Key Takeaways From Episode:
In this dynamic episode, Bobby Spears, Jr. and Gary Scott Thomas have an open and honest conversation about race, politics, raising kids, and more.
Also in this jam-packed episode:
- What it means to leave a legacy for his kids
- How not being a millionaire is a good thing
- Changing the way minorities are viewed and how they view themselves
- The truth about minorities and poverty
- How the media’s portrayal of minorities and poverty is perpetuating self-limiting beliefs
- How the media could help
- Getting pulled out of his car because of the color of his skin
- Being “1 step away from Armageddon”
- How words lose meaning because of hashtags
- What Americans really have in common
- His rule for comedians
- Being an observer
- His new book
- and more!
Quotations:
“I’m trying to leave something for my children.” ~Bobby Spears, Jr.
“If you give your children too much, they don’t understand the value of those things.” ~Bobby Spears, Jr.
“There’s a value in rolling your sleeves up.” ~Bobby Spears, Jr.
“When you don’t have a plan B, you throw everything into plan A.” ~Bobby Spears, Jr.
“I’ve never seen a crime happen in front of me.” ~Bobby Spears, Jr.
“People spend more time insulting and tearing down each other than having discussions.” ~Bobby Spears, Jr.
“Politics is supposed to be the art of compromise.” ~Bobby Spears, Jr.
“If you can’t laugh at yourself, you’re brittle.” ~Bobby Spears, Jr.
Guest’s Bio:
Bobby Spears, Jr. is a husband, father, and writer. Spears attended Howard University on an Annenberg Scholarship awarded in part to an academic paper he wrote on the importance of changing the ways minorities are viewed and view themselves in the media. After graduating in 1996 with a BA in television and film production, he chose to work in his family business, providing housing and attendant care to the mentally disabled. Over more than 20 years, the Spears family has grown their business into the largest privately-owned personal care provider in Pennsylvania. At their height, the company housed and cared for nearly five hundred disabled clients monthly.
During his career, Mr. Spears provided assistance to nearly ten thousand clients and families, worked with thousands of third-party health care providers, dealt with three state administration changes, and consulted for multiple entrepreneurs opening their own facilities. Spears never gave up his desire to impact the world through media, so at the age of forty-three, he decided to focus on writing and television, and film production. He is supported and motivated to succeed by his wife Adrienne and two children, Zakhari and Zoie.
I’m now reading Bedlam, and can’t put it down. But I want to read it lore slowly so it won’t end. Such a fabulous book. The author has so much common sense and compassion and the ability to spot BS and idiocy and meanness. I want to know people like him!