Cj Stewart - Transforming Lives Through Sports and Civic Engagement

Former Chicago Cubs outfielder CJ Stewart joins us for a heartfelt and compelling discussion on the power of sports in youth development. Learn how CJ's own journey from the streets of Atlanta to the baseball diamond shaped his vision for the L.E.A.D. Center for Youth. By focusing on creating Major League citizens who thrive professionally and personally, CJ and his team offer young people the tools to rise above systemic barriers such as crime, poverty, and racism.

We confront the ongoing challenges of systemic racism in Atlanta, dissecting how policies like redlining and gerrymandering perpetuate cycles of poverty and crime. Our conversation with CJ reveals the importance of building a conviction-driven rather than guilt-driven approach to social-emotional development. By fostering academic self-efficacy and promoting positive identity, we aim to empower Black youth to become civically engaged leaders who challenge societal norms and prejudices related to race and gender.

Finally, we uncover the transformative potential of initiatives like "Pathways to Empowerment," which leverages athletics to foster academic growth and social responsibility. Through mentorship and community integration, CJ shares stories of bridging the gap between diverse Atlanta neighborhoods, nurturing future leaders equipped to create meaningful change. This episode is a tribute to the remarkable efforts in uplifting African-American children and ensuring their stories are told for generations to come.

You can connect to Mr. Stewart using the followin social media platforms:

Website: https://leadcenterforyouth.org/

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/iamcjstewart

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/cj.stewart.773

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/cjstewartatl/

Chapters

• 0:13 Youth Development Through Sports
• 14:57 Promoting Positive Identity and Empowerment
• 26:04 Transforming Atlanta Through Empowerment
• 33:28 Building Consequential Leaders in Atlanta
• 43:31 Supporting Podcast Growth Through Patreon

Transcript

[00:00:00] Ellington Brown: Welcome to SpeakUP! International with Rita Burke and Elton Brown! 

[00:00:19] Rita Burke: What a truly interesting, fascinating day to be interviewing our guest today, who is currently in Georgia, in the United States of America. He is CJ Stewart and he is a former Chicago Cubs outfielder. He has over 22 years of experience developing some of the game's top amateur, collegiate and professional players.

CJ has a wealth of knowledge regarding the sport, particularly based on youth development. And as a resource for social justice and the impact sport has on the social emotional development of youth. He is the co founder of the L.E.A.D. Center for Youth, which is a sports based youth development nonprofit organization.

There's so much more that I can tell you about our guest today. CJ Stewart. But as we say on SpeakUP! International, we prefer if our guests tell their own stories. So today I welcome CJ Stewart to SpeakUP! International. Welcome! 

[00:01:37] Cj Stewart: Yep. It's a pleasure to be here with y'all. 

[00:01:40] Ellington Brown: Good to be with you too, C. J.! It has been, a challenge for the three of us to be able to meet. I think the last time we were supposed to meet, I was on the train commuter line going home and, For whatever the reason, we just could not connect. I couldn't get the audio to work properly. But today, I think the stars are aligned and we're ready to go.

Tell me, how did you get involved with youth in your community? And what is your role?

[00:02:13] Cj Stewart: So I am the chief visionary officer and co founder for L.E.A.D. Center for Youth, which is located here in Atlanta. And as was stated, we are a sports based youth development organization. And what that simply means is that we intentionally use sports to help marginalized youth make healthy transition into adulthood.

And that's exactly what was done for me. I was born in 1976 in the city of Atlanta to two very young working class parents. And Being working class and lacking financial capital, also lacking social capital. In a sense that could be a death sentence for an African American boy fortunately I was able to play baseball being introduced to it at the age of eight years old in 1984.

And my social capital increased because of the cascade youth organization in Southwest Atlanta, where I played, I was able to be a part of a community with lots of civil rights L.E.A.D.Ers. And my dream was to play professionally with the Chicago Cubs. And I was able to do that and L.E.A.D. Center for youth, L.E.A.D., central launch, expose, advise, direct is simply a love letter to the city of Atlanta for intentionally and unintentionally pouring into me to help me come back.

