Edmond Davis Author and History Professor at Arkansas Baptist College
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- Homeless to History Professor
- Tuskegee Airmen History
- Opening a business with significant other
Edmond Davis is currently a history professor at Arkansas Baptist College and was educated at Louisiana Tech University and Grambling State University. His work in education includes facilitator and program coordinator for a pilot program at Covenant Keepers Charter School called RESPOND-I-BILITY targeting 6th-8th grade students to help them understand how to respond to law enforcement in the 21st century.
Davis has also taught history at the University of Phoenix (Little Rock main campus) and at Pulaski Technical College as well as worked with various other mentoring and workshop programs for students from grade 6 through college aimed at helping students excel in the classroom and beyond.
In 2005, Davis became a motivational speaker and in 2007 an author writing for the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. In 2012, he published, “Pioneering African-American Aviators featuring the Tuskegee Airmen of Arkansas.” (ISBN/ASIN: 0-9779499-5-8) “The book and research has allowed me to further become an authority in early Arkansas aviation history and the history of the Tuskegee Airmen,” Davis said.
His memberships include the Arkansas Historical Association, Pulaski County Historical Society, Mythslayers Motorcycle Club, and Board Member of the Aerospace Education Center, The Weekend Theater and Honorary Board Member of the Milton Pitts Crenchaw Aviation Training Academy. Davis is also Founder and Executive Director, Prolific Learners Arts Academy.
Up In Your Business is a Radio Show by FlagandBanner.com
Behind The Scenes
EPISODE 65
[INTRODUCTION]
[0:00:09.0] TB: Welcome to Up in Your Business with Kerry McCoy. Be sure to stay tuned till the end of the show to hear how you can get a copy of this program and other helpful documents.
And now, it's time for Kerry McCoy to get all up in your business.
[INTERVIEW]
[0:00:17.1] KM: Like Tim said, I’m Kerry McCoy, and it’s time for me to get up in your business. My guest today is Arkansas Baptist College History Professor, Edmond Davis. Today, we'll be going to school as we learn about Arkansas history, African history, and his passion that Tuskegee Airmen on which he has written a book pioneering African-American Aviators featuring the Tuskegee Airmen of Arkansas. And, lastly we'll talk about his latest venture, Davis has been an entrepreneur by co-owning a screen printing business called, Uni-Tee Graphics and Designs. Now, that’s something I know about, he will be talking my language then.
We hope that our conversation and storytelling you will learn something, want to get involved or be inspired to take action in your own life. For me, the taking action began over 40 years ago when I found that Arkansas Flag and Banner, during the last four decades Flag and Banner has grown from door to door sales to telemarketing, to mail order and catalogue sales, and now relies heavily on the internet.
Each change in sales strategy require the change in company, thinking and procedures. My confidence, leadership knowledge, and my company grew. My initial $400-investment now produces nearly four million in annual sales. Each week on this show you’ll hear candid conversations between me and my guest about real world experiences on a variety of businesses and topics that I hope you’ll find interesting. Starting and running a business or organization is like so many things, it takes persistence, perseverance and patience. No one, and I mean no one has a straight path to success. I worked part-time jobs for nine years before Arkansas Flag and Banner grew enough to support just me. Today, we have ten departments and 25 co-workers, thus reminding us all, small businesses are the fuel of our countries economic engine and empower people's lives. Before we start I want to introduce you to the people of the table. We have my co-host and co-worker at Flag and Banner, Tim, say hello.
[0:02:05.1] TB: Hello there.
[0:02:05.1] KM: And, running the board on this our technician, Jesse, thank you, Jesse.
[0:02:09.8] J: No problem.
[0:02:11.3] KM: My guest today is the educator, author, historian and speaker, Dr. Edmond Davis.
[0:02:18.0] ED: Hello.
[0:02:18.5] KM: Professor of History in Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock, Arkansas. Besides teaching U.S History, he also lectures on African history, world civilization, American government, Black Community Education, African-American cinema, film and hip hop. In 2005, Davis became a motivational speaker, in 2007, an author, writing for the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. Milton Crenchaw, an Arkansas-born Tuskegee Airman and Edmond were fast friends.
So, it is only appropriate that in 2012, Doctor Edmond Davis published, pioneering African-American Aviators featuring the Tuskegee Airmen of Arkansas. More recently, Doctor Davis jumped in to the world of entrepreneurship by co-owning a screen printing business called Uni-Tee Graphics and Designs in Mabelvale in Little Rock Arkansas and has a great following you said on Facebook.
[0:03:12.2] ED: Yes ma’am.
[0:03:12.2] KM: It is a pleasure to welcome to the table, the ambitious faith-filled College Professor, Edmond Davis.
[0:03:19.6] ED: Thank you so much. I really appreciate the introduction to all this wonderful staff here. Thank you all gentlemen for doing what you do. I want to thank all the listeners who are tuning in and Miss Kerry, we've known each other for well over maybe, close to 15 years almost.
[0:03:32.8] KM: Oh, I was just about to say, do you remember when we first met? The Barnes and Noble.
[0:03:36.1] ED: Barnes and Noble, it sure was. The Barnes and Noble I think I Matthew had a real short hair back then.
[0:03:41.3] KM: Matthew is the guy doing the Facebook Live right in there, yes he did. He was about 15 years younger, so we met at Barnes and Noble because Berna Love had just finished writing the Temple of Dreams book about Taborian Hall and the Dreamland Ballroom, and we were down at Barnes and Noble doing a book signing and you came by the table and another man came by the table, Sand Man. The Sand Man who does the – who has a dredging company on Arkansas River and sells sand and has for years and you two gentlemen got to talking and do you remember what you had in common?
[0:04:18.7] ED: I’m trying to think, refreshing my memory.
[0:04:17.4] KM: You were both very successful grown persons but you both were homeless when you were teenagers.
[0:04:23.1] ED: Right, right, right.
[0:04:24.1] KM: And you all got to talking about living in a box as teenagers.
[0:04:27.4] ED: Yup, I remember that but I had a structure and a system of family who was there with me, my mom, my dad, my sisters, you know, we struggled physically speaking. This was back in Philly, I'm from West Philly. I would say the year was maybe '86, '87, I was maybe about 12 years old, of course I remember the proprietor building that we lived in, the landlord if you will. He had a little peep hole and it was, you know, looking at my mom and of course my dad, like any dad would go off and so of course we didn’t pay the rent at the time and we were kicked out and so of course we left everything there and after that going from hotel to hotel, to you know places to stay, places to stay, to different locations to Coatesville, Pennsylvania where my mom on my mother side has some family out there. We stayed out there for about a year or so and things were getting better so we moved back to Philly in '87. '87 I remember because the movie out of the time was "Schooldays" so that was about 1988.
