Underserved, Harnessing The Principles of Lincoln’s Vision for Reconstruction for Today’s Forgotten

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show hosts. Thank you for choosing W

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FOURCY Radio. Welcome to the Bill
Martinez Schell. Good to have you with

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us. We're going to be joined
with Jiron Smith in just a moment.

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He's one of the authors of this
new book, Underserved, who served in

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several White House roles, including Deputy
Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy.

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His new book, Underserved, Harnessing
the principles of Lincoln's vision as an Abraham

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Lincoln for Reconstruction for Today's Forgotten Communities, talks about the President's vision for reconstruction.

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Unfortunately, the untimely death of Abraham
Lincoln not only mark the end of

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one of America's greatest presidential administrations,
but it also set the stage for a

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period known as reconstruction. This legacy
was unfortunately mishandled by his successor, but

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advocate and allies like Ulyssa's s.
Scrant and Frederick Douglas sought to implement Lincoln's

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vision. Today, we suffer for
the shortfall of reconstructions objectives, but it

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doesn't mean it's over. His co
author, Chris Pilkerton, is also a

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former Cabinet member and head of the
US Small Business Administration. Let's welcome Jiron

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Smith to the show. Jiron,
good to be talking to you again.

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How are you, sir, I'm
doing well. Thanks for having me Bill.

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Well, congratulations on this book.
I mean, this is really important

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because it really it brings to historical
significance why we are where we are today

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when you know the principles and the
vision that Abraham Lincoln had regarding reconstruction.

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Because I know, when I am
i myself, when I read back during

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that period of time and you think, well, you know what happened.

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You know, it seems like so
much kind of you know, fell fell

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through the cracks and the floor,
so to speak. Is that fair to

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say, Yes, that's very fair
to say. In fact, I would

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just add that after Lincoln, those
failures by a number of different presidents to

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not be intentional, to not harness
something bold that would lift up on all

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underserved communities, and what we see
now is communities that are continuing to be

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left behind. There was an effort
in the Trump administration to do something intentional

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and it worked. You started to
see lower income communities exactly, wages increase,

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he started to see safe on community
safety. You started to see unemployment

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rates for the Black community, the
Hispanic community all reach, all time low.

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And what we were focused on was
doing more of that work in those

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forgotten communities. But not just a
government approach, not a top down approach,

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but a bottom up approach that includes
the rebuilding of civil society, because

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at his core, for anything to
be sustainable, we need the help of

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civil society to help lead us to
the revitalization of forgotten communities. What was

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it about Abraham Lincoln as you studied
him that made him show a unique a

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candidate and empathetic figure who understood the
underserved well. He grew up poor in

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an underserved community on the prairie,
and he became a self made individual,

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and he understand he understood the importance
of the economic empowerment of the American people.

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This is why he had a plan. He had a vision for underserved

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white communities and underserved Black communities,
former slaves, and at the core of

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it was the economic empowerment of those
communities. Did Lincoln in a sense,

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I mean, this is what I've
seen in my business experience, is that

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a vision for a solution seems to
be central to a particular individual, and

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as long as that individual is alive, it goes forward, it moves along.

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But unfortunately, in this particular case, his life was shortened by assassination

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and with him the passions for for
reconstruction and all that went into it,

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the nuances. Uh, you know, I just feel like we missed out

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and we and we lost that.
It got lost in translation in his passing

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Jeron, is that what you you
found out as well? Yes, But

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I also believe and hopeful American future
in the fact that we can pick up

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this mantle right now. He has
to create that environment around opportunity. In

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the book, I talk about a
methodology that I created in the White House,

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being intentional, building trust, creating
collaborations, great outcomes for those communities,

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and then studying what works and being
intentional as a very important part of

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it because we know that the issues
that are plaguing underserved communities, and it's

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not just one solution, you know, we look at everything from economic development

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and affordability, on education, workforce, behavioral health and community safety, you

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know, on entrepreneurship and wealth building, you know. But at the core

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of it, it's helping people be
resilient, right, which is why it

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takes more than just the government and
having our faith based organizations and churches.

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I'm heavily involved, and is revitalization
is going to be important as we try

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to advocate for a plan for our
future to all different American leaders. You

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know that they can pick up this
deal right now today. Exactly what you're

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on the challenge is is when something
like this gets absorbed by the bureaucracy,

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it's one size fits all. It's
just like, Okay, we figured it

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out, we laid it out,
and they just allow it to run on

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its own. But what you did
in your position in the White House,

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you kept your finger on the pulse
and as this was developing, you had

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the opportunity to make the necessary adjustments. Now that's smart business, and that

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that's what we need more of happening
in our government. So even you know,

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with you and others who thought like
you and operated accordingly you were,

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you're bit of a maverick and a
rebel against the traditional operation of the Beltway.

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Is that fair to say? That's
very fair to say. In fact,

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there's a number of recommendations we've given
the book for policy on. One

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of the pieces is taking an audit
of all the funding mechanisms for underserved communities.

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Let's just figure out what's working,
what's not working on, what needs

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to be urge, what needs to
be cut, And let's have someone that's

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outside of government, someone that's semi
private, you know, who can span

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six seven years, you know,
and be able to leverage not only the

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tools that are in the federal government
but private sector tools and bring in philanthropy

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and corporate dollars so that we can
be very nuanced in these solutions. But

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in order to do that, that
person would have to work with communities from

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the ground up exactly. We know
that New York is different than the Mississippi

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Delta, you know, or south
side of Chicago, and you want to

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be very very targeted about how you
create those solutions for those communities. Well,

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was you're on. Last time when
you and I talked, we talked

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about, you know, our friend
Bob Woodson from the Woodson Institute. In

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my conversation with him, am,
I directly asked him about the War on

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Poverty, you know, and since
the mid sixties lbj's movement. You know,

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with the War on Poverty, we
have spent somewhere between twenty five thirty

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trillion dollars over that period of time. And after everything is said and done,

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even Bob Woodson says there's very little
consequence, very little return on investment.

