Tim Scott and the Question of Systemic Racism

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. I'm going to weigh in today on Senator Tim Scott's comments about whether there is systemic racism in America today. It's time for The Line of Fire with your host, biblical scholar and cultural commentator, Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity.

Call 866-34-TRUTH to get on The Line of Fire. And now, here's your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks so much for joining us today.

Friends, we're going to have a great broadcast. We're going to dig into some really important subjects, some eye opening quotes. I think a perspective you're going to find really helpful. This is Michael Brown here to infuse you with strength, with hope, with courage, with truth so that you can stand strong wherever God's called you to be right now in the home, in the neighborhood, in the workplace, on the campus, wherever it is, on social media.

We want you to stand strong. We want to help you shine your light more brightly so that America or wherever you live can be impacted and changed. Here's a number to call. We can weigh in, interact with what I have to say, 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884.

That is the number to call. OK, before I get to Senator Tim Scott's appearance on The View and now presidential candidate, Republican presidential candidate, Tim Scott, I want to interact at some length there. And I've got a perspective to share that may surprise some of you, but I think is going to be very, very helpful overall.

It may rustle some feathers too, ruffle some feathers, so be it. Before I do that, I want to tell you some things that happened with the chosen aftermath of what we shared the other day on Monday. But first, I am especially glad to be here with all of you.

I didn't know if I'd be making it in to do live radio today, so I'm thrilled to be here. Right before leaving for Israel, it was discovered that I had a Lord's kidney stone that was already inflaming the kidney. And it ended up being 14 millimeters, so those who've had them, this is something you cannot pass. When it was 9 millimeters, we thought it was 9, so you're not going to pass, it ended up being 14. So, right before leaving for Israel, I had to have a stent put in, so I went in the hospital, general anesthesia, the whole bit, had the stent put in.

And then thankfully, it created no problems, no issues, no discomfort, the entire time in Israel, all the flying, whales and all of that. But the plan was, when I got back, then to go in for what's called a lithotripsy, where they blast the stone out using laser, they blast it out into many, many, many, many little pieces, and then put a new stent in, so it means general anesthesia again. You know, I was telling the folks, because some remembered me, I said, yeah, I hope, I don't see you again for a while here, maybe we'll meet up on the street, but I hope not to see you again here for a while. So we were laughing and talking, and by the time they were ready to send me home, because you have to wake up from anesthesia and so on, by the time they were ready to send me home, I was asking the nurses, hey, do any patients here need encouragement? Because I'm talking, I said, I'm going to talk to your head, I was alert and well, and so feeling great, minimal discomfort, and feeling just bounced right back from the general anesthesia.

So we didn't know how I'd be feeling today, we weren't going to push things, but I'm feeling great and thrilled to be with you. I love, love, love being on the air with you daily. If you're listening live, if you're listening by podcast, watching online, welcome, welcome to the broadcast.

I am so thrilled to have you as part of our listening audience, part of our family, part of the radio revolution. Okay, back to The Chosen. When I wrote about this, when I talked about it on the air, the controversy over one of the employees, one of the cameramen having a gay pride flag on his camera, which apparently was always there, not just for Pride Month, then how Dallas Jenkins, the producer, responded, much I agreed with. I had concerns, I felt, because two of the actors who played apostles, Little James and Thaddeus, that they really blasted people and called them homophobes and haters to get out of here, was really concerned, and I felt a deeper apology was needed. Jenkins saying, hey, they do not speak for us, and I apologize for their offensive comments. And apologies for the actors.

Well, it turns out that those actors did that very thing. So, first I want to play for you the comments of Giovanni Cario, who plays Thaddeus, the apostle. It's three short Twitter videos he put out. Let's listen to what he had to say. Hey guys, I wanted to jump on here and connect with you all and clarify a few things, because I know this week has been very hard for a lot of people, and I just wanted to be even more specific and clear with you all. So when everything happened this week with the pride flag on set, I saw an article that attacked my friend, my brother, and family member on this show. And, you know, I saw a lot of things, not everybody, not everybody, but I saw comments, certain comments and certain things in the article saying that, you know, you should be fired and you did this thing on purpose and you know we should be punished for this and one thing about me is I truly love my family, my friends and that's what I got really hurt by that.

