Speaker 1: 0:00

It's a challenge for us.

Speaker 1: 0:01

So, it's not just Derek Jackson want to become governor. He's going to focus on family each and every day. That sounds great. He wants to take the minimum wage from $5.15 to $15, $20 and $27. Abolished state tax for nurses and military and educators and those over the age of 65. He wants to do all these great things that's going to help mitigate this affordability conundrum. All those things sounds great, but they also need to know that Derrick Jackson is looking down the road at 2030 and 2032. Of leadership, to be able to stand in front of the United States and say that the people of Georgia not only is going to vote, but we're going to make sure that the rights and the guarantee of the American dream, as per the constitution, will live on.

Speaker 2: 0:57

What's going on folks? Man, we've got a good one for you today. I had the honor of sitting down with Georgia State Representative Derek Jackson, who is currently running for governor. Derek, enlisted in the Navy right out of high school, spent 20 years in the military, 10 more years as an executive in the corporate world and for the last 10 has been a legislator for our state. Now he's running to make a difference. Has been a legislator for our state, now he's running to make a difference. But see, everyone says that.

Speaker 2: 1:26

So what I wanted out of this particular interview is I wanted to stay away from all the major talking points, even though inevitably they're going to come up. But I wanted to find out who the man is. I wanted to speak to the man the husband, the father, the brother, and we are so appreciative that State Representative Jackson did not hold back. He talks about family. He talks about his humble beginnings all the way through the top and why he is pursuing a life of service, even at this point. You don't want to miss any part of this interview. Make sure you stay all the way through the end and if you're not following us already, hit those three dots, click the follow button and send this to one of your friends. I guarantee you they will appreciate it. Welcome to Manhood Matters. Let's get to it so. State representative derek jackson, gubernatorial candidate for the state of Georgia. Welcome, brother.

Speaker 1: 2:49

Welcome. Thank you, brother. Thank you for having me to share my thoughts and my feelings, because not often elected officials do this yeah, very rarely and I think it's absolutely critical in this day and age for citizens to know who they should vote for but, more importantly, who they are.

Speaker 2: 3:12

I want to go down that rabbit hole. I have, on this podcast, never interviewed a politician before we talk about y'all Right, but I've not talked to one directly and I think what better way to show the humanity in that person and bring that person to the forefront. So I got something for you. I want to start with this. You are on the 30th floor of the West End Hotel in downtown Atlanta. You walk into an elevator and in that elevator we have a white female nurse, a black male farmer and you have a white man who is a CEO, co-founder of a small business. You have about 30 seconds before you guys hit the lobby to tell them who you are and why you're running.

Speaker 1: 3:56

Give me the opportunity to get to know me. I am a husband, I am a father one with seven children, four daughters and three sons. I am a father one with seven children, four daughters and three sons. I am a retired lieutenant commander, united States Navy. I am also my mother's only son came and raised in a single family household, and so when you understand who I am as a person, you realize why my platform is all about family White, black, old, young, rich, poor, urban, suburban. So in this 30 seconds to you CEO, you nurse and you black farmer, give me the opportunity to get to know me and I get to know you Because when I become your governor, I'm going to wake up each and every day with your family on my mind, because in this business that I'm in, it's about relationships. So there's nothing I can tell you in 30, 40, 50 seconds other than I'm the right person for the job and I'm qualified for the job and we're going to get into all of that.

Speaker 2: 5:01

So let's talk about your early life.

Speaker 1: 5:03

Where did you grow up? The beautiful thing about my upbringing my mother was born and raised right here in Waynesboro, georgia. In fact, my family roots in Georgia go back to the early 1800s when my great great grandfather was bought and sold in Charleston, south Carolina. They moved him to Georgia. He was sold to a plantation here. My mother fast forward, in 1959, 1960, depending on who you speak to left Georgia and went up to New York and so we spread out across New York Brooklyn, bronx, far Rockaway, queens, binghamton and Syracuse. The reason why? Because in the late 50s, early 60s, new York had this huge job boom, in particular my mother. She had a desire to become a nurse and so when they learned about this job boom in New York, specifically for nurses, carpenters and things of that nature, is the reason why my mother and a few of her siblings ended up in New York.

Speaker 2: 6:00

Gotcha, you often speak of service, your actual career. You're not calling it a career, you're calling it service. So who in your family thought you that? Was it? Your mother, your aunts? And how did that shape your leadership style, your commitment and your resilience?

Speaker 1: 6:14

a career. I call it a body of service. My mother taught me in a tender age of seven or eight we had this significant snowfall. As you well know, growing up in New York, you're going to see mountains of snow, and then, this particular year, she bought me a shovel as a gift.

Speaker 2: 6:37

That doesn't sound like a gift.

Speaker 1: 6:39

Listen, I was the only boy, I'm going to buy you a shovel. Yeah, and it was a snow shovel. And so she said, derek, I need you to go and shovel the driveway. Yes, ma'am, not a problem. And so I went out there, shoveled the driveway and upon completion, my mother goes. Now I need you to go and do the same for our neighbor. I can't recall the couple's names, so I'm going to refer to them as Mrs Smith. He was an educator, but he's retired.

Speaker 1: 7:09

Up in age. He could not shovel his driveway, and so my mother tasked me to go to do the same, and so, upon completion, mrs Smith gave me a nice cup of hot chocolate. Man, I'm like this is awesome. I grew up loving hot chocolate, hot chocolate and oatmeal. Okay, we'll come back to that.

Speaker 1: 7:27

And so I went back home and my mother asked did you complete the assignment? I said yes, ma'am. She said, derek, that's service. You gave them a service and they repaid you with a thank you. Right, if you had the opportunity to get to know my mother when she was alive here, this nurse, for 40 years of her life, always took it upon herself to teach me and my siblings I have three sisters, younger sisters about service, growing up in the church one time she said now your service is going to be in the choir. And so the director of the youth choir said Marie, my mother, derek, can't sing, so we need to find something else for him to do. So I ended up on the junior usher board. My point is my whole entire life my mother taught me to find out where and how I can serve others.

Speaker 2: 8:28

Yeah, you're the oldest of four, that's right. Three sisters, that's correct. So what was that like growing up with them as well, having that stewardship over them?

Speaker 1: 8:36

Yeah, so it was a different kind of responsibility because I never had a childhood life. So my next sister that's next to me, I'm three years senior. Here I am 10 or 11. The next one is at seven and the other one is closer to two. And so my mother taught me responsibility and accountability early. Right, do not answer the door in case of emergency, right, and we didn't have 911 back then. You had to recall all seven numbers.

Speaker 2: 9:09

Yeah, I didn't know that. I thought I was older than that. No, okay.

Speaker 1: 9:12

So you have to learn the seven digits to call the police or the fire department or the community hospital, or the community hospital. And so, growing up, being the firstborn and the only son, I took on the identity like, not just as a big brother, but almost like a surrogate father, although a lot of people will say, man, you didn't have much of a childhood. But fast forward, how I turned out, always looking for accountability and responsibility, always looking for opportunities to serve, always thinking about others before self.

Speaker 2: 9:53

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 9:54

Those were the tenets that made me a better husband and a better father today.

Speaker 2: 9:59

Yeah, I want to transition and talk about your Navy career for a little bit here, if I could. So you went into the Navy in what was it? It 83?

