"Unshackled Building Bridges": The Journey Begins - w/ Ronnie Carrasquillo & Gilbert Morales

In this episode, Omar Calvillo welcomes Gilbert Morales and Ronnie Carrasquillo to discuss the launch of their new podcast and non-profit organization, "Unshackled Building Bridges." Gilbert and Ronnie share their personal journeys through trauma, incarceration, and eventual redemption. The episode covers their vision for helping individuals and families affected by violence and incarceration, as well as their determination to highlight stories of struggle, strength, and faith. The conversation emphasizes the importance of love, community support, and finding purpose in helping others. Tune in to hear how lives are being transformed one story at a time.

https://ubborg.org/

https://www.pbs.org/show/in-their-hands/

Transcript

Ronnie: 0:00

what we're gonna do, we already have listings of volunteers on standby, waiting from whatever they do, whatever their business is. And then we'll be bringing them in. We have students to come in and speak. We have different churches to come in and and speak. We have different personal people to come in and speak. Women that were traumatized by just going to visit the prison. What was those experiences? We're gonna bring in family members who have lost family members. We're gonna bring in, uh, many victims of people from violence that cause trauma to their families so we have a diversified. Agenda of different topics of people to let them tell their stories of what they're going through, and we're just gonna be the medium for them to get highlighted. So this is what we're doing in this Unshackled Building Bridges" we're talking about political agents, minister agents, incarcerated impacted people, the agencies nonprofit trying to get these people out of prison. Wives who their husbands are still in prison with Natural Life, we're gonna bring all these different people in to let it out. Let it out, so this is what we're looking for. So, like it says, building bridges one screw at a time, one piece of metal at a time, but that's a metaphor. But in our case it's one person at a time.

1:33

From the city of Chicago, a city most recently known for its crime and violence. On this podcast, we will be sharing stories of redemption from individuals raised in the tough streets of Chicago and from around the country. Some of them were gang members, drug dealers, incarcerated victims, and perpetrators of violence. Listen to my guests as they share their experiences, struggles, trauma, but also the strength, hope, faith and perseverance, these have developed in them to keep pushing and moving forward in life. Tune in to hear how their lives have gone from darkness to light and from wrong to strong.

Omar: 2:14

of Wrong to Strong Chicago. I'm your host. My name's Omar Calvio, and tonight I'm out here on the north side. I believe we're in Humboldt Park. It's my first time driving out here, to be honest, you know, born and raised in the south side, so I'm in unfamiliar territory, but I hear with my brother, uh, Gilbert and Ronnie. Uh, and, um, these brothers are getting ready to, uh, to launch, uh, their own podcast on shackled building bridges. You can see the, the logo and, and the background there. Uh, but I'm just glad that you know that they invited me out here. So welcome to the podcast brothers.

Gilbert: 2:45

Amen. Thank you. Thank you Omar, for having us. Uh, my name is, thank you Omar, for having us. My name is Gilbert to Morales and, uh, I'm here to share what we're gonna do, what we're about, and what our vision is. And, um,

Ronnie: 3:05

my name is Ronnie Carillo. We are launching a podcast that is going to, uh. Allow people to release traumas that are held within them. They're able to come and speak and, uh, get advices. And because we are Gilbert, both Gilbert and myself and even Omar are people that, uh, came through traumas. We're survivors of traumas. We know what trauma looks like. We know the wrongful effects of it. We know what incarcerations look like, this. Uh, podcast is gonna relate to so many different diversified, um, things that ao people in society. And our, our vision is to uplift people and bring in transformation that they can, uh, let these things go and find a rationale through. Uh, through our speaking and in themselves to, uh, rebuild themselves to, to deconstruct the, the things they've been in life, to reconstruct their lives in a better manner, to, uh, have spiritual foundations and blessings and, and walk and having, uh, uh, hope and, uh, joy. The basic thing is joy. The, and, um, joy is a medicine to the heart. So this is what we will accomplish.

Omar: 4:23

Hey, man, man, note that, that, thanks for sharing that and the, the vision and the, the mission that you guys have behind this podcast. Uh, you know what, um, I know we're doing this, this interview here, basically to promote what, what, what they're gonna launch. So, man, I would love one day to actually have times I, I know both of these brothers have amazing testimonies and stories. Uh, but you know what, like for for the listeners, maybe give'em a, maybe a short, uh, version of your story. That way they know. You know, a about the host of this podcast, you know, so maybe a little bit of your story. That way when you guys actually do the, the podcast, they know the reason behind why you're doing what you're doing. So maybe, you know, take as long as you want, share like what something about your life. You know what I'm saying?

