Ep. 97 - On Being Black and Conservative With Special Guest Derryck Green | Fireside Chat

hey everybody i'm dennis prager as you see I have a guest I'll introduce him in a moment and of course Otto is here Otto gets more fan mail than I do and I want you to know I can handle it but it nevertheless is a humbling thing anyway it is great to be with you this is my home and we are together virtually every week of the year I don't know if we missed it a week in the last year so it's a very serious thing for me a lot of you watch that means a lot to me what it is is completely spontaneous my offering some thoughts to you and then taking your questions and that way you get to know me and I get to know you in a certain sense through the questions and welcome to the fireside chat so this one is I'm gonna be reading to you a little bit I never do but in this case you'll understand why this episode of fireside chat is sponsored by Colorado Christian University which CCU online has partnered with Prager you to offer adults the opportunity to pursue an accredited degree taught with conservative and religious values see see you online offers more than 80 academic programs designed specifically for adult learners most classes at CCU online are only 5 weeks long so you can take one class at a time and still have time for life all courses incorporate a god centered Christian worldview that has been a cornerstone of the University for more than a century so whether you need to finish your bachelor's degree or start your masters or doctorate you should consider attending CCU online go to Prager ucomm slash CCU that's prettier ucomm slash CCU and fill out the form to receive more information you will get connected with an enrollment counselor who can put together a degree plan that fits your schedule so a rare rare rare occasions do I have a guest because I really do like to have this time alone with you but that means if I have a guest the he or she is is quite special I you know I I realize yeah I want to just tell you what goes on in my mind I was in a safe special and then I realized yeah but isn't everybody special so I had this great dilemma you know you're all special it's like in the life of Brian with Monty Python we are all individuals you know thousand people in it in a mall so it's just I hear these arguments in my brain all the time which is fine it's it's one of the reasons I'm effective I hear what what one might think when one hears something anyway he's quite special and that that's the case that's why he's here and he's Derek Greene Derek Green is the new head of donor relations which is a very big deal obviously since we need funding in order to be as effective as we are and we're pretty effective not as effective as I would like now because I would like to touch every human being living to be perfectly honest I mean that utterly sincerely but I I live on earth and I understand the limitations so within those limitations we're I think pretty effective they're agreeing a I'm thrilled to have you in my home and on the fireside chat you I want just to tell everybody you gave a video for us I did prettier you what is the name of the video who are the racists liberals or conservatives is that the name of it or is it who are the who was who was the real racist that what is it you don't even know the name of your own video well it was renamed I it's quite all right but that's a very powerful video I mean how many millions have used the it do you know that I think the most recent one is over a million and a half yeah so far yes so wait so how many of you given for us I've given one right originally about 3/4 I see and it was redone it was redone well that means a million and a half plus millions before that's right so it's very widely viewed yes look you know we're bathing bathing in the rhetoric of the country is racist the president is racist so let me ask you well let me go back in your own life okay was there a time and you know you could be totally a level with me it was there with time when you thought the average white guy was a racist yes but I was really really young I was probably in elementary school I was in class and I felt that the teacher was you know paying more attention to me than she should have otherwise been and so I came home and I screamed to my parents she just doesn't like me because I'm black wait a minute you said she paid more attention to you yeah in a disciplinary way very much so why not more lunch and called on me more okay well that that too that too but she was disciplined and calling on me more so I just felt that she was okay so you for three merits what grade were you in fourth grade you told your parents what did they say uh and they said no she has a problem with you because you won't sit still in your seat and shut up so you know that was my goal I never met your parents I love them no it's not that you're black it's that you're a nuisance that's exactly right that is exactly right that that's the whole point is you know so I always tell the story there if you will love this my grandfather may he rest in peace I love my grandfather my mother's father and he came from Austria in the beginning of the 20th century came to the US and he's he's a Jew the whole family's Jewish and Austria was that was the hotbed of anti-semitism Hitler was Austrian people many people don't know that and he learned his anti-semitism in Vienna so my grandfather came to America from a society drenched in anti-semitism right he didn't realize obviously that America wasn't Austria we would arrive in the car my grandfather would be let's say cut off by a rude driver right and my grandfather would go anti-semite remember thinking I was like eight nine years old time ago how does my grandfather know that this