Former Ohio State Senator Ray Miller Jr. - Building a Life Long Legacy in Community Service

Ray Miller is the President & Publisher of The Columbus & Dayton African American news journal and a former Ohio State Senator. Mr. Miller is a Life Member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and the NAACP. In addition, he is an active member of Second Baptist Church located in Columbus, Ohio.

In January of 2011, Mr. Miller founded The Columbus African American news journal. The publication has quickly grown to become the largest, most broadly circulated minority focused print medium in Columbus and Central Ohio. Due to its success, in August of 2017, Miller expanded the news journal to include the city of Dayton, Ohio. The journal is well known for its substantive content and excellent contributing writers who are clearly focused on their mission, which is to educate, inform, and empower the community.

Totally committed to developing the next generation of young leaders, Mr. Miller created the Ray Miller Institute for Change and Leadership at The Ohio State University Department of African American and African Studies and The Progressive Leadership Academy to insure the knowledge and wisdom of selected leaders is passed on to those who will soon succeed them. Admission to the Leadership Academy is in great demand and the curriculum consists of high level presentations, readings, team projects and community service. Collectively, there are 390 graduates of the program.

For 24 years, Miller served as a member of the Ohio General Assembly--16 years in the House of Representatives and eight years as a State Senator. He was a prolific legislator and is well known for being the chief sponsor of legislation which established the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services, the Ohio Commission on Minority Health, The Institute for Urban Education at Central State University, the Mental Health Reform Act, first-time State funding for Head Start in the State of Ohio and many other public policy and systemic change initiatives.
During his extensive professional career, Miller has served at the executive level within organized labor, business, higher education and the Federal Government, as a Deputy Special Assistant on the White House Staff of President Jimmy Carter.
A highly requested public speaker, Mr. Miller has delivered countless keynote addresses throughout the State of Ohio and the nation. He is blessed to have received more than 600 local, state and national awards for his legislative accomplishments and community service.

Miller previously served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Central State University. Mr. Miller holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a Master of Arts degree in Public Administration from The Ohio State University. He and his wife Marty have one son, Ray Miller III.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03: 0:00

Welcome to Be A Baller, where we discuss how to build a lifelong legacy. I'm your host, Coach Tim Brown. Today, we'll be talking about building a legacy in community service with our state representative, I won't call him former, he's still our state representative, Ray Miller

SPEAKER_01: 0:23

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SPEAKER_03: 1:06

Today on the show, Ray is going to share his experience of building bridges and providing opportunities for leadership in the community for decades. He is known as the father of the Head Start program throughout the state of Ohio. Brother Ray, welcome to Be a Baller podcast. It's a real pleasure to be here. Thanks for the invitation. I've been looking forward to this conversation for a while. You know, we've known each other from Second Baptist Church. That's exactly right. Just watching the great things you've done in the community. But you know, I know you were born in Hampton, Virginia. Yes. Can you talk about leaving the South, coming up north, and that experience?

SPEAKER_04: 1:41

As much as I possibly can. Yeah, I was born in Hampton. Okay. April 6th, 1949. Wow. Yeah, so I think I'm up there. 73, somewhere through there. And my father was in the military, so we were being stationed from one base to the next. And so in Virginia, We were living in Newport News in Hampton. And then my father was stationed at Langley Field Air Force Base, right? So we went from Langley Field to Shepherd in Texas. And then from there, we went into San Antonio, Texas, to the Air Force Base. And then he got stationed here in Columbus, Ohio, when I was 12 years old, 11, 12 years old, something like that. So I kind of grew up on the, you know, where Greenlawn Avenue is. So I grew up over there to Greenlawn. And then we moved on the east side. My mother got remarried, separation, divorce, and all of that. So she got remarried and raised a family on the east side of So I was raised 169 North 18th Street, right? Right behind the church, right behind our church. So here's Second Baptist Church. There's the alley, and then there's my house, 169 North 18th Street, where I really grew up. Brandon,

SPEAKER_03: 3:11

I know you're a proud East High School graduate. Very

SPEAKER_04: 3:13

proud.

