The NFL being Cancelled and Black Lives Matter Talk with Sam Anderson

Well, that was recorded. That is the first thing out of your mouth while we were recording. So there you go. I didn't know you did that.

Yep. Try and stop. Don't tell my wife.

All right. Well, all right. So listeners, do not send this to his wife. So if you. If you don't recognize this incredible, sexy, handsome beast. This is Sam Anderson.

Oh, that's an intro right there.

Mic drop. That's it. Do you want to take me everywhere to introduce?

You might have to do that.

So serial entrepreneur is an understatement for you, but dad is a new title, right?

Dad is definitely a new title. Sixteen weeks in the game.

How's the game going?

Not too bad. I mean, my wife's like a superhuman mom. Like, I mean, she's just taking so much on our shoulders. Like, and the goal has been for her to be a stay at home mom. So with this new business, the plan is to be bringing her home sometime this year. So she's been. She's been a rock star with it. So I can't say there's been a whole lot of heavy lifting for me. I just try to fill in the gaps where I can. I just feel as a dad like my moment's not here yet. I'm gonna be that teaching dad. I'm gonna look for those moments and those opportunities to teach my child. And she's just burping and googling and all that stuff. Yeah, it's fun, but I can't teach her anything yet.

Can you teach her a touchdown dance?

Oh, I will definitely teach her a touchdown dance.

Can we have a little preview? Of what? That touchdown dance. Can you push the chair back and without taking the mic on?

I told you I hurt my back. So, like, I'm not in full fighting mode.

Okay, so we'll get. We'll get like, a modified touchdown dance.

I'll give you a little sample. Just a little.

Okay.

Oh, that's all they need. That's all they need right there. That's all I need. This is a free barcast. They gotta pay more for that.

No, no. Okay. At least you didn't go with, like, the Cam Newton. Like, at least you didn't.

Yeah, I don't do the super.

We can still be friends because you didn't do that. So one of my friends played the most awful joke on me and told me that they were canceling the NFL. Like, the season.

It's gonna happen.

No, it's not gonna happen. Like, the most recent official update is they, like, depending on the state, they Were either gonna have 25% capacity, 50% capacity, or no fans at all. But, like, it was televised.

If they don't do the bubble system, like, what the NBA has done, it's not going to last. Like, MLB has had to stop a couple times. Like, it doesn't work unless they include some bubble system.

Like, do you even understand the level of depression that I will sink to if there's no NFL?

I'm with you. We have our fantasy football draft this weekend, and I'm wondering if it's going to be all for. Not like, because where was my invite? Yeah, the guys who decided that they weren't going to play due to Covid, like, have already, like, submitted that. And it's too late to pull out the NFL now. So if you're in it, you're playing this year. But I've been more excited about the Mike Tyson fight. Him and Roy Jones Jr. I've been thinking that's going to be the biggest thing in sports this year, seeing those two guys fight. Man, I would love to see my Steelers tear it up this season. But I don't think the NFL's protecting players the way the NBA is. And you look at. Look at college football. I mean, so many of those divisions and teams have pulled out. Like, I just don't know if it's gonna happen.

Sam. Like, we haven't talked in months, and this is what you come out with?

I'm very. I'm a very optimistic person, but I'm also a realist.

I can't even. Have you seen the NBA bubblegames? Like, did you see I posted on Facebook stories because Luca first. No, the. The Black Lives Matter that they have across the court was the Clippers versus the Lakers. Confess, I haven't seen any game since then.

And.

And I'm not really a true NBA fan, but I'm from SoCal. And so it was the Clippers and the Lakers, and when I went to U of A, Brie Walton was on our volleyball team. And she's. Well, it wasn't Brie. It was Brie Ladd back then, but Bri Walton now, and he played for the Lakers and coached the Lakers. And we won't talk about that part, but so, like, I kind of had to go for the Lakers. My uncle's is a huge. My uncle is a huge Lakers fan. But in that kind of a situation, like, I can't lose either way, an LA team is gonna win. So I kind of turned it on. And, like, they're running back and forth and I Was like, no, they didn't. Yes, they did. So I totally did an Instagram stories and was like, you know what? To like take paint and put it on a frickin floor and broadcast that and not have it be some stupid graphic that is just like temporary. But to be like, here it is like. And then all the jerseys and I was like in awe. I was so NBA's doing well.