guy eh knows my grandfather's a Jew because I walk because thank you see he's really in it it just might be maybe he's rude right your parents were say to you maybe it has nothing to do with your being black that's exactly what they were saying that's exactly what they were saying and and they even gave me a compliment which I didn't perceive as a compliment is that you you're you're just so rambunctious in class that the teacher has to give you more work to settle you down you fly through your work you fly through your work and I was like nah it's because I'm black now mind you my parents didn't take that as an aunt answer because they both grew up in the Jim Crow South so they had a very real understanding of what actual racism looked like and sounded like and this didn't didn't fit the bill so did they knock it out of you well my father tried I literally he tried because I get I just needed the discipline but you know knock out of you the notion that I'm black and they hate me or they're black and they're picking on me that's what I meant yeah yeah yeah well yes they did but again sometimes like your grandfather old habits die hard and so sometimes there would be comments around the house that would be to the you know extent well it's it's because we're black that they're treating us this way so on one hand it would be those kind of comments but the other hand it would be listen you have to work twice as hard as you know your white peers because they don't think that you're capable enough you know like them to succeed and which is really interesting as she was right then but technically she's still right now because with the onslaught of affirmative action people still don't think that we're capable enough so you still have to try twice as far you see to be successful I've never understood I'm a very big believer in in dignity hmm I'm like crazed about preserving people's dignity if I were a member of a group for whom rules were lowered standards were lowered I would be so hurt and insulted that is the ultimate insult it is but to me what's more insulting is that being part of that group justifying the lower standards that are given to you and why do you think that is done since it is so obvious that it's it it's the meaning why would any black say it's a great thing this there's personal gain there's personal and group gain from being facilitated into positions in places that they with that many blacks feel that they would not otherwise get they would not otherwise experience so the lower standards is a justification in getting that and you know some people will argue it's a it's a warped sense of black power and why everything is white and white and white or white liberals and leftists support it in your view well one it makes them feel good about themselves and not being raised and so that's where I think that's what what wins out more than anything else and they can go and brag about what they do to help black people and and and things of that nature so this is that what you believe animates a white professor getting up and going and going and saying through his class or her class you know all whites are racist and there are only two types of whites those who acknowledge they're racist and those who don't acknowledge that they're racist how do you see that white how do you explain that it's very difficult I don't know how to explain it I think it's one of those things where I think it was Shelby still talks about this idea of disassociation they go out and say those things because they want to disassociate themselves personally from the sin and stigma of racism I don't know how that's beneficial to anybody other than the person trying to cleanse themselves of what they see is an original sin because it doesn't take black development into consideration whatsoever it like saying because whites are race or until whites are not racist or until whites unless whites acknowledge their races and black people will never get ahead as if blacks have never transcended white racism in the past there are a number of examples in which blacks have encountered racism but did not let that stop their pursuit of excellence do you think the the president is a racist I don't well he's led far too much of a public life you know for there to be exact my own view is that he couldn't care less I don't think I think it registers on his scale I think when he was a businessman his thought was can this guy make me money or not absolutely I don't care as to what he is that is my take on the guy not you know here's an interesting thing I will get I got I have to in the beginning I was rather amazed by this because I'm very outspoken on this matter I have a lot of black and listeners to my radio show and I know it because if if the issue is specifically a black one every caller is black right so they have to get in through a lot of whites trying to get in that means there were a lot of them okay so every so often and and this it is not rare a black hole er would say you know Dennis you don't walk in our shoes they're being respectful they're none having contempt for me but Dennis you know you don't walk in a black man's shoes and so you don't know that how we encounter racism every day so this is now something a lot of my friends know and and people listen regularly so what I remember the first time I did this I said what are you being literal or figurative that you encounter it every day well so he'll say I don't know every day so I said okay so I'm truly open to hearing what tell me the racist experience you had today mm-hmm well you know Dennis the days not over yet no no I'm not laughing I'm totally serious and respectful so what happened yesterday well all right now yesterday okay so listen I'm not trying to trap you what about