When you think about fruit, in order for a fruit to produce, there has to be a way in the ground, there has to be a seed in the ground.

So what type of seed?

If I'm planting love, care into your heart, the same way that Brock did you.

He planted the seed of, man, I care about you.

He planted the seed of, you know, exposing you to resources, exposing you to different things, then, okay, he just plant the seed, you know, like he can't make you go do it.

You know what I'm saying?

He just showed you, taught you the right way to do things.

And the fruit is, and you actually allowing that to grow in your life and it manifests.

(orchestral music) (boy shouting) [Students] Jesus!

(students clapping) God want.

God shall.

God will.

Jesus!

All us are producing some type of fruit that somebody want.

Whether we are doing it in teaching, but not because people are watching us.

You know, mentors are very important in the lives of our kids because I feel like it's an extension of the family.

The key and what I judge it on is how consistent can you be?

How many touches can you get on that same set of young men?

Because if you just come in one time and then that's it, like that's not mentorship, that's a visit.

I've been mentoring and I've been working with young people for over 15 years.

And now I'm really beginning to see a lot of those fruit from the seeds that I planted early on.

(orchestral music) Fruit interview number three, Mr Berry, take one.

(claps) Got it.

[Man] Okay, everything rolling and you're good to go (indistinct).

What's going on, man?

How're you doing?

Mentorship is actually life or death.

We don't have an option.

And it's so many people who have resources.

It's so many people who have been exposed to things.

And you know, I often tell men, you know, if you're not mentoring, what are you doing?

And if this next generation is not gonna get this knowledge that you have, it does no good that it ends when you pass on or when you die or when you're too sick to talk about it, too old.

So while you're young an you still have blood running through your veins, I think you need to mentor a young person.

Every single young man that we can get our hands on and who we can get his ears tuned in to what we're talking about and what we're doing, I don't think that you can change that.

You can't change the numbers without having strong, consistent mentorship.

Men stepping up, stop being afraid of these young guys and get in their life.

God said he did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, love, and the sound mind.

If we sit back and continue to watch the cycle, it's not gonna stop.

Especially the men who profess to know Jesus.

[Man] Right.

We should be at least mentoring or discipling at least one guy that you know in a bad situation.

(orchestral music) Now I'm trying to contain my emotion because- [Man] It's hard.

- On top of all of this weight, I'm a mother now.

And I didn't ask for that.

I inherited that when mother was dying and I had my first boy at 36 and he gave me a boy.

And so I can't help but address it because he gonna grow up to be a man.

And no matter what I put in him, no matter how much I take him to school, no matter what I tell him to do, he gonna have to get in society and function.

And I need know that what I'm laboring and pushing him to do is gonna bear me fruit one day, not bear me strange fruit with a knee on his neck.

Not bear me strange fruit with (audience chattering) Not giving me strange fruit.

[Narrator] Montgomery, Alabama, also known as the Cradle of the Confederacy, is the place where change comes very slowly.

It stands beside the Alabama river where many African-Americans were imported and sold into slavery.

Montgomery is also the state's capital, which is evident by the grand and beautiful capital building located on Dexter Avenue.

The city has an unforgettable history and the events from the past are still long-felt by many, around the city, across the country, and around the world.

In the early mornings in Montgomery, Alabama, Anthony Brock, co-founder and head of school at Valiant Cross Academy, sits in his office diligently working and preparing for the school day.

It's evident that he is immersed in his purpose of empowering young people.

Fred and I are from Montgomery, Alabama from a long line of educators.

My mom's a teacher, my dad's retired principal, retired Methodist minister.

So education kind of runs through my veins.

Most of my aunts, uncles, all in education.

So we're from Montgomery, and after high school and after college, I end ended up becoming an educator in the Tioga County Schools, which is the Prattville school system.

I spent about 13, 14, 15 years there.

During that time I served from everything from a head football coach.

I had some time as an at risk specialist for the central office.

I worked as assistant principal and I worked as a principal.

But I believe my most meaningful work came from a calling that God put o life while in Prattville.

And that was to start a mentoring program.

And, you know, my mentoring program was called brother to brother and sister to sister, it had a lot of men and women that helped with that program throughout the years.

And I think it was at that time that God really planted that seed in me to start mentoring more.

Mr. Brock has always had this, like this vision.

He's always wanted to be an impact on African-American males, period.

And in that he actually came to me and just said, "Ms. Garrett, I really wanna start a mentoring program."

And I was like, "Okay, okay, what is that gonna look like?"

And he talked about what it look like, and he talked about the whys behind it.

I was walking by a young man in the hallway and he had been sleepy.

And so I decided to just circle back and ask him why is he sleeping in this teacher's class, day after day after day?

And I found out he was taking care of his siblings at the house, and mom was working around the clock.

