John on Racism, Politics, and more in the CO

0:00A: Now you’re live. What’s your name?

0:01B: John.

0:03A: Okay, and we’re here in Denver, Colorado. Hell yeah. So you’re from here in Denver?

0:06B: I am now. Last 15 years.

0:09A: Okay, sick. And what do you think about where Denver’s at in 2026?

0:12B: Traffic sucks.

0:15A: Mm-hmm.

0:16B: But I love -- compared to where I am from, I love how liberal it is.

0:25A: And so what’s it like where you’re from?

0:26B: 87% Trump last election.

0:31A: Okay.

0:31B: In the whole county.

0:33A: Wow. And are people’s opinions changing at all with how things are evolving or no?

0:37B: Oh, hell no.

0:37A: Hell no.

0:38B: No, no, they’re effed in the head. Okay.

0:42A: And what do you feel like their perspectives are rooted in? Like, where does their -- where do they get their, their, like, their opinions from? Honestly?

0:51B: Yeah. I think it’s racist. Hmm.

0:55A: Well, what do you think that stems from though? Like, how do you even conceptualize like racism as like a real phenomenon?

1:00B: I --

1:00A: I feel like we avoid it so much, but it’s like a nuanced thing, no?

1:03B: Well, hey, hey, I’m from such a small town. We didn’t have the first Black kid graduate from high school since ’97. Okay? Tons of Hispanics.

1:18A: Mm-hmm.

1:18B: Okay, because farming.

1:19A: Yeah.

1:20B: Okay, but yeah, yeah, it’s racist.

1:25A: Mm-hmm. I guess, like, and how do you think -- so it’s like white supremacy when you say like racism is like white supremacy? Is that what you would say?

1:31B: Okay, like, want me to get totally deep here?

1:36A: Yeah, run it. Like, let’s -- I’m all about the nuance, man.

1:39B: Okay, okay, I am stunned. Because of Trump. Because I used to think that racism, okay, was like 70% positive, 75%, 20%, 25% negative.

1:57A: Okay.

1:57B: Okay.

1:58A: What does that mean? Like 75% positive racism?

2:00B: I’m saying like they weren’t racist.

2:02A: Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay.

2:03B: Okay. And when Trump got elected, he proved it was 50/50.

2:10A: He proved there was more racism than people were willing to admit before. It was covert. It was unannounced, unspoken.

2:17B: Well, because, because of like the political stuff beforehand, people didn’t talk up that if they were racist.

2:29A: Yeah.

2:30B: Okay. And Trump gave them a reason to say what was on their mind. And think about this, his first inaugural term, 2016, white guy plows into 4 or 5 black people and kills them, and his comment was, oh, there’s good people on both sides.

2:53A: Yeah, imagine.

2:53B: That’s bullshit. Yeah, okay. And so I’ve been off base. I think I thought America was better. And it’s not.

3:04A: So you’re disappointed in America?

3:05B: You’re damn straight. Okay, because -- how do I put this? I’m much older than you. Okay, I’m 64. Okay, my main idol growing up was Martin Luther King Jr. Why?

3:28A: Like you say you’re from a small town where it’s like more than 50% racism.

3:32B: Like, my mom was always liberal in that small town. Okay. She let me think that way.

3:38A: Okay.

3:39B: Okay. And I’ve taken my -- I raised a daughter on my own from the 4th grade on.

3:48A: That’s massive.

3:50B: Okay. And she’s a doctor now.

3:52A: Wow.

3:52B: Yeah.

3:54A: Yes, she kicked ass. Yeah, yeah, you kicked ass. You too kicked ass.

3:58B: And I thank you for that. Okay, but I took her to MLK’s birthplace. Okay, I showed her where he was buried. I went to Selma to the bridge. Okay, to show her.

4:12A: Yeah.

4:12B: Okay, and because when I was growing up, okay, you know, you, you You don’t care if I get weird?

4:21A: No, I don’t care.

4:21B: Okay, MLK was the first person that used television. Okay, no, no, I take that back. John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, their debate. Okay, if you would have listened to that and not seen them, Nixon kicks Kennedy’s ass. Okay, but But Nixon’s sweating, etc., etc. MLK figured that out. Okay, so you’re going up and you’re trying to make a scene. Okay, like, you know, saying, hey, people are created equal. Which, what’s wrong with that?

