This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Tony Pearson: Ladies and gentlemen, we invite your apprehensive listening. In the bodybuilder world is always looking for a fix. I wouldn't try that if I were you. Gimme gimme. Oh, yes. No, just do the work. Exactly. It's up to the individual to find an inner drive to do it. Whatever you gotta do. There's no quick fix. And I said to myself, you miss one day, your competitors getting ahead of you. Oh, yes. They're trained to kick your ass. Go and Mr. America drug free. I just did the work. So that's my message to people. Do the work. Stop pretending and be real. Check yourself. Oh yes. Get in the mirror and say, who the f am I? Why do I behave this way? I shouldn't be doing that. Exactly. Show respect to other people. Then I can respect myself. When you don't have self-respect, we can't respect others. That's exactly what I mean.

[0:47] Tony Pearson: Hello, I'm Tony Pearson. I am the author of Driven, my life story. And you're listening to the Afro Existential podcast on the Broadway Podcast Network.

[0:59] Indira G. Wilson: We were awaiting you. Welcome to the Afro Existential Podcast. I am one of your hosts, Indira G. Wilson.

[1:06] Blaine Teamer: And I'm Blaine Teamer. Now tell me, uh, what's so special about tonight? This season we'll be presenting a new interview series entitled The Breakthrough From Vision to Fruition. In this series, we hear from people who took a great idea and made it a reality. We want to know how they did it and how they got over the obstacles along the way. We hope that it helps and inspires you to make your great idea a reality.

[1:28] Indira G. Wilson: Oh yes. I'll have to break it down. I have had to break ties so I could break free.

[1:34] Blaine Teamer: Amen. Sometimes you gotta break up before you have a breakdown.

[1:38] Indira G. Wilson: Hallelujah. But that breakdown might be what you need to have a breakthrough.

[1:46] Blaine Teamer: You better preach. You better freak. Ain't it the truth?

[1:50] Indira G. Wilson: It really is. In this two-part episode, we interview the author of Driven, My Secret Untold Story. Bodybuilding Icon, Mr. Tony Pearson. In 2007, Pearson was inducted into the Muscle Beach Bodybuilding Hall of Fame in Venice Beach, California. Other professional bodybuilders to receive this honor include Frank Zane, Steve Reeves, Robbie Robinson, Lou Farigno, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Pearson talks to us about his new book Driven, the obstacles that he overcame, and his major breakthroughs. It's an interview you won't want to miss. After a brief commercial break.

[2:28] Blaine Teamer: Hello, I'm Alistair Justin Black from Theater in the Black. Playwright Blaine Teamer began writing Dead Weight in 2016. He finished it nearly four months later. The writing of the perfect line in a great play, or the making of a line of fine fancy wines, takes time. Perfect example is Afro Eggs' new and improved bougie boujolais. It's a red wine with notes of tang, green apple, tropical punch, black cherry, and an invisible grape. It's a fancy wine for those fancy moments. What was true nearly four months ago is true today. It's five o'clock somewhere. Take life one sip at a time.

[3:31] Indira G. Wilson: Hello, hello, hello. Hugh, it was very nice seeing you for our friend Henri's birthday gathering that you came to. Did you have a nice time?

[3:41] Blaine Teamer: I had a wonderful time. Thank you for having me. And it was wonderful to help celebrate Henri as well. Everyone was nice to me.

[3:48] Indira G. Wilson: Yeah, they were nice people, right? Okay, you have very nice friends. Or maybe they're so scared of you. They're just all on their best behavior.

[3:55] Blaine Teamer: I think it's a combination of both. There is no doubt. There is not the slightest doubt any longer. You were quite the social butterfly. You were talking to everybody.

[4:04] Indira G. Wilson: You know, I've never needed a babysitter. Even as a baby.

[4:09] Blaine Teamer: Even as a baby. You know, my father said, and he really, I think meant this as a compliment. But he used to tell my sister and I, he would say, I raised you to be anybody's children. That meant like we could show up anywhere and like just be kids that were like well behaved. That's what he was trying to say. But it almost meant like, in case you leave us somewhere and don't come back, we'll be okay.

