From Global Finance to Community Legacy: Jordan Harris' Inspiring Story

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Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of The Kickback.

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I am your host, The Dude, and as we do every Tuesday, we interview ordinary

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people doing extraordinary things in their lives.

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And this week can't be any different. But before we get into the show,

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I'd just like to say, if you have not checked out our website,

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please go check out our website at thekickback.1.

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Again, that is thekickback.1. We would really appreciate if you go check out our website.

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And our show is sponsored by Martin's Chicken and Waffles.

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So if you've never had Martin's Chicken and Waffles, listen,

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the food is amazing. The family is wonderful.

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They're located at 207 South Water Street in Gallatin, Tennessee.

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Hey, tell them you heard about them on the kickback.

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Go get you some of those great waffles and chicken, man. They got all types of things on the menu.

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The sides are the daff or the barbecue is amazing.

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Martin's Chicken and Waffles 207 South Waters Avenue,

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Gallatin Tennessee and hey tell them you heard about it on the kickback and

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we would appreciate all of everybody letting Martin's Chicken and Waffles know

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that they are wonderful people.

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Music.

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You know yes sir making sure we honor we live we're connected yes sir we're live and connected,

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how are you today sir great great a little soggy but it's all good hey hey hey

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you You were not driving all day in this off and on and stuff.

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I know. Man.

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It's stop, start, stop, start, stop, start. You know, people can't drive.

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Exactly. I knew you were going. People can't drive.

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Well, yeah, they can drive, but they don't drive smart. And it's like when it

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rains, they drive faster.

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As if that is going to get you to your destination any quicker than the speed

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that everybody else is going.

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Man, I tell you what, man. Today I had to, I ran over to the church to take care of a few things.

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And I'm coming up Briley Highway right when you get to that,

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well, not intersection, but that merging of traffic over there by Brick Church Pike.

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With that circle and people are coming out and merging in and I saw the accident

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happening before it happened,

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And I've eased on my brakes because I knew there was a couple of cars behind

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me and they were hard charging.

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I'm in the right lane. And that's the, you know, of course, they're coming out

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from that circle to merge into that right lane heading towards Dickerson Road.

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When I put my brakes on and made everybody slow down behind me and two cars

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came right out together, merging in.

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And if I think if I had stayed at my original speed with those clowns pushing

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behind me and the way that those guys just shot right out into the road,

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I think there would have been an accident.

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And it was high water there, too, because when you came, when you come out of

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there, you can just see the water just shooting out from under the tires.

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So that's what really keyed me. And when I saw that, I just hit my brakes.

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Yes, I'll let them have it. Mr. Harris, how are you doing today, sir?

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I'm good. I'm good. Peace. How y'all doing? peace and blessings to everybody amen,

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so I am the dude and I'd like to welcome to the kickback this is a place where

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I like to tell my audience that we do or we do conversations with ordinary people

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doing extraordinary things in their lives,

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do you feel like that I would hope so I hope so I hope you feel like that,

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because I think I'm I'm just trying to do as much as I can.

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And that is the extraordinary part, because what you can do is more than some

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other person can do, but you do as much as you can do within the power that you have been given.

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Yeah, that's what my grandmother says. As long as you're doing your best,

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then that's all that matters.

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Exactly, exactly. You do you do the best with what you've been giving and and you make the best.

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And for me in this world, I

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try to be on a campaign of of harmony

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and blessings and fulfillment and just normalizing speaking to people and saying

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hello and just showing the world that we don't all have to be angry and we all

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don't have to have cell phone eyes.

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Your eyes actually work and I can look you in your eyes and have a conversation

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with you not look at your eyes as you stay at your cell phone.

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Yeah Definitely feeling that it's more and more of a A world we're trying to

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get people used to using their eyes for something other than their phones Yes, yes, that is what I,

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That's the world that I want to live in I want to live in the world where

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people are using their eyes because the Because the eyes are the they're they're

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the entry to your soul but at the same time if we go back in time and think

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about conversations maybe your grandfather or a great uncle or someone says

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when you shake a man's hands you look him in the eyes,

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And when you're having a true conversation with someone, you're looking them

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in the eyes and it shows respect.

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It shows respect when you when you look in someone in the eyes and stuff,

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looking down. And it also shows a bit of confidence.

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It shows that you are confident in whatever the higher power has put on you.

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Yeah, that's right. All right. So, Mr. Harris, again, welcome to the kickback. I am the dude.

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My show, I tell all my guests, my show is like a mullet.

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It's all business in the front and then it's a party in the back.

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And what I mean by a party is I'll ask you a few questions, nothing malice,

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nothing harmful, nothing mean, nothing just outlandishly crazy.

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But there'll be a few questions at the end of the interview just,

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you know, to try to get people to see you in a little more personable light,

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if you can understand that. Okay.

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All righty. So up front, here's what I need you to do for me.

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I need you to introduce yourself to the audience.

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Tell them who you are, what you do, and what's your plans on getting to the

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next phase in your contribution to this world.

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Okay, yes. So, Jordan Harris, I'm a native Nashvillian, born in Meharry,

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and currently a proprietor of our Cable Line Images bookstore located on the

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corner of 28th and Jefferson Street.

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We have been the longest running Black-owned bookstore in Nashville and in the

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state, and we're going on 40 years next year.

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My father opened up the business in 86, and I've taken over running it since 2002.

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I guess before I took over the shop, you know, I went to, I graduated from Morehouse

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College and I worked in London and Hong Kong as an investment banker.

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I opened, I ran a little restaurant in London for a couple of years before I

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decided I needed to come home and work with my pops.

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And that's what I've been doing ever since.

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Yeah, I've been spending a lot of time. I kind of took the first couple of years

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running the shop, just kind of getting an understanding of how things work and what's going on.

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And now I'm aiming to make it a little more of a proactive business as opposed

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to, you know, passive, kind of just there.

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I've been more involved on Jefferson Street. I think,

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you know, having lived outside of Nashville and come back home,

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I think oftentimes people don't realize how important and how valuable a lot

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of what the history and the present of Nashville is, not just,

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you know, Black Nashville specifically,

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not just to Nashville, but to the country and even internationally.

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And so I've been working hard to figure out how to kind of get some more focus

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on the neighborhood and revitalize it,

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kind of bring back some of the elements of this past and really just highlight

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how much we need a core neighborhood for ourselves in the city as the city grows

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and as opportunity comes so that we can box out

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You know, for ourselves and stabilize our own communities so that we don't get

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spread out all over the region and lose our voting power, lose our economic

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power and lose the ability to look after ourselves.

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That is that is that's amazing. That is amazing. But it opens up a lot of questions.

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And where do I start? The man said he was in London, a Nashville native bookstore

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passed down by his father.

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Man, you brought a lot. That's a lot of things.

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That's a lot. It's a lot. How do you process being an investment banker traveling

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the world and now you're back at this at your father's bookstore,

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which is an amazing store.

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But how do you process being a renowned world traveler, an investment banker?

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Is this like is this like a vacation? Is this like retirement?

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What does that feel like?

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No, it's definitely a process of, you know, evolving identity.

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I mean, when I was a banker, it was kind of easy for it to become your identity.

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Oh, what do you do? I work at a bank. I do this.

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And there's a lot that comes with that once you just say, you give a short description.

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I think now, you know, I kind of feel like I have to flesh out what I do a little

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more because it's not as obvious or doesn't come with as many preconceived notions.

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But it's definitely not me retiring.

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It's definitely me taking over this passion project, this mission that my father began.

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He opened up the bookstore while working on his PhD at Vanderbilt in psychology.

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And for him, the bookstore was his psychology practice.

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You know, he recognized from his learning that in the absence of us taking control

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over presenting ourselves with positive images of ourselves,

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you know, we're left to what other people think about us.

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And that kind of really deteriorates your sense of self, your self-confidence,

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your sense of belonging.

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And so being able to provide materials that highlight the strength and resilience

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and richness of Black history and culture and the people.

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You know, it's really exciting for me to be able to offer to Nashville.

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And so, you know, I'm working to strengthen this foundation and grow it,

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you know, with taking the baton from my father and carrying it further.

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I mean, it's wonderful to be bestowed something from your father, first of all.

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So congratulations on that. I know the way it was bestowed upon you is not the way we want it.

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But the thing is, a lot of young men in this world aren't bestowed anything

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from their father in life.

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You know, maybe a couple bad habits or things of that nature,

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but you will be told something that is so necessary in this world today,

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because even in this day and time of electronics and all of these things,

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the real stories are still in the books.

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And some of those books are still relevant to this day, and some of them are

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40, 50, you know, years old.

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Yeah, it's definitely of the case that it's easy to be swayed by the presence

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of new technology to think that, you know, the analog is old hat and we don't need it anymore.

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But more and more each year, we see even though that, you know,

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it's media is democratized where everybody can produce new media and content, it ends up.

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Leaving the real and the factual and the primary sources behind.

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Everybody's on Twitter asking Grok if something is true or not or asking ChatGQT what's true or not.

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And there's so many layers between yourself and the truth.

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And you kind of need to rely on things that don't show us what the sources are.

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So, yeah, I definitely feel a responsibility to maintain access to those primary sources.

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I mean, school libraries are getting rid of books.

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State libraries are getting rid of books. So, you know, it's important.

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It's going to be more and more important for us to be considerate of who we're

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getting our information from.

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Right, right. Because we are, you know what, we are in an age and time of miscommunication.

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A lot of, and I'm just being funny, fake news.

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It's all just fake news, you know, but there is some, there are still avenues

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where people are giving out the true information. But here's the thing.

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Most of the time, the people that are giving out the true information, nobody wants to hear.

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And I've told people for years, the thing that's trending the most is ignorance.

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Ignorance is so blissed in these

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times i ain't gonna just say in the united states but it's if you go on social

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media the ignorant is what people are listening to and the people with true

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messages that have that really have something to say of value they're being discredited,

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Yeah, no, it's as if attention seeking is what gets rewarded.

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I was in business school in London, and one of the professors gave us results

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of a study saying that, you know, the number one way to get promoted in your

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job is to seek promotion.

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If you work hard and you're a loyal employee, you're less likely to get promoted

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because your boss doesn't want to lose you.

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You're doing a good job. but if you were hassling them about getting promoted

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they're more likely to promote you so it kind of plays out in our world today

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the same way the more you want people to look at you the more people will look

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at you and listen to you versus you having good information and being,

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altruistic and providing the truth and providing knowledge that's not exciting,

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they want to see you do something to grab their attention I get it I get it.

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That is It is so much This,

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It is so much. It is so much to delve into this world and the way that people

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love to get their information. It's like for me, and this is me,

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I like to watch the news. That's my thing.

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Most people I talk to, I don't like to watch the news. It's just so full of bad news.

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But it's informative.

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And then when I tell them about something that's going on with the stock market

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or the weather or something like that, And I was like, where'd you hear that at?

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Because I watched the news. That's how I found out about these things.

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That's becoming a bigger and bigger pet project of mine is recognizing,

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you know, in the same conversation, recognizing that, you know,

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how do we find out about what's going on in Nashville today has been something

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that's been surprisingly difficult.

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You want to figure out what you're going to do this week. Are you going to open up the newspaper?

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Are you going to scroll through Instagram, through some accounts you follow?

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Are you going to look on Facebook calendar maybe?

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There's so many different places to get information.

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It's a hassle. It's a challenge. It's difficult.

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Historically, people would have just paid for a subscription to the Tennessee

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Tribune or to the Nashville Pride or to the Tennessean. Yeah,

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the Tennessean, yeah. Yeah.

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And we're losing things that people aren't really recognizing that we were paying for indirectly.

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And a big case for me is there is no investigative journalist objectively investigating

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what's going on with Tennessee State.

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Whose job is it for the people to figure out what's true and what's just what

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the governor wants us to know or what the people who are going to get paid want

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us to know? So, you know, we got to be paying for people to speak that information for us.

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But there's no direct way to do it at this point.

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Right. But you know what? You're right about the example you just gave of trying

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to find out what's going on in the city.

