"I Was Either Going to Be The Best Drug Dealer or The Best Football Player"

At T-Mobile, our critical mission is providing unparalleled 5G coverage for when connectivity is mission critical. Introducing T-Priority, America's best 5G network experience for first responders, even in times of congestion. More capacity, faster speeds, better coverage. T-Priority from T-Mobile, built for tomorrow's emergencies, ready today. Discover more at T-Priority.com.

For qualifying organizations on eligible rate plans, coverage is not available in some areas that may be impacted by emergencies. Today's podcast is brought to you by Ferguson Home. Whether you're a homeowner working on a remodel or a pro managing multiple projects, Ferguson Home is where great ideas become stunning spaces. My wife and I know firsthand because Ferguson Home was by our side when we built our beautiful house. All of our indoor and outdoor kitchen appliances, most of our kitchen and bathroom hardware came from Ferguson Home. They have the best selection of kitchen, bath, and lighting products, all of which you can find online or you can visit a local Ferguson Home showroom like we did and get one-on-one support from their amazing consultants who are there for us with their expert advice and support.

They'll be there for you too. Go to FergusonHome.com to shop the latest styles from top brands like Kohler or find a showroom location near you. This season, let your shoes do the talking. Designer shoe warehouses packed with fresh styles that speak to your whole vibe without saying a word. From cool sneakers that look good with everything, the easy sandals you'll want to wear on repeat, DSW has you covered. Find a shoe forever you from the brands you love like Birkenstock, Nike, Adidas, New Balance, and more.

Head to your DSW store or visit DSW.com today. This is Simone Boyce from the Bright Side. Beauty is about more than just beauty.

It's about worth, individuality, and the power that comes from being your truest self. At L'Oréal Paris, beauty means embracing who you already are, enhancing the diverse features, experiences, and personality that makes you, well, you. L'Oréal's beauty essentials combine innovative products with that classic Parisian touch to help you feel like your most confident self because taking on the world is a little less scary when you feel ready for your close-up. L'Oréal Paris, because you're worth it. Learn more at L'OréalParis.com.

Beach finder or find a featured all-inclusive package to Reu Negril and do your deal at CheapCaribbean.com. This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people. Melvin Cole is the headmaster at Pure Youth Athletics Alliance in Memphis, Tennessee, one of America's few remaining boarding schools. He's a man on a mission to save kids who grew up just like him from becoming products of their dysfunctional environments and neighborhoods. Let's get into this story.

Take it away, Melvin. I was born in kind of the South Memphis projects in that area and that's really where I got my true perception of life. And like I tell people all the time, when you growing up in that type of environment where your grandma was a heroin addict and all your uncles were drug dealers, well then that shapes all of your morals, beliefs, and values. I mean, because you only know what you know. Everything is a learned and taught behavior besides self-preservation. Like nobody teaches a baby how to cry. But all these other things are learned.

So survival skills are put in us. And my idea was to be the best drug dealer in the world. And that was surely shaped off of my environment because I didn't have bad parents. It was more so what I found to be cool in the cars, the money, and the women.

So the quickest way and the best way to get it was a high level drug dealer. I hated my father because I didn't understand. My father had three kids and two of them died. The first one, his first baby mama put his kid next to a wonder in Boston and she ended up catching pneumonia and dying.

And then my second, my sister that died when I was two and she was four, her appendix exploded in the bed with my mom. So my dad grew this resentment for me after wanting his daughters. And then he turned to the liquor bottle and his mom was the heroin addict. So from there with the depressions of his daughters, his mom and everything. So that's what he turned to, which allowed our relationship to kind of go distant ways and then just kind of allow that resentment to build in from him to me and me to him. And I kind of remember one night he actually said, man, why God didn't take you instead of the girls?

And I looked at him, I said, I don't know, why don't you die and ask him? So those were the things that kind of just was created by circumstances and environment. Now I look back and I don't know what I would do if something happened to my kid. I mean, so I understand that now if I'm sitting at his age, but you know, and with my mom, so my mom had a life full of trauma. She left home when she was 16 years old, worked three jobs with my brother.

