Breaking Battlegrounds Independence Day
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It's the new year and time for the new you. You've thought about running for political office but don't know where to start. Before you start any planning, you need to secure your name online with a yourname.vote web domain. This means your constituents will know they are learning about the real you when they surf the web. Secure your domain from godaddy.com today. Welcome to the Independence Day edition of Breaking Battlegrounds.

We have some fantastic guests on here, maybe a little less political than we often do. And I think that's fantastic, especially for this weekend. I hope everyone has a wonderful time with their families. Probably not going to go too far, right, folks? I think.

But in the meantime, we have someone on the line who I know Chuck and I are very excited to talk to, Martin DeCaro, broadcast journalist for The Washington Times and host of History As It Happens podcast. He has 25 years of experience in broadcast journalism, so he can probably give us a few pointers here, Chuck. More than a few. More than a few. Yeah, he's better at this than us. Yes.

Martin, thank you so much and welcome to the program. Chuck and Sam, you're both too kind. I'm delighted to be here. I wasn't expecting this invitation, but I'm glad you like the podcast. Well, when you have something worthwhile to say and you provide good information, we like to have people on. You had a fantastic podcast on your History As It Happens podcast from The Washington Times, and you released it yesterday called Frederick Douglass and the Fourth of July.

And Frederick Douglass gave this speech on the 4th of July, and we'd like you to tell our audience exactly what it was and why that's so significant. Well, I think of this speech every year at this time. A lot of us, we're all used to the standard 4th of July oratory. You know, maybe you hear it at your town's parade or you hear the president, whoever it is, right?

And Douglass gives you some of that, the standard patriotic fare. But what makes this speech so remarkable are the different rhetorical turns he takes. He mixes condemnation with praise, but he ends with hope and uplift. So it's July 4th, 1852. Just a little bit of context here. It's two years after the Compromise of 1850, which happened.

had a new fugitive slave act in it where slaves who escaped to the north could be, you know, in these unfair, really travesties of justice, renditioned back into the south and back into slavery. They can essentially be kidnapped back into slavery.

And Douglas is outraged by this. And he doesn't really have a political home at this point. The Liberty Party, the Free Soil Party have already kind of peaked and the Republican Party hasn't come along yet. That really happens after the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. So that's a little bit of context where, you know, where Douglas is at this point in American history and in his own life.

So he's already a famous person. He has escaped from slavery 14 years before this. It's 1852. He's speaking to an audience of abolitionists. And as I mentioned, he goes into this standard patriotic fair. He's talking about the founding fathers. And I'll give you the quote right here from the speech. I think everybody should seek this speech out as they spend the holiday. It's easy to find online.

He, let's see, I had, well, I have it here. I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men too, great enough to give fame to a great age. It does not often happen to a nation to raise at one time

Such a number of truly great men. So he's telling his audience what, you know, they already know that the founding fathers are brave. And what Douglas means by this is not that, you know, he's ignoring how the founders may have inadequately dealt with slavery. Right. He's talking about that. They were brave enough in their time to stand up for what they wanted. They were willing to make sacrifices for their own freedom.

And then that's when he pivots and he says, what to the slave is the 4th of July? And he says, you, you meaning my fellow Americans today in 1852 are not doing the same thing. And he goes into this scathing, bitter indictment of his fellow Americans for not standing up to try to abolish slavery.

in many cases, defending slavery, right? And he's talking about the internal slave trade, which was a horror, and also the Fugitive Slave Act, which I've already mentioned. And then he goes into this scathing indictment of the churches, the ministers, the parishioners. Stop being hypocrites. Use your bully pulpit. Use your pulpit to push public opinion forward.

in the right direction so we can get rid of slavery. And then he ends, he ends with this, I'm condensing the speech obviously here, but he ends with basically a call to action and with some uplift. And I have the words here. He goes, I do not despair for this country. You know, he says, I do not despair because I understand that the workings, it's already underway that slavery at some point will be gotten rid of.

And that's that's Douglas's embrace of American politics and our American ideals. And I think that's so important to remember on this this holiday weekend that, you know, what unites us as Americans, especially now. Right. We're so divided. And I think there's a lot of truth to that. Not just on Twitter. We're very divided.

Historically, Americans come from all different backgrounds, creeds, ethnicities, cultures, right? So it's always been a tricky thing to figure out, you know, what are we united around? Not like other countries that might be united around a single race or a single religion or a single way of doing things. We're united around our ideals.

And at this point in our development as a nation, if you will, when we've lost faith and for good reason in so many of our institutions, not just government institutions, the media, the Boy Scouts, I don't know, you name it, right? Most institutions today are thought less well of than they were, say, 30, 40 years ago. It's our ideals that hold us together. Right.

What is...Fedrick Douglas met with Abraham Lincoln three times. And the first time he met him, he just went and got in line in the White House to meet with the president. He did not have a time set aside for it, right? He just walked in, stood in line like everybody else, and met Abraham Lincoln. And when he was introducing himself, Abraham Lincoln goes, I know who you are, sir. Could you tell our audience a little bit about what happened on those three meetings and how they developed a

a respect for one another, if not a fondness. Yeah, this is the classical convergence of an activist with a politician. And, you know, it's interesting as when you can cherry pick Douglas for any purpose you want today, you can find quotes of him condemning Lincoln and praising Lincoln in the same speech. You know, the end was that Douglas was,

came to understand, as frustrated as he was with what he believed was Lincoln's slowness on the slavery issue, he came to understand that Lincoln had all the weights that a politician carries in wartime. He had to hold together his coalition. He had to hold together public opinion. 1864, which I believe is one of their meetings, was a horrible year in the Civil War. War weariness in the North was peaking.