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You're right because I was

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searching for it was it a week ago two

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weeks ago I was searching events in

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Nashville and I had to go through all the forums that you just named I went

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through all of them I went through Facebook I went to somebody on Instagram

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I went to Google it a couple different places and it's different information everywhere and

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But none of it is uniformed. None of it is all together.

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It's like, OK, on Facebook, it says is this event, this event, this event, this event.

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Then you go on Instagram to the people who's giving out information and they're

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advertising this event, this event, this event.

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Then you go over to Google and you search events in Nashville.

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It's going to give you three to four different pages of different events. So how do I know?

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Why do we not have one uniformed way of informing people of what's going on

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in the city? I like that idea. yeah.

00:20:05.287 --> 00:20:09.087
We've had we've been trying to put on some community events like

00:20:09.087 --> 00:20:12.087
I've worked with the former founder of

00:20:12.087 --> 00:20:14.767
the Black Studies Department at TSU on putting on

00:20:14.767 --> 00:20:17.607
some events like a great debate that he

00:20:17.607 --> 00:20:20.887
used to have as a student and just in

00:20:20.887 --> 00:20:23.747
that process trying to figure out how to get the word out about your

00:20:23.747 --> 00:20:26.627
event is a big challenge you

00:20:26.627 --> 00:20:30.387
send out emails you post flyers and

00:20:30.387 --> 00:20:33.467
after each event you know you have the the

00:20:33.467 --> 00:20:36.427
content created from it and people see oh i would

00:20:36.427 --> 00:20:39.687
have gone to that oh man i wish i had known about this and you're

00:20:39.687 --> 00:20:42.547
like well i tried to put the word out several different ways but it didn't

00:20:42.547 --> 00:20:46.887
get it didn't get to who needed to see it you know right but you just said it

00:20:46.887 --> 00:20:52.627
the the only real way of getting that getting and a great debate would be wonderful

00:20:52.627 --> 00:20:59.167
but it's like i go i've been to a couple events in nashville where things have

00:20:59.167 --> 00:21:01.507
been talked about about moving the city forward,

00:21:01.507 --> 00:21:06.367
about civil issues where it comes to, you know, North Nashville,

00:21:06.687 --> 00:21:11.307
saving it, saving Bordeaux, saving Cheatham, you know, saving all these places.

00:21:11.507 --> 00:21:16.667
But you go into these meetings and everybody's over 30.

00:21:18.167 --> 00:21:22.127
How do we get to the under 30 crowd?

00:21:22.707 --> 00:21:27.587
I mean, I say everybody's over 40, 45. Right. I mean, I was trying to give a

00:21:27.587 --> 00:21:29.247
little grace. I was trying to give a little grace.

00:21:29.467 --> 00:21:32.127
I was trying to give just a little bit of grace.

00:21:33.304 --> 00:21:41.044
Right. Yeah, I think that just that urgency for local issues is is a large problem

00:21:41.044 --> 00:21:46.924
to solve because the money being put into urgency for national issues is high

00:21:46.924 --> 00:21:48.624
because, you know, if you're selling ads,

00:21:49.024 --> 00:21:54.184
if ads are driving your content and those people spending money for ads are

00:21:54.184 --> 00:21:59.884
trying to get the whole country versus just North Nashville or Bordeaux attention.

00:21:59.884 --> 00:22:05.044
So the zone, the void is full of noise about what's going on in D.C.,

00:22:05.044 --> 00:22:08.864
what's going on in Los Angeles, what's going on in New York that,

00:22:09.204 --> 00:22:13.564
you know, people have to be intentional about creating space to listen to what's

00:22:13.564 --> 00:22:15.284
going on down the street for me.

00:22:15.564 --> 00:22:20.824
And it's a new, these are new concepts that you haven't really been pushed to

00:22:20.824 --> 00:22:25.064
consider because usually you just get it. You should just get the news locally.

00:22:25.464 --> 00:22:30.064
You know, it was the first thing you find. But nowadays, it's more and more

00:22:30.064 --> 00:22:33.824
difficult because the business models don't quite make sense for it,

00:22:33.944 --> 00:22:35.184
or they haven't been discovered.

00:22:35.424 --> 00:22:37.704
A better business model hasn't been discovered yet.

00:22:38.344 --> 00:22:43.724
Yeah, and I totally agree with all of that. I totally agree there hasn't been a new business model.

00:22:46.844 --> 00:22:52.824
The organizations that you are involved with, how many youth people,

00:22:52.984 --> 00:22:56.624
how many people of youth do you guys have involved in your organizations?

00:22:57.884 --> 00:23:03.344
Yeah, that's a good question. I guess so working with the older folks that have

00:23:03.344 --> 00:23:09.444
time, they end up doing older folk style of things and you don't end up with

00:23:09.444 --> 00:23:10.924
enough young people involved.

00:23:11.104 --> 00:23:14.304
And then the things we I've been trying to be on the board of.

00:23:14.304 --> 00:23:19.764
So we have this Jefferson Street Historical Society we put together over the last couple of years.

00:23:20.324 --> 00:23:24.024
And I'd say the average age of involvement in that is about 40.

00:23:24.244 --> 00:23:28.024
I think, you know, the younger folks' focus is different.

00:23:28.264 --> 00:23:32.724
If you got young children, it's difficult to be involved in what's going on.

00:23:32.924 --> 00:23:37.544
If you just start in work, you're focused on managing your career.

00:23:37.904 --> 00:23:44.244
That call for community is what we need. In the last couple of years,

00:23:44.424 --> 00:23:50.504
I've been thinking that people are less and less consistently at church two and three times a week.

00:23:51.284 --> 00:23:56.944
And that new source of community, what can take the place of that?

00:23:57.184 --> 00:24:01.964
How do we engage with people outside of our age group, outside of church?

00:24:04.444 --> 00:24:08.004
And that's kind of a big question for me.

00:24:08.004 --> 00:24:14.864
I mean, even in churches, it's hard to to see the impact.

00:24:14.864 --> 00:24:20.624
I mean, you go to church and the average person in church is somewhere between

00:24:20.624 --> 00:24:23.104
35 and 45. That's the average.

00:24:24.044 --> 00:24:32.524
And the the as you look around the church, you notice, OK, 45 to 65 is a bigger

00:24:32.524 --> 00:24:36.824
crowd. But once you get down below 35, it's like...

00:24:38.337 --> 00:24:42.397
So how do we combat that is what I'm saying.

00:24:42.477 --> 00:24:47.477
And I know you don't have the answers. It's just conversation because you're

00:24:47.477 --> 00:24:50.237
a part of the Historical Society for Jefferson Street.

00:24:50.677 --> 00:24:54.257
Just like you, I'm a Nashville native. I've been here my whole entire life.

00:24:54.397 --> 00:24:55.877
We were born at the same hospital.

00:24:56.457 --> 00:25:00.957
I grew up in East Nashville. You grew up, what, in Bordeaux, right? Mostly.

00:25:01.537 --> 00:25:08.057
Right. So we've been here. We've watched the growth of this city and watched

00:25:08.057 --> 00:25:11.577
the way that these people have come in and they've tried to take over our city

00:25:11.577 --> 00:25:14.017
and they've tried to do all these different things.

00:25:14.237 --> 00:25:16.577
You know, there was a study that says Nashville

00:25:16.577 --> 00:25:20.617
is the number one city for gentrification right now in the nation.

00:25:22.297 --> 00:25:26.497
Number one in the nation for gentrification

00:25:26.497 --> 00:25:30.157
as it comes to selling out

00:25:30.157 --> 00:25:33.097
people just giving up their property just letting these

00:25:33.097 --> 00:25:36.497
big developers come in and do whatever they want to do and

00:25:36.497 --> 00:25:39.397
what i'm trying to say with that is how do

00:25:39.397 --> 00:25:44.497
we get these young people in on the fight it's something i need to answer myself

00:25:44.497 --> 00:25:51.257
but right all of us over 40 we need to figure out do we need to dress like them

00:25:51.257 --> 00:25:58.697
every day and infect their groups or crews or whatever and try to make it cool to,

00:25:59.137 --> 00:26:02.117
hey, let's go to the museum. Yeah, I'm just playing.

00:26:02.317 --> 00:26:05.957
I'm just, I'm actually being silly. I think that's a real question.

00:26:06.377 --> 00:26:10.837
Something I've been thinking about is that, you know, so like I said,

00:26:11.137 --> 00:26:16.437
I left home and I'm back in Nashville and, you know, the history of Nashville

00:26:16.437 --> 00:26:20.257
is something that we don't have enough pride about.

00:26:20.997 --> 00:26:26.837
And I think, you know, really pushing community and pushing pride in our history

00:26:26.837 --> 00:26:31.417
and our present is the way to engage across demographics.

00:26:31.737 --> 00:26:35.957
You know, Nashville is where the phrase rhythm and blues was coined.

00:26:36.357 --> 00:26:39.997
You know, Nashville has history across all these different.

00:26:40.939 --> 00:26:44.439
Lanes of life, that we should be loud about it.

00:26:44.799 --> 00:26:47.519
You go to any event in Nashville and somebody say, we're Brooklyn at,

00:26:47.539 --> 00:26:49.759
and you'll hear five or 10 people shout.

00:26:50.219 --> 00:26:55.079
But they never say, we're Nashville at in that same event. Right, right.

00:26:56.739 --> 00:26:59.819
You know, so I think that's the key.

00:27:00.199 --> 00:27:04.279
And even with the gentrification commentary, something I noticed,

00:27:04.899 --> 00:27:11.799
you know, gentrification is a word we've been familiar with for going on 20 years. and at least.

00:27:12.799 --> 00:27:17.079
And, but we mostly hear about it from, you know, East Coast cities,

00:27:17.299 --> 00:27:20.179
from West Coast cities, you know, from Northern cities.

00:27:20.419 --> 00:27:23.879
Yes. And in those places, you have large tenement buildings,

00:27:24.099 --> 00:27:29.419
you have large apartment complexes that, you know, the inhabitants don't own.

00:27:29.559 --> 00:27:32.199
And so when the rent goes up, they get gone.

00:27:32.559 --> 00:27:36.799
And in Nashville, what's unique about, you know, the black neighborhoods in

00:27:36.799 --> 00:27:39.639
Nashville is that we own these properties.

00:27:40.099 --> 00:27:45.739
Black folks own the rapidly changing neighborhood in large amounts,

00:27:45.799 --> 00:27:47.239
larger amounts than we recognize.

00:27:47.839 --> 00:27:52.879
Jefferson Street is about 70% Black-owned, and you wouldn't even imagine that.

00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:54.999
You'd think that sounds really hot.

00:27:55.679 --> 00:28:00.179
But even North Nashville, lots of East Nashville, lots of Bordeaux.

00:28:00.179 --> 00:28:05.499
I like to say that we need a new name for the neighborhood of Black people between

00:28:05.499 --> 00:28:13.179
Ashland City Highway and going east to, not quite Gallatin Road, but Dickerson Road.

00:28:14.019 --> 00:28:17.719
Dickerson Road, yes, Dickerson Road. And between Charlotte and Bradley Parkway.

00:28:17.939 --> 00:28:22.619
I mean, that's a huge Black area that doesn't have its own name,

00:28:22.619 --> 00:28:26.719
but could be considered one large Black neighborhood.

00:28:27.119 --> 00:28:31.779
And we own a lot of it. And so I think that connection that we need to have

00:28:31.779 --> 00:28:36.679
is between the old folks that own some land, own some houses,

00:28:37.059 --> 00:28:40.819
own some lots, inherited some lots, sitting on them.

00:28:40.819 --> 00:28:47.499
Don't know how to think about or consider taking the risk of developing them

00:28:47.499 --> 00:28:52.839
and connecting them to the folks who need housing, who just graduated college,

00:28:53.259 --> 00:28:58.999
have a decent job, but can't afford to rent in the new complexes.

00:28:59.239 --> 00:29:05.959
And so they end up in Ashland City or Clarksville or Spring Hill instead of

00:29:05.959 --> 00:29:10.579
in Bordeaux and East Nashville and North Nashville.