And so losing her only daughter in the bed with her, I mean, so that just kind of sent her in total depression. So that allowed me to kind of see and hear and be around things that you're not supposed to be. But from being with my grandma's, my uncle's was the biggest influence.

And those was the ones that was the drug dealers that was involved in the gangs. And I was the ones that I was striving to be like. I didn't get a chance to play football until my seventh grade year. Coach Jones introduced me.

He was everything. So, you know, I grew up wanting to play little league football and, you know, watching everybody crowd around on TV on Saturdays and Sundays. And I wanted to be celebrated. So that's when I came up when I was 10. I said, I'm going to either be the best football player to ever put on pads.

I'm going to be the best drug dealer in the world. So once I made it to middle school, football was offered at the school. So I didn't need any transportation.

I didn't need any money or anything like that. It was just right there, right after school. And I never remember the first day we was running and he looked at me, said, boy, you run like a jackrabbit. And I said, well, thank you. So we got ready and we put on pads. And I remember this guy got through the ball and I ended up batting it down because one of the kids was going to tackle me. And he started to yell at me and going on and on.

I had no idea what he was talking about. And the next day he saw me in the hallway. He said, son, you're a stud. You should always walk like a stud, talk like a stud and be a stud at all time, no matter what.

You're going to be great. And I held onto those words. It was just one of them things like, yeah, I am. He was killed in a car accident. So then that's when it just kind of, I kind of spiraled out of control even more.

I mean, that was the only guy who's ever pumped any type of positivity. And so losing him was hard. And that's ultimately how I ended up turning into being in the gangs and drug dealing. And my teens was totally different just because I was a father at the age of 14. I was kicked out the eighth grade and a lot of my friends was already either older and in the gang or my age. And we were selecting what gang we was going to be in. So in my neighborhood, it wasn't a matter of if you was going to be in a gang, it was more like what gang. When my child mom got pregnant, my dad really didn't have any advice for me. So I was able to lean on the guys in the gang. They gave me my first ounce of weed to be able to take care of my child mom as she was going through a pregnancy.

So I mean, ultimately, I stepped up to the plate and there has been history ever since. And you're listening to Melvin Cole, who's the headmaster at Pure Youth Athletics Alliance in Memphis, Tennessee. Born in South Memphis, his family members were, well, drug users, drug sellers, traumatic deaths. His father lost two of his kids and said to his son, at one point, why didn't God take you and not the girls? Imagine hearing something like that. And of course, Melvin fired back.

Why don't you die and go ask him? His mother had all kinds of trauma herself. And by the time he was 16, the only people he could look up to, his uncles were in gangs and were drug dealers. At the age of 10, he knew we might have had a skill in football and said, I'll either be the best football player or the best drug dealer. And he said, I'll be the best drug dealer, one of the two.

In my neighborhood, he said, it wasn't a matter of if you joined a gang, but which gang. When we come back, more of the story of Melvin Cole, here on Our American Stories. Lee Habib here, host of Our American Stories. Every day on this show, we bring you stories from all over the world. And it's because of listeners like you that we're able to tell the story of this great and beautiful country every day.

Our stories will always be free to listen to, but they're not free to make. If you love what you hear, consider making a tax-deductible donation to Our American Stories. Visit OurAmericanStories.com to give. Give a little, give a lot, any amount helps.

Go to OurAmericanStories.com. All right, I want you to use this tip to find moments of self-care time in your busy day, all new Nissan Murano. The colors we wear can impact our mood. Like a quick little rundown of how different colors affect us. Yellow equals optimism and focus. Orange, energy and confidence. Blue, calm and productivity. Red, excitement and boldness. Green, balance and good decision-making. Green is also positive vibes. So if you wake up one morning and you're trying to get ready for work or your day and you're just feeling kind of blah, maybe throw on a color that lifts your mood or try a different outfit that you know you feel your best in. Who cares if you even wore it the other day?

If it's an awesome outfit, give it a go again. Listen to 4 Things with Amy Brown wherever you get your podcast. For more of this episode brought to you by the all new Nissan Murano. Today's podcast is brought to you by Ferguson Home. Whether you're a homeowner working on a remodel or a pro managing multiple projects, Ferguson Home is where great ideas become stunning spaces. My wife and I know firsthand because Ferguson Home was by our side when we built our beautiful house. All of our indoor and outdoor kitchen appliances, most of our kitchen and bathroom hardware came from Ferguson Home. They have the best selection of kitchen, bath and lighting products. All of which you can find online or you can visit a local Ferguson Home showroom like we did and get one-on-one support from their amazing consultants who are there for us with their expert advice and support. They'll be there for you too.

