#21: Dr. Alveda King and Junior Aumavae

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision for harmony still resonates with Americans today. His niece, Dr. Alveda King, joins us for the first segments to share her deeply personal insights into her uncle's dream and how it shapes her work advocating for civil rights and the unborn. As she recounts the pivotal responses of her family to moments of intense struggle, we're reminded of the sacrifices made for progress. Dr. Alveda King's dedication to her uncle's legacy, through her roles with America First Policy Institute and Alveda King Ministries, illuminates a path of continued activism and hope.

Triumph and resilience form the heart of our final segments as we celebrate the remarkable ascent of Junior Aumavae from his Samoan roots to the NFL's grand stages. Junior's journey demonstrates the power of mentorship and the strength found in community bonds. His unwavering spirit, shaped by adversity and cultural shifts, underscores the importance of guidance and support in achieving one's dreams. Through his story and his commitment to nurturing the youth of today, we're inspired by the potential that lies within each of us to rise above challenges and craft a legacy of success and significance.

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Transcript

Kelly Tshibaka: 0:05

Hello America, hello Alaska. Welcome to Stand with Kelly and Niki Tshibaka. We are broadcasting from Alaska's last frontier. I'm Kelly Tshibaka, your host, a former government watchdog, and I'm broadcasting with my co-host and husband, Niki Tshibaka, a former attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and the father to our amazing five children. Please remember to subscribe to your favorite podcast platform for Stand with Kelly and Niki Tshibaka, or on YouTube at the Stand Show. Our website for more episodes is StandShoworg and we're on social media at Kelly for Alaska. Leave a review and you could be our lucky winner of one of our Hydroflask standshoworg, and we're on social media at Kelly for Alaska. Leave a review and you could be our lucky winner of one of our Hydro Flask stickers from Stand, and make sure to share this episode with a friend or family member.

Kelly Tshibaka: 0:52

Today is a true honor to have Dr Alveda King on our show today. She is the niece of Dr Martin Luther King Jr and the daughter of his brother, reverend AD King, who fought valiantly and courageously for civil rights. Alongside his brother, dr Alveda King is the chair of the America First Policy Institute's Center for the American Dream. She's a passionate Christian evangelist and pro-life advocate, and she's the founder of Speak for Life and Alveda King Ministries. She's an acclaimed author and Fox News Channel contributor, and she was elected twice to the Georgia State House and is the 2021 recipient of the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award. This year marks the 60th anniversary of her uncle's. I have a Dream speech, and today we're going to talk to her about her uncle and that historic speech, about her father, who was an influential leader in the civil rights movement, and about her ongoing fight for justice as a tireless voice for the unborn. Dr King, thank you so much for being with us today.

Dr Alveda King: 1:55

It's wonderful to join you and your listening and viewing audience. Hi everyone.

Kelly Tshibaka: 2:00

Well, hello. We're so happy to have you. We want to begin our conversation today by reflecting on some of your family's amazing legacy. The words that your uncle delivered 60 years ago in his famous I have a Dream speech have just impacted us all. He said so many amazing things, but we just wondered is there a personal story that you can share about Dr Martin Luther King Jr?

Dr Alveda King: 2:26

Absolutely. I did not attend the march. I was a young teenager and we remained at home. I did go to a march that same year called the Children's March in Birmingham, alabama. My parents did journey to join their brother and brother-in-law at the march.

Dr Alveda King: 2:46

There are so many things that my uncle said and did, but one of the most impressive things he said to me as I think back. He said I have a dream that one day there'll be no black power, no white power, only God power and human power. And I think about my grandfather, reverend Martin Luther King Sr, my dad, reverend Alfred Daniel Williams King, ad King, and they often talk about us all being one blood and one human race Of one blood. God made all people so when I think about my uncle, his inclusiveness, he embraced diversity and all of that from a christian perspective. So that led him to say we must learn to live together as brothers and, I'll add, as sisters, and not perish together as fools. So he saw everybody with ethnicity. He wasn't colorblind. None of us are colorblind. We celebrate, but we don't fight over skin color. So I think that's one of the things that remains with me and it's so remarkable to me that understanding that I've carried through my lifetime and now I'm 73.

Niki Tshibaka: 3:59

Wow, yeah, that's powerful, that we're all one blood, one race, created by God, all with equal dignity and all sacred in his eyes. Dr King, most Americans obviously know a lot about your uncle, reverend Martin Luther King Jr, but they may not know as much about your father, who you just referenced, alfred Daniel King, reverend AD King, who was also a civil rights movement leader and hero himself. In fact, he was such a threat to the white supremacists of his day that, when you were just 12 years old, they actually bombed your family's home. Can you tell us about that experience and the heroic and amazing way in which your father responded?