00:29:10.819 --> 00:29:16.319
So I think that's what I'm trying to figure out how to bridge that gap to say,

00:29:16.499 --> 00:29:22.079
hey, let's help the people with the land not sell it and develop it so that

00:29:22.079 --> 00:29:26.859
we can have more capacity for us to live in our neighborhoods that we grew up in.

00:29:28.606 --> 00:29:34.146
I that sounds wonderful. It sounds wonderfully amazing. But how do we get everybody

00:29:34.146 --> 00:29:36.166
on the same playing field?

00:29:36.366 --> 00:29:40.906
Because what you're saying is a dream that I'd love to have.

00:29:41.026 --> 00:29:44.786
I'd love to buy a piece of land or help someone develop a piece of land,

00:29:45.046 --> 00:29:50.866
maybe put a couple of tiny homes or, you know, modular homes or whatever on this property.

00:29:50.866 --> 00:29:56.926
All depends on the size of the property, enough to where we can have sustainable,

00:29:57.186 --> 00:30:02.226
affordable housing for people who can't afford to live in these neighborhoods.

00:30:02.566 --> 00:30:07.086
But then how do we get everybody to speak that language?

00:30:07.846 --> 00:30:13.246
Yeah, and that's what I've been spending time thinking about because that is my background.

00:30:13.586 --> 00:30:16.946
I definitely know finance. I can do all the math.

00:30:17.506 --> 00:30:22.486
And something that I start off with is that, you know, my mother bought a house

00:30:22.486 --> 00:30:26.286
in Bordeaux in 93 for something like $80,000.

00:30:26.946 --> 00:30:31.786
And it was worth about $80,000 for the next 15 years.

00:30:32.146 --> 00:30:40.106
And then in the last 10 years, you know, I think it's somewhere between $350,000 and $450,000 now.

00:30:40.606 --> 00:30:45.206
And if you take my house as a Typical house, I'm not in Enchanted Hills,

00:30:45.366 --> 00:30:50.286
so it's a little more, not as nice as the nicest house in Bordeaux.

00:30:50.746 --> 00:30:56.086
That means that everybody who's been in Bordeaux since the 90s has about $300,000

00:30:56.086 --> 00:30:57.526
of equity in their house.

00:30:58.446 --> 00:31:05.826
And it's nothing to go to the bank and get $75,000 HELOC and invest it in some

00:31:05.826 --> 00:31:10.246
more land. And it's not a risky thing to say, oh, put it in my new restaurant

00:31:10.246 --> 00:31:12.566
or put it in my little business.

00:31:12.846 --> 00:31:16.446
It's like put it in land and land in Nashville ain't going down.

00:31:16.886 --> 00:31:21.746
So that's the way, that's the format I've got that I'm working on to think,

00:31:22.206 --> 00:31:25.546
okay, here's, how can I get some people to invest in something straightforward?

00:31:26.106 --> 00:31:30.146
And there's a lot of black developers now. There's a lot of black folks who

00:31:30.146 --> 00:31:36.826
are designing and building and fixing up and rehabbing houses all over town.

00:31:37.006 --> 00:31:43.206
So it's just about packaging up their skills and their offerings with the assets

00:31:43.206 --> 00:31:46.866
that older black Nashville clearly has,

00:31:47.046 --> 00:31:53.966
clearly has, to then do something for ourselves and take advantage of this rise

00:31:53.966 --> 00:31:56.686
in value in Nashville without selling out.

00:31:56.686 --> 00:32:02.786
So that's kind of that middle road that I'm working to figure out how to pave

00:32:02.786 --> 00:32:04.246
because it's really exciting to me.

00:32:04.386 --> 00:32:09.366
I think every family in Nashville that owns a house, their net worth should

00:32:09.366 --> 00:32:10.926
double in the next 5, 10 years.

00:32:11.066 --> 00:32:13.886
So if you're not doing that, you're falling behind.

00:32:14.826 --> 00:32:17.626
Yeah, but again, I get it.

00:32:17.906 --> 00:32:23.446
How do we get – I mean, Sam Kirk, Pastor Sam Kirk, and I know you've heard of

00:32:23.446 --> 00:32:25.666
him and I know you were at the play.

00:32:26.725 --> 00:32:31.825
He got the gentleman together to do the building, the medical building they

00:32:31.825 --> 00:32:33.785
have out there on Clarksville Highway.

00:32:34.085 --> 00:32:38.425
Wonderful, wonderful deal. I would have loved to just been a fly on the wall

00:32:38.425 --> 00:32:43.605
in a couple of those meetings to understand the language and how he was able

00:32:43.605 --> 00:32:49.625
to decipher through what it took for these men to get together and accomplish this goal.

00:32:49.865 --> 00:32:53.185
But that's that building is a one of a kind at the moment.

00:32:53.485 --> 00:33:00.625
That's one of the first. And I hope not only projects that we can get here in

00:33:00.625 --> 00:33:03.425
Nashville where we can actually get together and do something.

00:33:03.645 --> 00:33:05.465
And what you're saying is amazing.

00:33:05.725 --> 00:33:13.325
And I hope that you can weed through all of the jazz and figure out the perfect

00:33:13.325 --> 00:33:20.245
language to be able to bridge that gap between the young and the old so we can

00:33:20.245 --> 00:33:23.645
build something sustainable for us.

00:33:23.645 --> 00:33:28.845
And like you said, these neighborhoods in between Bradley Parkway and Dixon

00:33:28.845 --> 00:33:35.525
Road, they they have their own little small names, but they're not solidified as black communities.

00:33:35.525 --> 00:33:39.065
But they've been black communities forever, because if you think about it over

00:33:39.065 --> 00:33:43.305
off of Dixon Road, I think it's Mulberry Estates.

00:33:43.845 --> 00:33:48.305
I think it's Mulberry Estates. When I when we were in high school,

00:33:48.385 --> 00:33:52.465
because we're about the same age, I'm 45, about to be 46.

00:33:52.465 --> 00:33:59.805
So I know we're about somewhere in the same age group, but that was an elite

00:33:59.805 --> 00:34:05.805
neighborhood of upper crest black people, just like Enchanted Hills.

00:34:07.100 --> 00:34:11.840
Those were upper crests, and nobody really, because they're not in town,

00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:13.360
nobody really talked about that.

00:34:13.540 --> 00:34:16.580
But those neighborhoods were upper crests, black neighborhoods.

00:34:17.600 --> 00:34:22.280
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, I mean, we've got these neighborhoods where the professional

00:34:22.280 --> 00:34:27.260
black folks in Nashville have, you know, aggregated, congregated together.

00:34:28.540 --> 00:34:33.020
And those neighborhoods still exist. And those people are still there.

00:34:33.580 --> 00:34:36.860
A lot are older. There's still been some transition. But right now,

00:34:37.040 --> 00:34:41.380
there's definitely a lot of 55-plus owned houses.

00:34:42.200 --> 00:34:47.160
And, I mean, just with me transitioning to take over my father's business,

00:34:47.320 --> 00:34:51.300
we're in an era right now of transition.

00:34:51.540 --> 00:34:58.900
And you see it mirrored all over America. You see it with political leaders all being 70-plus.

00:35:00.140 --> 00:35:07.540
And it's just that question of, okay, how is this millennial generation going

00:35:07.540 --> 00:35:11.860
to move into the leadership role that is its turn for?

00:35:12.820 --> 00:35:16.680
What is this transfer of power going to look like?

00:35:17.020 --> 00:35:22.020
And how are we going to be intentional in acknowledging that it's up to us to

00:35:22.020 --> 00:35:23.280
decide what we're going to do?

00:35:24.500 --> 00:35:27.660
Everybody's kind of used to someone else providing a solution.

00:35:28.500 --> 00:35:35.120
But that's kind of been this era of my now that I'm in my 40s as well it's like

00:35:35.120 --> 00:35:39.460
okay this is on me to decide what we're going to do this is on us to figure

00:35:39.460 --> 00:35:41.780
out what we're going to do and to do it as opposed to,

00:35:42.605 --> 00:35:45.405
wait for somebody older and wiser to do it

00:35:45.405 --> 00:35:48.845
you know we're the older wiser people now yeah we we

00:35:48.845 --> 00:35:53.345
are the unks we are the ogs we are we're

00:35:53.345 --> 00:35:59.445
the new new we're not new fathers i'm i'm not a new father but you know new

00:35:59.445 --> 00:36:05.545
father figures figuratively speaking until when we were kids uh when we were

00:36:05.545 --> 00:36:11.245
kids you know the song that uh our parents like to hear was i believe the children are the future.

00:36:13.885 --> 00:36:17.665
We those children so so it's

00:36:17.665 --> 00:36:20.625
our and that future is our present now let them

00:36:20.625 --> 00:36:23.605
lead the way show them all the beauties that

00:36:23.605 --> 00:36:30.665
they possess inside give them a sense of pride yes we are here so i mean it's

00:36:30.665 --> 00:36:37.285
like you have you have your positioning in life and in this social construct

00:36:37.285 --> 00:36:41.445
you know I have my position in life and social construct.

00:36:42.225 --> 00:36:46.385
This is what I'm doing right here, having these conversations with you,

00:36:47.065 --> 00:36:53.685
is to, and I tell everyone, the reason why I have these conversations is to let people know,

00:36:53.885 --> 00:36:58.585
mainly young people, because I try to put my show out to young people or whoever

00:36:58.585 --> 00:37:02.705
will listen, because there's a message in every show for everybody.

00:37:02.705 --> 00:37:05.805
But mainly what I do this show for

00:37:05.805 --> 00:37:09.105
is to let people know that what you're

00:37:09.105 --> 00:37:12.385
going through right now is not going to be your forever

00:37:12.385 --> 00:37:18.065
and so many people get caught up on what they have going on in life right now

00:37:18.065 --> 00:37:24.665
but in an hour life can change in 24 hours life can change in a week life can

00:37:24.665 --> 00:37:29.945
change in a month life can change in a year life can change so whatever you're

00:37:29.945 --> 00:37:31.725
going through in this current moment,

00:37:31.785 --> 00:37:34.725
whether it be good, bad, or indifferent,

00:37:35.365 --> 00:37:38.005
it's destined to change.

00:37:39.680 --> 00:37:47.640
That's right. And I think in that same vein, it's the time of now to get the

00:37:47.640 --> 00:37:48.840
things you want to get done done.

00:37:49.820 --> 00:37:53.020
You can't keep waiting for something else to happen.

00:37:53.200 --> 00:37:58.740
We only have the time we have and it should be a sense of urgency and things

00:37:58.740 --> 00:38:01.160
that you want to improve to see them through.

00:38:01.940 --> 00:38:04.480
Right. And that's what I was telling somebody the other day.

00:38:04.480 --> 00:38:09.620
I was like, I can't remember the particular situation that they were talking

00:38:09.620 --> 00:38:11.060
about, but I remember what I was talking about.

00:38:11.160 --> 00:38:15.180
And I was like, I've got to do this podcast now. I've got to stay consistent.

00:38:15.340 --> 00:38:21.900
I've got to be disciplined and I've got to have communication and I've got to stay consistent.

00:38:22.060 --> 00:38:32.560
And I have to do it. I have to make sure because I am walking in what God has ordained me to do.

00:38:33.080 --> 00:38:38.520
So I have to stay persistent and stay on this track because this is something

00:38:38.520 --> 00:38:45.660
that he's ordained me to do because we don't always see the impact of what we're

00:38:45.660 --> 00:38:49.500
doing in the particular moment that we're doing it.

00:38:49.500 --> 00:38:52.340
But tomorrow, this may impact someone.

00:38:52.560 --> 00:38:57.380
Next week, this may impact someone. It might impact somebody in five minutes.

00:38:57.520 --> 00:39:02.080
Somebody is listening to this show right now and hearing what you're saying.

00:39:02.340 --> 00:39:08.040
And they might decide, yep, I think it's time for me to sell that cutlass I

00:39:08.040 --> 00:39:12.520
got in the garage I've been holding on to and go get me some land so I can.

00:39:13.100 --> 00:39:14.560
You understand what I'm saying?

00:39:15.653 --> 00:39:20.193
And I think, you know, that's something that I try to, I've been trying to figure

00:39:20.193 --> 00:39:21.753
out how to contribute as well.

