- [Announcer] Production and distribution of City Club forums on Idea Stream Public Media are made possible by PNC and the United Black Fund of Greater Cleveland Incorporated.

(upbeat energetic music) (crowd chattering) (bell clanging) - Good afternoon, and welcome to the City Club of Cleveland, where we are devoted to conversations of consequence that help democracy thrive.

It's Friday, February 18th, and I'm Artis Arnold, senior vice president at Huntington National Bank and a City Club board member.

It's my pleasure to welcome you to our forum today as a part of Key Bank's Diversity Thought Leadership series.

Starting in just a few hours, the NBA All Star weekend will begin.

Over the next few days, our city will celebrate the accomplishments and contributions of the NBA community, and also shine a spotlight on everything we love about Cleveland, including our vibrant neighborhoods and communities, our thriving small and local businesses, and of course our food and hospitality.

As a part of these celebrations, we are joined in conversation here today by two exceptional leaders who are driven relentlessly by innovation, leadership and entrepreneurship.

Mayor Justin Bibb was born and raised in Cleveland, and grew up in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood on the Southeast side of Cleveland.

At 34 years old, Mayor Bibb has been called a political newcomer, but he has strong track record and dedication to both public and private sectors.

He has been a pivotal force in numerous community initiatives and nonprofit startups.

Justin Bibb became our 58th mayor here in Cleveland in January, 2022, taking office with a promise to modernize city operations and to work in partnership with business community and the local community.

Baron Davis was born in Los Angeles and grew up in South Central area.

He was drafted with the third overall pick in the 1990 NBA draft by the Charlotte Hornets, and became a two-time NBA all star before joining the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2011.

(audience cheering) Yeah, during his years in the NBA, Mr. Davis was constantly listening, learning, networking, and connecting both on the court and off the court, which ignited a successful post-NBA business career.

He has been dubbed a serial entrepreneur, a creator of thought-provoking content in digital platforms, and an investor in startups created with the purpose to impact society and to encourage change, particularly around financial literacy.

So what can we learn today about leadership, entrepreneurship and Black excellence?

As in every City Club forum, you can participate with questions.

Text them to (330)541-5794. that's (330)541-5794.

You can also tweet them at, @thecityclub.

We'll try to work them in.

Members and friends of the City Club of Cleveland, please join me and welcoming Baron Davis and Mayor Justin Bibb.

(audience applauding) - [Baron] It was a good intro.

Can y'all hear me?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Is this mic working?

- Yeah.

- [Baron] Okay, I'm over here, hello Cleveland.

- [Audience] Hello.

- I have the honor of being here with the most popular man in the city, of the state.

- Until it snows.

- Until it snows.

(audience and speakers laughing) That's not true.

Everybody wants to leave now.

- Yeah, yeah.

They're like, "Oh, it was so great, till it snowed."

Hi, I'm Baron Davis.

I represent BIG, Business Inside the Game.

So we started a company called BIG that is really about, you know, figuring out how to use what we do as athletes and as business people, creatives, to transition.

And so what is our DNA, right?

What drives you from, you know, a basketball player to an entrepreneur, business person to philanthropics, right?

And so I say, we start this conversation and get this conversation going by, I wanna know from you, Mr. Mayor, like the business, the business inside the game of Black excellence, right?

What does that mean to you, right?

And what does that mean, you know, also to this run and what you wanna do for the city of Cleveland?

- Well, it's February and we're celebrating Black History Month, and I think our history as a people is rooted in resilience.

I mean, we've been on this journey for freedom since we landed on America's shores.

But our origin story was in Black excellence, in the motherland.

- Absolutely.

- And we can't forget that.

And when I decided to make this crazy run for mayor, a lot of folks thought I was crazy.

They said I should wait my turn.

Some said I wasn't Black enough to be mayor, but as a poor Black kid growing up on Dove, one of the toughest blocks in this city, for my lived experience, I saw the greatness of what the city could become, but I also saw in my own life where this city failed my family.

You know, when my mom graduated from John Adams, she could barely read and write.

Several years ago, my cousin got murdered.

It took EMS over 40 minutes to show up.

And I don't believe that we can achieve Black excellence in Cleveland until Black people are thriving.

And I felt that government, particularly in Cleveland, government had failed Black people for far too long, and that the voters of Cleveland deserved a different brand of Black political leadership in this moment, coming out of George Floyd, coming out of COVID-19, and that's what led to our run and our successful victory last November.

- Love that, love that.

(audience applauding) Feel free to clap, and then also taking it a step further, right?

It's demonstrating that, you know, with this run that there needs to be an established Black excellence, right?

But then also, what is your view on inclusivity and diversity through the Black eye?

- Well, I've had a very interesting kind of career arc and journey.

I'm only 34, but now I've years working as an executive at some of the highest parts of corporate America, from Gallup to Key Bank.

Went to some of the most prestigious institutions in the world, the London School of Economics, American University, Case Western for my JDBA.

And I remember getting a performance review one year, and on my review it said you know, "Justin is too prepared for meetings."

