The UnlearnT Podcast
The UnlearnT Podcast is designed to help you gain the courage to change your mind about things you never thought you would change your mind about. Our hope is that you will begin to move towards a life of freedom after hearing stories from individuals who have chosen to unlearn some things in their lives.
The UnlearnT Podcast
UnLearning Lean On Me: What Kind Of Leader Are You?
We examine leadership through the lens of the 1989 film "Lean On Me," exploring how different organizational phases require different leadership styles and what makes a leader effective in each one.
• Different organizational phases (startup, turnaround, realignment, acceleration, sustaining success) require different leadership approaches
• Joe Clark's authoritarian style was necessary during crisis but needed evolution as the school improved
• Bold decisions are required in turnaround situations without time for consensus-building
• Leaders must discern when external forces are working to pull them off mission
• Sustaining success requires building culture and systems that outlast any single leader
• The importance of professional relationships that challenge and sharpen leadership
• Community should push you into your moment, not keep you comfortable
• Shared leadership becomes essential as organizations move from crisis to stability
• Leadership must evolve as the organization evolves
Subscribe, comment, download, and share this podcast to become part of our community of growth-oriented leaders who are committed to unlearning limiting beliefs to experience more freedom.
hello everybody and welcome once again to the unlearned podcast. I am your host, ruth abigail aka r a. What's up, friends? It's your girl, jaquita and this is the podcast that is helping you gain the courage to change your mind so that you can experience more freedom. And, jaquita, we are in our series.
Speaker 2:Summer movie series if you want summer, summer, summertime, summertime, summertime there you go, there.
Speaker 1:It is that's it. I like that we like. We appreciate it for the people yeah, you very much are, and, um, we have talked about several movies, good movies, good good movies, right, like we're really. So we're going back to the movies that we grew up with that were close to our childhood experiences my lord and we're going back and we're seeing what can we unlearn from these movies?
Speaker 1:my lord, you know, and we've had a really good time, and I gotta say this particular movie that we're going to talk about today, oh wait, okay, it is a very heavy hitter Before then we're going to hit you guys with our call to subscribe comment. Download. Like share.
Speaker 2:That's what we're doing, right.
Speaker 1:She did that all out of order.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was terrible, but it's all right, we just want you to be a part of this community, right, be a part of the community of growth growing uh.
Speaker 1:leaders who are want to unlearn, we're here for you, we're you and you are us, and we're here and we here together. So let's do it All right. All right.
Speaker 2:I am a revolutionary, okay.
Speaker 1:So yeah, this is a heavy hitter. This is when, beginning to rewatch this, I started getting chills because I was like yo, like this is I forgot. I forgot, first of all, how good this movie was and, um, I and also I forgot how intense it was, that the situation that he was walking into, like I'm watching this scene where the kids are, I mean, look the school I was like there's no way I'm going to school, I'm not going like I'm not going to see when they take the girl in the restroom and they bully her and they take all her, like her shirt off and she walking in the hallway, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's crazy. The whole thing is crazy, like you know. Bloody noses everywhere, bloody noses banging the teacher's head on the um, here, all right.
Speaker 1:If y'all know what we're talking about, hold on. Can I hit a note real quick?
Speaker 2:no boy, that bathroom song lit the people up we look like good boys.
Speaker 1:Better say that, ain't better saying family.
Speaker 2:We're talking about the beloved.
Speaker 1:Lean on me okay, lean on me, lean on me free mr clark.
Speaker 1:Yes, y'all, this is, uh, this is this was. My mom loves this movie. Of course she does right, right, of course she loves joe clark. Um, and so if you're not, if you're not familiar, lean on me is a story about a. It's a true story about a turnaround of a high school in new jersey in the 80s, um, by a very, uh bold and uh brilliant principal, mr joe clark, yes, who pushed the envelope in so many ways, but he turned that thing around and I even looked up. I was like, are these scenes? I mean, is this an accurate depiction of what the school was like? I was like, is this for drama?
Speaker 2:That's when you know a movie's good, when you pause it and like wait a minute.
Speaker 1:This can't, this ain't even, but it did. I mean the, the ai on the google, which I think is probably, you know, accurate, you know how much, abigail trust ai I.
Speaker 2:Well, I was like oh, I said it I mean there were a couple of good things.
Speaker 1:It was like yeah, this was based on real life events that happened. You look at that y'all. If you haven't seen this movie, I would suggest go pause this podcast. Go find it. It's on Amazon $3.99.
Speaker 2:Don't hang with us. If you ain't seen the movie yet, go watch it. Go watch the movie so that we can all be on the same page here, correct? I could not imagine watching this movie for the first time, like in my 30s. I'd be like oh.
Speaker 1:Let me tell you something though Working with young people and working in schools, I mean I mean it, I was lit, I was I don't know, I was feeling all kinds of emotions, thinking um, first of all, I mean, it's not farfetched if you have no control right, once you lose control, you've lost it and you know, and just the, I don't know man, I mean, I never worked in a school that was that bad. Let me be clear about that. I actually don't know of any schools in Memphis that were that bad, that are this bad Right, not today, Not that I've seen, maybe back in the day, but um, it was, you know.
Speaker 2:So our one of our best friends is a principal, but before she was a principal she was a teacher. I used to go with her to them classrooms now, they were not, they were it was elementary school, so it was nowhere near but no, there's some trouble, there's some problems some problems. I saw things I've never seen before.
Speaker 1:No, no, I mean, and it starts in preschool.
Speaker 1:I tell you that, absolutely, you gotta be, you gotta have a choice. You have a choice. Yeah, the the stories my sister would tell my sister is an assistant principal now but she was a teacher and been in education for 10 plus years. I mean she, I mean they could all write books. I mean it's really unbelievable. And so I'm just watching that and I'm putting myself in that situation and I'm thinking what really would you do, like, what would you really do? And I mean you got graffiti everywhere. You know you got kids that are drugs being sold by teachers, crazy Teachers selling drugs to kids and kids selling drugs to other kids. You know you got there was a scene where a teacher tried to break up a fight. They turned on him and started banging his head on the floor. He had to be rushed to the emergency room.
Speaker 2:Maybe we should skip past the graphic scenes, okay? I'm just saying we're going to get pinged on YouTube.