The casualty totals from the battlefields were terrible. And Lincoln thought he was going to lose the election. And you're as frustrated as the 1864 election. He was running against his former general, McClellan, who was a war Democrat in the North. So as frustrated as Douglas could be with Lincoln, he understood when you're then faced with a choice, as you are in politics, right? You have to at some point make a choice. He understood the alternative to Lincoln would have been much worse for the end of slavery.

that if the war Democrats or the peace Democrats get a foothold in the federal government, that the Civil War might end with slavery intact somehow. And, you know, and Lincoln becomes more of the radical. I mean, the guest in that podcast is James Oakes, brilliant historian who wrote a book called The Radical and the Republican. And Lincoln moves from, you know, the more conservative or cautious politician, although I don't think Lincoln was all that cautious, to radical.

The more radical position where he is now trying to destroy slavery, given the opportunities that were opened up by the war. Martin, would it be fair to say, and this has always been my impression from reading about Lincoln, that he wasn't cautious particularly at all, but he was incredibly calculated?

Yeah, I think it's wrong to see Lincoln as cautious. And James Oakes makes a great point of this in my podcast. He goes, because today, obviously, Lincoln has fallen out of favor with unbelievably liberals, which I don't which I don't understand. And I don't really talk about my own politics. I literally said this morning in response to another one of those incidents where they were, I think it was one of the big universities. Cornell. Yeah, Cornell.

Down a Lincoln statue. Are they crazy? What was Lincoln's fault? Not being born early enough to stop slavery in 1776? I mean, you know, slavery had been around in what we would then call the United States. What became the United States for 250 years. It had survived revolutions. It had survived wars. It had legal protection. It had survived 15 presidents. It had survived 30 Congresses. And within 18 months of taking office,

Lincoln does the Emancipation Proclamation. He did the preliminary one and then the full one on January 1st, 1863. Is 18 months really all that long a time when you consider the history there? Even in the social media era, it's not that long of a time. I mean, that's pretty incredible when you think about it. Absolutely. So, you know, I think what the lesson, if we could use that term lesson, the takeaway from Douglass, his speech in 1852,

And his interactions with Lincoln is our ideals matter, that we shouldn't surrender those ideals to our opponents, whoever they may be. You know, Douglas could have very easily said to hell with these people, as some people do today, talking about the founding fathers, white supremacists, slaveholders, et cetera, et cetera. I have no use for them. But he said, no, the Constitution, according to Frederick Douglass, was a liberty document.

I'm not going to cede that ground to my opponents and let them say the Constitution protects slavery forever. It's my Constitution, too. You know, but he does a rhetorical twist in the speech where he says, yes, this is my country and I admire our founders. But this is your holiday. Talking to his audience of, you know, mixed race audience. But he's speaking to white Americans. I can't celebrate.

this holiday the way you do until we all live up to our ideals because my people are in chains. But then he but he doesn't condemn the country. He condemns the inaction on the part of his American fellow Americans. But he embraces our ideals. He embraces anti-slavery politics as the vehicle to affect change. That's why he parted from the Garrisonian abolitionists, who are the more strident and radical, if you will, abolitionists who just rejected politics.

Well, it seems like Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln would not have much of a platform today if they could even become people of influence today because they understood coalition building. They understood strategy. And I think people are missing that. And when people say we can't get... I mean, what's amazing in Washington right now is everybody's complaining about Supreme Court cases being thrown back to the people who are supposed to fix the problems, not done by judicial fiat. And...

And there is maybe more people in elected office today should look how Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln handled this issue, how they understood coalition building and building alliances. And, you know, I'm sure deep down their guts, they wanted things moving a lot faster, even than 18 months. But you take with what you can do to make a change. Yeah, I think to a lot of people, maybe young people today feel like there are certain issues that.

where you can't compromise. You're on the right side of it and there can be no compromise. Well, that's not how politics works. You're right, maybe from a moral sense. Then you brought up the Supreme Court and I was thinking about the abortion issue today. Whatever one's issue is on abortion and whether people should have access, whether women should have access to abortion, when it comes to the issue of the court and sending it back to the states, if you want to look at a movement

the pro-life movement, the right to life movement for 50 years, they held their goal. One of their goals was to end the federal right to abortion that was established by Roe versus Wade. They didn't just give up when they didn't get their way right away. Right. Exactly. They combined activism with politics. They elected pro

pro-life legislators, pro-life congresspeople, pro-life presidents who would appoint judges who would maybe see it their way. They, of course, they continued their activism, but they used it in a political manner. And it took 50 years, but it worked, right? I mean, there's a lesson there. I think there's an analogy. I apologize. I'm going to cut you off. We're going to bring you back for the next segment here in just a moment. Breaking Battlegrounds coming right back.

Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds. On the line with us today, Martin DeCaro, broadcast journalist for The Washington Times, host of History As It Happens podcast. Fascinating discussion so far. Martin, how do folks keep up with you and your work? Because I think a lot of folks around the country could use maybe a little more nuanced view of history. A little more Martin.