Go to FergusonHome.com to shop the latest styles from top brands like Kohler or find a showroom location near you. Hi, it's Jenny Garth. We all know the importance of taking care of our physical and mental health. But what about our sexual health? I've been there feeling totally stuck when it comes to my libido. That's why I started taking Addi.

And let me tell you, I've seen firsthand what a difference it can make in how you feel. Addi is the only FDA approved pill clinically proven to help certain premenopausal women have more interest in sex, have more satisfying sex, and lower the stress from low libido. Addi has helped hundreds of thousands of women get their drive back, including me. Talk to your doctor or visit ADDYI.com to learn more about Addi, the little pink pill.

Individual results may vary. Addi or flibanserin is for premenopausal women with acquired generalized hypoactive sexual desire disorder, HSDD, who have not had problems with low sexual desire in the past, who have had low sexual desire no matter the type of sexual activity, the situation, or the sexual partner. This low sexual desire is troubling to them and is not due to a medical or mental health problem, problems in the relationship or medicine or other drug use. Addi is not for use in children, men, or to enhance sexual performance. Your risk of severe low blood pressure and fainting is increased if you drink one to two standard alcoholic drinks close in time to your Addi dose. Wait at least two hours after drinking before taking Addi at bedtime. This risk increases if you take certain prescriptions, OTC, or herbal medications or have liver problems and can happen when you take Addi without alcohol or other medicines. Do not take if you're allergic to any of Addi's ingredients. Allergic reaction may include hives, itching, or trouble breathing. Sometimes serious sleepiness can occur.

Common side effects include dizziness, nausea, tiredness, difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, and dry mouth. See full PI and medication guide, including boxed warning, at Addi.com slash PI. Addi.

Visit A D D Y I.com to learn more about Addi. This is Nikki Glaser from the Nikki Glaser podcast. On a more serious note, I'm still thinking about that commercial with Tom Brady and Snoop Dogg hating on each other. Because when you listen to the reasons for hating someone or something, you realize just how stupid they really are. There is too much hate in this country and it's got to stop. So join us at iHeart and standing up to it. If you see hate, speak up, call it out.

And you can learn more by following at what's up with hate. Clean water access helps kids soak up childhood. Girls can be in class instead of walking hours for water. Kids can be climbing trees and skinning knees instead of being sick with waterborne diseases.

Sponsor a child at worldvision.org slash water for kids and help ensure access to life changing essentials like clean water. And we return to our American stories and with Melvin Cole's story. When we last left off, Melvin had decided that he was either going to be the best drug dealer in the world or the best football player in the world. After the tragic death of his football coach, he chose the latter. In short order, he was kicked out of middle school and became a father at the age of 14.

Let's return to the story. So, you know, I didn't play football my ninth grade year at all. I got kicked out of school my eighth grade year. Coach Jones dying the year before.

Having my child on the way, I just figured it's time for me to step up and be a man. And one of the local high school coaches who recruited me from middle school convinced, you know, me heard I was going down the wrong road. And ultimately, he ended up kind of ushering me to broadcast where he felt like if I got out the environment that I was in, it could change my life.

Briar Chris is predominantly white, all white, you know what I mean, rich kids. At the time, Hugh Freeze was the star head football coach. It was one of those things that it was good, but it was bad.

It was one of that if you're not prepped to be in that environment, if you're not, if you don't understand that environment, it does more harm than good. Coming over to Briar Chris, they had one to the state championship, but they never won it. My senior year, we end up winning the state championship, first time in school history.