(Baron and audience laughing) The second thing they said on the performance review was, "He dresses too much for the job."

(Baron and audience laughing) - So you have a society, particularly in corporate America that says, "Don't be too excellent, but just excellent enough," right?

And I think what's happened is America hasn't gotten used to what Black excellence truly means.

- Come on.

- Right?

And you saw this after we elected Barack Obama as President.

And I know y'all were excited with joy.

You saw the media saying, "Is this the era of post-racial politics?"

And you know, you go to the barbershops and the churches, we knew this wasn't the era of post-racial politics, right?

(audience laughing) But for the first time America saw Black Camelot, and you saw this White fear come out in a way that we haven't seen since the era of Jim Crow.

And you're seeing this right now in Washington, DC.

And so America has to come to grips with the fact that over the next 10, 15 years, we are gonna be a majority minority nation.

And the future of America is rooted in Black excellence.

But our politics, our politics at every level of government has to catch up to that.

- Yeah I truly, I totally agree.

(Baron and Justin and audience laughing) I totally agree, it's like, you know, when you're thinking about it it's, we've been living in systems, right?

We've been appropriating ourselves in systems, right?

To work our way up the chain, to move up into this place of, let's call it semi-excellence, because you can't be too excellent because you know, the media or somebody'll sue you, you know what I mean?

So there's no examples of supreme excellence, because the system doesn't really allow that, you know what I mean?

And I think that, you know, for this new generation of youth, right?

The Gen Z, they're not asking us, right, for opportunities, they're not asking us for access, they're demanding it.

- [Justin] And they take it.

- And they're taking it.

And I think, you know, for you it's, you know, just kind of reading up, I feel like you embody- - Thank you.

- Right?

What this next generation is talking about.

Like, you're gonna take the opportunity.

You're gonna take the access, right?

You're gonna give the access, but talk about like your relationship, I know we're all, you know, of the, I don't know, millennial baby boomers, baby boomers, whatever.

But to the youth, like how do we bridge the gap, right?

From this room to the All Star weekend panels for the tech, the, you know, the younger generation that's, that's feening for the opportunity to be in a room like this.

- Well, I think as a Black man who came out of poverty, you know, I know my grandparents, for many of us, the dream was get out the hood, go to the suburbs, get that mansion, retire, and that's the American dream.

- Right.

- Right?

But it's created this divide where we've left many of our brothers and sisters and cousins and uncles and aunties- - In the hood.

- Are trapped In that system.

And I experienced this too growing up, where my friends were like, "Why are you going to after school programs?

Why are you reading all them books," right?

Because that's what I thought I had to do to achieve greatness, to achieve excellence.

But we can't forget where we came from, and we can't lose that proximity to the people.

That's I think how you bridge that gap.

And one of the things that I continue to believe in, and not just as I was a candidate, but now as the mayor of Cleveland is that policy, policy has to be rooted in the everyday experiences of people.

You know, just last night I was in Collinwood with Ms. Caroline Peak and other community activists talking about the importance of what my administration has already accomplished in just 40 plus days since being mayor.

And I made a commitment during the campaign to Ms. Dolores Houston, that win lose or draw, I was coming back, and I came back.

Because for a long time, politicians show up on your door, if they knock on your door to ask for your vote, and they make promises, then you don't hear from them again, until it's time to run for reelection.

We have to keep listening as leaders.

But not just in politics, but in business, and our foundation sector as well.

Because if you don't listen to your customer or the people you're serving, you're gonna lose that connectivity to make real change long term.

- I love that.

- Yeah, so- - Hold on, I got the personality question.

I got one more question for you, man.

- I'm trying to throw some assist to you too, man.

- I know, I know, but I told you, I told you I talk a lot.

I can talk forever, but I can ask questions.

You know, I like asking questions.

I wanna give a shout out to my co-host from my podcast.

This guy, Jason Zone, he's the third famous person.

NBA host, NBA host, Cleveland native.

- Yes he is.

- So I wanted to give him a shout out, y'all support that man.

(audience applauding) Works with the NBA, ESPN.

So we got, you know, we got a few celebrities.

We talk like, you're different.

You know how we say, "Oh, he different."

- I'm different.

- Yeah, he different.

Oh, he different, you know what I mean?

Like you're different, right?

You're different.

Talk about, I would say leadership, right?

Talk about leadership and not being afraid to lead with who you are.

I'm talking about personality, spirit, right?

I know that's how you became, you know, the mayor, but it's, people believe in you because of who you are, right?

- It took time, right?

You know, I think every leader has a natural evolution to feel comfortable in their own skin.

You know, when I was growing up, I was called the Oreo.

They said, "Why you speak like a White boy," right?

And that creates some kind of self-doubt, but it was through that pain where I gained confidence to know that being a Black man who understands the King's English, but can also go to the barbershop or play pickup ball with the best of them, and talk to, it required a level of authenticity, but confidence in who I am as a Black man to say that my Black experience is very different than your Black experience, right?

And that's okay, right?

But I think the greatness of any leader is being able to listen, and being able to find what we have in common to bring people together.