the day before and I never get a response I'm and if there is a response how do you know was racist the clerk was rude what they're only rude you really believe they're only rude to black side right we don't get rude people we whites I mean it's so why would one want to believe it's so depressing to think you live in a society that hates you why would one choose to believe that woo thousand dollar question it's very difficult and I don't know I don't I guess at the end of the day it is choice at the end of days people who believe that choose to believe that however I think that it's a it's a type of mindset that's been reinforced over multiple generations whether it's been a you know intended or unintended it's just a mindset to think that we live in a country you know the former president said the racism is in our DNA which means it's systemic which means we cannot root it out or it's it's very difficult to root it out and so you have people growing up with this kind of mindset and it's reinforced not only at home sadly it's starting to be reinforces reinforced in houses of worship and it's reinforced on colleges and universities so everywhere they go they're getting reap this type of mentality is being reinforced over and over and over again so after a while it doesn't become second nature it becomes first nature that's just the way that they think and it's really difficult to get rid of that boogeyman once you've built him up to the size in which you know many blacks have built the race of what when kids at especially a prestigious expensive college last weeks about being oppressed I mean most people not only most people you know the some guy in Ghana or Cameroon you know or Kenya is your ear you're oppressed that at Yale I would give my left arm to have your opportunity mm-hmm it's it's it's distressing and you're right yeah I heard you you just mentioned you know it's worse there mm-hmm yes that is correct it is worse there I I bet that a black student at Idaho State is is a happier human being than a blacks to me Gail I'll agree I would agree it's almost if you're in an elite place you get a particularly sophisticated version love of things are bad for you yes yes things like black dorms so what he what is the and this is a totally open question I have a theory of my own but I want to hear yours why why would a black want to be in a black dorm I think that there's a certain I think what a lot of people don't discuss when they still when we talk about issues of like this is that I think that there's a feeling in many blacks Minds of being racially inferior to people who to white people or to Asian people so I think they feel more comfortable around people who look like them or supposedly share the same kind of culture I mean there is some shared culture right there there are some common experiences however I don't think that those things are those common experience are racialized common experiences if that makes sense no I think you're I think you're probably right I mean we can't know we're not in their minds but I remember when I was at Columbia there was a Jewish dorm and I remember thinking I'm very Jewish I'm religious Jew I I went to yeshiva Jewish school my whole life why is otto leaving is that a bad sign you know maybe in maybe otto has some anti-semitic you know far lose he gets up and leaves you know he didn't get up when you spoke he didn't not not an anti black racist clearly anyway anyway so I remember thinking I remember thinking and I one of my closest friends lived in one and I thought that's the last place I want to stay not because I'm not comfortable with Jews but I want to be comfortable with everybody else right we're a tiny percent of the population I I don't want to hang out with 3% of the population I wanna hang out with 97% of the exactly right exactly right I know that's how you feel I've no doubt mm-hmm but isn't that the healthier choice I would think so I would think so I mean when I was when I was graduating or in high school I was about to graduate no submitting college applications I submitted a couple of college applications to the HBCUs at historically black colleges and universities and when I submitted the applications I actually sat back and thought and I said you know I don't know if I want to go to an all-black school because I'm never going to live around just black people you know that wasn't my what are you it doesn't it doesn't and it doesn't it doesn't obviously but I'm sorry I said nothing against the HBCUs and that's what they no no no no no I'm nothing as I said I guess the kids who live the Jewish right but but I also wanted I wanted to feel comfortable with my fellow American of every background that was a that was a goal i beliebe ought the idea of the melting pot hmm and and that the left has totally rejected we're not we're not a melting pot we're a quilt right that was that Jesse Jackson's famous thing were a quilt of many colors and so on but but you could be in a melting pot and still retain whatever you wish of your culture sure I mean I still practice Jewish holidays I mean it's I sent my kids through a Jewish school because I wanted them to get religious learning like it I think a Christian sense it could do a Christian school I think it's a healthy thing to do right but it's not racial that's the point it's it's religious so it's that's it's different a different thing yes it is it's a different thing so what about my theory that a happy happy blacks happy women happy is bad happy Jews happy women vote Republican that has been my experience that has been my experience yeah no question about it no question about it you can tell by the disposition they're not angry there's no right there's there's no created what's the word I'm looking for it's