[Applause] [Applause] [Applause] God thanks be to God thanks be to God I’m going to make it to the pull pit this hour uh I think but um I want you to turn to Nehemiah the second chapter and I must say that I have enjoyed Nehemiah Nehemiah is a mind training
Text the physicality of the story is that he is returning to his homeland which is Jerusalem to rebuild build it I have cautioned you or tried to instruct you in the past that in order to interpret the word of God you must think in terms of symbolism what does Jerusalem
Symbolize Jerusalem symbolizes your home Jerusalem symbolizes your temple Jerusalem symbolizes you Nehemiah has left the responsibilities that he had to King AR Xerxes he approached the king and his wife he has permission to go home I need permission to go home to my family anyone who understands the value of
Family will do do everything they can for you to do whatever you can for your family no one will stand in the way of you being a blessing to your family in fact if they believe you if you are genuine if you are authentic they will help
You the king sent him with a letter he sent him with an escort he was able to gather supplies which ought to let you know that when you are ready to go back home don’t go empty-handed don’t go be empty-handed come to be a help in fact come to be a
Helpmate cuz you are married to your family wow he goes back to Jerusalem and he finds himself he finds the temple he finds the city he finds his home in disarray it has been burned down there are naysayers there there’s always naysayers there’s always somebody to say that it couldn’t be
Done there are always people that are there to say it cannot be be done I need to stop there for a moment because I do not want you to get discouraged when you’re on a mission for God by the people that say that it cannot be done they are supposed to be
There the first person in church every Sunday at every Church in in the world is the devil he gets there early he wants to catch everybody he doesn’t want to miss anybody she doesn’t want to miss anybody hell they might be a couple I don’t
Know but do not allow for the people to say oh my God you’ll never do that to determine the course of your life in fact use them for inspiration I want to share with you this poem entitled it couldn’t be done by Edgar Albert guest somebody said that it couldn’t be
Done but with a chuckle he replied that maybe it couldn’t but he would be the one who wouldn’t say so until he tried so he buckled in right in with a trace of a grin on his face if he worried he he hid it he started to sing as he
Tackled the thing that couldn’t be done and he did it somebody scoffed oh you’ll never do that or at least no one has ever done it but he took off his coat and he took off his hat and the first thing we knew he’d begun
It with a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin without any doubting or quit it he started to sing as he tackled the thing that couldn’t be done and he did it friends there are thousands to tell you that it cannot be done there are thousands to prophecy failure there
Thousands to point out to you one by one the dangers that wait to assel you but just Buckle in with a bit of a grin just take off your coat and go to it just start to sing as you tackle the thing that cannot be done and you’ll do
It all my life I’ve been told that it cannot be done he told my mother she couldn’t put four kids through Catholic school with no real job no steady job but but she did it she drove cabs she hung drywalls she put in toilets she did Iron Work she she sold
Insurance we never missed a meal the lights were never turned off tuition for four children all the way through graduation including PR Ms and homecomings and extracurriculars and Tennis Shoes uniforms every day somebody told her it couldn’t be done oh you’ll never do that you you you
Don’t even have a husband you’re you’re divorced you’ve never worked a job you’ve always been a housewife you’ll never do that why don’t you just put those kids in in Catholic or public school yeah one went to Tuskegee one went to Xavier graduated one went after being the valedictorian the first black
Valedictorian of Benedict and high school and Mr Benedict went to Massachusetts Institute of Technology one went to morouse college and graduated received the full scholarship to go to Seminary in Claremont California and she was at every graduation somebody said that it couldn’t be done but with a grin she buckled
In oh I go on and on my whole life has been about somebody saying it can’t be done and and the question of my life that I get all the time how how how’ you do that h h h h h how how’ you do that you better keep your eye on your
Own life and don’t worry about hating on mine Nehemiah went home home to be the Agent of Change to heal a broken Land If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and confess their sins I says God will hear from heaven and I will heal the
Land you are the Agent of Change for your family and everything everyone that is around you for healing Healing Begins with you and boy do we need healing if you have been listening to me at all this week I know I wasn’t online as much as I usually am this week but
The few times that I was online you probably heard me say if you are sick you know we have forsaken sickness around here and death yep I said it no sickness no death and no poverty that’s right together we’re going to live together we’re going to live