And I think one of my strengths is being able to listen and the listening never stopped for me as a leader, and it can't stop for any of us, if you wanna see real change long term.

- Totally, totally, totally give you that.

- Now is that my turn?

- Yeah, go ahead.

(audience laughing) - So one of the things I really admired about your career Baron, is this quick shift.

And I think you're one of the first athletes to go from being an NBA star to VC, technology, investing.

What were some of the challenges you experienced in making that shift?

- I would say for me, it was like, it's very similar.

It's like, you grow up in South Central and like you get, I went to a private school.

So I was like, I would say I was the Fresh Prince of Bel Air with no Bel Air, no Uncle Bill, you know what I mean?

And no mama, you know what I mean?

But it was cool.

Like I got access, you know, and I always say, like the first time I actually met White people was in seventh grade.

- Wow.

- You know what I mean?

And so, outside of sports and competition.

So like that same thing of, I'm living in Beirut, South Central Los Angeles, and I'm going to school in Disneyland, you know what I'm saying?

And so I would say for me, it was every day, every day that I didn't quit, and every day that I felt like I belonged or I could fit in, you know, what I mean is a day that I started fitting out.

And I never fit in and I always stood out or fit out.

And so I had to figure out, how do I live in this medium, right?

In this middle ground, and what is my responsibility?

And my responsibility was going to have, I was going to have to be the person that starts building the bridge.

And so inviting my South Central homeboys to like, winter formals.

And they're like, "Man, what the, you bring me here for?

All these White people."

They think they're gonna get arrested or something.

I'm like, "No bro, that's cool," you know what I mean?

And taking White kids to South Central and being like, "Yo, you wanna stay the night?"

And they're like, "Hell no, I'll drop you off, and I'm headed back across the 405."

(audience laughing) You know?

- Yeah.

- But I think working in, you know what I mean, working in that, working in that gave me the confidence to say, "You know what?

I'm gonna position myself to like, stand firm."

- Yeah, talk about the learning curve though, to becoming a technology investor.

You're, you know, doing a lot of work in the crypto, NFT space.

How- - Curiosity.

- Yeah?

- Curiosity, just being a sponge.

And it was gonna be one of my questions to you, since like, since I know education is huge.

Is it education or is it experience, right?

Because I did, I wasn't that great in school, in high school, I passed and you know, college, I wasn't that great, but I made like straight As.

I know how to like, finesse the system, you know what I mean?

(audience laughing) And the system doesn't work for, it was the experience.

And so I think for me, it was like being a sponge.

Taking internships, asking people what they do, right?

So listening to, listening.

listening to conversations of how people communicated and then trying to mimic that, right?

In different elements.

And so I think for me, it was like the curiosity of being in venture, the curiosity of being in tech, I was my own agent when I was 21 years old.

- Wow.

- So I had to listen.

- Wow.

- 'Cause I was terrified.

I had no help, you know what I mean?

I had no mentors at the time and I was just in the NBA.

Like, "Hey, as long as I don't give my 6% to an agent, I'll be fine," right?

And I had to figure that out by putting myself in positions where I would feel uncomfortable until I became comfortable.

- Going over to the, kind of the social justice, activism side of this conversation.

I know a lot of us were outraged when I believe Laura Ingram told LeBron he should just shut up and dribble.

And what we've seen over the last seven, eight years is this rise of athletes taking a stand.

And Cleveland has been at the vanguard of this.

We know that Cleveland was the place where they had the famous summit.

Where Ali joined, you know- - Jim Brown.

- Jim Brown and Carl Stokes and others, to talk about Civil Rights Movement.

Being an athlete, being an entrepreneur, where do you think this moment is going, and how do you think we could leverage, you know, athletes and sports to really drive long-term systemic change in our respective communities?

- That's a great question.

I think one, we gotta look at, we gotta look at the heart and the DNA of the person, right?

And we gotta pawn our chips on the right person.

You know what I mean?

And then from that point we gotta start connecting the right groups of people together in order to selfishly get our mission across, right?

So it has to be this unselfish way of thinking, but also with this selfish approach to executing, right?

So we got the Cleveland Cavaliers here.

We got the Cleveland Indians.

we got the Cleveland Browns, and I'm sure- - Guardians.

- Guardians.

- Cleveland Guardians.

- What?

(audience laughing) - We forgot to put that in the briefing, it's okay.

They changed the name.

- Today?

- No.

- Last week?

- A couple.

(laughing) (audience laughing) - Sorry.

- It's all good, man.

- I like that, Guardians.

- I feel like a newspaper.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well Washington is the Commanders, so.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- All right, sorry about that, if any of y'all are Guardians fans.

- It's all food, it's all good, it's all good.

Go guardians.

- Go Guardians.

- Go Guardians.

(audience laughing) - Wow, okay.

But there are players.

(laughing) - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- On those teams, and I think the players are really aligned with one, trying to connect with the community, right?

The players are really trying to, you know, make the investments, right?

They're, they come from it.

I always say like, we gotta figure out a way to get the people who are closer to the problem- - Right.

- Right?