I mean, everybody's riding high, we're riding fly. I had already signed my football scholarship division one to Bowling Green State University. So to go through that process, help the school get their first state championship in history and to be kicked out over what Briar Chris liked to call premarital sex, that was a hard pill for me to swallow. Black guys don't have sex with white women. Probably now everybody's cool with it, but we're talking about 20 years ago. Yeah, I mean, 20 years ago, Memphis, Tennessee is just really not the best thing you do as a young man from the hood. It really changed how I saw relationships. I lost all the ability to trust in relationship. So the thing with me going off to college is my mom, she ended up begging one of the local principals at Whitehaven, where I got kicked out my ninth grade year, and I was able to kind of get back in there and finish up to be able to go off to college. But it was one of those things where I still needed money.

The need for money for myself, the need for money for my daughter, it never changed. So now it just turned into, okay, how do you do both? And I was able to do both. So ultimately I suffered a kidney injury on the field, which is when I really went depressed and just kind of started to question if I was ever going to get back on the field, if I was ever going to have a chance to play, if I was ever going to try to go to the draft. So then from there I just started to get deeper and deeper into the drug business.

And from there I was in a drug deal that went wrong in Chicago, Illinois, where I took two shots, one to the head and one to the back, which ended my football career. And that's when I just, I came up with this phrase, hell or sell, that I was going to put the game down so hard that somebody was going to have to kill me while I was going to get life in prison. And that was my goal.

I was never going to stop. You know what I mean? That was my life. In my mind, that's what I was destined to be. That's what I was made for.

You know what I mean? Because I looked at it, I used to say, out of time if God didn't want me to be a drug dealer, he wouldn't have put me around drugs and drug dealers. I got the ultimate reward, sentenced to 68 months in prison with an opportunity of parole after two and a half years. And it was just, prison was hard. Prison was hard from a lot of different areas, adjusting to how other people live. So I had already, of course, with me running a cocaine ring out in northwest Ohio in seven cities, I was accustomed to doing things my own way and living my own way. So now to be restricted and defined and controlled, I mean, it played on me mentally.

Then it's the other side of prison that you don't hear with. Men walking around, acting like women wearing Kool-Aid and I mean, guys getting raped and Peter Beech. Me personally, I don't believe any man is ready to see that. Witnessing that was life-changing, because that's the stuff that nobody talks about. That's the stuff that is not in a rap song. That's the stuff that's not in the movies. So for me to witness a boy screaming like a woman, a boy having blood, skeetin' everywhere was crazy. You're not prepared to see that. I mean, because there's still some human in everybody that's inside of it.

And then when you got to look at it in the reality, the only person that you can turn on is God. That's what it comes down to. It's not about how tough you are. It's not about if you're gay or not. It's not about if you're cool or not.

It's not about where you're from. It's literally who gets picked that day. I mean, you got a guy that finds out his girlfriend cheating on him.

They're going through a fight. That guy could cost his life. You could cost your life.

I mean, there's so many different variables. So when you sit down and you really take everything off the table, take all the ego off the table, you realize it's only God. That's why you have so many people converting to God while they're in prison, because they're looking at it like, that's the only person that can stop you from being on the menu that day. And that's what ultimately changed my life, witnessing a brutal rape just because I wanted my cell. And I told God, I said, God, that could not happen to me.

Period. Because if it do, I'm killing all of them and then I'm killing myself. I said, there's no way that can happen to me.

I said, there's no way that can happen to me. So it was a lot of different emotional and a lot of different things that I was prepared for, but it was so many things mentally that I wasn't prepared for going in. I was prepared physically, but not mentally for the toll it was going to take on on your mind. And the rest of my be, I was focused, but I still had this stinky thinking.

You know what I mean? I still had an ideal of when I got out, I was going to move to Central America and I was going to import narcotics to United States. So the whole thing, I was chasing Craig Pettis and Bobby Cole. I was chasing all them. I was chasing my family. I wanted to, I wanted to be higher up in the food chain.

I want to, I want to be the best that ever did. I still had that, that vision, that itch. But then my uncle died while I was in prison and killed a deal that I had been working on. And, you know, it was one of them things that God literally removed everybody that can help me do wrong. And so from there is when I, I started to kind of dissect my life. And I said, when I get out, I'm gonna start a little league team.

That's the first thing I'm gonna do. I said, I'm gonna get kids, what I didn't have. And I said, if I can do a little league team, I can, I can preserve the innocence because see, that's what people don't understand in the hood.