5:02A: Yeah, nothing at all.

5:03B: Okay. He put women and children, okay, in front. And that’s who the people -- they douse him with water and stuff. Okay, he was smart about that. He realized TV got that. And that’s how come the whole thing flipped until goddamn Trump. Okay, ’cause everything was all going like, we’re getting better, we’re getting better.

5:33A: But it was a TV moment that let the world know this is what’s going on. He was able to orchestrate the moment such that the cameras were rolling.

5:38B: Oh, he was --

5:39A: And he was in front of it.

5:39B: Master manipulator. And I mean that as a compliment.

5:43A: Yeah, he was strategy, right?

5:44B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I, I did. And like I said, I tried to raise my daughter that way. Yeah, I just want all people to be equal, that’s all. Okay, and unfortunately, my own county where I’m from Just proved that it’s not true right now.

6:09A: What happened in your county where you’re from?

6:11B: Like I said, 85% Trump.

6:12A: Oh yeah. And so what are living conditions actually like there? Like people see inflation, like are things subsidized? Like how is income like inequality? Like do people have money? Do people educated?

6:24B: Big time farmers. Okay, no, no. Which is how come they feel that way?

6:30A: Yeah, that makes sense. And so where are farmers positioned in America right now? Like are they privileged? Are they Under-resourced? Are they underserved? Are they disenfranchised? Are they taken care of to support -- like, yeah. Is Trump taking care of farmers?

6:44B: No. No, because he’s shutting soybeans off. And where I’m from, there’s no soybeans. It’s wheat and corn. Okay, but no, then he has to, and he’s done this first term and second term. He’s given them tens of billions of dollars because he did the tariff thing.

7:08A: Yeah, absolutely.

7:09B: Okay, and so he has to make up for that. Okay, now I don’t have a problem with farmers getting money, okay, because even back to Jimmy Carter in ’76, okay, they would -- government would say, okay, you can’t sell wheat to Russia. Well, that’s not a free country now, is it? That way. And they would pay them off, okay, with subsidies. So I have no problem with it because they’re the ones that started it, not the farmers.

7:44A: And so they pay off the farmers with subsidies?

7:47B: Mhm.

7:49A: But how does that actually work out for the farmers? They just do the work still, no? They just get paid for doing the work through subsidies?

7:54B: They will get paid to not grow.

7:58A: Oh, really? Interesting. So they just paid to live life, like like what people complain black people get, like government money to do nothing. They’re farmers who actually get it.

8:09B: It’s the same.

8:10A: It’s the same.

8:11B: It’s the same.

8:12A: How we doing?

8:14B: Yeah, it’s totally the doggone same, my friend. And I I apologize if I went too much here.

8:22A: No, no, no, it’s cool. You know, I followed a guy. Uh, who was telling me about his trouble with addiction and his grandma dying for an hour down --

8:30B: You’ve been hearing it all.

8:31A: Yeah, I mean, I’m just saying I followed a guy for an hour down Broadway, you know.

8:34B: Okay, so how come you’re doing this?

8:36A: That’s a good question. So I’ve been doing content for a couple years. I was doing content in the crypto tech space for a while, um, and I didn’t really like that. I, I had fun and I made money. I traveled around the world, um, but now I don’t have any money and I’m like, okay, what’s actually fun to me? Like, that stuff always kind of felt like work. So this is me trying to get people around the world out asking questions.

8:54B: I don’t want to shake your hand for that.

8:55A: Why do you say that?

8:56B: Because you’re just saying, hey, I used to have this, now I don’t, but I’m enjoying life.

9:03A: Yeah, thanks. I am enjoying life. I feel like this has honestly kind of reinspired me creatively.

9:09B: That’s why I said I, I thank you for like what you’re doing.

9:11A: Yeah, thanks.

9:13B: Okay, because hey, I’m 64. Okay, I’m past your age, and it’s up to you people to make sure well Trump doesn’t fuck everything up.

9:25A: Yeah, right. That’s real take.

9:27B: And yeah, yeah. So I I sincerely appreciate what you’re doing.

9:32A: Well, that’s cool. You know, we actually have people. We’ve had people in India, Nigeria, and Kenya submit videos too. Every week we put out $100, and whoever submits the best video like this essentially, we give them $100. And I’ve been doing it for, this is our 4th week now. And so it’s been cool to see more people come out. We’re actually building an international community of people who want to like document real human perspectives and to like ideally give us a place to look when we actually want to know what people around the world think about what’s going on as opposed to just only having the news, you know?