History as it happens is available wherever you might find your podcast. So I have Apple podcast, Spotify. It's also at Washington Times dot com or maybe the easiest way of all history as it happens dot com. That takes you to the the the podcast's home at the Washington Times. Fantastic. Martin, did Frederick Douglass view the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution as abolitionist documents?

Yes, yes. He saw he thought that the Constitution and he of course he was going further than most anti-slavery people were willing to go. He went further than many Republicans were willing to go. But he believed that the Constitution I mean what in his view then what good is it right. He believed that the Constitution made liberty the rule slavery the exception.

And he did not want to see that, not just for like, you know, political tactics reasons, right? He did really believe this. Now, the Constitution, as of course Frederick Douglass well understood, has some protections for slavery in it, but it also gives the federal government areas where it can regulate slavery, but also the Constitution can be amended.

And in Douglas's view, and this is something that my guest in this episode points out, James Oakes, he says, you know, a lot of people who think of themselves as progressives today kind of forget where all of this comes from. You know, the basis for any ethical approach.

legitimate politics, the starting point has to be, you know, all men are created equal and they're endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. You know, I'm probably getting a word or two wrong here from the Declaration, but life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

And that the Constitution, in Douglass's view, was, I guess you would say, the articulation of those principles, right? But you can read the preamble to the Constitution. It has a lot to do with liberty in there, preserving liberty. So yes, the short answer to your question, sorry for my long-windedness today. Frederick Douglass believed the Constitution was a pro-liberty document, if you will. Now, some abolitionists thought it was a pro-slavery document, and that's why Douglass parted ways with the Garrisonians.

I mean, it's interesting. Douglas, there was obviously very deep conflict at that time, a lot like we're seeing right now. And I really view Douglas as one of the ones who helped bridge the gap between very absolutist views and a more nuanced reading of history, politics, and what was possible. Do you see parallels in this time to that in –

Are there people we should be paying attention to right now talking about this that we're not? Wow, that's a tough question. I would say, well, I would say that historians, many of whom are on my podcast, not just to pitch myself here, I think they're a good source of trying to understand the historical sweep in all this. I think people on both sides of the political aisle, we get caught up in the day-to-day outrages and we think each

each setback is the end, right? The end of the world. Each new Supreme Court ruling is the end of democracy as we know it, right? Yeah, I mean, I think the answer is to do more listening, listening to people with whom you disagree. Who matches Frederick Douglass, though? You asked me who could we be listening to today. That's a hard one. Well, what's amazing about that is Frederick Douglass was talking about the greatness for the men who put together the Constitution, right? I mean, talk about the greatness, how many of these people were at one time

But the same could be said of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass at that time. Yeah. We came together, these two great men, and I think one thing people mistake today is because we say someone's great, that doesn't mean they're perfect. They're flawed human beings. They're mortal, right? But at the end of time, for some reason, if you're a person of faith, you know why. If you're not, it's coincidence. But we had the founders of this country, something that was so important

was so rebellious, so outside the bounds of the way the world worked. And then you have this civil war and you have this poor attorney who became president with amazing wisdom and patience and faith. And yet, Frederick Douglass with the same qualities. I mean, how fortunate is our country? Yeah. Yes. We had the right people at the right time. And

I wonder what would have happened to the union had someone other than Abraham Lincoln been in charge. I mean, he got extraordinary, most extraordinary set of circumstances for any president easily, right? Maybe possible exception of the Great Depression, World War II for Franklin Roosevelt, or, you know, the beginning of the country when everything George Washington did establish a new precedent. But I think what you're saying is really an indictment of

current generation of political leadership in our country. And that goes for Republicans and Democrats. I think we're suffering from a lot of a lack of leadership and not just in government to my early point in our conversation. Our institutions have

failed us. They have failed us. And Martin, I thought you, you know, I left you with a tough question, but I thought that was the right answer. It was kind of where I was trying to take you, is that Douglas was a historian, self-taught, read deeply on just about everything in terms of the history of politics, the country. A lot of other folks who have made big impacts throughout our history have also paid significant attention to all of that

And read into it. And I think we are just deeply, deeply missing that element right now is an honest look at our history, not sugarcoating one side or another or trying to turn it into the day's political debate.

Or use it as a cudgel, right? Yeah. To make a point. Correct. Yeah, I've had historians on who've been praised the 1619 Project and those who have attacked it. I'm not a fan of that project because I think it's a distortion of history. But we don't want to go to the other extreme too and sugarcoat it. You brought up, who can we look at today who might be a leader like or a figure like Frederick Douglass? When Colin Powell...

died, I had Jeffrey Engel from Southern Methodist University on to discuss Powell. And I brought up the fact that in the mid-90s, after Powell led the United States in the first Gulf War, and he was, you know, every Republican in the country wanted him to run for president, it seemed, and he decided not to. Jose, is there another figure today, or has there been another figure in American life like Colin Powell, who seemed to be universally respected regardless of

Regardless of their political situation? No, there's not. I think there is the potential if Tim Scott ever really ran for president and got some momentum. I think Tim Scott could be one of those transformative figures, especially regarding racial relations in this country, I think. He seems to have the temperament and the patience necessary.

and the decorum to make that happen. I'm going to make some people on our side of the aisle a little unhappy, Chuck. One person I've been impressed with after some early Rocky issues early on has been London Breed, the San Francisco mayor, seems to have recognized some of the mistakes she made. Yeah, no, she's been very good on the law enforcement and things of that nature. But, Martin, you're right, and I don't know what's created that. We say we have more information available

at the tip of our fingernail. But anyway, Martin, as we finish up this segment with you, are you positive and optimistic about America's future?