Gilbert: 5:03

Okay. So I, I was born and raised here in, well, I was born in Puerto Rico, but I came here at a very early age and I was. I raised here in Chicago and, you know, uh, being in a gang or being around a group since I was six years old, since I came here, you know, didn't know what the kids were speaking. They were speaking all I knew they were speaking something, but it was probably English at the time. But I didn't understand it, you know? But, you know, as I come to know these kids, they, they, they, some bad little kids, man. And I started learning some bad little things. At six years old, I already knew how beer, I knew what a beer was. I knew what a cigarette was. Not that I had to have it, but I tasted it. By the time I was eight years old, I was already smoking cigarettes, man. And I was hanging around Humboldt Park, you know, with another group, you know, and we called ourselves the Le Moine Street Delinquents grew up, you know, and then after that. I met up with another group around Humboldt Park before I met up with Ronnie here, you know, in my life, you know, always been in shambles, always been, you know, making the family, family suffer. Uh, you know, I couldn't keep a job. I, you know, alcohol wasn't a problem. I had drug problems, you know, alcohol was nothing, you know, and then I stay up all night. I come home, I. A lot of things that were just not right. You know, and coming in and outta jail and being in jail, you know, and, and being a different person in jail, you know?'cause when you're in jail, you know, mindset straightens out and you're thinking about what's going on out here, your family out here, you, the kids, you left, whatever. Then when you come out, you find everything in shamble. Everybody's in disorder, and like, you got your life in order now. So you're trying not to get back in that web. But somehow you get caught back in it. That was my life story. So, you know, I want repeated offender. So, you know, I was looking at life in prison. If I go and I do one more crime, you know, and, and then, you know, another thing, you know, I go to jail. You know, I had a bad reputation in jail, you know, had a bad reputation out here, you know, but, you know, that wasn't, that wasn't working for me, you know? And. I, I knew that it was a routine and I was doing the same thing over and over again, and it felt like insanity, like I was getting the same results, you know what I'm saying? And it's insane to get the same results and try to do the same thing over again. So I saw the pattern and you know, right. At a late age, I said, man, I'm gonna wind down in jail. I'm going to get locked up for life, you know? And I said, I can't do that. I can't have that. So I gave my life to the Lord and a lot of people thought I couldn't do it. A lot of people say, you know, you can't do it. You know you gotta go the same way. You know, like you go up on drugs or whatever, you know?'cause I was on a program methadone, I was on 220 milligrams of methadone. So he said, same way you went up to get up to 220, you gotta come down slowly before you get off this program. He said, no, watch me, watch me. God's gonna do it. And I did it. I got off it, and all a sudden I get hit with cirrhosis of the liver, you know? And I'm like, God, now that I come to you, this is what happened. But then I thought, you know what? I just deserve it. I deserve it because all my life I just been, you know, in gangs, fighting, you know, uh, dealing drugs, uh, getting over on people, doing different things, you know, it was a miracle. I was still alive, you know? And, uh, so I, I asked God, man, you know what, God, if you gonna take me, you know, go ahead and take me. But, you know, I, I appreciate it. You know, you've given me at least one last chance to be near you, to get to know you, and you're not chasing me away. You know, but, you know, so I started taking all the responsibility. I started believing that cirrhosis went away. I don't know how, but the Lord did it. Know, know what I'm saying? And before that, I had, I had a few encounters, you know, with spirituality and that, that, that straightened everything for me. You know, that made everything. Right.'cause I, I know there's a real God. I know there's a guy, you know, I know it. I don't believe it. I know there's a God. So, you know, I felt that his strength was gonna help me pull through, which it did. Next thing you know, we talk about, about 25 years ago almost. And then the Lord all gives me a wife, a brand new wife, you know, a new family, you know, then you know a kid. And I'm like, wow. You know? And now, now I say, I don't want a kid because. I couldn't live with the other responsibilities before now, but now the Lord said, I'm giving you this kid'cause he's gonna force that responsibility on me. So I learned how to become responsible because now I got a family and things are starting to happen to me, but I was afraid to come back out to the world because I knew that if I hang around with the same people that I'm hanging around with, that I was doing, I was gonna go down again. So I didn't want to go down again. So I stopped hanging around with people and I kept to myself and everything but. You know, I kept growing. I kept growing in the Lord, stayed in the church, kept growing at, at, at the work. You know, I started from the bottom up at work. I was already high up there, you know, and, and everybody has their turn, you know, came retirement time to retire. And then my buddy gets out, man, me and Ronnie go back a long way. Uh, we go back more than 50 years, you know, and, and we got before, you know, he's been locked up for a long time. A lot of people know that. And, and, you know, I stuck, I stuck by him with phone calls, with encouragement, with whatever I can because I knew what it's like to be in there, you know? And not just that, you know, the, a long time ago, you know, when I, when Ronnie first got locked up, things could've been different for me.'cause I went over there and told him who you want me to take care of? You know, think I was bad and everything, you know. And Ryan look at me and say, I want you to go take care of your family. Those are my friends. I want you to, you know, how can I do something to my friends? Even though they were telling on him and everything. And when he told me that I felt hurt'cause I wanted to be big and bad and I wanted to show my, my stripes, you know? But then that stood in my mind, man, you know, dude got a heart man. Dude's got a heart man. And so, you know, we bonded right there, man. We bonded in a special way, you know?'cause I wouldn't try to take care of my family. It didn't work out. But, you know, we, we kept in touch. We kept in touch. And now, you know, he came out and, and, you know, he's helped me, you know, to take that fear of going back to the people that I tried to run away from that were just like me at one time. You know? And you know, I'm already involved with the Lord. So when that fear went away, now I want to help. Now I wanna do something. You know, now, you know, I, you know, I missed a lot of opportunities because of my background. And there's a lot of things that are that, that we feel that we can't do because of this, because of that. And it's all a lie, man.'cause nothing's impossible. Nothing's possible for us. Nothing's possible for the Lord, man. You know? And right now, you know, I can just lay back and stay happy. I'm good. But, you know, I wanna make a difference. I wanna make a difference. You know, there's, there's a lot of people out there that are suffering. There's a lot of people out there that, that are hurting, you know, that, that they've lived through family members being traumatized, you know, whether it was through fights in their own family or getting locked up, you know. But we come from the, from the streets, you know, and then we learn a different language as we get older and we get more educated. But you know, when, when push comes to shove, we only know one language, man. And you know, I wanna help somebody. I wanna help somebody. If it's one person, you can't put a price on helping one person. You know? You cannot put a price on it. And my goal is to help someone, you know, and everything that we're doing right now, this is us, man. This is no one else. This is us, man. And we're not thinking about what we're putting in or what we're gonna get back or nothing. All we wanna get back, we're working with a currency of love. Mm-hmm. You know, and that's what we're paying with and that's what we're gonna get paid with love, you know? And that's, that's just about my short, kind of long, but

Omar: 13:18

you know what I, I, I. That, uh, what you said about love, it reminded me of a scripture. It says, uh, let no debt remain outstanding except the depth of love. Amen. That, that's, that's a debt that we're never gonna finish paying. That's right. You know what I'm saying? cause the greatest love was given to us, you know, when Jesus laid his life from the cross for us. Right. Amen. And that's, man, that's how though, you know, that's got, the Father showed his love when he sent them for us. But man, thanks for sharing that, and that, that explains why I, uh, you have that desire. To give back to help. And man, you know, you, you said you were retired, but man, you're, they brought you out to retirement and put you back to work. I'm

Gilbert: 13:54

ready to go to sleep.