Forever together we’re going to heal one another together we are going to be rich forever we have planted the seeds we are working the work and the Harvest is guaranteed this is not the lottery Healing Begins with you and it is not a question of what is
Wrong if you find someone sick I guarantee you the real question is who is wrong with you who is wrong with you what relationship has caused you to get sick unforgiveness is the number one cause of sickness in the spirit and if you are unforgiving in the
Spirit you are going to get sick in the physical if you refuse to forgive somebody in the spirit you are going to get sick and you’re going to stay sick and you might die if you’re watching Sunday school you know what my definition of death is you are so determined not to forgive
Somebody that you let let it create a Chasm between you and God and you move further and further and further from the truth and the consciousness of God and that is the definition of a premature death the bullet will not kill you because you will already be dead the bullet will be
Doing what it has already been predetermined to do by you when you move away from the consciousness of God the study of God the meditation of God the practice of the work of God you have no time for God you have no money for God you have no reason to give God any
Glory with the talent and the blessings that God has given you when you move into that Consciousness you are dead and when you replace that time that money that Talent with something else you are an idol worshipper and more and more people are worshiping sex and their
Sexuality we are moving away from the day where we see someone on the street and we say that’s an Asian woman no we identify them by their sex or their sexuality that’s a gay woman that’s a transgender that’s sad because your sexuality in my opinion ought to be
Private but you have made your idioc secrecies your sex fantasies your perversions your sexual private habits public knowledge you have displayed no shame no discretion and no honor yet you declare that God made me this way you have turned the truth of God into a
Lie you have moved as far away from the church the word as you can yet you still want to get married and you still want to have babies you are dead and that’s not what I said that’s what you told me that’s what you told
Me you told me that when I ministered to Larry Tri for almost two years when he came home having gone to California and he came back home with fullblown AIDS and and you told me through Larry’s voice how we got it and he didn’t blame God he had more courage than that he’s
Got more courage than you and I loved him let the record show I loved him I carried him into church on some Sundays because he couldn’t walk anymore I loved him I prayed with him we Fellowship we talked we laughed let the record show for all you Hellraisers that I can go on
Record that I have not treated anyone with any less than unconditional love there’s no LGBT or whatever you want to call yourself that can declare that I have mistreated them or treated them with anything but love and kindness you got to find another excuse to stay away from the
Church because the fact is most churches have treated everybody with love and kindness especially those in that group just looking for an excuse to justify your lie stop lying on the church we love you we love them all it’s our job we love everybody I don’t see the folk who hit the
Lottery till that money runs out then I see them I don’t see the folk who who get rich and famous tell their Fame and their rich is run out then they call on me and the church because the church doors are always open to everybody stop lying on the church we feed
You we hug you we baptize you but I ain’t going to marry you oh no oh no it is not my job to become like my congregation it is my job to lead my congregation to a higher level of Consciousness and righteousness before God it is not my job to hang out with
You and don’t ask me it is my job to rightly divide the word of God by my lifestyle first and by my teaching and preaching and Ministry second don’t mess with my a blessing instead open your mind and be healed healing is available for you I am a Universalist I I’m talking to
Everybody you might feel like that all was talking about gay folk but I’m talking about everybody who has sinned the fornicators that’s a big group The adulterers that’s a big group The gluttonous that’s a big group lascivious that’s a big group you all have the opportunity we
All have the opportunity to open our mind and be healed Nehemiah went back to Jerusalem to bring about healing Nehemiah shows you how you can come back to yourself and heal yourself physician heal thyself Nehemiah shows you how you can go back to your family and avoid the
Naysayers because you know it’s going to be somebody oh here he come got a little education think that now he can tell us what to do they never come short of asking you for some money but they do not want your knowledge maybe you should start keeping the
Money and giving them something more excellent Paul said Silver and Gold Have I None but what I have to give I will give it to you why not give them some healing well I wanted to find some affirmations that I wanted to give you but I can’t find them but I found