9:58B: Well, because we don’t know what it is.

10:00A: Yeah.

10:01B: I mean, well, even Trump. There was a young woman like dressed in military stuff and she became a darling of MAGA. Totally AI-generated.

10:13A: Imagine.

10:14B: You know, so we don’t know. We don’t know. And hey, I work at Westword. Okay, I’ve taken seminars to try to see --

10:25A: What’s Westword?

10:26B: Some leftist rag that basically runs marijuana and restaurant ads.

10:31A: Okay.

10:32B: Okay. Literally 1.5 blocks down.

10:36A: Are they hiring?

10:39B: There always are.

10:39A: Okay.

10:40B: Seriously, the way you are, you’d be fine there.

10:44A: That’s excellent. I’m looking for an income stream.

10:47B: Okay.

10:48A: I like that.

10:49B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Literally this street.

10:52A: Western Rag?

10:53B: Westward.

10:54A: Westward Rag?

10:55B: No, just Westward. I called it a rag.

10:57A: Oh.

10:58B: Okay, okay. I was, I was, yeah, I was going too far.

11:01A: I got that, I got that.

11:03B: No, no, you literally walk 1.5 blocks down Down on that fucking street.

11:06A: Okay.

11:07B: And it’s on 12th and, uh, 13th and Lincoln.

11:09A: Okay.

11:10B: Okay, and it goes Grant, Sherman, Lincoln.

11:14A: Hmm.

11:14B: Okay, and, and, and, and yeah, you’d be good there.

11:18A: Oh yeah.

11:20B: You’d be good there. And, and yeah, yeah. God, I actually feel good about this.

11:27A: About which part?

11:29B: Just talking with you. And you’re letting me talk about like what I think, and, you know, I appreciate that.

11:39A: Thanks. I’m a proponent of discourse.

11:42B: Well, hey, like I said, I, I get it. Like I said, I did my daughter like certain ways, etc., etc. MLK Jr. Now ironically, okay, when he gets shot, Miss Black Alabama’s in the damn hotel room. But he was still cool.

12:00A: Oh yeah.

12:01B: And, and you know, powerful people, they’d fuck a jar of jelly, man.

12:08A: Yeah, yeah, I know. I said hell yeah. I wasn’t like clear on what you said, but yeah.

12:11B: Doesn’t matter, Democrat, Republican, powerful people, they just use that like as a little ego boost, a little stroke of a stroke of the ego. Oh.

12:23A: I’m in demand.

12:23B: Yeah, and like I said, he’s my main idol of all time, but I’m also not gonna say, oh, he didn’t do nothing wrong.

12:31A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you gotta acknowledge the facts.

12:33B: Like I said, Miss Black Alabama in the damn hotel room where he got shot. Hey, which, by the way, been there.

12:40A: Oh, really?

12:41B: Yeah, in Memphis, they made a -- they set up Instead, a total civil rights museum, it’s totally black.

12:51A: Oh, interesting.

12:52B: Okay, and the last things you see is the hotel room where he stayed. Even his car is parked underneath it. It’s pretty cool.

13:05A: His car is parked at this museum?

13:07B: Lorraine Motel.

13:09A: Oh, and the museum is -- the motel is a museum?

13:12B: It’s part of the civil rights museum. It’s just the end of it. And you can walk across. Yeah, and I always thought James Earl Ray, the guy that shot him, like took like a decent like size of shot. It was pretty close. And you can even go over there, you can see the bullet that hit MLK.

13:31A: It was like on a stairwell, right? Is where he was shot?

13:34B: Uh, balcony. Basically like if you saw like, yeah, balcony here. And yeah, he went out just to get some air. And yeah, yeah, but --

13:47A: So how old were you when he died? 8.

13:51B: 8?

13:53A: And so how do you remember like that time in the civil rights movement? Like how do you actually --

13:56B: Obviously it’s embedded in my mind.

13:58A: Yeah, yeah, but like paint us a picture. Like what’s that time like for you? Like that’s like a, like, you know, you’re a walking awareness of that time that most of us can’t even imagine really.