Speaker 1:You know they're stuffing kids in lockers. Look, they're doing stuff that is just you just be like how is this happening?
Speaker 2:I mean, it's as bad as it could possibly get.
Speaker 1:It's as bad as it can get.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You're not getting. I don't know how you get worse than that. Yeah, can get. I don't know how you get worse than that. So the superintendent says, hey, we need some help, and decide to bring in a new principal and this principal's name is Joe Clark. My Lord Black man, been in education for a long time, was the principal at a nice school, elementary school.
Speaker 2:Listen, was out there teaching that little mixed class, right, yeah, right, calm class, you know, right. No problem, mr Clark, a challenge Write this down, students and they were like, well, so, okay.
Speaker 1:So before, and I just it's so fresh on my mind Like the very first scene Joe Clark was actually a teacher at this Eastside High. He was a teacher and he was teaching. It was a very different school in the 60s and he was teaching there, the high school, and then when we meet him again in the 80s, before he comes back as the principal, he's the principal at elementary school, likely on a whole different side of town, because that's what it looked like.
Speaker 2:It ain't no window I mean the children are skipping through tulips, like literally when they come to get, when they come to get joe clark, he's outside. You know what a nice playground yeah, nice playground. Bye, mr clark you know, everything looks nice and clean and fresh. You know we need you to come back to Eastside, right? He like uh, no, you know what that's so interesting. Like. You know there are times in our lives you know where you you get used to being in the cushy place. You know like as a leader that wasn't really challenging to him.
Speaker 2:It was using his gifts it was. It was allowing him to pour out and to and to press those students. He was challenging the students. He was around, but that job was not a challenge for him Correct, correct, and you have to know that there are, there are going to be seasons to your journey.
Speaker 2:When I was a young adult, when I was young, I was so focused on getting that power job Because really I wanted to be in a position where I was, one, making some money and two, where I was really able to use what was inside of me to make an impact. And I got in those roles and then I shifted out of those roles into different types of roles, and so your leadership evolves and change and shifts depending on the season you're in and depending on what the need is for you in that season, because different seasons and different environments will pull out different characteristics and personalities out of you.
Speaker 1:And this is a great example of that right. So I think what we want to lean into today is really just the evolution of leadership and the evolution of the place that you're leading.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And so there is a book Called the first 90 days.
Speaker 1:Somebody gave this to me when I took on this role as the executive director and it was really, really helpful and I think about it often, right, one of the?
Speaker 1:It talks about a lot of things, but one of the things it talks about is, first, when you first enter into a place and this it's specifically saying, like you're coming into a leadership situation, doesn't have to be at the top somewhere, right, you're coming into an existing entity as a leader, that is, that is there to do, you know to, to take on the, the, the role of a leader. Um, and the one of the things that it, it, it challenges people to do is to take inventory of where the organization is right. And so we just we really want to kind of look at this movie in terms of the life cycle of an organization. And that could be a school, that could be a church, that could be the government, that could be, you know, it could be your own house, quite frankly, you know. And a company right, it could be a nonprofit, doesn't matter. Whatever the entity is, there are these life cycles.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm going to go through them real quick, and then we're going to come back and explain right and break it down and talk about where the movie was and Joe Clark and then say, okay, what life cycles need particular types of leadership and then talk about where Joe Clark's leadership landed and why it worked and, in some ways, why it was challenging.
Speaker 1:So, um, the first, the first cycle you have is the startup phase. Essentially, you're assembling capabilities of people, um, you know, and you're getting something off the ground. It's new. You have a blank slate, uh. The second phase is the turnaround phase and when you have, uh, something that's gone wrong right, and you have to write something's wrong and you have to redirect right and and correct it because you're in serious trouble. The next phase is accelerated growth, which means you're managing rapidly expanding growth, okay, um, which, which can be good and can kind of be a downfall, um, if you don't manage it right. The next one is realignment, uh, which is when you have to re-energize from a previously successful organization that now is facing problems.
Speaker 2:For sure Okay.
Speaker 1:And then the last one is sustaining success when you have to basically preserve the success of the organization.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And take it to the next level.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So those are different phases. They're not necessarily like an order, you don't necessarily go from one to another. You can hit them at different points, um, and they can come back around. But those are five phases right of of, of different entities. So for joe clark, right, the school he was at started off, uh, it was a good school. In the 60s, totally different. And then in the 80s, 20 years later, it totally shifted. So he was challenged with these, the two particular um, two particular uh uh phases, the turnaround phase and the realignment phase. And so why don't we just start there, quita? And like, what do you, when it comes to either one of those, right right, you're saving something, you're trying to save something because of a serious problem, or you're trying to re-energize something that was previously successful and now is facing a big problem, yeah, how do you see his leadership thriving in that, in those circumstances?
Speaker 2:thriving in that in those circumstances. Well, I think I think it's important, before we go there, to acknowledge kind of that startup phase, because this was a school that was placed in a neighborhood that had particular challenges and I think that when we are starting something that doesn't look like the environment that it's in, in my PhD studies, which I'm taking a break right now for the summertime, I feel real good. Y'all see this smile, okay, I?
Speaker 1:think I'm glowing a little bit, I feel great.
Speaker 2:But there's a thing called spatial justice theory and it basically says that justice is sometimes impacted and are determined by the spaces that we occupy. And so when you look at a school like Eastside Fair Eastside, sorry, it's just necessary you know it's a place that tried to initiate something, but the amount of energy that's. But you have to have people who are there, who can see where a thing is headed and not just how much movement or energy it has. I think in the beginning of the movie, joe Clark is like y'all, y'all are not being mindful, you know, and he was aggressive and a little mean and a little, you know, stuck in his own way and his own own head, in his own thoughts. But what he said did end up happening.
Speaker 2:You know they did the 80s. You know screen shift, you know where the scene this movie was made in 1989, by the way, where the scene shifted from being like a clean, you know beautiful school to graffiti walls, fighting, you know, distressed Right. And and I think when Joe Clark knew that he was going to have to come back into that situation, he knew that you have to be the. There's a oh my gosh, what's his name? He has a book called the man uh, the man for the moment or the man Moment Requires. I think it's something like that.