Dr Alveda King: 4:51

I remember often Daddy standing on a car out in front of our home. We escaped when the house was bombed. My mother, mrs Naomi Ruth Barberking, talks about that and I do too, and you can find videos and YouTubes of her description of what happened. And so we escaped out of the home and my father stood on a car with I don't know if he had a megaphone that night, but he spoke to the crowd and he said listen, don't riot and don't fight. If you have to hit someone, hit me, but I'd rather you go home and pray. My family and I are okay, and what we had was what was called the outside agitators.

Dr Alveda King: 5:32

And you see that today, in this century, a lot of times when you see these riots and firebombs and people throwing bricks through cars, it's not the residents, it's not the people of that who live there, but these are people who come in from other communities and places to stir up agitation. And so the people what I remember from that particular night, the people who lived in the neighborhood started going home, and so you were left with these rioters and outside agitators who really were not even part of our community. I remember that that was a great preacher too. I posted recently on YouTube and I think I said Alveda King, ad King sermon, and people when they listened to Daddy's voice they said that sounds just like Martin Luther King Jr and they looked like. They were very similar in appearance and they were very, very close. So daddy was a Baptist preacher, just like his brother. He was a civil rights leader, a father, a husband and we miss all of them so much now.

Niki Tshibaka: 6:36

Well, that was just such a powerful story of your father responding not in anger or hatred, but trying to quell anger and hatred when his own family was viciously and violently attacked.

Niki Tshibaka: 6:52

It didn't just show courage, it showed moral courage, which was just so powerful. So thank you for sharing that story. I'd like to ask you, if you don't mind, dr King, we've made a lot of progress towards achieving a lot of the goals of the civil rights movement that your father and your uncle and others in your family so valiantly fought for. Yet we're experiencing an increasing tension, racial tensions today. You just kind of referenced it in just a few moments ago about those outside agitators in that particular instance. There are a lot of folks out there who are trying to stoke the fires of hatred and bitterness between white people and black people, which were the very fires that your father and others so valiantly fought to quell. Can you share with us any thoughts you may have on how we can all stand together in working to heal those racial grievances and promote racial reconciliation and promote racial reconciliation Victory absolutely must be maintained in every generation, every decade and on every platform.

Dr Alveda King: 8:11

And we often wonder why are the young people acting like that? Why do they do that? Why do they say that If we do not proclaim truth in every generation, every decade and on every platform, people forget. And so we must come together and stand together and I'm often saying that to young people and people my age and older than me If we do not stand up for justice and righteousness, then wickedness and evil and terror will overtake us. So people will often say, oh, we are going backwards. We've lost everything that Martin Luther King Jr fought for? Absolutely not. We certainly not lost everything that Jesus Christ won on the cross at Calvary. But it is our responsibility in every generation, every decade, every platform, to proclaim truth and to explain truth. And that's why I'll give you a good example.

Dr Alveda King: 9:11

Remember when the CRT critical race theory argument was just so loud all across the country, and then people started saying, well, we will cancel CRT, we won't talk about it. I said, well, no, I called you bluff on that, we won't talk about it. I said, well, no, I called you bluff on that one. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about critical race theory being socialist, being Marxist, having been created by people who thought that there were different races and there was a superior race based on blonde hair and blue eyes. And I say so socialism and Marxism is not fair, it's not just, and critical race theory was birthed out of that philosophy. So when we started doing that, you notice that the advocates of CRT oh well, we never said that and we really didn't mean it and we didn't do it. That's it.

Dr Alveda King: 10:03

So my point is this Tell the truth and shame the devil. And so America has such a rich and beautiful, wonderful history. It has some very terrible, ugly, mean things, but it has some absolutely wonderful experiences. So when you take that and tell the whole story, for instance, a lot of people really didn't believe that there were black people who owned slaves, who owned black slaves in America. People did not want to believe that.

Dr Alveda King: 10:35

Another thing that people did not want to believe was that in the time that slavery occurred here in America, when the Caucasians went over to get the slaves, the slaves were sold to the Caucasians by black people. They sold their own communities and villages if the villages were at war, and they would take their own captives and sell their captives to the slavers. So I said, you know, I used to go around to these foot washes and there would be the white people and, oh, let us wash your feet. And we've been so horrible to you and a lot of things. I'm not minimizing slavery, it was horrible and terrible. I said, well, I'll wash your feet.