To give them the access and the resources to be closer of the solution.

- [Justin] Absolutely.

- And then you use NBA players and athletes, right?

Because we're not afraid to get next to the problem, right?

And then you use that as your megaphone, as your satellite, right?

And including a lot of these people, right?

In our conversation, not excluding them from, you know, don't just have an athlete show up at your event just for an appearance, and you don't talk to them.

That is a waste, right?

That is a waste for your foundation.

That is a waste for your company.

So I think that we're not, we need to like, start scratching off the scar tissue.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Right?

Start scratching off like the fakeness, you know?

Start like being okay being honest, being okay being insecure, being okay being ignorant.

You know what I mean?

Because that is how we're going to solve problems, right?

And get to the root of issues.

And so I think for athletes, it's like, it's important for us find our way with the people who are doing the right things.

And I think it's important that the people who are trying to find us set it up.

So when we come, we know that there's an opportunity for us to engage, right, and execute, and basically pass it on, pass it forward.

- Great, I got one future forward question for you.

Crypto in 10 years, where we at?

- That's a question for you.

(laughing) - I'm asking you.

- I'm investing.

- You're the expert.

- I think, you know, one, I look at, kinda like just crypto to blockchain as an opportunity for people who have never had opportunities to have an opportunity for, you know, another form of financial, you know, freedom, right?

You think about all the things, and I shouldn't say this here, but you think about, 'cause we just trademarked something.

- [Justin] Okay.

- But you think about all the things that Black people complain about.

I'm gonna start with Black people, right?

There's this thing called what?

The Black dollar.

All right, there's crypto for you, that's it.

All the Black people, you buy Black dollar.

Well, you know there, that's how you change things.

But I also think in NFTs, when you're thinking about government and you're thinking about, you know, insurance, and you're thinking about foundations, and education and financial literacy, like these kids are coming into the space where they want to be, they know who they are and they know what they wanna be a part of, and they know where they wanna go.

And so school, right?

It's kind of like a distraction.

You know what I mean?

- [Justin] Unpack that for a little bit.

- School is a distraction because if you're still teaching a kid that Christopher Columbus found the, excuse me, found the United States, right?

You know, and not telling the full story and the full breadth, right?

Then you're not giving the kids the opportunity to experience that time.

And I think with crypto and blockchain and VR and things like that, kids are going to uncover, right?

I mean, you look at the pandemic.

Things were coming up and brands were raising their hands saying, "Oh yeah, we support people.

We support this, we support that."

And it wasn't true, you can't do that anymore.

And I think with the blockchain and with crypto, there's a receipt that says you own something that's an asset, that is a part of a collective in a community.

So mobilizing the youth, right?

Mobilizing the youth through art, through music, through sport, mobilizing the teams, right?

Like the Cleveland Browns can create an, Guardians can create an NFT, right?

That funds, you know, financial literacy for kids in public schools.

And every ticket sale goes towards the trade of, you know, that NFT and that crypto.

So for me like school, right?

'Cause you don't have recess.

You took recess out.

- Took art out.

- You took art out.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You took- - Music.

- Music.

- Wood shop.

Come on, let's go, you know what I'm saying?

What are we, what are we in school for?

What are we in school for, you know what I mean?

I'm sorry to say it, but like, when you look at it's like, what are we in school for, to be taught the same thing we were taught?

- Very different.

Yeah, I think you're getting to a point that I believe in, is that we are in a moment of disruption, and this pandemic I think, has accelerated a lot of these trends we thought were 10, 15, 20 years away.

It's facing us right now.

We have this issue right now in Cleveland with our school system, where a lot of our high school students aren't coming back to school because Amazon is hiring them, right?

But my fear is that they get stuck at an Amazon, that's not a pathway to a middle class lifestyle.

- Not at all.

- Right?

And so one thing we wanna do when, I have my new chief of Youth and Family Success, Sonia Pryor Jones here.

(audience cheering) One of the things we wanna test in Cleveland is, how do we disrupt public education where we are training entrepreneurs, makers, machinists, industrialists, early on in their development, so that we can build a pathway to wealth creation in high school, right?

The day where you need to go and rack up $200,000 of debt like I had to, to get a pathway to the middle class life, is completely outdated, right?

And so we need to make sure that every child can identify what is their superhero, right, strength?

And how do they drill down on that early, so they can live a life of dignity and achieve their God-given potential.

And that should be the mission, I believe, of public education in the future.

- I agree.

(audience applauding) I totally agree, it's experience.

It's experience, you know?

It's like, you can only, like I'm learning from like, I'm learning from my kids, right?

So when the, the whole thing around like, like me and financial literacy, the word, we got beef.

You know what I mean?

Because if you told me at 19 or 20 years old in the NBA, "Yo, study financial literacy," it's like financial, literacy.

That don't go together, bro.

It does not go together.

Like reading finance is not something that I can comprehend, right?

I didn't come up in that traditional system.

But if I say financial get to the money, right?

(audience laughing) - Get to the money.

We need get to the money curriculum.

You need a get to the money curriculum.

With my kids, like, "You wanna make money?"

