We also want to thank barnes noble for allowing us to be here with all of you. John obrien is the founder, chairman ceo of operation hope, the largest Nonprofit Organization in the United States focusing on Financial Inclusion and empowerment, serving over 3. 6 million youth and adults since 1982. He is also the chairman and ceo of the frank Group Ventures and the promised homes company, the largest forprofit minority controlled owners for singlefamily Residential Rental homes in the United States. In addition to that, he was recently named by american magazine for the 2016 innovator of the year and hes also served the last five United States president s has a counseling, as a counselor and advisor for all of them. We are very excited to have him this afternoon and we look forward to a great conversation and book signing featuring his latest bestseller the memo. Without further ado i would like to invite and introduce all of you too chairman, founder, ceo john obrien at this time, and my friend. [applause] because im the founder i can change the rules a little bit. I think the honored citizen is not me, its one of our success stories. Id prefer if you hear from her first. Is that okay . Im sorry, im from a black church. Im used to speaking and hearing response. Part of the work of operation hope, and as i mentioned, he is a visionary of our organization and its really Financial Inclusion and empowering youth and adults to improve their economic quality of life. One of those individuals who has been blessed by chairman brians vision and the work of operation hope is laverne and she has been such an inspiration to not only those of us at operation hope that the community we serve in the great city of atlanta. Laverne is going to tell you a very inspirational story about her life, her path, her journey to empowerment, but also how it could affect each and every one of us. Without further ado, i would like to have missed laverne come up. She is part of our Small Business program at operation hope and tied to ebenezer location here in the city of atlanta. Without further ado, its have around of applause. [applause] hello everyone. My name is laverne corday and i am from tampa florida. I have a 26yearold son. I am also the second oldest of three siblings and wants of one beautiful niece and two handsome nephew. Knowing me i would read my speech but today i felt inspired to speak my speech freestyle. I would normally read it because i do suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder so if i do pause for a moment its because im trying to recall some information, but i migrated from florida in 2015 after i had received my masters of business ministration in 2013. Unfortunately, i was not able to utilize my degree in Corporate America back at home the way i thought that i would be able too. I was encouraged to migrate here in 2015 and to explore some opportunities here locally. I had a nice savings nest and i committed myself to a commission only position in the Insurance Industry which was very costly in the long run. So, to make a long story short i was doing very strong and well, ended up going through all of my savings, clients started canceling, i lost my commission and lost my apartment. So probably in december of 2015 i would end up calling my vehicle home for about three days. After words i stayed at the Salvation Army from calling different shelters trying to find a place to secure some housing, i was compelled to start calling different shelters and the Salvation Army was kind enough to open their doors to me for six long character building months. That is when i would receive a diagnosis of being posttraumatic stress disorder from a crisis i went through. The lady over the Salvation Army gave me a referral for a Housing Program where im currently living for permanent housing which is in the king district. One day i was walking the neighborhood and decided to stop at the king district to see what exactly was on these grounds. Being from florida, im trying to connect more with my heritage and so as i was walking through the church i saw a sign that said operation hope cafe and i received some good oldfashioned Southern Hospitality from the staff at operation hope. I started asking questions, what is this operation hope about and was explained to me, basically you can turn your dreams into reality and so coming from a lot of brokenness with my finances, housing, and everything, that really had inspired me so i immediately connected with my credit counseling coach who started working on my credit repair and within three months my credit score increased by 40 or 50 points. Then i was encouraged to take a homeowners Workshop Program where i had met mr. John hope the first time and so throughout this whole process im getting these coaching, these coaches that would normally cost 500 or thousand dollars. Hour to help you free of charge. Now, i just graduated last week from the Small Business entrepreneur class because my aspiration is to start a nonprofit 5o1c3 for women suffering with Mental Illness and homelessness prevention. My nonprofit will financially support their endeavors by paying their application fees and rental deposits for those transitioning out of a homelessness situation and into permanent housing. I dont think this would be possible because of my disability challenges, not having a Financial Plan and not having any support from anyone on the outside. Well, operation hope stepped in and my business advisor was able to help me put together a Business Plan and i also received support from a Financial Advisor for my company. In march of this year i was able to register my companys name, next year, within six months i should be up and running off the ground because of the support that i received from operation hope. Not only that, i have a life coach that is helping me set realistic goals and put a plan of action into place that is totally realistic for me too achieve within the next year or two. My next goal is to be a homeowner by the year 2020. With operation hope helping me with my budgeting, Financial Planning, this will definitely be possible. And so here today, what i want everybody to take from this conversation is so many people say theres no help out here that we cant get anyone to help us. With operation hope, that i just talking about a dream, theyre making a dream become reality. One of my famous quotes from a very worthy history maker is doing good for others pays off. I want to thank everyone for listening to me today. [applause] isnt that inspiring and really this encompasses what donald brians latest bestseller book is about, the memo. Over and took it upon herself to empower herself, she didnt allow naysayers to