So, we moved back to Philly and, you know, we run up at the time so that was 1986, 1987, and we kind of slept in movie theaters and we, you know, scout out for food. But, my mom and dad stayed with a job, they kept a job even we didn’t have a place to stay so that inspired me to - to look at the glass half full rather than half empty. And, to be on hard times but my mom and dad stayed together, I saw in the face of adversity how they, you know, still met the needs of their children and of course there were four of us, myself and three of my sisters from my dad's second – first, second marriage and so on, you know, things were tough but, you know, we weathered the storm and God provided for us, first and foremost God provided for us, and so, I knew back then my dad always talked about history, he always talked about, knowing who you are, American history. And, I would just think at the time the quarterback from the Washington Redskins was Doug Williams. He was the first African-American quarterback to win a Super Bowl MVP. He started for the Redskins and they beat John Elway and the Denver Broncos which was a big outset and so my dad would always tell me to know your history.
And so, that’s how I became a historian, you know, 20 years before I became a Professor of History at Arkansas Baptist College, my dad told me in '87 to know your history and then here we are 2007, 2008, I got the job at Arkansas Baptist College. And so, I want to thank my mom and my dad biologically speaking for raising me the right way and of course, for the system that was around me they always surrounded me by positive people. And, whether it was people who I worked with or it was people in the church, you know, they always surrounded me by positive people. And so, but, you know, that - it’s just been an experience and the –
[0:06:31.3] KM: Are they still alive?
[0:07:20.9] ED: My dad is transitioned on to be with - to be with the Father in heaven. But, my mom, she’s still here, she’s in Pennsylvania, she’s in Philly. Where I'm from, to anyone listening, West Philly in the house, okay, so born and raised on the playground –
[0:07:37.1] KM: How'd you end up in Arkansas?
[0:07:39.3] ED: Grambling - well no, when I graduated from Grambling that I went in to Louisiana Tech and earned a Master's Degree and then I got a phone call from [inaudible + 0:07:46.8] to come teach. As an adjunct instructor and so not full-time but just part-time and so there, before that I met a guy named John Mayer, Sergeant John Mayer, he was the - one of the ranking members of the Little Rock PD back in the '80’s and then the '90’s. He just recently retired about two years ago but he said - he's a brother to me, an older brother who –
[0:08:11.2] KM: But, you met him at Louisiana Tech?
[0:08:11.0] ED: I met him at Grambling, when he went to Grambling back in the '78, but he would always visit the campus.
[0:08:15.6] KM: So, he was alone?
[0:08:16.1] ED: Right, he was alone. He would always visit Grambling and he pledged the same organization that I pledged, Groove Phi Groove, which is a small social fellowship incorporated. And so, I said, “John lives in Little Rock,” this school from Little Rock called me UALR, never heard of UALR. I’ve heard of the Razorbacks when they won a title in '94 and I heard about, you know, 40 minutes to hell with the basketball team. Of course, the football team but never UALR, so I looked up UALR I said, "I can do this”. So, I had got my Master's and they said that you could teach, you’re qualified to teach, with a Master’s Degree and so, I did that for a year and then the contract ran out so Pulaski Tech opened up that window because someone told me about a school, a smaller school right across the river and that’s Little Rock. And so, I went over there and met James Becker and I think the holy spirit told me, "Don’t just send your resume and go ahead and walk it over there.” And I got the job like that because the guy says, "Since you had the gall to, you know, ask for a job in my face with this application, you know, I can’t promise you anything but, you know, I just might hire you,” And so, I had the job the next week and so I was four years Professor over there at Pulaski Tech.
And then, Arkansas Baptist came, President Omon Fitzgerald-Hill, he was President in '06 when I was at Pulaski Tech. And so, I had an opportunity to teach to a teacher about this college of the last 10 years now, It’ll be 10 years next year. And so, it’s been a great transition, a great ride, and so we have maybe some new phases coming down the pike. We have business with them, my wife and me, here with Uni-Tee Graphics and Designs.
[0:09:50.4] KM: We’re going to talk about that.
[0:09:51.2] ED: Yes ma’am. But that whole time we had not neglected the fact that there was one special man in my life, Dr. Milton P. Crenchaw, the Tuskegee Airman and I met him when I was teaching at Pulaski Tech and I had a friend come visit me from Philly who was - today's his birthday, incidentally [inaudible + 0:10:06.3] he's back in Philly, but to say that me and him stopped at Philander Smith College and I heard about this event going on at Philander, lo and behold, I didn't know it was going to be Dr. Milton P. Crenchaw that day, that day changed my life and so, of course, went on campus and ate some of the odd herbs they had around, met the president, but I saw this man he had to be about 87 back then. His posture was just up right, when I saw him I had to go ahead and make sure my posture was right.
[0:10:38.1] KM: And, he was tall.
[0:10:39.2] ED: Yes.
[0:10:40.1] KM: He was a tall man with great posture.
[0:10:42.0] ED: Great posture and he had this clean suit on; he had this debonnaire-esque feel, like he was from a higher pedigree. So I say, "Who is this guy? You know, I didn't come here to look at men. Who is this guy, you know, I came here to, to, to, look and see what’s going on.” But, again, I was attracted to this man from his presence, I'm thinking, "Who is this guy with the suit on? And he’s got to be close to 90, who is this guy?" Everybody's around him so by the time the dust, smoke had cleared; I had the chance to meet him. I shook his hand and they had already said who he was, Milton Crenchaw and he introduced me to himself and shook his hand and he had a firm handshake and so I was very, you know, very pleased with that but even more pleased because I said, "Hey, how much would you charge Pulaski Tech to come speak to my history class?" And I was teaching five courses at the time. This is about 2005, I think the date was February 27, 2005 and so, he says, "I don’t need money I’ll do it for free. I’m not lay about money, when do you want me to come over there?"
[0:11:37.5] KM: Love that man.
[0:11:38.0] ED: Right, I was [inaudible + 00:11:40] I said, “Wow". Because most people have an honorary and the fee they charge and you can make good money that way. He says, "I don’t chase money, I don’t need money, I’ll do it for free” And so, I told my department chair and all the other leaders at the campus it was just supposed to be for Ed Davis' course from my class but it turned out to be a whole campus thing, an institutional event. And so, again, I’m thankful that he came and he was driving at that time, you know, at 86 or 87, this is 2005 so he would be about 86 or 87 at that time. And so, he came and that changed the game for my life.
[0:12:13.0] KM: And for a lot of people’s lives, he's changed a lot of people’s lives and it’s a great place to take a break. When we come back we’re going to have a history lesson from Professor Edmond Davis. We’ll find out what his favorite subject is to teach, delve into the life of his friend, the late Milton Crenchaw which you just got a taste of it, how he met him, the Tuskegee Airman. And, last we’re going to talk about entrepreneurship and his new business, Uni-Tee Graphics and Design.
[0:12:35.5] TB: You’re listening to Up in Your Business with Kerry McCoy. If you miss any part of this show, podcast will be readily available next week at flagandbanner.com’s website. If you prefer to listen on iTunes, Youtube, or SoundCloud, you’ll find those links there as well.