Speaker 1: 10:05

1983, July 16th.

Speaker 2: 10:08

All right. So from Navy recruit to Lieutenant Commander over two decades, what was a defining moment, whether at sea or during your command, that taught you leadership in a way that no other civilian role could have?

Speaker 1: 10:23

The first time I realized the importance of leadership was my very first deployment. We had the mission to go overseas. President Ronald Reagan was the commander-in-chief. God damn you're taking this back. And there was some confrontation between us and Libya, and Muammar Gaddafi put out this challenge to Ronald Reagan for us not to cross a particular latitude and longitude. Ronald Reagan being Ronald Reagan sent this battleship and I was on one of those ships, and it was then I realized how you prepare your sailors and your officer for combat.

Speaker 2: 11:09

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 11:09

What makes the military different than being in law enforcement? See, law enforcement. They may come to a home and they don't know what's going on the other side of the door. But what makes military situations different? We know we're going into combat, that's right. We know we're about to create havoc, and so we're trained and prepared. We understand the rules of engagement and all of that. The execution of that is around leadership. You know, we often ask the question is our leaders born or are leaders made? And I think it's a combination of both. Some leaders are called, but a few are chosen. A lot of leaders could be good, but a few are great, and there are some very natural intrinsic values that make a leader going from good to great. You're just born with this sense of understanding who you are and whose you are. Moses did not take a class.

Speaker 2: 12:15

I was going to say there are great leaders throughout history that didn't have access to anything but that innate X factor that made them who they are Right and that sense of service, as you said before.

Speaker 1: 12:27

Right, I mean, take Frederick Douglass. I'm reading a lot around Frederick Douglass right now. Right, frederick Douglass was never elected. But Frederick Douglass is the reason why we got the 13th Amendment, 14th Amendment, 15th Amendment.

Speaker 2: 12:38

I'm embarrassed to say this, but I don't know why that is. Can you tell us real quick?

Speaker 1: 12:42

Yeah, know why that is? Can you tell us real quick? Yeah, so during and after Reconstruction, frederick Douglass had these conversations with Abraham Lincoln multiple times. Prior to the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, frederick Douglass would go in and challenge Abraham Lincoln and watching how Abraham Lincoln was about to allow for Negroes who were enslaved to become free. But it did not come without a price. And so in the early 1862, abraham Lincoln gave every plantation owner $300 per slave, because he had to pay slave owners to say, hey, we got to set these Negroes free, we're going to let them go. That's your labor force. Yeah, so let the government pay you for what you about to lose for these slaves.

Speaker 2: 13:32

In other words, pre-reparations, that's right. Pre-reparations, yeah, that's that.

Speaker 1: 13:38

And so Abraham Lincoln was like okay, I got to create this environment because Frederick Douglass is putting this pressure on me, Right Asking how can you not acknowledge someone like me as being whole? We're not three fifths of a person, Right See, Frederick Douglass used the Constitution to say you're doing something wrong.

Speaker 2: 13:58

Here's the mirror. Yeah, the phrase all men actually says all men, not some, right yeah?

Speaker 1: 14:03

And so so in April 1862, that took place. And then, about three or four months later, congress, in their infinite wisdom, saying well, we've got to give them more than just money, we need to give them land too. So again, frederick Douglass, overhearing all this kind of conversation, said well, wait a minute. Now you're about to give these white European men 160 acres. Yeah, for, wait a minute. Now you're about to give these white European men 160 acres, yeah, for free.

Speaker 1: 14:26

So Frederick Douglass said wait a minute. Now we are about to approach the fall. You got to let my people go. Right, he's saying the same thing, moses said. Moses said that's right. So they came to an agreement that we're going to give the Negro man 40 acres and a mule, which we never got. Negro man 40 acres and a mule, which we never got. Ah, because Congress, right before they went on their recess before Thanksgiving, they lined that out. So the 40 acres and a mule is not just a myth or a fable. It was actually part of legislation. We're going to free you, but we're not going to give you no land, no money and no mule. Yeah, good luck out there.

Speaker 1: 15:12

And so I'm in this mindset right now of Frederick Douglass and we'll come back to why I'm running for governor. But this all was shaped when I was in the military, realizing that you're going to send us into war, my first deployment. Did you give us all the resources that we need to make sure that we're set up for success? Again, I'm a very young leader at this time. Yeah, I didn't take a class. In fact, newsflash right here on your show. I had zero college, I went into the Navy at the age of 17.

Speaker 2: 15:38

Okay. And so when you think about Very little life experience at that point and we know this now back then we didn't, but we know this now. When we look at 17-year-olds, those are babies.

Speaker 1: 15:46

That's right? Yeah, absolutely. They're going to bring in those 17, 18-year-olds, take them to boot camp and they're going to stress them and stretch them, but they're also going to take the opportunity to teach you what integrity is, what is commitment, what is discipline, what is honor, what is courage, what is leadership. Phenomenal enculturation process. I think I had about 60 men to lead.

Speaker 2: 16:20

That's a big deal to have 60 people in a tense environment going to war.

Speaker 1: 16:22

So was that the defining moment for you? So that a defining moment for me, because when you think about military compared to corporate America, right, if you have 60 direct reports, that means you are a senior VP somewhere.

Speaker 2: 16:33

Correct, so you have to have middle managers under you. Absolutely yeah. Yeah, 60 direct reports is challenging in any capacity.

Speaker 1: 16:41

And so now, now this fast forward, this perspective, by the time you become a lieutenant commander, you no longer have tens, you have thousands. When you have that kind of department that you're leading, giving them the charge of the day, every day you're preparing them for combat. Every day you want to make sure that their welfare, of their family taken care of, right, all of these things as an operations officer, and so my contemporaries in corporate America, if you're leading 2000 people, you're the CEO. My vision is bigger and broader.

Speaker 2: 17:21

Service, everything you've been exposed to. I know that you had a run at Lieutenant Governor. That was unsuccessful. Was it 2022? That's correct, 2022, so it was unsuccessful. I guess I want to ask what have you learned that would serve you from this past run, and why are we running today?

Speaker 1: 17:38

So again, I'm going to keep giving reference to my mother, because my mother taught me now in high school and the very first time I encounter the thought of quitting was in 10th grade I was going to quit a particular sport. My mother sat me down in the kitchen table and said are you going to quit? Because of a coach, because it's a new environment, because somebody going to put you at the second string instead of the first string, are you going to quit? And so my mother would ask all these rhetorical questions without giving me the answer, and so I would sit there. I'm like I'm not a quitter, am I? She said no, sir, you're not a quitter. You not quit, derek, until God stop you from breathing.

Speaker 1: 18:27

I learned three years ago when running for lieutenant governor you have to be able to differentiate yourself. Number two you have to show up and know what that strategy looks like. We have to show up in different places, in different spaces. Now, podcasts such as yours is another way of showing up. Showing up in an email, showing up physically so people can talk to you, meet and greet you. Showing up on Instagram, tiktok, blue Sky, all these different social media platforms. It's showing up, and so our goal this time around is to make sure we're showing up in all places. Don't discount nothing. Three years ago we didn't do a podcast. Three years ago we went the traditional route, and so God placed it on my heart this time and say we have to be unconventional, because I am an unconventional leader. I am one that's take the word transparent and really hold that word to be true.