Them number one if you want to help somebody get healed and open their mind make a in your mind that you are going to prove to them by your lifestyle and your actions that there is a God to be dead metaphysically is to convince yourself that there is no
God oh there is a God and you know how you convince somebody that there is a God you must help them feel it they must feel it they must look at you and your life and see what you are accomplishing in the most simplistic ways but are powerful because they cannot accomplish
It in their life I once had a member of my church who uh went in and out of rehab I have no idea number one how Ford made cars because a lot of his co-workers were addicts as well I just I just couldn’t figure out how they got a car down the assembly
Line I think I I’ll still say it’s a miracle that you get cars that are assembled from especially Ford because I know for a fact that a lot of them spend more time in the bar and sniffing up and shooting up than they did anywhere else they were getto Rich
Ghetto Rich ghetto Rich how many times have you heard kid oh my dad dad or my mom work at for or my mom and my dad work at for their ghetto Rich they’ve got a steady income and it’s very hard to lose your job at four
From what I found from uh dealing with many members in my church and he was going in and out of rehab in and out of rehab in and out of rehab say wow when do you work somehow he wasn’t losing any money my mother was diagnosed with cancer I don’t know what the
Circumstance but he wound up in the kitchen in my mother’s kitchen kitchen is a special place for me I think it’s a special place of Fellowship some of you all remember Angie’s kitchen now it’s Zanzibar and a couple other places I think Angie has retired her son hakee runs it
Now in fact they have a Angie on Bourbon Street I don’t know if you all knew that in New Orleans Angie showed me so much love I I still don’t know why I came in that place as a stranger Angie loved me you hear me wasn’t no funny stuff either and
Angie loved this young preacher Angie paid for my first radio broadcast I didn’t know her from a can of paint I asked and she did it there were times when you know you know I like me some good food there were some times when Angie be back there in
The kitchen and I come on back to say hello and she said go and pull up a chair and and she make me a plate right there in the kitchen you talking about some eating y’all better leave me alone Angie love me and I love her still love her Andie met all my
Kids she even met a bunch of my church met a bunch of my frat brothers I bring everybody in there you say something bad about Andrew them were fighting words I’m I’m here to tell you folk like to talk about Angie but they sure ate that food we were in my mother’s kitchen
And this member of mine came with me for whatever reason and he sat in the kitchen my sister and my mother we just talked we had normal conversation we laughed you know my mother was a big kid her she she she said something you know we laugh Fellowship got a little something it
Never really mattered about how big a portion you got if you got a little something out the refrigerator or the cupboard uh it was an opportunity to Fellowship it could be a uh it could be a peanut butter jelly sandwich it could be cheese and crackers it could be a
Piece of toast might be some leftovers may even be a meal that my mother cook uh or my sister cook um my mother wasn’t the greatest cook so I I can’t brag about her cooking but uh you know whatever you could grab in there it became an opportunity for some good
Conversation some good encouraging conversation and uh some fellowship Now understand uh uh my Mother fussed but she wouldn’t fuss you out in public that’s why I always brought [Laughter] company that’s probably why he was there cuz she probably wanted to fuss but she wasn’t she wasn’t going to embarrass you or hang your dirty laundry out out she wait till you get you in
Private so that’s probably why he was there now that I think about it and so our conversations were always encouraging and a great dialogue that’s how I grew up that’s how I grew up when we left he said I’ve never seen that in my life I said seen what I’ve never seen a
Family just talk it’s always an argument it’s always a problem somebody always gets mad I’ve never seen a family do that if you you want to reach someone who is broken you better convince them by your lifestyle and your actions that there is a God somewhere if you want to heal somebody who’s
Broken you must convince them that the world is full of good stuff Nehemiah went home to rebuild his City he could not rebuild his City with negativity he could not let the haters get his attention there’s a text in Nehemiah where uh they say Nehemiah
Come on down come on down we want to talk with you Nehemiah says I can’t come down right now I’m doing a work for the Lord I had to holler at y’all later he says at the end of Nehemiah the second chapter which we’re in he says according to the MSG he says
Uh you have no business here this belongs to God you have no Authority you have no no legality MC Hammer say you can’t touch this at this point in my life I have 38 years of preaching experience pastoring experience and 56 years of life as a black man I got stories about