[0:13:04.7] KM: You’re listening to Up in Your Business with me, Kerry McCoy, I’m speaking today with Edmond Davis, History Professor at Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock, Arkansas. We heard right before the break how much you love the Tuskegee Airman story and how you met the wonderful Mr. Milton Crenchaw and I think we left off when you met him at Philander Smith, haphazardly and were so impressed by him. He does have a star quality about him, I mean, think about what he did in World War II, he flew, well, you tell us what he did?
[0:13:35.4] ED: Right, you know, he was –
[0:13:36.8] KM: And this is not just tenses all the Tuskegee Airmen.
[0:13:39.0] ED: Right, right, you know, he, he’s been if you will the poster child or poster man here in Arkansas but Arkansas had 15 to 16 pilots that went on to serve this nation by the Army Air Core between 1940 and 1945.
[0:13:54.7] KM: And usually by black men.
[0:13:56.6] ED: African-American males, yes ma'am. And so, Crenchaw, Mr. Crenchaw, Doctor Crenchaw, was the first to graduate from the CPTP. The CPTP is an acronym for Civilian Pilot Training Program and a lot of people don’t know that in – by maybe in a trained historian before the world knew who Doctor King was and Rosa Parks was, these men and woman fought on both sides, both sides, but I mean ethnicism or if some people call it racism here but also women had to fight sexism and racism, you know, back in the 1930’s and 1940’s and Crenchaw, Doctor Crenchaw, God rest his soul, he told me all about this.
But, what was more fascinating to me was the matter in which he told this to me. You would think a man almost a hundred years old who has a sharp mind would be sort of bitter about how people of minority color, would treat African-Americans in particular but he wasn’t, you know, he was like, "Yeah, it was rough force back then" You know, but he always took the attention off him and pointed it back to God. And, that’s where I learned that from, too, you know, he would always not take credit for too many things. He would say, "No, God was been with me, that’s it.” And so I really, really, really, take that away from what, what God did with Mr. Crenchaw, this has rubbed off for me now. But, yeah, he definitely served in that capacity as a flight instructor, okay, he was a civilian pilot flight instructor. He trained those red tails that movie those men those women, a lot of people don’t realize that some of those women show some of those men how to fly and so –
[0:15:24.2] KM: You may never, women Tuskegee Airmen?
[0:15:26.0] ED: There were women Tuskegee Airmen, yes ma’am, they did not serve in aerial avenues or see any action per se –
[0:15:32.8] KM: Oh, okay, they didn’t fly the planes.
[0:15:35.4] ED: They flew the planes but they show them in training how to fly. There was one lady, there was Dorothy, I forgot Dorothy’s last name, watched many shows its going to come back, but you had a lot of women in particular, Herbert Carter, his wife, she showed him how to fly and he was a Red Tail bonafide, certified, had the chance to meet him about two years ago.
[0:15:55.9] KM: And what does Red Tail mean?
[0:15:56.9] ED: Red Tail means, it's just pretty much the red part of that aircraft, it’s a distinctive feature so when people see you on aerial action or just kind of traveling about aeronautically speaking you have that red tail at the –
[0:16:10.0] KM: It means you’re a Tuskegee.
[0:16:10.5] ED: Exactly, for the most part I would say nearly a 100% of the time is you have a red part at the back of your aircraft you were considered a red - you were a Red Tail.
[0:16:20.7] KM: Was Tuskegee only African-Americans or was it a mix of both?
[0:16:24.9] ED: Majority all African-American males, but you had Hispanic-Americans there, you had Native Americans there, you even have Caucasian, European-American males there, that were Tuskegee Airmen and a lot of people don’t know about that. But, of course overwhelming majority African-American males but the folks who train them, it was an ensemble of different ethnic backgrounds.
[0:16:44.2] KM: Why won’t they just be part of all of the airmen? Why did they have to be separated out?
[0:16:46.0] ED: Right, and that’s, you know, this goes back to skin color, of people, you know, fear, fear that, and of course –
[0:16:53.7] KM: That they just don’t want to mix the races so they’re like, "We'll make a bunch of ace flyers over here and a bunch of ace flyers over here, we'll separate them, their jobs were the same?
[0:17:01.9] ED: Well, their jobs were the same and going back to the assertion about women, you were considered a Tuskegee Airman if you worked in any capacity in any avenue, any genre at Tuskegee Institute between that time frame 1940 and 1945. So, women, a lot of them were nurses they had nothing to do with aviation exploits they were in a medical profession. They're still Tuskegee Airwomen even – because they were there, they was held to the same standards as the men were, dress code, had to go on by a certain time. People who were sanitation workers, Tuskegee Airmen still, they don’t get the credit though, only people that we know about the ones who flew.
[0:17:39.8] KM: And, the school is still in existence.
[0:17:43.2] ED: Yes ma’am. The school, Tuskegee - now University, in 1982 it changed from Tuskegee Institute to Tuskegee University and somebody on Facebook reached out to me in the inbox about, did I know about the Syphilis experiment I said, "Yes, there was –"
[0:17:58.2] KM: What?
[0:17:59.4] ED: Of course, between - in 1932 for 40 years from 1932 to 1972, men at Tuskegee were given Syphilis as a medical experiment –
[0:18:07.4] KM: What?
[0:18:07.4] ED: And, yeah, this has been all over the world many times over. I heard about it before I was an adult but of course –
[0:18:13.9] KM: It’s a true story?
[0:18:14.3] ED: It’s a true story, Bill Clinton in 1998 made an apology to the living survivors who were in their 90’s back then. And so, of course, no they were in there 70’s or 80’s back then. But –
[0:18:24.6] KM: How did that stuff - kind of stuff get approved? I don’t understand.
[0:18:27.1] ED: And that’s the thing under the radar and, you know, there's - there’s plenty of different stories not just with, you know, African-Americans, but, you know, Hispanic-Americans and, you know, just different groups of people.
[0:18:37.8] KM: And, I think even poor white people then.
[0:18:40.7] ED: Exactly, exactly, so we have to - and, and that goes back to, you know, slavery, you know, some of those things because we had finals a couple of days ago, they were reading about, you know, the difference between indentured servant and a slave on how some of the Irish, and some of the Scottish peasants, you know, in the 1600’s you know, worked, you know, they were indentured servants. And some, even served, you know, as slaves of course not – not nearly the number of the African slaves but you did have some who were slaves and also Native-Americans who, of course, people don’t know about pretty much were decimated due to disease factor, died off and so, but there's a whole other topic.
[0:19:21.6] KM: Yeah, we’re getting way off the subject.
[0:19:23.0] ED: We’re getting back to –
[0:19:23.4] KM: I’m sorry, that simple story got me kind of - .
[0:19:24.1] ED: No, no, and I’m a historian, I like to talk about these things.
[0:19:28.0] KM: You can go in any direction, so that Tuskegee Airmen you can still go and train there and go to school there.