Speaker 2:I think I'll find his name in a moment, but he, you know, like the moment, feel how you want to feel about Joe Clark. You know what I'm saying. Feel how you want to feel about his methods, about his personality, about how he came up in there with his own security guard. You know what I'm saying. Right, right, right and tore down their systems, tore down the people in the process. Yeah, tore down the people Because he came.
Speaker 2:Some people are bulldozers. You have to know who you are. You know some people are gutters. You know they're not concerned about saving what's good. They're going to take everything out and then slowly put into place what should be there, like they can't, and so they don't differentiate. They don't say, hey, this is working, so we're going to keep this. This is not working, so we're going to scrap that. He came in and said scrap all of this, because if y'all was doing something right, we would have results. But we have the results of what y'all were doing before, so we ain't doing none of that. Now, correct, welcome to Joe Clark's world.
Speaker 2:Right, and I think you know in the movie, I think as a viewer, you are battling because you're like heck, yeah, man, do what you need to do.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying Throw down. You know like you're, you're with him at one part, but then in another part, you're like, okay, wait a minute. You're, you're tearing down some things that that actually are part of the infrastructure, of, of the of of keeping the school together, right. And so it got to a point where, as he was cutting and he began you know the ship, he was getting the ship to turn, right, he was getting them in a different direction, but everything, they all of his efforts, um, that he wasn't discerning it started to turn back on him. And that's when, as a leader, you have to be able to discern what is the moment I'm in, like I'm turning the ship, but you got to know, okay, now, the things that I've been trying to ship. Now the ship is coming against me, and those are the moments that require us to look deeper and we have to do our own turnaround in the turnaround deeper and we have to do our own turnaround in the turnaround.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's good. So, yes, and I would like to go back and just talk about why it was important for him to have that attitude at the time. Because you know, in the, in the movie, you know, you have all this craziness going on and the first thing he did was um is he kicked out 300 students. I mean, this is what. This is kind of his claim to fame as a principal.
Speaker 1:He, he, he was like he didn't just like send them a little letter and say, yeah, no no, he, he kicked them out and publicly kicked them out and was not at all, you know, and didn't ask anybody any questions. That was his first move on day one, right? So one of the things about a turnaround leader is you don't have time to get consensus on decisions when you're in a crisis moment and you have a, you're in a leadership position. You have to make fast decisions and you, you can't worry if anybody's going to like them, you can't worry if anybody's going to agree with them, you have to make them. Um, I think one of the things that um.
Speaker 1:So, for, I started my this particular leadership role three months before COVID and we, I would say, you know, angel Street was at an accelerated growth point at that time, we were, we were expanding, we were, you know, getting more kids. We, we, we, we had just opened up another site, all this stuff. And I came in at that point, right, and you know, jill, who's our it was my was going to take one lane and I was going to take the other one and we were raising up new executive leadership. It was, we were, we had a plan and we were ready.
Speaker 1:Um, and you know, march came and we started hearing these rumblings of things and and this is what's beautiful about understanding the type of leader that you are I wasn't really all that phased by it, you know, but Jill was like no, I think there's something to this.
Speaker 1:And I said I don't think so, you know, and we kind of went back and forth. And I remember there was an email that Jill sent me with some information, with an article she found, and she didn't go back and forth with me at that time. In the email she said we have to do something now. I mean, she was like very adamant about it and I read that and I was like, oh, I think you're right. And then what I had to do as a leader is I had to take a step back and let the right leader for the moment take a step up. Okay, which is something I look back on. I'm so grateful that we had that partnership at that time because, if I'm honest, I would have not been the most effective leader in a crisis moment. I'm not a crisis leader, I'm not naturally a crisis leader. Could I do it? Yeah, but it would take. I would have to really take a lot of intentionality and a lot of focus and it wouldn't be my. It wouldn't. I don't think I'd be as effective as other people.
Speaker 1:Jill was very good at leading in a crisis and she was very good at making those fast decisions that you know.
Speaker 1:She didn't have a whole lot of time to gather a lot of information. I like to gather information, I like to think, I like to make the best decision you know, I ain't have all that time Right and she was like we have to get this, we need to go after this. Yeah, we need to gather our funders, we need to go after this, these PPP loans, we need to do this X Y Z, x Y Z and get it done. And she got it done, yeah, and because we had a partnership, I was able to think about the realignment phase, if you will right, of the organization, because I knew we were going to have to shift the way we were moving, and so, because we had a partnership, we could think on two fronts. Most of the time, that's not the case. Most of the time, it's really kind of one person leading the charge, and so the question you have to ask yourself is what is it going to take for me to lead in this moment?
Speaker 2:I'm sorry. The question I was asking myself is are you the leader for the? Moment, and that's the question underneath the question right. That's the question underneath the question I think you know, because joe clark originally left, like when he saw the direction the school was going and he felt like no one was listening to him.
Speaker 2:He left, you know they actually, they actually like fired him, though, well yeah yeah, yeah, he did kind of get kicked out, but you know, know, he, he, he moved, he moved on Right, but it wasn't his moment. And you know I, I walk with a lot of friends and people. You know we apply in the jobs, we're looking for our next thing. But I promise you, the next thing that you, that you walk into, it will be the moment that is for you Like the moment has to match your mission. Be the moment that is for you Like the moment has to match your mission. The mission and the moment have to match, and the more aligned you become on mission, the easier I believe it is to walk into a moment.
Speaker 2:Also, I'd like to say one thing that I thought about today. I was like Lord, you know more now than ever, we quit too easily, we walk away from our moments because sometimes the moment is not you being in charge, sometimes the moment is not about you being the leader, it's about you being the impact, and you don't have to be at the top to have the impact. People don't have to like you for you to be effective. People don't. People don't have to even really trust you for you to be effective. You just have to do what you're called to do in the moment that you're called to do it and we miss our moments because they're uncomfortable. Joe Clark could have said do you see these wonderful little children? You know, politely calling me, mr Clark, you know, I mean I felt like everybody was just giving high fives Like, oh man, you're so smart, you know, like you, you don't always have to leave what's comfortable to go to go follow the moment. But the moment, if he had not left, the moment would have pressed on him and you have to respond to what's calling you.
Speaker 1:And I think that the beautiful thing about this scene is his superintendent and they were good friends. He pushed him. And he basically was like your life is worth nothing if you don't go take this. You have wasted your time and I've wasted mine, if we don't go and fix this situation.