Speaker 2: 19:31

It's not a trending word for you, it's a core belief. That's right. What's going to take you and place you in that seat? What do you think it's going to take?

Speaker 1: 19:40

So, first off, making sure my message get out by me, through me. I mean, it's great to have family and friends be my surrogates, but in the end, folks want to know who you are, and so right now, there are four of us in this race, and there's something that Marie Jackson taught me that no one should be able to outpace you. I was a cross-country runner in junior high and high school. I was also on the wrestling team, I was also on the gymnastic team, I was also on the basketball team, so it doesn't matter what the playing field is, no one should be able to outrun you. Outwork you the young people call your hustle right. No one should be able to be on this grind. Morework you the young people call your hustle right. No one should be able to be on this grind more than you, right? So even my campaign team I'm going to lead by example, and so if I am putting in all this work 100% every day, it becomes infectious. They too give 100%, and those who we get an opportunity to meet say I want to be part of that, I want to give 100% as well, and that 100% could come in different forms right? Some financially, some by use of their talents and their goods, their product. That's what's going to make us victorious in the primary. That's what's going to differentiate us amongst all the others.

Speaker 1: 21:03

It's not just the mere fact that I want to run for governor, lord knows, I'm not seeking for another title. I'm not trying to make history. Yes, history would be made, but that's not the purpose and the goal. My goal is that we have 11 million citizens in Georgia and of that 11 million citizens, 2.3 million are living below the poverty level. And the only reason why they're living below the poverty level is because government are leaving them in the shadows, leaving them behind.

Speaker 1: 21:33

The military taught me you would never leave someone behind because that's someone's husband, that's someone's son, that's someone's mother, that's someone's aunt, that's someone's sister. Because I wouldn't want no one to leave me and my family behind. What makes me different than everyone else is my sincerity and how genuine I am. To make sure, yes, I'm going to focus on all 11 million, but I need to be laser focused on the 2.3 million that's living below the poverty level. There's no reason why Georgia that's living below the poverty level. There's no reason why Georgia. I get frustrated every time I think about it. Georgia's minimum wage is $5.15.

Speaker 2: 22:11

Are you kidding? I didn't know that we have this proverb. You know it's a French proverb, but I'll translate Far from the eyes, away from the heart, so I don't see this, so I don't think about it. I don't feel that pain. I think it's hard to survive on $12, $15 an hour. I think it's super hard to survive, considering what everything costs these days. It costs to be alive. So $5 is kind of ridiculous. What are you trying to get it to?

Speaker 1: 22:36

I introduce a bill. Okay, I'm either a sponsor on a bill or co-sponsor a bill. These last 10 years, since I've been under the gold dome as a legislator, there are only two states less than the federal minimum wage, which is also abysmal $7.25. But there are two states that's less than $7 and 25 cents. The other state is Wyoming.

Speaker 2: 23:00

I was going to guess Mississippi.

Speaker 1: 23:01

I can take the state of Wyoming and put it inside of Atlanta. It's the same population. So why is it a prosperous state like Georgia? Why would we be at the bottom? Where the state is the size of our capital? That's insane. Where the state is the size of our capital? That's insane. So what my bill says, House Bill 600, says the first year we go from $5.15 to $15. The second year we go from $15 to $20. And for the very point that you made the cost of living today, you really need more than that, yeah. So the third year we go to $27. Because of the Navy, I'm now college educated. Right, I'm on my fourth degree, which is a PhD in public policy with the emphasis of economics. So I love numbers.

Speaker 2: 23:52

It's refreshing to hear an actual qualified person because in the grand scope of things, when we're watching the political climate, you have a bunch of people who are not qualified holding posts they have no business holding. Some of this sounds surreal. If you made me a leader and I could just be like well, I'll give everybody X amount. Well, are you qualified to say that? Do you understand what that will do to the state, et cetera, et cetera. But it sounds like-.

Speaker 1: 24:14

It's very important and I think when I focus on my why and my why is, as you've already articulated, focusing on a family and understanding what it costs to survive- yeah. Let me answer that question. Go ahead For one person in the state of Georgia, specifically in the Atlanta metropolitan area. It will cost you $99,000 a year for one person to survive. It will cost you $99,000 a year for one person to survive. If you are a family of four, you need $201,000 a year. Now, what do I mean by?

Speaker 2: 24:46

surviving. I was going to challenge that a little bit because I know people who are living I want to say comfortably, because that's all relative right, but they're making $60,000. A family of two is making under $100,000 and they're living Right.

Speaker 1: 24:59

So let's qualify it right, but they're making 60K. A family of two is making under $100,000 and they're living Right. So let's qualify it right. So to me, as governor, it's not just simply being able to pay your bills. I want you to not only survive, I need you to thrive.

Speaker 1: 25:12

The Bible says a good man will leave a legacy for his children, children, children to be able to enjoy. I'm paraphrasing, but that's the essence of it. Right, and so if you just make a 60,000, and if you lose that job, you're one or two paychecks away from foreclosure. You're one or two paychecks away from getting your car repossessed. You're one or two paychecks away from getting your car repossessed. You're one or two paychecks away Heaven forbid if a health scare. So a person that's making $60,000, yes, they have a life, but they're not thriving. It makes it challenging for that person that's making $60,000 to take a vacation. Why do we have a lot of mental health situations? Because people don't have coping strategies. People are built up with stress. That's why I define my quality of life strategy around family as saying $99,000, you can afford a reasonable domicile in a safe environment. But a person with $60,000, they do not have options. They have to live in an environment where, and we got to clean up crime too, don't get me wrong. Sure, but their choices are limited.

Speaker 2: 26:25

There's also less crime when there's less poverty.

Speaker 1: 26:27

Absolutely. And so now you take a family of four and the combined income is about $201,000. Now they can take vacations. Most people want a sound, durable vehicle. Right Now they're thriving. Their emergency fund is six months worth of monthly payments. They have stocks and bonds and mutual funds. They now create a nest egg for their children. So that's what my goal is right, because a lot of folks who are running for governor they say, oh yeah, I just want you to have a quality of life and they don't really define what that is.

Speaker 2: 27:02

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 27:02

Because someone that's struggling that's making $47,000 a year. They're struggling and under this current administration it's going to even get worse.

Speaker 2: 27:12

I imagine that's the case If everyone's thriving right. It's kind of like the old adage if you gave everyone a million dollars, then a dozen eggs would cost $100,000. Because everyone's rich, no one has to go and work, no one has to do any of that. That wouldn't be the case if people had a job that could actually help them thrive. That's not my point. What I'm asking is if the rising tides do come up to where everyone in the state let's say a perfect dream scenario everyone's there are the disparities, not what we need for an economy to fully work, where you don't have to have people starving on the streets and not making money, but those levels. Isn't that what creates the capitalist society that we live in? That helped it thrive? Does that make sense?

Speaker 1: 27:56

It does, and that's an excellent question to ask, but in theory that sounds good on paper. In actuality, if we made the basement to become the ceiling now, we'll have less homelessness, we have less crime. We'll have a more educated society. This global market is not based on the number of folks who are living in poverty. No, the market never takes into consideration how many poor people we have in our society. They take into consideration how many folks can buy my iPad. How many folks can buy a home? How many folks can purchase a Mercedes?