exactly exactly there either in most of the times they're not even Republican they're just conservative that's right yeah so right honesty I take care about the party sure yes yet conservative that's exactly what every person that I've met whether I'm speaking in churches or anywhere else and they're the anger just prim it just it's unreal right if he's not really angry in any of those groups mm-hmm then then you're not on the left that's right I mean it's it's definitional that's right it's a that's why I I never thought of it I've been doing a happiness hour since 1999 second hour of on Fridays show and I never thought of it ever as political because it's not right it's about happiness but I realize it has tremendous political ramifications because the happier people get the less likely they are to be on the left that's exactly they have the left has a vested interest and not only stoking that anger but manipulating that anger right to get people out to the polls ever since 2016 this is where you saw a lot a lot the women's March it was just anger and you know public cursing and just this ROI ever since then and it's just anger anger anger whether it's in the halls of Congress or if they're rallies across different cities in the country it's always anger so if I'm looking at that it's not a good selling point for me personally and anybody who doesn't want to be consumed with anger or consumed with actual hate not stigmatized slanderous hate but actually they don't want any part of that so do do you have many black friends not anymore unfortunately and most of them unfriended me whether it's on social media or in real life I didn't know how you would answer that question that's interesting I'm sorry to hear that I'm I'm that is disturbing mm-hmm well yeah you know I got so many calls from black conservatives about five years ago or ten maybe I said on my show send me your name if you're a black conservative I would like to be a facilitator so that all of you around the country can at least have each other's email address and I I failed I didn't do it I I know I wish I had hundreds of people sent me their names and I and I I really sinned in not following up I can't do everything and I want to do everything but I I wish you could meet each other by the way that's true I spoke to 1,200 Jewish conservatives 1,200 at a synagogue in LA a year ago it's only it's on YouTube few folks would would love it and and I have spoken thousands and thousands of times mm-hmm I have never spoken more excited audience they were literally jumping up and down because they had met all these other Jewish conservatives oh I'm not alone right I'm not alone right I want you guys to meet each other - mm-hmm I think it would be healthy I would think you know I've been a conservative for about 20 years now and when I first started making the move I had a really good friend of mine he's still a really good friend of mine as you know warned me he says listen the path that you're about to walk is a very lonely path right because you're you're stepping out and saying you want to be judged by your individuality not by a collective you know group and he was absolutely right it was a lonely journey I had I had black friends at all said that I don't know what it's like to be black anymore I forgot that I'm black things like that other other kind of disparaging you know names as well and so it was it was a lonely path but I knew that I was on the right path nowadays it seems like there are a lot more visibly more black conservatives at visible there's a very good thing yes and the thing that I've noticed is that I think that there are more black conservatives than we even know because they are just afraid to speak up because when I conducted the the Santa Monica Symphony Orchestra at the Disney Concert Hall two years ago I got letters from members of orchestras I mean prominent orchestras around the country dear Dennis please don't use my name I've been in the so-and-so Symphony Orchestra for thirty years no one knows I'm a conservative they've been together with these people for thirty years and hidden that they're concerned that's impressive actually think about what you have to do over the course of 30 years too high too high it may be a central element of who you are so it isn't it isn't only a racial matter it's it's even by profession right I I don't want to let anybody in in my office know mmm-hmm this this is a very sad statement is that this is new and American history I agree with that and they've you know they the left talks about weaponizing things a lot and that this is what they've done particularly over the last four to five years is weaponized the idea of being a conservative you know overtly we have you know congressmen releasing the names of donors people daxing releasing public information of people so they can go to their homes in an invade their privacy and potentially to cause harm to them that's where we're at now so of course people who are conservative may not come out and over at least say so but that's the great thing about you know voting in secret that's what that's we still have that at least so what what brought you to prettier you you know is it's it's interesting it was it was a tough decision but it was a decision that I thought that I had to to take primarily because I do a lot of complaining about the political situation in the country and I do a lot of complaining because where I say this seems like the right doesn't do as much as the left does they are always a.m. enthusiastic to support whatever cause mostly wrong but they are enthusiastic about it and we don't do enough on the right and so when I was presented the opportunity to come and try to motivate people on our side maybe not to come out and be overtly