We set up a restaurant, They want to play basketball, we treat it like their franchise, right?

And it's like, we should be able to teach real life experience.

Key Bank should go into four or five of the local public schools, right?

(audience chattering) You know what I'm saying?

Like, and give them like, give them a stock, or give them the bank, give them the license to the bank, to trade and to run as an afterschool program.

Let the Cleveland Indians, they ain't changed their name have they?

- [Justin] No, the Guardians.

- Oh my God.

So the Browns are the Browns, and the Indians are the Guardians.

- [Justin] Yes, got it.

(audience laughing) - [Baron] So I could still say Browns.

- [Justin] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- When I said Cleveland Browns, everybody was like, "Whoa."

I was like, "Y'all changed the Browns?"

Okay, Cleveland Guardians.

- We ain't changing the Browns.

- Got it, Browns, stay with the Browns.

- Yeah, stay with the Browns.

Cavs, play with the Cavs.

(Justin laughing) But the Cavs could actually adopt schools, right?

There's 30 teams in the NBA.

There's at least 30 public high schools that can all represent an NBA team, right?

And they can actually run their operations like that.

You can run the media with the media department.

You can actually run the food with the snack bar, right?

And all of that is financial literacy, because they're taking a dollar, they're exchanging a dollar.

They're working for something, right?

And that's the knowhow, that's the do.

- And I know what you're alluding to.

I think sometimes society makes things over-complicated so we don't have access.

- Right.

- Right?

And so we need to do a better job of distilling things while people can understand them in their language, in their culture that represents their values too, at the same time.

- I would say, you know, like for us, it's like, if somebody would've explained this the way we like rap, you know what I mean?

Or the way we talk, then we would've been further than we are now, you know?

And so sometimes it's that, you know, these words and these phrases, right?

You have to penetrate through them.

- Absolutely.

- In order to get to the root.

- Well, I enjoyed this conversation.

- I got one more question for you.

- Oh, okay.

- This is my last question.

- All right.

- All right, and this is a good one.

(audience laughing) This is a real good one, this is a real good one.

Now being mayor, right?

You have, you work for the people.

- Mm-hmm.

- Right?

How do you balance who you are, versus the people who you serve?

- Mm, it's a challenge every day.

Because on any given day, I have various interests telling me what I should do.

Police union, city council, preachers, unions, right?

My grandma.

(audience laughing) - [Audience Member] Go see your grandma.

- Yeah, exactly.

My leadership team.

But I always go back to the why, and why I decided to run for mayor, and why I'm in the seat now.

I'm in there to serve the people.

I'm in there because our city deserves competent, thoughtful, purpose-driven leadership.

And I'm not a politician, I'm gonna keep saying that.

I believe I'm doing God's work.

I believe I'm a servant leader.

And some days I get it right, some days I don't.

But if I keep that thing my center and keep my faith strong, then I think I'll be okay.

(audience applauding) - Keep being different.

- Thank you Brother.

- Keep being different.

- Thank you.

- Now how many points can we- - I don't know.

- How many points- - 10.

- 10 points tonight?

- We'll see.

- In the celebrity game?

- We'll see.

- I just wanna throw a oop to Miles Garrett, that's all I wanna do.

That's all I That's all I wanna do.

- Fair enough.

We're about to begin the audience Q and A.

We welcome questions from everyone, City Club members, guests, students, or those of you joining via livestream, or the radio broadcast on 90.3, Idea Stream Public Media.

If you'd like to tweet a question, please tweet it to @thecityclub.

You can also text them to (330)541-5794.

That's (330)541-5794, and we'll try to work it into today's program.

May we please have the first question?

- Good afternoon, this is really wonderful.

Mr. Davis, you made my heart skip a beat when you mentioned the importance of the truth in education.

Many people know that I'm on the state Board of Education.

And I, along with a number of other people, have been fighting some very dangerous bills.

House bill 327 and 322, which would make it illegal for teachers to teach the truth about America.

They can't talk about racism, sexism.

They can't talk about gender.

They're working very hard to weaken our students' ability to make a difference in this world.

And so I just like to hear your comments about, and I forgot to say also consequences, teachers can actually lose their license and the schools can lose their funding.

Parents can call and tell on teachers who are teaching these things.

It's really, really horrible.

So I just wanted to hear your thoughts about that.

- All right, well tell me the question again, or just- - [Meryl] The question is- - I don't know the politics side.

- Well, that's why I'm trying to break it down for you, because when you mentioned, you said school being a distraction, because we're still talking about Christopher Columbus discovering America.

Well, we have some legislators who don't want teachers to tell the truth.

They don't want from to tell that real story about Christopher Columbus, who did not discover America.

And they wanna make it illegal for teachers to teach about racism, systemic racism in America, sexism, gender, they don't, they just wanna shut them up and censor our educators with some very serious consequences.

And I just wanted to hear your thoughts on that, since you mentioned it when you were talking.

- Yeah one, I don't feel it's right.

The teacher, the parent, you know, it's like, that work hand in hand.

Sometimes the kids don't have a parent and need a teacher.