Everything I realize that God has just been teaching me getting me ready for this season this leg of this journey I I feel like after 38 years I’m just graduating from Seminary 38 years of training and it’s I’m all right with that I don’t know why God waited 38 years for me To understand the metaphysical meaning of his word I sure I’m glad for that Seminary education all 38 years of it I guess I’ll graduate at 40 that’s all right with me a lot of good things happened in the Bible after 40 years I wish I had a
Witness y’all heard me say I don’t think any man should get married before he’s 40 years old it takes the average man 40 years to grow up if you’re going to heal that which is broken you must convince that which is broken that there is no
Lack there is no uh there is no way that anything that God made can run out not even life you can make transitions to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord it doesn’t mean you’re dead it means you made a transition you
Have a new address you’re not lost everybody who knows that is watch your life knows where you went to you went to be with God you they haven’t lost a relative they have gained an angel I wish I had a witness somewhere God is not into endings and if there is an
Ending it only represents a new beginning there was a time in our history where there was a rush on gold they call called it the Gold Rush the reason why they called it the Gold Rush is number one folk wanted to get to it first because they wanted to get
Rich but somewhere in the back of their minds their subconscious they thought that if they didn’t get out there quick that the gold would run out gold will never run out neither will water our Earth is 72% water your body is 72% water diamonds will never run
Out some of you all think that this crisis in the Middle East is about land you better open your mind and get healed this battle between the Palestinians and the Jews is about oil no uh I just heard that they’ve been fighting and and I heard about the creation of the state in
1949 I I I heard about ishmail and I heard about uh Isaac uh I heard about Golden Heights I heard about uh the suicide bombing and and and I heard about heras that’s all a distraction this is about controlling oil in the canal that they want to build
Between Egypt y’all look at a map there’s a canal there but it’s only one way they want a two-way canal because they are in the middle of what they call the OPEC nations and every time we’re fighting in the Middle East it is not about people it is not about human
Rights it’s not about the Bible it’s about o iil o iil o iil oil oil oil o iil as halberton they got rich in Afghanistan o i l o i l uh Dick Cheney red the United States Army so he could go to Afghanistan and drill oil wells
Why would you be drilling oil wells while the armies are fighting because that’s why we’re here and they got those oil wells y’all ain’t heard a word from Dick Cheney since oh I L and oil will never run out never let me take it a step
Further if by some chance in in the future 100 two 3 4 500 years man still needs oil the universe will create and Supply the need for man to have oil and diamonds and gas and water and whatever we need it always has and it always will nature demands that
When there is a void nature FS the void if you’re going to heal somebody who is broken help them to understand that they don’t have to live in the survival mode forever they can actually start living If Only They can heal their mind and use more than 1% of their mind
If you can encourage them that if they’re only using 1% of their mind there is 9 9% of your mind that you are not using and if you can at least get up to 20% you can literally move mountains the Bible says it if you have
The faith of a mustard seed you can say unto that mountain move Thou shalt be removed I’ll put it another way if you could begin to use more of your mind which is Faith you can do what we now say is impossible we talking about healing we talking about night memiah we talking
About Jeremiah not Nehemiah we’re talking about Jerusalem we’re talking about that which is broken in this world being a result of what’s broken in your mind and your heart ooo We not what’s wrong with you but who’s wrong with you who are you at OD with what is Faith I have a daughter named Faith what is faith faith is I’m talking about my baby now Faith is the perceiving power of the Mind linked with the power to shape substance
The power to do the in the seemingly impossible faith is absolute certainty faith is trust without reservation faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of Things Not Seen It is The Confident assurance that something we want is going to happen it is the certainty
That what we hope for is waiting for us even though we cannot see it up ahead faith is the power to focus on God the good faith is the power to focus on God the good faith is the power to focus on God the good for those of you who follow me on
Facebook you’ll know that yesterday I posted something that some folk thought was a little crazy but if you walking by faith and not by sight you understood it I said everything it was Friday cuz I tell them folk Friday I said everything is good and even the bad is good because God is
Good faith is is the power to focus on the good while focusing on God because God is good my daughter Faith as a high schooler I don’t even know she was in high school she is a natural athlete one of the things that I demanded of my children is that they