tell her her dream was not possible. She did not allow obstacles and distractions in her life to keep her from staying focused on the goal in her dream. She is a great example of following through and making things happen for her life. I was able to attend her Graduation Ceremony this past week with ten other graduates and it really speaks to the spirit of the memo. We are very excited to have you here today to hear directly from the author himself, john obrien who im proud to say have been a friend of his since going back to compton. Over 30 years. Recently i just moved to atlanta so im even more excited to be here personally to share this experience with you. Again, without further ado, lets give a round of applause for the founder, chairman chairman john obrien. Its really hard to speak publicly. She did a great job. You didnt read one note. It was all from your heart. So, i want to thank the manager, barnes noble. Im happy to have you here. Not running a store your running part of the community. Were honored to be here. Thank you. I want to thank cspan for recording this and getting the word out about what we are doing and the crew that is part of the atlanta process for cspan which is first class and run by another woman of empowerment. I have been speaking all over the world, 100 countries ive had a chance to travel too. I get to see all the complexions of us but whats interesting about this book and message is that its universal. The last time i spoke was in new york city and the audience was mostly mainstream. This audience is mostly of color and what is pitiful about this is some people would say that we dont read books, but the reality is the Number One Group of book buyers are black women. I dont know if you knew that. We look at what propelled this book and whats got my Facebook Page rolling at 11000 followers. Week on Financial Literacy and Economic Empowerment is primarily people of color who decided to take their life back and so you should be proud of sitting at a moment in history and being part of history makin making. History never he feels historic when youre sitting in it. It just feels like another day. What if i told you the new color wasnt black, white, red, brown, or yellow as in skin color, but the new color was green as in the color of u. S. Currency. What if i told you that the next movement was not to be in the streets as in civil rights but more so in the suites as in silver rights. What if i told you the next move was not going to be about erasing the color line but about class and poverty. What if i told you that we are sitting in a moment in history but history never feels historic when youre sitting in it. It feels like another day. That doesnt mean history is not changing right underneath your feet. Some would say in the midst of all this that theres a conspiracy to keep some people down. Emily confirmed that there is a conspiracy but its not the conspiracy you think. Thats not white people against black people, its not black people against brown people, its not indians and asians against somebody else, its none of the things you thought or you been told. Those who have unconsciously against those who dont. Nobodys getting up in the morning and saying they hate you or they want to jam you up or they want to see you as a failure. Nobody has the energy for all that. From. People arent getting up in the morning thinking about you and thats the problem. Are we having a conversation . Yes. Okay, youre allowed to talk to me. I have no notes. This is from my heart my head directly to you. I know im talking about and feel free to interrupt me when you feel compelled. There is a conspiracy but its not the one you think. The issue is not love or hate today. Its radical indifference. Nobody cares enough about you to hate you. I dont mean that literally. I dont mean, your family loves you, your friends love you, but the people on the street Running Companies and Building Wealth care mostly about themselves. Theyre not waking up in the morning saying let me hurt you, let me hate on you, in fact have high level of private schools, private roads, private planes, private security, private lives or they dont hate you. Theyre not thinking about you. I put this in the book. Im getting ahead of myself, let me back up and tell you about the rules and then will have a real conversation. Rule number one on this conspiracy that is undermining your aspiration, i need to be clear because this is primarily an audience of color but i said the same thing to a mainstream caucasian audience last week in new york city and minnesota everybody, your problem today is not that your black or white its that youre part of what i call the invisible class. Youre invisible to power, youre invisible to wealth, you dont feel like your vote counts. Thats why hundred Million People didnt vote. There is a prominent guy in the media, i wont mention his name, i think hes done a lot of great things for social justice and social rights but he didnt vote and hes proud he didnt vote. I have a problem with that. That creates an environment where some people become elected to office or dont represent your interest and maybe even public interest, but we endorsed that by not voting. When you feel invisible you dont show up in your own life. Its extremely important. It means the bad guys win so, i will make clear here that there is a bogeyman in your life but its not just your life, its 80 of everybody in america because 70 of all americans are living from paycheck to paycheck. If youre living in new york city making 70000 a year, youre struggling to make ends meet. If youre living in Atlanta Georgia making 50000. Year, 40000. Year, which is middleclass, struggling to make ends meet. Can i get an amen. If youre living in a small town of alabama making 35000. Year youre struggling. You have too much month at the end of your money. There is one third of all americans have to sell their car to raise 3000. 65 america dont have 500 in savings for an emergency. Thats not a racial thing. Thats a human thing. Theres something going on in the world. This is a global issue. 