You know what I mean?

And so I believe, I mean, we all say the truth will set you free, but we, like, think about the lessons and the education we all got when we are in grade school, right?

And what they taught us about being a Black person and a White person, right?

And so the White people, or the White kid, always felt like the Black kid was going to retaliate, right?

And the Black kid always felt that he was never really accepted in this White kid's world.

And right in that moment, right?

You're not, you're teaching race, right?

But you're not telling these kids, right?

That they have nothing to do with it.

And you can't do that through textbooks, right?

So I believe that, you know, the teacher is the truth.

The parent is the truth, the community is the truth.

Now I don't know about, like, I'm not running for office or none of that.

You know what I mean?

Like I just come up with crazy ideas, but I feel like there needs to you be a structure, right?

Whether it's inside the school or after school, where, I mean, the truth has to come out, right?

Or these kids are gonna find it, and then they're not gonna trust the educational system.

They're not gonna respect the adult.

They're not gonna respect authority, right?

And they're gonna continue to lash out once they find out what the truth is, because this is an era of kids that are, they're highly sensitive, right?

They're anxious, right?

And you know, they're reactionary.

- And, and to your point Meryl, I'm very concerned about what we're seeing in these state legislatures across the country, particularly in Ohio, it's a modern form of a apartheid.

- [Meryl] It is.

- Where they're using critical race theory, they're using voter suppression laws, because they're scared of this new majority minority that's emerging.

And so we don't as a people keep showing up, not just when it's a Presidential election, but in these midyear elections as well of voting, this is not gonna change.

And so we need to make sure that in our communities, we keep organizing and mobilizing around these issues.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

(audience applauding) - We have a question that we're reading from Twitter.

"We have some of the poorest, brightest, and talented children and families in the city of Cleveland.

How can the multi-millionaires from Cleveland's sports industry assist in transforming this city without simply making token expressions of support?"

(audience member applauding) - Ooh.

(audience laughing) Okay, NFT, crypto.

I mean, crypto is the way.

I believe like a part of, you know, like the fans, the community, they can all be a part of the team's success and the team's, you know, ROI.

The team can actually make more money for the city if they tied in the community in a give-back mechanism.

It has to be once again, a collective effort, right?

And then the team has to know that whoever they're giving the money to, they've probably been giving the money to those people for a while, and those people have been doing the same stuff for the last 10, 20 years, right?

So it's, once again, we gotta break up the scar tissue, right?

We gotta break up the scar tissue, people in the hood gotta raise their hand.

You can't be jockeying for a position, trying to get in front of somebody, you know what I mean?

We gotta play the long game and understand that if we can sustain and we can impact one community with one sports team, then we can come back the next year and do it it again.

Now you got four sports teams here.

- Three.

- Three, uh-oh.

Three sports teams, y'all don't have a hockey team?

With all this snow?

- Not any more, yeah we should.

- All right, yeah, we'll talk about that.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Black-owned hockey team, bring that here.

- To that question though, I know there's a major lawsuit right now in the NFL with the former executive or coach from Miami.

And I think all sports teams at large need to do a better job of having more Black owners.

- [Baron] Absolutely.

- More Black leaders in the front office.

And I would say this, I know that I'm very keen as mayor to really reexamine how our community gets its fair share when you do these stadium deals.

- Absolutely.

- Right?

You gotta have a long-term conversation about whether or not you get all these tax breaks, but my streets still need some support.

My schools still need investment.

And so how do we bring people together in a more constructive way- - Word.

- To get a true triple bottom line, to drive the right ROI for our city long term.

- No, I love that.

- Yeah.

- Hello, so my question is, something I would call the freedom to fail.

Baron, you talk about being in the world of VC and investing in businesses, that means someone has the freedom to get something wrong, just like they have the freedom to get something right.

And so I wanted to hear a little bit more about how you vet opportunities, and what we can do to encourage people earlier in life to be okay with failure as an iterative process, to find that thing that actually works for them.

- Yeah, y'all smart, man, it is true.

(audience laughing) (laughing) I said we have to teach through failure, right?

We have to kind of encourage failure, right?

Like even my son, he's seven years old.

He loves football, he hates basketball, 'cause he sucks.

(Justin and audience laughing) And he fails every time, you know what I mean?

- [Justin] Did you tell him that?

I hope not.

- Yeah, I tell him that all the time.

Like, but he needs to know like, "Bro you are, you're not good at this.

You're good at this, but you're not good at this."

And so how do you get him, how do you get him to like, to fail, but feel like he accomplished something, right?

How do you become a VC and say, "Hey, I'm gonna raise $2 million, and I got 10 companies, right, to invest in, and I only need to do, win twice.

- Right.

- Right?

But you gotta get the $2 million, and you gotta get the access in order to have the backing and the support, right?

To know that you can fail.

Now, when we talk about, you know, systems and things like that, it ain't no system for us.

So when you fail, right?

(snapping) You get cut off.

Bad album, cut off.

Bad investment, cut off, right?

Bad deal, cut off, right?

So we have to now think about when people are failing, right?