Speaker 2:That's such a Ruth Abigail Jaquita moment. I can see us having that exact same conversation with me being Joe Clark and you being the superintendent.
Speaker 1:Get off your behind. What are you doing? Because I'm pretty sure we just had this conversation a week ago, but um no, actually we did actually, we did actually we did, we did, we did because you, you need, you need people in your life that are going to challenge you, to meet your moment yeah and and we talk about this all the time Community, and I think one of the things we have to unlearn is that your community is not meant to keep you comfortable.
Speaker 1:That's actually not the purpose of great community. It is to push you into your moment, and if you don't have people around you that's willing to do that, you need to find new I mean the definition of iron, sharpness, iron, I mean it was.
Speaker 2:It was like watching it. Watching, yes, like taking it out of the word and just poof, here's a scene. Poof, you know, and then like at the end, where he's like you know, contrary to popular belief, I'm the you know, h know, hnic.
Speaker 1:HNIC.
Speaker 2:Use your contact.
Speaker 2:Look it up, okay, look it up. And then and he looked at him and he was like you think you bad, huh? And you know like, come on, let's go get some dinner. You know that's friendship, folks, that's friendship. That's friendship. That's friendship.
Speaker 2:Tell me off, yes, take me to eat, take me, tell me all real good, give me, give me back in destiny, give me back in alignment. Those are the people that love you, the people that won't let you stay where you're not supposed to be. I don't care how good it looks, I don't care how much money you making, I don't care how much you feel like you making a difference. If it ain't where you supposed to be, the people and the people who recognize it, anybody else in his life would have been like man. You're like you chilling, you're doing good. You know you. You know it's the people who have a discerning eye to say because God is going to God, the people that God has placed in your life. God will speak to them about you. Yeah, you get what I'm saying and they will. They will push you. They will push you yes.
Speaker 1:Get some real ones. You need some man, you need some. And Joe Clark he cause. He wasn't going to go. Let's be clear Joe wasn't going to go, I wouldn't.
Speaker 1:And, and I don't think I would have been yelling at me for three years. I would have. But you know what? Jill yelled at me. She didn't yell, but she pushed, she, she from almost from day one. She was like I'm just keeping your seat warm. I was like no, I'm good, I'm don't want to do this like I really be thinking, people like that be joking I'd be like they, they like, but the right people.
Speaker 1:It's like you got to know who to listen to and and she, she, just she pushed me into into, um, you know, into into a next level of leadership, because and she didn't I say push, she didn't push me, but she, she always was ready. Right, she was always ready. She was like I'm just waiting on you, like, and, and I had to get to a point where I was ready for that. But in a crisis moment, though, ain't no waiting, this is the moment right now.
Speaker 1:And if you, I think it's it's, it's something, if you feel you know a difference between something where you can like, I think I'm just, I probably know that I need to be in there, but it's not like a rush, I'm still learning, I'm still getting prepared, x, y, z, and then you know, when there's a difference in your gut, to say, if I don't move on this now, I'm gonna miss it. And you have to understand and discern between the two. And the question is like, I think it's asked us all the time like, I think it's asked us all the time like, at what level of urgency are we in our, in our position? Are we? Are we at a? Are we gradually moving towards something, or do we need to move now? And I think for Joe Clark he was faced with this now and never, man, if you don't do this now, your life is worth nothing. Yeah, um, and.
Speaker 2:And he needed somebody to tell him that and, to his credit, when it became the now or never moment, he literally bought all of himself to the moment. He did not half step in that moment again feel how you want to feel, okay, but in situations like you have to meet the force of the problem. Yes, it has to be met with the same force it does. You know what I'm saying? You got teachers bang. I mean students banging teachers' heads against the, against the wall, you know tearing off people's shirts, selling drugs. I mean it had it had to be met like that. I mean it had to be met like that. Yes, but I think what he had to learn is sometimes the same force you meet something with, you cannot sustain that same, you know ball everybody mentality.
Speaker 2:Even there was one part where he was getting into it with Michael Beach's character the coach, the coach, yeah.
Speaker 1:And you know, like Darnell, Coach Darnell.
Speaker 2:Poe, darnell, darnell took, it's the whole dog he took him boy, he took him, I mean came in straight off the bat. He took him, Got a demotion Talking about I'm tired of seeing our boys getting pushed around the field.
Speaker 1:Man Poe, Dar and our boys getting pushed around the field.
Speaker 2:Now, Paul Darnell, I'm just out here, a black man doing the best I can, you know, at this crazy behind school, at this school man. Then Darnell picks up a piece of trash. Picks up a piece of trash, doing what you know, I'm like Darnell, you can't win from losing. When he flipped that desk I was like you should have Darnell. That was pent up, that was stored up, okay, but you know when they're, when they're talking, you know.
Speaker 2:Darnell says you know, these are, these are my students. And Joe Clark says no, these are my students, this is my school. And it's like that's when you know. It's that moment right there when you know you've you've gone too far over the line, because sustaining that level of energy for that long it will put you in a prideful place and it will put you in a place of ownership that's not yours. And he had. He had to move and I think this was the realignment moment where he had to move from an authoritarian dictatorship where it was everybody do as I say and I create all the pass forward and nobody has any contribution but me. He had to move into that realignment where he learned to share authority and to share vision.
Speaker 2:If you are the only person that has any rights to the vision, nobody else will buy into it 100%.
Speaker 1:Say that again, because that's important.
Speaker 2:If you are the only person that has any right to create, to hold, to manifest vision nobody. Eventually, other people will start dropping your vision because we can't. Eventually it's going to become not just holding on the vision but holding onto your values, your personality, your wants, your needs, your desires and everything about us will get ignored and people will drop it. I've seen it happen 10 million times. You know, and people of great vision don't understand the necessity of creating a vision where everyone has input and I sorry. One last point. I think it is the biggest mistake we make when creating programs and opportunities for young people. We try to go in and tell them this is what I'm going to do for you and we, until you give them, allow them to be stakeholders, and what God is building or what you're trying to build, they're going to drop it, they're not going to stay because they don't have any part in your vision. That's your vision.