The three curveballs, crime, poverty and racism. And so, just understanding how things were done for with for me with the support of my wife, Kelly, and some others that really helped me to be retrospect retrospective we built this organization and programming to, help you overcome crime, poverty, and racism.

I'll say lastly, that's important because me baseball was my ticket out and I wanted to play professional baseball and people talk about the slim chances of playing well, you got about a trhee percent chance or less of being able to play professional sports. And so we put a lot of emphasis on academics for children because of the low percentage.

But here in Atlanta, if you're born in poverty, you have a three percent chance of making it out as well. The chances of being a professional athlete are very slim, but the chances of making out of poverty in Atlanta are very slim. Unless you have advocates like L.E.A.D.S that are for you.

[00:04:32] Rita Burke: Sounds like quite a story. As I said at the top of our interview, that we like it when our guests tell their own stories. And so I'm going to ask you to talk to us about L.E.A.D. You're the co founder. Talk to us a little bit more about what exactly L.E.A.D. Is, please.

[00:04:50] Cj Stewart: Yep. So at the end of the day, our marching orders are to launch, expose, advise, and direct, and we use baseball for boys and tennis for girls for year round programming.

We want them to become Major League players, and we want them to become Major League citizens. Major League citizenry, meaning that they are gainfully employed, civic, Civically engaged and radical philanthropists. And so with our year round programming the outcomes that we get are improvement and growth in the areas of social, emotional learning.

So that's considering things like academic self efficacy self management positive identity, social skills, social capital, all of these things that marginalize and disenfranchise youth. Are not privileged to and so we've existed for since 2007. So we are 17 years old. And so even when we think about our daughter, who's 17, her name is McKenna.

She was born around the time that we actually had gave birth to L.E.A.D. And McKenna being 17 years old. She at times acts like a teenager but she's not quite an adult, but it's the same thing even for us. We are doing a lot of amazing things, but we are not a 50 year organization. But at the same time, even with McKenna, she's not 12 years old.

So we're definitely proud of it. And the thing that I think that we really do a great job of Promising and guaranteeing is the making sure that our black students are getting the benefit of the doubt, respect, and trust, and making sure that we use our influence and affluence, influences, relationships, affluences, money, and then our secret sauce is the advocacy.

So that's one thing that black youth in Atlanta really need the most because if you're born in poverty here, you have a trhee percent chance of making it out in a city. That is number 1 for income inequality based on race in America in a country. That's the number 1 for income inequality among the G7 advanced countries, including Canada, Japan, France.

So it is really hard to, make it in this city, especially if you are African American and L.E.A.D. Even though we're, we can't guarantee a hundred percent that you're going to be able to make it out of poverty. But our success rate is very high with regard.

[00:07:18] Ellington Brown: You talk about two sports that you use to help mold future adults, male and female. And if I remember correctly, One was baseball. The other is tennis. Tennis for girls. Boys, baseball. Why were those two selected for your approach to help individuals become better? 

[00:07:49] Cj Stewart: So baseball was my sport of choice. It was the one that helped me to navigate life and give me an opportunity to access college and also to become a professional athlete and helped me develop a lot of social capital for tennis, our daughter, oldest daughter, Mackenzie, who is a former division one athlete. She played tennis at Howard university in Washington, DC.

She graduated number two in her class from Southern university in Baton Rouge. And then she did a fifth year at Georgia state university all playing tennis and maintaining over 4. 0 GPA. Tennis is her sport of choice. Our youngest daughter, McKenna, plays tennis and she's assumed to be Division One tennis player.

And then our wife, Kelly, my wife, Kelly she's our CEO of L.E.A.D.. And so she has really developed into an outstanding tennis coach herself. At the end of the day, when I wake up, I'm not really concerned about tennis whatsoever. I'm a huge baseball fan, and that's my connection. And for the ladies in the house tennis is theirs.

But baseball is a sport that was invented in America, in New York in 1845. And here in America, the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 186trhee, and June 10th was 1865 finally freeing enslaved African Americans. And so during that time, 1845 to 1865, African, African Americans that were enslaved were playing this sport.

And so when I think about the atrocities that my ancestors went through and the trauma that they were experiencing, I would imagine then just like now being able to move and participate in a sport like baseball was a buffer amid all of that trauma. And there's scientific evidence that shows that sport and movement is the antidote for individuals that are experiencing trauma.