00:39:21.913 --> 00:39:26.973
And last year, I had a series of events at the bookstore, Money Talks,

00:39:27.073 --> 00:39:30.173
because I recognize that I've

00:39:30.173 --> 00:39:33.893
got some experience and some knowledge to share that may not be common.

00:39:33.893 --> 00:39:40.153
And, you know, these ideas of thinking about our neighborhood as ours,

00:39:40.413 --> 00:39:42.993
our community as ours, and feeling,

00:39:43.293 --> 00:39:46.913
you know, a sense of pride in it and feeling a sense of ownership,

00:39:46.913 --> 00:39:51.613
which makes you want to protect it and preserve it and grow it,

00:39:51.933 --> 00:39:58.913
is what we need to spread and convince others to agree to and get involved with.

00:39:58.913 --> 00:40:02.573
Because that's what creates, you know,

00:40:02.673 --> 00:40:08.273
the sense of the foundation for our families to thrive from and what creates

00:40:08.273 --> 00:40:16.393
the space we need to grow without getting steamrolled and bought out and pushed

00:40:16.393 --> 00:40:20.113
out by those who are greedier than us, you know.

00:40:22.593 --> 00:40:29.133
Yeah, that's true. but what do we do right now?

00:40:30.293 --> 00:40:38.793
Yeah, so right now it's about figuring out what is it like to be a Black Nashvilleian,

00:40:38.833 --> 00:40:41.513
what's great about it, and supporting that.

00:40:41.733 --> 00:40:46.933
You know, African Street Festival has been going on for about 40 years.

00:40:47.233 --> 00:40:54.133
That's a great cultural activity that occurs in Nashville. you think other cities

00:40:54.133 --> 00:41:01.093
have these things that everybody thinks about second lining in New Orleans and.

00:41:02.177 --> 00:41:07.937
You know, what's particular about Nashville that we want to develop and push

00:41:07.937 --> 00:41:09.897
and preserve for ourselves?

00:41:10.397 --> 00:41:16.097
I think that's where it starts for me. You know, creating a neighborhood that people want to live in.

00:41:16.457 --> 00:41:23.217
Like a goal for me is, you know, in the future to get the Black neighborhoods

00:41:23.217 --> 00:41:27.297
in Nashville to a state where Black people will pay a premium to live in.

00:41:27.797 --> 00:41:31.177
Because it's worth more to us than it will be to work to anybody else.

00:41:31.177 --> 00:41:36.717
That's in that definition of premium, meaning it has more value to you than to someone else.

00:41:36.837 --> 00:41:38.997
And so you're willing to pay more than someone else would pay.

00:41:39.617 --> 00:41:43.797
I think historically, we're programmed to seek the cheapest place to live,

00:41:44.517 --> 00:41:46.357
seek the cheapest thing to do.

00:41:46.897 --> 00:41:50.797
And cheapest doesn't necessarily mean saves you the most money.

00:41:51.597 --> 00:41:55.777
Right now, people are living far outside of town.

00:41:56.237 --> 00:41:59.817
And every time they want to have a night out, they're spending $80 round trip

00:41:59.817 --> 00:42:05.237
on an Uber. And if you do that four times a month, that's $300 you could have

00:42:05.237 --> 00:42:07.077
added to your rent and stayed closer.

00:42:07.577 --> 00:42:14.997
You know, so sometimes everything is not just in that top line price to equal

00:42:14.997 --> 00:42:17.177
the value that you receive of something.

00:42:17.657 --> 00:42:22.877
Oh, I get it. I've learned that lesson so many times. You're right.

00:42:23.197 --> 00:42:24.297
Because here's the thing.

00:42:24.637 --> 00:42:29.597
Just an example. You go live in a cheaper place, but then it has an infestation.

00:42:30.337 --> 00:42:35.977
Of some rodent or anything that nature, but, but it was cheaper. It was cheaper.

00:42:37.886 --> 00:42:44.706
You have to buy a whole new wardrobe. Right, right. Or they've still got those old galvanized pipes.

00:42:45.046 --> 00:42:52.046
You know, the pipes from 1939 and your water coming out brown.

00:42:52.706 --> 00:42:59.966
But it was cheaper. Right, right. What's your dermatologist bill versus your rent? Right.

00:43:00.986 --> 00:43:05.826
My rent is $200, but I had to spend $1,800 to get my teeth fixed.

00:43:05.826 --> 00:43:08.826
But you still spent two grand this

00:43:08.826 --> 00:43:13.406
month you still spent two grand so I've

00:43:13.406 --> 00:43:16.666
been doing some research for some new projects

00:43:16.666 --> 00:43:24.706
I have I came across this math that in 2013 there were 9,000 black households

00:43:24.706 --> 00:43:34.286
in the greater Nashville area that made six figures or more so it was 9,000 in 2013 And in 2023,

00:43:34.906 --> 00:43:39.686
there were 27,000 households that made six figures or more.

00:43:39.966 --> 00:43:44.386
And you can talk about inflation, you know, playing with that number.

00:43:44.546 --> 00:43:52.006
But if your household is earning six figures in Nashville, your expenses are all choices.

00:43:52.646 --> 00:43:57.466
You know, if you're making $30,000, you know, you don't have a lot of choice.

00:43:58.506 --> 00:44:03.566
Most of your check gets spent on things that you didn't really get to choose. I got to live here.

00:44:03.726 --> 00:44:07.366
I got to pay for this. I can only get here or there.

00:44:07.486 --> 00:44:11.886
My work hours are so tight that I got to spend money like this and that.

00:44:12.466 --> 00:44:15.906
But at six figures, you're voting with your money.

00:44:16.286 --> 00:44:20.306
You're choosing the things that you want to spend your money on.

00:44:20.666 --> 00:44:24.206
And voting with your money is how you see more of the things that you want.

00:44:25.043 --> 00:44:32.243
And you're less holding to what's available and you're more able to say, you know, I like this.

00:44:32.403 --> 00:44:34.903
I'm going to support that. I'm going to spend my money on this.

00:44:35.383 --> 00:44:39.563
And I'm going to hope that I get more of that by spending my money that way.

00:44:39.863 --> 00:44:44.543
And that's like a real new concept and a privileged concept.

00:44:44.963 --> 00:44:49.263
Because A, you have to have enough money to spend the money the way you want to.

00:44:49.843 --> 00:44:55.303
But once you can, that's how you really can see things develop in your favor.

00:44:55.703 --> 00:44:59.963
The activities you want to do, there'll be more of them because the people who

00:44:59.963 --> 00:45:04.043
are wanting to open up a business will copy where they see the money getting spent.

00:45:04.683 --> 00:45:08.583
So if everybody likes coffee all of a sudden, there'll be more coffee shops

00:45:08.583 --> 00:45:10.923
because one coffee shop is making a ton of money.

00:45:11.403 --> 00:45:16.963
If everybody likes wings, there'll be more wing spots because the wing spots are making money.

00:45:16.963 --> 00:45:24.163
So, you know, we have we have more of an ability to to manifest the services

00:45:24.163 --> 00:45:28.343
and offerings that we want by choosing how we spend our money.

00:45:28.643 --> 00:45:35.103
That's that's like a message that I'm hoping to find more ways to spread and discuss with people.

00:45:35.643 --> 00:45:39.103
Right. One thing I say to people, too, like you said at the beginning,

00:45:39.343 --> 00:45:44.403
people are so focused on the national screen, the national screen.

00:45:44.403 --> 00:45:45.543
What's going on nationally?

00:45:45.703 --> 00:45:47.963
The president nationally, nationally, nationally.

00:45:48.303 --> 00:45:56.623
But in any city, the way you make change, and I know it's going to sound cliche

00:45:56.623 --> 00:46:00.243
and I know it's going to sound probably whitewash, but it's the truth.

00:46:01.023 --> 00:46:08.243
Voting in your local elections, voting in your local elections will help out

00:46:08.243 --> 00:46:11.503
so much. Freddie O'Connell right now, he's doing what he's doing.

00:46:11.683 --> 00:46:14.903
He's doing a wonderful job. Shout out to Freddie O'Connell. But you see how

00:46:14.903 --> 00:46:18.683
they're trying to take him down because he's not with the group.

00:46:20.020 --> 00:46:26.580
Yeah, I've never seen National Road get cleaned after it snow as fast as this past winter. Exactly.

00:46:27.500 --> 00:46:31.700
Pretty, pretty definitely, you know, instituting some improvements for sure.

00:46:32.220 --> 00:46:36.360
Yeah. And I really don't talk about politics too much, but I just want to give

00:46:36.360 --> 00:46:39.480
him his roses. And I want to know, I want the people to understand that this

00:46:39.480 --> 00:46:41.800
man is really working for the people.

00:46:42.020 --> 00:46:47.960
And like I said before, anybody that's spewing truth, they want to they want to shut them down.

00:46:48.080 --> 00:46:53.300
They want to quiet them down. Now, this man is doing a great job and the powers

00:46:53.300 --> 00:46:56.400
that be now they're trying to shut him down.

00:46:56.680 --> 00:47:02.500
But local elections, your aldermans, your councilmen, you know,

00:47:02.660 --> 00:47:04.740
things of that nature can take effect.

00:47:05.020 --> 00:47:09.840
And it's like I know a couple of African-American people that have ran for offices

00:47:09.840 --> 00:47:11.960
and couldn't get a vote from their mama.

00:47:13.980 --> 00:47:18.920
Right. Right. And it's definitely I mean, just just like I'm saying,

00:47:18.920 --> 00:47:23.400
you vote with your money, but your actual local vote is very important.

00:47:23.580 --> 00:47:27.760
It is a lot of money spent to get your eyes focused on Washington,

00:47:27.760 --> 00:47:31.360
but most of your check gets spent locally.

00:47:31.620 --> 00:47:33.540
Most of your taxes get spent locally.

00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:40.520
We got to say it in how our taxes get spent every time an election comes around.

00:47:41.080 --> 00:47:45.440
I think America has done a good job of making Black folks feel like,

00:47:45.540 --> 00:47:48.540
our vote don't matter or You know,

00:47:49.060 --> 00:47:55.380
no one's going to listen to us, but it's being proved more and more often that

00:47:55.380 --> 00:48:01.580
we have power if we pay attention. Yes. Yes, indeed.

00:48:03.100 --> 00:48:08.280
Man, listen, from one brother to another brother, man, it's always amazing to

00:48:08.280 --> 00:48:13.660
have wonderful conversation where it's actually substance to the conversation.

00:48:13.660 --> 00:48:20.640
And you spoke about Nashville and the being a black man. And what's the experience of Nashville?

00:48:20.820 --> 00:48:25.260
And I've been over here thinking about it the whole time we've been having this

00:48:25.260 --> 00:48:28.620
conversation since you made that particular comment.

00:48:29.800 --> 00:48:31.560
And, you know.

00:48:32.848 --> 00:48:39.028
True transparency is hard-pressed to answer that question because we've let

00:48:39.028 --> 00:48:47.768
so many things happen in the city of Nashville that has taken away from the experience,

00:48:47.768 --> 00:48:50.508
and it's more like just,

00:48:50.688 --> 00:48:54.428
you know, you put the word black there, but it's just like your experience of

00:48:54.428 --> 00:48:56.768
Nashville. Let's just say the experience of Nashville.

00:48:56.928 --> 00:49:04.708
The experience of Nashville is so rich with history. It's so rich with the culture.

00:49:04.908 --> 00:49:08.068
It's so rich with music. It's so rich with everything.

00:49:08.068 --> 00:49:13.848
But it gets overshadowed so much by the attention seekers,

00:49:14.028 --> 00:49:21.068
by the people who want to stand up and be clowns in front of the national media

00:49:21.068 --> 00:49:27.808
instead of making the places and the people that Nashville is known for,

00:49:27.928 --> 00:49:31.988
the African-Americans known for, relevant. it.

00:49:32.228 --> 00:49:36.308
But they want to stand up and they want to be clowns and they want to be circus

00:49:36.308 --> 00:49:40.068
or lay people and they want to do all those things so it takes away from it.