[4:33] Indira G. Wilson: I feel like it's a guest responsibility to talk to people and start conversations. And I was doing something in the kitchen. I wanted to make sure that you were okay, and you were out talking to Michael Pedaluco in a deep conversation. I was like, I guess he's okay.

[4:45] Blaine Teamer: We had a lovely conversation. He was a wonderful man for those who may not recognize the name immediately, but he was an actor on the long-running series The Practice, which was a David E. Kelley legal drama, I believe on ABC. He was a lovely man. I felt like in another universe, if we were neighbors, like we'd just have coffee. But all of your guests were all very friendly, interesting, great conversationalists. So I did not have to work that hard. Trust me.

[5:17] Indira G. Wilson: Well, we're gonna be doing a segment at the very end of the show with our friend Henri. And his segment called It makes it easier to do what must be done. So that'll be at the end. But before we get to that, tell us about our guest Tony Pearson.

[5:30] Blaine Teamer: Yes. And I'm curious to know how you got connected with him.

[5:34] Indira G. Wilson: So I do want to give a shout out to Bill Hargraves. Bill is also too uh amateur bodybuilder, and he um knows Tony from that world. Tony Pearson is an American athlete. He is an icon in the world of championship bodybuilding. And so he put us in touch and he said, I think Tony would be a fabulous guest. He has published his life story. They have um made a documentary about it. That so he from there, I bought his autobiography, which is called Driven, My Secret Untold Story, based on a true story. And I was just riveted. I want to just share for the audience, I'll share a quick little snapshot about the book beginning in 1959 in the American Deep South, chronicling severe child abuse at the hands of a family member and the impoverished life circumstances in which he was raised.

This book journals the extreme struggles he endured to reveal the human spirit of survival, propelling him to achieve his dream of becoming America's champion. It's an inspirational record of one man's determination to rise above and triumph over despair and defeat to earn global recognition, which he did as a bodybuilding champion in not only individual but also couples competition. So he is a legend and a pioneer, Mr. Tony Pearson.

[7:01] Blaine Teamer: We shall begin now. You've been a world champion bodybuilder for decades. Why did you decide to write this account of your life now?

[7:10] Tony Pearson: One day I was here in Vegas and I had lunch with a friend, and I was telling her my story. She goes, You should be writing this down. And I went home and I started writing. I couldn't get it on the paper fast enough. Writing it was really painful because you have to start reliving. You know, you take the key and you unlock that door, and things just start coming at you like, oh man, I forgot about that. Because you block stuff out when there's really bad, you don't want to recognize it or feel it. So the days I was writing about getting tortured, I would cry on those days of writing. And then the days that I was, you know, winning shows, I was happy. Come home to writing. It's just how your emotions stays with you and you can't escape them.

[7:51] Tony Pearson: So I left St. Louis. One of the reasons, the back reason, is to get away. It's run as far as you can go. And you'll get rid of your situation, but it follows you. Because I remember when I got to LA and I had this tiny little apartment down by the beach and starving after I was sleeping behind the church, I finally got a little apartment and a job. I was 19 years old when I arrived in LA, and I would wake up in the middle of the night in cold sweats and I had dreams that my auntie's beating me. And then I wake up and go, Oh, I'm alive, I'm free, I'm free. The work was free, I'm free now. But being free was still a problem because I was so sheltered and so beat down and so I had no character.

I had no idea who I was. If you look at my old pictures, even though I was winning all the amateur shows and they're pumping me up to be some great champion, I never smiled because I couldn't find anything to smile about. You know, down in the South, you keep your mouth shut. And she was a very old lady, and she was old school. She was born in 1903. So I think I received the punishment that she received because you repeat it. I don't think she knew any better. You know, as you go get older, you rip back and go, she did some crazy stuff. She's always drinking, she was angry with the world, and she didn't want this baby. And you know, my dad forced her to take this child. And on some level, I could see her pain and her suffering.

She was really poor. I think she dropped out of school third grade, and she was picking cotton her whole life as well. So she just repeated what happened to her. My side of the story is my dad gave me away. My mom ran away. So I'm the unfortunate one. And but you know, getting to LA was running away, escaping. When I was writing the book, it hit me. I didn't escape. It was still there, it's in your tissue. You're living it. You learn how to deal with it. You know, you come to terms with it.