And also to here in America, just. With Jackie Robinson being the first in the modern era to play baseball at the major league level as an African American in 1947. But many people don't know that in 1884, Moses Fleetwood Walker, an African American man made his major league debut in the major leagues as an African American man.

We're talking about the sport being invented in 1845, Moses Fleetwood Walker in 1884, and then Jackie Robinson in 1947, but baseball being an American sport in the very 1st sport that was invented by Americans back then, for sure. To not play baseball meant you weren't American. And I feel like even now, if you've never, I'm not saying you have to be on an organized team and you have to play professionally, but baseball is an American thing.

Even if you're outside and you're just hitting rocks with a stick it's a part of being American. And so the Negro leagues, which was established in 1920, Part of the Negro Leagues being established and black people fighting so hard to be a part of the game was because it allowed them to prove that they were American.

So that's why we do baseball. Tennis, I don't have a whole lot of information as far as the history is concerned with it, but it is known by many as a country club. elitist sport. And there's a lot of barriers. And so for what I love about black girls in our organization, being able to play the sport is the volleying of the ball going back and forth is synonymous with the volume that's required even in debate.

And so even as we look at here in America, we're as we're approaching the U. S. Presidential election, there's a lot of debate and you gotta be able to hold your own. And so black girls at a very young age in our organization, when they go out and play against other girls of varying races and varying communities and they're volleying back and forth cheating is a strategy we don't want our girls to treat to cheat, but oftentimes their opponents do cheat.

And if those. If their opponent is cheating, then you got to understand how to advocate for yourself in a sport that doesn't have umpires and referees on the court. So our girls getting a chance to play tennis, understanding how to volley how to debate and do all of that and stand up for themselves.

I think it's the best sport for girls and black girls here in Atlanta. 

[00:12:25] Rita Burke: It's a wonderful sport for everyone, but for Girls, particularly black girls. I wholeheartedly agree with you on that because it's one of my most favorite sports, tennis. One of my most favorite sports. I don't play anymore, but I could if I wanted to.

You said that baseball helps you to gain social capital. That's an absolutely powerful statement that I want you to expand or elaborate on it, please, for our listeners. 

[00:13:02] Cj Stewart: Yep. So financial capital is money and social capital is relationships. And so for me, as an African American man living in a racialized city and a racialized society and a racialized country in a racialized world Oftentimes, black people are at the bottom of everything and me growing up, I got a chance to play baseball in front of Hank Aaron the widow of Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr, Coretta Scott King, and several other civil rights leaders and so these people were among the middle and upper middle class. Not only of African Americans, but of Americans and throughout the world. And so my family was not that. So my family was, definitely a working class family, but being on these baseball teams in middle class black communities, it allowed me to develop relationships with people where they can give me the benefit of the doubt.

Respect and trust. And so that context always preceded my content. My, my context and those relationships always when I always often put me in the right place at the right time to get a yes or no. And it helped make sure that if I got to know it wasn't because I was black, it was just simply because I wasn't good enough.

And at the day, that's all people can ask for and want. So that social capital piece, having someone who can mentor and sponsor you, who can coach you and advocate for you allows you to just really show up for me openly black and and my authentic self. Thank you. And that's liberating for me. I get to just be me.

And so that's what baseball did for me. And that's what we're doing for youth as well. 

[00:14:57] Ellington Brown: I think it's very important that we are comfortable living in our own skin. If we're not, everything else falls, falls apart. Talk to us about the three curveballs that L.E.A.D. Aims to help black youth learn.

[00:15:16] Cj Stewart: Yeah learn and overcome, again if you're born in poverty in Atlanta, you have a trhee percent chance of making it out. And, you're in a city. That's the number 1 currently for income inequality based on race in America. And when I think about racism before, it's about people, it's about power.

And when we break down the power of it, it is influence. Which is relationships and affluence, which is money. And when we get past the power structure and then we start to categorize people by race, in any kind of race, there's a winner. There's a loser. There's a finish line. There's a start line.