Omar: 13:56

Hopefully not permanently. Not

Gilbert: 13:57

yet, bro. No, man, we, you know, we need, we got a lot of people that are older, you know, because, you know, a lot of times we think about the young generation. Yeah, we need to look out for the young generation'cause that's our future. But a lot of these old folks, man, that you guys know, you know, whether it's your uncle or something, whatever, man. Man, they're, they're locked up in their house, in their bedroom. Man, y'all need to take'em out, man. Take'em on a, on an a exclusion. Take'em to the boat. Take'em to, to the park. Do something with them. Man. These people are locked up in their house, man. And they need to get out. Man. You know, I was kind of locked up and even though I have family and everything, man, but it is like home, home, home, man. You never get out your comfort zone. You know? You need to come out of that comfort zone and we need to take those people out of that comfort zone, you know, especially people that are incarcerated. Impacted Okay. That are older. They're, they, they're really stuck'cause they don't even know about technology. You know, technology is so hard for them, you know, and, and people don't think about that because I know about that.'cause uh, I've dealt with a few people that are incarcerated, impacted, you know, and they've been locked up for a long time. You know, one of'em being my friend here, you know, and I see how hard it is for them to. Really grasp, you know, it's not that they're not smart or nothing, it's just the technology's so weird, man. You know? And, and if you're not savvy on this stuff every day, every day, you know, for them to come out just like that and grab it, it's not that easy. And sometimes we need to understand that and not hold it like, uh, like if they had a handicap, you know what I'm saying? But show like, like, just like when you want to pick somebody up, you know, you wanna lift them up. That's, that's kind of something like that. cause you need to lift them up in that area. And we don't understand that yet.'cause this is all new to us, or this is new to me.

Omar: 15:43

Yeah. You know, I know that, that, that Thanks for sharing that. That's a definitely another way that, that, that we, we could help, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. And, and in that way. But, uh, and I'm gonna throw it over to, to Ronnie. I, man, I had the opportunity to go to Kewanee. And, uh, for you guys to watch this. We did about six interviews. Only five were released. Uh, but we went out there and Ronnie was able to share a little bit about his story, and I would definitely encourage you guys go check out the documentary. In their hands. I believe it's on pbs.org. You guys go there. Uh, the, uh, um, look for it in their hands. And basically it's this live story. Uh, but Ronnie, you, you wanna give'em maybe a, a brief bio of, of who you are and then eventually why, why, why you're doing what, what you're doing to through this, uh, uh, podcast.

Ronnie: 16:27

My life story, uh, to make it brief, I'm gonna try to make it brief, is comes from, uh, uh, watching. Civil unrest, racial tensions. I grew up, uh, during the riots of Humboldt Park. I grew up, uh, during the, uh, assassination of Martin Luther King of the burning of the city of Chicago. I watched all these, uh, turmoils come into the neighborhoods, so I engaged in that a at a young age, uh, marching, uh, for different groups, marching for education, marching for better jobs. And you're a kid, you don't know what you're doing. You're just doing what peer pressure gets you to do. So you engage, you, you fall out into the, into the street, you get engaged in the street life. I come from a dysfunctional home, single parent home, uh, that leaves you, uh, less in education. You're not being, uh, taught. So coming from that point of view, you get deeper engaged into the, the street life of what's going on. So you think more of your friends than. You know, you just, uh, love'em to, to the point where you'll even fight your parents. That your friends are more important to your parents, almost like a young kid getting involved with a girl. You, you'll fight for the, you know, for your own parents. I love her more, you know, so anyway, coming from that environment, um, you see so much violence. I grew up in the, the common thing all the time was race and violence and gangs. Just constantly, I've been a victim before. Uh, many times, uh, the bullets didn't kill me. The knives didn't kill me, the assaults didn't kill me, and it led me to a violent area. And in that, and through that violence, I landed myself at 18 years old in a prison system. I spent 47 years in the Department of Corrections and recognized while I was in the prison system. I can tell automatically who. Uh, came from broken homes. You could watch people's demeanor and who went to Catholic schools, who went to public schools, and you had to be, you had to discern spirits all the time of who was, uh, ready to do something wrong that can affect you. So we became, in a sense, the, the people that were enemies. We became experts at becoming friends, even though we were enemies as kids in the street, what society wanted us to be, we changed that concept. So that's why I come up with the. A phrase that we had to deconstruct, that we had to eliminate that part of our, a part of our character. We had to let that go. So we became, while I was in the prison system, we became builders of other men. We would find out who couldn't read, who couldn't write, who had second grade education, third grade education, and we would uplift them as we had to train ourselves to continuously educate, uh, to be able to have something to pass down to the next man. So we spent, I spent 47 years doing that. So this program that we're doing, unshackled building bridges, is unshackling. The, the things that people hold onto that, like Gilbert spoke about, there are people that go to prison and come home and programs don't help'em. So they lock themselves up in their houses and they're in another kind of prison. So they never were able to, uh, get that relief and get that release. They're still in prison in one way or another. So you find people with, uh, alcohol addictions, tobacco addictions, um, uh, marital and marital addictions, divorce, addictions, all these people that I came home to, all these different, um, hates that people have. So we had to preach and teach and believe and love. Like Gilbert said, the currency that we operate is in, in love. We've seen so much violence. We've been part of so much violence. So we didn't wanna tap into that and continuously use that in our lives. So we be, we became credible messengers in what we were speaking. We're able to, through Unshackle, uh, building bridges, we're able to call people in and talk to people. We're gonna bring them on the podcast to, uh, let release come in, let release, come through their life, because we know what it is to stay in that, in that arena. And as Gilbert spoke about him, um. God giving him a revelation to help people. That's what we feel it's about. And we're not, uh, pushing God on nobody. And there's a lot of people that, that are so traumatized. They don't want to hear God. They don't want to believe there's God. So that's their prerogative to do. So that's, that's, uh, on them to do so. So this is the purpose of us doing the unshackle, building bridges to, uh, bring these people out of the houses. We go to a lot of places to speak. So we're, uh, networking with people, young students that. Are looking for internships in different places. So because we're elder and we know people, we try to, uh, attach people to other people to help them build and reach the plateaus they're trying to be. So whether it's in journalism, whether it's being in law enforcement, uh, whether it's being a, uh, an attorney, we're, we're, we're diversified in that, in that way. So this is what we do, uh, build people. This is what it's all about. Building people. It took us. A long time to build ourselves in a different manner so we have the, uh, credibility to do so. Um, it's a, it is a beautiful thing to see when somebody you are working with finally, uh, says, oh, I understand now, and they have a different understanding. So, and this as a teacher standpoint, you have a lot of people that wanna teach and a lot of people wanna pass down. Knowledge is, and sometimes, uh, they, they can't give their knowledge away. They have the skills, but they can't give their knowledge away. But because of the things that we experienced in our, in our lifetime, we learn patience. We learn humility. We learn that if a person don't get it the first time, we don't discard him. And we don't, um, what's the word? We don't, um. Uh, blame or we don't point fingers or we don't judge because we have been judged and we have been fingers pointed at, we have been marginalizing. And people say, you're never gonna change from this, so you're always gonna stay incarcerated. So the mountains that we climbed and the mountains that have been removed out of our lives, we're now able to help others. To, uh, uh, receive that same blessing and have that hope everything is on based on that hope. So, if you don't have the hope, we've seen people without hope and, um, it's, it's not a good scene. And so this is what we work towards. This is what this unshackled building bridges is gonna be all about, man. Uh, unifying people, uplifting the people, letting people tell their stories. Everybody has a story. Everybody has a story. Where they came from, and we don't know whether it was five years old or somebody was three years old, or somebody was 20 years old when they lock into certain traumas and it, and we're willing. We in the unshackled building bridges, podcasting, we're willing to go that far in. We're willing to go with that person that far back. We're willing to go, if people can't read and write to the second grade, to the third grade, we're willing to go help'em that far to, uh, restart the clock and bring them up to par as Gilbert said. Uh. It. A lot of people are mocked who come from the world, the, the prison system because they come home after many decades and can't compete in the, in the computer world. So it is like you're training a kindergartner and a lot of people do not wanna take the time after they come from home from work, and you can't blame'em. People work eight hours a day, 10 hours a day, they don't want to take the time, or they don't have the time, or they're tired or exhausted to now take a grown adult. And try to teach them the basics of electronics, uh, uh, these, these computer system, the cameras and the digital technical era. So. Uh, this is what this is all about, to find help where people need the help at, and redirect the people to get that help in them arenas.