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And you know, I asked him
why and he said, well,

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because seventy percent of that budget went
to bureaucratic administrators. And you know,

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to me, this kind of budget
would be perfect for you know, the

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kind of ideas that you're talking about
here. But you know when you talk

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about what has already been established in
the bureaucracy, I mean, you know,

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that's like up ending Roe v.
Wade. Yeah, I mean,

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honestly, this is this is something
that goes to the heart of some of

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the issues that our communities are dealing
with. You know, since you had

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this warng poverty, which one thing
you did see in the wake of it

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was the destruction of the family.
Yeah, we've been a core component,

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uh and helping households navigate you know, underserved communities and then graduate to humans

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human flourishing. And so as we
try to peel back three decades or three

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not decades with the three generations of
individuals that have been on the government dole,

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we have to kind of meet this
moment where it's at. Many of

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these communities have gone three four generations
without men in their household exactly learning how

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to work. We've got to get
the fathers back in the household. You're

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on. That's exactly right, and
so and so that's what we are talking

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about. We're talking about how do
we meet this moment, create that infrastructure

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for opportunity that's going to help lift
people up in every segment of America.

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Jihn Smith is our guest. His
book Underserved, Harnessing the principles of Lincoln's

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vision for reconstruction for Today's forgotten communities. Jeron, what was the motivation to

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write this book? So when I
worked in the administration, one of the

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key issues that we worked on was
economic development, and under President Trump's leadership,

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we passed peace legislation, the Tax
Cuts and Jobs at which had a

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provision that created opportunity zones. Opportunity
zones gave a tax break for individuals who

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invested in over thirty eight hundred different
low ciss tracks throughout the country designated by

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governors. These census tracks are that
are places that have individuals under the poverty

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line and high unemployment rates. Based
off of that private sector incentive, we've

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seen fifty billion dollars new capital going
to these zones. Treasury put out a

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report the Biden administration, Treasury put
out a report justice January showing the effectiveness

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of that tool. What we tried
to do is build infrastructure that would allow

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for different segments of the population to
participate in the revitalization of these zones by

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looking at what community development tools were
needed, everything around affordability to access to

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education, to things around home ownership
and getting access to capital. And we

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created the White House Opportunity in Revitalization
Council, which took eighteen different agencies and

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focused those resources and those opportunity zones. And I think that also helped contribute

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to the success of the program.
But one thing I learned after being on

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the road and going into these communities
is that you have to be intentional and

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you have to build trust in those
communities. Exactly. The opportunities on legislation

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probably could work more if it was
trust in between some of our friends on

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the left and those on the right, you know, just because the legislation

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was something authored by God and put
into law by you know, President Trump,

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some people chose not to use the
incentive in some of the areas that

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they needed the most. But we
we worked hard to still work with some

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of those democratic mayors and and did
some good work in some democratic cities.

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However, there's more work to be
done. And so once we left the

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administration, Chris Pilkerten and I,
after trying to focus on an initiative called

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Opportunity Now, we were going to
convene leaders and all these low come since

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its track areas and develop a revitalization
plan for each community. COVID cut that

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plan short, and we're we're never
able to kind of galvanize that type of

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attension. And so once we left
the administration, we still wanted to do

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this work, and so we thought
writing a book to encourage our next leadership

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exactly around underserved was was greatly needed. Well, you know, Jeron,

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when you think how many decades where
this issue had been ignored, I mean

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you could even just say from the
mid sixties, but we know it's further

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than that. And what what you
and uh, you know, the administration

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and Senator Scott had envisioned was you
know, something something unique. I mean,

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it was a true solution to the
problem. And I can understand why

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some people because you know, when
you see everything politically and ideologically, you

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know, I agree with Jordan Peterson
when he says that sometimes we can be

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so ideologically fixed that we render ourselves
stupid, you know. And and so

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some of these communities get so ideologically
fixed that they can't they can't appreciate the

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opportunity that is before them because you
know, they hear Donald Trump's name and

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they think, oh, this must
be this must be evil or something wrong

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here. Uh, you know,
but that that's unfortunate because you know,

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even in the short period of time
and all the great work that you did

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to begin to lay a foundation here, you've got some success stories to share,

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you know, tell us about you
know, some of the highlights that

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you were able to experience and even
a short period of time. Sure,

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so I mentioned our four tiered strategy
around economic development, around safe communities,

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around wealth creation. And by the
way, and by the way, I'm

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sorry to interrupt you, this is
a political right. This isn't a democratic

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thing, This isn't a Republican thing. I mean, this is an American

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kind of thing, isn't it.
That's exactly right. And we got the

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support of a number of leading Democrats. I just wanted Cory Booker to Van

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Jones, you know, as well
as Secretary Carson, Jared Kushner and Linda

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McMahon and the rapper ICEQ wrote the
forward for this book, because we all

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worked together on different elements of the
plan. And so for economic development,

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I mentioned opportunity zones, you know, for community safety, we passed the

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law the first step back as it
relates to wealth empowerment, you know,

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we advocated for the permanency of the
Minority Business Development Agency, but also was

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very intentional about holding the econdomy up
through small businesses by implementing the PPV program.