1 of the worlds population own half of the wealth of the world. Ill repeat that. By the way. These are not just rich caucasian spread their rich asians, rich russians, rich africans. These are just rich people from all parts of the world who got the memo so you have 1 in the world that own half of the worlds wealth which is not equitable and not sustainable but theres a way to go about leveling the Playing Field that makes sense and theres a way about going about it that does not let me tell you the way that does not. People say we like socialism. Im comparing this to somebody who says we hate rich people. Heres my response. No you dont. No you dont. You hate rich people and so you become rich. What you hate is being manipulated. What you hate is feeling like no matter how hard you work you just cant prosper. Youre on a treadmill and no matter how hard you work no matter how hard you try to take care of your children, you cant seem to get ahead and if youre smart and youre intelligent and you wouldve gotten a College Degree and you got everything right and kept her nose clean and you didnt break any law, and you never went to jail and you can secede, theres a perception that must be a rigged system. Correct . Ill suggest theres something else. You never got the memo. The memo is not written down anywhere. Its not any university book. Its not in the curriculum no one ever taught you the memo. Its actually not written down not for you but 80 of people in the world who never got the memo. Go back to this concept of we want socialism. Not just the crown prince of norway yesterday in new york who is the future king of norway, which as you probably know that part of the world is known for a socialist type of approach. But its not socialism because even if you want to distribute money like a socialist you must first collect money like capitalist. Am i getting too deep . Ill repeat this. If you want to distribute money like a socialist, challenge everything that im saying if you dont understand, you must first collect money like a capitalist. Before you can get away, you have to collect it. You cant give away something you dont have so then you say explain to me norway. Its a wonderful country. Theyve got oil. They were poor hundred years ago but they found oil and they took the oil and used it for good purposes. Now they have one of this largest sovereign wealth funds in the world. Sweden, socialist country. They have agriculture. Theyve got for stray and not a lot of people so basically without damaging the environment they can take enough of this Agricultural Land and chop the lumber and sell it to a world that needs dust chairs and banisters. This gets my central point. The first rule of my book is you live in a Free Enterprise system, embrace it. This is the first rule of the book, you are capital. These are two things i want you to understand. The media with the Free Enterprise system first. From the time you get up in the morning until the time you get to bed at night, if youre life is not about god or love your life is about money. I want you to challenge everything that im saying this is not me speaking to you. You can interrupt me anytime youd like. Challenge me if something im saying doesnt make sense to prefer the time you get up in the morning until the time you go to bed at night youre having an economic conversation with yourself and the rest of the world, yes or no to get up in the morning you brush your teeth. Did some socialist state give your toothbrush ordered summary by it . Summary purchased a toothbrush and toothpaste, somebody purchased, the lights dont come on by themselves, somebodys paying the light bill, children think the lights come on by themselves. Lights dont come on by themselves. By the way, my mother divorced my father and i asked if shed ever get married again and she said yes it will be a bmw i said you marry a car and she said no black man working. My mothers credit score is 840. Lets look at this. By the way, i would really, i dont want to destress you but when i say from the time you get up in the morning to time you get up at night youre dealing with a financial transaction, in reality its 24 hours a day. Its when you sleep. Who paid for the mattress that you sleep on . The sheets on the mattress, the pillow you lay your head down on. Is this clicking yet. You set an alarm on what, on your phone and if youre oldschool you have an alarm clock. Who paid for the alarm clock . So i have people coming to me, i have this Facebook Channel that, we want people to buy books from barnes noble today but people my Facebook Page, 44 Million Viewers and 88 of all viewers watch on this, not a tv set but this. Maybe im naive. Did the government of the night entry in the United States, the socialist department give everybody a mobile device. Unbeknownst to me theres a socialist department and they give everybody a cell phone, or did you buy it . My guess is you bought it. Lets get the second point of the first rule is that you are Human Capital. See sat only capitalism well, slow down. 92 of all jobs in the United States of america are privatesector jobs. Im giving you facts. 80 of jobs are government jobs. Lets deal with the government jobs for the moment. Say you dont like capitalism coming you want to work for the government. Okay, whos paying the government. Even the cameraman said i am. Your taxes you pay from the wha what . Lets deal with the primary source of income, the taxes you pay from the what, from the jail be, payroll taxes go to fund the what . The government so the people in the government are being funded by who . By you. If youre not voting about the very government that you are funding than you are actually advocating your own position of power in your own country so when investor andrew young is challenged about the state of our country, he said this is not my country, this is my country this is my country in new orleans going to take it from me because im the one with the power. You say no Big Companies run this country. No they dont. We allow them to run this country because 70 of all gdp, chose domestic product is Consumer Spending 70 of the 18 trillion of the largest economy in the world, we are the largest economy in the world, you and me paying for itself owns, water bottles, coffee at starbucks, buying books at barnes noble, paying my bills, rent statements, can i get an amen. You are the American Realty but we are advocating our own power and walking away from our own power. Number one whose capital . We are why are you hesitating for the word capital comes from the Word Knowledge in the head. It has nothing to do with money. I know im frying your brain. So all capital as you know it is money but thats just a means of transporting money and value. I can literally write your bank reading number on the back of your shirt and i could say pay hundred dollars to the order of this gentlemans name, sign it, i could take your shirt to the bank and cash it because it has nothing to do with the instruments with which you use to transfer the wealth. Im simply trying to transfer money to from your account to his which is why can do with the checks, credit card, debit card or electronic or digital money. So real capital comes from the latin word meaning knowledge in the head. So this is why mindset is so important. Now, Human