Omar: 24:47

Hey. Amen. Amen. Th th uh, thanks for sharing all that. Now, I was gonna ask you a, a real quick, the, that name. When did, did you get that name and that the division, like when, when did you know, like, man, we're, we're gonna start a podcast and this is what it's gonna be about. Was it like in prison still? Were you like. Writing down some dreams, some goals. How, uh, maybe talk about when, when, when you received that vision and then, and then the name, where, where'd you get the name? You know,

Ronnie: 25:15

Gilbert was, we were starting, at first I had this program labeled Hub, uh, help us build Foundation. So as we were getting ready to work with that, and I've been using that name for approximately 10 years. So Gilbert started coming up with. Different names, and he kept saying, we have to come up with a name that fits what we went through. And I, and we went, I forgot all the words that he came up with, but he came up with a lot of them. And we landed on one thing that in his life and in my life, it, we, we revolved around letting go of that spirit that we had that caused us trauma. So the word that fit the best was we took that chain off. We were, we were unshackled. So, um, the Bible says in Hebrews 13, three to be sh uh, shackled to the prisoner as if you're in prison yourself. And when I remember that word, I said, Gilbert, the word we're looking for is unshackled. We're free. So then, and then what are we doing? Because we're un free. What are we doing with that freedom? And we were saying we were helping people build. We didn't let the building word go. So we're saying we're helping people build, which we do, whether it's. Cutting people's grass, whether it's painting people's houses, whether it's fixing their furniture, um, whatever we do, whether it's, uh, counseling them, coaching them, whether it's taking them, like he's Gilbert said, taking'em outta their house on field trips you could call it. Uh, whether it's getting them help with attorneys. Uh, our knowledge of what we went through in life is like a, like an encyclopedia. We have an encyclopedia of information in our head that we can pass on that. Unfortunately other people don't have, and the blessing that we have is that patience to give it to'em until we see that they got it.

Omar: 27:08

Hmm. Amen. Amen. I was gonna ask you, I know you shared that you, you, you know, your thinking, you know, man, the, the name and all that. What, what, what, what did that do to you as far as like c creativity and maybe, I know you mentioned you were retired, man, you're already just to chill, take life easy. But did that give you like a new, like reinvigoration, like give you a mission? Could you talk about like, thinking the process mm-hmm. And, and, and where you're at now. Like what, what, what has done that done for you?