And with racism in America, there's barriers that even if we started the same place and start on time, there's barriers, it's going to make it difficult if you're African American to be able to win. And, um, for us, racism is more than an event, it's a structure, it's more than name calling, it's a, it's policies.

So that said, we believe that racism is man made we believe that poverty is man made And we believe that crime is a result of racism and poverty. So in that sequence, racism causes poverty causes crime. And so for us as an organization, we have programming and for us beyond our programming, really working hard to have the proper relationships, even the ones that will have an impact on policy to minimize and call loud and fight against racist policies that still exist in it here in Atlanta and like redlining, gerrymandering and the outcomes of poor education and poor health. So you know fighting against those things. And so if we can fight against those things, then we can minimize the poverty that people will have and be a part of again, going back to them becoming Major League citizens.

Gainfully employed, civically engaged and radical philanthropist. And if we can minimize the racism, we minimize your chances of being poor. And people don't wake up wanting to commit crimes. I know for me, I don't, I have no desire to steal things. I have no desire to kill people, all those type things.

But I'm also in a very privileged place where all the things that I need to be alive and thrive. I'm so busy enjoying those things that I don't need to worry about killing somebody, but we do have racist policies and structures in place that intentionally makes it difficult for people to be employed and properly housed and properly educated that will dysregulate them so that they do wake up trying to commit crimes to live life.

[00:18:07] Rita Burke: You made what I consider to be a very profound, as a matter of fact, you are making some profound statements that are lingering with me and I need to process and I need to ingest, but the one that I want to raise with you right now is a statement. You don't wake up intending to commit a crime. Do people wake up? Intending to be racist? 

[00:18:35] Cj Stewart: Yeah, I think so. Here in America, if we're looking at racist, black and white, and we're looking at how people are educated in this country, I've never been white. I have no desire to be white. I love being black. I think that if you were born white in America and you are studying history books that says that Christopher Columbus founded America and Things of that such, then I think it's very easy to look at African American people in a negative light.

If you look at the way African Americans are living and you look at the history as it portrays white people. So

I believe that there are millions of. White people that look down on African American people without giving them the benefit of the doubt, respect, and trust. And so with that being said, and having a superiority mindset, then yes, they, there are white people that wake up to feel the way now I have relationships with people where I show up openly black and we create a brave space so they can show up openly white.

And they do admit. That they think negatively about black people. And even for me, my thoughts of negativity towards white people had to be put in check by categorizing the distinction between white supremacy and being white. So I hate white supremacy. I don't hate all white people.

However when it comes down to racism, what I tell white people is it's not your fault, but it is your fight. So, it's just, but, and then I'll also make it even about me. I don't wake up thinking about the plight and rights of women. I wake up thinking about the plight and rights of men. And then even specifically black men, because I'm a black man.

And so there are a lot of times, especially with my black wife, where she has to convict me and say, you need to be looking at this from the perspective of women. But just the fact of the matter is. We all have prejudice and that prejudice is healthy until it gets to a point where we are making it difficult and impossible for people to live a good life based on their gender, based on their race, based on their religion.

[00:21:15] Ellington Brown: CJ, I think you brought up an excellent point, and I think that has been magnified by the election. That was one of the things that Kamala has been emphasizing, is how men versus women, and how a lot of black men are reluctant to vote for her. for that. And having to find a way to connect with men and to be able to show them the importance of their voice and how they should use it.

Of course, she suggests. It's a it's very important and it's a touchy subject right now for a lot of. men, both white and black. So how does L.E.A.D. Help in the social, emotional development of youth? 

[00:22:15] Cj Stewart: Yeah, so again, those capacities that we focus on are academic self efficacy, Positive identity, self management, social skills things of that nature but even just touching on the one for a positive identity, even as we connected to the political environment.

2 choices. We can make people feel guilty, or we can convict them making people feel guilty is paralyzing and convicting people is empowering. The fact of the matter is I'm in a very place right now in 2024, but prior to 2015 in 2014, I got accepted into a cohort in Atlanta called Leadership Atlanta.

