
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They were here first. we're we're still sitting here where you know we're not in a hurry, and and he came over, and he just whispered him on here, he said, Oh, said she, is so regal.
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And and it was like it was magical again.
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It was like to get a compliment from one of them.
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Dialard downtown New Yorkers unsolicited.
01:02:49.000 --> 01:03:03.000
Well, no, no, Actually it was solicited you know it it's kind of like a our declaration for this year, when I allow space I become present to who I am and inside of that who I am presence.
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They also got who you were as well. so cool.
01:03:11.000 --> 01:03:15.000
Any anything else for you, Jackie Grace, before we wrap up this evening.
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This wonderful conversation. I I don't think well let me ask you this: you know we're coming out of the pandemic.
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What's the biggest lesson that you got coming out of the pandemic?
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What's the biggest lesson? Well, you know my wife who is a college professor was forced to work from home. so our dining room became our new office, and ordinarily I would say, being stuck in the house with
01:03:48.000 --> 01:03:57.000
her. it was like i'm either getting on her nerves or she's getting on mine there's but it's actually has brought us closer together, and but again.
01:03:57.000 --> 01:04:16.000
She's been to an international like summit and so she's had the experience of we have a common foundation in terms of both completing the forum going through the black form as well as going through the international like summit together
01:04:16.000 --> 01:04:25.000
so. we're we're just really grounded and and I She she was expressing to me just this morning, she said.
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You know I just wanna acknowledge you that You're just the perfect spiritual partner for me, and and there was like, oh, I thought she was gonna ask me to go clean out the backyard.
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You mean part of the How do you do this? I just do.
01:04:45.000 --> 01:05:00.000
She had something that I had promised to do and hit and done, and and and and and so she just said, you know, need to talk, and you know when when your wife says we need to talk.
01:05:00.000 --> 01:05:17.000
I know what that's called for and and so you know she she just laid it out this morning, says you know I just i'm gonna be doing some additional work, and and I just wanna acknowledge you you're just
01:05:17.000 --> 01:05:28.000
the perfect spiritual partner for me, and I said likewise I said you know I've been with you longer than i've been with any other human being other than Mom.
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And I just wanted to acknowledge you that I I care about you more today, and the day I met you
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Awesome, awesome. Jackie, Grace is gonna give you the dates of the annual meeting for this year, but we wanna let you know that we do have every first full weekend in August is when we have our
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annual event. and that's friday saturday and Sunday, and this year as we've done in some prior years.
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We're also gonna have a prerequisite course on the Thursday.
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So Thursday in the day we'll have our prerequisite course.
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There's an additional fee for that and that's a way of grounding you, and and really getting you full ready for all of the conversations. in the course that are gonna happen in the weekend.
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And then, of course, we have a fabulous, fabulous Thursday night, evening event, where You can then invite people who are not eligible to participate in the International Black Summit, but can come as your guests that night
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to just get an experience of what it is. So we oftentimes have people that are of not black African descent come in and check in and be with us, and and get a opportunity to find out a little bit about the international
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back summer, but it also. This is an opportunity for people who have not done the international black summer to get a sense of it before it starts, so that they can then register and get inside the conversation for the for the full weekend and again remember
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that there are 3 groups that are occurring at the same time.
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So we have the adults 18, and above we have the youth from 8 to 17.
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That's the use summit and then the young adult are from 18 to 35.
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So those are the age groups. and the young adults could actually participate in the young adult summit, or because they're over 18, can also be part of the adult conversation.
01:07:57.000 --> 01:08:08.000
But we find that the young adult space is one of nurturing and the and looking at, you know, early on in your career, and so on, and so forth.
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And in fact, I gotta give you the heads up on this I actually discovered that conversation when we're in Africa and in Africa.
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You're a use up until you're 35 because they feel like you.
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Haven't developed all of the skill sets that you need to be fully functional.
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And so with that, and and some of the youth who had had aged out created the young adult space.
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So the younger bell space is a very effective Space as Well, so I'm gonna give it over to Jackie Grace to give you the dates this year.
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And and I want to thank Ted. Thank you so much for being part of this podcast.
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Is third in the series, and and a wonderful job.
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Thank you.
01:09:19.000 --> 01:09:26.000
Okay, Thanks. ,
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So. Yeah. So as as glenn was saying, we do have an annual summit event each year, that's in addition to having other courses, and the annual somebody event this year will be held from August fourth to
01:09:42.000 --> 01:09:55.000
August seventh. The Thursday, as Glenn said, will be the prerequisite event for people who have not attended an international black summit before you can attend the prerequisite event to be eligible
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for the International Black Summit. The thursday evening as he said, is a free host event that's open to everyone.
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Whether you're attending the event or not whether you're a black African descent or not, and if you're interested in attending the the opening host event that night you can check out our website.
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At Black Summit dot org the information will be up for by the by, by July.
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And and so I think that's it for tonight that's August seventh.
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August August fourth, to august the seventh, 2,022.
01:10:31.000 --> 01:10:39.000
And so Let's complete with our declaration the declaration of the International Black Summit.
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Okay, do I have it up here? let's get it up?
01:10:46.000 --> 01:10:54.000
I'm gonna bring it up on screen great Yes,
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While you're doing that, I just wanna thank the live audience for being with us this evening.
01:10:59.000 --> 01:11:09.000
Supporting us. Putting your comments in the Chat as we engage in this interview tonight with Ted Marsh. We appreciate the support.
01:11:09.000 --> 01:11:21.000
There's definitely a difference. having having you with us and having the energy of that space. we appreciate all of you who are with us right now.
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The declaration of the Internet Black summer, we declare ourselves and all communities, whole and complete.
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There is nothing to do except B. We assert that we are responsible for generating community as possibility and distinction.
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We listened for, and Gram being to the possibility and creation of unpredictable results.
01:11:50.000 --> 01:12:06.000
Our conversation of about and for those of African descent is one of power, self-generation, abundance, responsibility, unity, and integrity. With the possibility of being.
01:12:06.000 --> 01:12:28.000
We stand for the expression of our spirituality, ending the murders of our men, women and children, building economies, responsible for funding our community, maintaining wellness of being in our bodies, providing human services, establishing
01:12:28.000 --> 01:12:50.000
nurturing relationships, altering the conversation of who we are in the media empowering our use, we declare that our community manifest herself in the world as a contribution in the transformation of the universe atlanta Georgia
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October seventh, 1991 June, fifth, 2022; to the north, to the south, to the east, to the west, above, below, and within, and wherever people are black african descent, besides let us all have a moment
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of silence. Please,
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Thank you, thank you, Glenn thank you and thank everyone who's listened to tonight's session.
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We're thankful and grateful that you were with us tonight, and we hope that you'll join us next time.