[9:43] Tony Pearson: So I start writing. After a few chapters, I'm at the gym and I started telling people about this book that I'm writing, and I was embarrassed to start talking about it because I'm exposing myself completely. Within a minute after I told them some of the stuff that I had gone through, they would tell me the darkest secrets. So that's when I felt maybe I can help some other people too. Because adults have a lot of pent-up situations where they're hiding it. Okay, we're good actors. We all pretend like everything is wonderful. I had this beautiful childhood, but they don't, there's some dark secrets. And these people telling you stuff were men and women, and there were some dark stuff, really dark stuff.

So my mouth fell, I'm like, really? And I go, I gotta continue to write because I might be able to help some people to get open, open the door and release some of the pain. And really feel like they're not alone, like there's other people that they can't. Yes, really. They felt comfortable with me because they felt I'm not the only one. But see, I felt like I was the only one. Yeah, as you read the book, I ran away I ran away from home three or four times, and she would track me down. It's like, I mean, there's no escape. But I didn't realize how strong I was though, until I was 10 years old, getting beat every day. And I just stood in a little shack and I looked up to God and said, why must I live through this out loud? And he never answered. I got the answer when I started writing the book. And then it hit me, I go, uh okay, I finally got the answer.

[11:11] Indira G. Wilson: What was the answer?

[11:12] Tony Pearson: To tell your story, to share your story. I think there's a purpose why I wrote that, and not just for me. I know how kids feel. They don't have a voice. And as you know, is relevant today because kids are committing suicide today, they're taking more drugs than ever. Um they're lost. And if I could help some kids to say, hey, this guy did it without drugs, didn't go to jail, and he took all that negative energy and turned into, you know, winning titles. Becoming the bodybuilder really saved my life because I have no idea what I would have done if I didn't have the weights. It just led there was no plan to what I did. My auntie, who had a daughter who had moved to St. Louis, so we end up going to St. Louis later. And then my wrestling coach took me to this gym to the main to the perfect guy in the world to train me.

[12:07] Tony Pearson: Yes, the abuse continues, but now you're older because you're going into high school.

[12:14] Indira G. Wilson: And I wanted to ask you, how did you have the self-confidence to become competitive in sports?

[12:21] Tony Pearson: You read the part where I met Muhammad Ali, and to see this man, maybe 13 years old, and the only thing you've seen in that 13 years is torture and hell, and then you see this guy gets out of the limousine, he's like standing like a god. That inspired me. That really triggered me. That motivated me to do something. There's no way she would allow me to go do any type of sports. I couldn't have my friends. There were no friends. I didn't have any friends. Like you were sneaking to do, you know, to just do regular teenage things that people would do when they were 13, 14 years old. You were having to kind of sneak to do those things.

[12:55] Yes, and hope the word didn't get back to her, or somebody saw me. You know, back in those days, they reported back to her because old folks just said, "Well, I saw him doing this." Now you're gonna get a beating. So much of this seems almost like generational because I can so relate to like what you're talking about, you know, neighbors telling your parents something, and then you got beat by your parents, and then you got beat by the person that told, and then you got beat, you know, it just went down the whole line, right? We almost somehow like normalize the abuse somehow.

[13:27] There are so many of us who kind of go through not to maybe not to the extent, or we don't even know the extent that it actually is because it's just we have nothing else to compare it to, right? I thought all the kids in my elementary school were getting tortured every day, and that's just a normal way of life because you didn't know any difference. It's interesting that if you think about where you came from, there are a lot of people who are still there, they never leave.

[13:52] Yes, and so I think there were certain special people who are like, "I may not be much, but I know that I'm more than this, I gotta get out of here," and you figure out some type of capacity to like get out.

[14:02] Yes. I think meeting with Hamily was put in place, so meeting him inspired me to join the team. I made the team, you know, and that's where, and then I messed up my knee, and then that's where I met George Turner. So in George Turner was also in place. Because he was the best. He had five world champions coming out of his place. He was an old ex-marine. He was mean. He was tough, but I was used to that. So you say jump, I say how high. You know, it's just like I never said no to George. Whatever he told you to do, that's what you do. And that's how I was raised. So it was a perfect guy to train me. George Turner, you know, who in the book like you could see this guy. He was mean but he had a heart of gold.