I know President Trump doesn't like that, but I think the NBA's doing well.

I didn't ask him. Yeah, I did not ask him for his approval on my Facebook stories, nor do I need it, but there, I.

Mean, those guys are truly taking a stance. Wnba I think even went more hardcore when things started out. I think the WNBA has gotten a whole lot more views based on their stance. I think the first game in the bubble, I think both teams actually one of the first games, they both walked out during the national anthem. Now a lot of people take that as a sign of disrespect to the flag, but it's not. It's literally them protesting about the injustices that are going on in this country. So some people choose to take that as a slap in the face against Americans. I don't. Because people have explained over and over again what that actually means when you're taking a knee, when you're walking out at a moment like that. It's not to disrespect the flag, it's to stand up for social injustices. But I mean, no other sports league has done what the NBA is doing right now with that. The fact that they have, you know, 20 different sayings that you can put on the back of your jersey and your name's all the way at the bottom of the jersey. And that's what people are seeing every time they watch an NBA game. Like, to me, it's a beautiful thing.

I need to go watch the wnba so. Because I gotta get caught up on that. Full transparency. What was it two years ago? Colin Kaepernick. I could have decked that guy. I did not understand, you know, like growing up, you know, I grew up in a military family, right? And so like without having any conversation or any, like being completely ignorant to his rationale, just seeing what I saw and I'm being transparent in the aspect that I didn't, you know, stop and call him and be like, hey bro, why? Not that he owes me or anybody an explanation, right? So I brought it up with my dad and my husband, both army. And they're like, no, we're down for it. Like, that's why we go to war. Like, that's why we fight these battles, is so that you have the right to do that. I was thinking, like, I would have this on army of my Family behind me being like, that's so, like, everything that you just said. And I've done, like, a complete 180. I can totally say I've done a complete 180 and, like, totally get the big picture now. And I don't know if you forget.

About that with Kaepernick. People forget that he spoke to a white man who was active duty. He had a private conversation with that man. Because the first time Colin Kaepernick did it, he just sat on the bench. The military guy reached out to him. Colin flew him out to wherever he was. They had a personal one on one meeting. And he specifically asked that guy, what can I do to protest during this moment and not be disrespectful to people like you who served this country? And that guy told him, I think taking a knee is the most respectful thing that you can do.

So now you've given me two things that I need to Google.

The info's there.

So I have. Yeah, but that's the whole thing is the info's there. So I did this RVA Mic Share. I think it was last month. I want to say it was the beginning of July. If you haven't seen it, you got to go look at it. You know who Sheba Williams is of no Left Turns?

Yeah.

Okay. So she was my black partner. So RVA Mike Share was a white influencer, an individual that's perceived as white, swapping social media profiles with a woman of color. Actually, they were all black women. And so she was my sister for the week. And I can say that now because the experience she and I went through was just amazing. And on one day, I think it was Throwback Thursday. We actually did, like, a picture of her growing up and a picture of me growing up in, like, comparison of that versus college versus our weddings versus all of this. Just to kind of see the similarities and also the differences. But the conversations that her and I had, I mean, we went live with them. No editing, no filtering, and she could tell me to go kick rocks. But just like the way that even the explanation. Her and I had this discussion about the defund the police movement because I have law enforcement clients. And, you know, there's police officers. I'm a retired mental health professional, but there's police officers that are totally for the defund the police Movement. And now, like, with that understanding, like, you know, and doing your own research, I think that's the biggest thing that I think is coming from Sam and I's convo is like, just don't look at Facebook and get, like, the headline and then make an opinion. Like, don't just look at the picture. Like, look at the whole person. And, like, with this most recent shooting.