Niki Tshibaka: 11:21

We'll be right back with Dr King. Sorry, we're going to have to move into a break. Dr King will pick up right on the other side of this break. She's going to talk about her courageous work as a civil rights leader on behalf of the unborn, and we'll also pick up with the story she was just telling. Stand by.

Kelly Tshibaka: 11:46

You're back on stand with Kelly and Niki Tshibaka. We're talking with Dr Alveda King, the niece of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Dr King, you were just telling us your experience of going and having your feet washed by white people, and what was it that you were saying to them?

Dr Alveda King: 12:04

There's so much discussion about how horrible slavery and segregation have been in America, and certainly that is true. And there has been repentance and I said well, we all need to repent, and if you're going to wash my feet, I need to wash your feet. We need to repent, we need to go before the Lord, and there has to be some forgiveness and some repentance, understanding that we are one blood and one human race. So if I were to be bitter and always angry about everything that had happened to me, I would never be able to move beyond that hatred and that fear and that anger into a truth. And reconciliation means that we reconcile together as one blood and one human race. So I should never be treated less than or more than, and someone else should not be either, and it should never be based on skin color.

Dr Alveda King: 13:01

And so when I attend foot washing ceremonies, jesus showed that so well. He washed the feet of the disciples and they say no, you're the Lord, let us wash your feet. And he said if you don't let me wash your feet, then you're not going to be able to come into the places where I'm leading you. And so it's very important when wrong has been done, it has to be addressed. It must be addressed and when it is addressed, there needs to be reconciliation.

Kelly Tshibaka: 13:29

That's a really humbling challenge. You know it's tempting just to move on in an interview and go to the next question, but I think we would really miss an important application point that you just shared. And our show really is about equipping our audience to be able to stand to life's challenges that are facing them, and what you just shared is an equipping point. When we feel aggrieved or tempted to take up a resentment or an offense, one of the best ways to tear out that root of bitterness is to humble ourselves. And the fact that you modeled that, I think that not only did you put into practice something that you see in scripture, but it sounds like you put into practice something that was modeled for you by your father and your uncle. So thank you for sharing that story. That's really powerful, absolutely.

Kelly Tshibaka: 14:20

I wanted to ask you about something else you do. That's really powerful. You've spent your life being a pro-life advocate. We want to get into all that you do in your ministry, but I would like you to share with us the story about how you came to be a pro-life advocate. Could you share that with us please?

Dr Alveda King: 14:37

From the very early beginnings, when I was in my mother's womb and she was a college student and wanted to finish college. She didn't want to get married and be a mom and so she was pregnant and she told her mother that there was an organization called the Birth Control League. It would become Planned Parenthood and they were advertising. Come and see us. A woman has a right to choose what she does with her body. Abortion was illegal when I was conceived in 1950, but DNCs weren't. Those were surgical procedures for exploratory problems. If a woman came in with a complaint, it wasn't a back alley or a cold tank or anything like that. Doctors were doing it. And so my mom wanted to actually not birth me. She told her mom and they went to their pastor, reverend Martin Luther King Sr. He would become her father-in-law and my grandfather. He says Naomi, they're lying to you. That's the baby. That's not a love of flesh. I saw her in a dream three years ago. She has bright skin and bright red hair. She's going to bless many people. So my mother and daddy chose life together and they were supported by the family, and so after that point, for many years none of that was discussed or talked about. I found out years later that my grandfather was an advocate against abortion throughout his life and his ministry. Many other people he would say the same thing. So my dad was killed in 1969. As you know, my uncle was killed in 1968.

Dr Alveda King: 16:13

I got married a week after daddy uh. I got married one week before daddy uh was killed. He walked me down the aisle and I got pregnant on my honeymoon. I birthed the baby and right after that I went back to my doctor six months after the birth of my son and I wanted a pregnancy test. And he says, oh no, you don't need another baby, let's see. So, rather than doing a pregnancy test, he did an in-office DNC without anesthesia, and that was my second pregnancy. He sent me to Planned Parenthood and I ended up with another abortion and a miscarriage. So and he said don't talk to your family, don't go to the church or anything like that. Just go over to Planned Parenthood. They'll help you from now on.