SPEAKER_03: 3:14

There's only one high school. Can you talk about some of those memories growing at East back in

SPEAKER_04: 3:21

the day? Oh, man. There was so much excellence. We had outstanding coaches, Lee Williams, Jim Roseboro. We had outstanding coaches. We had outstanding academicians, real excellent in English and in mathematics and all of that and music in particular. So I was a musician and a percussionist and we had some of the finest percussionists anywhere and the United States of America. I mean, these brothers could play, right? It's all about, you know, really knowing your music, really knowing your rudiments and all of that. I can fly through paradiddles and rat-a-ma-queues and all that kind of stuff right now on the table, right? But a young man told me not to hit the table. But we really did. We had so much excellence there in every area. We won the end of no competition. We won the state championship basketball team one of those years. We lost to Linden. It's hard for me to say that. It's hard for me to say that. But my senior year, we lost to Linden. But it was so much outstanding athleticism running all around the school and such an outstanding faculty as well. And they had high expectations. It's all about pushing hard. And so we had Ted Turner as the president, as the director of our band. And then after him, we had a young man who came in from Florida A&M. I mean, just talent all over the place. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 4:57

You know, you're talking about that percussion and the drums. When did you start

SPEAKER_04: 5:01

that? My stepfather was a percussionist. Played the trumpet with his right hand. Played the drums with his left hand. Throughout, you know, whole sets and so forth, right? He was very good. And then his full-time job was at DCSC. So he was a truck driver at DCSC. and provided a good kind of a financial base for us, you know, within the community.

SPEAKER_03: 5:29

You were sharing earlier how you had offers to turn professional. Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 5:35

Yeah, from... All kinds of groups, man. It's like, we want you to go with us. Gladys Knight, we want you to go with us tonight. She comes in town. She had already fired her drummer. She calls and she says, I understand you're the best drummer in the town and the state and yada, yada. And we want you to go with us if you can handle that. And you know how that goes. Can I handle that? So I laid back a little bit and acted like that happened every day. Right, right. called my wife, Marty. At that time, we were both at Ohio State University as students. And I said, you know, I got to go get my drum set, right? She's playing down at Ohio Theater.

SPEAKER_05: 6:19

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04: 6:19

And most of the things that she did, I had already, you know, I knew well, because I played with the Four Mints. And the Four Mints did a lot of her stuff, right? Man, I rocked the house. I rocked the house, man. You know, so when I got there and set up and so forth, I was, you know, justifiably relaxed and calm. And she jumped on Friendship Train. She said, you know, she said, let's do Friendship Train. I said, here we go. Here we go. Good work. Oh, man, it was. She looked over at me. So in the end, she said, you know, we want you to go with us. I said, I'm a senior student at Ohio State University. My track is politics and political science. And I said, I love music and playing the drums and all of that. I've had a few offers, but. I know what I want to do. So what I want to do is politics and government service and that kind of

SPEAKER_03: 7:15

thing. You've done that well. You've done that well. Speaking of that, I know you're a strong man of faith. Yes. How does your faith walk help you in that whole political