And I wanted to stand up for him. And for the people that were personally attacking which was not everybody. You know I, I stand by that that I don't think he should be personally attacked by that. And I stand by that.

I don't think that's right. I have something to apologize for that I wasn't specific enough in my tweet that I put out. I was very emotionally hurt in that moment.

But there were so many fans that have differences of opinions and different views on this subject. And I completely understand that. And that was not intended for you. And I want you to know that that I'm truly sorry, because I did not mean to hurt you I did not mean to judge you, which that did come across as judgment, and that is not my intention at all. And anybody who knows me knows that I truly love people, not only my family and friends but I understand people have different views and different beliefs and I think that's what makes this world so strong honestly.

All right, so the first part of the video again it's broken up into three parts because of Twitter time constraints here's part two as he continues. Honestly, and you guys show so strong, I want to jump on here and so that I do apologize for a few things. You know, for those who were personally attacking with them I don't.

I don't stand by the personal attacks but for the people who have difference of beliefs. That was not intended for you. And I hope you believe me when I truly say that I am sorry to you. I do not mean to hurt you.

I do not mean to come across as that way or, or judge you, because that's the last thing I want to do. And I see a buddy of mine on set that works so hard to create this project and bring it to you guys he worked so hard and he said, generous and caring and loving to everybody on set. And I see him personally attacked in an article and then certain people not not everybody, by any means, but certain people attack them that that really hurts me and I take that seriously because I really do care for people. And I just think that that is what makes our show so special, because I think we have the best fans and the best supporters out there, I truly do. And I've said that before. I think we're so lucky to have that and I think it's so unique and strong to be able to connect so many different walks of life together and I think that's what makes this world stronger. And my lover fans might truly do I've loved connecting with you all over the years. And I've appreciated your support.

We're so lucky to have you all. And I just wanted to say that that was not my intent to hurt you guys. And I want to connect to you, you know, virtually as opposed to just a tweet so I do hope this clears up some of the things that was going on this week. You know I'm a Christian myself and I'm not perfect by any means. That is, you know what I truly believe. All right.

And then part three of his comments, and then we'll post what Jordan Ross said and I'll wait in briefly but here is the last of the three videos. That is my faith it is deep in so much since being part of the chosen. And I have a lot to learn. And I'm all about spreading love.

But I also think our differences are sometimes what makes us stronger. So I wanted to send my love out to you guys. Again, I do, do truly apologize for not being clear enough.

And I will do better in the future to do that. Appreciate you guys. God bless you all.

Have a great night. All right, and then Jordan Ross I'm not going to read everything he posted it's, it's a lengthy tweet, but he reaches out the same way wants to clear things up, address the, the, the controversy doesn't speak for Dallas Jenkins or castmates just speaking for himself. He too shows solidarity with the crew member, hardworking crew member etc but apologizes for what he did to say hey look we could, we could have a theological discussion one day on the Bible LGBTQ issues, etc.

I have my convictions you have yours. But he said I'm interested in loving others. And so he's apologizing. He said, thank you all again for your support love passion I can't wait for you to all see what's coming up, etc. So, so he reaches out as well I appreciate them doing it.

Let's have the human element and recognize that's a crew member that they work with that they love that they find to be a fine human being, a caring person. And yes, this person is a very different view of LGBTQ pride, then, then we do all right as conservative Bible believers, but as human being and they felt he was attacked. Okay, but their reaction, the way they responded, not being very clear to their larger audience not even affirming certain things as they could have big mistake and I apologize, even if the apology could have been better here and there. You appreciate it.

You. That's what I was asking for that's what I felt needed to be done so God bless them for humbling themselves. May they personally encounter God more deeply. I pray that for all of us. May the cameraman really come to know the Lord in a way he never has before me Dallas Jenkins encounter the Lord more deeply, and I continue to hear from people who say hey my life was changed. Watching the chosen it just so new and I got convicted me to stop living as a man. This is a woman living as a man or vice versa, others coming to faith through it so may God use the show may the show even be more biblical than it's ever been. And may we move on from this present controversy. With that, we will be right back.