[14:41] Indira G. Wilson: Yes. That first competition, I think it was at Mr. St. Louis, what was it like preparing for your very first competition?

[14:49] Tony Pearson: What George called the shots, you're going to do this exercise, you're going to eat this, you're going to do that, you know, just follow instructions. And then he said pose for me. I'm going to put you in this contest. And I hit the bicep pose and he goes, "My grandmother can pose better than that." You know, I mean loud. I mean the whole gym could hear this. He had this big voice and he just let loose and I'm standing there like terrified. So the moment to go on stage it was the most frightening moment ever because I didn't know how to pose. I'm just practicing what he showed me how to do and I was like, oh my God, yeah, but I kind of enjoyed it at the same time because I watched my body change and I grew and I was like, you know, I got muscles now because in high school they called me Hercules but even at the same time bodybuilding was type of, it was like these guys are freaks who goes to the gym lift weights especially in St. Louis Missouri in the 70s, he's lost his mind. He's in the weight room every day. And then this California thing just came over me as well because everybody in those days wanted to go to California. That was going to paradise.

[15:54] Where did I find the courage? There was something inside of me that was like a force that was pushing me. And when I told my sister, I gotta go to LA and I have to go now. There's an urgency to get there. And I just felt that. I must go. She's bawling her eyes out. "Please don't leave me." And I was so determined to get on that bus. I had no fear. The fear hit me when my friend went back to St. Louis. After you ran out of the money, you guys were down at like, you know, on what we call now Skid Row.

[16:22] Right. And you guys, Cecil Motel. I know where that is, those SRO motels downtown. If the listeners have watched American Horror, that's based on the Cecil Hotel. Is that the first place you go to?

[16:36] Yes, because we had never been to California. I didn't know anyone. So we get off the bus and I looked up the streets. "Hey, there's a hotel two of those blocks up." And that was it. Got a little suitcase. Let's go. Two kids. We didn't know. We walk into the lobby, and it was seven dollars a night for the room. It's a two-star hotel. Right. There was more noise outside of the hotel. It was a disaster. It's like one of the most dangerous places in Los Angeles. And you still kind of like, oh, I'm staying. I told my sister, I am not coming back. And I meant it. I said, I'm gonna live or die in LA. I'm not coming back. Back to what? There was nothing to go back to.

[17:17] Like, how did that compare from where you came from? I thought the hotel was better than what I came from. Man, I grew up in a shack, a two-room shack with no plumbing and no electricity. You hear the rats running through the walls. The Cecil Hotel was like, "Phone, we got two beds. We're doing great." This is a step up.

[17:38] The other thing that was interesting too about it is that it was almost like you guys were trapped down there. Like you guys could not find your way out of downtown LA. Like it was like a universe in and of itself. Like when you finally kind of leave downtown, you're just trying to get to the beach because you're trying to get to Gold's Gym and Muscle Beach, and you really don't know where you're going.

[18:01] Like two idiots, we sit in the hotel for 10 days and we're running out of money, but no, not one of us said, "Hey, how do we get to the beach?" We didn't think of the beach. We just downtown in this hotel. And he left me. And then I said, "Okay, I'm out of money. I gotta check out. I said, I'm gonna go to the bus stop. I'm gonna take the very next bus that comes my way, and I'm gonna get on it." Now that bus could have gone to Pasadena, it could have gone to Watts, it could have gone to Englewood, it could have gone to the Valley. I got on the right bus. What are the chances to get on the right bus?

[18:32] You could have been trying a whole nother book. Right. I got on the right bus that took me directly to Beverly Hills. That was about timing. It could have been the day before, a few hours later, and I missed the bus. I got the right bus at the right moment at the right time. And this kid, very LA back in the day with the big afro, he's cool, you know, he's laid back, got the lingo, "What's up, my brother?" You know what I mean? And I get off the bus, I'm standing in the middle of the suitcase, and I saw Richard Burton, the actor. He's walking from the mansions on Rodeo Drive. This is Santa Monica Boulevard. So he's walking across Rodeo Drive. He goes to all the restaurants and shops there.