Capital. Is anyone can argue that youre not Human Capital . You are gods creation. You are Human Capital, you are the value of the world. Without people, nothing happens. We agreed on that. Okay. Human capital, but you say im not a capitalist. Okay, so youre working for free . I know you love your job, some of you, i know theres a camera crew that loves their job, i talked to the producers she loves her job, but my guess is if they stop paying you you might be a little late for work. You might sell show up when i want too. My talk to myself . This is real talk. Even if you really enjoyed the place and your employer loses their negotiating power over you, if theyre not transferring value for your time. Are you with me so far . Im just try to walk you through this because whatever im saying is completely counterculture to what youve been told and how youve been told the world works. This is the conspiracy. Its like watching a movie the matrix. Its either the blue pill was a red pill because whether you believe you can or you cant, youre absolutely right. Summary said to me, you want me too be positive but theres so many reasons to be negative. Let me tell you one reason you shouldnt be negative. I cant guarantee being positive will make you be successful. Four reading this book will make you wealthy but i can guarantee that if youre negative, you will fell. I can absolutely guarantee you that if youre negative and you have a negative mentality about life, you will fail. Back to the story. So if youre Human Capital and if youre transferring your time and your knowledge for a paycheck, are you not participating in capitalism . Cc all right, why dont like capitalism beyond me. So the bottle cut your hair for free, those of us who have hair, i barely get my haircut. Ladies, the nail tech just loves you so much they do your nails every week for free. We have lawenforcement here. Wonderful representatives of our city and our county, but my guess is they would be a little less interested in that career if it didnt pay a salary. Is this too deep conversation . Why are we rejecting the system that is literally all around us . It makes no sense. Even the parking meter and an adamant object, im just trying to get basic here, even and in adamant item like a parking meter understands capitalism better than we do because it collects money all day long. No motion, dont argue, dont complain. We will not deal with you unless you pay and if you dont pay because youre in protest youll come back and there will be a boot on your car because one way or another you are going to pay for the time and the space usage of the parking meter. So the parking meter gets it. Why should we. So let me now deal with the moral issue. This is a moral issue. I need somebody, lance is going to give me a time or let me know when i need to wrap up and do q a because you dont want to be the old guy in the club. Before you kick me out, im gonna leave. My sister make sure im always on time and today shes being gracious. Moral issue. We should have, in the world, a world where capitalism and Free Enterprise and money sits all within our culture. You follow that . But since jesus turned over the money changers tabl tables in the temple, what has been the reality of faulty human beings is that we have a cochair in front of our economy. Did you get that . So understand, im acknowledging theres a moral issue. Let me repeat that. Morally, in an ideal world, i want everybody to hear me saying this, say john is just advocating everything to capitalism, we should come in a Perfect World have our culture or our economy inside of our culture, but in reality were faulty, selfish, selfcentered human beings. Because adam and he had been a little broken. A saint is a sinner that got up. Were just trying the very best we can to be the very best people we can be. But we are selfcentered by our nature. We have to find our higher angels. That means we have, unfortunately a culture that sits inside our economy which means that folks want to get paid, to be blunt. So your nail tech is a capitalist and your hair tech is a capitalist for the barbershop is a capitalist spread the gas station is a capitalist. Try not paying your phone bill. See how that works for you. Either you want to go protest capitalism come your driving in a car and youre paying for gas they stop at a gas station for a new state of the house that someones being paid rent for, either youre going to protest capitalism, so lets just acknowledge, first and foremost that we live in a Free Enterprise system. Can we get there . Number two, understand that you are capital. Let me go down to the second role. The second rule my book is that mindset makes or loses you money. This is so important. This is where folks really get you. Whether you believe you can or whether you believe you cant you are absolutely right. So if your mindset has been, im just cannot deal with after a americans for moment. You get real deep. I said capitalism was about, slavery was about money. The audience jumped all over me. They wrote no, it was a moral issue. It was immoral. It was terrible but nobody went all across the world to grab you and bring you over here just because they wanted to be mean to you. They were agricultural geniuses thats why they went to africa to get the folks who are experts in soil who could work all day in strange, hot, uncomfortable environments who are absolutely brilliant and bring them to a place that had good soil which was a southern states, they couldnt do it in europe because europe was not conducive to those crops so they had have the best people in the best place for the best crops at that time. It was all about building a country for free. It was about money. You were collateral damage. The hate put it that way. Its immoral, its disgusting, it was original sin, but it was about money. Now, thats why we have a civil war because railroads were worth to billion and nobody wanted to give up their housemates and their fancy life and their mansion because of a moral issue. Im sorry. They just didnt they should of, but they didnt. Now, 1865, march 3, abraham lincoln, good man, not a perfect man, stop with this perfect stuff. If you want to Start Talking about perfect you need to walk out of the room yourself. Can i get an amen. Cspan did not know they were having a Church Session today. So abraham lincoln, good man signed into law march 3 to teach slaves about money and the freemans bank mission. He wanted to bring us back into the Free Enterprise system. Thats why he gave us 40 acres and a mural 400,000 acres from North Carolina down to miami, down the coast, 30 miles in. First came the land. We worked the land so hard that month no facebook