14:07B: It was because of my mom, because like I said, for such a small town, she was liberal. She was a women’s libber. Heard of that term? Women’s liberation meant, okay, like women actually have rights, which by the way, they don’t. Did you know, like, by according to the Constitution, women do not have the same rights as men?

14:29A: I didn’t know that.

14:30B: Yeah, it’s true. Okay, and she was into that.

14:34A: Which rights don’t they have? Like, yeah.

14:36B: Equal rights. Just equal rights. Like, you’re treated the same. Hey, hey, to this day -- and, and like, how old are you, if I may ask?

14:45A: 26. You can ask. Yeah.

14:46B: Oh, okay, okay. So you’re in the ballpark. Okay. I -- and I told my friend this, okay, like, is from that area where I’m from, and he didn’t believe it. I said, women aren’t even paid equally as men.

15:00A: Oh yeah, that’s true.

15:01B: Okay, well, your age, they’re up to 94%.

15:04A: Oh yeah?

15:05B: Yeah. Okay, so you’re getting 94%. Okay, my age, 80.

15:11A: Hmm.

15:13B: They’re just not paid as well.

15:15A: Yeah.

15:15B: Okay, and they -- because they don’t have equal rights.

15:18A: They’re not valued the same.

15:19B: No.

15:20A: And they’re not dignified the same.

15:21B: No, no. And that, that’s fucked up.

15:24A: Absolutely.

15:25B: Yeah. What’s the fucking raises? Yeah. Yeah.

15:31A: Yeah.

15:31B: Okay. And yeah, I actually am more well-versed in probably what you thought.

15:37A: You said than what I thought? Nah, I mean, that’s the beauty, right? I get to find out who’s well-versed in what.

15:43B: You just walk in. Okay.

15:45A: Yeah. Yeah. Everybody’s well-versed in something, you know. I’ve been getting a lot of takes on like the narcotics scene of Denver, honestly. I’m like, oh yeah, whatever you’re well-versed in. So I don’t have like really any expectations about what people will have to share with me. You know, but it’s exciting.

15:57B: Hey, tell me what you heard about the narcotics. Uh, because I’ll give you my point if -- I just want to hear like what you heard.

16:04A: Um, I mean, I’ve heard that Colfax in the past was true, people made a lot of money, and now it’s less so the case. I heard people don’t know where the fentanyl came from, but it’s been killing a lot of people. Um, people say it’s not coming from the US, it’s coming from Mexico, is what one lady told me. Um, people have told me about their experiences being addicted to different substances and like being concerned with like overdosing and almost dying. People share that stuff with me. That’s kind of -- I’ve been told.

16:29B: I can say this, until a year ago, I lived 3 blocks down that way and it was at the height of the homeless. And like there was a parking lot, okay? And like dude would literally go over and he would touch people to make sure they were alive. Because of fentanyl.

16:48A: I believe.

16:49B: Okay, and yeah, I don’t get it. Hey, hey, I’m liberal. Okay, I’ve done marijuana and cocaine.

16:58A: That’s it.

17:01B: That’s it.

17:01A: No mushrooms?

17:03B: No, and that’s the one I regret because it’s natural. Right? Okay, but yeah, pushed out. Pushed out.

17:11A: You still got time.

17:13B: Uh, 64? I doubt it.

17:15A: Every day?

17:16B: I doubt it. Okay, but, but if that is one, that is what I’ll do.

17:21A: Okay, that’s cool.

17:22B: Okay, but like, Molly? In Denver, man, Denver promotes drug use up the wazoo here.

17:29A: Yeah, what do you think about that?

17:30B: I don’t get it.

17:32A: It’s money. You don’t think it’s money?

17:34B: Hey, hey, hey, I, I’ve smoked marijuana since before you were born.

17:40A: Yeah, yeah.

17:42B: It shouldn’t be legalized. I’ll tell you why, okay? You and I, let’s say we’re working at the same place, like downtown Denver, okay? We cannot go out and split a 12-pack of beer for lunch.

17:58A: That’s true.

17:59B: Okay, we can go out, share a joint, okay? And our work productivity is not as good.

18:07A: That’s definitely true.

18:09B: Well, yeah, yeah. And, and even, even this convenience store right here, I know the owner. He goes, yeah, yeah, as long as they don’t show up drunk, it’s okay if they’re high. I’m going, yeah, you probably shouldn’t think that way. And obviously I’m liberal and I’m still saying that.

