The Invisible Men

In this episode, Ian and Nique are joined by Charles Love — Assistant Executive Director of Seeking Educational Excellence and author of the forthcoming book, Race Crazy. Charles discusses how his upbringing and adult life in Gary, Indiana shaped his view of the greatest challenges facing black Americans. Charles did not pay much attention to politics as a young adult. But he became concerned during the Obama presidency as a rift grew between the real-life experiences of middle-class black Americans and the rhetoric of race-based victimhood that seemed to prevail. Today, Charles believes the greatest need in impoverished minority communities is not more government programs, but more entrepreneurship and a renaissance in private giving toward mission-based nonprofits. Most importantly, Charles advocates for more successful black men to demystify success for the next generation in vulnerable communities by preaching what they practice in mentor relationships.Later, Charles discusses how his work with Seeking Educational Excellence (SEE) is paving pathways to power for black boys and girls by advocating for quality STEM education in schools. In the words of Charles, “how you see a problem will dictate the methods you use to fix it.” SEE believes the core problem of poverty in minority communities is an insufficient pipeline funneling black men and women into great jobs — so they help more black boys and girls access a quality STEM education. Tune in to the full episode to learn more about Charles’s story and hear his words of advice for “Darryl.”Note: If you would like to see all episodes of The Invisible Men, please go to: www.invisible.men

In this episode, Ian and Nique are joined by David Mahan — Policy Director at the Center for Christian Virtue and founder of Frontline Youth Communications. David shares how “God’s people, God’s power, and God’s principles” helped him and his wife build a life of success and community impact after a difficult start as teenage parents living in poverty. As David and his wife connected with a strong church community, they found the moral compass and support network they needed to place their family on a path of restoration — a path that took David from cleaning people’s homes to testifying before U.S. Congress on pressing policy issues. Today, David’s career is dedicated to helping more young men and women who find themselves walking down a perilous path become connected with strong faith communities and begin to rebuild their lives.Later, David discusses how to restore a culture of strong and involved fatherhood in America — especially within impoverished communities. David laments the dearth of adults who have built strong families that are willing to invest in young men and women in impoverished communities. He calls on more role models to build ministries and community outreach programs to speak truth to kids who are struggling to identify the best path for their lives. Tune in to the full episode to learn more about David’s story and hear his words of advice for “Darryl.”Note: If you would like to see all episodes of The Invisible Men, please go to: www.invisible.men

In this episode, Ian and Nique are joined by Delano Squires — an Author at the Federalist and a long-time public servant. Delano shares how his growing faith journey and upbringing in an interconnected family from the West Indies have been center points of his journey as a writer. A computer engineering major in college, Delano was inspired to begin his writing career as the tragic murder of MVF NFL quarterback Steve McNair prompted him to reflect on how deeply the decisions of fathers affect their families. Since then, Delano has become increasingly convinced that human flourishing in America hinges on the revitalization of strong families and faith communities.Of increasing concern to Delano is the tendency of elites today to “raise the ceiling while giving lip service to the floor.” Specifically, Delano laments how many elites project language of oppression and avoid discussing central challenges like fraying families and communities, even as they build strong and stable families in their own lives. Delano responds to this challenge by calling on men who care more about their communities than their public reputation to speak publicly about the importance of fatherhood. Tune in to the full episode to learn more about Delano’s story and hear his words of advice for “Darryl.”Note: If you would like to see all episodes of The Invisible Men, please go to: www.invisible.men.

In this episode, Ian and Nique are joined by James Stovall, the co-founder and former CEO of Little Bird HR. James founded Little Bird in 2016 to provide software, employee benefits, and HR support to New York City charter schools. After five years of empowering charter schools in the city, Little Bird was bought in 2020 by one of the largest firms in the industry. Essential to James Stovall’s decision to found Little Bird: a desire to leverage his experience working in the charter school sector to pursue his long-term dream of building a company that could address root problems he had observed in education.One crucial part of James’ early story: witnessing his mother exemplify a remarkable spirit of grit and resiliency as she rejected welfare benefits available to a single mother like her and got a job as an insurance agent to build a better future for her children. Later, James discusses the importance of overcoming prevalent racial narratives that instill feelings of helplessness and undermine personal agency. James has done so by fixing his mind on the open doors in front of him, and not the closed doors — keeping a steady focus on his own goals and the opportunities within his reach rather than ruminating over the barriers that stand in his way. Tune into the full episode to hear more about James’ story and his words of advice for “Darryl.”Note: If you would like to see all episodes of The Invisible Men, please go to: www.invisible.men

In this episode, Ian and Nique are joined by one of America’s greatest wrestlers — Lee Kemp — who reflects on a life of challenges and achievement both inside and outside wrestling. According to Lee, “I was given up for adoption at birth and was institutionalized until the age of five,” when he was adopted. Lee shares that his adopted father, who left the south for Cleveland in search of a better life, taught him the values of hard work and respect from an early age. Amid the racial unrest of the 1960s, Lee’s family moved from Cleveland to a rural Ohio farming community. There, Lee watched his father build a thriving farm while also holding a full-time job. It was at this time in his life that Lee was introduced to the sport of wrestling. Wrestling has informed one of Lee’s core beliefs: the reward of winning one battle is earning the privilege to fight another battle.Later, Lee discusses his experience in 1980 when President Jimmy Carter decided to boycott the Summer Olympics in Moscow — dashing Lee’s hopes of becoming both a multi-time world champion and an Olympic champion. Tune in to the full episode to learn more of Lee’s story and hear his words of advice for “Darryl.”Note: If you would like to see all episodes of The Invisible Men, please go to: www.invisible.men