And if the music. Okay, I did promise Monday I was going to play a clip from Megan Kelly got one from Piers Morgan, and then from there, we move to our main topic today. Senator Tim Scott and the question of systemic racism in America. This is Michael Ellison, founder and president of Trivita wellness. When I heard line of fire with Dr. Michael Brown, I knew this voice needed to be heard everywhere, a voice to help the church and spiritual leaders be strong.

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800-771-5584. This is how we rise up. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown.

Get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Yes, my appreciation to our co-sponsor Trivita. Thanks for standing with us. Literally the last thing I did right before the show with my scheduled hospital yesterday with that procedure and all that. I was just slightly off my normal schedule today. The last thing I did literally right before the show was take two of the supplements, nitric oxide and myo health. So thanks for standing with us.

Remember 100% of your first order goes to support the line of fire and that number is 800-771-5584. Okay, I have been talking about the tide turning. Everywhere you turn this month, there's the pride flag or social media change to the pride colors or wherever you turn, it could be a children's show like Sesame Street, it could be the latest Disney movie that's being promoted.

Wherever you turn, companies selling things or controversies in the news one way or the other, back and forth, the battle, battles in Florida between Governor DeSantis and Disney Corporation and on and on. But we've told you almost 20 years now that the tide will turn. That the tide will turn. I don't mean hating people. Oh, we're going to go back to hating people?

No, no. Hopefully we have more compassion, more understanding, more humanizing of family members, friends, relatives, Christians that struggle, who identify as LGBTQ, etc. Hopefully we've deepened that. Hopefully we'll continue to deepen our compassion, our love, our sensitivity, the grace that we have, our ability to take people in wherever they are, whatever their background, whoever they are and love on them. I was speaking to YWAM Youth with a Mission leaders that had flown in from around the world.

We're 200 senior leaders from about 60 countries in April in Kona in Hawaii. And I said, how do you get ready? How do you get ready for the flood of those who identify as LGBTQ plus, etc.

who will be coming into our churches? I said, you can't fully. Okay, here's a couple that looks a little different with a couple kids only to find out that the mother used to be the father and the father used to be the mother, the husband used to be the wife, the wife used to be the husband. I mean, they're actually couples like this.

Okay, how do you sort that? And they're married. But married, the opposite. But the man was the woman, the woman was the man.

How do you sort that out? What's the plan? The plan is love. The plan is love.

Let me say it again. The plan is love. Ask God for a baptism of love. And then from there, you'll sort out the specifics, the details, the hard decisions that have to be made. But let love be the first thing that is felt.

And then with that, if there has been sin or things that are in rebellion against God, conviction, but conviction that leads to redemption, transformation, and deep, deep mercy. All right. I've said, though, that the tide is turning, that the tide would turn. And of course, in front of our eyes, it's happening all around America and even in different nations. Norway is the latest nation to say no more, quote, gender affirming surgery for children.

It's a mistake. UK has now said that. Sweden has now said that.

At some point, America will. But I just want to play two clips, one for Megyn Kelly, who you think will play Fox News more conservative, although hardly, you know, radical Bible-believing, born-again Christian, but more conservative voice. And then Piers Morgan, who challenged me years ago when he was on CNN about Jesus didn't say a word about homosexuality, Piers Morgan, who still is an advocate of, quote, gay rights, et cetera, he's having issues now with radical trans ideology. So again, the tide continues to turn. Those on the left, for whom we pray, for whom Jesus died, continue to overplay their hand.

Let's listen first to Megyn Kelly. Why I'm done with preferred pronouns. I was an early proponent of using preferred pronouns as far back as the early 2000s, of saying she when I knew the truth was he. It seemed harmless and I had no wish to cause offense. Trans people were tortured enough, it seemed to me, by nature of their dysphoria and society's disdain for them in general. So I complied. I went along with it.