And I said, "You know what?

I need to start staying after school and start mentoring these young pe."

And I was like, "You know what, Mr. Brock, I think that's a great idea."

Because even at that time, we had a lot of young men who were in single-parent households, who really had a lot that they could give, but they had no one to really pick them up and show them the manly ways in order to be better than when they are.

And so we just jumped right in.

There were no discussions about it.

Let's do it.

[Narrator] One school located within walking distance from where Dr. King laid the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement and preached many of his famous sermons, is looking to change the narrative.

♪ Who's got my back?

♪ ♪ I got your back, I got your back ♪ ♪ Right to the left to the right to the front to the back ♪ ♪ Woo, I got your back ♪ ♪ Right to the left to the right to the front to the back ♪ ♪ Woo, I got your back, bro ♪ ♪ Do clap.

♪ And I always had a vision of starting an all male school all the wack to my day's mentoring.

We found a group of men here in Montgomery who had been praying for school, some very influential people here in Montgomery.

And we got together and started meeting on.

Like, what would that look like to open up an all male school?

Fred and I took a year.

We traveled the Southeast region, went to Birmingham, Nashville, we went to Mississippi, just looking at other schools, did some professional development.

And Fred and I actually had the opportunity to walk door to door to start recruiting young people to go to the school.

You know, in Montgomery, when you say all boy school, a lot of people were uncomfortable about it.

But we walked the community in West Montgomery, we went door to door.

We had way more nos than yes.

Fast forward to fall of 2015, Valiant Cross Academy opened.

We opened our doors to 30 awesome, amazing young people.

Valiant Cross motto!

We are Valiant Cross Academy, our God is mighty.

We will rise above with honor, we will rise above with discipline, we will rise above with integrity, we will rise above with excellence, we will rise above with love, we are Valiant Cross Academy.

In this place , young men rise above.

So one thing that I noticed just with the parents, they really want their kids to be here.

I mean, it is just like, "I really want my baby to be here.

What can we do to get my child into the school?

What can we do to keep my child within this school?"

So the hunger level for the parents and just having their child here at Valiant Cross is extremely high.

I've never seen something like that before.

They really are bright and brilliant, and they have so much to offer the world, except that they just can't see it right now.

And they put up their own barriers, not realizing that you're really creating your own barrier when you can just take a moment, be educated, you know, be motivated, know that at the end of the day, you're going to be brilliant and you're gonna offer this world something that no other will ever see.

And some of the things I tell them a lot is I'm gonna be sitting in the chair one day at my home and I'm gonna be watching television and I'm gonna se them and I'm gonna go, "Oh yes."

And I knew you would be right there where you are today.

You are either a CEO of the company, or yes, you're the judge of this, you know, really, really famous case.

So I try to like let them see who we see, that way they can see that within themselves.

If you really walk around Montgomery and you assess the entire city and you look at those areas, compared to the east side or Pike Road, what do you see?

There's no amenities, there's no community outreach programs, community centers.

The streets are bad, there's no economic development.

Washington Park community is the lowest capital income places in America.

One of them, at the bottom.

If you put people in economic depress situations, where there's a scarcity of resources, and there's not enough to go around for everybody to meet their basic needs as human beings, and then you cage them up, like they're going to have the same reactions.

I don't care what color they are.

Bring your young men in to Valiant Cross Academy.

We wanna make him good, strong husbands, strong fathers, great citizens, and eventually leaders in Montgomery throughout the world.

(orchestral music) Without Valiant Cross, I wouldn't be in this position that I am now.

Being able to go to Valiant Cross is special to me because I've gain experiences and moments in my life that I have not did before.

Valiant Cross changed my life a lot.

At first, I was a bad kid.

I got suspended almost every time I went back to school, but Valiant Cross has helped me with my anger a lot and attitude.

I've calmed down a lot more going to Valiant Cross, like discipline wise.

Mr. Brock, you know, he instilled so much in us to try to make us be great, like later on in life.

And you know, it helped me out a lot because before I got there, I didn't have, you know, as much as, you know, knowledge and stuff.

But when I got to Valiant Cross, he kind of helped me out.

When I first went, I didn't see any interest into the school, but until I went there for a minute and started getting used to the teachers and the staff, I see that they made me a better person in the future.

Valiant Cross Academy made me a better young man, because it basically motivated me.

Like Mr. Brock, he motivated me.

And the teachers and staff, they really care about us.

Some of these kids come from an environment or, you know, neighborhoods, where they're not exposed to a lot of things, man, you know.

When they come here, we give them that opportunity.

We provide opportunities for them to be excellent and see things that they never dream of seeing.

Exposure is the key, exposure helps to breathe the educational tools that young people need, that they don't necessarily can see.