Gilbert: 27:38

Okay. So, like Ronnie said, Ronnie comes out, you know, and I start hanging around with Veronica, you know, I've known him for over 50 years, so, you know, whatever I can do for him, Hey, Ronnie, go over here. Or if you need to go over there, you can't go over here. You can't come to the state because it, it was a process. But then once, once we got settled down about a year later,'cause he was first in Indiana. So about a year later, once he comes into the state, gets settled down over here, changes his address and everything. So we started trying to form this Huff Foundation thing, but then as we're forming it, we realized that we were going about it the wrong way. So we, we put a halt on it. So like Ronnie said, you know, we come up with the idea, you know, that we need to come up with a different name, you know, so we start kicking around. He starts. Telling me. Oh. So I give'em like five different, 10 different names. So out of the 10 different names, we put it together and come out unshackled building bridges.'cause we are like, what? I said unshackled and now we're building bridges.'cause we're building people's life together. We're bringing them back together. So, you know, I started saying, okay, so we're gonna do a podcast. I said, Rodney, we went first. We went to do, uh, this, this the, he does these events. Speaking events and stuff like that. He goes to, uh, political advocate, advocating what have you, what have you, not y'all understand that language pretty sure. Anyway, so we kicked it around and, and we came out. I said, were recording, and all of a sudden, you know, I just said, Ronnie, why don't we start a podcast? I just said it just like. Just to say it. He says, that's a good idea, and this guy says something. It's like serious. I looked at like, okay, so what do we do from here? So we started. That's when we started picking the name, getting the things together. We got the name. Then he calls me up and says, make it into a nonprofit organization so we're not just a podcast now. Now he wants me to turn into a nonprofit organization. I say, oh man. Okay. So that means that everything we're gonna make is gonna go to the non-profit organization. That's okay with me.'cause we, we working outta love anyway. We don't have no money. We're putting money in. Yeah. Yeah. So it's all good. Let's go for it. So I went and became a non-profit organization. So now you know the name is a nonprofit organization. We're called Unshackled Building Bridges Organization, which is a nonprofit organization. And uh, we have the podcast as part of our organization and we're gonna use the podcast as a mental health tool. To bring mental health awareness to people out there, you know, um, as far as the trauma part of life that people don't talk about, you know, there's, people have been abused when they were kids and they're still holding onto it. That little secret, whatever. Sometimes we need to let go of those things, figure a way to let go of those things.'cause you know, we're only hurting ourselves. You know, and, and, and, and we're gonna build this and we're gonna do this. And, and that's how it started. And we just kept going and kept going. And next thing you know, I'm learning accounting. You know, I knew some accounting, you know, from the job that I used to do before. I know a little bit about computers. I now, I'm learning, I'm totally in a new field and a non-profit organization, buildup. So I'm, I'm learning about 5 0 1 C3. I'm learning about tax exemptions. I'm learning about accounting. I'm learning about bank accounts, how to set up business bank. I'm learning all this stuff and I'm getting good at

Ronnie: 31:01

it. He back alive,

Gilbert: 31:04

you know, and I feel like, wow.

Ronnie: 31:05

Yeah.

Gilbert: 31:06

Now I'm plan. I have plans to even go back to school to study a class that has to do with mental health.

Omar: 31:12

If, if you don't mind me asking. How, how old are you, brother? And the reason I ask, the reason I gotta ask this,'cause there's a lot of young people, man, that 40, you know, 50, they think, man, how old are you? And they, I'm 70

Gilbert: 31:24

years old. 70 years old man. I'm 70 years old man.

Omar: 31:27

And I know you said, you mentioned coming back to life, but really like, I, I, I could see it. You don tell me real quick, man. This brother man, he, he, he, he came to my house. We were like, I was showing him my equipment. And he started showing me things. You know, I'm, I'm 46 years old, so his brother busted out his phone. He's like, Hey man, Omar, you gotta get this app, man. You gotta get, uh, ai. And so we're, man, we, we, we, we could learn from up, down, and down up. You know what I'm saying? And I just wanted to ask that, you know, not to throw your age out there. No, no. That's, but man to, to give these, uh, people that are gonna watch this man. Some to, to, to bring them back to life, man, in a sense because, uh, uh, maybe somebody told them, Hey, yo, yo, you're not smart enough. Maybe. Yeah. You know, they, they, they've been cursed in some way or somehow they get word spoken over'em. It could be from a parent, it could be from a teacher. Man. You're never gonna amount to nothing, man. You're dumb and all these things, man. And, and I think a lot of times we receive that and we accept that and we need somebody to come. Like, I know you mentioned you reconnecting with Ronnie. Seems like he sparked something in you. He did reinvigorated something in you. Now you're talking about going back to school. Man, we're setting up the camera. You know, man, this brother got better equipment than I got, you know? So he did, he did his research, started investigating and man, he got, uh, the, what you got, uh, the, the Apple computer. Man, you, he more high tech than me, so definitely. I I just wanted to share that brother.'cause Amen. People need to be like a real reawakening. I and I pray that by them hearing you share this. Maybe that'll spark something in them that no matter how old you are, man, you could learn all these things you're, that you're learning at this age and you're still gonna learn more, brother. But I could continue to,

Gilbert: 33:07

to share on

Omar: 33:08

what you were saying. No, but, but thanks,

Gilbert: 33:09

thanks a lot, uh, Omar, for, for that compliment. I know. Very deeply appreciated. But I owe everything to God. I'm gonna be honest with you because without God, I wouldn't have been able to do nothing. And right now, I, I feel the strength. I feel the energy. I feel it all, man. And I feel like I want to move. You know? It's like leaving a legacy man. You know what I'm saying? It's like, you know, I, you know, I fell, I fell off like 12 feet, 10 feet, straight down headfirst at the United Center about four months ago. Okay. I broke three ribs only. I didn't break my neck, I didn't bust my head, and I'm still here standing, okay. By the grace of God, you know? And I saw this guy fall at the PNC park. Yeah. Cubs game. No offense, but the Cubs game that the guy fell down and man, he was in the hospital for, and when I saw that, I got chills up my ball. And all I could do is thank God and pray for that man. And, and thank God that I'm here because it could have easily broke my neck. I could have easily, you know, broke my back, busted my head, anything, you know, but I'm here and, and you know what, and you're right, I'm 70 years old. And, you know, and, and I, I have a backpack, I have lumber back. I have the three broken ribs and, and seven years old. But you know, I still change the car tire. I still wash the car. I still wanna go after I wash the car, get on the computer. After I get on the computer, I wanna come down here and clean up. You know, I want, always wanna be on the go because, you know, I, I don't wanna put myself to sleep, man.'cause I did that for a while. As soon as I retired, man, I was like. Couch potato. I didn't wanna do anything, man. This guy gets out, man. He got me out of my comfort zone, man, and I'm not the only one. He has taken out the comfort zone, man. This man is man. He is blessed by God to take people and see what they don't see, man, and let them know in his own special way what they need to do. He's blunt. But he straight up man, and you know, man, I, I came outta my comfort zone all sudden, I wanna take everybody out their comfort zone.

Omar: 35:10

Yeah. Oh yeah.

Gilbert: 35:11

You know what I'm saying?