18:25A: Yeah, yeah.

18:27B: You just shouldn’t. You just shouldn’t. And, and to prove a point, okay, like I get that cheap-ass Top Ramen. Okay, well, it’s not them. Okay, but whoever they call to order, well, they’re fucked in the head. They’re high. Okay, they don’t get it for 3 weeks.

18:47A: I imagine.

18:49B: Okay, that’s how come. That’s how come.

18:53A: We’re slowing down the world being stoners, huh?

18:55B: Yeah, and I’m a stoner, ironically, right? But I’m going, yeah, it’s not right.

19:02A: It’s not right. The cost of this. I hear you.

19:05B: Yeah, it’s tough that way, man. And people don’t get it.

19:12A: It’s a fun take.

19:12B: It is. And I’m sorry I talked so much with you.

19:16A: No, it’s all good. I’m still curious to hear your -- like, how do you think about that moment, right, in US history, right? Civil rights movement, uh, peoples who are having their whole perspectives challenged, right, around race. Like, like, were people -- were the people who were moved people who were like, oh, you know, I’ve been wrong? Like, you see that? Did you see that? The people who were like, no, this stuff is still wrong. Like Yeah, well, like, what did you see? How did you see, like, white people react, right, where you’re from to, like, this moment in time?

19:40B: Now, can I brag about something?

19:42A: Please, yeah, brag about whatever you want.

19:43B: Okay, you’re African American?

19:46A: Yep.

19:47B: Okay, usually I say black, but I’m trying to be cool.

19:50A: Okay, cool.

19:51B: Okay, I have -- I can go anywhere around African Americans. You know what, want to know why?

20:00A: Why?

20:00B: Because no matter where I walk, I always say hello.

20:03A: Oh yeah, it’s important. Dignifying people goes a long way.

20:06B: And, and they understand that. Yeah. Okay, because hey, this person -- not, not that I’m white, okay, just hey, he acknowledged.

20:14A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, he dignified me.

20:16B: And so I can be out here at 2 o’clock in the morning. Yeah, I ain’t worried.

20:20A: Yeah, it’s also a privilege of being a man though too. I feel like it’s not about so much being undignified, it’s about being harassed at that point.

20:27B: No, no, no, no, that’s a good point.

20:29A: Yeah, it’s a shame.

20:30B: That’s a -- well, it’s a damn shame, okay? But I see your point, okay? And so maybe I shouldn’t be as cocky as I should be.

20:37A: No, but you’re right too, because some people, they, they do find -- like, men might still, like, find themselves anxious. But I think as long as you dignify people, right, and you pay attention to who seems directly intending to do you harm --

20:48B: And, and here I’m gonna knock whites now, okay? I’m one of the few people that acknowledge everybody.

20:55A: Yeah, yeah, shout out to you.

20:56B: Okay, and, and, and, and I feel like people don’t even recognize that. They remember that. They remember that. Okay, if you just said hello, okay, you know, homeless, okay, you just say hello. They don’t ask you for money.

21:10A: Yeah, yeah, now you’re just the neighbor.

21:12B: Yeah, they’re going, hey, thanks, man. They’ll literally tell me that, which is wrong on their part. Okay, shouldn’t think that way. Okay, but yeah.

21:23A: I mean, they’re just grateful to be dignified, to be seen.

21:25B: Well, that’s my point, okay? And, and so yeah, that’s why I, I don’t care if I’m out at 2, 3 o’clock in the morning. I feel fine.

21:33A: Yeah, me too. I mean, I think that’s the way to -- that’s the way to approach it all. And I think people do like -- like, you might have no idea what that person’s name is, or even like fully know their face, you know, if you’re not acknowledging them. But they see you walk by and ignore them, you know, as though you don’t live in the same world. And they’re like, we don’t live in the same world. And you’re like, you know, now all of a sudden you’re dealing with hostility. You know, it’s only a product of not even negligence, right? But just, um, I don’t know a word I would use. It’s just like a lack of recognition.

21:58B: Well, and that’s what’s sad compared to like where I’m from and like where I live now. And that’s how come I love living here. Okay, I can do that. I can’t do that where I’m from.

22:10A: What do you mean? Acknowledge your Why is that? It’s like a social pressure not to?

22:17B: There’s a whole lot of racists down there.