Learn how to swim for whatever reason even though we were the original Sailors we sailed as carthaginians to this Coast it’s a long history of Africans being Master Sailors we bought into this stigma that we can’t swim so I was determined that my kids all five of them would know how to
Swim and ice skate and play tennis and learn Latin that was me all of my children are lifeguards that was me right over here at gunning recreational center my daughter Faith somebody said it couldn’t be done had her first city swim meet Faith had just learned how to swim
Over at Corey Recreation Center on 105 but you ain’t seen a butterfly till you see Faith oh she could do that thing you ain’t seen a backstroke till you saw that long sleep girl slinking through the water you haven’t seen it till you saw Faith they Lin up with those girls over
There many of those girls had been in swimming clubs all of their lives they had learned how to swim as young babies I ain’t got to tell you what color they were Fai strolled on in there with her knous self before the day was over she had one two three four five gold
Medals she won that City meet all by herself y’all hear me let me see if I can read it faith is the power to focus on God the good faith is the substance of things hope for evidence of things not seen you can’t make me doubt him you can’t make me doubt
Him you can’t make me doubt him in my heart oh no you can’t make me doubt him cuz I know too much about him you can’t make me doubt him in my Heart the healing that you seek is ready and waiting for you to exercise your faith means to direct your attention to God you are impregnated with health wholeness and energy faith is the go power it’s the goal power faith is action faith without works is dead if you don’t work it
You get nothing but if you work it re Johnny Cole says it’ll work faith is an idea is to an idea what soil is to a seed faith is an idea in the Divine mind embodying hope trust belief and expectancy if you want to heal someone who is broken you must
Walk by faith and not by sight cuz the world will tell you that everything is about to run out but your faith will tell you that God is my Supply God is my Supply he will supply my every need and he knows what I need before I even ask
Hallelujah last thing I have for you it does matter how we treat each other oh it does it does the bible instructs you to pray even for your enemies because there is power in your words pray for your enemies and the Bible says that in doing so you will Heap coals upon their
Head why because you must look at the structure of the Universe on Earth as it is in heaven you must learn how to bless people at all times if people are driving a nice car rather than you getting jealous say thank God they’ve got a nice
Car if you see a couple and they look like they are happy please have the common sense to say God bless that couple may they have endless infinite years of health wealth and strength if you see somebody dressed nice say hallelujah bless the Lord we must learn how to treat each
Other because in treating each other the golden Ro do unto others as you would have them do unto you you make a way for your own blessing I pray for my enemies because I do not want that animosity to get in the way of my blessing I’m trying to create
Circulation in the spirit so that all the good stuff that’s supposed to come to me comes to me when I think it I want it I don’t want it when uh the Devils have to fight for the Devils that I have created to persecute and block my own
Blessing I unblock my blessing by blessing my neighbor I unblock my victory by celebrating the victory of my neighbor it does matter it matters how we treat one another there is no benefit in Burning Bridges everything that you do will be based on a relationship everything people are always ask me how
Did you do that that’s because I speak to everybody I don’t meet a stranger I know the CEO I know the CEO secretary I have spoken to the lady who cleans his office I have had a good encounter with the parking attendant the driver and the stranger out on the road
And the man begging for bread I talked to them all and as God is my witness every encounter unblocks the way for blessing in my life in my children’s life in my members life I’m a member of omegas Side Fire Fraternity Incorporated founded on November 17th 1911 on a raining stormy
Friday night in thurk Hill Hall I could go on but I do need you to know that out of the night that covers me black as a pit from pole to pole I thank whatever Gods may be for my unconquerable soul in the fail clutch of circumstance I have not
Winced nor cried aloud under the bludgeoning of chance my head is bloody but it’s Unbound Beyond this place of Wrath and tears looms the horror of the shade and yet the Menace of the years finds and shall find me unafraid it matters not how straight the gate nor how charged
With punishment the scroll I am the master of my faith I am the captain of my soul just in case you needed to know I can say that backwards in under a second now somebody wasted some time in college amen but it was a good time my son my oldest son also
Pledged omegas High fire Fraternity Incorporated Kai chapter 2012 he has the same name as I do only at the end of his name is the second he’s a lawyer now he is an attorney practicing in Florida now the had the nerve to tell me that I ought to be happy that I