SPEAKER_04: 7:25

area? Helped tremendously in every area of my life. When we first came here, and i was living over you know where i grew up 169 north 18th street my younger brother i mean we had we had lots of i would say opportunity but my younger brother who was a natural musician i mean he was really outstanding he gets hung up with the wrong group of guys got hooked on crack cocaine didn't pay his bill got shot to death right So I'm already going to Second Baptist by myself because my family went over to Ebenezer. Wherever we lived, whatever the city was or the state was, my mother found Ebenezer because she was born in Hampton, right? And so Ebenezer Baptist Church was our home church there. And so when we went to Texas, she found Ebenezer at Wichita Falls, right? In San Antonio, she found Ebenezer. When we moved here, she found Reverend L.C. Brown over on Ohio Avenue, Ebenezer Baptist Church, right? But yeah, my younger brother got hooked up the wrong way. And that's why you see... So much of my legislative agenda when I was in was alcohol and drug addiction. I created the Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services. I created the Ohio Commission on Minority Health. I did the whole reform of the Mental Health Act in the state of Ohio in 1988. I mean, I did all of that major stuff because I know it, right? And you know what we grew up on. We grew up on if you know something, do something, Doc. And so that was easy for me is to put together an agenda. on legislative initiatives. And it's good to see the current governor right now doing, you know, doing the same kind of thing in the same area. Unfortunately, it's two decades later to see some of the things taking place. But, you know, he's a clear, strong advocate. So going off the Second Baptist, how was that experience? Yeah. I was going to touch on that because my mother and my sisters, as I said, went to Ebenezer. I'm sitting over there at Second, just like I am today, by myself. Even my wife goes to a different church, and she loves Second Baptist, but she had been attending a different church.

UNKNOWN: 9:57

Right.

SPEAKER_04: 9:57

So growing up and going to second by myself was really educational. The challenge came with my brother's passing, right? And Situations and times like that, you know, you have questions. When you're a young guy, I'm a young person, and, you know, I'm a person of faith, and I'm going to church, and I'm questioning God, which is never a good thing, but, you know, that's where I was. Pastor was Reverend Jenkins, Charles F. Jenkins, and I said, I need to talk to you. You know, I'm respectful of my elders. But I was also, you know, raised on the east side of Columbus, so I'm like, Pastor, I need to talk to you. And so he... I didn't really understand the seriousness of it, I didn't think, you know, when I talked to him. It was late to talk to me. And I think he basically was saying, this kid is too young to be sitting down with the pastor by himself talking about these issues. In some instances, no doubt he's right about that, but I was a pretty mature guy. Right. from music, from exposure all over the country, from living in all of these different cities and states and so forth. My dad was a monster, man. That boy was, my dad was bright, man. Inus Ray Miller Sr. I'm Inus Ray Miller Jr. My son is Inus Ray Miller III. So my dad would bring the officers into our living room and each of his children, each of us had an area of expertise So my older sister played the baritone sax, the big one, right? So she played the baritone sax. Next sister was like majorette and all that kind of stuff. I was the reader. So this is during the civil rights movement. This is during, you know, Dr. King and all of that, right? So my father would say, you know, call us in. The officers are sitting in our living room. All white, all white. So my dad would say, read that boy. He said, my dad's six foot four. My dad's six foot four, bare tone. His brother's six foot six. His other brother's seven feet even, right? They're walking around the house, you know, like giants. And so my dad would say... read that boy, right? So I'm reading about Little Rock Nine. I'm reading about all of the greats, you know, in the civil rights arena. And I had to do it on the ironing board. The ironing board was my podium. So I would reduce the ironing board all the way down and stand there. And he's looking at me like, you better get it right. Officers are sitting there like, we don't really know why we're here. I just said, we'd better be here. So here it is, showtime, right? But that was kind of what i was raised on that kind of excellence i mean he was pushing excellence at all baseball man i was the worst baseball player ever on the planet man i couldn't play baseball with a nickel but he he was in a family with some of the best baseball players you know and so that discipline that striving for excellence those kinds of things i got at home

SPEAKER_03: 13:20

You began in politics with the Jimmy Carter administration. And then in 1988, you succeeded Les Brown, state representative. Talk about the political climate in Columbus during that time.