00:49:40.288 --> 00:49:44.548
Just like you. I've been here my whole entire life. I'm so Nashville that my

00:49:44.548 --> 00:49:47.648
grandmother was born on the Belmide Plantation.

00:49:49.188 --> 00:49:53.868
Jefferson Street. If you go to 21st and Jefferson Street, straight across from

00:49:53.868 --> 00:49:57.448
the Citizens Bank, There's a rock building on the corner.

00:49:57.668 --> 00:50:03.548
That was my auntie's beauty salon, Ellis House of Beauty.

00:50:03.708 --> 00:50:08.108
She has a house that looks just like that in Englewood.

00:50:08.748 --> 00:50:13.888
Nice. So I am so Nashville, been here my whole entire life.

00:50:13.888 --> 00:50:21.308
But I've watched this place become some place that a lot of people I know ran from.

00:50:21.308 --> 00:50:24.128
I've been here my whole entire life because it's

00:50:24.128 --> 00:50:27.188
the place I've loved all my children were born here

00:50:27.188 --> 00:50:30.308
but to go black and

00:50:30.308 --> 00:50:37.568
say black we've let so many people come through and fool us that now it's our

00:50:37.568 --> 00:50:43.468
turn to try to bring it back but there's so much history like the gentleman

00:50:43.468 --> 00:50:49.108
next door to the beauty salon with the music museum that's amazing,

00:50:50.388 --> 00:50:55.368
Lorenzo amazing your father's bookstore amazing,

00:50:56.268 --> 00:51:01.688
you know I think it's just it's it behooves us to like we just have to be louder

00:51:01.688 --> 00:51:06.668
about the things that make Nashville special and and I've been trying to investigate

00:51:06.668 --> 00:51:08.808
what the deal is since I took over the business.

00:51:10.541 --> 00:51:16.201
What I feel like it boils down to is, you know, if you don't own something,

00:51:16.461 --> 00:51:19.821
then you don't feel, or if you don't feel like you own something,

00:51:19.841 --> 00:51:23.341
you don't feel the incentive to promote that thing.

00:51:23.721 --> 00:51:26.921
And if you don't own it, you don't feel the incentive to try and,

00:51:27.481 --> 00:51:30.001
like, you think, okay, it's somebody else's to make money from.

00:51:30.481 --> 00:51:35.381
Like, for taking an example, WLAC, which was on the LNC Tower,

00:51:35.701 --> 00:51:39.961
which used to be one of the tallest buildings downtown, had a radio show.

00:51:40.541 --> 00:51:44.201
That I learned about at the Jefferson Street Sound Museum.

00:51:44.541 --> 00:51:48.721
There was a radio show that ran out of the LNC Tower for years,

00:51:48.781 --> 00:51:54.321
and that's the radio show that first broadcast the phrase Rhythm and Blues had

00:51:54.321 --> 00:51:56.941
a show that my grandfather down in Birmingham,

00:51:57.201 --> 00:51:59.921
Alabama, we used to listen to every week.

00:52:00.261 --> 00:52:04.441
And it was a point where 80% of Black America could pick up that radio station,

00:52:04.981 --> 00:52:09.341
and on Friday nights, there'd be 8 to 10 million people tuned in.

00:52:09.341 --> 00:52:15.661
And that radio station, you know, that program mirrored the Grand Ole Opry in

00:52:15.661 --> 00:52:22.701
that a lot of America could tune in to Nashville, Tennessee and listen to black music. Yes.

00:52:23.381 --> 00:52:26.601
And, you know, that meant that if you wanted to get on the radio,

00:52:26.981 --> 00:52:31.101
you had to come to Nashville and try and get your music played.

00:52:31.601 --> 00:52:35.741
And when you come to Nashville, you go to Jefferson Street and you perform in

00:52:35.741 --> 00:52:40.241
the clubs on Jefferson Street to try and get enough renown so someone will sign

00:52:40.241 --> 00:52:43.301
you so your music can be put on the radio in Nashville.

00:52:43.601 --> 00:52:48.741
Yes. And, like, these things, you know, are so, when you talk about it a certain

00:52:48.741 --> 00:52:50.041
way, it gets you hyped. Yeah.

00:52:50.466 --> 00:52:54.746
Like, oh, man, I'm over here. I am emotional over here, man.

00:52:54.926 --> 00:53:02.966
I'm like, man, what do we do to get people to understand the vitality of the situation?

00:53:03.286 --> 00:53:08.686
We had the Ritz. We had all these these clubs. We had these things. And you're right.

00:53:09.666 --> 00:53:11.286
Nashville, it's like we had them.

00:53:11.586 --> 00:53:14.746
I mean, so, you know, it was white folks that own that radio station.

00:53:14.746 --> 00:53:18.226
So it didn't feel like it was

00:53:18.226 --> 00:53:21.626
ours to to push and promote and and

00:53:21.626 --> 00:53:24.666
and make some money from and support ourselves with

00:53:24.666 --> 00:53:30.226
and i think that's kind of the gap you know with uh motown barry gordy own motown

00:53:30.226 --> 00:53:34.826
records and he's he's making that money and spending that money and growing

00:53:34.826 --> 00:53:40.266
detroit with that money you know that money wasn't coming into our pockets in

00:53:40.266 --> 00:53:42.406
nashville but But those stories,

00:53:42.586 --> 00:53:44.966
that history, you know, is ours.

00:53:45.326 --> 00:53:53.526
And we just have to figure out how to take ownership of it, be proud of it, promote it and push it.

00:53:53.926 --> 00:53:59.566
And that'll help, you know, grow this brand and this feeling,

00:53:59.566 --> 00:54:05.946
this community in a way that will continue to support us as black nationalians. Right.

00:54:06.126 --> 00:54:11.326
But what is in today's time of social media?

00:54:12.246 --> 00:54:19.346
How do we find the particular lane or avenue to do that?

00:54:19.486 --> 00:54:23.666
And I understand you're you're you're mixing up some stew right now and you're

00:54:23.666 --> 00:54:28.526
trying to you got your ear to the streets and you're listening to figure out

00:54:28.526 --> 00:54:31.626
what's going on. And who's that? Do we go to YouTube?

00:54:31.926 --> 00:54:35.046
Do we go to Facebook? Do we go to Instagram? Do we go to TikTok?

00:54:35.526 --> 00:54:46.346
How do we get the vast majority of people to hear the message and see how imperative

00:54:46.346 --> 00:54:52.306
it is to save the history of Black Nashville?

00:54:53.166 --> 00:54:57.646
Yeah, that is the call to action.

00:54:57.966 --> 00:55:02.246
How do we answer that question? I think I see it happening.

00:55:02.666 --> 00:55:08.386
I see the answer developing because Nashville has decided that tourism is a

00:55:08.386 --> 00:55:15.246
major industry for Nashville. And by doing that, Nashville spent money on improving the airport.

00:55:15.626 --> 00:55:19.786
We got a Southwest hub. Almost everybody can fly direct to Nashville.

00:55:20.506 --> 00:55:26.006
We've got hotels all over the place coming up. We've got all this tourism infrastructure.

00:55:27.313 --> 00:55:31.773
Then what do you think about why are people tourists? What's an attraction?

00:55:32.493 --> 00:55:38.113
And Nashville's always had the honky tonks. And the honky tonks are an attraction for now.

00:55:38.993 --> 00:55:42.833
But what else is there? And you think a lot of people are tourists that go somewhere

00:55:42.833 --> 00:55:44.453
to learn about the history of a place.

00:55:44.853 --> 00:55:49.333
Well, if you think about the history of Nashville, outside of Andrew Jackson

00:55:49.333 --> 00:55:55.973
and the Grand Ole Opry, all the history of Nashville is a Black history. civil rights movement.

00:55:57.393 --> 00:56:00.953
We got the oldest operating bank in the country.

00:56:01.153 --> 00:56:05.873
I mean, Jefferson Street is a still-functioning, living and breathing Black Wall Street.

00:56:06.393 --> 00:56:12.833
Also, there isn't another place with as many Black businesses on one street as Jefferson Street.

00:56:13.493 --> 00:56:16.373
There's so many nuggets, so

00:56:16.373 --> 00:56:21.213
many seeds for us to plant and grow to draw people to come check us out.

00:56:21.573 --> 00:56:26.453
That's all it really takes for us to as a group decide, hey,

00:56:26.553 --> 00:56:32.553
we got something worth throwing people and opening our hands to receive them.

00:56:32.993 --> 00:56:37.913
Because everything is here. I think next year we're going to have some big conferences

00:56:37.913 --> 00:56:40.713
that are on the way of black organizations.

00:56:41.993 --> 00:56:48.953
Maybe the Veda Fog Veda's having their biennial and some other things are going on.

00:56:49.173 --> 00:56:55.973
So it's like because Nashville is a place that can hold and cater to a 10,000-person

00:56:55.973 --> 00:56:58.933
conference, a 20,000-person conference.

00:56:59.213 --> 00:57:04.753
You know, used to be Las Vegas and, you know, New York, L.A., Miami.

00:57:05.473 --> 00:57:12.553
Nashville is a place that's drawing these major... Yes, sir. We kicked the dough in.

00:57:13.033 --> 00:57:18.273
Nashville kicked the dough in, baby, and said, hey, we'll take all of you.

00:57:18.773 --> 00:57:21.653
Well, you want to have a good time? Come on. Music City Center,

00:57:21.853 --> 00:57:25.633
three blocks long. You can have that conference convention room up there is enormous.

00:57:26.393 --> 00:57:30.493
I feel a hotel, biggest hotel in the country. It can host all kinds of people.

00:57:30.653 --> 00:57:34.293
So, you know, it's just about like the ingredients are there.

00:57:34.473 --> 00:57:35.393
The resources are there.

00:57:35.953 --> 00:57:40.193
It's just right now it's time for us to recognize the value and,

00:57:40.213 --> 00:57:43.993
you know, and take advantage of it. Right.

00:57:44.653 --> 00:57:50.713
We just have to make sure that the pot is big enough to hold all the ingredients.

00:57:50.713 --> 00:57:53.373
And you've got to have the right people stirring the pot.

00:57:53.733 --> 00:57:59.973
All right. So over here in the comment section, it says, what does the bookstore have coming up?

00:58:00.073 --> 00:58:03.073
Any events that you guys have coming up anytime soon?

00:58:03.693 --> 00:58:09.073
Let's see. So we're kind of falling off on our schedule in this spring, but.

00:58:10.164 --> 00:58:15.684
I am working with Dr. Al-Hadid on some more great debate events.

00:58:16.384 --> 00:58:19.364
I think there's going to be, one of the main things I'm working on is we're

00:58:19.364 --> 00:58:25.784
going to have a big 160th year anniversary celebration for Jefferson Street.

00:58:26.424 --> 00:58:28.524
Following the logic that it

00:58:28.524 --> 00:58:31.924
was illegal to be free and black in Tennessee before the end of slavery.

00:58:32.784 --> 00:58:38.204
And at the end of slavery, you know, quote unquote contraband camps set up where

00:58:38.204 --> 00:58:42.944
newly free black folks, you know, went together to congregated to live.

00:58:43.184 --> 00:58:47.624
And one of those was what became Fisk University.

00:58:48.344 --> 00:58:53.624
And so we've got 160 years of being on Jefferson Street, being our neighborhood,

00:58:53.624 --> 00:58:59.244
and we really want to use that as a springboard to promote this sense of pride

00:58:59.244 --> 00:59:03.244
that I've been talking about in our history, in our presence.

00:59:04.004 --> 00:59:09.684
I think I've got some book signers brewing that I haven't quite been able to

00:59:09.684 --> 00:59:15.264
confirm yet, but I'm trying to bring more and more well-known folks to town.

00:59:15.264 --> 00:59:21.084
I had Ricky Smiley last year at the bookstore, and I had a couple other cool

00:59:21.084 --> 00:59:24.064
events with, like, Joy. What's her name?

00:59:24.604 --> 00:59:28.864
But I've been, so I'm working to have some more events. I don't have anything

00:59:28.864 --> 00:59:34.984
out on the calendar right now, but hopefully people kind of stay attached to the store.