That's what it takes right away. It's all about survival. And I wanted those kids innocence.

I wanted them where they could just run around and be free and they can play ball. Ain't nobody worried about no, no, no food, no stipends, no, how we gonna get here. And that's what got me through my time.

That commitment with God is when I get out of here, I'm gonna commit the rest of my life to saving young men that look like me. And you're listening to Melvin Cole, tell one heck of a story. He rose to local prominence at Briar Cresta powerhouse of a sport program in Memphis. And in college, he still needed money for himself and his kid. And he just got deeper and deeper into the drug trade shot twice in the head, doing a deal or deal that went south. The next thing you know, he's in prison for 68 months. He saw things he saw things he never should have seen in prison. And the only thing that saved him, he said, is God. He said, God removed everyone in my life that I could do wrong with. My dream went from being a drug dealer to saving young men that looked like me. When we come back, we'll find out how Melvin Melvin Cole did just that.

Did just that here on Our American Stories. All right, I want you to use this tip to find moments of self-care time in your busy day, brought to you by the all new Nissan Murano. The colors we wear can impact our mood. Like a quick little rundown of how different colors affect us. Yellow equals optimism and focus. Orange, energy and confidence. Blue, calm and productivity. Red, excitement and boldness. Green, balance and good decision making. Green is also positive vibes. So if you wake up one morning and trying to get ready for work or your day and you're just feeling kind of blah, maybe throw on a color that lifts your mood or try a different outfit that you know you feel your best in. Who cares if you even wore it the other day?

If it's an awesome outfit, give it a go again. Listen to four things with Amy Brown wherever you get your podcasts. For more of this episode brought to you by the all new Nissan Murano. Today's podcast is brought to you by Ferguson Home. Whether you're a homeowner working on a remodel or a pro managing multiple projects, Ferguson Home is where great ideas become stunning spaces. My wife and I know firsthand because Ferguson Home was by our side when we built our beautiful house. All of our indoor and outdoor kitchen appliances, most of our kitchen and bathroom hardware came from Ferguson Home. They have the best selection of kitchen, bath and lighting products, all of which you can find online. Or you can visit a local Ferguson Home showroom like we did and get one on one support from their amazing consultants who were there for us with their expert advice and support. They'll be there for you too.

Go to FergusonHome.com to shop the latest styles from top brands like Kohler or find a showroom location from location near you. Hi, it's Jenny Garth. We all know the importance of taking care of our physical and mental health. But what about our sexual health? I've been there feeling totally stuck when it comes to my libido. That's why I started taking Addi.

And let me tell you, I've seen firsthand what a difference it can make in how you feel. Addi is the only FDA approved pill clinically proven to help certain premenopausal women have more interest in sex, have more satisfying sex and lower the stress from low libido. Addi has helped hundreds of thousands of women get their drive back including me talk to your doctor or visit a DDYI.com to learn more about Addi the little pink pill individual results may vary. Addi or flibanserin is for premenopausal women with acquired generalized hypoactive sexual desire disorder HSDD who have not had problems with low sexual desire in the past who have had low sexual desire no matter the type of sexual activity the situation or the sexual partner.

This low sexual desire is troubling to them and is not due to a medical or mental health problem problems in the relationship or medicine or other drug use. Addi is not for use in children men or to enhance sexual performance. Your risk of severe low blood pressure and fainting is increased if you drink one to two standard alcoholic drinks close in time to your Addi dose. Wait at least two hours after drinking before taking Addi at bedtime. This risk increases if you take certain prescriptions OTC or herbal medications or have liver problems and can happen when you take Addi without alcohol or other medicines. Do not take if you're allergic to any of Addi's ingredients. Allergic reaction may include hives itching or trouble breathing. Sometimes serious sleepiness can occur. Common side effects include dizziness, nausea, tiredness, difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep and dry mouth. See full PI and medication guide including boxed warning at Addi.com slash PI.

Visit a DDYI.com to learn more about Addi. This is Nikki Glaser from the Nikki Glaser podcast. On a more serious note, I'm still thinking about that commercial with Tom Brady and Snoop Dogg hating on each other because when you listen to the reasons for hating someone or something, you realize just how stupid they really are. There is too much hate in this country and it's got to stop. So join us at iHeart and standing up to it.