Speaker 1: 28:36

When I was at General Electric, we look at how many companies can purchase our multimillion dollar generators. We didn't think about the small businesses. They're never part of our equation. What I'm suggesting, if we use my approach to humanity, let's take care of the least of these, because now I'm going to bring in more consumers into the marketplace. I'm going to create growth. That makes sense, right, and so if we have more educated citizens in our population, we are also going to create one of three things we're either going to create more employees, more employers or more entrepreneurs. So the marketplace is what it's going to be. My question is wouldn't we want everyone to be in the marketplace?

Speaker 2: 29:26

It makes sense, obviously, and I guess the challenge, or some people might look at it as some type of a Robin Hood strategy. Obviously, yes, the rising tide raises all boats, but if you're taking everyone from the bottom and you're saying this is what everybody's getting, where is that coming from? As an older, the incumbents not on a political spectrum, but the people who've been a staple in their community and they want things a certain way, for a certain reason. If you weren't running for governor, I'd have a different way of posing this question, but you have to be everybody's governor. So how do you reach those people to let them know that, no, this is not coming out of your own?

Speaker 1: 30:01

pocket. And how does that make sense? The government is designed to take in these tax dollars and redistribute these tax dollars. When we go to redistribute these tax dollars, we tend to only give, for the large part, the top 1%, yeah. So going back to Ronald Reagan, my first commander in chief, reaganomics never worked. His philosophy was let me give to the CEO and those dollars should precipitate. They'll trickle down, yeah, right, but what? We continue to see that the CEO's compensation package continues to grow 200, 300, 400%. Meanwhile, we're going to let go the janitor, we're going to let go the accountant, so that's going to put more pressure on the system. And so Reaganomics never worked. An economist would tell you it doesn't work.

Speaker 1: 30:49

I'm going to come from a different approach. It is not a Robin Hood, they crafted the narrative that way. But when you think about what just took place a few weeks ago, $1.7 trillion go to the top 1%. To be in the top 20% in our society, you need to have an annual salary of $800,000. Not everyone's going to be in the $800,000 block. So what will the other 79%? What should they do? What should the person that's making $153,000 a year? What should they do? They don't have the luxury of hiring a tax attorney, as millionaires and billionaires do. They pay no taxes. So who's paying for the roads? Who's paying for the infrastructure? Who's paying for the school system? Who's paying for the lights and who's paying for the school system? Who's paying for the lights and the utilities? The other 79%? Is it fair for the top 21% in our society to be able to build big buildings for free?

Speaker 2: 31:49

No, it doesn't sound like it and it's crazy because even when you listen to a billionaire like Warren Buffett, he always talks about this. He's one of the good ones to, in my opinion, where he says no, I want to pay my fair share. There is no reason that my secretary is paying more in taxes than I am.

Speaker 1: 32:05

That's right, and so it's because of lawmakers, legislators such as myself, that write these laws, that give them carve outs, a way out. We built in gray matter into the system. So my thought and belief is let's take care of the secretary, let's take care of the janitor, and so that way we have everyone in our society. Let me just make this more narrow to Georgia. We have 11 million people. Of that, 2.3 million that I told you, that's living below poverty level. Can you imagine if they're able to go from renting to home ownership? Don't you think that that 2.3 million also want to be able to live the American dream? Don't you think that 2.3 million would love to be able to walk in the store like everyone else and help everybody make more money? Because if that CEO, if they did it right, they'll be like yeah, I want more people in the marketplace. I want more folks to be able to afford my iPad, my goods and my services Absolutely. And now me as a lawmaker, I want more taxpayers right or paying more by virtue of making more money.

Speaker 1: 33:16

So what better way to say let's really take the basement and make it the ceiling right? We haven't even talked about small black farmers. How small black farmers are being displaced, because the more commercial farmers that are white, they get subsidies at 10 to 12 times as much dollars than a small black farmer. That's not right. Small black farmers not looking for a handout. They want an even playing field. And when you give us an even playing field, what I discovered? We excel.

Speaker 2: 33:47

We don't quit. So I heard this recently and it was something that Jesse Jackson said. They were asking him why we dominate in sports and I think they were trying to maybe entrap him into saying something that we have dominant genes or physically we have certain attributes. But he said the reason we're dominating sports is because sports is the only environment where the rules are in the open. As you can tell, with my own property here, you know we are not farmers yet I wouldn't call myself that, but we have the makings of it and I have no clue about any of these subsidies that you're talking about.

Speaker 2: 34:21

I heard of a story from this gentleman I was telling you about earlier who could not get his cattle, he could not even get his meat processed. He had to drive all the way to Fort Valley, to the university, because they would not process for him. And these are challenges that real people have and I know I'm speaking a different tongue here to people who just like work a regular nine to five and they go to work and they live in the city and they don't really know what that means for the rural person and the black farmer out here. But it's challenging.

Speaker 1: 34:52

And the reason why it's challenging, because government should never be in the business of building hurdles and barriers for a category of people. Let's give everyone access. Right, because once you have access now, it's going to be based on my own aspirations, my own abilities and my own talents. Right, it's even playing field.

Speaker 2: 35:14

It's a meritocracy. At that point, let's go, let's go. Yeah, it's an even playing field, it's a meritocracy.

Speaker 1: 35:17

At that point, let's go let's go.

Speaker 1: 35:17

Yeah, and I appreciate the Jesse Jackson reference, because when Jesse Jackson first ran for president in 1984, at that time I was 18. And I'm saying to myself man, we can see the first black president of the United States, yeah, and I can vote. So not only I have the ability to serve my country, but I can vote for Jesse Jackson. Not to mention he has a cool last name, right. But that taught me something then. Yeah, because although Jesse Jackson didn't become president, he was exposing the system. We were never taught the system, because what they did to Shirley Chisholm in 1972, they were saying to those that look like you and I politics is not open for you, it's not available to you, the glass ceiling will never be touched because we're going to make sure you stay down here, right, and so when you think about where we are today, fast forward.

Speaker 1: 36:16

My grandmother would have been 107 if she was still alive. She left this world never witnessing a black president. She didn't make it to 2008. She did not make it to 2008. Yeah, and so here my grandmother looked at her grandson, probably, and said you know, jesse Jackson, he's knocking down some barriers, but, derek, don't put your hope in running for president, because it's never been done before. Don't put your hope in playing basketball at the NBA level because they only take 1%, right, yeah, so focus on your academics. I was having these conversations about to graduate from high school and because we as a people, collectively, will tell our children because we never witnessed this, don't try to become that. So what we did? We watched the game of football and basketball, and even soccer, the other football, the real football Right, because I'm going to come for you.

Speaker 2: 37:13

I know, I know, I know.

Speaker 1: 37:14

And we got the World Cup coming.

Speaker 2: 37:15

Oh man, I'm so excited.

Speaker 1: 37:16

We're excited, that's right, but we got the World Cup coming here. Oh man, I'm so excited. We're excited, that's right, but we told our children we invested in sports not only because we realize we can dominate it and it's not because God gave us some superior gene, right? Jiminy Greek said the worst thing when he was on CBS Sports and he was saying you know, black men can run faster because they got larger quads and calves and all this stuff. Man, it was racist statement. I don't know if you remember.