[0:19:33.4] ED: It's an open school, of courses
[0:19:34.2] KM: Did they fly different flights than we did? I mean, didn't the other airline pilots, ace pilots, not airline but ace pilots from World War II, did they have different missions? Did they fly a different –
[0:19:45.2] ED: The Tuskegee Airmen, in one accuracy in the movie ‘Red Tails’ that came on 2012 the same year the book came, my first book came out it talked about how those African-American pilots who were overseas are already stationed, are already certified trained pilots, were tired of just sitting around, they didn’t get any jobs per se. They were over there but of course, the Caucasian pilots are the people who were empowering some of the persons that being the Army Air Corps because remember, the Air Force didn't start until 1947, this was going on in 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944.
[0:20:20.4] KM: I didn't realize that, I did not realize that.
[0:20:21.5] ED: We didn't have an Air Force until 1947.
[0:20:24.3] KM: I don’t think I knew that.
[0:20:23.8] ED: So, the army had a Air Corp, and so that the army had an Air Force and so now it’s two different – branches of our industrial complex in the military. But getting back to the point, they did not - because the segregation, they did not allow and some of the pilots, European, Americans and Caucasian pilots did not want to be associated with the Tuskegee Airmen, of course. What changed the game was their track record and of course some of the people who advocated for, “Hey, these guys are good,” and of course they saw them in action and that changed the game.
[0:20:55.1] KM: Sure.
[0:20:54.9] ED: Yes so -
[0:20:55.9] KM: You earn – you had to earn it, though, I mean, ain't that the way it is, if everything now you got to, kind of, earn your stripes. I mean, you know, you got to try to prove yourself. I saw on a documentary one time about the Tuskegee Airmen that Eleanor Roosevelt went there to visit them.
[0:21:08.0] ED: Yes, she -
[0:21:09.4] KM: And all of – and her people – her handlers said, "Don’t go down there.” She got on the cockpit –
[0:21:13.6] ED: That is true and, and, she was a go-getter back in 1940.
[0:21:17.8] KM: She was a rule-breaker right then. She’s a visionary.
[0:21:17.8] ED: She was a visionary as well and if it was – if they had not preferred people like her, who knows where the Tuskegee Airmen would be? A lot of people and you have to give credit to where credit is due. She didn’t have that spirit of fear, you know, fear is the genesis for a lot of people that don’t get jobs, that are hurt, and we just have this stigma, we go by what somebody said and sometimes it’s good but sometimes it’s not. But, she said, "Go ahead and call my president.” Of course, Franklin, said that, "That's my wife let her do what she wants to do" And -
[0:21:48.4] KM: He’s a good husband.
[0:21:49.8] ED: Doctor Crenchaw, he was the one that actually strapped her to the seatbelt that was formed by Charles Alfred Anderson, who of course, he was called Chief Anderson everybody knows he has a household name in aviation all over the world. He was from Philly - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
[0:22:04.1] KM: So, Milton strapped her in it? That may have been where I was watching them, that was a documentary on AETN, maybe about Milton Crenchaw and that may have been where I read that about him, or heard that about him.
[0:22:12.6] KM: So, what made you decide to write the book?
[0:22:16.1] ED: I said I’d been in traveling around the country especially in the South, the deep South with, you know, some men, Mr. Crenchaw at the time, you know, in his late 80’s or early 90’s. I was taking those - I was a speech writer, a lot of people don’t know, for a number of speeches and he would proof it in a really, really, became a sensitive issue to me because after being a speech writer for so long and he'll get up on that stage up on that podium in front of hundreds of people, sometimes it’s a small class of fifth graders, sometimes just a couple of hundred people who were my age in their 40’s or older and so he would not stick with the script.
I’m thinking, "Man, it took me a whole week to write that.” And he would just start saying what he wanted to say. And so, I kind of minimized my time by writing his speeches but not just that but just picking him up and just intimately speaking going to his house on Ringo street. Then going to see and God rest her soul, Mrs. Mary Ann Torrance, his lady friend who lived on Abigail just spending a lot of time with these classy people, you know, I said, "Hey, you know God's telling me you got to do something, you got to go archive this, you’re a Historian, archive this, you have to tell future generations about your experience, some may not believe you.” So of course that’s where I became, you know, taking pictures and things like that, and so, you know, I got this idea today, one day, to say, "Go ahead and ask him for a book, you know, how did you feel about writing a book about it"?
And so, of course it was supposed to be a biography just on Crenchaw. Of course, that’s not the case with this textbook. The book is a sum of different biographies of the people who served during World War II that are from Arkansas and of course the women who in some cases preceded him and in some cases flew at different times from them and so that’s where it came from and he gave me his blessings. Everybody that I talked to whether it was in DC, Philly, I’ve interviewed pilots from World War II in California, San Antonio Texas, Alabama, Montgomery Air Force base, everywhere you go with grant money that is, the Arkansas History Commission or the Arkansas Black History Commission. I received grant money funds to collect all this data and to comprise it into a book and of course, I told them in 2007, you know, Lord is my window so I'm going to go ahead and get this project done and that took a couple of years, Margaret and I anticipated with the crash and everything. And so, the side check that’s a little bit and so –
[0:24:39.9] KM: Let’s talk about that crash.
[0:24:40.9] ED: Yes ma’am, that’s how the book came about.
[0:24:41.0] KM: How long? When did you have – you had a motorcycle wreck? It wasn’t your fault, you’re on the motorcycle and you’re lucky to be alive.
[00:24:49] ED: Yes, ma'am.
[00:24:50] KM: Tell us about it.
[0:24:49.1] ED: I was out with – I started, I was a co-founder for a motorcycle club here called "The Myth Slayers,” and we’re bunch of guys, teachers and police officers, you know, will call workers, we all have motorcycles we said, “Hey, let’s start a club, let’s give it a definition, let’s give it a meaning, and the name Myth Slayers was a name that was given to me from a history class I had back in the 90’s that Grambling State University. My professor, her name was Shirley Yate. Mrs. Yate, Professor Yate told me 20-something years ago she said, "Become a Myth Slayer,” She used to always say, "Become a Myth Slayer don’t follow all these myths they say about you, whether, it’s crime or, you know, smoking -"
[0:25:33.6] KM: You mean like a black man? Don’t trust a black man?
[0:25:38.8] ED: Yeah -
[0:25:38.9] KM: Walk on the other side of the street to a black man- be a Mythslayer, slay the myths –
[0:25:42.3] ED: She said, "Slay the myths.” And so, we had this meeting at 2008, nine years ago and all the guys with motorcycles said they agreed to name ourselves The Mythslayers to have a meaning to it, you know, when you see a young African-American guy don’t just assume we have a record or, you know, we’re a deadbeat, you know, we’re not working. And so, of course, we’re Myth Slayers and so we’re riding around one day, the day was April 18, 2010 and so I believe I was riding with the Officer Paul Evans who is with the Little Rock Police Force right now. And, a couple of other guys, I think, maybe Jeff was with us and Monica my wife she was on the back with me and I gave her my helmet and I think I had a half helmet on.
