Here and now. Here in vineland, home of progresso, we love all kinds of chicken soups. But just one kind of chicken. White breast meat chicken every time. So if youre not going to make your own chicken soup tonight, do what we do. Make it progresso. I would kill for something sweet. No, so much fat. Dont fight your instincts. With each for 150 calories or less try our lemon bars, brownies, and new cheesecakes fiber one. Recently, tens of thousands of people gathered on the National Mall in washington, d. C. , to mark the 20th anniversary of the million man march the theme this time, justice or else, a call for an end to Police Brutality in communities of color. Joining us today is lawrence hamm, founder and organization for progress, the northeast regional director of the National Action network, minister kirsten john foy, along with michael hardy, executive Vice President and general counsel for nan. Thank you all for being here again. Nice to see you. Great to be here. Good to see you. First question i asked myself was, has it been 20 years . 20 years. It was hard for me to believe that time had passed, and i know, mr. Hamm, that you attended the first march. Yes, yes. And this time, you took a couple of busloads of folks. What was the big difference, i think, between not only the mood, but also the makeup of the crowd was slightly different this time. Right. Well, the most obvious differences were the theme. In 1995, the theme was atonement, reconciliation, and responsibility. The general call went primarily to black men in 1995, and estimates were that there were as many as 1. 8 Million People there in 1995. The 20th anniversary, the theme, as you said, was justice or else with the emphasis upon, one, the problem of Police Brutality and the murder of unarmed folks in our community, and also the violence in our own community, and also the call went out to a much broader audience this time. So, i would say, i was there, and we took two busloads the Peoples Organization for progress took two busloads with family members of four Police Brutality victims jerame reid, kashad ashford, abdul kamal, and radazz hearns, and, in fact, sheila reid, jerames mother, was on the bus with us, and family members of the others, and i would say that there were nearly a Million People there this time, and both events were very successful, and for another generation, this was an important event. To come, but something happened with her job, and she had to work, and she was in tears because she couldnt be there. So this event was for this generation as 95 was for us. And minister foy, i know that you spoke to the crowd in washington. Your feeling that it answered the call for this generation, as mr. Hamm said, in a way maybe in a different way, but similar to the first one 20 years ago . Well, i think that this call was timely. We are now in an era of real political unrest in this country, social unrest in this country on the backs of eric garner and Michael Brown and freddie gray and scott and so many others across the country. It was a timely call. The opportunity for us, who are coming on the heels of immediately before us, to be able to address that call and to be able to answer the call and to be able to participate in this historic event was both personally satisfying, but it was also, i think, politically expedient. What we saw at this march was a whole new generation of leaders not folks that have just sprung up overnight, but people who, like myself, have been in the streets working for years and years, who have been laying the groundwork alongside people like mr. Hamm and attorney hardy, but who are now maturing and coming to a point where we are ready to step forward, and this was an opportunity for us to lay the groundwork for the future. And i want to ask you two, since you were there and i am gonna get to mr. Hardy. How important do you think that is . I think you make an interesting point. Its a new generation of with you, but there are people from all over the country doing the same kinds of work in their communities. How important was it, do you think, for all of them to have that opportunity to see each other, to talk to each other, in a sense break bread with each other and say, you know, with one voice, these are the issues that were facing, and, i guess, get that energy from each other that youre not alone in that struggle whatever your struggle is in your community . Well, one of the things that impressed me about saturdays event was the number of young people that were there. There were a lot of young people, and that certainly was heartening. Because events like this help to raise their spirits, and we must take the idea of unity out of the abstract and into reality. Whenever an opportunity presents itself so that we can stand together actually stand together in unity we have so events like this also help to bring the spotlight on the work that were doing locally. Look, were sitting here now because of the event in washington, and were not only talking about washington, but talking about the issues that were dealing with in our local community. So ill bring you to the conversation, mr. Hardy, because that work does continue. It didnt just start with this rally. Talk to me a little bit about what nan is doing in the present. I know that recently you met with the Justice Department in connection with the eric garner case. Well, you know, the theme of the march this past saturday was justice. That was a big part of the theme, and that is something that, of course, National Action network has been building down through the decades. We will be celebrating our 25th anniversary as we turn the new year, and, of course, these issues are in the forefront right now because eric garner, but eric