SPEAKER_04: 13:33

I will put a pin in that. I got engaged in politics well before Carter. Yeah, that came down the road. I put together my plan. Here's what I want to do. I want to be a state representative. Then I want to be a senator. Then I want to be a congressman and so forth, right? So I did all of my study. I majored in political science at Ohio State Graduate School. I majored in public administration. So I'm preparing myself academically. And then from there... I said, okay, I want to be a ward leader. I want to get the grassroots stuff. Got a guy named Al Hawkins. Al Hawkins was masterful at that grassroots level. So I watched him, uh, campaign with and against him both uh and so when when my opportunity came to run i ran for 56 award committeeman one overwhelmingly uh and then i ran for award committeeman in a different war 26 i believe it was won that and then uh the opportunity comes up to run for state rep and i'm all prepared Les Brown, who didn't really know very much about the basics of politics, but Les was a natural kind of a leader, right? And knew the issues, sharp mind beyond. I mean, Les, like really sharp mind, right? And Les comes to me and he said, after he had served for almost two years, I think Les had finished one term, like a two-year term. And then he said, man, this is not me. His office was right next to my office. I was a staff guy to one of the greatest legislators we ever had, C.J. McClendon Jr. out of Dayton. And so I'm counseling less, you know, throughout the whole legislative process. He's used to getting up early. He's next door to me over there eating lunch. hot sauce and peppers out of his hand and talking about saving the people, right? I said, man, you need a legislative agenda, right? You got to have an agenda and you got to think about results because you got to face the voters in two or three years. So anyhow, that's how I approached it. I approached it in terms of a good plan and steps, right? So then I said, I want to work for a union. I ended up working as assistant director of legislation for AFSCME, right? American Federation of State County Municipal Employees, largest public employees union in the country, still is. And Don Day was over there. And so Don said, no problem, I got you. So I go over to AFSCME, located on Broad Street, and became the assistant director of legislation there. And I can't remember all of the other positions in between. But then I... was offered a position on the White House staff for President Carter. And because I had done so much statewide work in organizing stuff statewide and national. And Louie Martin, who is another one of the greatest African-American leaders, so many people we just don't know about, but Louie was a pro. And he wanted me on his staff there in the White House. And so I said, nope, not going to do it, right? I got my plan. Then my mentor, CJ McLean Jr. from Dayton, got to my wife and said, this boy crazy. He needs to really look at all of the options here. And they pulled me aside for dinner, and C.J. made a lot of sense. C.J. said, man, not that many people get the opportunity to serve on the White House staff. You've got to do it. So we did it and then came back. And when we came back from D.C., it wasn't long before that's when I took Les Brown's position. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 17:43

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SPEAKER_03: 18:21

You know, your impact in the House and State Senate was stellar. Thank you. Being a four-term representative and being named as president of the Legislative Black Caucus. As you think about the word legacy, what does that mean to you, and how have you built such a strong legacy?

SPEAKER_04: 18:38

You know, one of the critical things that our leaders need to do is they need to go there. You know what I mean? I used to get in my car and and look for meetings. If I saw a bunch of cars, I would park my car and walk in and say, what's going on? What's the meeting? I mean, I was invited to tons of meetings, but I just thought that our people needed to hear from their state representative, from their state senator, Because if I walked in the door, they would say, Ray, is there anything you want to share? Naturally, I mean, it's the respectful thing to do. And I would go in and give them a quick briefing on legislative issues and what I was doing and that kind of thing, right? Not enough of that takes place today. We have too many legislators who don't know what it means to be a legislator. That's really the bottom line. They fundamentally do not know that the people looking to them for real direction, not just rhetoric. The people are looking to them and not just to complain about somebody else. Folks want results. It's like, okay, well, that's good to know that so-and-so may not be cooperating with this person, but the bottom line is, so what are we going to do about it, right? I remember speaking over, this is a real aside, but I was speaking over Miriam Franklin And I thought I had done a pretty decent job with the speech. Come out, young lady and a young man walking down the hallway.

SPEAKER_05: 20:15

And

SPEAKER_04: 20:16

I said, what y'all think of the speech? And young lady says, and they're holding hands, stuff that I wasn't used to seeing at these times. I mean, they all hooked up and all that. And so the young lady says, is there anybody alive? And I'm like, what is she talking about? Is there anybody alive? And so I asked, what do you mean? And she said, Is anybody alive? She said, everybody that you talked about is dead, right? And that's a pretty powerful piece because she's right about that.