Oftentimes if you live in an area and you don't have any exposure, you don't know what you could be.

You know, you aren't put into the position to be challenged, to be anything other than what you've already seen in the community.

If we can give these young people the same opportunities, you know, if a young person does not matter here in Montgomery, if a young person's born in East Montgomery, West Montgomery, north, or south, if they have these opportunities put before them, I believe that they will succeed on the same trajectory of those who have those things.

[Narrator] Exposure is critical.

The leaders of Valiant Cross Academy ensure the scholars are presented with opportunities that will expand their horizons.

Once such opportunity is the Red Tail Scholarship Foundation.

(orchestral music) I'll start the fuel flow then next up.

I'm scared.

Please Lord.

(airplane roaring) [Camera Man] What's that bag for?

This is a bag just in case I throw up.

I'm scared.

This is same altitude, which is 4,500 feet, right?

So I'm gonna give you the controls.

You ready to fly?

Yes, sir.

And my only instruction is go straight this direction and then hold level flight.

You have the airplane.

I have the airplane colonel.

Got it.

[Reporter] We're three miles straight now, colonel -(indistinct).

-Right there.

There you go.

All right.

So back to the right, just a little bit more.

(indistinct chatter) Take it back to the right.

You can smile please.

My first flight, it was crazy, man.

But I tell you, it's a great opportunity.

Thank God for Valiant Cross and Mr. Sparrow allowing this to happen.

Because making my hope for dream come true, know first time and my family to flying a plane.

But it was crazy.

I got through it, thought I was going throw it, but good.

I ain't even need the bag, but thank God.

Well, the solution for me has always been to...

When I see a problem just to dive in.

And the way I dive in has always been through mentoring.

I tell people that, you know, I really never had any aspirations of being a principal, I just wanted to mentor young people.

And so I think it's gonna take more programs, like a lot of the programs that are popping up here in Montgomery.

You know, we all kind of popped up in the same last four to five years, and there's a lot of great work going on.

And these people are actually living and walking life with these young people, disciple them along the way, holding their hand and whatever the case that may be.

Whether they wanna go college, whether they wanna learn a trade, whether it's dancing they wanna do, whether it's poetry, art, whatever it is they want to do, we need to partner these people with people that can show them the way to do that.

And I'm talking about mentorship in your academics, mentorship in your social, mentorship in your career, mentorship and your spiritual.

You gotta have all of those things, I believe.

If you wanna start to see the scale tip back in the positive direction, specifically for African-American males, but for everybody in the country for that matter.

I decided to host a manhood summit under the foundation that we started in my brother's name and had the honor of having Mr. Anthony Brock, come and be our keynote speaker.

And these were young men that really didn't wanna be there, but we got them there, 50 young Black boys, and to have males from the community.

Preachers and fraternity brothers and Mr. Brock come down and pour into them on that day, I saw a shift could take place in every last one of those young men.

Mr. Brock came in the room and he commanded the room and he told every one of them that they had more in them.

He made them get up and sit up straight in their chair.

And I'm telling you, since that day, I've had mothers calling me, telling me that they've seen a difference in their child and their son.

When is the next one?

This is one young man.

Matter of fact, I think at this time, he was the second strongest guy on the football team here in Montgomery.

I have witnessed 'cause his mom put me on the list to check him outta school.

I went to check him out one day because we was gonna do... We was doing an assembly down in Georgia and Alabama.

So the principal came out.

He said, "I don't know what you're doing, but whatever it is you're doing, keep doing it."

He said, "I was about to kick this guy school."

He said, "Cause two years ago he was in the alternative school for punching up the assistant principal, knocking him out."

And he said, "And this guy used to walk down the hall.

People would move out of the way because he's coming."

He said, "But now he wanna walk down the hall with his Bible and preaching to people."

He said, "So whatever you're doing, keep doing."

So just with him.

And there's many more stories like that where we seen them go for angry.

Matter of fact, he text me on the way here from angry to just one of the most loving people that it is.

Ms. Jones is just not my teacher.

I also see Ms. Jones in the community.

I also see Ms. Jones at my church.

I also see Ms. Jones really talking to my mom and have a conversation with my mom and, you know, telling my mom like, "Oh, you know, he's falling asleep in class.

I'm really concerned about that because he's brilliant."

So majority of time, whenever I put, I tell them, you know, "Hey, I see more of these."

I also also hit the sword.

Let's just decide to say something bad like, "Hey, you know, I'm highly disappointed that you're not paying attention in class today."

I always flip that on the back end and say, "Because you're brilliant, because you can do better.

You know, you can run this school one day."

And oftentimes when you come from where our young men come from, dignity, identity, and significance is a huge thing.

We all searching for it even if we don't know we looking for dignity, identity, and significance, right?