Speaker 1:Your vision doesn't work ever. No, unless you are the only one that you plan on involving, and that is something I've had to learn. But I think language is so important, right, like I try my best not to use that language. I would consider myself a visionary and I, you know, and when people, but a lot of people, will cause we, we, we individualize leadership so much Um, and, and so it's like you know well what is, the people will ask you like, what is your vision for the organization? And I have to be very conscious to say our vision is the organization. And I have to be very conscious to say our vision is right, because language is important and it's important to communicate. This isn't just me, we actually have people that have bought into it. Now, am I the initial communicator? Most times, yes. However, it doesn't like the, the way that we then take it and people own it.
Speaker 1:Right, If you don't have other owners of the vision, you're going to have a hard time carrying that thing to uh, to to fruition. It's not gonna. You can't do it alone. And so, um and I, and I think what you're you know, particularly when it comes to young people, and this is, this is a mistake I've seen for years, and I think what you're you know, particularly when it comes to young people and this is this is a mistake I've seen for years. Right, you know, young people are have way too much autonomy over as more than you think that they do, to just be told what to do, when to do, how to do Um they. You have to, you have to allow for them to have um meaningful input, right, and then not just, not just for the input sake and not just to say that you did it, but meaningful input that actually turns into something tangible that they can see. And I think doing that right it builds trust and then you can actually build the vision.
Speaker 2:Yes, and I'm going to say this, and I'm going to say it in the way I'm going to say it is going to sound kind of mean, but then I'm going to try to clean it up. Don't clean it up. You have to allow them to do it before they're good enough at it. Sure, you know what I'm saying. Like you can't wait, that ain't mean yeah, Well, you know I try to be sensitive.
Speaker 1:Everybody's good at first. Everybody's not good, it's fine.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean. But I think sometimes, especially just being real, especially like in church culture, we're like they got to be right, Baby, they not going to be right, you wouldn't.
Speaker 1:You wasn't right, nobody was right. Let me get started. Don't get me started. Go ahead on. I'm just playing.
Speaker 2:I definitely wasn't right, okay, and I wasn't out in the streets though. I just want to be clear, thank you for that. I had a couple of heart issues bye Jaquita, uh, uh, ain't nobody. And then I go to church and they be like. You know, minister Ross, she wasn't right. I ain't always been saved. Nah, don't be, you don't know my story, you don't know my story, but anyway, um, but you know, I think sometimes, especially, you know, I think, since the millennials, since the age of the millennials, like the way that we were just like typecasted, like they were, just like I don't understand y, like I don't understand y'all, I don't get y'all, you know you don't want to work.
Speaker 2:You talk back, you know. You know respect no commitment. You're flighty. You know they talk so much junk about us, you know. And then, like, when you look at the generations behind us, I just really believe you know, I'm really behind us. I just really believe you know. I'm really really super interested in intergenerational studies and how we mentor across generational lines, but I just really believe it is the task of the millennials to create the open doors for the generations after us. Sure, because the generations ahead of us are not going to let them in generations after us. Sure, because the generations ahead of us are not going to let them in, they not going to let them in through that door. We are the bridge. We're the bridge, we're the peacemakers, we're the hey. We get y'all. We're going to open this door, but then we're going to show you how to act when you get in here, okay, and you're going to have to trust us because we're going to coach you through this. I look at Joe Clark and Joe Clark, despite how he treated them teachers, it's pretty rough.
Speaker 2:Paul Sam's got it.
Speaker 1:Now, that's a classic. That's a classic scene, one of my favorites. One of my favorites, I mean my favorites, I mean, oh my gosh, you know, um on the roof took that boy on the roof told that go jump.
Speaker 2:You smoke crack, don't you. But hey, to his credit, sam's got back in the school. Ain't, nobody else did that? Ain't, nobody else did that, you know. Did Ain't, nobody else did that. You know. And watching the evolution of Sam's life and the evolution like, as the students, like began to trust him because you know what looked forceful and mean and rude to everyone else, to the students, it looked like man, somebody cares, and that's what people don't get about discipline, you know what I'm saying the Bible says that God chastises. You know?
Speaker 1:him who he loves, okay.
Speaker 2:Them sons get that chastisement and the daughters Amen.
Speaker 1:I don't identify as a son, you know.
Speaker 2:But anyway, sorry Joy, I've been over the line. Nevertheless, I really believe that I really believe that they recognize the intensity, how hard this man was going to save them For them.
Speaker 1:For them.
Speaker 2:Like they knew it's for us. You know, at the end of the movie, you know they was like you don't understand Mr Clark, he's like the father that some of us never had. You know, like they was going hard for him because, again, that discipline, discipline is still love.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is love, it is absolutely love.
Speaker 2:Discipline is still love, being corrected is still love, when it's done in love, and one thing you can say is that man really cared about them students.
Speaker 1:He did. He cared about them, kids now and I do think that in leadership, when we look at leaders you know Joe Clark had his struggles as a as leadership is that a leader is a 360 individual. They are all sides rounded and oftentimes when you're standing on one side of something, you don't see the other side right. So it's like the students were on one side of him and teachers were on another.
Speaker 2:No-transcript, you can't judge a leader based on one side. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because you don't know what a different entity with a different group, what people that have a different connection to that leader, is seeing, and that doesn't erase the issues of a particular leader.
Speaker 2:I just don't. Yes, yes, I agree. But and also I think it was up to him as a leader which eventually, in realignment, right in the realignment phase, his assistant principal called him out, because I think one of the hardest scenes to watch was when he fired that Sorry for like a better words, because I don't remember her name the white choir director. You know, Like they in there singing Mozart and they was killing it.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm saying? Like that was, they were okay. They were okay. She was trying to get them better, they were alright.
Speaker 2:I'm just saying Anyways, they're supposed to be going to New York. Okay, they were. They were, you know they. They had a goal, they had a mission, it was something that they were looking forward to, it was a positive thing happening in the school, and he fired her, really on an ego trip. Now, you know, and I feel like cause she was like, I filed the paperwork, it's in your office that would have been the moment to go check, because you missed something as a leader and you literally held it against her and took it to the point of firing her, which let which let us know that you wanted to do that from the beginning.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's one thing as a leader.
Speaker 2:let me tell you something. It is easy One. It's easy to pick favorites no-transcript.