That just took place, did you hear about the shooting that took place like, a day or two ago? So, yeah, obviously that's gonna stir some stuff up. I saw another post come up that talked about. Because there's always in my mind, obviously, I'm a black man first. Before anything else, I will take the time when I see something. My first thought is, well, what happened before the video started? Because anytime videos like that come out, we never get the full video. Initially. It's just this one snippet that you can take and translate however you want. So I saw another gentleman post something, and I don't know where he got this information, and I still haven't seen anything to date about this, but he said in his post that the police were telling them to comply. They initially pulled out their Tasers. They went to discharge their Taser, and it wouldn't work. So at that point, that's when the guy proceeded to walk around. If you he zoomed in on the picture of the guy, it appears he has something in his hand. The post was claiming that he had a knife in his hand, but you cannot tell that from how grainy the image was. When you go to zoom in to me, it looks like it could be a cell phone, it could be a lighter. Like, it could literally be anything. At that moment, when he walked all the way around the car and opened his door, this gentleman was expressing that he had already told the cops that he has a gun in his car and he's planning on using it on him. So by the time he got to the front door, that's when they discharged and shot him seven times. Kind of hard for me to believe a there were two cops there. So if one went to discharge his Taser and it didn't work, you're telling me, how often can that happen? That two cops are gonna be on scene and both their tasers malfunction and they're not able to work. And why are we going straight to the chest and trying to shoot somebody? Like, if the idea is to stop them from what they're doing, why is it all these major organs that they're aiming at, not like Shooting at somebody's leg because the story initially came out that this guy was there on site breaking up a fight between two women. And then all this stuff happened. His kids were in the backseat. I don't know why he walked around. And I have to say this too, as black people, we have to follow orders and listen to what the cops are saying. It's better in that moment to obey and get stuff settled in court than end up with seven bullets in your body. Now, luckily, this, this young man is still stable and he's alive, surprisingly. But that was one of my first initial thoughts is man, why is he just not complying? But we don't, we don't have to take it that far.

You know, it's, we have so much work to do as humanity. You know, I'm going all the way back to. You said I'm a black man first. And the reason that I'm going back there is because I initially told my best friend who is a black non binary individual, that I don't see color. I was raised in Southern California. And so I made a statement that.

I didn't say that.

I said, I know, I know. I said, I didn't know racism still existed like this until I moved to Virginia. And they said, you know, that is your own privilege, your own level of privilege. Right? And I recognize that. And so I'm doing the work every single day. And so when you lead and say I'm a black man first, that's not how I perceive you, my friend Sam. And then I stop and I look at it and I think about what I know about your journey and what I know about where you are right now and what I know about being a 16 week old dad, or dad to a 16 week old, having 16 weeks under your belt. You know, I want listeners to Google you. And I don't do this for every difference makers because we're talking about the human, not necessarily the business and the business owner, but Google. Sam Anderson, Enzo Media, among other things. And the podcasts that you've done, the companies that you start, the companies that you've sold, the mentorship that you've provided, the international growth that you've had, the support that you give back to the community and being able to do that and still have an open mind to say, hey, let's make sure that we're getting like the whole entire story. And then also to keep reminding the listeners that I'm a black man that, you know, is doing all of this. And that is an important part of this Story was what I'm hearing from you. I'm not saying for the list, I'm not putting funny juice on that. But, you know, for Sam's story, like, it's to recognize it all as a human and the accomplishments, but then say, and I did it, and I'm black.