22:20A: And so what is that like as like social pressure? It’s like social pressure not to acknowledge people?

22:24B: I ran a newspaper. Really?

22:27A: That’s cool. I got the right guy.

22:29B: 4th generation newspaper person.

22:31A: 4 generations?

22:32B: Yeah.

22:33A: Like your family?

22:34B: Yeah.

22:34A: Really?

22:35B: Yeah, we sold to the Denver Post like -- Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, it was still worth money.

22:40A: Good for you, though. That’s cool.

22:42B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, but what I’m getting at was I never fit in that way. But they’d have to put up with my ass because I ran the newspaper.

22:53A: Yeah, yeah, and you of all people, imagine.

22:54B: It drove them crazy.

22:57A: How’d your family get into news?

22:59B: My great-grandfather in Iowa moved to Burlington, Colorado, Last town in Colorado on I-70 before Kansas. Town of 3,000.

23:13A: Okay. And I probably drove through. I drove here from Philly.

23:16B: Well, yeah, you probably did then.

23:18A: I drove on I-70, my car died in line.

23:20B: Yeah, yeah, you drove right by my hometown.

23:22A: That’s cool.

23:23B: Okay, but, but yeah, yeah. And the thing, like, with people, like, around me, because they knew how I thought, Mm-hmm. He had to keep the fucking mouth shut.

23:34A: Mm-hmm.

23:37B: So I wouldn’t put up with it.

23:38A: Mm-hmm.

23:39B: Like I said, MLK Jr. was my hero of all time.

23:42A: Mm-hmm.

23:43B: Even though he was fucking Miss Black Alabama in the hotel while he got shot. Okay, but yeah, you can say that about Kennedy with Marilyn Monroe in the closet.

23:54A: Mm-hmm.

23:54B: Yeah, you just can. Okay, powerful people, they They just do shit like that. But no, no, I’ve always been that way and it’s because of my mom. It’s because of my mom.

24:08A: Who was your mom?

24:10B: Like I said, she was a female libber and she just didn’t put up with shit. She didn’t act like it in Burlington, but she would with us. Does that make sense? So she could give us a voice, you know, and off we went that way.

24:36A: She kept up appearances while, you know, promoting free thinking in your home.

24:40B: Oh, which meant she was lying. She was lying. But yeah, but she still did it.

24:49A: Mm-hmm.

24:50B: And, and I appreciate to this day what that woman did for me. Because like I said, I mean, hell, people are people, man. That’s just what it boils down to. People are people.

25:06A: So how would you describe the social pressures you’ve seen around racism, like in white spaces, white communities?

25:12B: Okay, now you got to explain that a little bit better.

25:15A: Like you say, Right, you can’t acknowledge everybody, right? Like, there’s a social pressure not to. That’s what you mean, right? Or is that not what you mean? Like you said, at home you can’t.

25:28B: Well, like I said, 85% Trump last election, whole county, okay? But I still did, okay? As an example, there was a guy from India, okay, that moved to Burlington. He took over the, the restaurant at our golf course.

25:47A: Mm-hmm.

25:48B: Okay, well, everybody shunned his ass.

25:52A: Hmm.

25:52B: Okay, and I know this is not a lot of money, okay, but like a quarter page back then was $300. Gave it to him for $50. Okay, I have somebody else, Stratton Co-op, Okay, paying me over 30 grand a year. They don’t get that deal.

26:12A: Yeah.

26:14B: Okay, and this, this is so cool. He is just retiring after over 20 years, and he’s asked me down this weekend.

26:25A: Oh yeah?

26:26B: So I can eat like at his last dinner that he’s serving. Okay, yeah, he invited me down.

26:33A: That’s sick.

26:35B: That’s nice.

26:35A: That’s how you know your business.

26:36B: Yeah, because he knows. He knows, okay? And, and we don’t fucking talk about it, okay? Because I just did what I did, and, and then he had, he had to make it work, okay? I, I just opened the door. We had to make it work, and he did. And now there’s a whole bunch of white people down in Burlington just love his ass.

26:57A: I believe it.

26:58B: Okay, and Yeah, but at the start, no. No, no. And I would always do stuff like that.

27:07A: You’re a bridge guy.

27:10B: I don’t know.

27:12A: That’s what it sounds like. That’s cool.