I didn't see the harm. It is beyond time to stand up to the trans lobby. That means to deprive women of their spaces and rights to the men who pose as trans women to gain access to places like sorority houses, only to exploit the women who'd been strong armed into welcoming them. To the men who grow their hair long, throw on a dress, pop on their TikTok filter and then threaten to kill us if we object to them coming into our private spaces. To the mutilation of our children by money driven doctors and the rape of our imprisoned sisters and the theft of our medals and opportunities to win. How can we stand up to any of this if we are complicit? How can we fight for facts if we participate in this fiction that a man can become a woman?

That transitioning is possible. So while my rights are trampled every day of the week, I will not stand by being docile and meek. We are women.

We are warriors of steel. Woman is something no man will ever feel. Woman is not a skill that any man can hone. Woman is our word and it is ours alone. Well said. Well, well said.

Again, to those struggling with their identity, may the Lord give you grace and help to find wholeness from the inside out. So Megan Kelly said, I went along with this, but no longer. And now Piers Morgan. Hardly what you'd look at is someone advocating for positions that we hold to.

But listen to what he has to say. Good evening from London. Welcome to Piers Morgan.

It's good to be back and it's good. But it's Pride Month, which, of course, used to be about celebrating gay rights and quite right, too. But it's now mostly about advertising campaigns by brands celebrating their own righteousness. Big businesses love to signal their virtue in English speaking countries where gay rights have been hard fought and hard earned, but not so much in the Middle East, where it's often illegal and punishable by death.

And with everything from burgers to banks and beers now bedecked in the rainbow flag, companies have to work a little bit harder to prove just how virtuous they are. Glamour magazine has chosen to make Logan Brown its Pride Month cover star. I'm a pregnant trans man and I do exist, he said. No matter what anyone says, I'm living proof. Living proof of what?

Logan is living proof that biological women can get pregnant, as hundreds of biological women do every single year. That's it. That's that's all this proves. This is precisely where this movement loses everyone with a shred of common sense. It's not about trans people.

It really isn't. Most people watching this have probably never even met a trans person. Most people, including me, who have just equal rights and respect for anybody who suffers from gender dysphoria, who genuinely believes they're born into the wrong body. This is about the increasingly hysterical campaign to make us all believe the sky is green and the grass is blue, and that anyone who disagrees is a hateful transphobe and a bigot.

It's a campaign that petrifies politicians, leads us to the remarkable position that the two opposition leaders in British politics now make statements like this. So a woman can have a b****? Nick, I'm not... I don't think we can conduct this debate with, you know... Sorry, I've offended you in some way. No, no, no, it's just... No, no, no, I just... Can a woman have a b****? Well, I've just answered that question. They can. Listen, I've made it really clear that if people, the vast majority of people, will have the same gender as their biological sex, but a small number won't. So a woman can have a b****?

Well, quite clearly. Okay, sorry for the laughter, but what can you do with these levels of... These are major political candidates in the UK saying, yes, a woman can have male private parts, etc. So Piers Morgan is saying, enough, enough, enough!

Here you've got someone that you think of as liberal socially in these other ways, and would absolutely look at me as bigoted and hateful. So the tide continues to turn, but I want to say this again. We need hearts of compassion with backbones of steel. Let us lead the way. Yes, politics will do what politics does, and we should be involved. Yes, businesses will do what they do, we should be involved.

Educational system, everything. We have to make an impact in every way as disciples of Jesus. But let us lead the way with love towards individuals, genuine care for every individual, however they identify, bringing Jesus to them.

And let us then model conviction. We reach out to the people with compassion, who resist the agenda with courage. We come back, Tim Scott and the question of systemic racism in America. Hey friends, this is Dr. Michael Brown. I want to invite you to join our support team.

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Get on the line of fire by calling eight six six three four truth. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Is there systemic racism in America today? Not just the remnants of it from the past, which certainly was there, but is it active still today? Not even perhaps in laws that were passed years ago that may still be on the books that most people don't recognize. But but actively, is there systemic racism in our courts? Is there systemic racism in our schools?

Is there systemic racism in our places of business? That's the question we want to ask. And I want to take you into some interaction with now Republican candidate Senator Tim Scott, who's on The View.