And I graduated in 2015 when I went into this cohort, they're educating us about. Atlanta and educating us about things with regard to education race relations, health a vast array of things. And so we're getting under the hood and finding out some facts. And so I went into Leadership Atlanta that year, struggling with being openly black, struggling with, having women in positions of power over me and also struggling with relationships with people that were gay and lesbian and I had a very convicting experience that entire year and I left out feeling good about being openly black. Having no more issue with women being in a position of power over me, and actually being able to have authentic relationships with people that were gay and lesbian.

And and so I was convicted at the heart and it really got me connected to, um, A better way of living a better way of thinking the ability to ask questions before making statements. From a positive identity standpoint, the bottom line is this I know what it's like to be misogynistic. And it is, it's not good. But I was raised that way, not intentionally, but, it was just like, as I looked around, women were doing those type things and men were doing these type things, me and we're leading and we had some men that were fools that were leading the way.

And so it's kind of like, it's like, why would I not have this woman? Who's a, who's more fit mentally, physically, socially, to lead? All because we gotta have a man. So I struggle with that for about a year and I'm only in a good place because of that. So we share that even with the children that we're with.

And again, we're not trying to make 'em feel guilty, but we are trying to convict them at the heart. Have some dialogue. iT's, it is not a discussion, it's not a directive, but. Let me hear your story. And that's how we process things, even including the election. 

[00:25:13] Rita Burke: You talked about the difference between helping people to be convicted or making them feel guilty.

But both of them require so much energy. Sometimes they could be energy draining, either choosing to help people to become convicted. And we know that making people feel guilty shouldn't be our goal because it's not healthy for anyone, not healthy at all. And so what I'm hearing you say is there's been a bit of a mindset shift on your part, a kind of transformation based on the program that you're involved with.

And I applaud you. I congratulate you for that. Talk to us a little bit about the Pathways to program. How does that work? 

[00:26:13] Cj Stewart: The pathways to empowerment? 

[00:26:16] Rita Burke: Yes. 

[00:26:17] Cj Stewart: Okay. Yep. We have year round programming and everything that we do starts with assessment. So we have three months throughout the year and we work on a calendar year with the school system starting in August where we are assessing students, just finding out for them what works, what doesn't work in the classroom and on the field or tennis court.

We, we aren't a school, so we aren't Going in and trying to help them with their school work. But again, athletics does be an academic self efficacy. Then for trhee months, we go into an engagement process. So now we're teaching you things based on what we know doesn't work and what does work. Then we go into trhee months where it's an empowerment phase where we're giving you responsibility and authority.

And then we end the year with three months of an application phase where they are in charge of. I'm doing a lot of things that empowerment phases, it works out really nicely because up until that point, many of them have never played baseball or played tennis. And so we're really pouring into them and educating them and even backing up further that assessment phase, rather than us saying, hold the racket, the tennis racket like this and do this, it's just, I'm just going to toss you a ball and just hit it.

I don't care if you hit it over the fence. I don't care. You just hit it because they may hold it wrong, but. Consistently are hitting the ball in. And then we'll move to that engagement phase where now it is. Okay. I've seen you for trhee months. Hit balls with no control, no span. You are not effective doing it the way you're doing it.

So now I'm going to engage you and teach you. And then when we move to that empowerment phase, so now we're going to actually start to go and have some competition where you can put into practice what you've been working on. But empowerment to us means you have responsibility and authority. And then that application phase.

It's hey, listen, we're showing up a win now. This is. This is where we are. That pathway to empowerment is so important because we want to get them at a starting point, but we want to get want to empower them to put into action. But that's a lot like mentorship as well, too. And unfortunately, what we have here in Atlanta is we have a lot of people that really believe in the power of mentorship to a fault. And I say to a fault because mentorship is the floor, not the ceiling. We got folks here that thinks that mentorship is like the ceiling. After you mentor me now, you gotta empower me to put it into action. And you have to protect me.

So even for black youth that's in the city of Atlanta, by all means, if you have a white person that wants to be your mentor, that's great. In fact, that's, that will be advantageous. We've had, I still have white people that will sponsor me and advocate for me after mentoring me. So now I'm ready to go into rooms that I otherwise wouldn't go into.

And because you're my sponsor and you're my advocate, you're going to make sure that people listen to me. That's how the program design. I do want to go back also to just to talk about when you talked about the energy required to dealing with people and making them make not making them feel guilty and not empowering them.