27:14B: Oh, okay, okay. Can I tell you one totally cool thing?

27:17A: Yeah, please.

27:18B: I actually knocked the National Order of the KKK down to their fucking knees.

27:24A: Okay, tell us about that. Tell us that story.

27:26B: It was when David Duke, and he ran for president, ’90s sometime, okay? And they decided to go into Colorado to start like this whole nationwide thing, all right? And, you know, and back then it was fax machines. Do you even know what a fax machine is?

27:52A: Yeah, it’s like it sends like files via like phone number.

27:56B: Yeah, yeah, okay, good for you. Okay, I’m kind of shocked by that. Okay, anyways, okay, my mom and dad are even out of town because I, like I said, I was 4th generation, he was 3rd generation, and we get these faxes. So like Channel 9, Channel 7, Channel 4, all up here, they’re coming down to Burlington because that’s the first place they’re going to meet, right? I go out to the lady at the radio station. I said, yeah, I said, yeah, we’re going to do this differently. And she goes, what do you mean? I said, we’re going to fucking ignore it. And she goes, what do you mean? I said, we’re going to ignore it. She goes, well, John, it’s all over. I said, I know. I said, we’re ignoring it Here, and she goes, “Well, what are you gonna do?” I said, “Yeah, I’ll take care of that.” And what I did, and I actually know Spanish fluently.

28:51A: See?

28:51B: Okay. And I went to what I called Mexican trailer house meetings. Okay. And because they were inviting people from the state of Chihuahua up to protest.

29:06A: Okay.

29:06B: I said, “No, no.” We’re gonna fucking ignore this. Okay? Because they’re not -- they’re not above us.

29:15A: We’re above them.

29:18B: Okay? And guess how many people showed up?

29:22A: How many?

29:22B: Well, 3 drunk white guys from Burlington. Okay? That were drunk. So they went -- so in other words, 2 other ones. 5. They canceled every other statewide meeting. After that, and to this day, the National Ku Klux Klan has not been that relevant.

29:40A: Hmm. That’s pretty crazy.

29:43B: And see, I’m proud of it.

29:45A: You should be.

29:48B: Yeah. You know, I don’t want to say to that. I just don’t. I just did what I thought was.

30:01A: right. Absolutely.

30:01B: And yeah, yeah, and, and thank God for the lady at the radio station. She goes, really, you think that’ll work? Yeah, yeah, I do. Okay, and, and we were competitors, and she goes, okay. Like I said, my parents were out of town at the time. I’m just pulling this shit out of my both.

30:26A: How old are you?

30:26B: I’m 64 now. I was late 30s when that happened.

30:33A: Oh shit, that’s sick.

30:35B: Okay, and yeah, yeah, yeah, I did. And it is, it is the proudest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I even brought 2 doctors to my hometown, got a guy to pay for them, okay, both minorities. Okay, but we needed doctors. Hell, we made the front page of the New York Times on that.

30:57A: Really?

30:58B: Okay, but, but compared to what I just said, that ain’t shit. Okay, I, I helped stop the KKK. Okay, and to this day, I, I, well, I’ll never do anything better.

31:12A: I get that.

31:14B: Let’s be honest. Okay, at least I’m fucking realistic. about it. But no, no, I actually did. Oh yeah, with, with a guy, David Duke. He was literally running for president at the time.

31:27A: Imagine.

31:28B: Still shut his ass down. Yeah, I did.

31:34A: Took away that platform. No visibility.

31:36B: Yeah, yeah. And ironically, all the people from Denver come up here with their mobile news trucks and shit. And then 5 people should fucking show up, and 3 of them were just 3 drunk white guys that were just checking it out.

31:52A: Yeah, I mean, the other 2 were like --

31:54B: So in other words, 2 people went in.

31:56A: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

31:57B: Out of 5, but even 5.

32:00A: That’s what you mean, that’s what you mean by the undercover though, right? There’s still people who are like, yeah, we should be out there, or like, yeah, we like want David Duke as president, but we’re not outside.

32:07B: No, no. And, and you know what I did?

32:09A: What?

32:10B: Okay, afterwards, my parents are still gone. Full-page ad. Okay, few words. An extraordinary job by extraordinary people. That’s all it fucking said in a full page. And small words. Yeah, because I want to make a big deal because that would have made them win.

32:35A: That would have made them win?