You know, dignity ask the questions, you know, what am I worth?

Identity the ask the question, who am I?

You know, and significance ask the question, what is my purpose?

So if I don't know those three things, you know, I'm pretty much in bad shape and I'm trying to figure it out.

And the streets is teaching me this stuff.

[Narrator] The crime rate has risen dramatically over the past five years.

A young life lost in Montgomery shortly after 1:00 AM on Thursday.

16 year old Jaylan Saunders shot to death while inside his house at the corner of Hill and Dillard Streets.

Those are daily's crimes.

They don't have the strength, they're cowards.

[Narrator] The staggering numbers have caused people to band together.

If you know anything, don't be silent.

No more.

[Narrator] In the past, people of color marched for a different purpose, for equality.

Now it's to stop attacks on each other.

We're tired and fed up and angry about the crime and we have to stand.

We have to come together as a community.

So to know Jaylan, always know that he is the most undeserving.

Not as if anybody was deserving of it, but Jaylan was, when you say an innocent bystander, for him to be ping in his bed and his life to be cut short.

You know, for him to go to bed not knowing that that would be his last night.

It's just definitely a feeling of not being fair.

He didn't deserve it.

And it goes back to whoever did it, whoever took his life is someone who did not value his life or other people's lives.

And for them to do that, it just impacted so many people, not only his immediate family, it impacted generations.

You know, what was he gonna become?

What were his kids gonna become?

What was he gonna have, a boy, a girl?

You know, what was his profession gonna be?

And we can never be calloused and we can never be numb to those types of situations.

We need enough people on the front line to be able to point and say that's wrong as well.

Like we can't have crime against each other in our communities as well.

And you know, Jaylan, after that, there were a lot of marches, there are a lot of rallies because a lot of people are tired of it, a lot of people want something different.

But it does go to not just being able to say, we have to stop the crime.

It's gonna take people to get into trenches in these programs that we speak about.

It's gonna take people to actually work with these young people, not to give up on them.

Because then you, of course, the narrative of two lives being lost at the same time, it's just a tragic.

And you know, my heart goes out to his family, you know, just for the boys at the school to have to be power bearers at such a young age to one of their classmates really hit home with a lot of us as well.

But I will say in 2022 when we have our first graduating class, that he will be rewarded and he will get his diploma from Valiant Cross Academy.

(orchestral music) We have another program called Flipping the 334.

I want you all to make sure that y'all take the tour.

And then when y'all take this tour, I challenge y'all, when y'all ride back to downtown, look at our community, look at all of the abandoned homes, look at all of the abandoned buildings, and then I want y'all to come back and get involved, okay?

[Narrator] Charles Lee, founder of That's My Dog Jr., is at the forefront of providing opportunities with the first ever all-teen-ran restaurant.

When my best friend get murdered at 12 years old, got shot in the forehead, 13 years old, I end up getting shot myself in the chest.

18 years old, I end up moving to Florida, selling drugs on a bigger scale, got arrest, got two felonies and ended up in jail myself.

There, I was kind of like God, you know, why my childhoods been so messed up.

And he was like, because I got a purpose for you, you know.

And when I first got locked up, when I first got the two felonies, one of them could carry a 10 year bid.

And so I was like, "Man, I definitely can't go and do 10 years of my life."

And so I was like, "God, are you for real?

Like I need to talk to you."

And he came into my life, you know.

And when I ended up giving one of the system two years of my life, and when I was down, I was kind of, you know, just reading my Bible and I got a chance to focus for real and figure out like, why was I created, what was my purpose for living?

Like, why was I here?

And why was my childhood so messed up?

And He was like, because I got a purpose for you.

Instead pretty much, I need you to kind of go back and reach as many youth as you can, and let them know like, you know, all the mistakes that you made and hope that they would never make those same mistakes.

Came back to Montgomery, Alabama and I started coaching basketball.

And my fourth year in, I thought I was doing really good, you know, coaching some young guys.

We was winning some games and losing some games.

And had a young guy who was going through a tough time, 11 years old with tattoos on his arm.

And he came one time and he was like, "Hey coach."

He was like, "Come outside."

And he was like, "Where can I hide my gun?

I don't wanna take it inside the gym."

And I ended up taking him home and seeing the situation was a lot worse.

And whenever I was gonna leave, he kinda came outside and he was like, "Coach, don't leave me here with these guys."

And he was some guys that was in there.

His brother got killed a week ago, a week prior to that incident or whatever.

And he was just like, "Take me with you."

And so God was like, "Instead of you teaching kids how to win the basketball game for a couple of hours, teach them how to win their life."

Before I came here, I was just like, all right, do college, then get a job, and then retire.

But there's more to life than just go to college and then getting more taught, then retire.