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And then lastly, we did a
whole of campaign on the American worker

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that was led by Ivanka Trump,
you know, and and and part of

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that dealt with being very intentional about
saving some of our legacy or institutions like

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historic black houeges and universities, right, and all of this really move the

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needle in the community because now people
are figured trying to figure out how do

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we deal with the rising costs to
live in urban communities, you know,

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And so we need an economic development
strategy that that accounts for those costs.

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We need a deregulatory strategy that can
can level off that cost. We need

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a spending strategy that can lend on
that that can save us from inflation,

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you know. And the same thing
around wealth gap. You know, once

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we were able to kind of do
something intentional because we realize that so many

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underserved communities don't have access to the
traditional banking markets, that we need to

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figure out a way to kind of
create robust capital infrastructure. And you see

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our Congress continuing to work on that
because as you can see, Whil almost

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how to run on the bank there
this year and so, but all of

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this energy wasn't there to kind of
deal with these issues that had been going

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on for forty or fifty years.
You know that the American worker not having

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access to to living wage jobs,
not having capital access, living in unsafe

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communities, you know, and as
well as communities becoming more unaffordable. And

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so the solutions that we put into
place did things like lower recidivism rates,

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you know, put capital back into
the community, created the very robust jobs

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and opportunity, and then at the
end of the day, started moving people

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forward. Which is why as much
as folks who are on the left would

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talk bad about Donald Trump, if
you go into some of these underserved communities,

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they're they're advocating for him. You
know, you have so many people

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in the black community that are now
fans of President Trump because they've seen how

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it felt in the Trump and versus
A. Blacks have been so disappointed over

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the decades. I mean even you
know, when you think about the War

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on poverty, what was you know, what was Lbjy's motivation? He said,

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look at and he told the Southern
legislator, said look at if we

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can get and of course he irreverently
used the N word, but he said,

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if we can get them. You
know, if you guys vote for

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this and we give them all this
money, we'll have them voting Democrat for

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the next hundred years. Well,
he came pretty close to this because meanwhile,

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after all that happened, you know, like you said, they took

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the fathers out of the home,
You've got planned parenthood, you know,

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coming in, putting their headquarters in
black communities, killing forty percent of the

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babies. You're not moving things forward. They're feeling they're going, wait a

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minute. You know, you're giving
us welfare, but there's no job,

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there's you know, we're actually were
worse off than we were before. And

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then Donald Trump comes in and says, hey, give me a shot,

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you know, and this is on
the heels of a black president that they

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thought and they stopped for a minute, and you know, whether it was

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Kanye West or other black leaders who
said, man, the guy's right,

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I mean, you know, uh, and you know, we just haven't

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gotten a fair shake here. And
then he comes in and he's empathetic to

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all people's regardless of you know,
color or creed. I did want to

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ask you this because you brought up
Ivanka Trump's name. You know, she

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is, in my opinion, has
been so mischaracterized, like anybody in the

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Trump family by the mainstream media.
You worked with her, tell us about

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about Ivanka Trump, and you know
what what you discovered, as you know

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her character and her passion, Well, she was amazing to work with and

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if it wasn't for her, key
parts of what we did around underserved communities

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wouldn't have happened. She did so
much to advocate for women leadership in business

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in world economics, uh, and
was able to help catalyze a lot of

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capital access and job were you were
you surprised at how astute she was.

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No, Honestly, after meeting a
lot of the different family members and the

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president, you know many of them
are are very astute and organized and business

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oriented. Honestly, that the type
of leadership that we had in at White

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House was really outcomes oriented and so
just like the private sector, so those

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who were able to kind of produce
were the ones that stuck around the longest

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and actually moved the needle on on
things, and they promoted you. You

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know, I started off as director
of Urban Affairs and Revitalization Policy and I

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ended as a Deputy Assistant to the
President for domestic policy, one of the

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senior advisors. Right, And that
that happened because you know when given the

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opportunity to focus on some of the
goals he had forgotten communities, I was

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able to help get some things done
and order us for that. Did you

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learn how to conduct a day on
three hours sleep? Yes, yes it

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was. It was a lot of
that, you know. But I I

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invested a good amount of my hour
of the day into reading the Bible and

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praying with God. And then I
always tell people that with all the results

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that we were able to get done, to God be the glory that undergo

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a lot of the work I did. I even listened to UH and read

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Jesus Calling pretty often with Sarah Huckabee
Sanders and so just just a a group

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of grounded individuals in that White House. And that's the story that you don't

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here. How much fun, how
much fun jeron to be, you know,

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I like in it. I had
a point in my career where I

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say, we had five winning seasons, where it was five years working for

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a media company that was just so
wonderful. You know, we were all

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blessed. The people was a great
group of people. And there's just nothing

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like having a winning season, right, Oh, there's nothing like it.

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I mean, honestly, you know, by that third year going to the

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twenty nineteen. You know, I
was just sky as the limit, you

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know, I mean, we were
all taken aback by the pandemic. That

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kind of changed the direction of any
of everything. But I think that even

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when that did happen, if we
would have kept the momentum in the direction

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that we were going in, we
would be more robust than we've ever been

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before, no doubt. If anything, it reflected the thing that the President

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feared, all our overdependence on China, you know, us not having a

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game plan to put America first,
you know, on the global conflicts we

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had. You know, I think
a lot of things would have that we're

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dealing with now would have been resolved, you know, I mean, inflation

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would have been resolved, would have
a robust economy, no doubt, that

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movement to bring you know, American
companies back and producing the underserved communities.