Omar: 35:11

I call that

Gilbert: 35:12

a, a a a ripple effect. Yeah, it's like a ripple effect. Exactly, man. You know, and, and you know, and I encourage people, you know, to. Sometimes, you know, you watch these things and you might get bored or something, but man, these stories, you know, and it is not our stories. This is our story today. Yeah. About how we started this program, how we're gonna get this program launched, and how things are gonna go from here on. But this is stories about your story, about your story to share with other people that live lives like you so they can see that they can relate to it. And you know, especially people that have changed their life, that have been able to change their life around, whether through us or through someone else like you, or through a church or through some mentor or something that they took seriously, you know? And they took everything into account and they say, you know what? This life is in Sham. I. I don't like this life anymore. You know? And there's people that come to the point, they wanna take their life away, man. You know? And that's when life gets real bad. When you don't care, you know? And oh my, I, when I got locked up and I came back out, I saw people that looked young when I got locked up. I got locked up for three years, come back out. They look like, oh man, you know, they got wasted, man. No teeth, no nothing. They like, what's up? What's up? What happened to you? It only been a while. Yeah. You know, and there's a lot of people, you know, and that's why we're beautiful. We're beautiful. No matter what we look like, we're beautiful, you know, but the beauty comes from within, you know, and that's what we gotta realize. And then we gotta learn that, you know, a person could only love us how they know how. We can't expect the person to love us the way we know how.'cause we gotta love how we know how. You know? And when someone loves us, they're loving us the way they know how.

Ronnie: 36:52

So we're, we're blessed to be mobile. We're blessed to be moving around so we're not, uh, in one family. We have hundreds of families that we associate to, and then their cousins or their aunts or their, whoever it is, we go to different prison ministries. In the prison ministries you find multiple people and, uh, many people that are not God-fearing. People are not even believers are, a lot of people are afraid when you say. Ministry or when you say God. So we preach to them basically that a minister, uh, when you say you're a minister, a minister is just a messenger. So you, you are a messenger bringing good word to people. So, uh, I preach to a lot of people, and I'll say not preach, but teach a lot of people that don't be afraid of the word, uh, ministry or God. Or when we point out to people, they're doing such a, a job, an astronomical job of doing something abnormal that is not normally seen. And then you point out to them, you know, you're a, you're a gift from God, you're a vessel from God. A lot of people take it and step back and they don't want that recognition on them. Like, no, not God. And then it's just, uh, it's more than what a normal person can do. So it's, it is, I try to humble these people. And not that I try to humble them that just to show them or explain to them or, or express to them, you are a vessel of God and that that's a exciting thing to be, you know, that to, uh, to hyper a person up and keep going. And we're associated to, uh, different nonprofit groups, which are, uh, reentry center groups. We go around different reentry center groups. Uh, different groups that are, find people housing, uh, find people rental assistance, find people, uh, money to buy clothes, give people clothes. Uh, bibles, we got interest groups that we go to that go into the Cook County Jail interest groups that go into all the prison systems, uh, through through Illinois and the United States, and even international places out of the country. So all these, uh, PE it's about people. You know, we're created to be a fellowship with each other. So we bring that fellowship, so the, the scripture tells you to go out and make it. Don't say to go into church and lock in the church. So we go out and make, we go, we make house calls, you know, and we, and we bring people out to engage and whatever it is, whether it's to a restaurant, whatever it is. Um, some people don't have family left that we know they're older. Some people don't have brothers and sisters. Uh, mother's Day just passed and some mothers, uh, their children don't know how to, um, buy'em flowers or buy'em a gift. They just have superficial mother's days. No car. Just some people just say, happy Mother's Day, and that's where it lies at. So we come across that. No, we go get the flowers. No, we. We, we go get a gift, we go get the chocolate or we go get something and help the people to No, this is how you celebrate a mother. This is how you do this. And, and we bring that to the plate. So this is what we do and it's, it is, like Gilbert said, the American system exercises, uh, everything to the currency through the dollar. So we come from poor backgrounds where we didn't have anything. We went through the prison system where we didn't have money for lawyers. We sat there for decades. And taught each other and, and raised up. So, but what we did learn was that, that God is love and, and that love because our family stood together, they visit us for 40, I mean, in my case, visited me for 47 years. Cars, after cars, driving five hours, seven hours, flying in from other states to come visit. Uh, bring money, give money, um, and, and participate. So they, they did the time with me. So this is, this is what we learned out of that ordeal, that love moves mountains. So when you, when we found other people in problems that were in a court system or going to a hearing or have a medical situation and the prison, and they had no family to represent'em. We had family that would represent'em, and then we would call, our family would call each other, especially my sister would call people and say, or my younger brother, I'll take the people down there, I'll go bring their family to visit, and they will just volunteer. When you see that love operating, then it, it is, it is like a, it's like a torch. It's like an igniter. And we don't, we don't, we haven't stopped with it yet, so we're not gonna get old. And when people say, well, you just asked Gilbert, how old is he? How old is he? And people ask me, Hey, how old are you? I don't count numbers. I have eternal life. Amen. So I don't count numbers. We just, we're gonna live. The Bible says we live. Amen. I, I'm taking those numbers there. Amen. Eternity's more than 50, 67 and number don't mean nothing.

Omar: 41:53

Hey man. Thanks for sharing that, man. I, I, I know like you were talking about retirement and when you're serving, God, there is no retirement man until you get to the other side, you know?'cause man, as long as you got breath in your lungs, man, and your heart's beating, shit. Got, got, got some work for you to do, man. No, no matter where you're at as far as like a number. Uh, but man, yo, you guys mentioned, okay, the podcast and all these programming. Where can people go to like, uh, find out what you guys are gonna be doing? I know we're, we're probably gonna release this once you guys, you know, I, I think you mentioned you wanna record about seven, eight podcasts. Get ready to launch, then we're gonna release this, uh, we're gonna release this probably the week before they get ready to launch that. But maybe you got a website, uh, maybe Facebook or TikTok. What do you, what do you got?