I am, I'm 48. And when I turned 48, we had dinner and my wife asked me and had our three door, two daughters with us, with me at the dinner table. And Kelly, my wife said CJ, you got any words of wisdom for the girls? And it was, it caught me off guard. And I said, okay, I got three things. I can't remember what the third thing was, but the first thing I said was don't ever die in the presence of a fool.

The second thing was marry and I can't remember what the third one of so here's how I look at things. Even when it talks about my energy the Bible speaks of a fool and it talks about the companion of fools suffer harm. Foolish people are stupid people. To be stupid is to know the right thing to do, but not do it and struggling.

People are making mistakes out of ignorance while trying to be successful. Success is achieving a goal and significance is using your success to serve others. So I'm not going to use any energy with stupid people because like I said, I don't want to die in the presence of a fool. So if you are stupid and if you are a fool, like you're going to be stuck and I'm not trying to convince you or anything.

I'm trying to stay away from you. But people that are struggling that are making mistakes out of ignorance, like ignorance, not stupid, then. We can have dialogue. We can have debate. We can have some discussions and the bridge between being stupid and struggle is humility. So not thinking less than yourself, but thinking of others more than yourself.

So that's how I protect myself. It's like I label you as. Stupid, which means there's nothing for us to talk about and vice versa. I'm in my place of stupidity sometime. And if I'm being stupid and you waste your time trying to change my mind, the Bible said a companion of fools suffer harm.

So you're going to be destroyed with. So that's my mindset.

[00:31:32] Ellington Brown: Okay. 

[00:31:33] Rita Burke: Got it!

[00:31:38] Ellington Brown: We've been talking a lot about transformation, and if kids are fortunate enough to be inducted to your system, which transforms them, how does L.E.A.D. Aim to transform the city of Atlanta?

[00:31:59] Cj Stewart: Yeah transform people. And here in Atlanta, as I've stated a few times, if you're born in poverty in the city of Atlanta, you have a trhee percent chance of making it out.

So that's like the same low percentage of becoming a professional athlete. And and most things, you have a very slim chance of becoming an astronaut. Heck, you have a very slim chance of becoming a doctor, lawyer, anything. And so when we just, when we look at that, and we look at those issues we need transformation here in the city of Atlanta.

And so our plan is to use our programming to develop major league citizens. Again, major league citizens are gainfully employed, civically engaged and radical philanthropists. If we develop a legion of major league citizens, then many of them are going to grow up to become our politicians, business owners, clergy, positions of significance and be African American.

And here in Atlanta, we have what's called the Atlanta way. It's a handshake agreement that came out of the civil rights movement. It essentially said that all business goes to white people and all politics goes to black people. And so we've had several black mayors here in our city, starting with Maynard Jackson.

And as we look to transform Atlanta. To be able to develop African American children that become consequential African American leaders, that changes things for the outcome of African American children. So even here in the city, the cradle of the civil rights movement in Atlanta, we have African American children in our Atlanta public school system that are performing lower than non English speaking students.

And so that is unacceptable. Because of a a race of people, African Americans that have for decades have been disenfranchised and marginalized. And we don't do this in a vacuum with just African Americans. We have several white people that are part of our L.E.A.D. Programming. We have when we talk about social skills throughout that pathway to empowerment, specifically when we get to the empowerment phase, we have.

Our over 250 annual cohort of students that are starting to engage with white people within that empowerment phase after going from assessment to engagement. And then by the time we get to the application phase, I'll be there showing up full confidence. I'll give you a prime example by the time we get to the summer.

We have was called. Bankhead with Buckhead. So here in the city of Atlanta, we have a zip code 30318, which I was born and reared in. And I was from the Bankhead community, which is mostly black and poor, and then 30318 in Buckhead is mostly white and wealthy. So the gap between those two communities is the largest in America based on race.

So we do programming in 30318. We also do some programming throughout the year where we're teaching our principles for Lee Center for you to white children and buckethead. And then in the summertime, we bring those white children together for a self officiated baseball game. So imagine eight year old black boys and eight year old white boys showing up thinking that it's going to be Bankhead against Buckhead.