I think I had a half helmet on she had the full helmet on, and so we just took some normal circles up by the park area went downtown, rode downtown for a little bit but the genesis for our meeting was at the Denison University. And so, I dropped her off and took off her helmet and put it in her car I just said, “I'll meet you in the house,” or something along those lines. and so, I got back on university and I got to the intersection at 65th and by that point I don’t know what happened that’s, to be to be 41 plus years old. There’s only one time in my life where I can’t remember as an adult something and that was back in 2010 when I was hit by a small Ecoline van on university at 65th and my wife she was behind me.
[0:27:13.0] KM: Oh.
[0:27:14.0] ED: And, you know, she didn’t actually see the collision but she saw my body land, you know, they say 90 feet away from the bike and I don’t know how that happened but of course the police record stated that I run a red light which I don’t think I run a red light. But, he didn’t write me ticket because he assumed I was going to die that was the police report said, right? And so, I didn’t get back to I can’t record exactly what happened. I’ve been taking the same street for years I don’t run red lights especially on a motorcycle. I have a cruiser, it was not a crotch rocket it’s a cruiser with an extended V so of course I got my feet laying back, I had my helmet on. I just don’t remember how.
[0:27:56.5] KM: So, you get in the hospital, next, what do you remember? What is the first thing you remember?
[0:28:00.3] ED: The first thing I remember is seeing Dr. Crenchaw in a chair, in the hospital.
[0:28:05.3] KM: No way.
[0:28:05.8] ED: Yeah, I’m thinking okay he’s sitting there. He would always have his legs crossed, debonair-esque, just sitting in the hospital and, you know, I'm thinking, “Okay, wow what am I doing in here? Why are you there?” You know, he had paid for someone to cut my hair and this guy was cutting my hair I remember seeing my wife she was there and I couldn’t remember too many details about, my mother, my biological mother, flew from Philadelphia Pennsylvania she was there. My sisters moved in to my house here in Arkansas, of course, there was a power of attorney because I was really, really, not –
[0:28:38.2] KM: They thought you were going to die.
[0:28:40.0] ED: I was going to die.
[0:28:40.3] KM: I’ve got the email that said you’re going to die.
[0:28:42.8] ED: Yes, so well you know I don’t remember too much as I’m talking here with some fake teeth in my mouth and titanium plates in my face still, my jaw still kind of tense even though we’re having these conversation about –
[0:28:58.8] KM: Nobody would ever, ever, know what you don’t have one scar on your face.
[0:29:04.2] ED: Yeah.
[0:29:04.2] KM: It’s amazing.
[0:29:06.0] ED: I think they’re all under the beard I don’t know but I can only give credit, you know, going back to God because after that, you know, things had took a turn for the best and I begin to be, in the hospital. I went to rehab at Arkansas at Baptist Health and I heard this voice telling me to get mad, to be really, really, depressed and to be upset and I’ve never had a spirit of depression but something was in my head, of course when you hear a crazy voice like that it ain’t God so I’m like okay.
[0:29:36.9] KM: What was it?
[0:29:38.2] ED: I believe it was the enemy telling me to get mad at God.
[0:29:40.7] KM: Oh, to get mad at God, oh not okay.
[0:29:43.1] ED: Yeah, many times somebody tells you to get mad at god and I’m thinking okay. I’m trained better than that and of course I have a great pastor, Dr. Steven W. Christian. He said to him when you hear things like that, you know, it’s definitely out of order but here’s what God did to me, Kerry. He said when I was in rehab people were showing me how to walk again. They were pushing me down this hall, he said, “Look to your left, look to your right,” I saw a man my age some older they didn’t have their legs I still have my legs and I’m thinking wow okay.
I’m doing badly but they’re doing worse than me so of course I have no real reason to be upset. It’s a little setback, a little speed bump in life but I’m just so thankful and so grateful for what I saw in the hospital what happened to people and of course Gary Coleman died when I was in the hospital, Lino Horn passed away, Teddy Pintagrass died, I’m watching the news the whole time I’m in the hospital the whole summer. I’m thinking about how these people died, yeah, I remember Gary Coleman.
[00:30:41] KM: Yeah, oh, absolutely.
[00:30:42] ED: Different strokes. He was about that tall, he fell maybe 40 inches out of a chair and broke his neck. I'm thinking I was hit off a motorcycle and I'm still alive and I flew 90 feet with a helmet on.
[00:30:54] KM: I'm supposed to be here.
[00:30:55] ED: Right. So, I'm like, “Wow, okay.”
[00:30:57] KM: Did you have any revelations why you're in there. Did you ever think this is why I'm supposed to be here for?
[00:31:02] ED: That, it was a battle, a spiritual battle and a mental battle ensued several times of the first I gave earlier about, you know, me not being so positive and then I was heavily medicated, so I remember in Philadelphia my mom had said some things to me, my biological mom, she said something but I snapped on my mom because and I blamed it on the drugs. You know, but I'm I want to be able to take the prescription and -
[00:31:31] KM: I'm sure.
[00:31:33] ED: Yeah, I'm thinking for sure.
[00:31:32] KM: So, how long were you in the hospital?
[00:31:34] ED: About a month, maybe six weeks.
[00:31:36] KM: How is it before you go back to work?
[00:31:39] KM: I went back maybe two or three weeks after I got out the hospital. That is unbelievable, weren't you in a coma for weeks.
[00:31:45] ED: I was in a coma and it was medically induced to Houston.
[00:31:48] KM: But, I wish I can see you now because you are, work out, you are tough looking. They're ain't an ounce of fat, I wouldn't want to meet you in an alley.
[00:31:58] ED: Well, I'm going to get back in to that , you know, I used to. I have really recovered up.
[00:32:04] KM: No, it looks great.
[00:32:05] ED: But yeah, it was jus I mean I can' t take credit for anything I mean, okay. I was in a coma and then all of a sudden I'm driving a 2010 Lincoln town car from Philadelphia Pennsylvania from Upenn Hospital all the way back down at Little Rock it took me 21 hours but I was in a coma a month before that so again I can't take any credit for it. Now for those who are not believers that sold me out right there. I'm thinking I was going to die here's the death papers, the will, here's all that I'm going to die, okay but now I'm taking this car, you know, I'm in Interstate 40 going to Nashville, I got the Nashville, got retired then I stopped at Memphis, I think I'm two hours from Little Rock, I'm okay.
[00:32:48] KM: Yeah.
[00:32:48] ED: But to make the long story short, you know, God is with me. I can only give him all the credit for doing that so.
[00:32:55] KM: It's a great story when we come back we're going to learn more about his dream more specifically Arkansas history from Professor Edmond Davis and last were going to talk, really we just may jump right in to talking about how an academian came to be an entrepreneur in the business of Uni-Tee Graphics & Design.
[00:33:12] ED: You are listening to Up in Your Business with Kerry McCoy, if you missed any part of the show a podcast will be made available next week at flagandbanner.com's website. If you prefer to listen on iTunes, Youtube or Soundcloud you'll find those links there as well. A lot of listening options, we'll be right back.