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Well so much enough, yeah,
so much about this recession, which hasn't

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been fully declared, but certainly the
consequences of inflatient have been self inflicted by

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this administration, this current administration.
And you know what Donald Trump was faced

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with in the pandemic, you know, better than I do. But I

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just thought from an outsider where leadership
came into play. You know, it

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started out with fifteen days to stop
the spread. We found out that we

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needed ventilators. What does he do. He negotiates with General Motors to reset

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their line so that they could produce
ventilators. Right, you know, we

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had operation warp speed. That's put
in that. I know some people in

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retrospect are looking at that, you
know, critically, but you needed to

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have a response based on the information
that was being presented to him as the

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President of the United States, from
doctor Fauci and doctor Burke's and doctor Collins

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and uh, you know, the
health communities that we're saying that, well,

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we're just going to have you know, millions of people dying unless we

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do something dire. But what he
also cautioned, as you know, was

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that we didn't want the solution to
be worse than the disease. And sadly,

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we got we got close to that, didn't we We did, and

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he pushed back against that as well
as leaders like Kevin Hassett, who was

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an economist, and ultimately those leaders
were right. We needed to stay open

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and I often advocated for if we're
going to fight this war as basically send

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out our healthiest individuals and then figure
out infrastructure for those who are at risk

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to be able to work from home, but does not let up on productivity.

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You know, let's just create a
better infrastructure. You just can't kill

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business like that. That just it
doesn't make sense. And there's no question.

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But unfortunately, this is what fear
can do. And hopefully my prayer,

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like yours, I'm sure Jeron,
is that we learned from this and

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realize that God is the one who
protected us. And after everything is all

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said and done, and I believe
that we still don't have the whole truth

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about this pandemic. But the fact
of the matter is is that even the

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CDC had to admit that probably of
those that died they were quoting numbers of

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over what was it, over a
million deaths, that only three percent of

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those actually died of COVID. And
and there are arguments today from respected doctors

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who said that if we if they
had been allowed to use certain uh you

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know, different modalities that were outside
of the recommendation of doctor Fauci, that

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we would have saved a lot more
lives. Yeah, I'm not I'm not

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shocked at all. You know when
you see you know, I dealt with

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the actual infrastructure between the merger of
HHS and FEMA to directly deal with the

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pandemic. And you saw that like
our infrastructure and wasn't prepared, and so

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well they emptied the cupboards. I
mean under Biden Obama, all of a

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sudden, you know, we run
into an emergency and there's no ppe That's

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what I'm saying, I mean,
right, and and so now here we

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are, we're like in a similar
situation where you've got the strategic oil reserve

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that's been depleted again Democrats, you
know Joe Biden doing this, God forbid

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that we really deal with a true
emergency, which is what the strategic oil

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reserve is all about. But he
used it for political purposes in order to

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get votes, not to get us
out of a national emergency. I mean

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to me, that is it borders
on treason. And I know that's a

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strong word, but when you violate
your oath of office, the number one

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job of the president of the United
States is to secure the peace and national

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security of the country. And when
you put us in jeopardy, you have

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violated the most important caveat of your
presidency. Yeah, I agree with you.

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I think at the end of the
day, you have a duty to

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protect and serve the American people and
not that politics get in the way.

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So certainly, when Lincoln was president, he had to deal with the politics

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of unite in the country, and
he put country over his person on politics,

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you know, you over his life, over his life. That's exactly

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right. And then some of our
best presidents have done that. They've they've

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they've gone out there to do the
job of the people, and ultimately they

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were judged correctly by history. And
I think that's what we're going to see

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with this this movement, on this
America First movement, as that what we're

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trying to do is reinvest in our
people and have our government be the self

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governed. You know, only you
only get there by making sure that people

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are empowered. And right now,
the people's eyes are wide open and they

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see right through the lives, which
is why it's been important for us to

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educate individuals on how we can get
there together and how we can put politics

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aside to invest in our most sacred
asset, which is exactly one percent.

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Agree with you. Do you sense
this this bill up of frustration and a

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release that will come on this election
of twenty twenty four, where we the

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people will come forth in a most
definitive way, in a way that's never

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been seen before, that will allow
us to take the country back. But

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it will also be vigilant. Again. Like you and I talked about before,

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this is not to enhance a party. This is to enhance and to

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get back into focus this great American
idea. Right, Yes, that's exactly

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right. I mean, you know, I'm very hopeful that we can figure

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this out and choose a leader that
can help build us in a way that

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makes us a more resilient country and
a stronger country by investing in all communities.

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And in the meantime, I'm going
to continue to do the work,

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you know, right now, I'm
working on mental health campaign through technology to

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make sure that that resiliency is there
for our youth, you know, our

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youth or being pushed by social media
and dealing with depression. Suicide rates are

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high, and then this act of
violence in the communities from this year's of

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trauma. And so I'm meeting that
moment by driving a coalition focused on the

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mental health of those youths. You
know, I'm also working on Public Safety

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Solutions, an organization of a coalition
of Writer Center leaders that are advocating for

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funding the police, for allowing for
the police to solve violent crime, prevent

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it, promoting evidence based solutions and
smart on crime solutions like the first step

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back then, and then I'm spending
a good amount of time trying to reauthorize

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opportunity zones and figure out on what
are the pieces that we can add to

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this legislation UH to create that robust
revitalization of those pulsess. And so I

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haven't let my foot off the gas
and either, as my colleague Chris Pilt,

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because there's there's no way in our
lifetime that we can stop doing this

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work. Because if we don't have
our government do it, the private sector

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has to stuff up and be in
control. And I think that's probably the

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best way is situated. Well,
God bless you for doing that, Jeron.