Speaker 1:And you do have to get to that point where you understand that and that's where that shared leadership comes in and that shared vision comes in, because it's not just focused on you. But if you don't ever see that and if you're not ever self-aware enough to understand, you don't fill everybody's box, you don't fill everybody's cup and it's like all right. That means I have to share this so that everybody can feel fulfilled. But I would like to go back and still point out regardless of how he felt about homegirl and how he treated her, he did his. That same person went to Kanisha's house and sat with her mom late at night to try to figure out what?
Speaker 2:no, no, joe Clark with the girl yeah, the assistant principal was with him.
Speaker 1:though the assistant principal was with him, I'm that's okay, I'm just saying that same man did that, and so my, my point is you, you really can't judge a leader based on one side of that leader, and and it doesn't, it doesn't mean that it doesn't take it away. It doesn't take the negative away, yeah, but but there might be some other things, because you look at, nobody saw that part. They wouldn't have seen that.
Speaker 2:Because, I will honestly say, I feel like I have left a position or two because I knew that the heart of that leader are those leaders Like I knew that it was tuned towards the people, but I also knew it wasn't tuned towards me and I said it's not going to be, because they would not share leadership. I get that, you get what I'm saying. So, yeah, I can understand that you have a good heart, but but and also in realignment. That's why realignment is so necessary, because you, as the primary leader, could not be one-sided, to only want to focus on showing love to students and not recognizing the efforts and the intentionality and all of the stuff the other people were taking in order.
Speaker 2:I mean, most of the teachers stayed and they, you know, and she was like we took, we took the cuts, we took all your crap and darn the hell was like, yeah, I took your crap. You know what I'm saying and I stayed here because we also look and so I think what, what has to bring you together is shared mission. Um, I do want to touch on that accelerated growth piece because his efforts were working, like you know what I'm saying. Like the state, yeah, even the school look cleaner. They got all. If graffiti goes up and one down the next day, you know like it was looking good. The language of the students was changing. You know they changed. You know they changed the song. You know, pull a song.
Speaker 1:Powers. Let's give a shout out to Miss Powers.
Speaker 2:Come on, Miss Powers. Shout out to you, Miss Powers.
Speaker 1:Who remixed the school song First of?
Speaker 2:all. I always wanted Miss Powers' hair when she was singing at the end, and that hair just. I was like man. I wish I could have Miss Powers' hair Boy, miss Powers had that, you know you could draw all the things with Miss Towers here okay.
Speaker 2:But I think that there was an accelerated energy where they had this goal of we got to pass, we got to get a certain percentage to pass this test. So they got signs up everywhere. They got that boy in the student government who tried to play our girl Kanisha. Oh, come on. The student body president, student body whack. Okay, All right.
Speaker 1:Can I talk about you Because you don't take care of your responsibilities.
Speaker 2:First of all, you know, like many of our cultural movies, movies lean on me has so many quotables oh, so many quotes, so many quotables, which got so good which got your luck, my future.
Speaker 2:That is my absolute favorite line, because no student is saying that. No student, absolutely nobody is saying that. No student, absolutely nobody is saying that. But it was such a good line. Oh man, oh, classic, call me man, you know, like it's just so many good quotables in this movie.
Speaker 2:But I think that when we start seeing the growth and we start seeing the energy and even Sam's, you know, is out there jump roping, you know Sam getting slim and thin, you know, and they get this new song and this growth is propelling the students, is propelling the community for it. But I need you to watch because, as we're watching, as the school is starting to find its pace and kind of find its way forward, we also got, you know, homegirl, the mom, the scorned mom whose student got kicked out for drugs, plotting and planning. That's right, you know, and it's the moment you start finding your footing, you know. Now we're also have to. We're getting it together on the inside, but external, outside of us, there, there's plots and plans to take us down. Right, he puts the chains on the doors.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which is obviously against obviously we can't do that, you, we can't do that. They can't do that, you can't do that. It's funny. I had a whole compliance you, you know anxiety when I watched that and I was like I could not imagine being in a school where I could not get out.
Speaker 1:Yeah Right, like wait man. But to his point that man stood 10 toes down Y'all not getting in my school. And so I ain't saying it was the right decision, but his resolve was I'm not letting these people take this school back. So we going to do what we got to do. You going to be extreme? I'm going to be extreme.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And so and that's what he did, and so and that's what he did. But to your point, when you and I think I think this is something that is important for leaders to um to understand is it's hard to focus on fixing the, it's hard to focus on both internal and external at the same rate, at the same time, for sure. And so what I have and I've I've had to do this with a couple of organizations in different kind of spaces, but what I believe is a necessary course of action is when you have, if you don't have, a solid internal space, when you are not solid internally, you have no fight, externally, you can't do it yeah um, and so it was.
Speaker 1:While, while his methods were questionable and the way he had to get the internal situation right even though he knew that there were there was backlash on the outside. We knew that from the beginning with the parent meeting, and he had a parent, a community meeting, who was up and up for it because he kicked out the 300 students and we knew people were mad. But he didn't have time to care about that yet. He had to get the inside fix. He had to get the students on track, he had to get the culture of the school to a place where it could function, and that took all his energy and I think that when you're leading something, especially when you're trying to turn something around, you can't split your focus.
Speaker 1:It's got to be right here, and that's personally my issue as a leader. I am a multi thinker, Like I don't do great with just one focus Right and there that's a. There's a place for that, but that place is not in turnaround leadership.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I for sure, for sure. You have to, you know. But I do think like something that I think maybe myself and maybe most of us have to unlearn is it is so easily to get pulled by the distractions because they are coming at the same rate that you are growing and that you are accelerating a thing forward. That thing is coming at you, it's plotting for you at that same intensity and because it is going to take something that strong to pull you out of your mission, and I think it is incumbent upon each of us as leaders, especially as middle adult leaders you have to know what your thing is, because there is something that's coming to pull you as a leader off focus. They didn't want to tear the school down, they wanted Joe Clark out. They wanted Joe Clark out. That was her motive behind everything. The fire marshal was like okay, I get with it if you get the people with the vote for me, or the governor and the fire marshal. Everybody was in cahoots because you know how they go.