no twitter no cell phone, no nothing. We found that we worked it. They said give them a mule because were so industrious. Then a month later came the bank. The same day he put in god we trust on u. S. Currency. Translation, never again until. [inaudible] he was killed the next month. He had never heard of it before. Frederick douglass rented real estate to workingclass black in baltimore, and do your history. You know him as an abolitionist i know him as a businessman who tried to save the bank in 1865. When the bank failed. [inaudible] black men in white men working together trying to launch a poor peoples campaign, theres more poor whites today , indians another car trying to bring them into the Free Enterprise system and heres what doctor king said you cannot legislate goodness or for someone to respect you. The only way to social justice. [inaudible] he was killed april 4, 1968 before the first march of the poor peoples campaign. Heres my message. You are not dumb or stupid. Youre brilliant but its what you dont know that you dont know thats killing you. You never got the memo. Lincoln tried to give you the memo and he was assassinated. King tried to give you the memo when he was assassinated. Its been hundred and 50 years and youve never gotten the memo. Youre not dumb or stupid but you never got, what happens when you get the memo . Now heres slavery. Once you get through poverty and have a roof over your head and food on your table and healthcare,. [inaudible] 80 of all pottery winners are broke five years after retirement. 70 of nfl players are broke by retirement. Nba players. [inaudible] they never got the memo on mone money. So heres poverty. Three and 50 years even told you werent anything, black slavery. Hundred years of jim crow ending in 1870, in your lifetime which means your selfesteem is in the toilet. Its completely rational this 80 of black people are clinically diagnosed depressed. Now we never had this conversation before but doesnt resonate with you are not. It does. Its common sense. Heres poverty, low selfesteem and lack of confidence in yourself. If you dont know you are, by dinnertime someone will tell you who you are. Same part of poverty, ive got to go really fast now im running out of time. Emily do this really fast now so will models. If all you see in your neighborhood are symbols of success are athletes and drug dealers, then why is anyone surprised that kids grow up in our neighborhood wanting to be a rap star and an athlete or a drug dealer. Its not idiocy, its brilliant. Your modeling what you see. Its common sense. Why my businessman, i saw a businessman going up a does my father wearing a stupid while i love myself . My mother told me too two. She loved me every day of my life. Its modeling what you see. Let me give you the second part of poverty. Its environment which basically means if you hang around nine broke people you will be the tenth. Endemic in a tshirt that says the memo on the front and it will be the quote on the back. If you hang around nine broke people, you will be the tenth. Im not telling you to not hang around your cousin booboo, i am not. Am i saying you should hang around 50 people . Yes. Am i saying you should try to find somebody who has more self wealth and you, yes. Why do you want to find someone whos dumber than you, stupid with no job and say thats my role model. It makes no sense. Of course you should try to find somebody. They see those kind of intimate names, yes, what else should i be talking about . So, the last part of poverty is aspiration and opportunity. Aspiration is a code word for hope. The most dangerous person in the world is a person with no help. Poverty is a crappy attitude and crappy models. You see the glass half empty, halffull and you never leave your porch. Wealth is high selfesteem and goodwill models and an enabling environment. You see opportunity everywhere. He thought the check cash or. [inaudible] i say that modern slavery. Am i getting too deep . Andrew young quote. To live in a system of Free Enterprise and not understand the rules of Free Enterprise just may be the very definition of slavery. Whether you are white, or black and brown, heres what you see, a check cash or, payday loan or, liquor store and we think its normal. Its not normal. That doesnt happen in the 700 credits or neighborhoods of any race. Theres never been a riot. So we ride in the 500 credit score neighborhood or emotionally, in the streets tearing up businesses that some of the owns and makes a bad situation worse. My friends have rioted at the ballot box, but we all riot. Now, whats my mission at operation hope . To move them 120 points and 20 months. Nothing changes your life more than god or love then moving your credit score 120 points. When you move your credit score up your selfesteem goes up, your confidence goes up, your belief goes up, your faith in the system, your trust, confidence, your option audi. You know that 44 of all African Americans in this country have a credit score below 620 . That didnt hit you the way i hoped it would. Let me break this down for you. That means half the black folks having nothing to do with race or discrimination or police. Child he or all the thing we pick it for every day the week. Half of us cant get a loan for Small Business. You cant get a loan for Small Business at 620 credit score. I dont care how bill brilliant your idea is. You barely get a homeowner designed to be a good home loan which means youre paying the highest Interest Rate for the worst product which is, by the way, exactly what a payday loan does to you. My sister sent a message to me that a renttoown store is trying to rent to her headphones at 19 a week. Is it only me that this sounds ridiculous too . Do you know you can buy those headphones four times over in two months, but when you dont know what you dont know, you accept this as normal. Its just a white family who says that little home is ten minutes from my job, i can buy it for nothing. They cannot tell all their other friends to join them in and up buying everything on the block. By the way, it wasnt the clan going in with some torches running you out of town. No, we give this property way. Lets call it the way we see it. We give it away and then we get upset with somebody who saw the same value we did. Let makes plain something to you. Every inner city in america will be overtaken in ten years through this very simple concept and it centrally located real state. Innercity. [inaudible] what you have to do is get the memo. Go by the crappy rest property on the bus block in your neighborhood, go to somewhere in atlanta you can buy 15000 shacks in atlanta 2,000,002 blocks from a milliondollar property. Fix it up and