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I mean, there's so needed and
there needs to be other people coming

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alongside and supporting you and in our
way and having you on the show to

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talk about this. You know,
please know, and I said this the

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first time you and I met,
is that I want to support you know,

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your efforts in any way possible that
I can. You know, you

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mentioned, you know, mental illness. You look in these urban communities Los

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Angeles, Portland, Washington, Baltimore, New York. I mean you just

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go down through I mean, forget
that they're democratic run that's irrelevant. The

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fact of the matter is that you
got fellow human beings that have serious problems.

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And this is again where the government
has promised and underserved and under delivered.

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Uh. And you just can't allow
people who are mentally ill uh and

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and that are drug addled to the
level that they're at. Uh. You

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know, I see this video of
h a fellow human beings you're on.

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It's heartbreaking to see them, you
know, so drug addled that they're zombies.

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Uh. And you wait a minute, this is a fellow human being.

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How can how can this be in
today's America? How can we allow

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this? And there's a way to
return dignity to all Americans by helping them

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deal with that disease. You know. And this issue specifically isn't just an

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urban problem. It's it's happened in
a lot of parts of our rural communities

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on the attack from from from other
countries with the movement of Fittanel and to

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our through our through our southern border, and as a result of it,

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you're seeing real debt, you know. And uh, you know, these

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00:34:02.000 --> 00:34:10.719
Chinese chemicals that are continuing to be
manufactured in Mexico become a huge threat to

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00:34:10.880 --> 00:34:16.360
our national security as people are falling
a victim to this horrible drug. And

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so you're seeing that all throughout America
because people end up turning to drugs because

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they're dealing with depression, because they're
dealing with anxiety, and they think that

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doing these drugs make them feel good
and help them cope on whatever issue that

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they're dealing with, which is why
in the book we talk about on the

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importance of civil society being able to
step up in a major way to help

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fight some of this disease and fight
the mental illness. And the reason why

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we are using technology with careselers to
create education on where you can get help.

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00:35:00.159 --> 00:35:02.639
It's not something that we should just
put on our police departments, because

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our police departments are overwhelmed, oh, without a doubt. Yeah, And

403
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this is just such a huge job. And you know, as you're on

404
00:35:12.159 --> 00:35:15.719
you know, as well as I
do that. You know, our founding

405
00:35:15.760 --> 00:35:19.920
fathers, John Adams said that our
constitution was made for moral people. You

406
00:35:19.960 --> 00:35:22.599
know, in this post Christian you
know, society in which we live in

407
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today, where you have such a
large number of people, you know,

408
00:35:28.320 --> 00:35:30.719
questioning the existence of God. You
know, when you and I were growing

409
00:35:30.800 --> 00:35:36.039
up, you know, we had
numbers of eighty percent of the people believed

410
00:35:36.039 --> 00:35:38.599
in God, and there was this
sense of morality, this moral anchoring.

411
00:35:39.800 --> 00:35:45.280
In the recent decades, there has
been an abandonment and untethering of these moral

412
00:35:45.320 --> 00:35:52.159
anchorings, and the result of it
is all this chaos in my opinion,

413
00:35:52.679 --> 00:35:58.639
that is just ravaging the streets of
America. So until the people you know,

414
00:35:58.920 --> 00:36:02.400
which God gives a clean prescription,
but we're not seeing it, I

415
00:36:02.440 --> 00:36:07.840
say, we're it really is going
to start with God's Church. God's Church

416
00:36:07.880 --> 00:36:10.920
has to you know, like what
you've been talking about, has to be

417
00:36:12.159 --> 00:36:16.599
intentional. They have to see what's
happening in the streets of America the way

418
00:36:16.679 --> 00:36:21.440
God sees it. And whether or
not people want to say was God judging

419
00:36:21.519 --> 00:36:24.400
us or not? Or you know
what's happening. I think there's several things

420
00:36:24.440 --> 00:36:29.639
going on. Part of me believes
that God, in fact, is judging

421
00:36:29.719 --> 00:36:34.519
us. The other thing is is
that we're judging ourselves because we're violating the

422
00:36:34.559 --> 00:36:38.599
moral laws that God has instituted.
It's like an infrastructure, like the law

423
00:36:38.679 --> 00:36:43.079
gravity. You violate the law gravity. When you hit the ground, you

424
00:36:43.119 --> 00:36:45.440
realize, whoa man, I don't
want to do that again. I mean,

425
00:36:45.480 --> 00:36:49.079
depending on you know, how crazy
it might be, but you know,

426
00:36:49.159 --> 00:36:54.079
you learn from the result of it. So we are violating God's infrastructure.

427
00:36:54.840 --> 00:36:59.320
This is God's design and when you
do that, you pay a price.

428
00:36:59.320 --> 00:37:01.880
There is a con sequence, you
know, you take the fathers out

429
00:37:01.920 --> 00:37:07.320
of the home, you bring in
drugs, you get involved in sex trafficking,

430
00:37:07.920 --> 00:37:10.599
uh, you know, child sex
trafficking, uh, you know,

431
00:37:10.719 --> 00:37:15.880
and all the other evils that have
been embraced in our country, which is

432
00:37:15.920 --> 00:37:19.440
amazing, because that's the thing that
that I'm saying, uh you know,

433
00:37:19.480 --> 00:37:22.119
for quite a while, is that
America needs to take a little bit of

434
00:37:22.119 --> 00:37:28.960
a gut check and in a conscientious
check to realize that if we weren't consumers

435
00:37:29.159 --> 00:37:32.960
for this evil, it wouldn't exist
here in this country. But clearly we

436
00:37:34.159 --> 00:37:42.119
are consumers of all these malefactors that
are giving rise and that are decimating our

437
00:37:42.199 --> 00:37:45.199
communities. Is that fair to say
it? It's very fair to say.