Could say that my son is attorney and I told that you ought to be happy that I Sav your behind so you could be an attorney repeatedly you know kids get full of themselves but there’s one thing that you do know life will smack them down it will life is a great
Humbler two weeks before his undergraduate graduation he was expelled from school he was in school for six years undergrad for six years last I checked it only takes four any of y’all still with me two weeks before graduation H last I checked he didn’t call any big time famous lawyers
He didn’t call his mama if he did call her she didn’t come he didn’t have to call his daddy cuz his daddy was on the way two weeks before graduation expelled it’s hot in Florida a friend of mine bought me a ticket a roundway ticket at the last minute to go to
Florida to check on this Negro did I say something about relationships got down to Florida I don’t even remember where I stayed that’s funny I’m trying to think but I put on my hot my suit my hot suit it was a hot suit cuz it was hot we went to the registar office
Because we found out that the registar was taking care of her father who had pledged our fraternity at my school and my chapter in 1951 she said my daddy who I take care of every day is not only your frat brother but your chapter brother everybody don’t understand what
That means I don’t expect you to but I’m in the larg of fraternity but when I hear s chapter that’s my chapter when I hear side chapter my ears go up when I hear side chapter that’s my my real brother when I hear side chapter that that means that we have a connection
When I hear side chapter that means he built a bridge for me on my campus on the buildings that I know that’s no shame to anybody else everybody ought to feel that way about their chapter did I say something about relationships we had a special relationship she knew the layer at
School like nobody else she was a register she knew who was who wasn’t how when what how where who to see whatever first stop she said you need to do XYZ if you don’t do this then this ain’t gonna happen but if you do this this
Will happen if you possibly do this this could happen but ultimately this could happen but it may not happen because so and so in here but you gonna have to work it for yourself so I wrote down all the people she told me to go see and I
Went to go see them one by one everywhere I went everybody knew who my son was because all of them had developed a relationship with him good or bad but mostly good let me bring this story to a home close cuz I’m talking about relationship ships mhm mm it matters how you treat
People and even though my son can be a knucklehead that boy sure is a charmer and I have no idea where he got it from Lord have mercy Jeff was trying the socks all off of an Eskimo in the dead of the winter I’m talking about relationships it matters how you treat
People I did as much as I could do I talked to Deans I talked to security I talked to everybody I talked to everyone I could I was walking I was hot Jeff Jeff came with me to some of those some of them I handled on my own
Sometimes he sat outside while I I went in we talking about relationships after we got done everything we had could do I was basically told you got to wait till tomorrow said all right I think I stayed in I don’t know no I don’t know where I
Stayed wherever I stayed it was based on the relationship cuz I know I didn’t stay in the hotel I didn’t pack any clothes so I got up in the morning I got clean I did what I could with my shirt it was hot it was
Sweaty I rinsed it out I ironed it up got my tie together again and I went put that suit right back on had a bow tie gold bow tie a purple shirt blue suit we went back to work whoever I was supposed to meet with I believe was the
Dean I said I’ll be at your office at 8:00 I was there one of the first times and only times I’ve been on time in my life waited on that D and and was trying to establish a relationship with her I listened I listened I listened now it was no longer
A issue of me doing what I could do there was a student review board like a Judiciary board that that had the final say when a student was expelled and all actually had the authority to repeal that decision and they were going to meet but they had already met they had just
Met we went to the Dean’s office I sat with the dean and she explained me all of her positions and where she was but but but something about her wasn’t right the one thing she said to me she saidwell I could handle this myself if you give me permission I will make a
Decision or I could turn it over to the review board which I don’t have a vote in which one do you want me to do I can make a decision now or you could turn it over to the rebiew V I said you turn it on over to the board
While we were out walking having lunch one of the girls who was the president of the student government she came over and she said Jeff you know we have the review board but but no one’s on campus or at least she was told no one was on campus she came back I’m talking
About relationships it matters how you treat people she came back and she said oh I see I see what’s going on here you you your daddy’s down here she’s a cute girl your daddy’s down here and and he’s dressed in purple and gold and and and