So now I'm starting to open up a T-shirt business, online marketing business, and I'm only 16.

That's our goal.

Our goal is to give kids exposure.

So we got the first ever team-ran restaurant, just because a lot of our kids really wanna work.

Overwhelmingly, they wanna work.

They just don't know how to go and secure their jobs because they don't have a lot of mentors that's telling them, you know, "Hey, this is how you dress."

They don't know they can't go in there with their pants hanging out their butt or headphones in their ear or 20 minutes late with a great excuse.

[Narrator] Purpose bears a grave responsibility.

In the heart of west side, Montgomery, Pastor Ken Austin, founder of the Mercy House, lives out his mission daily of serving the people in his community.

Well, you know, we often realize the Bible teaches us that where your heart is, your treasure would be also.

And so The Mercy House is literally the heart of New Walk Life Church.

And that's what you see.

You know, all of our treasure goes into The Mercy House because we believe that, you know, this literally is an outreach part of a church.

And I just passed St. Paul (indistinct) Church and the pastor outside on the street, you know, with a sign, "Free lunch for children."

I mean, that's what I believe churches should do.

So you see The Mercy House, but it is just a heart of a church that trying to reach a community, you know, that believed that the church should be outside of the walls, reaching people, helping people, and empowering people.

I'm a result of mentors.

So I know firsthand, you know, what it means to be 13 and not have a mom and not have a guidance.

And I know what it means to walk into a classroom, you know, when you don't have the clothes or you don't have a lunch and no one's at home, you know, helping you with your homework.

So I know the power of mentors.

I know how a person showing up that literally care and not just talking, changes the whole world.

And Pastor don't only help you inside the church, he help you outside the church.

Like not even on a Sunday, he will still...

He'll call and check on you.

And he'll take you places like just to have fun with you.

It's not many people who doing this like Pastor.

What makes The Mercy House special for me is that when I come is like, I feel comfortable.

At some places I don't feel comfortable going.

Like I feel comfortable with Pastor and the staff that helps me.

(orchestral music) [Narrator] Dr. Martin Luther king Jr. Showed so much courage when he, a young Baptist minister from Atlanta, led the Civil Rights Movement, which sparked a national outcry to end legalized racial discrimination, disenfranchisement, and racial segregation of African-Americans.

On the front lines with Dr. King in the face of oppression and injustice, stood a little girl, at only eight years old at the time.

And we're gonna take a look at eight-year-old Sheyann, with Dr. Martin Luther King explaining why she decided to march with the grownups.

Take a look.

How're you doing?

Wonderful.

Wonderful.

Why are you at march?

So we can be free and just and so other people be free.

And so troopers can't hit no one.

[Narrator] She is a firsthand witness to Montgomery then, Montgomery now, and the progress in between.

I truly believe that passion came from my growing up in the Selma Civil Rights Movement with Dr. Martin Luther King and others because it was Dr. King and so many others who touched my life when I was a little girl.

And I didn't even know at that time that I was being mentored in such a hostile environment.

And as a result of that, when I was growing up and going to college and trying to do those things that was instilled in me as that little girl, one of the things that I did not...

I never knew this.

I never placed emphasis, neither did my parents on me going to college because they couldn't afford it.

But Dr. King kept encouraging me to get the best education that I possibly can even in spite of my being poor.

And that was one of my goals as a little girl.

And while my parents couldn't afford that Ricardo, they found people to help them to send me to college.

But I always knew that whatever I did after I would have completed college, I wanted to work with young people.

[Narrator] Across the nation, fatherless homes, plague our young Black men.

And the city of Montgomery is no exception, but there are some people.

Dewayne Rembert.

[Narrator] Who are looking for ways to combat these issues.

Every week, Dewayne Rembert, founder of the Flatline Movement, meets with a group of kids for fellowship and food.

He uses this platform as a means to push these youngsters toward a higher purpose.

Because of the way that I grew up, I was got involved with the schools and like doing devotions and Bible study with the football teams and with the guys on the football teams.

And it grew so fast that the coaches was reaching out to me a lot.

Even during the day while I'm at the hotel.

I knew what the Lord wanted from me.

I just wasn't ready to accept it, you know.

I remember him telling you, you either gonna have to stop going to these schools or you gonna let this job go.

'Cause it depends on a lot of your time.

Told my wife, got God telling me to quit my job and start Flatline, you know.

Which I didn't even know what that meant.

All I knew was I supposed to help African-American, young fatherless boys.

(orchestral music) [Narrator] Children need love, children need affection.

Above all, children need fathers.

Single parent households have spite since the 1970s with Black men being primarily raised by single women without a father in the home.

The impact has been profound.

A father in the child's life, not just in the house, in his life, in proximity of his life, living there, and giving there and investing there, it's essential to a child.