00:59:35.584 --> 00:59:39.364
If you're a customer and you put your email in, when you come check out,

00:59:39.544 --> 00:59:44.604
you'll be on our newsletters that I'm working on. And then Instagram and Facebook

00:59:44.604 --> 00:59:46.684
are really publishing our activities.

00:59:47.304 --> 00:59:52.724
Hey, man, when you when you are the everything person, it's hard.

00:59:52.764 --> 00:59:54.364
So I get it. I understand.

00:59:54.644 --> 00:59:58.044
I'm listening to your voice and I'm listening to you talk about all these things.

00:59:58.344 --> 01:00:01.344
And I've been I've been in that particular situation before.

01:00:01.344 --> 01:00:06.244
When you're the everything guy, it's hard. And it sounds like you you are doing

01:00:06.244 --> 01:00:14.104
an amazing job at keeping everything afloat and keeping everything moving in a forward motion.

01:00:14.224 --> 01:00:16.564
And I praise you for that, my brother.

01:00:16.724 --> 01:00:24.384
I praise you for doing that and trying to carry this this this this thing called

01:00:24.384 --> 01:00:28.024
the history of Jefferson Street on your back.

01:00:28.024 --> 01:00:33.364
When it should be, we should have a gang of people just like,

01:00:33.604 --> 01:00:36.324
I want to be there, but it's not.

01:00:37.567 --> 01:00:41.247
I mean, I think it's, you know, it's double-edged because, you know,

01:00:41.287 --> 01:00:45.607
the silver lining and the good part of that is that the opportunity is still

01:00:45.607 --> 01:00:47.347
tremendous for people to get involved.

01:00:47.887 --> 01:00:51.787
You know, we think about the lots and the land and the location,

01:00:51.967 --> 01:00:53.387
the geography, the Jefferson Street.

01:00:54.067 --> 01:00:57.847
It's five minutes from everywhere in town. So that means, you know,

01:00:57.867 --> 01:01:02.307
that's been kind of the new challenge is that, you know, new people to town

01:01:02.307 --> 01:01:06.267
are like, okay, I want to live over here because there's no traffic relative to other parts of town.

01:01:06.267 --> 01:01:10.047
I can get to work real easy. I want to live in town.

01:01:10.587 --> 01:01:14.827
And so that's driven up the valuations of a lot of the housing in the area.

01:01:15.927 --> 01:01:18.947
But there's still a big, there's still more to go.

01:01:19.127 --> 01:01:23.227
So I've been telling people everything's still cheap in North Nashville,

01:01:23.767 --> 01:01:27.287
even though what natives have been put off like, oh man, it's so expensive.

01:01:27.507 --> 01:01:31.087
I'm like, it's all going to double one more time. So you might as well get in.

01:01:31.327 --> 01:01:32.607
Yeah, get in while you can.

01:01:32.887 --> 01:01:36.207
Get in and lay down. Get in and lay down. just lay

01:01:36.207 --> 01:01:39.447
down and stay still

01:01:39.447 --> 01:01:42.347
lay down and you know how your grandma tell you it's a storm

01:01:42.347 --> 01:01:45.227
coming lay down and stay still God is doing his work

01:01:45.227 --> 01:01:48.927
that's right that's right so you know either you're

01:01:48.927 --> 01:01:56.987
participating or you're getting put out so that's it that is universal for what

01:01:56.987 --> 01:02:02.367
I'm saying the metaphor that I'm using and the real part about what's going

01:02:02.367 --> 01:02:07.007
on because grandma said you're going to lay down and be still while God is doing his work.

01:02:07.107 --> 01:02:10.547
Someone put your butt in his corn over here. You're going to get out of this room.

01:02:11.247 --> 01:02:14.707
And with the land, you go buy. Let's buy.

01:02:14.927 --> 01:02:20.287
Let's settle in. Let's get ourselves there or move on somewhere else.

01:02:20.887 --> 01:02:27.227
Maybe this particular investment in time in which it's going to pay off later

01:02:27.227 --> 01:02:28.907
on is not going to work for you.

01:02:30.527 --> 01:02:37.847
But here we go. in the comments it says hold on let me go back up let me go

01:02:37.847 --> 01:02:43.327
back up let me go back up let me go back up it says why there are no set down

01:02:43.327 --> 01:02:45.107
restaurants in Bordeaux,

01:02:45.667 --> 01:02:49.627
you definitely sit down at Kingdom Cafe and Kingdom Cafe is pretty good they've

01:02:49.627 --> 01:02:55.867
also recently created a new space in the front where you can go and I highly

01:02:55.867 --> 01:02:59.887
recommend attending on a Monday night there's Monday Night Jazz at the,

01:03:00.687 --> 01:03:03.467
new area in the front of Kingdom Cafe. They got a stage.

01:03:03.967 --> 01:03:08.047
They're calling it Wingdom, I think, tongue-in-cheek, because they set up a whole separate,

01:03:09.138 --> 01:03:12.198
kitchen in there for wings and you got a bar and it's nice.

01:03:13.758 --> 01:03:19.458
And yeah, there's still there is a need for investment.

01:03:19.758 --> 01:03:24.458
And I think it starts with believing that that investment will come back.

01:03:24.598 --> 01:03:28.378
And I'm convinced that if you do anything on Jefferson Street,

01:03:28.518 --> 01:03:31.218
it's going to be worth its while because there's interest.

01:03:31.478 --> 01:03:35.178
I mean, there's businesses that have been talking to us about wanting to find

01:03:35.178 --> 01:03:38.938
a place on Jefferson Street, but the buildings aren't there.

01:03:39.138 --> 01:03:44.378
So there's just a need to take these empty lots and build some buildings and

01:03:44.378 --> 01:03:48.218
create some office spaces and create some retail spaces.

01:03:49.278 --> 01:03:56.278
I need more people open on Junction Street because how often do you go shopping to just one place?

01:03:57.518 --> 01:04:02.858
My customers are making committed efforts to come shop with me and I appreciate

01:04:02.858 --> 01:04:05.338
it. I don't want to have to be so hard for them.

01:04:05.718 --> 01:04:09.838
You go to the mall, you go to five shops. You go to West Mead,

01:04:09.878 --> 01:04:14.698
you go to Costco, then you go to Target, then you go to Publix, all in one trip.

01:04:15.038 --> 01:04:20.138
Yes, yes. But now, you come out to Akiva Line, and then you go back to some

01:04:20.138 --> 01:04:23.758
other side of town, and that makes it a challenge for me because it doesn't

01:04:23.758 --> 01:04:25.858
make it easy for the customers.

01:04:26.118 --> 01:04:28.338
What's in the strip mall behind you guys?

01:04:28.638 --> 01:04:34.438
Right now, it's the College Crib, it's the subway, and what used to be Seafood

01:04:34.438 --> 01:04:36.738
Sensations, I think they're renovating.

01:04:37.498 --> 01:04:41.518
They may be opening up a sit-down concept I haven't caught up with them recently

01:04:41.518 --> 01:04:47.878
But they're renovating that space For a new restaurant concept Same owners Okay,

01:04:47.878 --> 01:04:54.558
okay So early in the conversation you said 70% of Jefferson Street is still black-owned, right?

01:04:55.617 --> 01:05:00.997
Right. Okay. Why? And I'm pretty sure you go to like some of the meetings and

01:05:00.997 --> 01:05:03.557
you've talked to a lot of the owners and all those things.

01:05:03.917 --> 01:05:09.297
There is a lot of rundown property. Why are we not taking care of some of the property?

01:05:09.917 --> 01:05:12.757
Yeah so so yeah kind of what i was in that

01:05:12.757 --> 01:05:15.617
earlier like people inherited some lots or

01:05:15.617 --> 01:05:18.437
they inherited a building or they they're running

01:05:18.437 --> 01:05:21.277
their business that they've been running the way that

01:05:21.277 --> 01:05:24.637
they've been running it and it doesn't need more you

01:05:24.637 --> 01:05:27.917
know this is like from their perspective it's

01:05:27.917 --> 01:05:32.217
sufficient and and that's where i'm saying that you know we're working on having

01:05:32.217 --> 01:05:36.977
more conversations about zooming people's vision out i think people kind of

01:05:36.977 --> 01:05:42.577
narrow-minded into seeing And I've got my business and it fits in this space

01:05:42.577 --> 01:05:46.037
and my building's paid off. So I don't have expenses.

01:05:46.437 --> 01:05:50.617
And so, you know, I don't have any debt and I'm making money.

01:05:51.117 --> 01:05:55.297
I think Dave Ramsey on the south side of town spent a lot of time convincing

01:05:55.297 --> 01:05:56.617
everybody that debt is bad.

01:05:57.037 --> 01:05:59.497
But debt is what you need to grow.

01:05:59.937 --> 01:06:06.257
And borrowing money to buy some shoes with, yeah, bad idea. But borrowing money

01:06:06.257 --> 01:06:10.097
to add value to your real estate pays where it comes.

01:06:10.657 --> 01:06:14.317
And so that's kind of what work needs to be done.

01:06:14.777 --> 01:06:18.297
There are some people who have bought some of these lots and some of these buildings

01:06:18.297 --> 01:06:24.117
recently with the intent to sit on them so somebody else does something else nearby.

01:06:24.497 --> 01:06:28.137
And they got a whole economic term for it called land banking.

01:06:28.597 --> 01:06:30.697
Yeah. And it's really just fanbagging.

01:06:31.797 --> 01:06:34.837
Yeah. the whole neighborhood is being held back

01:06:34.837 --> 01:06:37.817
by people waiting for somebody else to jump to come in and do

01:06:37.817 --> 01:06:41.277
it but what you just said a few minutes ago about

01:06:41.277 --> 01:06:44.537
dave ramsey and debt and all of those things and

01:06:44.537 --> 01:06:51.637
it's what has been filtered through the african-american community about debt

01:06:51.637 --> 01:07:00.237
is is not taught and so there's no understanding about debt building you know

01:07:00.237 --> 01:07:02.477
there's positive debt and there's negative debt.

01:07:03.097 --> 01:07:06.617
And like you just said, going into debt to buy a pair of shoes is horrible,

01:07:06.617 --> 01:07:11.697
but going into debt to increase the value of your real estate is amazing.

01:07:11.877 --> 01:07:16.437
But that's the first, you're the second, the first time I've heard a man say

01:07:16.437 --> 01:07:19.217
it, I've heard a woman say it a couple of times, i.e.

01:07:19.217 --> 01:07:25.037
My wife, but you don't hear too many black men saying things of that nature.

01:07:25.037 --> 01:07:31.157
So it's not like it's taught, it's not relevant in, in the conversations that

01:07:31.157 --> 01:07:35.737
are being had, you know, Hey, these Jordans are clean or look at that car over there.

01:07:35.817 --> 01:07:38.337
I'm gonna put some rims on it, put some, put some stuff, blah,

01:07:38.437 --> 01:07:40.817
blah, blah. But mama, mama left me this house.

01:07:41.916 --> 01:07:45.596
Like you said, I'm OK with this house mama left me.

01:07:45.856 --> 01:07:51.196
I ain't got no bills except the utilities and pay the taxes every year.

01:07:51.316 --> 01:07:56.236
So I'm just going to sit on it until I feel like I don't want to be here anymore.

01:07:56.476 --> 01:07:58.236
And then I'm going to sell it.

01:07:58.536 --> 01:08:05.916
But if you invest into that and add to it, then it increases the value.

01:08:06.636 --> 01:08:10.716
Yeah, I think we've been, like I said, when my mom bought our house,

01:08:10.876 --> 01:08:16.476
it didn't change in value for 20 years because, you know, black neighborhoods were infamous for,

01:08:16.676 --> 01:08:22.036
you know, not growing in value while other parts of town went up a lot.

01:08:22.036 --> 01:08:28.156
But now that our neighborhoods are in town officially, they're worth a lot more.

01:08:28.336 --> 01:08:36.816
And we've just got to really update our thinking on what's risk and what's investment

01:08:36.816 --> 01:08:37.816
and what's development.

01:08:37.816 --> 01:08:44.996
Because before you got a $40,000 house in North Nashville.