Gilbert: 42:35

So, so we're across, off. Five platforms right now. For right now, we're across, uh, Tic-Tac. We have, uh, Instagram, we have X, we have uh, Facebook, and we have YouTube, and we have a website. So we're six. And our website is u ubb org. Dot org, right. It's Uncheckable Building Bridges organization or ubb.org, whichever. When you hit. UBB org. Dot org. And

Ronnie: 43:11

so, so what we're gonna do, just to, not to cut Gilbert off, he has all that text. So he's, uh, he has prepared and has prepared all the, uh, channels for it to be broadcasted so on, on our behalf. We're, we already have listings of volunteers on standby, you could say, waiting from different, uh, whatever they do, whatever their business is. And then we'll be bringing them in. Uh, we have a woman just not mad, not mothers against drunk driving, but it's like, um, uh, against alcohol, some kind of thing. So we'll be bringing them in. We have students to come in and speak. Uh, we have different churches to come in and and speak. We have different personal people to come in and speak. We're gonna use, uh, women that were traumatized by just going to visit the prison. What was those experiences? We're gonna bring in family members who have lost family members. We're gonna bring in, uh, many victims of people from violence that cause trauma to their families multiple times. So we have a diversified. Uh, agenda of different topics of people to let them tell their stories of what they're going through, and we're just gonna be the medium for them to get highlighted. Like what we did in Kwani, me and Omar went to Kwani and it wasn't about me, it wasn't about him. It was that I was talking to Omar and told'em, Hey, there's a town down there in Southern Illinois and they do this and they do that. They help people to get outta prison. He like, yeah. I said, we need to highlight them people. So we went down there to highlight what those peoples, uh, were doing are, are doing in their community. So this is what we're doing in this Unshackled building bridges. We're gonna bring the people in to highlight what they're doing. We're talking about political agents, we're talking about minister agents, we're talking about, um. Incarcerated impacted people, people and then the agencies nonprofit trying to get these people out of prison. Uh, wi Wives who their husbands are still in prison with Natural Life, we're gonna bring all these different people in to let it out. Let it out, and let people that, uh, on the outside and different, wherever this lands at, wherever. Gilbert gets it to channel two that maybe somebody in society can pitch in and donate or whatever. Uh, remarks. We don't know what remark somebody from listening to this will send a remark that will change our whole attitude, change our atmosphere, steer us down a different place. So this is what we're looking for. So, and it, like it says, building bridges one screw at a time, one piece of metal at a time, but that's a metaphor. But in our case it's one person at a time.

Gilbert: 45:52

Right. So, so to what he was saying, so, and to what you were saying. So our plan is that you're gonna, you're gonna launch a week before we launch off, and we're planning, we do have a bunch of people lined up, you know, that have different stories, good stories too. Anyway, so a week after you launch yours, we're gonna launch and we're hoping to go by end of this month, or by the beginning of next month. You know, we're going to launch off with three three, and then we're gonna give you one a week. Every week it gonna be a different story. Just like, just like your show, more or less, Omar. But, you know, even though, like you said, I'm, I'm an older guy. Mm-hmm. But I'm a new kid in the block. I'm the new kid in the block and I wanna come up with something new, you know, something different, you know? Um, I wanna try something new, you know? And if it works, it works. And if it doesn't, it doesn't, you know, I trust God. I put God in front of me and you know, God's leading the way. He told me he's gonna be the voice. He told me, don't worry about who you going to talk to. If you, whether it's a lawyer, a doctor, or you know, a small person, you know, or a big person or whatever, a nice dressed person or a person that doesn't know how to dress, don't worry, I'm gonna talk for you. You know, and I trusted God and you know, this is where he has me and, and I'm glad he has me here, you know, because I feel like I'm doing something positive. I feel like I'm contributing already. And I haven't even started, man. We already got affiliations with a bunch of organizations. Okay. A lot of reentries, we, we are affiliated with, from, from here, from Humboldt Park area, from the Inglewood area, you know, and we're, uh, Westtown right here, Austin, by, by Austin, all over Chicago. You know, we already have connections with different, uh, churches too that, that work with the community, different pastors, you know, and. And, and we're just part of it. You know, once we get all our licenses in place, we're already a non-profit organization, but there's a few more papers that are in the work. But once we get all those papers in work, then we're in full blown. I. You know, and, and you know, only the sky's the limit. You know, the sky's not the limit for us. Sky's the limit for all of us, you know, all of us.'cause we're talking about bringing people up. We're not talking about being rich a millionaire. You know, we're talking about being a millionaire in love. Mm-hmm. Being a millionaire, you know, and feeling it, you know, not just talking it, but feeling it, you know, because you, you know. With bread and butter, man, you could feel like a millionaire. Mm-hmm. You don't have to have a stake. Right.

Omar: 48:13

You know?

Gilbert: 48:14

Hey man. Amen. For sure,

Omar: 48:14

brother. Hey, you know what? They, they thank you guys for, for sharing all that. You know, what, uh, be before we get ready to wrap up, any final words, anything we didn't get a chance to talk about that you guys would want to share, you know, that maybe they need to, to hear

Ronnie: 48:27

All I would like to say up to close this is that you're gonna see by other people's voices, not ours, because I'm not bragging and it says. To keep me my in humility, but our credibility, uh, is gonna be announced, not by me, but we're gonna bring people in to say, these, these people do this, this, this, and this. And the same thing as, uh, Omar, by you starting your, uh, wrong and strong. And you might start it with one people. You got years under your belt, you know, high tech moving around. Uh, it's a full blown program, recognized everywhere. So it's credible. Credibility means everything. Your word means everything. And we're, we stand on that. You know, the, the people are gonna announce, you know, these people do this, and it's a good thing. If you need help, we know somebody can help you.