Oh, wow. You know, I tend to be an optimist. I tend to be an optimist. Reality is depressing. But what's the alternative? Right. I mean, if you're not, I think and there's a way we have a system in our country to affect change that we want. Right. It's the political system. It's electoral politics because the alternatives don't seem very appealing to me. That's apathy and sitting on the sideline or resorting to violence. And no one wants to see that.

Especially not on Independence Day weekend, folks. We want everyone out there to have a good time. Martin, thank you. And we hope you'll join us again soon. You've been wonderful and we appreciate it. You let me know. And we're going to push people to your podcast. It's excellent. Thank you for joining us and have a great Fourth of July, my friend. You too.

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a little bit less political in a certain way and maybe more thoughtful than our normal podcast and normal radio show here, Chuck. But I'm very excited to speak to our next guest, Adam B. Coleman, the author of Black Victim to Black Victor. He's an op-ed writer, public speaker, host of a Good Faith Space, Twitter Spaces show, and the founder of Wrong Speak Publishing. He was born in Detroit, has lived throughout the country,

writes a lot about his struggles with fatherlessness, homelessness, and masculinity. Someone I'm very excited to talk to today. As am I. Adam, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. I appreciate it. Well, you did an article or column this week for the New York Post that talked about just the vitriol

Judge Clarence Thomas is facing from the left and they're using the N word and everything else. And they they just seem to think that's OK to do it if you don't agree with them. Can you tell us a little bit about your column and your perspective on it?

Sure. You know, I've basically been spending the past year or so highlighting the hypocrisy by progressives without outright coming out with the R word, because it seems like everybody throws around the R word of racist for literally anything. So I wanted to basically use this opportunity to point to the obvious, that they are racist.

progressives are the ones who are rotting our country. They're the ones who are projecting everything onto us. In the meantime, this is how they really feel about black people, in my opinion. And I would even go as far as saying black progressives feel very similarly. They're perfectly fine with using racial terms against other black people because, you know,

they have the same level of animosity. It doesn't sound like it makes sense, but it's true. And so the article is just basically highlighting how they're the ones who are basically rotting our society. The way I kind of describe it is just that

They're the rot that has been stinking up the joint. It's been stinking up our country and politically has been stinking up the Democrat Party, which is one of the major reasons why I decided to leave. You know, they're getting overrun by progressive extremists or leftists, whatever you want to call them, who are so superficially enamored with identity politics that it stinks to me. And I couldn't take

take the stench. That's the gist of it. I would actually use a different R word when we're talking about particularly white woke progressives, religion. I think they have adopted their wokeism as a religion and anyone who doesn't subscribe to it lock, stock and barrel is a heretic. And then at that point, there's no boundaries, right? I mean, if you're framing everything as good and evil, then

then that's a very easy path to calling people the other R word and using all the other epithets that are being thrown around at Clarence Thomas and others. And there are no boundaries anymore. Yeah, I don't disagree with you. I didn't put it into the article, but I've kind of said this publicly. I believe that most of these progressives are basically classists, right?

they see themselves as above everybody else. This is just an ideology to apply their viewpoint. So if you're a classist, it's very easy for you to be a racist. It's not a huge stretch to look down upon a minority or a group that you feel is disenfranchised. And it may make you feel good to say, they're so unfortunate, I have to reach out and help them. You know,

Classist and hierarchical.

And I think that's ultimately a problem. So, you know, whether you want to call them elitist or classist, but I think it's almost one and the same. They look down upon people. Adam, we have just about a minute before we go to break here. And how I want you to tell people how they follow you, where can they find your book? I assume it's on Amazon and all that kind of thing. But tell people how they stay in touch with your work.

Yeah. So the book you can purchase on Amazon. I sell signed copies on wrongspeak.net for Wrong Speak Publishing. So they can purchase signed and unsigned copies there. It's also on barnesandnoble.com. For the most part, I'm very active on Twitter, so they can follow me at wrongspeak. And the same for Instagram and Facebook as well. Cool.

Fantastic. Well, we're going to be coming back here in just a moment with more from Adam B. Coleman. I want to get into his book a little bit, Chuck. I think that's a fascinating discussion and a little bit about his background as well. So folks, stay tuned. Breaking Battlegrounds coming right back.

Welcome back. The Independence Day weekend version of Breaking Battlegrounds. Thank you, folks, out there for tuning in. We really appreciate all our listeners to this program. Be sure to follow us on Twitter, on Facebook. Download the podcast. Stay in touch. We love to hear from you. One guy we're very excited to have on the line with us today, Adam B. Coleman. He is the author of Black Victim to Black Victor, op-ed writer. He's written some fantastic pieces.

You can follow him on Twitter at wrong underscore speak. Adam, tell us a little bit about your background out there for folks who don't know you.