Speaker 2: 37:44

Jiminy Greek. I don't remember him but I've heard a million times as an extra leg muscle or all kinds of ridiculous things and it's funny. I'm like, well, you must've never been to a gym because actually the white dudes in the gym they have the most massive legs and calves I've ever seen in my life.

Speaker 1: 37:58

Yes.

Speaker 2: 37:58

Ignorance yeah.

Speaker 1: 38:00

Just ignorance, right. But what we did as parents? We would tell our children yes, get into football, get into basketball, get into volleyball. Because we realized that the hurdles and barriers Pele, great phenomenal soccer, broke barriers, jackie Robinson, muhammad Ali we can just go through the list right Broke these barriers for us to say no, we can dominate, and that's the reason why you witness a lot of us in the sports.

Speaker 1: 38:29

But then academia said we're going to have historically black colleges and university to teach our own so they can matriculate in our schools. To teach our own so they can matriculate in our schools. Not because we didn't want to go to Harvard and Yale, not because we were inferior, no, we weren't given access. And so, going back to my point about the small black farmers, so let's create a level playing field so we can all participate. And to come back to my 2.3 million citizens in Georgia that reside below the poverty level, they need to have a governor that's willing to show up for them, that's thinking about them, making sure that they too should have a roof over their head and food on the table and a healthcare system available to them when their family may need healthcare.

Speaker 2: 39:21

I have a couple of real critical questions I want to ask here. It's always fascinated me. I saw what happened in 2008. I was a big part of that movement. I was obviously just super excited about what was going on, and we saw the internet and social media and what it did for President Obama and how it got him elected. I was part of the movement. I was volunteering, I was sending money, I was doing everything else.

Speaker 2: 39:42

Right Point I'm making is you can get someone who is totally uninterested to be interested. How do you do that with the black constituents? Because so many of us aren't right. I'm older now. I'm interested just by sheer nature of understanding what critical role politics play in our lives every day. The job you're running for as governor of the state of Georgia is so critical. It's going to have so much impact on my life personally and my family. I live here. This matters to me a whole lot. How do you rile up troops? How do you wake up the young brother who said he doesn't vote, has no clue, is 22 years old, should be doing it. And the person who's maybe resentful because they're 45 and why bother? Long question, I'm sorry.

Speaker 1: 40:26

Yeah, no, that's a very thoughtful one. You have to demonstrate that you give a damn about people, that you care about people. Right? I just got my constituent out of jail. He was wrongfully and let me stress this word so clear so it can come through your podcast wrongfully in prison for 13 months. Wow, wrongfully, 13 months In prison. And if he was sitting on your set he would tell you that Derrick Jackson did not give up on him. He was just released two days ago.

Speaker 1: 41:03

He sent me a text last night. I want to read this, please. Here he goes, man, this gives me chills. He goes. Great day, derek. This is Shahid. I made it home. Great day, derek. This is Shahid. I made it home safely, thank God. I was calling you to let you know that I was home and I thank you for calling the courts on my behalf and not giving up on me. I'd like to get together soon this week, whenever you can. My response Shahid welcome home. I'm attending a family reunion this weekend and back next week, as I share with your sister, ines, I am working hard to correct this injustice and your story and testimony will help me solve this problem. Until then, god bless and enjoy your family and have a great weekend. Welcome home.

Speaker 2: 41:58

That's wonderful, man. I can't imagine what it would do to my family you know, emotionally, my wife she's a soldier but what it would do to my children, to her if you locked me in a cage like an animal for something I did not do. And to think that this is something that happens and people feel that they have this power over you, that they own you, they own your bodies and they can do whatever they want. So tell me about that. How did you even get involved in that?

Speaker 1: 42:26

So again, just for your audience, I'm not a lawyer but I know how to read. I write the law for lawyers to read, for courts to interpret. And in his case there was no evidence, not the stuff that we're seeing now. I mean, we're seeing citizens being detained and deported because of the pigmentation of their skin. 92% of those who are being picked up right now never committed a crime not part of a gang. So there's a system out there that says you cannot wrongfully go into somebody's home and there's a system that says we all demand and deserve due process. You cannot go from the streets to prison without due process.

Speaker 2: 43:14

Without a phone call. I told my wife yesterday. I said if you don't hear from me in 24 hours, because I've never done this, I've never disappeared. Sometimes I don't text back or call back right away because I'm busy, sure, but if you don't hear from me within 24 hours of any given time, during this climate that we're living in, just know that I'm gone. Right, and it's crazy that I have to prepare my wife with those words as I leave my house.

Speaker 2: 43:38

I have to go to court for an HOV violation. I got my ticket and now I receive a letter telling me that I have to go to court on the 12th, after the officer said no, just pay it online, you're good, no points. And ICE is there waiting for me to say hey, even though you're a natural, well, they don't talk to you, but I am a naturalized citizen. Now Do I just get kidnapped, snatched and shipped off to El Salvador? I'm not even from there. So what do I do? And that's a real concern. I'm not a criminal, never been arrested, never been in jail, never done anything wrong.

Speaker 1: 44:11

Pay your taxes.

Speaker 2: 44:14

Pay my taxes. You know, think about my age and how long I've been working in this country and what I've done and the money that I've made, the homes that I've bought, et cetera, to where I still had to live with this actual concern. What made America what it was is no longer. I'm from a country where I could not speak politically negatively about the regime that was there. It was a dictatorship, so we didn't make jokes. There was no jokes about the president and when here, whether you like the president or not, whether it's a joke about obama or about bush, that was always a thing. That was free speech.

Speaker 1: 44:44

You could do whatever you want, and now you can't right, it is a real concern and they just negotiated a deal. If the pigmentation looks like your skin and my skin color, yeah, they won't send us to El Salvador, they'll send us to South Sudan and Zimbabwe. That's better.

Speaker 2: 45:06

I know, I know you just gave me that. Look like dude, what. No one should be deported. No, absolutely no one should be detained. I said it's in jest. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 45:16

Right, but how racist it is to say we'll send the black people To Africa, to Africa, and so if you're Latino, hispanic, we'll send you to El Salvador, and then we're setting something up in Venezuela.

Speaker 2: 45:31

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 45:32

No, no. First off, due process is exactly that, and due process is only guaranteed in the United States. It's not guaranteed in South Sudan.

Speaker 2: 45:44

You're not going to get there, for sure.

Speaker 1: 45:45

It's not guaranteed in Zimbabwe, it's not guaranteed in El Salvador. They got other rules. Yeah, so we don't want no one naturalized, born, raised, going through the process in between the process, right? No one should be leaving the United States Unless they have due process. Unless they have due process.

Speaker 2: 46:05

Correct.

Speaker 1: 46:06

It's incredulous to me that someone with 34 count felonies. And I don't know if you wanted to get into this, but it's hard for me for a criminal.

Speaker 2: 46:15

With an immigrant wife.

Speaker 1: 46:16

With an immigrant wife to impose. This might and create brokenness in families and, taking into consideration what you said, as you spoke to your wife, but your wife should not have a concern, ma'am, if my husband leaves the house this morning, go to work, he may not come home. Yeah, go to court, he may not come home. Yeah, he goes to court because he got a ticket.