Dr Alveda King: 17:00

I took birth control for a short while and had some issues in my own body uh, threats with my breast and cervix and things like that but I was recovered without surgery from all of that. Now I became pro-choice for a short season during that time and I would go along with all the things. A woman has the right to choose with her body and I would advocate and fight for that. However, in the mid-1970s I ended up with a divorce and I was dating instead of courting there's a difference between courting and dating, because courting doesn't have the sex and dating can and I got pregnant and I was about to abort that child.

Dr Alveda King: 17:42

Abortion now had become legal in 1973 with Roe v Wade January 22nd, which happens to be my birthday in 73. And so I saw an ultrasound and I talked to my grandfather also and he and the child's father said no, we're not avoiding that baby. And so my the, the father of that baby, said you know, he was a medical student at the time. He said that's 46 chromosomes, 23 of mine, 23 of yours. I want mine back alive. So I actually birthed that child and so I ended up with two abortions and miscarriage and some amazing doctors did some procedures in my body and I was able to birth five more children. So I'm the mother of six living children and 11 grandchildren. And when I became born again in 1983, I confessed my own sins, which included their abortions, and I began to say a woman has the right to choose what she does with her body. The baby's not her body. Where's the lawyer for the baby? How can the dream survive if we murder our children? And I've been saying that since 1983.

Kelly Tshibaka: 18:56

That's a powerful story.

Niki Tshibaka: 18:58

Well, I love that statement you just made. How can the dream survive if we take the lives of our own children?

Niki Tshibaka: 19:07

Right If we take the lives of our own children. That's powerful. There was something that you, that I well, that I learned in a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It came out in November of 2022. And it found that, for women aged 15 to 44, the rate of abortions among black women is four times higher than that of white women. How would you describe the impact of abortion on the black community and on black families, Dr King?

Dr Alveda King: 19:48

has been still is started all the way in here in America with eugenics and genocides, with something called the Negro Project and the Tuskegee Project. The Tuskegee Project gave syphilis to black men and treated half of them and didn't treat half of them. Gave them placebos to see how fast that could go through the community and control the population. So that was the Tuskegee project. The Negro project gave free or low-cost abortions no, no abortions, I'm sorry, it was illegal then vasectomies and tubal ligations to prevent pregnancy and said that you could be a credit to your race if you don't have so many babies. So that's the precursor of the work of Planned Parenthood, the Birth Control League, the Negro Project, tuskegee Project, those types of projects.

Dr Alveda King: 20:36

And then after abortion became legal, then we see what happened. And so the Black community and then as well later as the Latino community, to not as many numbers. So there was such a marketing campaign telling Black people that you are credit to your race, you don't have to have so many babies, let us help you. And so abortion was then, when it was legal, was called health care. It's not health care. Abortion absolutely is death care because it kills at least one person the child, sometimes the mother with complications after dies through sepsis or bleeding out or different things. There are other complications mental problems, addictions and drug addictions and mental issues. So there's so much that's connected to marketing to the Black community as a part of eliminating or lowering the numbers of our community.

Niki Tshibaka: 21:41

And how can you keep the dream alive if you're taking the lives of so many unborn black children? It's truly a crisis and your advocacy in this work has been so impactful and influential that civil rights legacy that you are carrying on from your father and from your uncle is, in a very real way, continuing to advocate for the rights of black people, of all people, but including black people in what we're seeing, with the much higher rate of black people becoming being aborted and black mothers becoming post-abortive. So really appreciate your advocacy. Advocacy, dr king. We'll be right back with uh. Dr alveda king. We're going to talk to her more about her pro-life advocacy and work. You can subscribe to us on youtube at the stand show and you can also follow us at Kelly for Alaska. Don't forget to leave a review on YouTube and you could be the lucky winner this week of a hydro flask stand sticker.

Kelly Tshibaka: 23:00

We'll be right back, stand by we're back after the break on stand with kelly and niki Tshibaka. During our break, dr alveda king had to get back to another commitment, so we want to let you know her website is alvedakingcom. That's where we can support her ministry and her pro-life work. That's alvedakingcom. So now we're so excited to welcome our second guest for today, junior. Junior is a retired NFL player and personal friend of ours. He played for the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Jets. When he retired from football, junior became the vice president of the NFL Players Association's Indianapolis chapter. Later he founded and led Elite Athletic Trend. It's a non-profit he established to develop and mentor youth through things like innovative athletic programs and life skills mentorship programs. Today, junior holds the highest ranking government position a Samoan has ever held in the state of Alaska. Junior, we're so excited to hear more about your truly amazing and inspirational story of what can be achieved when we stand in the face of life's challenges and when we have other people who will stand with us. So welcome to Stand.