01:08:45.756 --> 01:08:51.676
How much can you do with $40,000 if it was paid off and you tried to leverage

01:08:51.676 --> 01:08:54.376
it and borrow some money? There wasn't much you could do.

01:08:54.736 --> 01:09:01.576
But that $40,000 house from 20 years ago, 15 years ago, is $250,000 now.

01:09:02.916 --> 01:09:06.696
And it won't take much investment to make it worth $400,000.

01:09:06.696 --> 01:09:09.496
Know and i've been watching the white folks

01:09:09.496 --> 01:09:13.236
come and buy up some lots near some of my spots and

01:09:13.236 --> 01:09:16.656
they'll they'll buy the house from from

01:09:16.656 --> 01:09:20.796
you know from you from grandma's grandson

01:09:20.796 --> 01:09:23.936
jimmy john uh jermaine yeah grandma's

01:09:23.936 --> 01:09:26.916
grandson will just sell the house for 250

01:09:26.916 --> 01:09:29.736
and the white guy he went got a loan

01:09:29.736 --> 01:09:32.876
for 700 spent 250

01:09:32.876 --> 01:09:40.316
on the house and then spent 450 building two taller skinnies so he borrowed

01:09:40.316 --> 01:09:45.296
700 and the taller skinnies right now they're selling them for 700-800 thousand

01:09:45.296 --> 01:09:51.416
so he borrowed 700 thousand paid everything off and had 700 thousand in his pocket,

01:09:52.856 --> 01:10:00.316
yo listen my friend of mine's mother owned a double lot in East Nashville.

01:10:00.676 --> 01:10:04.656
It was a duplex that they tore down the walls and made into one house.

01:10:04.796 --> 01:10:07.116
So they call it a double lot. Okay?

01:10:09.116 --> 01:10:13.136
Sold this double lot for $350,000.

01:10:14.476 --> 01:10:18.596
Next year, you go back over on this same street in East Nashville,

01:10:18.796 --> 01:10:28.116
they've put four tall and skinnies on this lot at $350,000 apiece. Right.

01:10:29.236 --> 01:10:37.436
So they gave you chump change for your lot and quadrupled it.

01:10:38.747 --> 01:10:42.387
Exactly what they did. And there was nothing special about how they did it.

01:10:43.167 --> 01:10:49.507
You could do the same thing. And in fact, this is the little store vignette

01:10:49.507 --> 01:10:51.027
I've been working on telling people.

01:10:51.507 --> 01:10:58.487
That person had to go borrow $350,000 to pay you. You had the $350,000 already.

01:10:59.207 --> 01:11:06.547
So instead of him having to borrow, you know, $800,000, you only have to borrow $400,000.

01:11:06.967 --> 01:11:10.087
And it's easier to borrow that same amount of money. Right.

01:11:11.367 --> 01:11:15.687
Because you have the asset to borrow against. Right.

01:11:16.127 --> 01:11:19.947
And, you know, there is the challenge of, because I moved back home and was

01:11:19.947 --> 01:11:23.987
like, okay, let me apply some of this banking stuff I do, I used to do.

01:11:23.987 --> 01:11:31.007
And it took me so long to deal with the local banks to try and do simple financing

01:11:31.007 --> 01:11:32.287
that I thought should be straightforward.

01:11:32.547 --> 01:11:35.827
So there's definitely a learning curve.

01:11:36.027 --> 01:11:41.867
There's definitely some access blocks, but they're all surmountable.

01:11:42.187 --> 01:11:48.307
And we just have to think more highly of each other and ourselves to make these

01:11:48.307 --> 01:11:53.267
things happen because I'm convinced if you inherited a small house in East Nashville.

01:11:53.987 --> 01:11:59.567
And you fixed it up and turned it into four or five units, when you put it on

01:11:59.567 --> 01:12:04.347
the market for rent, the likelihood of your tenants looking like you is much

01:12:04.347 --> 01:12:07.247
higher than if they came and did the same thing.

01:12:07.627 --> 01:12:12.427
And that's how, you know, we can support keeping ourselves in our own neighborhoods.

01:12:12.687 --> 01:12:18.167
Because if you use the asset to do the renovation or do the build out,

01:12:18.627 --> 01:12:22.087
you know, you don't need as much rent to pay your bill, right?

01:12:22.187 --> 01:12:27.347
So you're not as pressed to rent it out for as much as possible to make the

01:12:27.347 --> 01:12:31.567
same amount of profit as the person who had to borrow money to buy it from you and then rent it out.

01:12:32.227 --> 01:12:36.487
They're making less money than you can make. And there's freedom in that.

01:12:36.767 --> 01:12:38.347
There's a sense of ownership.

01:12:38.727 --> 01:12:41.527
And the likelihood of you fixing up that spot to look

01:12:41.527 --> 01:12:44.787
nice because it's your neighborhood versus somebody

01:12:44.787 --> 01:12:47.947
who's not even from Nashville doing the same thing that's how

01:12:47.947 --> 01:12:50.827
we end up with these ugly tall skinnies in some parts of town it's

01:12:50.827 --> 01:12:55.387
like who let them do that and because the person on that didn't care about it

01:12:55.387 --> 01:13:01.907
right directly about the money i know and i'm glad i'm glad in certain neighborhoods

01:13:01.907 --> 01:13:05.227
they they're not allowing those tall and skinnies because i don't feel like

01:13:05.227 --> 01:13:10.487
they need to be everywhere because it it to me it just ruins the look of a traditional neighborhood.

01:13:11.696 --> 01:13:16.416
Ruins the look of a traditional neighborhood to just have these sore thumbs.

01:13:17.016 --> 01:13:22.756
And man, when I say they're putting them everywhere there, I primarily work in East Nashville.

01:13:23.096 --> 01:13:31.156
OK, so Trinity Lane between Dickerson Road and Jones Avenue,

01:13:31.396 --> 01:13:33.136
if you know where if you know where I'm at.

01:13:33.556 --> 01:13:42.096
OK, there's a store called the Community Market, which is on the corner of Lishy and Trinity. Lane.

01:13:42.896 --> 01:13:47.636
They threw up a group of smaller skinnies right there. Across the street was

01:13:47.636 --> 01:13:49.996
a house, one house on the corner.

01:13:50.656 --> 01:13:55.796
A friend of mine used to live there 16, 18 years ago.

01:13:56.696 --> 01:13:59.376
And it was African American people who owned their property,

01:13:59.516 --> 01:14:03.436
sold a property. The older person died. Of course, the child sold a property.

01:14:03.636 --> 01:14:07.056
They put a plethora of taller skinnies on that one lot.

01:14:07.476 --> 01:14:13.076
Now, what I'm interested in talking about is if you leave the community market

01:14:13.076 --> 01:14:17.216
and you're headed towards Dickinson Road, there's a brewery.

01:14:17.256 --> 01:14:20.636
There's a brewery on the same side of the road.

01:14:20.816 --> 01:14:23.836
Next to it is like a little warehouse

01:14:23.836 --> 01:14:32.496
where there was a lot next to this warehouse in between businesses.

01:14:33.096 --> 01:14:39.396
And I'm talking about the lot is probably you could probably it's not even it's

01:14:39.396 --> 01:14:44.696
probably half of a football field that long, but not that wide.

01:14:44.696 --> 01:14:47.896
It probably is 10 to 20 feet wide.

01:14:48.196 --> 01:14:55.456
That's it. 10 to 20 feet wide. OK, they're building for tall and skinny is connected

01:14:55.456 --> 01:14:58.336
to each other on this little bitty lot.

01:14:58.656 --> 01:15:06.816
I'm like, how are people going to get in to their driveways in this little bitty don't leave squat?

01:15:08.036 --> 01:15:11.496
Right. But that's what they're doing. Every everywhere.

01:15:11.716 --> 01:15:16.116
The planning commission lets them do it. they're doing.

01:15:16.596 --> 01:15:24.116
What is the real estate in Nashville going to look like in five years when people

01:15:24.116 --> 01:15:26.756
can't afford to live in these ugly things?

01:15:28.467 --> 01:15:34.567
My big thing. I mean, like the first real condo condominium we had here in Nashville

01:15:34.567 --> 01:15:36.227
was on the corner of 5th and Main.

01:15:36.907 --> 01:15:42.147
And those people went under building those condos and they wind up selling them

01:15:42.147 --> 01:15:48.247
for way cheaper than they originally wanted to sell them when the market busted.

01:15:48.967 --> 01:15:54.447
So you're out here buying tall and skinny from $300,000 to $800,000 because

01:15:54.447 --> 01:15:55.847
if you go to East Nashville,

01:15:56.067 --> 01:16:02.907
off of Eastland Avenue, there's a community on three acres, three to five acres

01:16:02.907 --> 01:16:07.747
of tall and skinnies they're asking $800,000 a piece for.

01:16:08.547 --> 01:16:11.347
Yeah, that's right. I mean, they're asking for, they built some,

01:16:11.467 --> 01:16:17.647
built like a 25 tall and skinnies on a block around 9th and Jefferson.

01:16:18.067 --> 01:16:21.487
And they wanted to sell all of them because they're all running like a big Airbnb,

01:16:22.047 --> 01:16:26.887
and they wanted $1.2 million apiece on Jefferson Street.

01:16:27.407 --> 01:16:31.467
How much did they get for them? I doubt they sold them, because they were trying

01:16:31.467 --> 01:16:34.647
to sell them right at the top of the market last year.

01:16:35.367 --> 01:16:42.947
I don't think they traded. But I think in general, though, Central Nashville

01:16:42.947 --> 01:16:46.807
is going to be high-rise apartment complexes.

01:16:48.587 --> 01:16:54.827
If you're thinking about Church Street, and Midtown, how much taller they've become already.

01:16:55.407 --> 01:17:01.667
And then at the same time, the old folks are going to council meetings and saying

01:17:01.667 --> 01:17:06.207
no to everything they should about you open them and then just set them on a

01:17:06.207 --> 01:17:08.047
thing. They just here in Bordeaux.

01:17:08.547 --> 01:17:12.747
And then you're going to have acre lots five minutes, 10 minutes from town.

01:17:13.187 --> 01:17:17.667
There's no way an acre lot cannot be a million dollar home going forward.

01:17:17.947 --> 01:17:24.427
So, you know, the Bordeaux community is going to be high rent unless they change

01:17:24.427 --> 01:17:27.247
a lot of the code rules and laws.

01:17:27.807 --> 01:17:33.687
So it's definitely an interesting time in Nashville, which for me,

01:17:33.847 --> 01:17:38.327
moving back home, it's like, okay, this is interesting and exciting.

01:17:38.647 --> 01:17:46.547
There's a real opportunity for Black Nashville to rise as fast as or faster

01:17:46.547 --> 01:17:52.307
than the rest of Nashville Just by us being here,

01:17:52.527 --> 01:17:55.527
as White Flight left, everybody moved out to Williamson County.

01:17:56.027 --> 01:18:01.807
We have these houses. We have this land that's in town that's now prime.

01:18:02.287 --> 01:18:06.187
What are we going to do about it? And just kind of sounding that alarm that,

01:18:06.767 --> 01:18:10.187
hey, this is a moment for us to take advantage of,

01:18:10.724 --> 01:18:15.944
the wheel of time is spun back around for us. Okay. Y'all wanted to ruin our

01:18:15.944 --> 01:18:17.124
side of town and move away.

01:18:17.504 --> 01:18:21.824
But now we're in the prime areas. What can we do about it?

01:18:22.724 --> 01:18:27.584
And I've been hearing folks say that they're mad that old folks aren't selling.

01:18:27.724 --> 01:18:33.424
They can't buy, get enough lots to do the build outs and the knock teardowns that they want to do.

01:18:33.904 --> 01:18:37.664
You know, that's great news. But now the next step is, is for us to follow through

01:18:37.664 --> 01:18:43.504
with a plan for ourselves and say, Hey, You know, we've done a good job boxing out.

01:18:44.084 --> 01:18:47.404
Now it's time for us to execute our own plans, plans of action.

01:18:47.604 --> 01:18:54.364
You brought up Sam Kirk earlier, and he is real focused on trying to make Bordeaux this new neighborhood.