438
00:37:46.360 --> 00:37:51.920
However, I do believe in reconciliation. I do too, you know,

439
00:37:52.360 --> 00:37:55.440
we can we can't get grace,
you know, and uh, but we

440
00:37:55.519 --> 00:38:00.400
got to make the move first,
right to move first? Exactly what you

441
00:38:00.400 --> 00:38:04.920
know. I spend my time getting
my hands dirty and actually out there doing

442
00:38:04.960 --> 00:38:09.559
the work because at the end of
the day, in order for us to

443
00:38:09.639 --> 00:38:15.519
kind of get some real momental part
of being intentional is going out there and

444
00:38:15.559 --> 00:38:21.400
building a trust and helping people reconcile, trying to teach them the way,

445
00:38:22.039 --> 00:38:24.400
right, that's the that's the religion
I follow as a Christian. The way

446
00:38:24.519 --> 00:38:30.800
religion is like there is a path
towards redemption, you know, and that

447
00:38:30.440 --> 00:38:35.960
though you've made mistakes, you know, there is a change, a change

448
00:38:35.960 --> 00:38:40.000
of heart that can happen appersonation.
And sometimes that's hard for people to understand.

449
00:38:40.039 --> 00:38:43.480
They just say, Bill, God, how can God forgive me?

450
00:38:44.159 --> 00:38:46.000
You know? Well, how could
God put his son on the cross?

451
00:38:46.679 --> 00:38:51.320
Right? Okay? And that's the
whole thing. And then when Jesus preached

452
00:38:51.719 --> 00:38:54.599
that the Kingdom of God is at
hand right here, right now, you

453
00:38:54.639 --> 00:38:58.760
know, we can make it right
now, you know. But just like

454
00:38:58.840 --> 00:39:02.320
it was that the founding this country, it was people of faith that were

455
00:39:02.360 --> 00:39:07.239
foundational to this great American idea.
And I believe it'll be people of faith

456
00:39:07.280 --> 00:39:12.039
once again coming out in record numbers. And by record numbers, I mean

457
00:39:12.400 --> 00:39:15.760
those that are truly you know,
God's faithful, to be intentional, like

458
00:39:15.800 --> 00:39:21.239
you've been talking about Jaran, be
intentional with uh, you know, with

459
00:39:21.280 --> 00:39:23.880
what God has taught us to do, and to be loving, to be

460
00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:28.239
loving toward one another, to love
God with all our heart, soul,

461
00:39:28.320 --> 00:39:32.679
and mind, and and equally as
such with one another. Uh. You

462
00:39:32.679 --> 00:39:37.960
know, that's that's the opportunity you
talk about the opportunity zone. That is

463
00:39:38.000 --> 00:39:44.159
the opportunity zone that could make a
huge difference all you know, across every

464
00:39:44.199 --> 00:39:47.639
spectrum. That's exactly right. And
but that's the reason why we focused on

465
00:39:47.719 --> 00:39:52.320
Lincoln because on the great movies movements
that we've had in this country, like

466
00:39:52.360 --> 00:40:00.280
the Awakenings on which created the abolitionist
movement, which until us having a huge

467
00:40:00.280 --> 00:40:05.159
movement to free people from slavery.
You know, that undergirded everything going into

468
00:40:05.400 --> 00:40:08.559
Lincoln's rise to power, you know, and it's going to be a movement

469
00:40:08.800 --> 00:40:13.480
just like that in order for us
to rescue the country where we're at now

470
00:40:13.519 --> 00:40:17.599
for underserved communities. And that's what
me and Chris are talking about and underserved.

471
00:40:17.679 --> 00:40:22.639
We even talk about our own faith
walk. I talk a lot about

472
00:40:22.920 --> 00:40:25.920
the mistakes I made, you know, and and and me still trying to

473
00:40:25.920 --> 00:40:30.360
be a perfect human being. Not
You're never gonna be perfect, but the

474
00:40:30.400 --> 00:40:35.920
best human being I can, you
know. And at the end of the

475
00:40:36.000 --> 00:40:40.239
day, God is using me,
you know, and God makes up with

476
00:40:40.679 --> 00:40:44.360
God. You know, I can
be more perfect. You know what I'm

477
00:40:44.360 --> 00:40:47.239
saying that with God we can become
a more perfect union. Yeah. Amen.

478
00:40:47.800 --> 00:40:52.119
Well, Jaron Smith, we got
about eight minutes or so left.

479
00:40:52.480 --> 00:40:59.639
I wanted to, you know,
bring us back to underserved and Lincoln's vision

480
00:40:59.760 --> 00:41:04.480
for reconstruction. I want to give
you an opportunity to really unfold that,

481
00:41:04.920 --> 00:41:08.960
you know, for our audience,
what his vision for reconstruction was, how

482
00:41:09.000 --> 00:41:14.440
it fell short, and how we
can you know, bring it back,

483
00:41:14.559 --> 00:41:20.119
revitalize it, and fulfill the vision
that Abraham Lincoln had for this great American

484
00:41:20.199 --> 00:41:23.760
country of ours. Right well,
As I mentioned earlier, Lincoln grew up

485
00:41:23.800 --> 00:41:30.360
on the prairie poor, you know, and his ultimate vision was creating economic

486
00:41:30.440 --> 00:41:37.800
opportunity for all Americans. He realized
that in the wake of ending slavery,

487
00:41:37.000 --> 00:41:44.960
you're going to have many poor whites
in the South as well as newly freed

488
00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:52.599
slaves without access to opportunity, and
so he wanted to create infrastructure around economic

489
00:41:52.639 --> 00:41:58.079
opportunity. We've heard talks of forty
acres and a mule, and what that

490
00:41:58.239 --> 00:42:04.760
meant, you know, was people
being able to capitalize off of the skills

491
00:42:04.800 --> 00:42:10.320
that they had received or done from
being a slavery, which is farming,

492
00:42:10.639 --> 00:42:17.280
and using that as an agricultural gift
to build some economic empowerment. But that

493
00:42:17.400 --> 00:42:22.440
never and that was and that was
a capitalistic movement in and of itself,

494
00:42:22.559 --> 00:42:25.599
wasn't it. I mean, because
this was an opportunity based on merit.