Junior Aumavae: 24:27

Thank you so much for having me on the podcast. It's a pleasure to be here, share my story. Hopefully we give somebody hope with the story that I have. But just thank you for giving me this platform to be able to join you today.

Kelly Tshibaka: 24:39

Yeah, we're excited to hear about it. So let's start at the beginning. Tell us about your family, how you ended up in Anchorage, Alaska.

Junior Aumavae: 24:48

Just a little bit about your background story. Yeah, you know it's a great. You know American story. You know I'm from American Samoa and my parents they had 10 children, 10 girls and two boys, 13 in total. So you know we grew up over there in American Samoa where we live it's kind of like third world country, so we really didn't have much. My father is a veteran he served in the Korean War disabled veteran. My mother she stayed home, worked multiple jobs watching over us children. And you know, when we transitioned from American Samoa we made our way to Hawaii, we went to Washington State and eventually we grew up here in Anchorage, alaska and that's where I spent primarily my childhood. Growing up in was Anchorage Alaska. So you know Alaska is a great place, you know great people obviously, Kelly, Niki, you guys are doing great things.

Junior Aumavae: 25:41

Pleasure to be part of this community and also making a difference in this community and the community I grew up in community and also making a difference in this community and the community that I grew up in.

Junior Aumavae: 25:50

So you know, with that, you know, growing up in Alaska was definitely a big change, you know, polynesian coming out to a colder weather system out here. It was a big change for my parents and also for my family members. Well, we moved here with another family member, my uncle, where my dad helped him join a church here to start a church for the Sente Venes denomination. We lived with him and his five children, so there was about 20 of us living in a three-bedroom apartment and with that, you know, it helped my parents get on their feet because they had this thing called the Permanent Fund Dividend, which a lot of Alaskans have advantage of, and obviously my father did with his 13 children. So we were able to, you know, get back on our feet because that helped my mother and fathers get stable financially.

Junior Aumavae: 26:37

But you know, there were some challenges as I grew up here in Alaska as a kid, as a child, you know, I went to Mountain View Elementary, went to Clarkville School, east High School.

Junior Aumavae: 26:46

The road wasn't always easy, and you know I went to Mountain View Elementary, I went to Clark Middle School, East High School. The road wasn't always easy and you know, during my time as a youth I had a lot of troubles that I ran into. You know I got 10 beautiful sisters, so when beautiful sisters come, there's some trouble that follows, you know. So as a brother I got to protect. So a lot of times I was spending my time with the wrong crowd and also protecting my siblings and my sisters and ended up going down the wrong path. That's where in the educational system, you know I wasn't very academically smart, so I had to find different routes, and when I mean different routes, there were people in my life that stepped in and helped me with that. So I went to east high school and when I went to east high school I ended up getting kicked out of school systems and I remember like it was yesterday when I was getting kicked out.

Junior Aumavae: 27:38

I walked in the principal's room and my mother she's just sitting there. She's sitting there with a suitcase and she's sitting there with with my sister helen. She's older than me. At the time she had a place over there in the valley with her and her husband and she had a son. And my mother said that I'll be leaving to the valley that day and you know, as a kid I'm like, wait what? I'm not going out in the valley. So it was a big transition to come to Alaska already. Now I'm going to go out into like the neck of the woods out on the valley. So that day I ended up leaving with my sister to the valley and that's where I stayed with my sister Helen in the Mat-Su Valley, which was a huge blessing because that's where I was able to find the right people and get around the right people to be able to kind of change the trajectory of my future as a young man.

Kelly Tshibaka: 28:31

So out there.

Junior Aumavae: 28:33

That's where I was able to meet a coach, you know, a coach that really spoke to me in a way that helped me understand that I can change my future.

Junior Aumavae: 28:43

He helped me realize how to focus and once you become a pro in the NFL, focusing is really something that's a skill set, and that's a skill set that separates you from everybody else is being able to focus and really apply those skills to on the field and also off the field.

Junior Aumavae: 29:01

So at a very young age in high school, a coach was able to kind of instill that into me and so when he gave me those tools, you know, obviously I started building my future. You know, I started building my future, which is why I created that nonprofit organization helping youth and really trying to give them the same tools that I was given as a kid to be able to kind of build their own futures. You know, really take it and run. And so as a high school kid, learning these tools of being a pro at a young age at focusing using my eyes and ears instead of my mouth, a lot of it, you know, a lot of individuals getting kind of mixed up. Everyone's like, oh, you're big, you're fast, you're strong. But what really separated myself from everybody else was my mentality, and that's being able to focus at a young age.