01:18:54.984 --> 01:19:00.804
I think I think this doesn't make any sense how one of the wealthier black parts

01:19:00.804 --> 01:19:06.424
of town doesn't have any businesses catering to the wealthier black people.

01:19:06.424 --> 01:19:12.504
So my mother's family is from Atlanta and out in Southwest Atlanta had like

01:19:12.504 --> 01:19:16.964
the second lot or the top two wealthiest zip codes in the country for black folks.

01:19:17.444 --> 01:19:21.984
And my uncle would tell me about how Andrew Young had to shame Home Depot and

01:19:21.984 --> 01:19:28.524
Chick-fil-A and the big Atlanta businesses about not having any stops in that

01:19:28.524 --> 01:19:31.484
neighborhood where there was clearly wealthy people.

01:19:31.824 --> 01:19:35.204
And it's kind of the same here. you talk to folks who live in Bordeaux and they'll

01:19:35.204 --> 01:19:38.244
tell you about how they went to dinner in Cool Springs.

01:19:39.522 --> 01:19:43.322
Had to go all the way to Cool Springs to get dinner? What's that about?

01:19:43.722 --> 01:19:49.242
I think it's just in general, there's an economic opportunity available for us.

01:19:49.522 --> 01:19:52.542
There is resources for us to apply.

01:19:52.842 --> 01:19:55.902
We just have to be in community to find them.

01:19:56.382 --> 01:20:03.882
There is demand because there are 27,000, 30,000 black households making six figures a year.

01:20:04.402 --> 01:20:10.402
You should have a business that can cater to and center a Black customer in

01:20:10.402 --> 01:20:15.022
Nashville now, which is a whole new concept in the last 30, 40 years.

01:20:15.582 --> 01:20:21.742
And it's just about driving these stories home and promoting this energy,

01:20:21.922 --> 01:20:26.562
building up the energy to get people excited about how much better we can be

01:20:26.562 --> 01:20:32.822
living than we have been because our wealth is here. We have it.

01:20:33.682 --> 01:20:38.762
Yes, but we just got to see it and we got to use it to its advantage.

01:20:39.582 --> 01:20:42.542
We've got to we've got to see ourselves as

01:20:42.542 --> 01:20:45.522
wealthy and we have to use it to our advantage like

01:20:45.522 --> 01:20:48.542
other people do in this world we have to

01:20:48.542 --> 01:20:55.742
see it and use it to our advantage and we have to strive to be a team a unit

01:20:55.742 --> 01:21:03.142
solid formed group of people who won't stand against each other but of course

01:21:03.142 --> 01:21:08.302
it's that's There's always going to be rhetoric and there's always going to be jarring going on.

01:21:08.502 --> 01:21:12.902
But if we could move those people to the side and get the people that are serious

01:21:12.902 --> 01:21:24.742
about reconstructing or getting the areas that need us the most taken care of, we can get it done.

01:21:25.839 --> 01:21:30.499
There's more than one Sam Kirk out here. But we just got to give we got it.

01:21:30.619 --> 01:21:37.539
We got to push and strive together to give him his voice so they can unite. So we all can unite.

01:21:37.739 --> 01:21:42.539
And because someone like Sam Kirk has the blueprint, they have the blueprint.

01:21:42.819 --> 01:21:47.739
And we've got to be willing to to listen to what he said, because,

01:21:47.919 --> 01:21:52.799
you know, you called us the new adults, the new uncles, the new fathers.

01:21:52.799 --> 01:21:54.619
But those are our grandfathers.

01:21:54.819 --> 01:21:57.879
Those are our fathers. Those are the people that were before us.

01:21:58.039 --> 01:22:04.079
And we have to listen to them in order to pass it down to our children, the next generation.

01:22:04.379 --> 01:22:10.019
So they'll understand the plan, the blueprint and how to keep continual boxing

01:22:10.019 --> 01:22:15.119
them out and making sure that the ultimate plan we have succeed.

01:22:17.379 --> 01:22:21.339
But man it is time to

01:22:21.339 --> 01:22:24.959
roll this conversation

01:22:24.959 --> 01:22:29.819
has been so in-depth we've ran way past the time and that's that is okay because

01:22:29.819 --> 01:22:33.999
it's been a like i said it's been a very interesting conversation and i love

01:22:33.999 --> 01:22:41.459
having conversations with people who understands where we need to be in how,

01:22:42.679 --> 01:22:43.119
solutions.

01:22:43.579 --> 01:22:46.959
Because I'm the type of person, I think on my feet. If you give me a problem,

01:22:47.159 --> 01:22:51.679
I'm trying to solve it immediately because in my life, I was taught to think on my feet,

01:22:52.039 --> 01:22:58.119
to make judgments in the moment, to make things happen immediately or as fast

01:22:58.119 --> 01:22:59.379
as I can make them happen.

01:22:59.539 --> 01:23:02.939
And I know a lot of people don't have those type of problem-solving skills,

01:23:02.979 --> 01:23:06.839
but God blessed me with those skills to think on my feet like a cat.

01:23:07.419 --> 01:23:10.479
I'm trying to move and I'm trying to get things done in the moment.

01:23:11.039 --> 01:23:15.119
But having a great conversation has been wonderful.

01:23:15.479 --> 01:23:18.819
We ran over the time. I've just got a few questions real quick,

01:23:18.899 --> 01:23:20.159
and then we're going to get out of here.

01:23:21.359 --> 01:23:26.879
Yeah. If we were to get in your car right now, what would you be listening to?

01:23:28.339 --> 01:23:36.499
Let's see. What am I listening to? I flip between my piano playlist I put together and Freddie Gibbs.

01:23:39.519 --> 01:23:47.339
Okay. All right. What is Jordan Harris's sweet indulgent?

01:23:48.642 --> 01:23:52.802
Cookie, what's your sweet indulgence? If you get up tomorrow,

01:23:52.822 --> 01:23:56.422
you have lunch, you're like, I got to have me a Snickers, or I got to have me

01:23:56.422 --> 01:23:58.842
a brownie, or I got to have me a banana split.

01:23:59.142 --> 01:24:01.922
What is Jordan Harris' sweet indulgence?

01:24:02.422 --> 01:24:10.522
I don't have a huge sweet tooth, but my family is from Southern Alabama and country,

01:24:10.522 --> 01:24:21.242
and I'm a big fan of real simple pound cake and a real rustic sweet potato pie. Okay, okay, okay.

01:24:22.042 --> 01:24:27.242
All righty. Pound cake, sweet potato pie. Is that just a regular pound cake,

01:24:27.342 --> 01:24:31.482
lemon pound cake? What, just a regular old pound cake with that vanilla icing?

01:24:32.142 --> 01:24:34.142
Yeah, just that, just, you know,

01:24:34.242 --> 01:24:37.842
what you used to be able to get from the grocery stores back in the day.

01:24:38.022 --> 01:24:42.102
It ain't quite the same no more. no they didn't change the recipe and the icing

01:24:42.102 --> 01:24:45.982
is manufactured now but you talking about that icing grandma used to whip up

01:24:45.982 --> 01:24:48.122
in the kitchen and pull over top of that cake,

01:24:49.082 --> 01:24:54.282
and it'd be the best thing you can't even buy this at the store Lil Debbie didn't

01:24:54.282 --> 01:24:58.842
have nothing on grandma's cake Lil Debbie ain't got nothing on it nothing on

01:24:58.842 --> 01:25:04.642
grandma's cake alright so if you had to describe now I don't want you to get

01:25:04.642 --> 01:25:08.462
in no trouble but if you can describe your perfect boo,

01:25:09.242 --> 01:25:12.502
what would she what would she possess.

01:25:14.202 --> 01:25:21.682
Yeah so I'm actually a newlywed I got married in March and so I guess I should

01:25:21.682 --> 01:25:27.662
just be describing my wife that's it that's all I said I don't want you to get in no trouble,

01:25:28.702 --> 01:25:34.022
but it's just it's all fun you know it's all fun it's just you know just to

01:25:34.022 --> 01:25:37.382
break the monotony of the seriousness of the conversation we've had.

01:25:38.762 --> 01:25:45.022
I like someone with a wide range of interests that they can talk about.

01:25:45.202 --> 01:25:52.522
I've grown up in a bookstore and I'm by default well-read and know a lot of things.

01:25:52.662 --> 01:25:57.962
Just someone who can tell me about something new, show me some different interests,

01:25:58.702 --> 01:26:00.922
stand out to me. Wonderful.

01:26:02.422 --> 01:26:06.162
You know what's the crazy part? I've asked this question to all my guests,

01:26:06.202 --> 01:26:11.402
and I've had a couple of women on my show, and majority of the time the women

01:26:11.402 --> 01:26:16.842
go for the physical aspects, and the men go for something internal.

01:26:17.162 --> 01:26:21.602
And they always say that we're more physical because we like what we see with

01:26:21.602 --> 01:26:27.962
our eyes, but I think we've come to a place where the social media and life

01:26:27.962 --> 01:26:31.502
is just giving you everything so HBO,

01:26:32.122 --> 01:26:34.822
Showtime, X-rated, that But

01:26:34.822 --> 01:26:41.282
I've seen enough naked butt, breast and thigh that what's on the inside?

01:26:41.282 --> 01:26:43.362
Put your clothes on and read a book to me.

01:26:44.637 --> 01:26:48.957
Let me see that you can articulate. Let me see that you can pronounce certain

01:26:48.957 --> 01:26:53.237
words in the in the human language.

01:26:53.697 --> 01:27:00.197
Let me see if you know what a thesaurus is, because most people don't even know what a thesaurus is.

01:27:00.357 --> 01:27:04.777
Most people don't know what an encyclopedia is, because I grew up in an era

01:27:04.777 --> 01:27:07.537
where the men walked around and sold them door to door.

01:27:09.577 --> 01:27:16.257
Put your damn clothes off. right put your damn clothes on and let's have a conversation

01:27:16.257 --> 01:27:17.957
read the newspaper or something to me,

01:27:19.077 --> 01:27:24.957
we've just become a society where everything is just there's there women are

01:27:24.957 --> 01:27:31.537
no longer leaving anything to the imagination so like my wife when i met her

01:27:31.537 --> 01:27:33.697
she was working a part-time job,

01:27:34.177 --> 01:27:38.037
She was very, you know, put together, professional woman.

01:27:38.517 --> 01:27:43.957
You know, yeah, I seen her in her clothes. It took a long time to see her without

01:27:43.957 --> 01:27:45.797
her clothes, but I seen her with her clothes.

01:27:46.177 --> 01:27:50.877
But I wanted to, what intrigued me is I wanted to know what was inside of her head.

01:27:51.757 --> 01:27:57.397
And once I got to inside her head, man, it was beautiful and it was amazing. And she got me.

01:28:00.397 --> 01:28:07.117
She engaged me in conversation She brought me to a place that I needed to be

01:28:07.117 --> 01:28:13.697
Via conversation The rest is history That sounds like I was supposed to happen,

01:28:14.877 --> 01:28:19.837
Yes, yes Hey man, Jordan Harris Thank you for being on the kickback,

01:28:19.877 --> 01:28:25.797
man Anything we can do for you, man Just let us know We're always here but I

01:28:25.797 --> 01:28:29.697
do try to invite all my guests to our Friday night show.

01:28:29.917 --> 01:28:32.757
Every Friday at 7.30, we do a

01:28:32.757 --> 01:28:37.077
two-hour live show where we just have conversations about whatever it is.

01:28:37.417 --> 01:28:41.477
You can come in and listen. You can come in and speak. If you're busy,

01:28:41.697 --> 01:28:45.917
just pull it up and listen and see what the conversation is about.

01:28:46.037 --> 01:28:51.557
But I always extend open invitation to all my guests to come in on a Friday

01:28:51.557 --> 01:28:56.697
night show and just check it out. It's a two-hour live show where we just have

01:28:56.697 --> 01:29:00.617
conversations about anything in the world. Okay. Yeah.

01:29:01.197 --> 01:29:05.077
Yes, sir. But thank you, and you have a great night, sir.

01:29:05.897 --> 01:29:09.197
All right. You do the same. All right. All right. Okay.

01:29:10.960 --> 01:30:28.512
Music.