Speaker 2:The man finding it out because he was in the bathroom stall. That's such a like 80s, 90s movie. It totally is. It totally is. But you know, but I think you have to be mindful. I just had a situation recently where I'm grateful to have an amazing amazing can't say enough how amazing my spiritual covering is who picked it up in the spirit before I almost, but before I almost decided to follow the distraction instead of following where God was having me, because it is not always easy to stay in where God has put you, because it doesn't always make sense, it doesn't always feel good, right, and it is easy. It is easy to get pulled by something that looks innocent, right, but it is incumbent upon every leader it is necessary that you know what is the thing that will be coming to pull me out of the place that I've been assigned to. Right, and so he knew what it was, but he was still focused very internally.
Speaker 2:Yeah so you know, he had the little security system when they started playing it on that walkie talkie take chains off the door, call T. And call T, take chains off the door. I said, oh Lord, you got caught. My Lord, you know.
Speaker 2:But you have to be mindful that there is something you know we unfortunately don't live in a space where we don't have opposing forces. There is something that will oppose your growth, your movement, what you're building. There's something that's going to. There's a counterattack made for you. If you are a person that builds encouragement in other people, there's a counterattack that's trying to take away you being encouraged. If you are a person that strategizes and helps people to grow rapidly, all of a sudden things in your life are declining and you feel like you can't get momentum. Whatever the thing is that you're called to do, there's a counterattack that's coming for that thing and you have to know that and you have to be aware so that you can walk in wisdom and not in earthly wisdom. It ain't going to get you booed. You need to find yourself in prayer and asking God for spiritual guidance Because he can tell you exactly when that enemy comes, because he was in the auditorium talking to a baby girl.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, and was trying to help her. He was doing the right thing, yeah, right. And then boom, now you have to. Now everything comes. I think you're right. He was doing the right thing, yeah Right, and um, and, and then boom, now you have to. Now everything comes. I think you're right. You have to know, like, when you're, when you're here, you're, the enemy is coming from a different direction. It kind of comes from a different direction and you have to be aware and and as a as a leader.
Speaker 1:But again, I think this is one of the major themes of the movie, or counter themes maybe, I don't know. That's a thing, but it's shared leadership, because if it wasn't just him, if he wasn't the only person that could be called in a crisis, well, what could have possibly happened? Right, he could have stayed doing what he was doing. Somebody else could handle it. Right, um, if there would have been delegation of authority and decision making, yeah, based on trust, which he didn't have, um, with his team then. But there's a potential that maybe it wouldn't have to be as chaotic as it was, right, um, he also made that decision on his own. No, the chains on the doors was a joe clark decision didn't. But again we have to remember what kind of situation he was in and so I think this is where.
Speaker 1:So the question is I think you know where I, what's the and what type of leadership is required. But then there's always a shadow side to anything you do, and so, while there was, you got to count the cost. That type of leadership was absolutely required. He needed to make fast decisions, bold decisions, and maybe even some controversial ones. He had to do that in order to make this thing, to right this ship, and, at the same time, those same bold decisions are also decisions that got him in trouble. They worked, they worked and they kept the school safe, but the shadow side of it was he got in trouble as a result of those same decisions.
Speaker 1:And so I think we have to, you have to know, like you said, count the cost, like you're going to have, I mean something, something's got to give. What are you willing to sacrifice here? And he clearly was willing to sacrifice his own reputation for the sake of that school. Yeah, and so he did it. You know, and so you know, maybe that's not your leadership style, but if it's not your leadership style and it's necessary for the moment, where do you need to step back and let somebody step up and do you have the humility to do that Right, um, and and acknowledge that and understand this is who I am, but I I don't.
Speaker 1:you don't need me. You need this person, um, and so that's. I think. I think that's, honestly, one of the biggest, biggest things to learn from this movie is understand what's needed in the moment Is that you is it not you? Um, and understand the shadow side of any decision, and any, any decision, uh, any, there's a shadow side to the type of leadership style that you have.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, sorry, because the next point I was going to make in transitioning to like the sustaining success, I was going to talk about how the movie is kind of moved through the evolution of the music. You know, like how you had the first Fair East Side song. It was like this does not represent where we at right now and we need something with a little bit more oomph, a little bit more soul behind it to get these students through, especially since they had to sing it on demand, which was ridiculous, like sorry, the part where they had. They were like and these are white students, why don't y'all sing the school song for them?
Speaker 2:I was like that was so wrong that was hilarious, but at the end we have Mrs Powers and she is. It's almost like she's leading us into the next dispensation of what the school is going to be and where it's going. One person on top or one person behind somebody. It's we're walking together and we can lean on one another as we move. That's good, which, again, one of the best songs. Some times in our life we all have pain.
Speaker 1:I mean, you better sing. You sound just like her, you better sing. Do it again. Do it again. Quentin, you sound just like her, you better sing. Do it again, do it again, do it again.
Speaker 2:Get out of my face. But you know, like first of all I think that's when I realized I was a tenor I was like man, these notes feel great. Then, when they took it up, I was like never mind, I'm out, I'm out.
Speaker 1:That sound. Then, when they took it up, I was like, never mind, I'm out, I'm out.
Speaker 2:That sounded more alto to me and I tried that alto life. It wasn't for me.
Speaker 1:When I hit that tenor section I said all right, it's me. And the guys I'm home.
Speaker 2:Look at you. I hate it. By the way, pet peeve, okay, when you are referring to the tenor section, don't say now we're going to have the guys sing. No, female tenors are here, absolutely. We out here, absolutely, I did this. There's, like you know them little apps where you can like sing into it and it tells you your range. Well, it asks you what your gender is Right, and so I put female and then I sang into it and it said you're an alto. And I was like no, you're, you're biased, okay an alto. And I was like no, you're, uh, you're biased, okay and incorrect, because you think females can only be sopranos and altos. You tell them update your apps, people, wow thank you for that personal little commercial break moment.
Speaker 2:Feel free to edit it out if necessary yeah anyway, sustaining success was really. It was really by, by that song and by the students, where he had fought for the students and and the school. Now the school came to fight for him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I and I, I think, um, that's in a part of the, the, when you, when you unify. What I love about the song and this is what I think is so important okay, about music, um, is the, the, the song, the reason he was so, I believe now no, I ain't talked to mr joe, but but the, the reason that I think he was so adamant about the song is that it was a unifying thing.
Speaker 2:Mm, hmm.
Speaker 1:And you know, he knew, I just think, even though he led with an authoritative way that was very him centered, he knew that if the students didn't come together, yeah.