People actually told me there's friends of mine who didn't have it in the house.

They've told me that, you know, back in the day, they couldn't articulate it, but they actually envied the fact that they didn't have it and I did 'cause they saw it as an obvious advantage.

And a lot of little boys in the neighborhood, for some reason, they were attracted to our house because they saw me and my brothers being taken care of.

They saw that we had food on our table every single day.

They saw my dad an mom take us to church and they yearned for that.

But those men are very strong-willed.

They are purposeful in everything they do.

And so often these young men don't get to see that.

They typically see a male in their lives for sometimes for a short period of time and then they leave and there's never a why to why that's happening.

You know, we can relate to our young men in ways that, you know, our mothers and grandmothers and aunts never can.

Now, they can provide the love and the support and the nurturing aspect of it.

And some of our mothers and grandmothers and aunts, you know, have to be really hard on our young men because fathers aren't around sometimes.

75, 85% of African-American males are born without a father in the house.

That is a lot of the reason that they're viewed angry because the most times these young people are angry.

I mean, I just stepped out of the hallway, getting onto a young man who I know for a fact is angry at the way that he feels he's been done in the absenteeism of his father.

If the father's removed from there, then something does speaks that voice and fills that void, and oftentimes is negativity, and oftentimes is something unlearn, and oftentimes it's something very negative.

So a father in a home, in a child's life, gets the first voice to build a child, gets the first voice to strengthen and to direct the child.

And that's essential.

(siren wailing) This guy's still walking and following commands, not for taser, I think.

My twin brother, Terence Crutcher, was shot by a White police officer in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

And if you saw that tragic video, you would hear police officers in the helicopter say one phrase, "He looked like a bad dude."

[Police officer] That looks like a bad dude too, could be onto something.

And I don't know what a bad dude looks like from 20,000 feet up in the air.

But the only thing I would suspect that they meant was he was Black.

And so I feel that the society as a whole, they view Black men as bad dudes, guilty, dangerous, simply because of the color of their skin.

I'm not gonna talk about politics.

[Man] Okay.

I'm not gonna talk about voting, but what I want you all to do is listen to me when I tell you about the Black experience.

This country promised me that if I work hard, that if I did everything the right way, that if I committed to making myself great, I can have the Acan dream.

But I'm standing up here and I'm heart broken because I went to the military at 17, I woke up in war when I was 18, I saved 41 lives by the time I was 19.

I went to college, I went to law school, only to find out that at the end of the day, I'm still a (beep).

And every day I wake up and I experience trauma Trauma just by this skin that I didn't ask for.

And I don't understand it.

Why do they hate me because I'm Black?

Why am I constantly being treated wrong just because of the skin that I'm in?

I don't understand racism.

And there are not enough people who understand this experience because they're not us.

[Man] They'll never understand, brother.

And then because you don't understand it, you don't take it serious.

And you sympathize with everybody, except for the people who look like me.

When I go to the courtrooms...

When I go to the courtrooms, I see nothing but people who look like me.

I see the judges giving everybody the benefit of a doubt except for the people who look like me.

This is Montgomery, Alabama, the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement.

[Audience] Yeah.

We need to start acting like it.

[Audience] Yeah.

The country trends because of Montgomery, it changed because of us.

[Man] Take it back.

This is a state that started making people treat everybody like they're human.

[Narrator] The warmth of love is essential.

And with police brutality now being a leading cause of death for African-American men, to them, the world seems so cold.

The negative labels have created many obstacles for people of color.

Some may say, why even try?

But it leaves many with the burning question, who loves me?

[Tiffany] I believe that love covers a multitude of faults.

And it's very important that you instill that in children at an early age, because based on upbringing, based on environment, based on single parent homes, based on not having a mom or dad, that shapes a child's future, it shapes how children tend to, I would say, display love and affection toward other individuals.

And I believe that it's very important that we speak life into our young Black men, our young little girls, because they don't believe... A lot of these children, they don't believe that they they're valued.

They don't know their worth unless somebody tells them.

[Anthony] How can I hear you?

How can I know you genuinely got the best interest from heart if I don't know you love me, you know?

And I think it's huge because that's how we do break down a lot of barriers by just showing them that we love them.

Just the simple I got your back sometimes works.

You know what I'm saying?

Because if you never had had nobody to have your back, just knowing that this person that loves you, they got your back, you know, that you can accomplish anything because you got somebody in your corner that genuinely loves you.

[Angel] One thing I think that's so awesome about Valiant Cross Academy and our opportunities of what we're able to do is to build relationships with our scholars.

And in that, we show them top love sometimes because they don't think that anything good is gonna come of what they do.

So building those relationships require for us to learn who they really are and what they're wanting in life.