Sure. So basically, I published my book about a year ago. And prior to that, I was just a normal guy, kind of a culture war junkie. But basically kept to myself. I had no public presence. I didn't really even talk to people around me about politics. How did you get the idea to write a book?

Yeah, so all that started... I initially actually wanted to write a book a while ago, but I didn't know what to write about. And then George Floyd happened. And I was...

basically sitting back just kind of watching the world around me seem like everybody was having a panic attack, like everybody was losing their mind. And I felt like, am I the only one that sees like this is a bad thing, but not the end of the world like people are making it sound like, or spreading the narrative that because I'm a black male that I'm in constant danger. And as someone who's lived in five states and various neighborhoods and, you know,

I've been the one of four black kids in a school and that kind of situation. I've never felt that danger. And I wondered, you know, who's going to speak up for me? And so I decided to speak for myself. I love that. I love that, Chuck. I mean, I think...

I think one of the problems we have in this country is a lot of people stand around waiting for other people to speak for them and don't develop their own voice. And Adam, I'm incredibly grateful you did. Tell us a little bit about the book, Black Victim to Black Victor. I haven't had a chance to read it, but after talking to you, I'm definitely going to grab it this weekend and try to grind through it because it sounds like something I think a lot of people should pay attention to what you have to say.

Yes, and I appreciate you wanting to check it out. I appreciate everybody's support if you want to purchase it. But the book itself, you know, some people will say it's a black conservative book. You know, they're all pretty much the same. But mine is actually different, and I purposely wanted it to be different. I kind of use race as...

Just like a topic that you can swap any race in, and people can still relate. You don't have to be a particular race to read it and understand, because ultimately it comes down to the human experience. The most important chapters are talking about family,

And, you know, for me being a child of a single parent, growing up without my father, I talked very openly about what it felt like for me, the struggles that I went through, how I feel about my father, how I feel about my mother.

My father passed away, my mother's still alive. And being open enough to express this while also talking about a bunch of different things. The usage of government, faith, but not being overly religious. It's not really a political book.

to be honest with you. And I think that's been a good approach that I took. It's not a conservative book, per se. It has some values in it, but I'm not being overt about it. It's just a book where I'm explaining things in a very matter-of-fact way, and it makes sense. And I also give some psychological and behavioral analysis along the way, because I'm really into that stuff. So...

Yeah, it's a different book. It's a very personal book, and I do a lot of storytelling within it as well. So it's not boring to read. I'm not lecturing people. I'm looking forward to reading that. Adam, how big is the problem of fatherlessness among the black community, in your opinion?

It's the canary in the coal mine for America. It's a big problem. I'll use my wife as an example. She grew up in Brooklyn and never really thought about it until we got together when we started discussing fatherlessness. She only remembered one family in her neighborhood that had both parents in the home, and they were from the Caribbean.

That's a problem. And what's become even a bigger problem, that's why I say it's a canary in a coal mine, is that America has the highest rate of single-parent homes in the world. Does it really? I don't think people understand it. Yeah. I did not know that. Yeah. So it's affecting all demographics. It's just that we're a very small population, and it's disproportionately high for us. Yeah.

including the marriage rate. We have a low marriage rate. I think we might have the lowest marriage rate of racial demographics in the country. So it's something to be very concerned about. And so if you're someone who is not black, who is reading this and understanding

Basically, like, here's what it looks like when a community is split apart by not having the fathers in the home, and here's what happens to the children, here's what happened to me. And, you know, to give them caution that this can happen to everybody else. And it has happened to a lot of people, and I've talked to them, including people in other countries. I've talked to people in the United Kingdom who have similar upbringings. So,

So it's a very human thing. This isn't, that's why I say it's talking about race, but people can relate to it. It's very relatable. What are some of the things that you look back and say fatherlessness had a big impact on my life in these ways? Confidence. I went a long time with low confidence, some anxiety as well, and

You know, I say this all the time. I didn't know what it meant to be a man. Like, I didn't know what a man looked like, how a man was supposed to behave, how a man was supposed to act. I had my son at the age of 21. And now I don't know what a man is supposed to be like. And now I have to raise a young man.

And so it was some growing pains, but having my son also showed me how important it is to have the father in there. You know, my son and I have a really good relationship. I've been there from day one. He can always rely on me. We have open communication. I listen to him. He listens to me.

I respect him. I always say he's better than I am, and he's going to be better than I am. So it's our relationship that, especially as he was entering his teenage years, he's 16 now, I really saw...

what my impact on him is, and I see how much farther along he is than I was when I was his age. It sounds like, too, you know, as you're talking about him, that your experience of being a father has been, you know, as informative and instructional or significantly informative and instructional for you, too, right? Like you're learning as you go with this.

Yeah, exactly. In some ways, because I didn't have my father, and the only thing I told myself was that I didn't want to be my father, it allowed for me to figure out how I want to discipline, how I want to interact with him, to basically...

be the father that I thought I would want for myself when I was a kid. So, you know, my son is sensitive like I was sensitive when I was a kid. So I don't have to be harsh with him. I could just be disappointed and that'll get him in shape. And then we talk about it, right? I don't have to yell at him. When I was a kid, he didn't have to yell at me. He just talked to me. So he's very much like me in

And so I just try to keep that in mind when I'm interacting with him. You know, when he looks down and he says he's fine, but I know he's not fine, I keep probing until he tells me what's going on or he feels comfortable telling me. You know, it's things like that. I try to use my childhood experience when it comes to raising him.