If you see hate, speak up, call it out and you can learn more by following at What's Up With Hate. Clean water access helps kids soak up childhood. Girls can be in class instead of walking hours for water. Kids can be climbing trees and skinning knees instead of being sick with waterborne diseases.

Sponsor a child at worldvision.org slash water for kids and help ensure access to life-changing essentials like clean water. And we return to our American stories and the final portion of Melvin Cole's story. When we last left off, Melvin had found himself in prison and had come out a changed man. His biggest desire to form a little league team and help prevent kids from ending up in jail like he did.

He would soon turn into a boarding school called Pure. Let's get back to the story. It started off as a little league team and just like every other inner city little league coach, you dropping off kids that no electricity, no parents, no food, you know what I mean, knowing the environment, sleeping on the porch in the foothomes projects, you know what I mean. With me directly being a part of it, I understood what was going to take place at night with those kids. So I looked up and me and my fiance was sharing a two-bedroom downtown apartment with about 15 young men just because that's how many kids I knew it was all about the environment. I kept saying it's the environment, it was the environment. I kept telling people about myself, it was the environment. And so I had came up with this idea just kind of based off of my life. I said well what if I sent them to a private school but they live with me and I could mirror what was going on at the school and they can come home and we can have those conversations and do those things because the thing about it is being a high-level drug dealer it exposed me to a lot, a lot of people, a lot of knowledge, a lot of wealth.

So I had a lot to share, I had a lot to give, I had a lot to give. So we had came up with the idea, so the private school wanted them to take an entrance exam to get in. Well then all the boys schooled in a zero percentile in reading, writing, and math. And this is another thing I'll never forget, I looked at the guy and said what does that mean? He said that means they can't come here.

And he said it in such a disgusting way that automatically reverted me back to my bride Chris days where we wasn't good enough or we was out of place or whatever the case may be. So I decided to close down my my for-profit gym and turn it into a school for the boys. So I reached out to their parents and I said I want to remove them from this school. I said I'm gonna get some volunteers and a little small staff and this is what I want to do.

I want to move the needle, I know what they need, I'm them. So the first year we got a 3.7 grade level jump, the next year we got a 3.1 grade level jump, and then that's when I started saying hey let's put them against the ACT to kind of really see where they are. Well some of our kids got a positive 20, 21, and I wasn't screaming like hey it works, it's all about the environment.

I said no kid is bad, no person is bad, they adapt to their environment. That's all it is, these kids and people they adapt to whatever, they're going to adapt to the environment. If I come into an environment where everybody wears nice shiny suits, guess what, over time I start wearing nice shiny suits.

If I come in and guys are shooting dice and smoking crack, guess what, over time I'm gonna shoot dice and smoke crack. I mean it's the environment, it's the environment. I mean they call it the trap for a reason. I mean because there's so many different things that can trap you and make you stay inside of there.

So P.E.A.R.E. stands for progress on the restraints and extremes, and that's what I believe the young men in Memphis and ultimately a lot of the young men that live in the inner city of the United States, I mean they got to progress no matter what. So when you start talking about what do you mean under extremes and restraints, well our kids are living in double the national average of poverty, our kids are living in double the national average of food hardship, so that means our kids aren't getting the bare necessities.

Right now in Memphis, Tennessee we got 35% of our kids living 200% below poverty level, but you still got to progress. You can't make excuses you can't make excuses for what neighborhood, what zip code, you can't make excuses who your mama is, who your daddy is, you can't make any excuses. You still got to get it done. I mean that's what I tell people all the time, instead of crying about the hand you were dealt, figure out how to play it.

Because you still got to play it, you can't throw the cards in. That was the whole basis of P.E.A.R.E., that was the whole basis of my life, and that's what we teach the boys. They're up at 6 30. We start the day with meditation, then they work out. When they get done working out they got a shower and breakfast, they go to school for three hours, then they take a lunch, then they do another three hours of school, but the latter three hours are all based off of agriculture and technology. Also we have our education enrichment where if you didn't, whatever you didn't get in class, you can get it in the in the evening time when we have our tutors come in, or we got kids that really can get pushed to head, we utilize that as well. And then so the light they get from 9 30 to 10 30, they get free time to hang out, talk on the phone, video games, play music, chess, whatever they want to do.