Speaker 1: 46:40

And so the United States. The hope and dream of the United States has yet to change. I get your point, though, but this is not the first time the United States been in this kind of situation. The most horrific situation for this country, and will continue to be a nightmare for this country, was slavery. Right, you brought individuals from another country to this land and you enslaved them, you bought and sold them, you killed them, you raped them. My point is this democracy survived the most hideous period of this country's history.

Speaker 1: 47:16

Yeah, and so what we need to do collectively, and to get back to the essence of your question, the way I am going about telling people they should care about who will become the next governor of Georgia Georgia, because in 2026, that governor will be at the most pivotal time of this country. In 2030. Because in 2030, we'll be redrawing the congressional maps. In 2030, we'll be setting up. If black people in this country can vote in 2032. Because every 25 years, congress vote in accordance with the Voting Rights Act. If black people can have reauthorization to vote in accordance with the voting rights act, if black people can have reauthorization to vote in this country can we renew right.

Speaker 2: 47:59

This shit is I'm sorry, yeah, yeah, but that is crazy.

Speaker 1: 48:02

So there's a bigger challenge for us. So it's not just derrick jackson want to become governor. He's gonna focus on family each and every day. That sounds great. He wants to take the minimum wage from $5.15 to $15, $20, and $27. Eventually he wants to abolish state tax for nurses and military and educators and those over the age of 65. He wants to do all these great things that's going to help mitigate this affordability conundrum. He wants to do all these great things that's going to help mitigate this affordability conundrum. Yeah Right, he wanted to take the two point three million those who live in poverty out of poverty. All those things sounds great.

Speaker 1: 48:48

But they also need to know that Derrick Jackson is my level of compassion and my level of leadership to be able to stand in front of the United States White House, wherever it may be, Washington DC, and say that the people of Georgia not only is going to vote and participate in this country, not only we're not going to gerrymander, but we're going to make sure that the rights and the guarantee of the American dream, as per the constitution, will live on. So why are they going after public education? Why are they going after healthcare? Why are they going after social security and Medicaid, Because those were always guaranteed in accordance with the constitution. But what we need to do is rise up right. No punt towards Atlanta Falcons. To the essence of your question when I talk to young people, like I just did the other night, a room of about 30, 35, all African-American young CEOs. They're into Bitcoin, they're rich.

Speaker 2: 49:52

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 49:53

Young entrepreneurs. They're in their own space. They're in the Bitcoin. They're rich Young entrepreneurs. They're in their own space. They're in podcasts, youtube influencers. They're all doing great things. But one of them stood up and said we're really not interested in politics and we were shocked that you accepted our invitation and we're going to help you win, because they had the opportunity for two hours. It's supposed to have been in one hour, yeah, but because the conversation kept going and they kept asking questions, see, because I told them I have my eight pillars. I said but y'all can read my pillars, y'all can go to VoteDerekJacksonorg and read about it. I said what questions do you have? Because you never had the opportunity to meet someone running for governor. So I said let's have a conversation. I don't want to speak at you, I want to talk with you. And I converted all 100% of them because they were like no one never expressed that they cared. So take your money, yes, but not caring about the human being. I expressed to them in two hours, I care about you, about the human being.

Speaker 2: 50:52

How do you get that message out to the masses, though? Because you can only sit in so many rooms? Even that resentful not resentful just person who's been through it man, they're 40, 50 years old and they're going. I don't need to vote, I don't really care about any of that. How do you get a message out to them?

Speaker 1: 51:08

Yeah, so it goes back to folks like yourself. Your podcast, shah Shahid, who just got out of prison. Hey, I mean, he's gonna be telling everybody. Hey, I don't know about your representative, but let me tell you about mine. Yeah, because I'm sure, outside of sleeping in his own bed and eating his, his wife food, for the first time in 13 months he went and got a haircut.

Speaker 1: 51:31

He's in the barbershop talking to folks and they're probably saying well, I don't know my representative, Because most folks do not know I will tell you we don't out here.

Speaker 2: 51:40

I don't mean to keep making this black and white thing, because again you're running for everyone.

Speaker 1: 51:44

That's right, that's right.

Speaker 2: 51:45

But I will tell you that I feel that this is something that is primarily inheritance with black folks in terms of, like, knowing who's in power, not so much power who's in service, right, even here in my County, I forget what my wife was looking into and we started looking and we realized that the majority of those people are black. I'm just like, wait, these people are in government because I don't live in a community that looks like me, right, I look around, it's very rural, very. You know rules are suburban and that's it you know out here.

Speaker 1: 52:16

No, you're exactly right, and so that's the reason why, individually and collectively, we all have to play a part. My beautiful queen reminds me all the time. She said government touch you from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep, but government also touch you even if you don't wake up. Somebody's going to pay your estate taxes, capital gain taxes. You can't even be buried in the ground until somebody pay.

Speaker 2: 52:41

Government yeah, you could choose to bury your head in the sand if you want to and not pay attention, but they're paying attention to you, that's right. No matter what, you're involved.

Speaker 1: 52:49

You are a numeric number to someone, so they may not care about you as a person, but you are a stat for them. We look at your stats and median household income. We look at what kind of vehicle you can purchase, what kind of home you can purchase, the amount of money you make, the taxes you pay. But we should not be marginalized only by our net worth and how much taxes we can pay.

Speaker 1: 53:13

You are a human being, you are a husband, you we can pay. You are a human being, you are a husband, you are a father, you are a community leader, you are an entrepreneur. You are all these other things other than just the number somebody can get from your bank account. And that's the message that I continue to convey, and I need others to help me convey that message. And we can leverage technology too. We got to show up on Zoom. You may say you know what? I can get 200 people on Zoom, great. And once we realize what we can do individually and then we turn around and create this thing collectively.

Speaker 2: 53:46

Talk to me real quick about love, loss and resilience, because I know you've had some traumatic loss in your life and I'm glad to see not only that you're standing, but, as you mentioned earlier, the word is thriving for you to be where you are today, to have love in your life, to have a family. That is also thriving. Talk to me about that. How did you overcome that loss that was so profound and how did you get to?

Speaker 1: 54:13

the place where you are today. Yeah, so the Bible continues to speak to me every time I read it and in there it says God is love. And because I pray every day and because I have a devotion every day, I realized that there would be loss. And when I lost my first wife to breast cancer, her and I we were together for 31 years. That's incredible, and three amazing daughters from that union. And when she died six years ago, my three daughters said dad, we cannot lose another parent, cause they would see their father outside of the house, on television, press conferences, at the Capitol, smiling, being infectious, laughing and joking.

Speaker 1: 54:56

But when I would come home, grieving, painful, I couldn't even watch television because as soon as I'm thinking I'm going to watch something that's comical or action-packed, there would be a scene in there about a husband and wife and one lost the other. It was always these triggers. And so my oldest daughter said dad's not healthy mentally because he's grieving. And so I went and got checked and they were like, yeah, you're fine, you just got to get through this process. And so learning how to love again and knowing what love is and knowing that death will come, and I prayed to God. I said, lord, I need a Proverbs 31 queen. And about 10, 11 months after that prayer, it's when someone that I only knew because she was a colleague and I met her in 2018 when she got elected- Okay.

Speaker 1: 55:56

So obviously we're in the same space. But I never looked at her like that. I was still married.