Whoopi Goldberg. Others have said some things about Tim Scott. Very liberal host for the most part, sometimes entirely on The View.

And blasted Tim Scott and well, he took exception to what was said and came on The View. And there is some lively, candid discussion. So I want to play this for you. But give me your take. Do you agree with him or not? Eight six six three four truth. Do you agree with him or the host who is interacting with Sunny Hostin, who herself is African-American?

Eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four. Tell me where you weigh in on this. I would love to get your perspective and I'm going to give you mine, which may surprise some of you. So here we go.

It's an extended clip, but we're going to play it straight through. Senator, I am actually happy that you're here. We we have some things in common. You grew up you grew up in a single family household, single mother household. I grew up with both of my parents, but raised in the Bronx projects amidst a lot of poverty and violence. And you are the first black senator elected in the South since the reconstruction.

That would be about, I think, about one hundred and fourteen years. Yet you say that your life disproves left leftist lies. And my question to you is I'm the exception. Right. You're the exception.

Maybe even Miss Whoopi Goldberg is the exception. But but but we are not the rule. And so when it comes to racial inequality, it persists in five core aspects of life in the U.S. economics, education, health care, criminal justice and housing. At nearly every turn, these achievements were fought, threatened and erased, most often by white violence. You have indicated that you don't believe in systemic racism. What is your definition of systemic racism? Let me answer the question that you've answered.

Or does it even exist in your mind? Let me answer the question this way. One of the things I think about and one of the reasons why I'm on the show is because of the comments that were made, frankly, on the show, that the only way for a young African-American kid to be successful in this country is to be the exception and not the rule. That is a dangerous, offensive, disgusting message to send to our young people today, that the only way to succeed is by being the exception.

I will tell you that if my life is the exception, I can't imagine. But it is. But it's not actually. It's been 114 years. So the fact of the matter is we've had an African-American president, an African-American vice president. We've had two African-Americans to be secretaries of the state. In my home city, the police chief is an African-American who's now running for mayor. The head of the highway patrol for South Carolina is an African-American.

Still exceptions. In 1975, there was about 15 percent employment in the African-American community for the first time in the history of the country. It's under five percent. Forty percent homelessness of African-Americans. And 50 percent of the folks in our community.

Yet 13 percent of the population. You had a chance to ask the question. I've watched you on the show that you like people to be deferential and respectful, so I'm going to do the same thing. That is true.

So here's what I'm going to suggest. I'm going to suggest the fact of the matter is that progress in America is palpable. It could be measured in generations. I look back at the fact that my grandfather, born in 1921 in Sallie, South Carolina, when he was on a sidewalk, a white person was coming.

He had to step off and not make eye contact. That man believed then with some doubt now in the goodness of America because he believed that having faith in God, faith in himself and faith in what the future could hold for his kids would unleash opportunities in ways that you cannot imagine. Every kid today can look, just change the stations to see how much progress has been made in this country.

ABC, NBC, CBS, ESPN, CNN, Fox News all have African-American and Hispanic hosts. So what I'm suggesting is that yesterday's exception is today's rule. And for us to suggest… So America has met its promise. No, of course, the concept of America is that we are going to become a more perfect union.

But in fact, the challenges that we faced 50 years ago and 60 years ago should not be the same challenges that we face today. And here's the way that you measured that. When my mother was born, about 10 percent of African-Americans got a high school degree, diploma. Today it's over 90 percent. When you look at the income, when you look at the income success that we've had… That's an HBCU stat.

Well, listen, HBCU stat is a good one because one of the reasons why I took the funding for HBCUs to the highest level in the history of the country and then I helped make it permanent is because I believe that education is the closest thing to magic in America. So I'm about making sure that our kids have as many opportunities to succeed as possible. All right, so it goes on a little bit beyond that. You know, others jumped in, so that's why we cut it there. So I appreciate them letting Tim Scott speak freely and the interaction there. And I love getting both sides. I've often said that when it was Hannity and Combs on Fox and you'd hear them both going back and forth, I really like that format because it's easy to preach to the choir. You agree with me, I say things you all agree with, and yeah, go ahead. And we live in our little echo chambers.