Yeah. And that's the big thing, is understanding that. You know, I think one thing, because I started this show called Race Talks on Facebook, and we'll do a live panel with people of different races on Mondays and just have these open conversations. And, you know, it's understanding. When you go back to the fact that, you know, when someone uses the term, I don't see color, well, you're taking away from what it's taken for me to accomplish what I have in my life, the journey. And I'm not saying just simply because you're white. Like, this goes into the white privilege conversation, which, you know, a lot of I have. A lot. I'm married to a white woman. A lot of my friends are white. They just didn't understand the concept of white privilege. Like, generally, if you haven't done your research and you don't know what that means, people generally automatically assume what that means is it has to do with your economic status. Oh, because you're white, you're better off financially than I am. That's not what it means at all. It means that you're afforded certain opportunities that people of color are not. It means that you can go about your day and live a life without someone watching over your shoulder. So generally, I'm making a very general statement. This isn't exactly the way it is for everybody, but nine times out of 10, if a white person gets pulled over by a cop, the first thought in your head is, isn't, am I gonna see my kids and husband tonight? You're not worried about the fact that you may get gunned down as a black man? I've never experienced something like that where a cop has pulled me over. And I've actually, I take that back one time, and it wasn't too long ago where I was concerned for my life, but for the most part, majority of my life, that hasn't been the case. The fact that a white person can walk into Target and not have somebody following them around, expecting them to steal something, all those little things are white privilege. The fact that I've had certain doors shut in my face when I was more than qualified. I was passed up for the job because they wanted a white person in that position. So that's not to say woe is me. And you know, I'm just gonna kick back because this is the way the system is built. It's, it's built to work against me. I just have to work 10 times harder. And I remember seeing a video where I think it was like a football coach or something like that and he had all these kids stand on one line and he said, take one step forward if you were, if you live in a two parent household, take another step forward if you've had this. Take another step forward if you have that. So by the end of that, 90% of the black people were still at the starting line. And all these white people had like a ten step head start. And he said, I want all you turn around and look back at that and realize, you know, and I think majority of those black guys are there or like guys are on the football team that would smoke any of them in a foot race on an equal level. Yeah, but it's like simply because of the color your skin, you've been afforded these privileges that you guys aren't starting in the same position for your race. They're at a huge disadvantage because you've had all these things along the way to kind of give you a step up. And that's literally what it is. And just understanding. So when someone says I don't see color, you're discounting the extra work that I've had to put in to get where I am today. It's not easy being an entrepreneur, let alone a black entrepreneur. I've been very cognizant of the fact that, you know, when I've started businesses and had business partners, all of them have been white because I know that there are certain doors that they're going to open that I just can't. Now, nine times out of ten, when somebody gets a chance to meet me and we're able to talk like they see I know what I'm talking about and I'm qualified for the job. You know, we're willing to move on past that. But a lot of people just look at things on the surface and say, nah, I'm not interested.

You're more than qualified, I can tell you that. And you know, there's also something that I fought against was like, I think you've seen my dad, my dad's brown, you know, and my mom's Irish, like 100%. And so my oldest daughter, you know, looks skin tone wise very different than me. And so I fought against this identity of not wanting to be white. But at the End of the day, I get perceived as a white female. Like irregardless, there's people can say, you know, well, I don't benefit from white privilege because I'm X, Y and Z. There is it. I think it's how to be an anti racist. I can't think of the author right now, but it was the discussion of how dark your skin is versus the perceptions and how you're treated. So even he was saying like lighter skinned individual black individuals or individuals who are black, you know, to have favorable conditions than, you know, darker skin. So like, I think the moral of the story is right now is the best time to educate yourself was 100 years ago. The second best time to educate yourself is right now. Do not, do not hit my Sam up and ask him to educate you. That is your homework and your homework alone. That is not his job. He has enough jobs. I can attest to that.

Yes, I do.

And he crushes them. So I'm gonna leave the listeners with two of my favorite Edumacation books. And this is not so listeners know. You've watched enough Difference Makers that you know that Sam and I hopped on here like we were talking about literally his jacked up back. And here's where we're at. Even with that jacked up back, he is able to support like I'm gonna say, over a million individuals lives. And that's an underestimate estimation of people that he's supported even with that jacked up back and reached and touched. And that's total underestimation because I know with the production company alone, like it's got to be more than that, let alone your podcast.

It's very humbling because as entrepreneurs we never take the time to sit down and really look at the scope of work we've done. We're just always moving, moving, moving. That's the first time I've heard that out loud from somebody.