Speaker 1: 56:00

Yeah, she was married and, unbeknownst to me, she went through a divorce. The same year my wife died. Now think about this, yeah, and here I am praying for I'm grieving still, but I'm praying to have another wife. Most folks would say one and done. Take the Coretta Scott King. Coretta Scott King lost her husband. He was 38. She never got married again. When you love hard, it can be very painful, but here I am going through. I call it in 2019, my Job moment. I was reading the book of Job. My neighbor gave me a book about Job. Then I went to the scripture, opened up, started reading the book about Job because she lost her husband. Now my neighbor much older she's like 20 years older than me- Okay.

Speaker 1: 56:48

And so, while I'm going through this 10, 11month process, speaking to my daughters, all the time they're like Dad, you got to start dating again. I'm like I don't even know what to say.

Speaker 2: 56:59

What do we say these days?

Speaker 1: 57:01

I don't even know. I said I've been at the game for 31 years, bro, I really did not know what to say when I see a woman, and so all my friends, and family members.

Speaker 2: 57:10

You have to ask for a phone number.

Speaker 1: 57:11

You, and so all my friends and family members, you didn't ask for a phone number, you had to ask for a DM. Yeah, it was just, the whole game had changed. Right, right, yeah. And so we were all in the kitchen and I said, ok, you know what, I'll put myself out there and dated a couple of women. I didn't feel the energy.

Speaker 2: 57:26

Sure.

Speaker 1: 57:26

And they're very professional, doing very well for themselves, well for themselves. But I didn't feel it until one day we were debating against this horrible bill that Georgia was trying to pass. And I'm in the well, which is in the front of the chamber floor, where we get a chance to debate bills. And here I am, I'm up here debating this bill, got the media on this side, you got the cameras over here and then you got in the gallery, you got citizens up there, and so I have a full grasp of my environment. I got my talking points against this bill, why it's harmful. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Meanwhile, I watched Kamiya go back to her desk. It seemed like God was putting a light on her.

Speaker 2: 58:08

And Kamiya is your present wife and Kamiya right. She's walking by. There's a spotlight on her. Yes, was the wind blowing in there in slow motion?

Speaker 1: 58:14

oh, there's, no, there's, there are no windows in there. Right, there was like a spotlight on her and I'm saying to myself oh, my goodness, okay.

Speaker 1: 58:23

So again I'm focused why we should vote against this bill. Meanwhile, I'm tracking on her. I'm like, okay, all right, lord, so I I yield the whale, I go back to my desk Her seat and my seat are five seats apart and I said Kamiya, you got a moment, are you available for dinner? So she's thinking me. Being one of the senior ranking members in the Democratic Party, she was serving her first term and I'm going to bring other freshmen. She thought it was going to be that kind of situation, but no, we were going through COVID. This was February 2020. She said I'm going to give you a date.

Speaker 1: 58:57

I said okay, all right perfect, because we want to make sure that you are available.

Speaker 1: 59:01

She said okay, make a long story short. We went on that date it was us and one other couple in this restaurant, this big restaurant. She thought I cleared the whole restaurant. We're on like the 25th floor downtown and our reservations was at six. We didn't leave the restaurant until 11 o'clock. That's a good date. You had a lot to talk about. And here we are married.

Speaker 1: 59:24

This is our fourth year, fourth anniversary a beautiful blended family of seven, four daughters and three sons. And so God demonstrated in my life that, yes, I lost someone that I love dearly and love hard, someone that was with 31 years. But that wasn't the end of my story, it's just the end of a chapter. And here he blessed me with a phenomenal woman. I mean, she loves God, she's beautiful inside and out, our chemistry is amazing. And she gave me another daughter and three sons I never had that I prayed for.

Speaker 1: 1:00:03

My first wife and I we relatively have big families, so we always wanted a big family, but we only ended up with just three daughters. God reminded me of a prayer that I prayed even long ago. Here's your big family that you prayed for, and here's someone that you can love, love hard. And that resilience piece is incredible, because there are a lot of families in Georgia that are blended. There are a lot of families that have been broken. There are a lot of families that have been broken. There are a lot of families that they need to know that this, too shall what love looks like, and it may come in different forms, but in the end it's about family.

Speaker 2: 1:01:02

And what I also hear talking to you is proficiency, humility, selflessness and love, as you mentioned, and those words are very, very important. Those are things that you don't really hear too much from even a boss at work, let alone a politician. I want to ask about something that sometimes I think is conflicting. So you're running as the Democratic candidate Abortion, for or against?

Speaker 1: 1:01:24

Yeah, so that's a great question.

Speaker 2: 1:01:27

You're a spiritual person. Yeah, you know you're a man of God. That can cause conflict, so how do you deal with that?

Speaker 1: 1:01:37

Bro. I mean, my entire life has been in conflict. I believe in life, but I have. During my 22 years in the Navy, I have caused death on behalf of this country. I've killed people, even in corporate America. When GE was letting folks go, I should have been more vocal and say, no, we're not going to fire them. Why are we going to fire them? Because we're in this recession period. It'll come back. It was a conflict as an elected official. To your point. There are very vocal about abortion. In fact, I'm very public, even on my website, that I will repeal House Bill 481. House Bill 481 is what they call the heartbeat bill.

Speaker 2: 1:02:23

It's a six week abortion ban. That's correct OK.

Speaker 1: 1:02:26

That's the first bill that this current governor put in place when he became governor and I'm on record saying this would be the first bill that I would repeal. It has brought more harm than good. My personal beliefs, my personal relationship with God should not dictate to the many. I can use it as a moral compass for me and my family, but I should not have the prerogative and the power to inflict others and create a conflict. Let me tell you what I mean by that.

Speaker 1: 1:02:59

Georgia is the top five in black maternal and infant mortality. Since that bill In 2021, 169 women simply trying to give birth died in Georgia. 169 women died in 2021. We may have only heard a couple of names Candy and Amber. A young lady died this year. They kept her on life support until the baby was born and then they unplugged she was 26. Until the baby was born and then they unplugged she was 26. And so in 2021, the same year Amber and Candy died 169 women died. Also that same year, 776 infants died. So that's a bad bill that inflicts pain and harm, brokenness in families. I would repeal that, despite me not believing in abortion.

Speaker 2: 1:03:55

Right, and this is, I think, where the lines should not be blurred. There's personal belief and personal internal conflict versus duties and the greater good.

Speaker 1: 1:04:06

For the greater good. Yeah For everyone. You should be able to decide. You and your wife should be able to decide, whatever that situation may encounter. We shouldn't have a law that gives more power to the unborn versus the mother that's carrying a child.

Speaker 2: 1:04:22

See how simple that sounds, because it just makes sense. And yet we're debating it, yet it's been repealed. We had rules versus weight overturned.

Speaker 1: 1:04:34

So my four daughters should have the autonomy over their body, like my three sons. We have zero piece of legislation in Georgia that dictates your body and my body as a man Zero. But we have 19 bills that dictate a woman's body in Georgia, from their mammogram to their reproductive system and everything in between. So let the physician, the husband and the wife and their pastor dictate what's best for her. I should be a supporter, not a dictator. Yeah, this bill House Bill 481, creates men to be a dictator.