Trying to communicate with the teenage son sometimes takes the patience of Job as a father of a teenage boy. And we understand why women tear their hair out of their head. We're with Adam Coleman, author, Black Victim to Black Victor. Since you wrote this book and released it and have sort of taken more of a public profile, what has surprised you about it? What reactions have you been surprised with? How has this changed your life?

It's changed my life, well, from one respect, that going from just being a guy to now knowing some of the people I used to watch on podcasts or being interviewed by people that I used to listen to all the time is very surreal. Having opportunities to write for the New York Post, something I didn't anticipate. And honestly, when I started this, I just wanted to express myself. And I was happy if 10 people would buy my book.

So I had no expectations. And because of that, it's been a blessing even being on here on a show you guys asked me to come on. So I truly had no expectations throughout this entire situation. But I would say the biggest thing that was surprising is I don't really get much hate.

And I think, I think, yeah, I think I kind of expected that. I always felt like everybody being worried about being canceled and someone saying this and someone saying that I get very little hate mail. As a matter of fact, I got a hate mail one time and I replied back and talked to him. And by the time we were done, he was like, you're a cool guy. You know, we don't agree on this, but I respect you. All right. So it's,

See, that's what happens with a teenage son. He has taught you patience and communications, right? Exactly. I'm really big on communication. But I think overall, the hate isn't really as strong. It's just that people like to employ fear, right? There's one horror story that everybody gets scared and everybody shuts up.

So what I'm trying to do is advocate for people to speak up, right? Because the more of us that speak up, the more of a coward that they appear to be because they are. A lot of times they attack people in groups. So why don't we build up our group? You know, we're the majority, the sane-minded majority, even if we're slightly to the right or slightly to the left. But we're fighting extremists.

Adam, we have only a couple of minutes left here, and I want to thank you. This has been a fantastic discussion. We would love to have you back on again. But before we go, what would you tell people about how to transform themselves? If they're seeing themselves as victims, how do they transform themselves into victors? Yeah.

I went through that transformation and one of the things I had to do was reflect. Also, I sought therapy. Therapy really helped. I'm a big advocate for therapy. But I would say the biggest thing that really helped me is that I took 100% accountability for everything, for my successes and my failures. So if I did something that was wrong and it didn't work out, I always said to myself, what could I have done better?

to prevent that from happening or next time from happening. And the way I see it is being accountable is a superpower. If you are the one who is responsible for the mistake, that means that you're the one who's responsible for fixing it. And so why not? What a novel concept. That is a great statement. Yeah. Yeah.

I love that. Yeah. That's been my attitude for the past number of years. And without that, I wouldn't be here talking to you. It's an amazing story when you talk to people who have lifted themselves up because I think you get a very different perspective. It's hard to be a victim when you're taking that level of responsibility for yourself, right? Yeah.

I mean, you basically can't be a victim at that point. You can't be victimized. Exactly. And no one can victimize you. You won't even allow it. That's why I like hate mail. I laugh at it. If someone calls me a slur, I laugh. I show people, like, look what they called me. Like, it doesn't bother me. You can't make me feel like a victim. How does your better half like you taking up this mantle of mini celebrity to a degree?

She loves it. She's very impressed. I'm always humble. I always downplay everything, but she's very impressed and proud of me. And I gave her thanks in the book as well. I couldn't have written it without her. She sounds like a fantastic partner.

Yeah, this is a fantastic discussion, folks. I hope you do follow Adam going forward. I know I'm going to be following his work pretty closely. Adam, tell us again how folks can stay and keep up in touch with you.

Yeah, all the information, you can go to wrongspeak.net. You can read articles and you can follow me on there. Also, I'm very active on Twitter. So my handle is at wrong underscore speak. Same on Instagram and on Facebook. It's wrongspeakadam. Fantastic. Adam B. Coleman, author of Black Victim to Black Victor. Thank you so much for joining us today. Really, really appreciated having you on our show and look forward to having you again in the future.

Absolutely. Thank you again. Thank you. Folks, stay tuned for the podcast-only segment, or be sure to tune in on your radios next week. Breaking Battlegrounds will be back. Let's go.

Welcome back to the podcast only portion of our show, Breaking Battlegrounds. I'm Chuck Warren with Sam Stone and in studio is Jamie and Kip and they're pounding their knees waiting to get out so they can go enjoy the holiday weekend. We want to start off with the clip about...

All right. So Jamie gets the hard candy. I just want to make that clear before she sneaks out of here. By the way, what candy are you tossing out during these parades? There's no candy? Oh, no. What's going on? What's this operation going on? Wait a minute. No. I have candy. Kip would have cami. I have candy. You have to do hard. This is Arizona. They do hard candy. You have to do hard candy. No caramel? All right. Fine. The Snickers are out. Unless you like chocolate peanut soup.

You can do some sort of Dumb and Dumber thing and throw snow cones out or something. Anyway, we're going to start a three-minute segment here of Ronald Reagan talking about America, and then Sam and I will go from there. Jeremy, go ahead, please. If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before.

Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on earth. The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay that price. Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look. The sloping hills of Arlington National Cemetery with its row upon row of simple white markers

bearing crosses or stars of David, they add up to only a tiny fraction of the price that has been paid for our freedom. Each one of those markers is a monument to the kind of hero I spoke of earlier. Their lives ended in places called Belleau Wood, the Argonne, Omaha Beach, Salerno,

and halfway around the world on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Porkchop Hill, the Chosin Reservoir, and in a hundred rice paddies and jungles of a place called Vietnam. Under one such marker lies a young man, Martin Treptow, who left his job in a small town barber shop in 1917 to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division. There on the Western Front, he was killed

trying to carry a message between battalions under heavy artillery fire. We're told that on his body was found a diary. On the fly leaf, under the heading "My Pledge", he had written these words: "America must win this war. Therefore I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure."

I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone. We must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have. It is a weapon that we as Americans do have.

Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors. As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest aspiration of the American people. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it. We will not surrender for it now or ever. We are Americans.

I don't even know what to say beyond that, Chuck, because Ronald Reagan, obviously, I think was one of the greatest orators in our history, certainly in modern history. But he's able to speak from a perspective that very few politicians or people today could speak from. Well, I think what – I think something we're missing today as we were talking with our earlier guest, Martin, is we don't seem to have leaders right now that give a vision like we just heard. I mean –

That was clearly patriotic, but at the same time, you know, it wasn't a soft Hallmark-type movie message. No. We're going to pay a price, but this is what we want, peace. Mm-hmm. And it's sort of like John F. Kennedy's statement. You're a fool if you don't think we're going to go and do what we can to protect that peace. Right. Right.

This is my concern about our current political leadership on both sides. We don't seem to have that person. And I don't know who that person is a pop up. There are some on the left and right. They have the oratory skills to do it. You know, for example, I think.

Marco Rubio has those oratory skills. He's just got to define what his message is. I think the same as with Tim Scott we talked about. Governor DeSantis has great skills, but not quite as— Well, he's not an orator in that way. No, but I think he can define a mission because he's clear. He's articulate. He speaks very well, but I wouldn't call him inspiring in that same way. You know, as you and I talked, I was interviewed yesterday by Reuters. They wanted a conservative perspective, and I'm pretty sure the article is going to be—

I think you're considered the last non-crazy conservative in this country by a lot of journalists. And that's what he told me on the phone. And I think in the statement I made to him. They're not calling me. The statement they made, the statement he he made to me is, you know, he's just talking about some on the left feel like the Constitution is just written by a bunch of old white men to protect old white men. And I said, well, that's a funny statement.

seeing that the Constitution has mechanisms where you can change it. People who are power hungry don't put that in there. And it has language in there that they knew was specifically designed to lead to the end of slavery. They just made a political compromise. And so what we had to do, as Martin talked about in his guess, is

Whether you're a faith-based person or not, somehow the planets aligned and we had these wise men who put their lives on the line to create a constitution that was so radical in the world, right? Who thought it would last 60 days, let alone- An enormous departure from government, every government that had previously existed. And so these supposed old white men who put this mechanism to change it

Skip up to the 1860s, and again, planets aligned. We get people like Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses Grant, which people always forget about what he did and how he vanquished the Ku Klux Klan when he was in office, Frederick Douglass. So again, the planets aligned for America and the world, okay? And we got out of that 13th, 14th, 15th Amendments, which...

got rid of slavery. Right. So again, these crazy old white men obviously didn't know what they were doing. They were just trying to protect themselves, which is just ridiculous. But my comment is here as we finish up is the reporter asked me a question and he just said, you know, are you optimistic? I said, look, the goal in our documents is to form a more perfect union.

Doesn't happen overnight. Neither does any good friendship or business partnership or marriage. It takes time. It takes refinement. It takes honesty. It takes introspection. And I view us very much in a marathon. And most marathon runners tell you the 17th, 18th mile is the hardest. We're at 17th, 18th right now. And I have great faith in our country. I have great faith in

Right now out there, maybe they're listening, maybe they're not. There's someone who's ready to step up and help lead and help build coalitions that we can get things done. And I truly do believe that. I think that's a pretty good way to end it. But I'm going to throw in one other thing because I'm a fat guy and this is important. All right. Look, folks, I only lived in Texas for a year, but I feel honor bound to tell you all before this holiday weekend.

Hamburgers and hot dogs are a cookout. Okay, it's a cookout. It's not an air fryer. Barbecue is a very specific thing. If you're going to hold a barbecue, we expect you to do it properly. In the Texas fashion that we've been taught. Yeah. Proper, proper smoking of meats is required to call it a barbecue. Well, folks, as we close, have a wonderful Fourth of July. And besides the barbecue and doing it right,

Take the time to be reflective. Take the time how you can take part in this grand experiment to make your neighborhood, your community, your country a greater place. And we're going to end it here with another clip from Ronald Reagan when he was at the Statue of Liberty on the 4th of July, 1986. Before we begin, Chuck, I want to thank Kylie, who gets our guests each week. She did a phenomenal job. I was very excited for both of these guests. I hope people learn something from them. So thank you, Kylie. I do, too. Of course. Happy 4th of July, folks.