garner, in particular, in terms of this latest stream of cases that happen eric garner, and then Michael Brown and then tamir rice and then sandra bland and so on has begun a whole new situation where policing is front and center, particularly policing in urban communities, and we have been on top of that. We have been in front of the calls for cameras on policing, and, of course, cameras make a difference because people that may used to have questioned these situations really now cant question basics cause they see it. Its really hard to not believe that constitutional policing has to happen when you watch a video of eric garner being choked to death and saying, i cant breathe 11 times. So, you know, that work is continuing, and i think the good thing about it is you do have young people coming in. I think minister foy represents part of that next generation bringing their energy to this, and thats always important and why these gatherings are important because it does just provide another opportunity for people to get energized, to do this work of justice, and, of course, were seeing reforms across the nation. And to keep the spotlight on the issue. Absolutely. Because sometimes we have a tendency you know, its quiet for a minute, and people have a tendency to get complacent. I guess i would suppose a rally like this, in addition to the work that nan does, makes people continue to stand up. Absolutely. Its incumbent upon us, and let me say this before i say anything else. Let me say thank you publicly to minister farrakhan and the nation of islam for calling this 20th anniversary march and providing the opportunity for those of us who are doing the work to participate and also helping to bring attention to what were doing. That being said, now that the march is over, the onus is on us to go back to our need to go back home and turn things upside down with the amount of injustice thats being heaped on our people. We have abdul kamal from irvington, new jersey, shot 10 times. He had a cellphone in his hand. Jerame reid had his hands up and open, shot at pointblank range in bridgeton, new jersey. Kashad ashford shot 7 times 4 times in the head, and radazz hearns, a 14yearold boy, shot 7 times in the back, and because he survived, now theyre trying to charge him and make him into a criminal. These things are happening in every Community Across this country, and not to mention the astronomical rates of unemployment, the rates of homelessness. Theres just so theres so many issues that confront us. We have to build the movement to transform this social system that produces problems like this. Its important that we build out the infrastructure to be able to confront these issues when they come up. National Action Network has spent its 25 years trying to connect the dots nationally, and now weve been able to latch on to this moment and be able to elevate this to a National Level so were being discussed in president ial debates. And to have victories. I mean, we stopped stop and frisk. We now have an Inspector General for the police department. We have changes with regard to use of force across the country. We have cameras on police officers. Special prosecutors. Special prosecutors. So victories are important because that also is what keeps people motivated because they see that their work is having real results. The fruits of your labor. And id also like to ive got to cut you off there cause theyre gonna kick me out of the building with you. All right. But you know that you are all welcome back cause this is to continue discussing. Absolutely. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. When we come back, Michael Strahan and his new book. Stay with us. 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Hes an overachiever by but the long list of accomplishments super bowl champ, nfl hall of famer, and Emmy Awardwinning talkshow host id say he knows a thing or two about dreaming and winning big, and he is sharing some of that knowledge in his new book, wake up happy, the dream big, win big guide to transforming your life. Joining us this afternoon, Michael Strahan. Thank you so much for being with us, michael. Thank you for having me and thank you for thats a lot of words to read for that title. Yeah, but youre a big man, so i think its quite appropriate. Wake up happy you know, every time i see you, you do always seem happy. Yeah. I think its something i had to learn something i had to learn. Even when i was successful as a football player, i did not always wake up happy. I was not always even happy in success, but i just realized that i wasnt feeling good about my life. There are so many things that just my attitude was affecting, and i figured out a way to change my attitude to wake up truly feeling happy and to now with that type of happiness, and the formula for that has worked for me, so thats why i wrote the book as a formula. It brings to mind a really popular phrase attitude affects your altitude. Mmhmm. That sounds like exactly what youre saying. Why did you decide this was the time to share what youve learned and put into practice in a book . I get asked that question you know, especially from someone who is not just in sports, but someone whos gone from one business to another, how were you able to go from sports to television and entertainment and do all these things . , and i dont know if theres any clear, direct answer to it, but i do know that one thing that has helped me tremendously has been my attitude towards it. You know, i look at everything with an enjoyment. I look at everything with the attitude that it can be done, and its not a question like, one story in my book is when not if. My dad always said when. So for me, it was never if. If makes it seem like theres