Speaker 1: 1:05:12

You mentioned Roe v Wade and I appreciate you mentioning that, because when you think about where we are Roe v Wade chip, chip, chip, affirmative action chip chip chip, civil rights chip, chip chip, human rights chip chip, chip, lgbtq they keep chipping away.

Speaker 2: 1:05:27

Yeah, well, that's how you make America great again, right?

Speaker 1: 1:05:31

I'm going to be a governor that's going to govern for the greater good. So you will be empowered, your family will be empowered, to be able to live however you so choose, be able to go on a vacation, to be able to earn. We're going to remove these hurdles and barriers, including reproductive rights, fantastic.

Speaker 2: 1:05:52

So this last question is really about your message and the final words. Why are you you specifically Mr Derek Jackson, current state representative of Georgia, gubernatorial candidate which, by the way, what kind of word is that? Why can't it just be gubernatorial? Why? You need to explain the etymology of the word to me later on, but I'm not going to. I digress.

Speaker 1: 1:06:12

Right right.

Speaker 2: 1:06:14

So why are you the only choice for us if we are to move forward and progress as a state and elevate as a people?

Speaker 1: 1:06:24

If you examine candidates both on a Democratic and a Republican side and you look at our body of work I'm going to use the word resume If you look at all four of us currently and there may be others that jumps into the race. I want everyone in Georgia, all voting population, which is about 5 million, 6 million of the 11 million that can vote I want them to examine all of us, democratic and Republican at the same time, and you get all of us, democratic and Republican at the same time, and you get all of our resumes. Print them out. All citizens in Georgia Right now, there are four Democrats and two Republicans.

Speaker 1: 1:07:05

That's six. So lay out all six resumes and you, citizens, you are the employer. Now I want to be clear on this yeah, voters are the employers. We, as public servants, are the employees. We should be working for the employer. So print out all six resumes and look at all six of them and then do a true apples to apples comparison and say which one you want to hire, not just for the primary but also for the general election.

Speaker 1: 1:07:37

Yeah that's the reason why I'm saying look at all of us, democrat and Republican. So I'm asking everyone who can win the general election of November 2026. When you look at all six of our resumes, it is what it is. I can't go back in time. No one can go back in time and change it. And so let's examine all six of these resumes. My resume is very clear 42 years of leadership, 42 years of service, educated husband, father, and I never quit If you want a governor that's going to wake up every day looking for ways to improve the quality of life for you and your family. My resume is it? Qualified, demonstrating integrity, humanity, understanding what compassion is, experience loss yeah, 42 years of experience, because a lot of people are going to use buzzwords and their campaign came up with quotes.

Speaker 2: 1:08:38

Yeah Right, I live this you are the I get it candidate.

Speaker 1: 1:08:43

I live this, yeah. One candidate said they're battle tested and never been in a battle. One candidate says I have experience, but they only been in for one term. I live this. If you are the CEO of a business and you looking for someone to hire to be the president of your business, you want to look at these six resumes and say this is the person that going to help me with my enterprise. It won't be the person where the father just wrote a $10 million check and his only time that he's quoting about leadership is when he was the team captain of the UGA football team.

Speaker 1: 1:09:25

Compared to a Lieutenant Commander's leadership or a CEO in corporate America and so my resume to your listening audience. I'm asking everyone print out their resume, go to their website. I just want to be clear. When you go to their website, you're not going to see what they're going to do if they become governor. Their website just says donate money here. Another candidate says we do not want career politician. I don't even know what that means.

Speaker 2: 1:09:55

When your experience is not what you'd like it to be, it's easy to just throw that out there to say, hey, this guy's been in here too long, he's corrupt.

Speaker 1: 1:10:03

Right, because the person that sit and occupied the Oval Office, he said the same thing I'm an outsider and look how that worked out, and look at how that's working out Right. I say to you all if you want someone that's status quo, I am not that person. But if you want a fighter, if you want someone that's truly going to govern in the manner in which you hired me to do, I am that person that's going to demonstrate honesty and courage and commitment and integrity and compassion, because that's what my mother, marie Jackson, a nurse of 40 years, taught her only son.

Speaker 2: 1:10:41

That's powerful. Where can we find you? Where can we support, whether it's social media website, Can you just tell us real quick?

Speaker 1: 1:10:49

Yeah, my website is VoteDerekJacksonorg. I'm all things derrick jackson. You can see me. If you don't see the guy with the bow tie, it's not you, that's not me, that's not me. It's got to be the guy with the bow tie. Um, I'm on instagram. I used to be on twitter, but when elon musk bumped his head, I got off of twitter or x, whatever they're calling it. Now my team just told me I need to get on Blue Sky. I'm not on there yet. Never even heard of it. It's another social media. Again, I'm trying to be at all places.

Speaker 2: 1:11:22

Yeah, you're going to be everywhere.

Speaker 1: 1:11:23

I'm trying to be at all places. I just got on TikTok and so I'm Derek Jackson on there, but again, look for the guy with the bow tie, because there is a bad derrick jackson, you know about him there is a, he's younger there is a bad one, so so right.

Speaker 1: 1:11:37

So there's a bad boy, derrick jackson, out there, but I'm the derrick jackson that love to be married. Yeah, I'm the derrick jackson that treat my wife like a queen. I'm that derrick jackson that loves family. Yeah, right, he's the antithesis of everything and um.

Speaker 1: 1:11:53

But the last point I will leave is this, and that's why I appreciate your questions, because your questions were not around my eight pillars. A lot of it came out. Your questions were around me as the man, me as the husband, me as a father, as a retired lieutenant commander, me as a executive in corporate America, and me as an elected official, as a public servant, me as my mother's only son, and so I appreciate your question. I appreciate this time that we spent together because it allowed for me to again open up that aperture of who I am, and I think every elected official should go through an interviewing process, if you will, because you're the employer, I'm the employee, yeah. So thank you for this opportunity to allow for me to share a little more about who Derek Jackson is and what I will be as governor of Georgia.

Speaker 2: 1:12:53

That's wonderful and I thank you for being here, Before I shut it down.

Speaker 2: 1:12:57

we have a tradition on this show and let me say again, it's been an honor, it's been a pleasure. It's really refreshing to talk to someone who is an actual person, who's not just walking around being a bunch of talking points. But again, thank you for being on the podcast. Now. Traditionally, what we do at the end of each show, we have the guests or one of the co-hosts to read the outro notes. You can just read it as future governor of Georgia.

Speaker 1: 1:13:20

Okay, all right, let's make it happen.

Speaker 2: 1:13:21

I'll hand that over to you. I made it big enough because you're not wearing your glasses. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:13:25

I appreciate that. All right, take us away. Ladies and gentlemen, please support us by following the show. Leave us a five star review on Apple podcast. Not one, not two, not three, but five, see, because with your support, podcasts like ours will continue not only to survive, but thrive. So thank you so much for listening. We'll catch you next week when we share conversations surrounding real issues not manufactured issues, but real issues we deal with everyday living, manhood matters. We're out, let's go.

Speaker 2: 1:14:08

That ought to be the best one I've had. Hustlin' hot, the pulse of life, and I want you to know it's climb. Real talk echoes in fire time. Experts and friends, a powerful blend Tacklin' issues that never end. From our perspective, we're true. A podcast for all but our point of view.