He’s a big time q and and you a big time q and and your daddy came down here to help you out and to represent y’all cues running the yard today and I just had to laugh that was her perspective she said well I checked
Around and I found out that they are on campus Lord have mercy I’m talking about relation relationships if you’re trying to reach somebody who’s broken if you’re trying to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the city you better show somebody that you know how to treat people she said they’re meeting
Tomorrow I’ve contacted everybody in the group they’re meeting tomorrow just for you the dean told us that they would not meet that’s why she said just let me make the decision cuz they’re not going to meet the girl put in some leg work cuz she respected the fact that Jeff’s
Daddy came down in person to resolve this situation and get this boy back in the graduation line I know my story is long pray for me if you ever deal with a HBCU that’s a new term we used to call them black colleges but if you ever deal with a black
College please be clear that you can call all day but if you want to get something done you better show up in person Lord have mercy oh you ain’t going to get nothing done on the phone I know I know you used to dealing with them pwi and and you you
Want to fuss about Administration and what they should do if you going to deal with a what they call them HBCU now you better show up in person that’s a whole different experience man I soon realized that the dean was not on Jeff’s team the dean was setting Jeff
Up so here’s what she did she set a meeting for me in the president’s office unbeknown to me the president was out of town she said another meeting with me with the vice president who was apparently her friend but she told me that there was going to be a meeting of all security
All staff all other people in another part of the campus but she intentionally scheduled me to be in another meeting while they were meeting something inside of me when I was meeting in one of these distraction meetings I said you know there’s another meeting going on I should be in that
Meeting and I literally had to cut that meeting short with one of the vice presidents of the school to get to the real meeting I got to that meeting and and there were about eight or nine officials from the school security head of security actual security guard that was
On the scene when Jeff had this altercation or situation uh it was a whole staff of security people everybody about eight of them now my son is the lawyer now but I was the lawyer that day my son was like well that that I got this by the time I finish with those
Seven to eight security folk let me tell you something you can tell a mous man but you can’t tell them much H they met a morous man that day cuz I had questions nothing was making sense nothing for instance security guard who’s on the scene who reported
The situation who ignored most of what was happening almost got Jeff killed how many people were there 50 yeah it was 50 I said you sure cuz they were coming from the gym the gym holds more than 50 people was it 100 well yeah it was a 100
Well are you sure because the gym according to what I heard had the fraternities all the fraternities and other people was it 200 yeah it was 200 I went all the way up to 1,500 he agreed on every single one I said now how many how far were you away from this
Altercation he said oh I was about 10t away 15t away I said you were 10 15 ft away they had guns they had tasers they had numbers they were dressed in black they were waiting on my boy and you didn’t see none of them no I didn’t see
Any of that you were high far away well maybe I was 10 feet away maybe I was 20 so let me get this right you don’t know how many people were there you don’t know how far you were there and you were right on the seat and you saw
Nothing the supervisor security got up she gave me a look and uh she left I thought she was leaving to go she left to wait on me outside we finish that meeting they were glad to get out of there my son didn’t say a word for the first time in his
Life cuz I handled it talking about relationships got outside the security director was waiting on me she said you do know that was some BS I said I know out of 25 people in the altercation my son was the only son only person that was penalized and he was a
Victim he went to his car it was a group waiting on him and they jumped him but he was expelled we find out later that that group was a group that included two of the dean’s Sons and the previous Dean that I met with one of his fraternity Brothers several
Of his fraternity brothers so they they they were going to get Jeff they they decided they were sick of Jeff they had enough of Jeff they were going to get him they wasn’t going to let him graduate they was going to get him they
Was going to get him but the boy had a Daddy huh he had a daddy I’m talking about relationships I know my story is long I’m just about done we had to wait another day all right meanwhile I’m trying to find the president of the college the president was not in
Town the president could have made that decision and we could have been done with it but he was not in town next morning I woke up early again I put that same old suit on that same old shirt I washed it out rinsed it out and I put my
Tie back on and we got back together we got to campus early we waited on the president finally talk to somebody who actually gave me a plan for Jeff’s reemergence into the possibility you can take these exams you could do it on this day we could just the