Gilbert: 49:19

Amen. I'd like to say, Omar, um, I'd like to extend a big, you know, hug to you, you know, because, uh, man, you know. I'm here because you've also helped me. You know, you didn't look at us like as competitors, but you looked at us as someone to help, you know, and, and you know, from watching your programs and what you do, I see the kind of help you do. You know, you, you uplifting, you know, and you're doing this, you know, you're going here, you're going there. And, you know, it's a great thing to do. And I'm, I'm, I'm gonna be part of that, you know, and, and, and, you know, I connected with you, you know? Mm-hmm. And even though you're 46 and I'm, you know, I feel like, man, we've been hanging around all our life together, bro. I feel like, you know, like you one of the guys and then, you know, you feel like I'm one of the grandfathers. I don't know, but, you know, but it's all good, man. You know, and, and you know, I praise to your program, bro. Praise to God. You know what I'm saying? Because you always keep God in your program. I seen that too. You know? And I believe, you know, there's people that that say, you know, you should keep the Lord out a bit if you want to do this, if you want. No, I believe the Lord got me here. The Lord gonna take me over there. Amen. Without the Lord, I ain't going nowhere. Amen. Enough for for sure. You know, want to,

Omar: 50:30

I wanna share this, uh, who went to Kiwani? We had about two and a half hour drive. Man, I, I, I got out that car seat, man. I could barely walk, move and Ronnie's over there ripping and running, man. Uh, I, I, I told my wife when I got back, I like, man, I'm over there. I, I feel like I was like the older guy, man, this guy's over there energy. Then he is driving back back and he got plans and things to do. Hey, hey Ronnie, I was gonna ask you. Oh, man, you, you, you come out after 47 years being in prison and instead of you coming out and maybe having other people like man to, to motivate you, you know, to give you vision. Vision. You came out here and you're doing, you're doing that to a lot of people, and I know, like with me, you, you've impacted me. Uh, uh, uh, I believe in a lot of divine connections. I believe the connection here, the connection with Gil and just the, the networking that's been happening. I see God's hand in all of it, man. Amen. And I know you mentioned like me doing this like for you guys, man, like, uh, one of the things I tell people I, if it's of God, it's of me. Amen. Meaning if it's to point people to Christ, if it's to, to help others, yeah. Man, I'm there. How, how, how can I contribute? And I, I, I, I believe it. And not, like you mentioned, I know, like, like competition. Ah, man. We're, we're, uh, helping one another. Yes, sir. And, and, and, and, uh, what's the word you, you, you use right now? Uh. What's an integrity, what's the word you were talking about right now? You said, uh, you, you will see that people ain't ain't gonna need credibility. Credibility, man. And, and that, that's what I see in these brothers when I went to Kiwani and just all the, the, the men and the women. Uh, that they were talking about Ronnie, the way he, he impacted him even while he was in prison. Uh, the blessing that he was. Mm-hmm. And now he's out here and he's doing, uh, uh, you know, doing the same thing. You know? Same, uh, not with freedom, but man, me personally, I just pray for you guys. Amen. I pray that God blesses that this, this podcast. Yes, sir. Uh, that he gives you favor with whoever he needs to give you favor with. Opens up the door to, uh, uh, to all these programs that you guys have. The, the vi the, the division. You know, I know you, me mentioned the, uh, incarcerate, uh, impacted to help'em in car. Impacted in car. We're gonna change.

Gilbert: 52:36

We're gonna change. We wanna change the language, you know,'cause this incarceration, uh, prisoner or mm-hmm jail burden or not. We're car impacted people. That's who we are. We're car impacted people and I wanna clear that out'cause we're changing the language.

Omar: 52:53

Amen. And, and God's you using people like that in a mighty way? You know, that's, that's usually they look at it, oh man, you know, you ain't gonna accomplish nothing. You got that on your record. They got the X on you. Like, nah. Yeah,

Gilbert: 53:04

no, that's what I thought. That's what the, that's what the enemy wants you to think, brother. The enemy wants you to think. And that's why I was held back for a while.'cause the enemy was, but God had other plans. God was also preparing me, man.'cause he was preparing me with that book. You know? And I'm not as good as, as, as wise with other people with the book. But you know what? The word and the spirit is in me.

Omar: 53:24

Yes.

Gilbert: 53:24

And that's all that counts. Amen.

Omar: 53:26

That, that, that's all we need. Any last words around here? One of use. Can you close out in prayer?

Ronnie: 53:32

I'll close out in prayer.

Omar: 53:33

Amen.

Ronnie: 53:34

Father, it's a blessing that you open all these doors that once upon a time I was in a position where they said, oh, you'll never be free, you'll never have children, that you're gonna die by incarceration. Uh, but many people came forward, father out of love, not out of finance. And you show me what love is and the doors opened, people kept knocking on the door, people unified. And I'm thankful father that it was, it was you. Every time I seen something happen so abnormal, I had to look up to say, that's only supernatural. Supernatural comes from the heavenly realm. And when the, when the keys turn to, uh, release me from that kind of incarceration, uh, the woundings that we had throughout the years that. We're not supposed to walk away from that. We walked away from that. You kept us, uh, alive for a purpose, father. And our purpose is, uh, to live for others, not to live for ourself. Your word says to pick up our cross, daily, die to ourself and live a Christ's life. And that was to help other people. So here we are, um, helping people unshackle the things that they're locked into that they may not see, that we might be able to help them with a word, with a deed. And give us that opportunity. Father, give us that favor to continuously do so. Give us the bolts and screws and every piece of, uh, equipment and, uh, utensil that we need to build these bridges. Father that, that the doors open in every way mightily. That people could say that's abnormal. It's supernatural. Them brothers are anointed and ordained through your kingdom Father, and that all we do this work for we're just soldiers and soldiers for the kingdom Father, not for ourselves. In Jesus name I pray,

Omar: 55:16

amen. Amen. Amen. And Jesus name, we pray man. So wait. They thank you guys for for the hospitality to allow me to come into your studio, man. Like I mentioned, man, I pray that God blessed us. I can't wait to see the guests that you guys are gonna have here. So definitely those of you that are watching. Tune in Unshackled building Bridges. I'll put the links to the website and all the, the social media sites that they have. That way you guys could just click and go, go, go to them. And definitely, uh, stay tuned and make sure once they, once their podcast released, make sure you guys like, follow, subscribe, whatever it is you guys gotta do to, to, to, to stay in, in tune with these guys and, uh, to see the, the, the work that God's gonna use these brothers, uh, to do. And with that, we're gonna get ready to wrap up. Oh, matthew four 16 reads, The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned." alongside my brothers Gilbert and Ronnie Omar Calvio, and we are wrong. Too strong.

Ronnie: 56:11

Amen. Thank you.