resell it. Do that three times. Go get your tax credit, if you dont know what you itc means you qualify. If you make 53000 a year or less and you work in this country, the government owes you a check. This is what drives me crazy. If you make 32000 a year end you never filed, you are owed 9000 but if you make 33000 a year you have two children, the government owes you about four grand and its retroactive for three years. Why are we asking summary for a loan. Why are we begging the government for something for that is your right. Take your 9000 and dont go on vacation, dont go to the bombers, go buy some real estate. By something that will help you get wealthy while you sleep. You will not get wealthy unless its making money while you sleep. Take your capitalism and compounded by buying you some real estate and buy some stock. Dont say cant afford it. By fractional shares. You dont know what im talking about look it up on the internet. It makes you look smart even when you dont. Look it up on the internet, for ten bucks a month you can buy any stock in the world. Buy some stock, by some real estate. Do something that leverages you on top of you. If you dont have compound interest, have compound hustle. I told you about mindset and everything about money. Let me go over two of the five rules for the third rule is about relationship capital. Yet idiots and fools Running Companies and countries. You have brilliant people who are homeless. Its not just about how smart you are. Theres only one reason ago to harvard. I love harvard school. You only go to harvard and pay five times more because youre gonna be five times smarter. Are you with me . Your harvard for one reason. Listen now because a class of 2018 is can hook each other up for the next 40 years. Thats it. Thats the only reason ago to harvard. Doing it the same education, college is an ecosystem. College is where you find and meet people were of your same education and aspiration youve got hook each other up because relationship matters. Whatever you hang around is what you will be. Watch you hang around. Get out of your comfort zone. White folk should stop going to white parties. Black folks stop going to black parties. Go somewhere that makes you uncomfortable. Be unpredictable. Im not saying dont like these things, im saying expand your mind because without expanding your mind you can expand your pocket. Let me leave you with this thought. You cannot segregate your heart and integrate your pocket. Im talking everybody now, whites, blacks, asians, indians, you cannot segregate your heart and integrate your pocket. You cannot have a business that wants everybody is a client but you only want to hang around people who look like you. It does not work. People get the sense that you dont like them. Like everybody, love everybody because we are all gods children and whatever goes round comes around. To have time for q a . So i actually didnt talk about the five rules. I talked about three of the five rules. The best i could but by the way, i just skimmed the surface of the three rules. You really need to get in this book and read it three or four times. This is a mind snapper. This is completely counterintuitive so whatever people have told you about how this world works you have them bamboozled. Youve been tracked and booed and hoodwinked her there is a whole other system going on out here were not participating in it because we dont understand how the system works. You will pass by wealth waiting to be born. Do not take your money and go downtown and rent real estate at two or 3000 a month from a guy like me. By the way, im the largest minority controlled owner of real estate in the country. Id love if you want to rent real estate. Rent it for me, ill take the money. I dont want to but im telling you not to do it. Telling you not to go downtown and go rent some fancy skyscraper condo that you dont own a 2000 a month because youre trying to profile. Paying somebody money for something you dont know about a place you dont have any ownership and because of your playing 2000 a month at 25000 in go by a shack, rehab it, rent it and sell it for the habit and rent it and keep it and build your wealth. Dont hit anybody with a brick, hit them with your American Express black card and not come out. Dont get mad, get even by participating in the system. All wealth in this country that income from crime or government contract came from poor people who realized their value because walmart had a vision for himsel himself. What can you do if you decide to take your life back and decide to not just cash checks, but write them. Thank you so much for this. I had a write down almost every word you said. Youre my mentor from afar. I follow you religiously and i wanted to ask you, i always say that capitalism is based on ignorance. If you take me too a car lot and youre looking for a customers you say thats a bad car lot, take me too a better car lot, but if you take me too a bank and say this bank is looking for ignorant clients, ive gotten no answer for you because every bank is looking for ignorant customers. I have no answer for you. Weve had a movement where we were pushing everybody to open up these accounts but everyone was on social media. It blew my mind that right after that campaign, bank of america releases initiative where they just literally marketing to people, i just wanted to hear from you. [inaudible] i want to hear from you what, if anything you think these banks that were able to leverage that, what do they os, if anything. Its a great question. We dont have time to get down deep in this. I did a video on this movement , go watch the video, its 45 minutes. Let me try to answer the question directly. Banks are one of the very few businesses that actually dont prosper on ignorance. Now ignorant banks, there are some have decided to get out of the loan business and those do prosper on your nonsufficient fund charges in your overdraft charges and all that kind of stuff, but those are not the big banks. The ones that are making all their money need to lend you money. Now, if you have a 580 credit store, the bank cannot lend you money. And beside locations. The only nonprofit in history allowed to operate inside a pink branch. The credit score was up from 580 which we know you cant be approved at two at least 650 and this young lady here you can get a 4 mortgage, 4 mortgage for which we do all the time but if you have a 580 credit score, they will give you in the teen mortgage. So you can store and out of the branch and say im upset. The bank wont do it. But my people work for me so whats that, that is called in air. Everybody with a 600 credit score has an air of report. Everybody has an error and once we