And I'll put the link to Sam's LinkedIn because it's important that you know the human before you know the companies in these times. And so my two books, and then I'm gonna put you on the spot, how to be an Anti Racist. And I wish that I could remember the author. I may Google it. I want to say it's Ibram, but I can't remember. And the second is White Fragility. And I can't remember the author of that book either. But those are two amazing books to start. And then my, My Last plug, which I would never forgive myself if I didn't is Dr. Tiffany Janna. Anything that they write is incredible because it's from a perspective of an individual with a disability, an individual who is black, an individual who is non binary. And it's co authored for most of her book. Most of their books are co authored with another individual with another perspective. And so it's like getting a twofer when you read their books. So. And just google Dr. Tiffany Janna and you'll get all of their books.

Nice. I would say so for me, I'll leave people with this one is I saw a post the other day that I think kind of hits the nail on the head. And it was young white guy holding up a sign and it said it's not black versus white, it's everybody versus racism. This isn't a black and white or Asian and Mexican thing. It literally is us as a human race fighting against those who have these racist ideologies. Because to hold one population of people down for so long, that holds us all back. Ultimately. There are things now, you know, seen before that, you know, and I talked, we're working on some programs and stuff for the inner city and things like that. But if you're in the projects, you're told like if you can't ball, if you can't rap, you're stuck here. And there are so many different ways to get yourself in better situations than having to put your body on the line to be an NFL player or NBA player. And the chances that happen are slim to none of you. It's literally like winning the lottery. It's not an easy thing to do. But instead of a book recommendation, what I would recommend is the most benefit I've seen for people on this topic is talking to somebody outside your race, talking to somebody that's come from a different background than you. Just having a real honest conversation. Because I've had to have those conversations with people too. Because I can't assume certain things about somebody just because they're white. There are certain people I know that were raised in certain neighborhoods. Some of my best clients and now friends like came from areas where they didn't see any black faces till they were adults and moved on to different parts of the state. It's just the way some of these pockets are like in our, in our communities and in our country. So I would say literally just having a heart to heart conversation with somebody and understanding someone else's point of view. You know, I think, I think this is also a hard time to be white because a lot of white people are just scared that like they want to do something, they're scared that, you know, whatever they say on social media or something like that is going to be perceived the wrong way and then people are going to label them racist when really they're just trying to get an understanding of what it is that they can best do to move the needle forward. And that's why we started that show, Race Talks is literally just to have those conversations and have people ask those questions that others are afraid to ask. Because if it's on the mind of one of our panelists, that means that there are thousands of other people who have that same question are just too afraid to ask it. So we create that type of environment where these conversations can happen and people can get educated and not just, you know, stay out of it because they don't want to get caught in the mix. And even for myself, and I'm going on a little bit of a tangent here, but you know, between all my companies, like 80, 90% of my clientele is white. So it took some real deep thought and like self reflection for me to come out and even start speaking on these things. You know, after the George Floyd thing, that's probably when things reached their highest peak. But that was the first time I literally cried over a situation like this. I was like, Jesus Christ, when is enough enough? Like you have the footage, this man is literally being murdered in front of others from a cop who sworn to uphold certain oats and protect and serve. And this is what we're seeing. And I just started thinking about, because like you talked about different complexions and things like that. My daughter's mixed, her mom's white, her dad's black. Growing up, most people are just gonna see her as a little black girl and there are certain things that she's gonna have to deal with and that I'm have to teach and instill in her on how she needs to behave and how she needs to act simply based off the way that others are going to perceive her. I do believe that the upcoming generation, I mean people that are younger than us, most of them really don't care. They really don't. It's just these old racial ideologies that have been beaten in the families for generations to generations. This isn't something that's going to change overnight, but I truly believe we're going to see a big difference in this next generation and what we've seen from pass.

I appreciate you being able to come on and do this with me, have this conversation with me, this unexpected conversation. I appreciate our friendship more than you will ever know. And if there's anything that I can do to support you, you know, let me know. And. And if you're listening, I'm gonna put the race talks link as well in the description for the video. So make sure you go and you check that out. And you know this. Sam's given you a lot of good starting points to have some really incredible conversations with those around you, and I'd encourage you to kind of keep going. That's. That's all I can leave it at is Sam Anderson definitely a difference maker. Definitely making a difference, making the world a better place. I appreciate you, sir, very much so. All right.