SPEAKER_05: 20:50

I'm

SPEAKER_04: 20:51

going through the whole civil rights movement. I'm naming all of the leaders. And, you know, I know their whole history and everything that they've done. And she wants to hear about somebody her own age or close or somebody who can speak her language and somebody who's hitting the issues that they're concerned about, right? And so we... learned a lot from that. And I think that's critically important too, is leaders have to stop and listen, right? Not unless you're on the clock in some sort of way, but you got to stop and you got to listen and you got to come up with some solutions and you got to get some results. And people don't want to hear why you didn't get the results. It's like, wait a minute, you said you could do it when you ran, you know, when you jumped out there. And so I think all of the training that I had at the state and local level, national level was really helpful. It was helpful to me in being able to address the issues and certainly was helpful to my constituents because I delivered. I

SPEAKER_03: 21:55

delivered. That's powerful what you said. I share it saying I heard. Real change happens when the people who need it, lead it. Yes, indeed. Think about the old 60s. It was John Lewis. some 18, 19-year-old students sitting on a lunch counter, you know, because real change happens when the people, that's what that young lady was saying. Yep. You know, real change, you know, we love you, but our job, I think, we get to a certain age to come alongside them. Yes. And pour into them and help them, but they have to lead it. Yes. Because they need to change. Yes. And they're ready, too. That's what that young lady was saying. Hey, I'm ready, you know. Yes. I'm ready. That's right. You know, you were known as the father of the Head Start Fund. You know, how because you sponsored that established the nation's first statewide level funding for the Head Start program. Why was this area so important

SPEAKER_04: 22:50

to you? You

SPEAKER_03: 22:51

know,

SPEAKER_04: 22:52

we always celebrated the success of the Head Start program at the national level, right? Yes. And we had all the data. We had all the reports. So if we are constantly being told that this is one of the most successful programs in the country, then why don't we fund it? Because it became a real funding issue. So why don't we fund it at the state level? And the State Department of Education always kind of separated themselves. Now, they probably still do. But I know when I was a staffer and a member of the legislature, they were kind of separated they would separate themselves out. I said, no, that ain't going to be. You know, I want to make sure that in our central cities where the need is greater and all of that, that we have the resources to expand. You know, we had Lolita Clark here. And I can't think of the other sister's name. Just doing a tremendous job with Head Start. And I told him, I said, we will get the money. Right. So I put 25 million in initially. And then one of it. Yeah. Yeah. So one of which came in and called me. And he said, I know you're really invested in this. He said, I don't know as much about it as you do, but you always make sense every time I hear you talk about it. And he said, I want you to know that I want to work with you on it. So we went from$25 million to$196 million in one budget, right? So yeah, we introduced the$25 million. We did that for the two terms. And the next budget cycle was$196 million, me and Bornovich. Got it done. Got it done. Yeah, that's the bottom line, man. There's a whole bunch of challenges, as you well know, that we have today. And we got to come up with solutions. I mean, it's not enough to be able to say we, this person died over here. This person was beat to death. This person, you know, I mean, it's terrible. And we got to do everything that we can in that area to gun control and so forth. But, but you can't just stop and have, I mean, good records. about it. Good speeches about it. Speeches ain't going to get it.

SPEAKER_03: 25:09

You know, the Another part of your legacy is, you know, you've been big on preparing that next generation. You talked about teaching how to lead of African-American. You have an African-American leadership. Yes. Can you talk about that initiative and why that was so important to your heart to get that started? And it continues. I've looked at the list of some math. Everybody in leadership at Columbus was part of that at one time.