[00:33:44] KM: You're listening to Up in Your Business with me Kerry McCoy. I'm speaking today with educator, author, historian, survivor, Edmond Davis history professor at Arkansas Baptist College at Little Rock, Arkansas. Tell us again, you became a teacher because your dad talked about being a historian but that doesn't mean you have to be a teacher, how did you pick teaching?
[00:34:01] ED: Right, well when I was at Grambling State University national champs in football and great nursing program. You know, it grew on me because when I was a freshman coming from the east coast to the south I was a double major in biology and chemistry, and me and biology were okay, me and chemistry didn't have a good relationship at all, but I was Academic All-American in my first year, and so I ran track and did all those things but I was the president of the history club for an extended time, it was two years, and we won the national quiz bowl, me and the team and so, but to say all that my dad said ten years before I went to Grambling, “Know your history,” but then when I got to Grambling it's pretty much confirmed what I was supposed to which was 20 years now, 17 years in the classroom it just confirms of what I love and what my passion has always been and that's American history, its world history, you know, its women's history, its African-American history, its radio history, its food history yum, yum. You know it's just been those types of things because my dad was a master chef and then, you know, I'm not a chef at all, I can cook a little bit you'd have to talk to -
[00:35:11] KM: So, why did you decide to be a teacher of history?
[00:35:13] ED: Right, because I'm - it was from that switch from biology to chemistry to history, you know, I said what I can do this people would always on campus ask me to talk about different things especially things that were civil rights related or human rights elevated or things that were relevant to the news stories. I had always been a big proponent of watching not social media, this is before social media was out while watching the news. Again going back to my dad, he would always talk about, know your history and so he planted those seeds in the 80s but in the 90s in college, resonated in a course 2000, 2001 I became a graduate assistant at Louisiana Tech University, Go Bulldogs, and so it was stuck with me ever since and of course I got the call from UALR to come up and that's been 15, yeah, I've been here the whole time.
[00:36:06] KM: You must like it in Arkansas.
[00:36:07] ED: Right, I tried to run, you know, but -
[00:36:09] KM: You can't getaway once you get here, I'm telling you it sucks you in, so when people take your course, what is it that you want them to walk away with?
[00:36:15] ED: With the knowledge of - I'm really a content driven kind of guy. Content, I mean who, what, when, where, why and how. I always tell people to take good notes. Now, when it comes to US history, you know, a lot of people in particular being an African-American men teaching at HBCU, you know, a lot of people assume that you start with, you know, slavery like, no, history doesn't start with slavery, you know. Slavery has been around since the biblical days. You know, it didn't become a racial thing until I got to the United States until it got to the Caribbean that's when it changed up, you know, when you look at Russell Crowe and his name at the movie Gladiator he was Maximus Decimus, he was the army general who commanded legions.
He was a slave too, if you check out the movie, you've seen the movie?
[00:36:58] KM: Oh yeah, great movie.
[00:36:59] ED: Great movie, exactly that came out 2000, Oscar nominated, Oscar winner. But when you look at the difference between those slaves and the difference between slaves in United States, you know, it's based on the color of your skin not necessarily, you know, what you, you know, power was and so when we have in this case early history class we talk about things like that. We always want students to always ask questions you know. If I'm in a classroom and I've been so for 15 years, but if I'm in a classroom and students have no questions that's a challenge to me and that says something that, you know.
[00:37:34] KM: They are not engage.
[00:37:35] ED: They are not engaged. You have to engage them and I have to make it attractive. I don't want the S word but I want to make it attractive to them and so we do that with our course guidelines at ABC with given an academic freedom to where I can actually make some adjustments to my course guidelines to say -
[00:37:50] KM: Oh, that's nice.
[00:37:51] ED: Right.
[00:37:51] KM: To fit the students, what they would be interested in.
[00:37:54] ED: Every classroom has a different DNA and of course and not so other business leaders, small like myself about, you know, your market and how you source on market things and my wife she helps me out. Monica she tells me a lot about different things because she actually went to school for that. I didn’t, I'm grass roots. I'm just learning from what I see and trial and error but -
[00:38:15] KM: That's good.
[00:38:15] ED: She's a trained teacher and I'm not a trained teacher but she's actually a trained educator.
[00:38:20] KM: You recently were the facilitator and a program coordinator for a pilot program at Covenant Keepers Charter School called respond ability, I like that targeting six and eight grade students to help them how to respond to law enforcement in the 21st century.
[00:38:35] ED: Yes.
[00:38:35] KM: I think that's very important.
[00:38:37] ED: It's something that should be required in every school not just public or parochial private. I think every school not just from minorities of color but for everybody because what they don't tell you is that even Caucasian are even stopped, shot, beat down, they don't talk about it on the news and so that's the media trying to play our emotions especially when you look at the larger scheme of things but to get back on the subject, ‘respondibility’ and the root word for that is responsibility and, you know, it was given in the 2014. I was laying in the bay one day and this term ‘respondibility’ came out of nowhere, I'm like ‘respondibility’, “God what are you talking about?” Respondibility iPhone it was a popular movie called iRobot about 12 years ago and there was iFrankenstein there's always this i movies every five or so years, there's i something.
And so of course I thought about that, we have iPhones and this is a smart device generation. This not generation learners for millennials but this generation Z learners, you know, so I said let's make it attractive. Let's make it irrelevant to them.
[00:39:38] KM: Respondibility.
[00:39:39] ED: Respond, I have the ability to respond responsibly to law enforcement and authorities and so looking at all what's going on the last five years with social media, there's no privacy anymore, anything you do. Somebodies recording, whether you think they're not recorded whether you're a cop or a civilian or citizen and so we try to we create different faces of this program called ‘Respondibility'. Now, I want to give a shout out to Doctor Valerie Tatum whose run a facility director. She is the president, the principal and the executive director of Covenant Keepers.
She invited me to come over and she has youth over the sixth grade to eight grade and it was a program pilot that you have mentioned earlier and they were very receptive to it. Everywhere I go I invite officers, federal state, campus security, apartment security, mall security, different levels of life as long as law enforcement, to come in and to be part of the program.
[00:40:32] KM: How do you get, do you go to the school? How do you find this people to present this to you? Do you go to the schools and say I like to come and make a presentation to your sixth and eighth graders, six to eight graders?
[00:40:42] ED: Right, the first time it happened it was at the collegiate level with ABC and the students were receptive to it and these are 19, 20 year old adults and so the next one was a junior high school in Canby, Arkansas and they were receptive to it but it shed some light on some issues that is it more to solve a problem? I said, Kerry to the audience had 600 students at Arkansas tech.
[00:41:07] KM: Wow.
[00:41:07] ED: I said, “Raise your hand, only raise your hand if you think you have the right to resist the rest when the officer does something bad and, you know, he says you're under arrest and you know you didn't do anything but the officer says you're under arrest, do you think you have the right to resist arrest in any capacity, raise your hand.” Out of 600 people guess how many raised their hands?
[00:41:29] KM: All of them.
[00:41:31] ED: Two hundred that's a problem if five of them raised their hand any of them.