Whoever's next or whoever's up, or the person that failed, it's not failure, it's opening up new opportunities, right?

For us to learn, right?

Listen and learn something so we can be better the next time.

So I think we have to teach through failure, right?

We have to teach our kids through failure, put them in situations where they will fail.

"You're so great over here, but you suck over here," right?

And so how do you get, how do you make them good over here, and then draw the parallel to make them understand like, "Hey, like you are very fast and quick and things like that.

And your brain doesn't work when you was playing football, like you just run.

But when you're playing basketball, you have to slow down.

Your brain has to work, you have to think, you have to stop.

You have to pivot," and you know, all these things, like he hates it, absolutely hates it.

But every day he gets better.

And every day I can point that out, and I can put where he is on, you know, at his peak, and say, "Yo, you're not gonna get too much better being great here until you try something new, in order to reinvent yourself."

Yeah, so failure is reinventing yourself.

And it's also like another form of, really like teaching, teaching success and teaching like, financial freedom.

- Well done, yeah?

- How you doing, how are you doing Mr. Mayor?

My name is Tyshon Lane, I'm a senior at Rhodes High School, and I take college courses at Tri-C, and I just wanna know what you're gonna do to help us kids in the inner city.

- [Justin] Thanks for the question.

And you say you're a senior?

- Yeah.

- [Justin] Looking at college?

What do you wanna do next?

- I'm going to college for finance.

- Okay, great.

Well maybe Key Bank can offer you an internship.

(audience laughing) (audience applauding) (Justin being drowned out by audience) On the spot, listen, I talked a little bit about our dedication to making sure that every junior and senior has access to an internship or an apprenticeship when they graduate from CMSD.

One of the things we have to do a better job at in Cleveland is making sure that the conditions of our neighborhoods are better.

I believe food deserts are a crime.

Poverty is a crime.

The lack of quality parks in our neighborhoods is a crime.

And it's my responsibility as your mayor to unwind 16 years of failed investments in these issues to make sure that every neighborhood, regardless if you're in West Park or in Mount Pleasant, can thrive.

And I'm gonna set that standard.

We may not get there in four years or eight years, but I'll tell you this, the trend will go in a better direction.

And that's the best thing I can do as your mayor.

- Thank you.

(audience applauding) - Mr. Mayor, another question for you that was, came in by a text, regarding education.

"Breakthrough schools have begun much of what you recommend, and the new manufacturing-based," I know we have little breakthrough schools- - [Justin] I think John just tweeted here.

- It didn't come from John.

I can verify that it did not come from John.

(audience laughing) All right, "And the new manufacturing-based education at Collinwood High School is another example of some of the sorts of things you've been mentioning.

How do we make sure that all parents are aware of all of the options that are available for their children, and also how does the community ensure that our children can safely get to and from their schools?"

- Yeah, yeah, that's an important question.

We just had this conversation last night in Collinwood, talking about the future of Collinwood High School, and one of the biggest things that we've uncovered in just a couple months in our administration is the lack of awareness, not just parents have about what resources are available, but our seniors and just everyday families.

We have a tremendous amount of information gaps in the community right now, where folks don't read the newspaper every day like they used to.

Folks aren't going to church like they used to every day.

And so we as a city, not just city hall, but our foundation partners, our nonprofits, our faith-based institutions, we must do a better job of connecting information to the people.

And so one thing we wanna do is everything from TV-20 that we own at city hall, to 3-1-1, that we need to revamp for our residents.

We need to make sure that we are bringing people information, how they receive it, right?

That meets their needs, that meets their lived experience.

And that's one of the biggest challenges we'll have moving forward as a city, I believe.

- Another question from Twitter.

"What would it take for us to make Cleveland, quote, the Black tech mecca of America or the world?"

- Okay, I'll bring the crew.

- Let's do it.

- Let's get it cracking.

(audience laughing) (audience applauding) - So, let's do it.

- Let's get it cracking.

- So maybe, I mean, I don't wanna make news today Baron, but- - I'll let you make the news, yeah.

- Well Baron and I are gonna work together to bring an Afro tech-type summit to Cleveland.

(audience cheering) Watch out Atlanta, watch out Detroit, watch out Austin, Cleveland's coming.

But I gotta say this, we gotta make sure that our banking partners, our VC partners understand that they gotta invest in Black, they have to.

I'm happy my dear friend and sister Teleange' Thomas is in the room over at JumpStart.

I know she's committed to this issue as well.

And so we have all the resources in Cleveland, but we gotta make it a priority to make that happen.

- I agree, I mean just like Nike, just do it.

- Do it, just do it.

- Like, we just gotta do it.

Just start putting the money to work, start activating.

And I'm excited about this, 'cause I feel like, the Midwest needs a presence for us for tech.

and you know, we need to stop leaving out middle America.

- And we have to increase our risk appetite in Cleveland.

I've I've heard of so many, not just Black-owned companies, but startups in general, who left because our risk appetites is just so conservative, right?

You talked about failure.

It's okay to, you go to Silicon Valley or New York, people are failing every day.