And then we combine them and they combine teams. And that's a lot of fun, but when I look at the future of this city and when it's operating at excellence. My wife, Kelly, and I want to make sure that the story is told in the spirit of truth and our names are mentioned. We have an obligation to make sure that when this city is completely transformed and all people starting with African American people get a chance to live healthy and whole lives, that our name is mentioned.

So some people will say, it doesn't matter who gets the credit for us. We want the credit and we want God to get the glory, but I want all the credit for all the things we do. 

[00:36:20] Rita Burke: Hence, SpeakUP! International. That is our purpose, for you to tell your story and for your story to be archived. So when younger generations are researching people who have changed their communities, they find your name and your wife's name.

So you're doing exactly what we're hoping to do with SpeakUP! International. When an individual becomes civically engaged, how do they behave? 

[00:36:48] Cj Stewart: Your life becomes a lot more consequential. You move from being alive to living. You understand the importance of voting, even if even if you don't think your vote counts, you start to really understand the voting process.

You start to respect others. One, I'm not, so I don't represent all African American people, but I know what it means to be an African American man. And for me to consider black women, white women, Asian man, and other people, that's going to require a level of humility, not thinking less than myself, but thinking of others more than myself.

When you become civically engaged, you have a different mindset where you're looking at life totally different. You actually have the mental capacity and the emotional capacity to say, thank you. You have the emotional capacity to be thoughtful and that's privileged. If you wake up, if you wake up in the morning and you're thoughtful and considerate, consider yourself privileged because not everybody is living a life where they have the capacity to do that,

[00:37:55] Ellington Brown: I think Martin. Luther King summed that up when he said black kids would be able to play with white kids. I think that was really an important part of his vision. It appears that your organization helps black youth to be able to interact with individuals outside of their blackness.

I think that's very important. I want to say thank you for allowing us to have this conversation with you. We got to talk a little bit about L.E.A.D.. We could probably talk about that alone for at least another hour and a half. We talked about how L.E.A.D. Helps kids overcome obstacles that sometimes they may or may not be inherent.

And it's important to identify these things and to help them and you guys help them through the use of baseball and and tennis. And there's a whole lot of stuff that's going on when you're playing these sports, and it's not just whacking that ball. But you also have to use your mind and body to be able to win, or at least walk away feeling good about yourself as you're performing this.

This feat. So thank you so much. And when your next chapter begins, please come back to us. We would love to hear it and have an opportunity to have a conversation with you. And we wish you all the best in Atlanta. And fingers are crossed, hoping that the right individual becomes our next president and not, and not the, and not one that's going to cause obstacles for our people and other marginalized individuals.

So thank you so much. 

[00:40:13] Cj Stewart: My pleasure. Thank you all. I appreciate the great questions and the concerns. They are a gift. And it just really allows me to come on and have a good time as well. And these questions and me being able to respond helps build my confidence so I can do the work that I need to do.

So thank you all. 

[00:40:32] Rita Burke: Do you know, I have about a million more questions I want to ask you, based primarily on what, some of the things that you said. As Elton extended the invitation to come in next time, the invitation is open. I never heard the term openly Black. I like it and I'm going to research it.

Openly Black. I thought we were just openly Black, but you brought new meaning to that for me and I appreciate that. And what's the other thing? Positive identity. I think I know what it means, but Next time we'll have you expand on that a little bit more for us next time, but I know you have a hard stop, so we're going to let you go, but I thank you.

I thank you. I thank you so much for blessing us with your presence here today, 

[00:41:14] Cj Stewart: my pleasure. And maybe next time we come on, we can have one of our students come on with us as well. So that'll be good. So let's stay in touch to make that happen. 

[00:41:24] Rita Burke: Wonderful! Thank you so much! 

[00:41:26] Ellington Brown: Thank you for listening to SpeakUP! International. If you wish to contact Mr. CJ Stewart. please be prepared to submit your name, your email address, and the reason why you wish to contact Mr. CJ Stewart at https://leadcenterforyouth.org/. Mr. Stewart has other social media platforms you can use to connect to him that will be listed in the description section on Spotify and other social media platforms. 

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