Junior Aumavae: 29:47

So I had to learn at a young age to become a pro and for that it's very difficult to do but it's simple. It's a simple thing but it's difficult. And you know, and that's what we kind of see today in today's culture and the younger generation. You know, and that's what we kind of see today in today's culture and the younger generation. You know those kind of values and those kind of things. You know leaders being able to step in and kind of instill a younger future and a younger generation for the future. I think those are the kind of things that we kind of need to get back to to be able to do that for a young generation. So, just to continue my story, you know this coach helped me realize that I can focus and that's where I really started exercising that skill, exercising it in academics. I started focusing more in academics. I mean, there was a point where math. You know I'm not very smart math but I was focusing every single day to where the teacher at that time noticed that I was really trying my best to try to do my best in that class and instead of giving me a C plus, he gave me a pass. I was past that class. So I didn't get to see average, but I got a P, which means pass, and you know that really gave me confidence. That you know, as I continue to use that, utilize that skill to focus at a young age with my eyes and ears, then I can really achieve anything. And so I started doing that, not only in academics. I started doing that in athletics, where I started to listen with my eyes and ears and pay attention to the pros how are they eating, how are they training? Who are the pros? How are they eating, how are they training? Who are the people that are around them, who surround, how, like, where are they at most of the day and then how many hours of sleep they get. So at a young age, I started doing those things. I started, you know, picking up these trends that these pros were doing athletically. And that's really where I took my game for football, uh, with my body. And I changed my body. So not only did I change my you know my mentality and I changed my body. So not only did I change my you know my mentality and my spirituality, I started changing my physical appearance and that's where, you know, I started to excel.

Junior Aumavae: 31:52

I started to excel in my athletics because I started to focus more, started to learn more, started to build my future at a really young age. So then I became very successful in athletics, but at the same time, when I started building my athletics, you know, I started building my home life. So I started to focus on becoming a better brother to my sister that I was living with, and my sister at the time worked at Walmart and she was a stalker. She had two kids when I was living with her and I had babysit those kids every single day and to make sure that her and her husband were able to take care of us. So I had to become a really good brother. I had to become a really good uncle. So I started focusing on how I could do that as well.

Junior Aumavae: 32:37

And so at a young age I started to become a pro at athletics. I started to become a pro at academics. Then I also started to become a pro as a family member. And that's what really, I think, kind of helped me get through a lot of the challenges that I went through at a young age through my sports career was being able to become a better family member, Because, at the end of the day.

Junior Aumavae: 32:58

The only people standing behind you when you're losing and the whistles are gone are your family. So I became a better family member and that's where you know, a lot of support that I have now is still here Teammates go, teachers go, individuals educators go the family, they're there forever. So anyway, to kind of cut it short, I was really not only setting the trend of excellence for myself. I was really setting the trend of excellence for myself. I was really setting the trend of excellence for the youth that was part of my family. So now we have over 60 plus nieces and nephews in my family Wow, and one of those nephews actually that I helped take care, that actually came to every single football practice in high school with me the both of my nephews that my sister had. One of those nephews actually plays for the Baltimore Ravens now. So he is. He got drafted this year by the Baltimore Ravens.

Junior Aumavae: 33:55

he was actually drafted on my birthday, so April 29th and the same day that he was drafted they also gave him my number in high school, number 71. So that's all God. So God has a plan for everything. And he played a key role in that. And then the other nephew is currently playing college football in California. So now they're being trendsetters in our family, which is great, because when you start seeing the fruits, the labor that you put in it starts to be passed on, and that's what you call generational wealth in our family.

Niki Tshibaka: 34:34

Yeah, yeah.

Junior Aumavae: 34:36

And that's what can change your family tree in a really good way. And then you start to see the fruit. The fruit starts to blossom and then you just sit back like, wow, god, yeah so well after that.

Niki Tshibaka: 34:48

Well, let's pause right there, junior.

Niki Tshibaka: 34:50

That's. It's an amazing story. We're going to be right back with junior amave and he'll tell us how he went from being an at-risk youth in anchorage to joining the nfl and playing for the dallas cowboys and the new Jets. So don't go anywhere. You don't want to miss this. Remember to subscribe on YouTube to our channel At the Stand Show and you can also follow us at KellyforAlaska. See you on the other side of this break.