public about it but to at least support a cause that we can fight for ultimately America but particularly for people who don't have the the the wherewithal to speak up I wanted to do that and so that's what I that's what I did and like I said it was a very difficult decision because where I was at I was doing a moral good we were going to college campuses and helping support the State of Israel so it was a very difficult decision but I thought it was a decision that I needed to make in favor of Prager University where you with the McNamee task force Foundation Oh with my dear friend yes yes that's that I didn't realize this where you had been before I'll tell you is really look miss test oh if you hate Israel it is so obvious there's something wrong with your moral compass one of the most decent countries in the face of the earth and decent in the midst of societies that wish to annihilate that's right that's right that's not easy that's and in what's interesting is that it's the society in the Middle East that generally is behind a lot of these so-called progressive positions and yet these progressives on campuses right undermined them every way to gays are our pro-palestinian an anti-israel I think do you understand how gays are treated in Israel and then they go what is the word again intersectionality nonsense yes erm it's called gay wash that they actually that you the left actually has a genius for terminology white privilege gay wash is very good there's a gift yes I don't know why God gave them that v I'm gonna it's like water God make the Mesquite there is a question that I want asking gift for language that's right and gay walk yeah yes they're really good to gays in Israel but we hate them anyway that's right well why exactly would you do that isn't that a little sick you've already thought about that issue a lot more than most of the people don't for in advance so you came from the Maccabees okay that's that that makes a lot of sense well we're delighted to have you what is our time frame here delighted to be here so what should we do let's do a question so you know I take questions yes my fun part I really love the questions ok so here we have one now so yeah warming you're right okay okay so here's one been in Minneapolis 16 years old hi Ben hi Dennis Prager I mean that's he wrote that I just recently watched the Candice Owens show with Michael Noel's and they discussed the new SAT adversity score will this score be a mandatory part of the SAT I agree with Candice when she says that race ethnicity etc shouldn't matter for a standardized test well I don't know what that means will it be a mandatory part of the SAT I guess you you could apply you have a diversity and then they is that correct of that though they will they'll score you accordingly according to in other words if you've really had a hard youth you'll get a higher score so here is my what I just saw this right two minutes before we're at eight them and it occurred to me one great way to figure out the answers to questions in life is to apply the question to something else so here's a question what do you like your pilot the pilot of your next plane to have had an adversity score on his pilot exam I'll let you think about it listen you know this guy had a very rough rough youth it's true he doesn't fly a plane as well but hey that's because he had a very difficult you know you know an alcoholic mother and a and and a molesting father and then you know I mean that that that is sir and it is that's very serious stuff but I don't know why what why would that apply to whether or not you can pilot a plane it shouldn't apply why should it apply to whether or not you get exert and great on an SAT score and and inevitably all people are going to do then is focus on their adversity if that you will almost pickle right right right all you think you it's like at this in one have you seen that you know that Monty Python MT with the outdo one another oh you think you want a difficult issue you Robert issue I grew up in an anthill that's that's what's gonna happen or you're gonna force a lot of the aplans to be very creative in their storytelling which is cold why that's exactly right that's exactly right sorry for some people to LA that's exactly right this this is another act this is look I I have a motto everything the left touches it poisons and I don't know of an exception now it's the SAT exam I didn't even know about this still the question anyway Derek green you are what you are quite special well thank you I feel special we are really happy to have you here and don't forget Prager you /cc you for information on those great courses at Colorado Christian that you could take online and I think that's it is that correct want to thank those of you who make this broadcast possible want to thank my mom like I want an Academy Award I wanna thank my mother I do want to thank my mother next time I want I have a great story about my mother I try to remind me to tell anyway i'm dennis prager derek green god bless you god bless you as well see see you exists to Train leaders we want to build the church we want to engage the culture but we want to help you prepare for your calling our adult and graduate studies programs give adult students the opportunity to earn their degree at their own pace whether you're studying at home the office or somewhere in between the possibilities for online education are now endless however many students who enroll in online programs don't finish why is that because they don't have the support team to help them get through the program and that's part of the CCU difference we do have that team to help you not only orient you to studying online but also to help you finish the program get your degree and achieve your goals you you