[00:41:34] KM: Because that's why you get in to these police confrontations that end up with terrible outcomes.
[00:41:40] ED: And so I was at a lost as a public speaker, you know, and people request me to speak here and there. I'm like okay but I was at loss for words I looked to my right, looked at my board my was there Kendall Ashley he's a professor, he's like a big brother he's a state trooper. Trooper Cooper he was there. I looked at Ouachita Parish Police deputy was there and my jaw dropped because out of 600 people.
[00:42:04] KM: It's a third, third of the people think that they can resist arrest if the cop is wrong.
[00:42:08] ED: I said “No.” We have a problem, you know, Houston we have a problem. You know, no one wants to talk about this on CNN.
[00:42:15] KM: Oh, no they never want to talk about it.
[00:42:17] ED: You know because again -
[00:42:20] KM: Solutions aren't part of news. Solutions are never part of news, they are more about sensationalism.
[00:42:24] ED: Right, so that again with Covenant Keepers and Doctor Tatum, respondibility here.
[00:42:30] KM: You have a theme throughout today's show about responsibility about how much you love Milton Crenchaw and how he took responsibility for his life and never blamed anybody, loved his life and never end, you know always give credit to other people.
[00:42:46] ED: Yes ma’am.
[00:42:46] KM: And about you've been about your homelessness with your parents and how they stayed responsible throughout all those trying times. About yourself in the hospital and looking around seeing all these people that had it worse than you and that you had a responsibility to get well and to do good and then again just now you've even named a pilot program Respondibility. I really think that's good that seems to be a thing throughout your life.
[00:43:11] ED: Yes, and it just hit me, what you mentioned.
[00:43:15] KM: What do you want your legacy in Arkansas to be?
[00:43:18] ED: Wow, no one has asked me that question but I think first and foremost if I was pleasing to God and then God's eyes then after that of course you know, if I was a good husband and a good dad to my son, to our son and just an agent for change and a servant to the community and of course we're going to talk about Uni-Tee Graphics & Designs where we keep you in mind, you know, to be a servant to the community. I think that's what, you know, in that order of a like, for my legacy.
You know, to be let's say that, you know, not about books or being published or being a speaker or anything, you know but of course we're we go to heaven, you know, with all that I did pleasing you know to God and of course the start to first you know give the minister and your house first before your business and before anywhere so we have to make sure things are in order there as you know we have struggles here and there in the school or just out and about but you know as long as it's pleasing, you know to my father in heaven, in the name of Jesus. I think that's the most important thing. I want that legacy, you know for supporting with God but here on earth with us with our three pound finite brains I definitely want us to say -
[00:44:45] KM: Three pound finite brains.
[00:44:45] ED: Hey, you know he was a servant to the community and he kept his word and he tried to, you know, make a difference in the lives of young people specifically young people but anybody you know I think that's important and you know I try to stay in my lane, you know sometimes I swerve a little bit but I try to stay in my lane and get things done. If we can change one mind I think that's to start for a change, if you can change as one mind whether it's in a classroom, in the church, in the business sector or using a platform like this. This is a great platform that you have Ms. Kerry.
[00:45:18] KM: Thank you.
[00:45:18] ED: Just some of the things that you've been doing a whole lot longer than me so I look up to you and what you've been doing all these years and I thank you for being a community leader as well.
[00:45:28] KM: Thank you.
[00:45:28] ED: You have to come by the store and -
[00:45:29] KM: Let's talk about your store.
[00:45:31] ED: Yes ma'am.
[00:45:32] KM: Uni-Tee Graphics. I guess the Uni stands for unisex, tee t-e-e is spelled out for t-shirts and its graphics and designs and it's screen printing. Did you buy a screen printing shop? It's only been around six months.
[00:45:46] ED: We've been, the brick and mortar has been around for six months and it's located at the address for those listening we’re at AR 10101 Maple Ville Plaza Drive we are adjacent to Walmart in Southwest Little Rock 72209 between Katel Fashion and the GNC store. You can't miss this we're open right now and of course open tomorrow between 11 and 5 but Uni-Tee is a name that my wife came out, but Monica came out with Uni-Tee, like Uni-Tee she wants to see, we want to see Uni-Tee back in relationships in families. Every time we watch the news there's always somebody, they like glorifying bad stuff.
[00:46:22] KM: Division, yeah.
[00:46:21] ED: Yeah and so it's obvious.
[00:46:25] KM: “If it bleeds it leads,” they say, yeah.
[00:46:27] ED: So, she was like, you know what and she talked about this for a while and she's just had this idea so I can't take any credit for it, my job is just to support her and of course we're business partners but Uni-Tee is her name of course.
[00:46:39] KM: See, I thought it was for unisex t-shirts but it's for Uni-Tee. I didn't even catch that play on words.
[00:46:42] ED: Yeah, it's Uni-Tee like unity and the relationship Uni-Tee here at the station. KBF Uni-Tee and up in your business. We have Uni-Tee here at the station. Uni-Tee Flag and Banner so Uni-Tee, of course Uni-Tee t-shirts graphics and designs. She's a graphic designer. She's got masters degrees, two of them.
[00:47:01] KM: I thought she was a teacher.
[00:47:02] ED: Yup, she is a full time teacher.
[00:47:04] KM: Oh, my gosh.
[00:47:05] ED: She's got this as they call, you know, a plan B side hustle, right.
[00:47:10] KM: You know, people are, we were talking about this right before we went on people always want to know what the secret is to success, working hard, every successful person I know never quits work.
[00:47:19] ED: Working hard and working smart and so she just -
[00:47:21] KM: She just got, you two are teachers but on top of that you've decided to start a small business. Did you buy it?
[00:47:28] ED: Yup, we own it all the rights to it.
[00:47:30] KM: It was already existing?
[00:47:32] ED: No, this is grassroots, not grassroots but start up, all start up, small startup, yes, yes ma’am.
[00:47:41] KM: Did you buy the equipment new and everything because -
[00:47:43] ED: We bought everything.
[00:47:43] KM: T-shirt equipment is not cheap.
[00:47:44] ED: Right, right we were still in the process of, I'll leave it at that, but we have just one employee and he's been doing a fantastic job.
[00:47:53] KM: What made you decide to pick on that, to pick t-shirts?
[00:47:56] ED: Because of the vision that she had about you be surprised about what a t-shirt does to a couple when people see her us out because before we had the store, we will go out we still have date nights, maybe once a month we'll go somewhere. Go get something to eat, go to the movies and we will put our shirts on.
[00:48:15] KM: Matching shirts.
[00:48:15] ED: Yes, and some of them are not matching but they just have different unique intricate designs and so we went out to the fourth of July party 2016 and we brought the town down, popped the trunk because everybody want those shirts and so, you know, everywhere we go we got a couple pastor in been. We went to the ray, we always go on Tuesday nights because it's a five dollar movie night, you know.