Niki Tshibaka: 35:26

Hey everybody, we are back with Junior Amaveh. We're talking to him about his childhood and the trajectory that led him to the NFL. Junior, what I'm taking from what you've shared so far one of the lessons I'm learning is the power of mentorship and when you have people who believe in you and refuse to give up on you, how that can change the course into directory, the trajectory of a person's life, but also the power of choice, that you can have people who believe in you, but you also have to make the decision in yourself. I'm I'm going to choose a different path, and so those two things coming together seem to have led you in a completely different route that you're then from what your life was taking at the time. Let's move ahead a little bit with the story. What happened next? So I assume you get into college. Tell us about your journey in a few minutes, about how you got to the NFL itself, because that in and of itself was a huge accomplishment.

Junior Aumavae: 36:37

Yeah, I mean I'm not sure if you know the numbers, Niki, but to be able to get in the NFL, it's less than 1% of athletes actually get the opportunity to get in the NFL. And if you do the math of how many colleges Division I, division II, division III, naia, all these different you know leagues in college how many of those players actually don't even get a chance to be able to step in there. So to be able to get there is a big, huge accomplishment and you know I'm just very blessed to be able to step in there. So to be able to get there is a big, huge accomplishment and you know I'm just very blessed to be able to have that opportunity to have a little cup of tea in the nfl. You know I'm no tom brady, would be so anyway.

Junior Aumavae: 37:14

So, like I was mentioned, a lot of individuals that make it to the pros, uh, it's a very special thing because everybody has a, has a, and part of that story, there's a lot of adversity and my journey is no different.

Junior Aumavae: 37:29

So, with adversity, you know, those kind of things really kind of helped me prepare myself for the pros and what really, like you mentioned earlier, surrounding yourself with the right individuals. That's why it's so important to have community leaders that actually work for the people. That's why it's so important to have community leaders that actually work for the people. That's why it's so important to have individuals who are mentors that actually help individuals, because it took one person when I was a kid to be able to change my life. It took another person to be able to change my life again when I was in college.

Junior Aumavae: 37:59

You know I had multiple surgeries. You know football very physical, I mean it's one of the most physical sports in the world. In my eyes, it's also one of the best in the world because there's just a lot of adversity but there's also a lot of support within the locker room. A lot of people don't really talk about the locker room. A lot of people don't really talk about the coaches and talk about how that brotherhood, that team atmosphere, really does help a young man be successful in their future, and that's what happened with me.

Junior Aumavae: 38:25

So when I, when I was in college, I ended up tearing all my ligaments my left ankle. I ended up getting surgery. In my left knee I ended up getting a total left elbow reconstruction of my elbow. So it's called Tommy John surgery. That's where baseball players they throw the ball, you know it tears every single ligament in the arm. Well, I had all of that in college, wow, and I had that in one year actually. And so when you're looking at that you say, oh man, this guy's done, he's toast, he should be done with football.

Junior Aumavae: 39:05

Well, it was another coach in college that actually encouraged me, that helped me realize that you know, fighting through adversity not only will get me through football but also get me through life. And so fighting through those adversities in college helped me overcome. You know just the basic situations in a game of football. You know those became easy because I was dealing with other adversity that was way more difficult. And so when I got on the football field, to me it was easy because individuals that are around me helped prepare me for those adversity situations. And so in college I dealt with a lot of adversity, which many football players that make it to the NFL will tell you their story about adversity and how it made them stronger. And, like you mentioned, you know it comes about. It comes down to the individual. You can have all the mentors in your life, but if the individual is not prepared to pick up those tools and build their own future, it's all for nothing. And that's what I did. You know, when I faced adversity, I just picked up those tools that coaches, that players, that teachers, educators, pastors, that they gave me, and I started building my own future with the tools that they gave me and I started building my own future with the tools that they gave me. So, anyway, so I started building.

Junior Aumavae: 40:07

I ended up becoming very successful in college. A lot of NFL teams all 32 teams at the time contacted me, met with me and by the time I graduated, I ended up signing with the Dallas Cowboys. And you know, that for me, was very unique in itself because it was like, wow, I'm really here sitting next to DeMarcus Ware as my locker teammate, or seeing Tony Romo across from me. You know, just walking into this, I'm just like I'm really here. So the crazy thing about it is, you know, as a college kid, you get used to doing your own thing.