We often do that on social media. I love when things get challenged. I've often said that when I'm asked to address a controversial subject on a college campus, university campus, I request a debate with someone that holds to the opposite view. It's rare that we get that to happen, but I request it because I want everyone to hear the best presentation from both sides. That's why if someone wants to debate me, I want to make sure they're qualified so it's fair. It's not fair to debate me in areas where I'm not qualified, right?

You could debate me on some in-depth subject of biology or astronomy and crush me because it's not my field, but that's not fair to other Bible believers who are strong in biology or strong in chemistry or strong in astronomy or whatever the case may be. So I want people to hear the best presentation from the other side so things will be fair as much as possible, and then you can sort it out, right? So I know that Sunny Hostin didn't speak at length, giving time to Tim Scott, but she raised some points saying, hey, still the exception, still the exception. He's saying progress being made, progress being made. Okay, so here's what struck me, and you can weigh in. What do you think? Who did you resonate with more? Who did you agree with more?

Tim Scott, Sunny Hostin, 866-348-7884. Or generally speaking, how would you answer that question, is systemic racism present in America today? Not on the fringe. We know there are white supremacists. We know there are black supremacists for that matter. There are Jewish supremacists. There are Asian supremacists.

I mean, you've got every kind of wrong, wacko belief, ideology, theology that's dangerous and hurtful to others. We understand that. But here's what struck me. Here's what struck me in listening to his words.

It's how recently things were so bad for many African Americans. Now, part of this, part of what Tim Scott's talking about is where you grow up, right? Did you grow up in the inner city? Did you grow up in the suburbs? Did you grow up with two parents? Did you grow up with one parent? Those things are massive, massive factors as to whether you will be the rule or the exception to the rule.

You follow? In other words, you could go into inner city Baltimore and find an extremely low percentage in terms of the presence of males, say, in their 30s or 40s, because so many have been incarcerated and so many have died of violence or other things like that. This is not an attack. This is not an attack. This is, if anything, an appeal for us to wake up and be aware of some of the pain that our fellow Americans live with. So, for sure, your question or your answer is largely going to depend on your own background, your own situation, what you grew up with, what was normal for you. And I'll explain more of my point about what struck me was how recent some of these things were.

But I'll give you an example. In 1993, Nancy and I went to India for the first time, and we had a total of five people from our congregation go on the trip, and the congregation was really praying for us when we were away. We took tons of video because it was a whole new world for us. Like, whoa, this is unbelievable. And the needs were staggering.

And we came back and we did a presentation, our congregation, and we played some of the clips. Well, there was an Indian couple in the congregation, and they were outraged. They said, that is not India. That is not our country. That was completely selective. That was terribly misleading. Well, you better believe it was India.

And you better believe there is nothing selective or misleading about it. It was footage we took over a three-week trip with, just with Indians the whole time, and what represents an absolute cross-section of part of the population. However, this couple grew up in a prosperous family, living in an area where they never came in contact with that type of poverty and suffering and need.

Even the rural nature thinks they just lived somewhere else. So, that was real, but it was only part of the picture. So, their reality was real, but it was only part of the larger picture. So, a lot of how you answer the question about systemic racism or opportunity or things like that in America will tie in with your own life experience, right?

It's going to be like that with anything that we answer. What is our life experience? But what struck me was not so much the progress that we've made, but how recent the terrible past was. He's talking about his grandfather as a boy in the South.

If a white man walked in the street, he could not look at him and have to get out of the way. That was just his grandfather. Many of you listening, you have grandparents living, this is his grandfather. That's not 900 years ago or 5,000 years ago or even 100 years ago. That's recent.

Yeah, thank God for the massive progress that's been made, but that's recent. When he says when his mother was growing up, 10% of African Americans got high school education or graduated from high school, that's devastating. That is a devastating reality.