- [Baron] Every day, they're terrible.

- They still write checks though.

- Oh my goodness.

- Right?

- Big failing, big, big.

- And, right, right?

- Oh my gosh.

- And the one thing we forget is that the world's first billionaire came from Cleveland, Rockefeller, right?

We chased him outta town.

- Man, now that ain't right.

(audience laughing) - So we gotta get back, we gotta get back to those roots.

- We need to call him back up.

- And there's a strong legacy we gotta build on.

I know, we- - Yeah, he got, they got the money.

We need to call them up, tell them to sponsor this tech summit.

- Yeah.

(audience laughing) How much do you think we need?

- From Key Bank?

About five million.

From JumpStart- - About five from JumpStart too?

(laughing) - Yeah we, no we need about $5 million to pull it off.

- Okay.

- That's a, table one, table 15.

(Justin and audience laughing) I can hold up the auction banner, we can get it going right now, no just kidding.

- Hey everybody, my name's Jamal Sumner, I'm a senior also at James Ford Rhodes.

Mr. Davis, this is my question.

What is some advice you would give a student to accomplish his goals outside of basketball?

- Work, work, study.

Find a mentor.

Find somebody that you don't know, right?

Walk into a bank once a week.

Just say, "What's up," to people.

Look the part, be the part.

Whatever you wanna do, you can do it.

Whatever you wanna be, you can be it, right?

You know, if you wanna be a banker, walk into the bank once a week, and they're gonna see you coming in there, and they're gonna say, "Yo, what are you doing?"

(Justin and audience laughing) You know what I mean?

Be curious.

Be curious, and I would say like, you know, your imagination and your mind will put you where you wanna be.

- [Justin] That's true.

- You have to think about it.

You have to walk in it, and you have to live in it up here.

- [Justin] Gotta be obsessed.

- And when you get there, right?

is gonna feel natural.

And so everything you're doing, you know, on the court, off the court, it should be equal, right?

You shouldn't wanna be the best basketball player, and then wanna be the dullest student, you know what I mean?

If you're gonna be the best basketball player, then you have to hold yourself accountable to being the best student you could be, right?

And taking both of those seriously.

(audience applauding) - Thanks.

- We have a text question that has come in.

"In both of your are experiences, you deal a lot with institutions and systems.

How can community advocates help be a part of the institutional change that needs to happen, but keep them in check when they need corrective action?"

- Well, I have an analogy or story that I, I think it's important, that speaks to this point.

A. Philip Randolph, a Black civil rights labor activist, has this great moment with FDR when he was organizing for, you know, Black Americans to get their fair share of labor rights.

And he goes to the White House to meet FDR.

And FDR says, "Look I, you know, I hear what you're saying Philip, but go make me do it.

Go make me do it."

And in that moment you see the importance of activists.

We don't get a Civil Rights bill without Dr. King, without John Lewis.

And you know, you don't get a Mayor Bibb without Chanel and Danielle and Courtney and other activists in the room who made that possible.

But governing requires them stirring the consciousness of the people at the same time, right?

To hold government accountable every single day.

And so it's important that activists keep fighting, right?

Before the election, right?

And when you're governing at the same time, as well too.

- Download Community X, that's what I would say.

We invested in a company that's for this specific thing, local activism, national activism.

So really localizing and you know, trying to bring all of activists together in a Facebook-type platform.

So think of Facebook for activists, and that was great.

- A final question that came in via text, given that it's the NBA All Star weekend.

It was, what's your prediction Team LeBron versus Team Durant.

But really the question should be, by how much will Team LeBron win?

(audience and Justin and Baron laughing) - He got- - My guess is 15 points, 'cause of Darius Garland, by the way.

(audience cheering) And Garrett Allen too, by the way.

- Today at City Club, we have been listening to the forum "Top of the Game, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Black Excellence".

Great job gentlemen, we appreciate it.

- Thank you.

- This forum is a part of Key Bank's Diversity Thought Leadership series, and it featured Mayor Justin Bibb and Baron Davis, two-time NBA All Star and founder of Baron Davis Enterprises.

We would like to think the guests at tables hosted by the 50 Black Women Fund, Kyle Hogan Community College, Key Bank, the Northwest, Northeast Ohio Regional Serial District, Third Space Action Lab, and Youth Opportunities Unlimited.

We're happy to have all of you here.

Be sure to join us next week on Friday, February 25th.

We will hear from India Birdsong, general manager and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority.

She will discuss what's next for our city's public transportation system, transit system.

You can purchase tickets and learn more about other forums at thecityclub.org.

And that brings us to the end of today's forum.

Thank you Baron Davis, thank you Mayor Bibb.

And thank you members and friends of the City Club.

I'm Artis Arnold, and this forum is now adjourned.

(bell clanging) (audience applauding) - [Announcer] For information on upcoming speakers or for podcasts of the City Club, go to cityclub.org.

(bright electronic music) - [Announcer] Production and distribution of City Club forums on Idea Stream Public Media are made possible by PNC and the United Black Fund of Greater Cleveland Incorporated.