Junior Aumavae: 40:42

This is just a funny story I want to share with you guys. It's uh, when I was in cop, when I was with the dallas cowboys, every single day when I was a college kid, I just wake up and put my ball cap on and I just go to work, I just go and train. I did the same exact thing for the dallas cowboys. I woke up, put my ball cap on, went to work and as soon as I sat down I one of my teammates looked at me and was like hey, you know you're wearing a Raiders hat. I was like Raiders hat, what are you talking about? I'm a cowboy, you're wearing an Oakland Raiders hat.

Junior Aumavae: 41:16

And I looked at my hat and of course, it was a college cap that I had always worn, it was a Raiders cap, so I took that and I threw it in the trash and we were right. I forget, I don't want to get no excuses to get cut from this, this football team, but you know, that's just one of the experiences like for me, like just being able to realize that I'm actually there. You know I'm playing with with the best of the best in in the, in the nation, and all these guys were great individuals. You can just tell by the work, by the way they held themselves in communities and how they were able to help individuals like myself. And you know, coming in as a rookie, I mean it's really, really tough to make it in the NFL, and so having mentors in that stage was actually a good thing for me to see.

Niki Tshibaka: 41:58

That's phenomenal. Can you, as we wrap up we've got about three and a half minutes left Tell us what you your takeaway from your time in the NFL, whether it was with the Cowboys or the Jets, what were a couple of the lessons that were given you that you feel would be encouraging to our audience? Because, I mean, your story is so inspiring and the power of mentorship and how it's multiplied, like what you talked about with both of your nephews now one in the NFL, one playing college football that can be traced back to the coaches, the educators, the parents, the family who supported you. But tell us a couple of those lessons that you've learned from those coaches in the NFL that you feel can help folks right now who are struggling with adversity in their own lives.

Junior Aumavae: 42:46

Yeah, and that's the thing is. Like. You know, I speak to elementary all the way up to business organizations, and it's the same message. It's simple but it's hard. But you got to learn how to become a pro. And so what does that mean? How do I become a pro?

Junior Aumavae: 43:05

Well, at a young age, you got to learn how to focus. You got to learn how to focus with your eyes and your ears, because one thing that a sport of football always taught me there's always someone bigger, there's always someone smarter, there's always somebody faster, Whatever it is, there's always someone better. So what do I need to do to become that? Well, I got to learn how to focus and listen with my eyes and ears, and once I did that, I started learning from the best. I started to emulate from the best.

Junior Aumavae: 43:34

So those are the things that you can do is surround yourself with the individuals. Surround yourself with individuals that are going to take you further than you have before, or surround yourself with individuals that are going to give you tools that you can pick up and build yourself. So being a pro is the biggest thing that I would give anyone advice, and another thing that really helped me get through all that I've went through in my life as far as adversity is my love for Jesus Christ, and that's the number one thing that really helped me get through any of these problems, whether it be injuries, whether it be a personal thing, whether it be any type of adversity that I'm facing is looking toward Jesus Christ and really giving up all the problems that I'm dealing with.

Kelly Tshibaka: 44:15

That's really great, junior. I love that. So make yourself a pro by listening, focusing, listening and learning, surrounding yourself with the right people, taking the responsibility to build yourself it's not somebody else's responsibility, it's also not somebody else's fault and then always giving credit and honor to Jesus Christ. I just want to do a shout out to you on that. You do that in every situation I've ever seen you, even when I was at a ceremony for you where you were being honored and you took the opportunity to give honor and glory to Jesus Christ, and so you you don't just say that, you actually live it out. So thank you so much for being with us today. You take a stand for things that you believe, and you've done that.

Kelly Tshibaka: 44:58

I appreciate you sharing your story, that you started out in a rascally way. I think several people listening have that same story or maybe are walking that same walk, and so it gives hope to us that you can turn that around by following some of the principles that you shared with us. Please like and subscribe to our show Stand with Kelly and Niki Tshibaka. If you leave us a review, you'll be entered to win one of our awesome Hydro Flask stickers. We'd be happy to send this to you as our awesome audience standout winner of the week, and be sure to share our episodes with some of your friends and family members so you can hear more amazing stories like what you heard today from Junior and Dr Alveda King. Junior, thanks so much for being with us. We'll be happy to have you again and we wish you all the best.

Junior Aumavae: 45:44

Thank you, Kelly and Niki Keep doing great things.

Kelly Tshibaka: 45:46

Yeah, stay by and we'll see you next week. Stand firm, stand strong.