In this episode, Eugene S. Robinson joins Ian and Nique to discuss his multifaceted career as a journalist, author, musician, editor of OZY Media, and MMA Connoisseur. As a child, Eugene was driven by the New York “hustle” culture to pave a path to a better life for himself and his family. From Brooklyn to Stanford University, Eugene’s intellect and zeal propelled him into a plethora of exciting jobs and opportunities. Eugene shares pivotal moments — from starting a snow shoveling business as a young boy to discovering his knack for music and writing at Stanford — that laid the groundwork for his career. Later, Eugene discusses how mastering martial arts prepared him to respond to adversity from a place of strength rather than fear. Watch the full episode to hear Eugene’s advice for “Darryl” and his unorthodox “speed round” answer, where he compares MMA Fighter Jon Jones to Abel in the Old Testament narrative of Cain and Abel.Note: If you would like to see all episodes of The Invisible Men, please go to: www.invisible.men

In this episode, Ian and Nique are joined by John McWhorter — public intellectual, Professor of Linguistics at Columbia University, and author of two forthcoming books, 9 Nasty Words and The Elect. Much like Ian and Nique, John was a graduate student at Stanford University as news of the Rodney King assault swept the nation in the early 1990s. John shares how he grew to feel alone in this time — becoming deeply impacted by the disjunction between a culture that was telling him he should feel just as much of a victim as Rodney King and a personal life experience that spoke to a much different reality. This dichotomy shaped John’s intellectual journey as he, a Ph.D student in Linguistics, began to explore the long-term negative effects of movements seeking to associate “real blackness” with a posture of victimhood.Later, John discusses prevailing expectations for black scholars and leaders to speak primarily about issues of race, despite their other interests and expertise. As an academic at heart, John finds great joy in growing and deepening his work in Linguistics apart from conversations on race. Yet, he continues to weigh in as an authority on such issues out of a sense of duty — because the challenges facing Americans today are serious and American children need to be taught to develop a sense of purpose, identity, and agency rooted in their own personhood, even in the midst of any barriers they might face. Tune in to the full episode to learn more of John’s story and hear his words of advice for “Darryl.”Note: If you would like to see all episodes of The Invisible Men, please go to: www.invisible.men

In this episode, Ian and Nique are joined by Chris Campbell — world champion wrestler, Olympic bronze medalist, and a practicing attorney. Chris shares how a deeply-engrained sense of intestinal fortitude empowered him to push through academic and athletic barriers and carve a pathway to success in wrestling and law. For example, Chris was unable to compete in high-school wrestling his junior year after his mother declined to sign a permission slip, so he travelled 45 minutes every day to a local junior college to train with men. In his senior year of high school wrestling he won a state championship and was recruited by Olympic champion Dan Gable. Later, Chris persevered through academic challenges and doubt to earn an amazing score on the LSAT and gain admissions to law school even as several people told him he wasn’t cut out to be an attorney.Chris also shares how his school’s emphasis on providing all students with exposure to holistic opportunities in academic, athletics, and music at a young age opened the door for Chris to identify his passion for athletics. In particular, it was one little league football coach who shaped Chris’s love for sports through his quiet, character-based approach to coaching. Tune in to the full episode to learn more of Chris’s story and hear his words of advice for “Darryl.”Note: If you would like to see all episodes of The Invisible Men, please go to: www.invisible.men

In this episode, Ian and Nique are joined by Andy McGadney — the newly announced President of Knox College and a long-time leader in higher education. Andy speaks of the critical role of education in the paving pathways to opportunity for black Americans today. As a child, Andy was raised in Connecticut but his family had deep roots in the south. Andy’s parents — both graduates of HBCUs — moved from Mobile, Alabama to Connecticut in search of better job opportunities than black college graduates could find in the south in the 1960s. It was witnessing the tremendous impact his mother, a first grade school teacher, had on her students that first sparked Andy’s passion for education. This passion ultimately led Andy to pursue two graduate degrees and build a career in higher education administration.Later, Andy discusses the role colleges should have in facilitating free and civil discourse across the ideological spectrum today. Contrary to the strict enforcement of intellectual orthodoxy happening on some campuses, Andy believes liberal arts colleges should be the best places in America to engage in respectful dialogue on the most difficult and contentious questions of the day. Colleges should cultivate an environment where differences of opinion are the starting point of conversations, not the endpoint. And students should feel free to share their true viewpoints while also carrying an open-minded spirit and a willingness to have their minds changed. Tune in to the full episode to learn more of Andy’s story and hear his words of advice for “Darryl.”Note: If you would like to see all episodes of The Invisible Men, please go to: www.invisible.men

In this episode, Ian and Nique are joined by Myron White — an original member of the cast for “The Invisible Men” who has built a distinguished career in finance, entrepreneurship, and corporate leadership while serving in the Army Reserves for more than two and a half decades. Myron shares how one third-grade teacher at his Catholic school in New Orleans played an especially important role in his early development — imparting in him a sense of confidence even as he wrestled with the challenge of being the only African American child in his class. This self-confidence led Myron to chase after goals that others told him were out of his reach, ultimately landing him at Harvard Business School and in a successful corporate career.Later, Myron brings a surprise guest on the show: A young man named Cory who Myron has been mentoring for several years after first meeting in church choir. Cory shares with Ian and Nique how Myron’s mentorship helped him identify a passion for business, architecture, and design and pursue a college degree that would open doors for him to build a career in those fields. When asked about how he reconciles narratives of black victimhood with the examples of successful black Americans, Cory offers the following words of wisdom: “If God is with us, then who is against us? So what are we settling for?” Watch the full episode here to hear more about Myron and Cory’s stories.Note: If you would like to see all episodes of The Invisible Men, please go to: www.invisible.men