In a few moments, the celebration will begin here in New York Harbor. It's going to be quite a show. I was just looking over the preparations and thinking about a saying that we had back in Hollywood about never doing a scene with kids or animals, because they'd steal the scene every time. So you can rest assured, I wouldn't even think about trying to compete for the fireworks display, especially on the Fourth of July. My remarks tonight will be brief.

But it's worth remembering that all the celebration of this day is rooted in history. It's recorded that shortly after the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia, celebrations took place throughout the land, and many of the former colonists, they were just starting to call themselves Americans, set off cannons and marched in fife and drum parades. What a contrast with the sober scene that has taken place a short time earlier in Independence Hall.

56 men came forward to sign the parchment. It was noted at the time that they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honors. That was more than rhetoric. Each of those men knew the penalty for high treason to the crown. "We must all hang together," Benjamin Franklin said, "or assuredly we will all hang separately." John Hancock, it is said, wrote his signature in large script

so King George could see it without his spectacles. They were brave. They stayed brave through all the bloodshed of the coming years. Their courage created a nation built on a universal claim to human dignity, on the proposition that every man, woman, and child had a right to a future of freedom. For just a moment, let us listen to the words again. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,

that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Last night, when we rededicated Miss Liberty and relit her torch, we reflected on all the millions who came here in search of the dream of freedom inaugurated in Independence Hall. We reflected, too,

on their courage in coming great distances and settling in a foreign land and then passing on to their children and their children's children the hope symbolized in this statue here just behind us the hope that is american it is a hope that someday every people in every nation of the world will know the blessings of liberty and it's the hope of millions all around the world in the last few years i've spoken at westminster to the mother of parliaments

at Versailles where French kings and world leaders have made war and peace. I've been to the Vatican in Rome, the Imperial Palace in Japan, and the ancient city of Beijing. I've seen the beaches of Normandy and stood again with those boys of Pointe du Hoc who long ago scaled the heights, and with, at that time, Lisa Zanetta Henn, who was at Omaha Beach for the father she loved.

The father who had once dreamed of seeing again the place where he and so many brave others had landed on D-Day. But he had died before he could make that trip. And she made it for him. And dad, she'd said, I'll always be proud. And I've seen the successors to these brave men. The young Americans in uniform all over the world. Young Americans, you here tonight, man the mighty USS Kennedy and the Iowa and the other ships of the line. I can assure you,

you out there who are listening that these these young people are like their fathers and their grandfathers just as willing just as brave and we can be just as proud but our prayer tonight is that the call for their courage will never come and that it's important for us too to be brave not so much the bravery of the battlefield i mean the bravery of brotherhood

All through our history, our presidents and leaders have spoken of national unity and warned us that the real obstacle to moving forward the boundaries of freedom, the only permanent danger to the hope that is America, comes from within. It's easy enough to dismiss this as a kind of familiar exhortation, yet the truth is that even two of our greatest founding fathers, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, once learned this lesson late in life.

They'd worked so closely together in Philadelphia for independence. But once that was gained and a government was formed, something called partisan politics began to get in the way. After a bitter and divisive campaign, Jefferson defeated Adams for the presidency in 1800. And the night before Jefferson's inauguration, Adams slipped away to Boston, disappointed, brokenhearted, and bitter.

For years their estrangement lasted. But then, when both had retired, Jefferson at 68 to Monticello and Adams at 76 to Quincy, they began through their letters to speak again to each other. Letters that discussed almost every conceivable subject: gardening, horseback riding, even sneezing as a cure for hiccups. But other subjects as well: the loss of loved ones, the mystery of grief and sorrow,

the importance of religion, and of course, the last thoughts, the final hopes of two old men, two great patriarchs for the country that they had helped to find and loved so deeply. "It carries me back," Jefferson wrote about correspondence with his cosigner of the Declaration of Independence, "to the times when, beset with difficulties and dangers, we were fellow laborers in the same cause, struggling for what is most valuable to man,

his right to self-government. Laboring always at the same oar, with some wave ever ahead threatening to overwhelm us and yet passing harmless, we rode through the storm with heart and aim. It was their last gift to us, this lesson in brotherhood, in tolerance for each other, this insight into America's strength as a nation. And when both died on the same day within hours of each other,

That date was July 4th, 50 years exactly after that first gift to us, the Declaration of Independence. My fellow Americans, it falls to us to keep faith with them and all the great Americans of our past. Believe me, if there's one impression I carry with me after the privilege of holding for five and a half years the office held by Adams, Jefferson, and Lincoln, it is this, that the things that unite us

America's past, of which we're so proud, our hopes and aspirations for the future of the world and this much-loved country. These things far outweigh what little divides us. So tonight, we are to reaffirm that Jew and Gentile, we are one nation under God. That black and white, we are one nation indivisible. That Republican and Democrat, we are all Americans. Tonight, with heart and hand,

Through whatever trial and travail, we pledge ourselves to each other and to the cause of human freedom, a cause that has given light to this land and hope to the world. My fellow Americans, we're known around the world as a confident and a happy people. Tonight, there's much to celebrate and many blessings to be grateful for. So while it's good to talk about serious things, it's just as important and just as American to have some fun.

Now let's have some fun. Let the celebration begin. The 2020 political field was intense, so don't get left behind in 2021. If you're running for political office, the first thing on your to-do list needs to be securing your name on the web with a yourname.vote web domain from godaddy.com. Get yours now.