And then to continuously remind them that you can do this because sometimes they doubt themselves and they push back because they've seen so often others that haven't done well, and haven't been successful in anything that they've tried to do.

And so as a faculty and a staff, and just literally the ones that are invested in these boys, that's one thing that we try really, really hard to do, is to actually wrap our arms around them, love them like they're our own, because to us, they are our own.

(orchestral music) [Bryan] These young men sitting in this corner are at a courageous school here in Montgomery that I'm really proud exists.

And this school exists to help young boys of color, find their true passion and their true ability.

And my prayer, my hope, my vision, is that one day will be able to live in this country without being presumed dangerous or guilty.

[Students] Be prepared, follow procedures, be accountable for yourself, be resourceful, ask for help, be safe, be a team player.

All right.

Two claps.

[Students clapping] [Students] Jesus.

Do y'all look excellent 'cause I wanna hear?

Excellent.

[Students] Yo.

Excellent, excellent.

[Students] Yo, yo.

All right.

You're not just teaching, you're a mother, you're a counselor.

You are sometimes, you know, referee, you know, because you gotta tell them just to calm down.

You sit on that side, you sit on that side.

You know, a lot of times, one of my pet peeves is like this, when people call them anything but amazing, you know, they've been called at risk, they've been called angry, they've been called ADHD.

And that's something that I believe a lot of times, I do strongly believe that it's a war going on and we have to fight harder for these boys than the enemy or whoever else would fight against them.

But we really gotta make them feel like they're worth a lot.

That they're brilliant.

And it's not just the feeling, it's the truth.

Because they all have a story and they all have a need.

They really are bright and brilliant.

And they have so much to offer the world.

So in the culture and in the DNA here, we really tell them like, you guys, you come from greatness, like it's not a norm or it's not out of the norm for you to do the things that you're able to do here at Valiant Cross.

And we do expose them to a lot of things.

They go to college campuses, we have guys who are flying in airplanes.

We have some guys who are speaking Korean.

Our athletic programs are at Selma, but it's all because we have a lot of high expectations and a lot of love on our young people here.

And I just believe that my father was the equalizer in my life.

And I think the more young people we can touch, generation wise and breaking curses and just generationally years down the road, it's gonna be exciting to see what happens with these young men here at Valiant Cross Academy.

(students chattering) Hey man, y'all out here working hard.

Keep working hard.

(students chattering) When I get done with high school, I wanna start my own business.

I wanna be a pharmaceutical chemist, a defensive attorney, or I may just go with sports.

It's gonna be an amusement park.

So once I get done with college, which is probably gonna take about seven years 'cause of what I'm trying to do, I'm gonna have to find myself some investors to start an amusement park.

I'm gonna place the first amusement park in the major cities.

I wanna go to college.

I wanna be a pilot.

All right, I just believe in the power of mentoring.

Mentoring to me personally has been the most rewarding.

I don't wanna call it a profession, I wanna say calling that I've ever had on my life.

And I do believe in mentoring.

I believe that there are a lot of people who have been exposed to things who have had those experiences in life, who have had those educational experiences as well as just real life experiences that need to pass those on to the next generation.

I think that at is a lost art, mentoring was a byproduct of just how people grew up like in the '60s, '70s, and '80s here in Montgomery.

Like the pride they had in their schools, like the George Washington Carvers or the Booker T. Washington High Schools and St Jude's.

Because it was strong mentoring relationships that they had with their teachers, their pastors, and youth, just youth leaders in the community.

And I believe that if we all get back to understanding our role to mentor young people, I think we'll all be better off.

[Narrator] In the face of so many hardships and obstacles, these kids need guidance.

They need someone to help them navigate through the harsh realities of life.

They need someone to help them rewrite their narrative.

Simply put, they need mentors.

So it's time for the jump out, boys.

Again, it doesn't matter.

We'll come to your house.

We understand that people don't wanna come to school during this pandemic, and that's okay.

But if you're at home, you gonna do your work.

We're coming to your house, guys.

We don't have our van, but we on the back of a truck.

Coming to get you.

Coming to get you.

Let's go, baby.

You just want to do your work, man.

That's all.

Just do your work.

Just turn your assignments in on time, don't be late.

If it's easy, then I question whether or not you're actually making impact.

It's supposed to be rough.

You're supposed to have days when you walk away beaten, worn down, and quite frankly, asking yourself, do I really wanna do this?

And so I believe that a lot of people communicate, but very few people connect and we have to get proximate to these babies because it's easier to build strong men and strong women than it is to repair broken men.

March the 12th, 47 years ago, I was looking into a casket, my mom's funeral.

I was a 13-year-old kid.

My mom had a heart attack and died.

And on March the 12th, 1972, we buried her.

And the next day was a whole different world that I never recognized.