Possibility but you’ve got to talk to the president well before the president arrived uh I’m trying to tell you about relationships you got to know how to treat people before the president arrived they had the student meeting you talk about a tear jerger you had representatives from each sorority and
Fraternity you had a a faculty representative they all showed up they showed up the fact that they showed up was amazing because I I’m pretty sure school was on break before finals I’m talking about relationships Jeff had relationships with these people they knew Jeff they knew what happened they showed up doc
On a day in between last day of school and exams where folk were everywhere it was a packed house those kids got up and they wanted to testify they called Jeff young easy or something some young Breezy Young young Breezy Lord have mercy young Breezy girl got up young Breezy didn’t do
Nothing they waited at the car for him they tried to jump him they had guns the police didn’t do anything they didn’t do anything until after it was all over if young Breezy didn’t know how to handle himself he probably would have got hurt and then when they did do something they
Let all those boys with clubs and black clothes go and they arrested him and the girl said it ain’t right and that that opened the floodgates student after student rose up on his behalf the people on the panel spoke on his behalf The Faculty person
Spoke on his behalf and and look at this this text talks about the naysayers somebody said it couldn’t be done after all of that the the dean that I spoke with who said you could even give it to me or you could give it to the committee
By which I don’t have a vote she came in at the end of the meeting and said I just got something I want to say I said you can’t say nothing well I want I want my opinion you don’t have an opinion here she got up and said something
Negative the kids were like [Laughter] nah they voted to reinstate the boy not guilty but they didn’t have the final word I’m talking about relationships the next day I came early because I knew I needed to see the president and the president is also a member of Omega Sci-Fi fraternity Incorporated founded
191 on November 17th in a rainy stormy night Friday night thirkill Hall but I didn’t know him but I knew his ly brother they played in 1960 something before I was born and his Lon brother knew Jeff called his line brother and I told him who I
Was his line brother I’m talking about relationships his ly brother said I know Jeff Jeff’s a hard worker he’s a good kid kind of strong willed but I know Jeff he’s no problem I said do you think you could talk to your Lon brother who is the president of the
School he said no problem I give him a call President didn’t talk to me at all not even one single word this lion brother called me back he said we’re good we’re good he said there’s one stipulation one stipulation he said when Jeff goes across that stage
Better not be no barking and no no stepping I said oh we can live with that we can live with that y’all hear me Jeff was able to take his exams he passed his exams he got all of his graduation stuff on time with everybody else he graduated and it was a glorious
Time black college graduations a little bit different than other folk graduations and I know the setup because I’ve been to a ton of black college graduations and I always know that there is a banquet for the president after graduation talking about relationships I’m G to let
Y’all go I only been talking for about an hour and a half I decided rather than to go do whatever they had planned I saw Jeff and uh I went to the president’s banquet I didn’t have no ticket I wasn’t on the list but I am Jeff Sanders y’all better be clear about
That yeah you you better ask somebody I walked in like I was supposed to be there my friend who uh was taking care of her father she saw me gave me a big hug she had introduced me to some other all those people that I had been to that
Whole week all of them were there all of them greeted me like I was one of the faculty and so obviously I belong y’all don’t hear me I saw the president now I had seen him go into his office that last day but I was I was careful to be
Respectful he got out of his car with his secretary in his Entourage and I was sitting on the bench outside his office and he said to me he said I understand that you’ve been here a couple days and I said yes sir yes sir he said I got
You we’ll handle it I said yes sir yes sir this was before he had had a conversation with his L brother so I saw him we talking about relationships we’re talking about respect we’re talking about knowing that there’s a God came up behind him I touched him on
His shoulders I squal him like I would squeeze one of my brothers cuz I love my brothers he turned around to face me and he stuck his hand out to shake my hand I shook his hand as as I st stood at his back shoulder he didn’t even ask me my
Name he said we good I said we good we’re good you sure we’re good if you want to reach somebody who broken brother Lee just convince them that there is a God somewhere convince him that the world is full convince them that it does matter how we treat one another amen [Applause] [Applause] [Applause]
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