remove it within 30 days. Not to say we hate the irs, none of that stuff first. Youve got to write a letter. Mr. Credit bureau. They have to check their records. If they cannot confirm it within 30 days, the wall states civil rights. They must remove it. When they removed that it is good for 40 points. Now you go from 58620. Your belief in the system so now you say okay, whats next. When you say whats next, weve got few because the mission you are born perfect, optimistic but the world talk you discrimination, hate, the world beat you down and taught you to be cynical but you were born optimistic. I didnt pay the phone bill. Okay now three months unpaid. At t sold company for 50 for 5 cents on the dollar and we called the finance company. We want to pay it off. I dont have a thousand dollars, thats okay. Its double what they paid for. They paid how much, 50. They are asking for a hundred and we offered them 200. So we have to make him look like a hero. We are paying 200. Now where are u. S. . Fifty. She got a discount and everybody wins. Its about getting the memo. Its not something about coming to take all of them in america with 5 billion in assets we need not a social justice campaign, we need financially literate people who understand money so you have something to put in a bank so if you open up and try to resolve its worse off and has no money so we need to not react, respond. Dont get mad, get even. Its not about black, white, so what banks do i like about the bank in my neighborhood with prime rates, the one thats making me a home loan, a smallbusiness loan if that is a black bank than fantastic. Im an equal opportunity capitalist. I dont care because it shows its doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. Im bringing something else. The. No screaming and hollering, we present the application, she gets a 4 mortgage treated like a queen. To hire the guy that could be the biggest problem that neighborhood. But hes not done. The. Get some landscaping equipment, she goes to home depot and a mother of the neighborhood to pave the house, so shes taking a friend in the neighborhood, creating jobs and boosting gdp. Do that one house a block and change the whole neighborhood. I am not emotional about this. We need a Business Plan, not an emotional reaction. We cant be angry for a living, whatever you need to step away because nobody cares. The only question is are you contributing to the economy and the culture, are you a good role model for your children that is the question. The question you just asked is the right question we have to start having a different answer so when they are in our neighborhoods because they are low capital often times we all thwevehad all the money in thed for more equity. They dont need more people giving them money they need somebody investing equity in the bank so they have freedom to make loans to whomever they want. But you have limited capital. Youve been to south africa. I would like to know how we can apply to the circumstances and situations. Before i go to sout before i go to south africa let me say i have compassion for my wife because for 60 years we have ignored them. Imagine how he would feel if he were ignored for 60 years the Industrial Revolution walked away from them six years ago from their small town. No more factories. Their income went in the toilet, they didnt Pay Attention and they are frustrated enough with say 50 of them have a credit score below 620 that is basically white, rural smalltown. So they respond with fear and frustration but immigrants are not their problem. Thats the fact that people keep playing on their emotion and fear. White, black, red, so weve opened offices in rural White America to level the credit field increase the standard of living and when you do that you increase the race attention because it isnt about race anyway. Its about economic fear. South africa you have 55 Million People in 5 million taxpayers. Im going to repeat it maybe you didnt understand. A population in the country theres nothing tricky and what i am saying. 55 Million People in south africa. 55 Million People. Its not race, its poverty. This disconnected folks from the townships into skyscrapers not because of the racial animosity but if i had one job available and i have a choice between you and your group looks intelligent and thoughtful but i dont know you. They start asking me for money and who am i going to hire. Who are they going to hire so the folks in the townships and this is my fourth chapter in the book if you cant get a job, create one, the hx writer. Africa needs trade and taxpayers, people cannot just say im going to go get a job and create a job. They want to be a fashion designer. In Fashion School and goin im o do this and that. I said im not trying to bust your bubble but the likelihood is you are not going to get a great job in ne shot in new yor. Nobody knows you. Nobody knows you. They have no relationship with you. So we gave a 35,000dollar loan, raised the credit score, went into a class of Small Business, started his own business. The last ten years, 20 million of his own wealth with six employees, paying taxes, charting his own life. Heres freedom today. Selfdetermination. Its about the right to vote. Its selfdetermination but you cant understand without Free Enterprise and how the system works. So its the same thing because you have all these people on welfare but its not going to work into so they tried to put people to sleep by giving subsidy payments but they realize it is running out so they try to change saudi arabia that i can tell you is the same problem. I work in social justice and about to ask more questions about what youre doing in building the Financial Literacy and social justice. Thank you for that. Im actually an idiot and heres why. In 2008 the 2008 i had an oppoy to work with president george w. Bush. Why are you working with this president and as president. The president. I said if youre bill clinton and you asked me to dinner, i will say what time. If you are george bush i will say one for. If im going to dinner, i like him, hes a nice guy. We didnt agree on a lot of things politically. But we found some things to agree on because they worked well. I cant speak for all president s that you will figure this out later. He asked me what do i want and i said i wanted this and that and finally i offered to resign from my roll and they said dont redesign, come work with me. So they said yes and in 2008 the president signed Financial Literacy for the first time in history and unfortunately she talks about money, he forgot to ask for money s money so now itn Unfunded Mandate and it is the policy of the government is no School District will do it because