495
00:42:25.639 --> 00:42:29.000
Go ahead, here it is,
here's the land, here's a meal,

496
00:42:29.320 --> 00:42:34.079
go make it happen. And many
took advantage of that. It wasn't a

497
00:42:34.159 --> 00:42:37.199
situation where they said, okay,
you guys, go ahead and do that,

498
00:42:37.280 --> 00:42:40.519
and then we're going to equally distribute
based on all your hard work to

499
00:42:40.559 --> 00:42:45.320
everybody that didn't do the hard work
right. And I mean it we took

500
00:42:45.719 --> 00:42:49.840
I mean, we had to wait
for the Johnson administration to end into the

501
00:42:49.880 --> 00:42:53.840
Grant administration to start to really get
reconstruction started. But maybe that was four

502
00:42:53.920 --> 00:43:00.519
years too late, you know,
because certain things had started to be ignited,

503
00:43:00.719 --> 00:43:07.559
like the move towards Jim Crow its
early leanings back then, and so

504
00:43:07.000 --> 00:43:13.239
we end up taking some steps backwards. But what we outline is that this

505
00:43:13.360 --> 00:43:19.239
this this economic empowerment piece that Lincoln
advocated for is also something advocated by the

506
00:43:19.360 --> 00:43:24.400
Detouefield, you know, and by
Milton Friedman and Thomas soul And so at

507
00:43:24.400 --> 00:43:32.199
the heart of our revitalization efforts is
this economic empowerment piece that supports the mutuality

508
00:43:32.559 --> 00:43:39.679
of capitalism, and these capital this
capitalism structure that we have in America can

509
00:43:39.719 --> 00:43:47.760
be harnessed for everyone to be their
best person, and through doing that we

510
00:43:47.840 --> 00:43:53.079
become a more robust nation. And
these are free market solutions that even our

511
00:43:53.119 --> 00:43:58.960
friends on the left can support,
and these end up becoming non partisan solutions

512
00:43:59.599 --> 00:44:02.679
for our deserve communities. And so
that's what the book is about. Like

513
00:44:02.679 --> 00:44:07.039
I said, we were able to
kind of work with own leaders like Van

514
00:44:07.199 --> 00:44:14.559
Jones as well as Secretary Carson and
Jerry Kushner or Corey Booker, as well

515
00:44:14.559 --> 00:44:21.039
as the Rapper ice Cube or Bob
Johnson and Linda McMahon, just a lot

516
00:44:21.039 --> 00:44:25.559
of different individuals who come from different
backgrounds, different ideological paths, but they

517
00:44:25.599 --> 00:44:30.559
can even see that there are areas
of common ground which brings us together,

518
00:44:30.920 --> 00:44:36.159
and those areas are most focused on
deserve communities. You know. Uh,

519
00:44:36.440 --> 00:44:38.800
I guess where I get frustrated and
maybe you do too as well, is

520
00:44:38.800 --> 00:44:44.599
that you see something like this that
is so obvious. Uh you know what,

521
00:44:45.800 --> 00:44:50.159
you know what Abraham Lincoln envisioned.
I mean that was you know,

522
00:44:50.280 --> 00:44:54.360
pure and righteous. It was win
win for all concerned. But unfortunately,

523
00:44:54.360 --> 00:45:04.199
there are people in the mix of
the great American society that just do not

524
00:45:04.400 --> 00:45:07.760
want people to have a fair chance. And it's beyond me, and it's

525
00:45:07.840 --> 00:45:12.599
frustrating, you know, and I
imagine it probably is for you and for

526
00:45:12.679 --> 00:45:17.480
other people who have made this a
life's ambition, you know, to you

527
00:45:17.519 --> 00:45:22.519
know, to lift up others,
you know, those that have been rejected,

528
00:45:22.599 --> 00:45:25.719
to be the voice of the voiceless. And it just it's got to

529
00:45:25.800 --> 00:45:30.119
just be so frustrating at times,
Like I said, for me, you

530
00:45:30.119 --> 00:45:34.159
know, it's like chalk hitting the
chalkboard in the wrong direction. It just

531
00:45:34.760 --> 00:45:39.639
it stiffens my spine and it hurts
my ears when I hear people talk in

532
00:45:40.119 --> 00:45:46.599
such ignorant ways that want to,
you know, just willfully retard the process

533
00:45:47.159 --> 00:45:52.360
and mediocritize the process. I have
never I've always resisted. I don't know,

534
00:45:52.400 --> 00:45:55.760
maybe because I was, you know, one of nine kids, and

535
00:45:55.920 --> 00:45:59.480
you know, my dad was a
World War two veteran. Three of his

536
00:45:59.599 --> 00:46:05.559
sons included served in the military.
I believed in meritocracy. I lived it.