So, yeah, I've been aware of these things. But as someone who grew up, born in New York City, raised on Long Island, white, Jewish, but I encountered very little anti-Semitism growing up. And my dad's family was open-minded as could be. My second Oregon teacher, when I was a boy, not even 10 years old, was a black man. His wife was white, and my father was outraged that they had lost many friends when they got married. They lost friends. Loved ones turned away from them because it was an interracial marriage. And I remember my father thinking, in this day and age, he said, how can that be in this day and age? So I grew up with that and never had talks with black friends in college or high school. They never brought up to me racial profiling or things like that. So it was just not stuff that I was aware of. It was only years later I realized how bad things were for so many around the country.

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Go to triveda.com or call 800-771-5584. Again, 800-771-5584. This is how we rise up. It's the Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the Line of Fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. That is the number to call, 866-34-TRUTH.

You get to weigh in. First, let me give part two. So, the first thing that struck me when Senator Scott spoke was not the progress that we've made. Thank God for the progress and we continue to make progress. That's not the first thing that struck me. The first thing that struck me was, wow, these things are very, very recent in our history. Some parts of America much more extreme than others in that regard. Some parts of America where there's been much more equal opportunity for years, educational opportunity, job opportunity, and others where that's not been the case. Or the real estate laws that are still on the books that make it more difficult for a black person and a white person.

Other things, you know, how would you know about it unless you encountered it over in that field? So, it's been educational for me over the many years of interacting with my African American friends, callers, to be reminded of some of this. Hey, look, we took our tour group in Israel to the Holocaust Museum, right? So, that goes back to the horrors that took place in the 30s and 40s in Nazi Germany and Europe. So, that horrific and to this moment, that's a theme, never again.

And memories, annual memorials to the Holocaust and the memory of those that died and suffered, et cetera. It's one of the most horrible chapters in human history. You say, well, slave trade, that was horrible, but that was 100 years earlier, 150 years earlier.

Well, hang on, let's not compare. These are both horrific chapters in human history. Both horrific chapters in human history and segregation, civil rights act, that's not until 1964. I was nine years old. That's when the Beatles came to America.

But here's the other thing, this is the part two I wanted to get to. This is on a government website. It cited a 2019 survey of consumer finances, 2019. It said this, white families have the highest level of both median and mean family wealth, 188,200. So, that would be median income, I guess, and then family wealth, 983,400 respectively. So, the highest level of both median and mean, so family wealth, 188,200 and 983,400 respectively.

So, let's say assets that you have, home and things like that, business investments, whatever. So, white family, this was how it averaged out. Black and Hispanic families have considerably less wealth than white families. Black families' median and mean wealth was less than 15% that of white families at 24,100 and 142,500 respectively. Hispanic families' median and mean wealth is 36,100 and 165,000 respectively. So, compared to 188,200 for white family median family wealth, it's 24,100 for a black family and 36,100 for Hispanic. For white family wealth, mean family wealth, 983,400. Black family, 142,500.

Hispanic family, 165,500 on average. All right. So, what that is telling us is that the legacy of systemic racism in the past, it takes a while to undo that. All right.

Now, please hear this. I do not suffer from white guilt. It has never occurred to me a second in my life, a second in my life to feel guilty for being white, any more than I feel guilty for having a nose.

Okay? It's never occurred to me, and I find zero substance to that whatsoever. And when I look back to my family history and immigrants coming over and their history and how the hardships they had to overcome, and having no connection to the history of slave trade or segregation, et cetera, either on my mother or father's side, all the more am I completely untouched by the idea of white guilt. So, that's not what's making me speak here. I've no desire to seem, oh, I want to seem, oh, yeah, right, right, with the stance that we take day and night, with the conservative, biblically-based stance we take day and night. I'm trying to prove I'm woke.

I want everybody to think I'm progressive. No, nonsense, nonsense, nonsense, nonsense. And, although I have some colleagues who've made strong arguments based on biblical justice for reparations, I'm not arguing for reparations. All I'm saying is, for many who didn't grow up with this, whatever your skin color or ethnicity, or who may not be as sensitive to the realities, is that something that was so much a part of our culture for so long does not get undone overnight. It doesn't get undone in 10 or 20 or even 30 years. Now, you build into it some of the ongoing problems. Look, there are critics of the Democratic Party and of the welfare system that said, look, the Democrats, they were the party of the slaveholders. Remember, the Republicans were the abolition party. So, the Democrats were the party of the slaveholders and the slaveowners and all of that, that you owned their bodies in the past.