it isnt funded and once again it is a business. We have kids not going to school but in south africa pay to go to school, parents pay for their children to go. You say i dare you to go to school, not to go to school. I dare you not to show up. So she raised some kids in the inner cities and so he told his kids growing up he said ive got two choices for you. I want you to go to school, two choices, i can need to put in through school or i can put you through a wall and if i put you through a wall you will have to pay to get the wall repaired. He wasnt going to really do it but he was saying youre going to go to school because i am paying for it. If its not free. You are paying for your kids to go to school that you dont see it because it isnt coming out of your pocket. We have to demand for schools we are paying are giving our kids a quality education. I should have demanded that the government funded Financial Literacy but i failed my own articulation exams one of the goals i want to stand up by 2020 is to double back and give congress in m my life trying to finlifetime to fundfinancial lit should be the right Financial Literacy in a bank account should be a privilege, it should be a right. [applause] im told i have three minutes. She said i have two minutes. Yes, sir. The microphone is coming over to you in just a second. What are you doing to reach out to younger children from middle schools because it might be better than starting in high school. The question is what are we doing for children so we have a program called banking on the future. We are at 4,000 schools. That sounds impressive but theres 14,000 School Districts so we are the most challenged schools, taking Financial Literacy. We funde fund them up to 500 ty might open up a bank account. They take the kids into the bank to open up the account and then we get a role model standard business and i dont care whether they become entrepreneurs or not, i want them to become resilient and have the mentality to decide to take their life back at an early age. I want them to know, and i put the liquor store out of business when i was 10yearsold. Imagine that. Nothing was going to stop me. Im basically an entrepreneur now and the light came on about what i could do a. Icann may i am a yale graduate. I went by it the hard way that i am in a lot of debt and like you said i cant get the loans and stuff like that, but i make my money as a School Teacher teaching the wealthy and if they pay me directly and so i am an entrepreneur or how to make it myself, how do i get loans potentially if my score is lower than i wanted to be but i am still okay. I am not just a phd. We have three main clients and our operations are free because we underwrite the budget so i want you to go to the alteration hope in the credit score communities and Small Business programs in all services are free and we will get your credit score and help grow your business. I do want to say i love that he went to yale. Go to a historically black college and get your cultural groove on and then for graduate studies go someplace that makes you uncomfortable, go to yale, harvard, travel someplace another part of the world but stand your territory. Maybe you dont know and grow a different kind of mentality and relationship so that you can automate over the world. I love you. I am out. [applause] cspan, thank you very much in th the barnes and noble thank you very much. This has been a great opportunity. And facebook. Thank you very much. [inaudible conversations] young ltd. Were riveted by the story of this dissident who was standing uwhosstanding up to tg the country. Eventually after a year and under pressure from the groups and the international community. Would overturn gender politics in west africa. But they still have one more apt to play and it was a doozy. I can stand up for hours going up about what they did to liberia. He kidnapped children from their terrified mothers and they went on a killing spree that spared almost no one. Once again as they have so many times before, it was the liberian women who carried the country through. While the men were waging war, the women all became market women traveling by foot to the border to get food to bring back to the starving population. They had the babies of their rapists, strapped them on their backs and went back to the market or sat on the side of the road selling oranges and divided her time. When the war finally ended, they made their powerplay. In 2005, 12 years before pantsuit nation became a secret Facebook Group and i am with her buttons sprouted up, the women of liberia showed how to get a female elected president. [applause] does Sandra Bullock captured him in thcapture himin the movie bl . Itit so well that when the husband saw the movie for the first time he gasped. It was shocking to me and it was the first time i had seen one of my characters end up on a screen so i was even more impressed than maybe i should have been. I subsequently saw that brad pitt captures him in all kinds of interesting ways and Christian Bale captures him in all kinds of interesting ways and sticky for these acts of imitation and impression that they do, the movie business it seems kind of like a nonsense business and so biography but in los angeles, there is a trade and a craft with unbelievable skill and talent the actors and directors are so talented you cant quite believe it. She is just the best and did an unbelievable job. He scared me because he has aspergers syndrome and has no connection much social to the outside world and is the first to see what is going on in the subprime Mortgage Market with old and argues about when the market is going to turn and by and its based on having studied the loans that were made of that should not have been made. In person he is a little quirky. He said can i come spend the day and be with you. He came in the morning, watched him, they have a very natural conversation. He didnt get to go to the bathroom or eat, h heat, he saty office for 12 hours. He is wearing the clothes that Michael Berry was wearing. I quoted him to say you spent one day with him and i spent a year studying this person and i couldnt have done and impression. You are doing all kinds of things. I dont know what it is. He didnt want to talk about it. Finally, it bothered him so much he said it was obvious right away. From that all of these mannerisms emerged and i saw that right away so i just said to the director did i get everything right because Everything Else will follow. You can watch this and other programs on booktv. Org. Good evening. Can you hear me okay . It is my pleasure to welcome you all this evening to all of our members thank you for your continued support. If you are