doubt, and i dont know if he purposely knew what he was doing. My dad always said when, which impossible. Everything is possible, and to this day, i approach things as if you know, if i want something to happen, its only a matter of time that its going to happen. It takes that hard work. You talked about that one of Michael Strahans rules what rule . What is that . Grit. . Mmhmm. Yeah, it takes a lot of grit, determination, and work ethic. I mean, those are things that you need. You need those things to be successful. We all have these ideas of being happy, and success is on a different level. Success is not necessarily doing what ive done. Success is on Different Levels for everybody, but the true thing about any success or any happiness that you have is that it requires work. Yeah. You know, we all want great things, but you got to be able to go out there and work for them. How easy was it for you to share some of the personal things in this book . Because it really is its a personal story, and you are very honest about what you see as some of your failures. Yeah. How difficult was that to share that . That was a little difficult. You know, it was a little difficult, and especially and i did the audio book, as well, and im reading it going, oh, boy. [laughs] i really did put that in here. It sounds like you. Marriages, failed marriages, relationships, kids, and but those are all things that i learned from, and the only way that you can write Something Like this and to tell people, you know, wake up happy, wake up and change your attitude about life is to show that, no, my life is not perfect. My life had many faults, and i have many faults, but i just choose to go in a positive direction now, which everything is not always gonna work out the way that you want it to work out. Every situation changes and is different, but if you have the right attitude towards it, things that usually would be big problems to you become so small in the grand scheme of things, and i think thats important. You know, one of the things that you talked about in the book, that relationship with your former coach. Mmhmm. I was like, oh, he went there. Yeah, we hated each other. Well, i hated him. I dont know if he hated me. Yeah, you said, i hated him. Thats surprised me. Yeah. And hes won two super bowls for the giants, i won a super bowl with him, but by the end of our relationship, i loved the guy. I loved tom coughlin, and i would play for him to this day if i physically could still do it, but one thing i learned with him was, we all wanted the same goal, we just didnt know how to we wanted the same thing, we just had to figure out a way to Work Together to get it, and thats when we had to change our attitudes towards each other. Yeah, one of your rules, in fact, is that you may not be able to change the other person, but you can change the way you exactly. And thats exactly what i had to do with him. I had to go from learning to be a part of the solution, not continue to be a part of the problem because of my attitude, and once i did that, i think it was like we both had this coming together of positivity to win, because we both truly wanted the same thing, and once i changed my attitude and the way i dealt towards him, it felt like as if he changed his attitude in the way he dealt not towards me, but to the entire team, and that. You know, if somebody had asked you, lets say, 15, 20 years ago about what youd be 15, 20 years down the road, could you ever imagine all youve been able to accomplish . Absolutely not. 15, 20 years ago, i was just hoping to not have to move back in with my parents. [ both laugh ] werent we all . That was my whole goal, but, no. I could not imagine to still live in new york. I thought i would come to new york, play a few years, and eventually end up somewhere else to kind of be that retired athlete whos kind of riding out the rest of my life. But i love what i do now, prefer what i do now keeps me stimulated, keeps me motivated, and i just love it, and i love working. Like, i do love working because it keeps me and you have a lot of jobs. And i have a lot of jobs. But the thing i love about it, it keeps me around people, and i love people and i love conversation, and i love joking, and i love and how can i tell my kids to work hard if they dont see me working hard, from football, they were young, and all you know is the father whos at home every day, and, so, for me, its very important for my kids to see that. But i love the people i work with. Thats why i can wake up happy every morning and go to work and feel good about it. I want to ask you. Anybody picking up this book, theyre gonna still think, even with your issues, even with your ups and downs, youre a pretty special person, a very talented person, and they think, i still couldnt be Michael Strahan. I dont know that i could do that. What would you say youre hoping the message is that this book imparts to them . If you would have asked me 15, 20 years ago, i didnt think i could be where i am now, but i think the biggest reason that people dont achieve everything that they could achieve because we doubt ourselves doubt us. We tell ourselves what we cant do, but yet well tell our kids what they can do. Tell ourselves what we can do and stop doubting yourself. Because there are a lot of other people out there who doubt you enough. Believe in yourself. There with the right attitude and think about when its gonna happen. Michael strahan. The book is wake up happy. Thank you so much for being with us this afternoon. Up next, comedian kier junior spates from the steve harvey morning show. Sickle cell. Laughter is the perfect wakeup call for comedian kier junior spates on the steve harvey morning show, but the talented funny man gets serious