Before, intact family, clothes ironed, going to school.

Before, lunch packed, homework checked, put to bed on time, and woken up in the morning, go to school, breakfast.

That was the life I had March the 6th before my mom passed.

March the 12th, after we buried her, it was a whole different world.

No one was there to do those things.

And so it took community.

It took for me mentor.

It took outside sources to guide me from 13 to 19.

You know, just like the younger man that we started off, that was my first mentee.

When God told me to show him how to win more than basketball games by how to win their life.

Like he changed my life like I changed his because all of these kids give me purpose.

You know, I'll probably be doing the same thing that got me locked up the first time if I didn't have purpose.

I think that's what the mentor does.

The mentor helps you guide purpose and find a purpose.

Because what are you living for if you have no purpose?

But I think the ultimate transforming work comes through what Christ does in our heart.

But honestly, some of our kids may or may not ever know who Christ is.

So in the meantime, I wanna modify some behavior and keep you from doing crazy stuff.

(laughs) You know what I'm saying?

What I'm saying?

And so I'm one of those guys I'm like, "Yo, my faith is evident in what I do, but even if you don't accept it, you know, let's give you something that's gonna enhance your education.

Let's give you something that's gonna show you how to be economically sustainable.

Let's give you something that's gonna keep that gun or whatever outta your hand, to keep you from destroying yourself and destroying others.

You know what I'm saying, what I'm saying?

And so I think mentors are in the position to save lives.

I think they're a conduit that I feel like the law uses to kind of dig people out of a tough situation.

Come on, we see this guy living with his mom.

Ain't no male, no positive male influence his life.

Make an effort to go build a relationship.

Take them out to get some wings, meet some of they natural needs.

You know what I'm saying?

Basic stuff.

Especially they in high school, get them some school clothes, you know.

Help them meet their natural needs and then teach them about Jesus.

But it's gonna take the men, the church, that's the answer.

The gospel fix every crack that's wrong with society.

The gospel, it closes the crack, but we carry the gospel.

So if we don't take the gospel to them, then how we gonna close the doors?

How we gonna fix the crack?

(orchestral music) And I lived and was formed.

I feel my formative years, the man that I am today was developed in South Carolina from '78 to '83.

And I've been away from South Carolina since 1983, but I'm a fruit of that product.

And I delivered from what was put inside.

And that's what I believe fruit means for me is that what you pour in is what you can expect from the vine.

If you pour into children, you pour into young men, you pour into young people, you can expect that fruit to produce.

I've been mentoring and I've been working with young people over 15 years.

And now I'm really beginning to see a lot of those fruit from the seeds that I planted early on.

A lot of those seeds, I didn't even know would even yield the fruit that they are yielding, like yourself.

But it's just good to always mentor.

And don't worry about what's going on around you.

I just keep running, I keep moving forward, I keep correcting, I keep loving on them and you know, I think at the end, I always say that if my funeral is not packed, maybe I hadn't made the impact I need to make.

And that's just something I firmly believe in.

I just wanna impact as many people as I can.

I just wanna wake up every day and know that I made a difference.

And know that I touched somebody.

There's an old song that says, "If I could just help somebody."

An old gospel song.

As I travel along the way, then my living won't be in vain.

If I could just help one little girl, that's struggling with self-esteem.

One little boy who's suicidal.

One elderly veteran, then my living won't be in vain.

And so I wanna make sure that when I go to my grave, I leave this world empty because they say the richest place in the world is the graveyard.

So many people leave this earth not tapping into their God-given purpose, not tapping into those gifts that God gave them.

I wanna leave empty, I wanna pour everything outta me that God instilled in me into these kids.

A whole lot of people who have had an opportunity to plant seeds in my life and touch me in a very unique way to make me understand and appreciate them and to know the difference in terms of who put me on the right path based upon the seeds in which they planted in me from theruits, from their sacrifices to make me the person that I am today.

All of us are producing some type of fruit in somebody life.

Whether we are doing it intentionally or not because people are watching us.

So you really need to ask yourself, what type of seed am I planting that's gonna produce what kind of fruit?

Because you're producing fruit, bad fruit, good fruit.

So fruit ties into seed, man, how you living, you know, who you loving, what they seeing, you know?

You know, I mean, that's everybody.

You know what I'm saying?

If you go to Walmart or you at the school or whatever, you know, what kind of seeds are you planting, you know?

'Cause right now we are all influential, you know.

We are all running around with a bag of seeds.

Like it or not, intentional or not, you have a bag of seeds in your pocket.

I got a bag of seeds in my pocket.

(orchestral music) Thank you.

I wanna thank everybody that gave me this present.

And I wanna say that y'all are true brothers to me.

I thank y'all for coming today.

(slow theme music)