537
00:46:05.639 --> 00:46:09.239
I believe that if you worked hard, that you were rewarded, you

538
00:46:09.280 --> 00:46:14.360
know. Being Hispanic, you know, was there prejudice against me? You

539
00:46:14.400 --> 00:46:17.000
know, maybe there was a time. Sometimes I saw it, it was

540
00:46:17.039 --> 00:46:21.760
obvious. Many times I just ignored
it. I just didn't pay attention to

541
00:46:21.800 --> 00:46:24.199
it, you know, because I
just thought that, you know, that

542
00:46:24.280 --> 00:46:30.679
kind of thinking and expression is just
stupid, you know. And if my

543
00:46:30.760 --> 00:46:34.400
father heard me use the S word
like that, he'd be, you know,

544
00:46:34.480 --> 00:46:37.800
knocking me across the head. That
was one of the words that he

545
00:46:37.880 --> 00:46:40.519
never wanted to hear around him.
But these days, I just, you

546
00:46:40.559 --> 00:46:43.840
know, I feel like you just
got to call it for what it is.

547
00:46:43.880 --> 00:46:49.519
And I think that America finds itself
in a place that is very stupid

548
00:46:49.800 --> 00:46:54.360
and stupid is that area where you
should know better, and you do know

549
00:46:54.480 --> 00:47:01.159
better, but still for your own
ideology, you continue to maintain a course

550
00:47:01.519 --> 00:47:07.079
that is uh is untenable, It
does not bless all, and it's counterproductive.

551
00:47:08.320 --> 00:47:13.760
Yeah, I think that in this
in this world, you know,

552
00:47:14.199 --> 00:47:17.800
there are a lot of things always
working against us. But I've always had

553
00:47:17.920 --> 00:47:23.400
hope that comes from from God.
There's a better day upon us, and

554
00:47:23.519 --> 00:47:29.559
that when I come up against those
who seek to kind of do destruction,

555
00:47:30.639 --> 00:47:35.639
that God will protect me, and
that that that hope and wisdom has helped

556
00:47:35.639 --> 00:47:40.039
me stay focused. Is that fast
on the work because ultimately the duty is

557
00:47:40.079 --> 00:47:45.800
ours, the results is God's.
Amen. Amen, Well, you've got

558
00:47:45.800 --> 00:47:50.440
a great attitude your on and you
know you and Chris have done a great

559
00:47:50.519 --> 00:47:55.960
service to all of us to be
encouraged to again bring back into focus UH

560
00:47:57.039 --> 00:48:02.719
Abraham Lincoln's vision for reconstruction and to
encourage people, even those that who are

561
00:48:02.840 --> 00:48:08.159
underserved, that they need to know
that you know, the calvalry is coming,

562
00:48:08.679 --> 00:48:13.519
that they haven't been abandoned, that
God loves them and cares for them,

563
00:48:13.559 --> 00:48:19.480
and that he's raising up leaders.
So that they can be served and

564
00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:23.519
no longer be part of that underserved
class. Right, that's exactly right,

565
00:48:23.639 --> 00:48:29.159
because right now what we're dealing with
is a system that is trapped individuals,

566
00:48:29.559 --> 00:48:32.320
you know, in these in these
communities, but there's hope. It's an

567
00:48:32.360 --> 00:48:38.599
illusion to feel that you are trapped
because despite you said, you've brought Bob

568
00:48:38.639 --> 00:48:45.039
Woodson onto your show, despite all
of these different systems that hold individuals down,

569
00:48:45.599 --> 00:48:51.920
you know, there's still been people
able to kind of conquer and become

570
00:48:52.000 --> 00:48:57.000
successful and become their best self.
And we want to take those leaders who

571
00:48:57.079 --> 00:49:00.920
are in those communities and galvanize a
movement so that all people can have access

572
00:49:00.920 --> 00:49:05.760
to the American dream. And I
guess that's that's the bottom line takeaway of

573
00:49:05.760 --> 00:49:09.320
your book, Underserved, Right,
that there is hope, and it's going

574
00:49:09.360 --> 00:49:14.639
to be you know, one citizen
at a time, you know, rising

575
00:49:14.760 --> 00:49:17.920
up to this higher calling. Like
you said, you know, not that

576
00:49:19.239 --> 00:49:22.280
anyone is perfect, but that shouldn't
stop, you know, for us to

577
00:49:22.400 --> 00:49:28.000
realize the ambitions of our founding fathers, because their vision was that we would

578
00:49:28.079 --> 00:49:34.119
constant, constantly be moving toward a
more perfect union. Right, that's exactly

579
00:49:34.239 --> 00:49:37.519
right. And in order for us
to get that we're going to all have

580
00:49:37.599 --> 00:49:42.480
to work together. Amen, and
thank you Bill for having me on the

581
00:49:42.519 --> 00:49:45.880
show, and look forward to continue
in this movement together. You guys,

582
00:49:45.960 --> 00:49:50.239
Jeron, thank you so much for
being with us. Our guest Jaron Smith.

583
00:49:50.280 --> 00:49:54.599
He and Chris Pilkerton have written the
book Underserved, harnessing the principles of

584
00:49:54.639 --> 00:50:01.280
Lincoln's vision for reconstruction for today's forgotten
can unities. The book is available at

585
00:50:01.280 --> 00:50:06.000
all the usual places. Again,
our thanks to Jeron Smith for being on

586
00:50:06.039 --> 00:50:08.320
the show today. For more information
and to be a part of this mighty

587
00:50:08.400 --> 00:50:12.840
movement to return to God and save
our country, go to Bill Martinez Show

588
00:50:12.880 --> 00:50:15.480
dot com. May God bless you
and keep you Mick's face shine upon you.

589
00:50:15.519 --> 00:50:19.840
May He be gracious unto you and
give you a peace. Thanks again

590
00:50:19.880 --> 00:50:28.760
for being with us. Take care, God bless