Now you want to own their votes now and set up systems that create bondage, create dependency, a welfare system that rewards a woman financially for having a child without the husband or father there. It's a crass way to say it. I'm just saying this is what critics would say and that there is something set up now so that the average African-American family is far less intact today than it was before the Civil Rights Movement. And that that's the key to everything and this is just another aspect of racism in America.

Someone would make that argument as well. My point is simply to say this, that if you really have a heart for people, a heart for God, a heart for justice, that while you applaud what Tim Scott said about the progress and say yes, that in more and more cases it's not the exception, it's the rule, be it CEOs, be it professors, be it people on social media, influencers, be it faces on TV, let alone athletes, etc., that yes, successful African-Americans are hardly the exception. It's very normal and unexceptional and something that we see and live with all the time. At the same time, let's recognize that the horrible legacy of so many years, not just slavery, post-slavery segregation and other things built into our systems beyond what we even realize, and it still may filter through the courts and still may filter through areas of business, etc., that it takes a while to overcome those things and that we have to listen with open ears, recognize rather than say, well, I'm on the left, you're on the right, I'm Democrat, I'm Republican. No, as followers of Jesus, to listen with open ears to say we want justice, we want righteousness, we want God's purposes, we want God's best. And we work together for that. Shouldn't we all be able to do it across the board politically, across the board ethnically, across the board skin color? Shouldn't we say, hey, we want as much as possible a level playing field for all Americans?

We're not trying to guarantee equality of outcome, but we want to try to, as much as possible, help people get a level playing field, have a good shot at making it in this country. Shouldn't that be our goal together? All right, I'm going to stop here and I'm going to take a call, but we're going to go completely off topic in the last few minutes of the broadcast. So Josh in Miriam, Virginia, go ahead.

You've got a question unrelated to what we've been talking about. Go for it, please. Yeah, well, Dr. Brown, I just want to thank you for your ministry, and it's really helped me over the last little bit here recently.

Thank you. And I wanted to talk to you about ministry. I had felt led to go into a type of ministry, but I don't know exactly if that calling would be a full-time pastorship.

A part of me thinks it's to organize fellowship with believers, because I think we have a need for that church. And I'm just recently married. I'm praying and talking to my wife about this and making sure that she knows that her and Jesus are the first priority. But I guess I'd like some advice on that. Yes, sir.

I'll tell you what, I'm going to interrupt, as I have to do sometimes towards the end of the broadcast, because I'm looking at that clock right ahead of me, and I want to give you an answer with some substance in the couple of minutes that I have. Number one, walk in the light that you have, in obedience to the burden that you have, without worrying about how it's going to work out. Just like when you first met your wife, it's unlikely, and that happens sometimes, but it's unlikely the first time you met her that you said, this is the woman I'm going to marry. But you got to know her, and then you spent more time together. And then the more time you spent together at a certain point, you said, this is the woman that I want to marry.

So, same thing here. You give yourself to the burden you have. Okay, maybe I can just invite people over to the home more. Maybe we can do something, you're part of a local church, and you just do something that any member could do, and you cultivate that. Or, you talk to your pastor and say, I'm burdened to do, would you mind if I just try to help more to get more families together or get believers together to just grow as disciples?

Would I be able to do that? Or, if you just feel to go to an unreached area and just start meeting with people and gathering them, do what's in your heart to do. Walk in the light that you have. It's almost like someone taking up a certain sport or an instrument. You thought, wow, I can do this. I can do this really well.

Like, I could do this full time. As those things begin to develop, everything else falls into place on its own naturally. Walk in the direction of the light you have. It'll get brighter and brighter. Put your hand to the plow, and the next step will fall into place naturally. May the Lord bless you and be gracious to you. Friends, let us move forward. Jesus is at work. Together, we are making a difference.