We try to get out and have fun and so couples are out there too. There's no secret. But “Hey, these are some nice shirts man where did you get that from? You want to come see in my truck. And so, of course we would always, you know, advocate people come right out to my truck and see the t's out.
[00:48:51] KM: What did the t-shirt say?
[00:48:53] ED: Oh, well one that she designed is called His Bae, Her Bae. I didn't know until about a year ago what Bae means before all else before everyone else.
[00:49:01] KM: What does it mean?
[00:49:03] ED: A before b-a-e-everyone before all else before anyone else so the graphics has fingers pointing at each other so when you see it in our Facebook page it's very, very crafty how it's designed. Then, one shirt it says “Pray, hustle, repeat,” that shirt's pretty much, thank you, that shirt is pretty much everywhere. Then another shirt we designed that says "The Snuggle is Real,” you know not the struggle but the snuggle that's for couples.
[00:49:34] KM: Yeah, yeah.
[00:49:36] ED: That's couple goals, you know, a lot of couples like to marry or date or what have you.
[00:49:40] KM: So this is really grassroots you came up with these screen printed shirts, where would you get, you will get them screen printed somewhere else with all your cute little words because you do love play on words. I guess your wife does too, all these play on words and you would start making five printed t-shirts and people just kind of wanting them from you because you would model them. So this is really a grassroot.
[00:49:59] ED: It's a grassroots and we're getting some momentum. We definitely want to put a shoutout to everybody to supportive of Uni-Tee Graphics & Designs.
[00:50:08] KM: And you're open Monday to Friday?
[00:50:09] ED: We're up Monday to Friday we only close on Sunday to rest and to just -
[00:50:13] KM: You're open Monday to Friday and on Saturday is from?
[00:50:17] ED: Saturday is 11 to 5.
[00:50:19] KM: But they can call you.
[00:50:18] ED: They can call me or they can go the website and we're going to update our website for folks to purchase shirts online and there's one shirt in particular that I sent out to a number of people I've been called the ’N’ word from this shirt. And it's talking about the first amendment right. A teacher America grab me at the college level so I know a little bit our honorary vice commander with a 14th or a three 14th air but we are going to get to the Air Force base, my brothers is retired cop for 29 years, so I know a little bit about the constitution so we designed a shirt that says, "Sometimes you have to take a knee to stand" and so this is nothing new they've been doing this in the 50s and 60s. What [inaudible + 00:50:59] is doing is nothing new and so you know a lot of people had been cussing me out because of the shirt. I've been kicked off from Facebook six times because of a t-shirt. Wow, t-shirts says a whole a lot.
[00:51:11] KM: It's the fear thing you were talking about at the beginning of the show. Fear is, I mean the whole holocaust in Germany is fear based. I mean it's just, it's amazing what people would do when they become fearful.
[00:51:24] ED: Right, so we, it's limited edition but that shirt maybe still -
[00:51:28] KM: You started your business the way I recommend people to start their businesses that call and ask me and say, “I want to start a business.” They say I'm going to go out and buy a store and I'm going to go and get some equipment and then I'm going to go and get some sales and get it all set up and I say you're actually doing that backwards.
[00:51:41] ED: Right.
[00:51:46] KM: You need to go get sales first and see if there's a market for what you've got and if there is a market for what you got you because you're selling, then you go buy your equipment, then you get your location and you did that exactly correctly and I can't tell you how many people don't do that. It's the end of the show and but they can reach you what's your phone numbers and emails.
[00:52:04] ED: My phone number is area code 318 22439133 again area code 318 2439133 and they can also call area code 501 9524881 again 501 9524881. They can find us on Facebook and Instagram. And that's Uni-Tee and that's Uni-Tee, Graphics & Designs where we keep couples in mind but we also keep single folks in mind as well.
[00:52:36] ED: They got to be a couple one day.
[00:52:37] ED: Yes, exactly and so we're open come stop on through Saturdays are our the busy days for a lot of people to come through and check us out and there's a discount on sale but no there's a discount, and of course if you have this flyer that you see in social media just print it off or bring it on your cellphone. Bring it to the store come on here and get your tee or get your hoodie.
[00:53:00] KM: I think that's flyers on your Facebook page.
[00:53:01] ED: Yes, it's on my Facebook page.
[00:53:02] KM: They can get that 10% discount off of your Facebook page and if you don't have a pen or paper and you're driving on the car right now you can just go to flagandbanner.com and we will have all the links to Uni-Tee and to Edmond Davis if anybody wants to get in touch with him all his contact information would be there so much there right now.
[00:53:22] ED: Or want a speaker or have me come by and do a presentation.
[00:53:25] KM: On a lot of things you've have a very community minded and I love that. I got you a gift too that you're going to love it's a desk set and I should've gotten you one for Philly put your private with a US flag but it's a desk set with a used flag Arkansas flag and the Christian flag because I know how devote you are -
[00:53:41] ED: Yes ma'am, thank you so much.
[00:53:40] KM: I've never thought that you don't praise the Lord in some way or another so it's very refreshing.
[00:53:45] ED: Beautiful.
[00:53:45] KM: Who’s our guest next week?
[00:53:48] TB: It is going to be Arkansas historian another one, Bill Worthen
[00:53:52] KM: Two historians back to back do you know Bill.
[00:53:55] TB: I don't think I've met Mr. Worthen before.
[00:53:57] KM: Bill Worthen is a volunteer at the territorial restoration forever and I think his last name Worthen means his tied to Worthen bank from years and years ago when it's the only skyscraper in Downtown Little Rock, I think. We'll find out, we'll find out next week.
[00:54:10] ED: Oh, great, great.
[00:54:11] KM: And if you got a good entrepreneurial story you would like to share I would like to hear from you send a brief bio or your contact info to questions at upyourbusiness.org and someone will be in touch.
[00:54:22] ED: I was going to say can I make one more, okay so Lorenzo Luis he's an entrepreneur he's over the [inaudible + 00:54:25] project and you know, I think [inaudible + 00:54:30] magazine jazz, Charell, she's an entrepreneur here she talks about small businesses and though they got a following but I want to introduce you to because you all can click real good.
[00:54:41] KM: I look forward to that, that sounds great don't forget I'll remind you.
[00:54:43] ED: Yes m’am.
[00:54:43] KM: I will, I'll send you an email.
[00:54:45] ED: And finally to our listeners thank you for spending time with me. If you think this program has been about you, you're right. It's also been for me. Thank you for letting me fulfill my destiny. My hope today is that you've heard or learned something that has been inspiring or enlightening and that it whatever it is we'll help you up your business your independence or your life. I'm Kerry McCoy and I'll see you next time on Up in Your Business. Until then be brave and keep it.
[END OF INTERVIEW]
[00:55:09] TB: You’ve been listening to Up in Your Business with Kerry McCoy. Want to hear today’s program again or want someone else to benefit from it? Jot this down. Next week a podcast will be available flagandbanner.com. Click the tab labeled “Radio Show”, there you’ll find today’s segments with links to resources you heard discussed on this program. Kerry’s goal: to help you live the American Dream.
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