SPEAKER_04: 25:32

Yep. And they keep coming. Yes. They keep coming. Bright, bright, well-qualified, hardworking, results oriented people. It was so important to me because I'm looking at the growth in African American leadership in Columbus and I'm talking about the individual body where people are in leadership positions and And I'm not seeing the kind of result that I think we can accomplish, you know, if we all work together. And so we had, you know, we structured in terms of 20 students in each one of the classes. I brought in my friends and people like yourself who've had a lot of experience and care and love our people and, you know, not afraid to step up and say this can work. This is a waste of time kind of thing, right? And you know how that goes. Because if you say this is a waste of time, then somebody wants to challenge. Well, if you think you know better, do better. You know, same thing. I said, well, we'll build our own leadership program. I'll bring in the people that I have a great deal of respect from for in leadership positions, people within corporations. Half of them, I'd help them to get the job in the first place, right? And there would be a work to death at Cardinal Health and places like that. You know, I'd walk in, poor brother's down on the computer just going to town, right? I said, man, it looks like you're working to death. Are you getting anything done? And that's really the bottom line on it. But the Leadership Academy is really, I'm very proud of that. I'm very proud of having created that. And we bring in people at the highest level. I tell them to take off your hat. Let's not waste a lot of time with your credentialing and all of that. You're here. We know who you are. We want to talk about how do you transfer that knowledge to these young people here. And have them to understand that they have a responsibility to get things done. Right.

UNKNOWN: 28:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 28:01

I hear you talking a lot about results.

SPEAKER_04: 28:04

Yes. So I can

SPEAKER_03: 28:05

tell you are no

SPEAKER_04: 28:06

nonsense. Well, you can take a brother like John Waddy. So, you know, my office was located at 750 East. John Waddy's been around that corner for a long time right there at Hamilton. And you're talking about a brilliant attorney. I mean, John's a brilliant attorney. I mean, whenever I have a legal question about anything, I'm picking up the phone to call John Waddy. John would come over to the class and speak and say this is an incredible opportunity for you young people right and uh he said anything i can do you know i'm going to do that sean would buy all the newspapers that we needed he would make investments in things that that we said made some sense he'd provide opportunities open up the door make phone calls all those kind of things i mean wadi is We have so many outstanding people. I mean, that's the thing. So when you step back and you say, okay, we brought you this far and we got this many people in leadership positions who have their heads screwed on right and they know why they're there and they're not wasting their time with, you know, some people waste their time with what they look like, sound like, talk like. dress like, walk like, you know, I mean, they're wasting too much time with that, that kind of thing. I used to call the Republican legislators I said, I want four or five people. And I know that you're a bright guy. I don't care that you're Republican. You shouldn't really be that concerned about me being a Democrat. This is just, you know, look at how we get this thing done. So rather than go to lunch with the lobbyists, rather than you go to dinner and all of that kind of stuff, we find a space, just a space in the building, not in our offices, maybe out on the house floor and take another hour just to talk through those issues. And okay, so Pat, you've got, You go over here, right, and you talk to this person. I got Boinovich covered, so I'm going to go to the governor and take care of him in terms of his support and the kind of information he needs to make the case before his caucus, the caucus of Republican senators and so forth.

SPEAKER_05: 30:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 30:26

I served in both. You mentioned the House, but I did 16 years in the House and eight years in the Senate. And I was a minority leader over in the House for a while. And then over in the Senate, the Republicans took control of the minority, took control of the majority. And I told him, I said, listen, y'all need to understand. I said, I'm in a house on the center floor. I said, I've never been in a minority a day in my life. Okay? You know? So, if you're looking for somebody with a minority mindset, I am not him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 31:03

Yeah. I'm not him. Since we kind of turned the corner, it's been a great, great interview. I'm looking at your magazine and your journal. Yeah. Can you talk a little bit about this? I see you expanded to both Thomas and Dayton.

SPEAKER_04: 31:16

Right. Right. I've I've always loved to read and I also loved to, you know, to debate. And, you know, again, my dad, my biological dad, you know, was the one who did the

SPEAKER_05: 31:34

teaching.