Speaker 1:Then all this could not be sustained. You couldn't have sustained success if your students didn't come together. Couldn't just be about your discipline, it couldn't just be about your way. Them students had to come together and that song is what he and his I think he was like. This is going to bring them together. They all have to know the song, and so I think that was a very poignant moment.
Speaker 1:And to your point about the sustaining success. You can't sustain success in and of yourself, because at some point you won't be there. At some point you have to instill a culture in that place that will remain when you're gone, and that's what sustaining success is all about. It's not about your leadership, it's about the culture that you've built while you were there, and can that culture be carried on by the next leader? That's good, and sometimes that makes it really hard for a leader to step into such a tight culture, which is why I think it's so important to, when you step in somewhere, you don't immediately come and change things. You step back, take a look, see what the situation is and work accordingly.
Speaker 1:But that was important. So to me the song was unifying. It was his way of putting a stamp of culture into the school. That isn't going to be taken away. So the kids know when you come to Eastside, we sing the school song. We sing it with pride, it doesn't matter who's here. This is what we do and I think that was a brilliant move and I think people started to get that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Man, oh man.
Speaker 1:This is good.
Speaker 2:Lean on me, y'all.
Speaker 1:You gotta watch it, man. It's been a while since I watched it. Even if you've never seen it, it's been a while. Watch this movie. It's so good.
Speaker 1:And I do think as a leader now and you watch it with different eyes. I also think if you're in education or you work with young people, you also watch it with different eyes and you see the power of relationship, you see the power of love and you do see the power of effective leadership. Yeah, and so that's. I think that really good. I will I just make the last point and then we'll be done. But this vice principal, who we haven't talked a whole lot about, is a very key figure in this, because she was his challenge.
Speaker 1:She stood up to him when nobody else would yeah um, and I think that is as a leader you know you have to be. You have to have somebody who is, who's going to sharpen you, and this is not a friendship. This is professional sharpening. This is not. They ain't buddies. This is different than the relationship we talked about before. They were tight. That was his homeboy. They also worked together as his homeboy. She didn't try to hang out with him. She didn't go into dinner with this man. She wouldn't want to. But she said no, you need to listen to me, because you are out of line, you out of order.
Speaker 1:You need to look at this a different way and she, she stepped up to him and she was willing to do that. And sometimes in your like, professionally, as a colleague, colleague to colleague, you sharpen each other too. It's not just your friends, it's your, it's your professional people that willing to shop at each other as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you have to, because at first he was resistant. But you have to allow what those people are saying, and sometimes it's not even what they say. You know, like you catch it. You have to be able to catch it sometimes, sometimes leadership is not taught, it's caught catch it sometimes.
Speaker 2:Sometimes leadership is not taught, it's caught, you know, and you have to be able. You have to be able to discern when, based off because there's some people around me I can just tell, based off of the way that they start responding to me, I'm like, oh, I'm off.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm off For sure. I'm off because the people and what I think what she was telling him was that we are supposed to be walking with you. But you have to let us do that and you have to know, as you are assembling a team, you cannot just keep walking ahead of your team all the time. At some point you have to walk with them and that's how you. If he had walked with them, he would have seen what each person brought to the table. That was a part of the vision and not contrary to it. But he just took everything as being opposition. And you have to take a step back and say everything is working together. And I need to number one you won't be able to see that until you respect it. What she was demanding was respect, respect. That's right.
Speaker 2:Was see me, just like I see you. She was like hey, we all see you, you're doing a good job. Nobody, nobody. How did she say it? I can't remember right now, but I know something like we applaud your efforts. I was like, yeah, something like that. You know, like, just as as we respect you, I demand that same respect and, honestly, when she and she hand him that letter, I understood that, felt it in my shot or not? You, you know what I'm saying?
Speaker 2:Like hey, you ain't gonna respect me. I ain't gonna be able to stay. If you not gonna really see me and allow me to be a part of this, it ain't gonna be for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. And then she takes it and she crumples it up, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because he got himself together.
Speaker 1:Because he got himself together. Yeah, he had to do that. He had to do that. I appreciate that. I appreciate that moment. I appreciate their relationship. At some point you got to let people speak in. You have to know when it's time to shift His leadership. It was time to shift it. He didn't need to be that hard, authoritative my way or the like his leadership. It was time to shift it. He didn't need to be that, you know, hard, hard, authoritative my way or the highway.
Speaker 1:There was a shifting point and like when you start to see your, the school and the environment shift, you shift too yeah he didn't know how to do that and the reason so you have to have somebody just kind of snap you into, yeah, into into a new position, and that was kind of her role you, yeah you will get to a point where you don't know how to shift yourself. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you have to let someone external kind of get you back in alignment. Yeah it's necessary.
Speaker 1:It's necessary, all right. All right, I love it. I love it. Lean on me everybody.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was a good time. That was a good time in leadership, Lynn.
Speaker 1:Okay, we did talk about the one at the end of the scene. This is a very important line. We don't want a good principal, we want Mr Clark.
Speaker 2:Free, mr Clark. Free, mr Clark. Listen that we don't want a good, yes, that we don't want a good principal. We don't want a good principal.
Speaker 1:We want Mr Clark.
Speaker 2:Oh man, Everybody go out and find the Joe Clark on the inside of you. Look at you Wow.
Speaker 1:And then tame him that part. All right y'all Well, we've enjoyed this. Like we always encourage you to do, uh join, we want you to join the community. Share this with somebody else. If you know a leader or people in leadership positions who could um use this kind of uh content, you give it to them.
Speaker 2:Don't keep it to yourself and drop it if y'all share it to your stories. Tag us in it. We want to celebrate. Yeah, oh we want to do that. I'm like randomly, like looking through stories. I'm like hey.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's true, we should do that. Oh, please, yeah, tag us at the unlearned podcast. Yeah, the unlearned podcast? Um, all right, y'all. We will see y'all next week, but until then, let's keep unlearning together so that we can experience more freedom, peace. Thank you once again for listening to the Unlearned Podcast. We would love to hear your comments and your feedback about the episode. Feel free to follow us on Facebook and Instagram and to let us know what you think. We're looking forward to the next time when we are able to unlearn together to move forward towards freedom. See you then.
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