Lights out 10 30, it started all over again. So right now we're running at an 86% matriculation rate of young men going to college. Right now we got over 25 first-generational college students sitting in the classroom.

Our first college graduate graduates this spring, Tevin Carter from Tennessee State University. So we're excited. Character is everything. Character will save your life.

Character keeps you alive. So I've always been, I've always been big on myself having high character and our boys because maybe your bank account looked funny today. Maybe your clothes look funny today. Maybe you didn't get a haircut.

Maybe you missed a shower. But your character, you can always control your character. That has nothing to do with anybody else. It's all about you, how you see you, how your characters show up. That's the true reflection of how you see you. A lot of kids say all the time, dang coach, I never thought about it like that. I said, I know that's what, that's why I'm here. Then they started to get it because see, I'm talking in their language.

Like one of the biggest things in our school, we got these big mirrors and every day I tell the boys, look at yourself. Would you hire you? Would you marry you? Wouldn't you be scared of you? You look like you're going to rob me. So if you look like you're going to rob me, I'm going to treat you like you're going to rob me.

All perceptions are violent. Two things can be true and you got to teach our boys that. No, you got to be conscious of how you look.

That's the reality of it. You will be judged by how you look. If you look like you're going to rob me, I'm going to treat you. And I'm black. Then I put it, then I put it on them. I say, what you think when you see a little homie with a ski mask on?

Oh yeah, cause she trying to slime me. All right then. So you get it. So you get it. All right.

Now, both of us just agree. We get it. Now let me show you how we change it because see, that's what people don't understand. Yeah.

You can tell me all day long, but until you show me, till you walk me through it, then that's a horse of a different color. So now you get to start with the understanding because I always flip it back on them. Now let's do something about it. See, we can fix that. We allow you to make, you know what I mean?

You can make four or five mistakes here. It ain't one and done. So this is the biggest thing where I tell our staff, our coaches, I say, kids don't care what you know until they know that you care.

And that's the first thing is, man, you got to let them know like, Hey, there's, there's nothing different between me and you besides clothes and gray hair. And a special thanks to Melvin Cole, the headmaster at Pure Youth Athletics Alliance in Memphis, Tennessee. And what a story he told here. And I love those questions. He asked those young men, would you hire you?

Would you marry you? So many people doing work like this across the country. We celebrate it.

Melvin Cole, his story here on Our American Stories. for a personalized gut professional. Now, call Star Star Gut to get $110 off any test.

That's star star 488 to receive a link to the offer. Clean water access helps kids soak up childhood. Girls can be in class instead of walking hours for water. Kids can be climbing trees and skinning knees instead of being sick with waterborne diseases.

Sponsor a child at worldvision.org slash water for kids and help ensure access to life-changing essentials like clean water. Now you can get Disney Plus and Hulu together for just $2.99 a month for four months. We sure would love that. Get both and watch Marvel's Daredevil, Born Again and Moana 2 on Disney Plus. Can I get a Chee-hoo? On Hulu, check out Good American Family and Paradise. Call it in now. Disney Plus and Hulu together for just $2.99 a month.

All of these and more streaming soon. New and returning subscribers, $18 plus only. After four months, plan auto renews at $10.99 a month until cancelled.

Offer ends $330.25. Terms apply. You know, some people say that Odoo business management software is like fertilizer, the way it promotes growth and all. But other people say Odoo is like a magic beanstalk because it grows with your company and is also magically affordable. And there's some people who would even say Odoo's individual software programs come together to build the perfect suite like building blocks. Well, Odoo is all of these things.

Fertilizer, magic beanstalk, building blocks for business. So sign up now at Odoo.com. O-D-O-O.com.

Good news. Your favorite Caribbean beaches are on sale at cheapcaribbean.com. Cheapcaribbean.com is your go-to website for finding the best deals on all-inclusive vacation packages. They're all about getting you more sand for your dollar. Check out their beach favorite sale to score $175 instant savings on bookings of four nights or more to the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Aruba and the Bahamas. Offer ends April 1st. Go to cheapcaribbean.com to start saving.