SPEAKER_04: 31:36

And so, you know, as I mentioned earlier, I'm reading Ebony. I'm reading Look. I'm reading Life Magazine. I'm this tall. I'm five years old. And so, you know, we got hooked on good quality journalism, good quality publications and so forth. When I was a young guy, I mean, a young child almost. And when I see a guy as brilliant as Hakeem and his brother who is here, Hassan, I mean, the first thing I think of is, man, your parents did a very, very good job, right? Because these are two absolutely brilliant brothers, man. And I don't know the whole family. I just watched Hakeem and then his brother here, the full professor of political science at Ohio State University. um man they're a joy to be around because they're clear they're extremely well educated sharp great speakers and so forth and so anyhow that's just an example of you know the cover is critically important I get people all the time hey man how can I get on the cover I said well do something if you do something maybe you'll get on the cover but I you know the publisher's page is important to me because I'm always challenging people so I'll do something on the publisher's page we got excellent writers good contributing writers and they do it they You do a great job. Tell

SPEAKER_03: 33:05

the audience where they can pick up

SPEAKER_04: 33:07

a copy. Probably the easiest place is right there at 750 East Long. Right there at 750. Just go in there. Equitas Health is occupying a lot of stuff in there now. All the black churches. All of the churches. I went and drove around and counted the churches one day on the east side. It was like 152 black churches. We got churches around corners from across the street from another church you know in just one zip code it's just one zip code um so in all of our churches i have been there i've had been all the kroger stores um And in a lot of the smaller carry-outs as well, you know, we have it. And it's free, see? You know, I'm looking for getting the information out first and foremost. You've got to have advertising in a publication like, you know, like what we're doing. You've got to have advertising or you don't get there. I mean, these are some very bright brothers, National Skills Trade Network. And a full-page ad on the back page of this, I just want you to know it ain't cheap. But, you know, it's one more thing that we can support to inform and educate, empower our community, and provide some opportunities for people. Right. And the last thing, I mean, really, you know how many people we have in key positions. Oh, yeah. But not everybody's willing to pick up the phone and call, you know, to help somebody else. You call and say, Ray, can you come out and talk about what you've done and how you did it? Did I hesitate? No. No, you don't hesitate, you know, because it's about continuing to lift the community, lift your people, lift, you know, these young guys out here. I speak in all the prisons, you know, A, because I ain't afraid of nobody. I grew up with the same guys who were in prison, right? And so you got to go in and challenge guys and then, you know, give them something. You know, don't just challenge them and walk away, but challenge them and say, hey, now, when you need something, you call me. When you get out of here, you call me. My phone burns

SPEAKER_03: 35:25

up. As you, that kind of guy, was sharing with the audience that we're having, you know, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett roughing those guys, giving them all that money. Yes. This podcast is about giving away us a wisdom pledge, giving away all our wisdom. I can't take that with us. We've got to give her all this wisdom. The other thing that you and I are talking about, that's why this is free on the air, your magazine, just all the wisdom. God's blessed us. We've accumulated a lot of wisdom. We've been in spaces with some bright people. We glean from all of that. We've got to share that with the next generation. Just encourage them to come alongside. Just like that one lady said, I need somebody alive. That's right. That's right. Talk about a bunch of dead people. That's powerful. You need to mess me up now. Next time I go and talk about history, I got to get somebody that's alive. Yeah. That's right. Well, this brings us to the end of this episode. Thanks to our special guest, State Senator Ray Miller, for sharing his wisdom for many decades of service to the community. Thank you for joining us during this engagement engaging and informative discussion on building a legacy of service. Thank you. Hope this episode was beneficial to you. As always, thanks for listening to Be A Baller podcast. All right. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00: 36:42

If you enjoy our show, please share this podcast with your family and friends. Be A Baller podcast is available on all major podcast stations. Be sure to come back next week as we continue to discuss on how to build a lifelong legacy. Until then, don't forget to be a baller. This podcast was created by Coach Tim Brown. It was edited and produced and recorded by the video production class of Worthington Christian High School.