And I'm like, "That's Richard Burton." And that's when it hit me. I'm in Beverly Hills. And then there's the kid reading his book. And he said, "Hey man, you work out, you're all buffed, you got muscles. You need to go to Muscle Beach." I go, "Yeah, that's where I'm supposed to be going." But when he was telling me that, it was complete silence. Even though the traffic was hustling, buses, California, but there was quietness. It was just silence. It was just me and him having this conversation. He didn't hear any noise. Nothing was happening. And he gave me directions, and that's how I made it down to Venice and Santa Monica. But I look back and go, that is weird. That he was waiting for me at the bus stop.

That's what I felt. He was the messenger. He was on time, like the bus was on time. And the silence that stuck with me. I'm going, "God, it's peace," and it was peaceful. He was just telling me in the story of how to get to Venice. So it was just never had a plan. There was no plan. I made it to Venice. I made it to Gold's. I still don't have a plan.

[20:04] Now, George gave you that contact, that Gold's Gym contact. So what happens when you show up to Gold's Gym?

[20:11] Tony Pearson: I walk in and my eyes are like this big because I saw Frank Zane, Joe Weider, I saw Robbie Robinson, Manuel Perry, all these guys I had seen on television. And their training, looking back, it had to be a couple of months before Mr. Olympia. Because these guys were serious. They were at work like machines. And they all had this stone face. They looked mean. No one was talking. And I'm watching half an hour watching these guys work out. And then the manager calls me and, "What the hell are you doing in the corner? Get over here." And he looks at me up and down. "What do you want?" I said, "Can I work out for the day?" "No." "What about membership?" "I don't have any money." "Well, you gotta have to leave."

We can't have you hanging around the gym, he says. So he walks me to the door and kicks me out. I got my little suitcase. But to see all those champions in one room in one day, it was just mind-blowing. But I sat in that corner and I said to myself, if I train hard enough, I could look like these guys. So that's a thought that was in my head. These guys look phenomenal.

[21:09] Indira G. Wilson: Now, Tony, you really had a lot like that young man at the bus stop, but there were a lot of people placed in your life. I recall this one couple. Like, I mean, you would literally be in situations like you didn't know where you were going to sleep that night. And I remember this one couple. I think they might have both been like professors at Santa Monica College or something. And they were just like, "We have a spare room." I mean, like it just seemed like you would meet these various people that were truly these kind strangers that were helping you along the path in these times where it just, it would just seem like, "How did this happen?" Like you said, the higher power. There seemed to be something more connecting this.

[21:54] Tony Pearson: 100% because, you know, they worked out at the beach and they said you look like a nice kid. But back in those days, people helped each other. You know, you could hitchhike anywhere, you know, I go get shot and killed. People, you know, give you five bucks, or you could live and sleep in their house, or they actually went out of the way to help people. It was a kind of world, you know, and people were kinder. And I was just fortunate. I don't know, maybe I had a demeanor or something that was shy, was quiet, didn't talk much. And they helped me out. I mean, it was a blessing. I mean, you don't get anywhere alone, you know. So I needed those people, and they were there. I mean, like Ken Wall at the gym and George and the people, the couple. It just went on and on and on, even though for me it seemed like an eternity, and it seemed like I'm not gonna make it and I can't call home. So I knew this is it.

[22:50] So you read the part where I had to walk 18 blocks because I had about 55 cents in my pocket. Go to the unemployment office. The girl says, "Yeah, here's a pink slip 18 blocks north on Colorado Boulevard. I need some maintenance kit." I said, "Okay, I'll go." But the kid who had the car drove there and got the job before I arrived.

[23:11] Indira G. Wilson: You walked all that way and there wasn't even a job for you when you got there.

[23:14] Tony Pearson: I mean, I was tired after I read that. Like I had walked those 18 blocks. Yeah, that's a lot of work once again. LA blocks are not dark blocks. Those aren't like quick little blocks. No, those are real blocks. And it was summer, so it was hot. I'm sweating all the way up there. And but once again, someone's in place to help me out. I'm bawling my eyes out because I got 50 cents left. And I said, "This is it. If I walk out that door, I'm really done." And the owner of the company, but I'm running out of this office, "Don't move, kid." And then he wrote me a check for $50. So even today, I'm getting the emotion about that. That $50 was a life saver. That man, I'm sure he's probably in heaven by now, but that man really saved my butt. So the 50 cents left, I had nowhere to go.

[24:09] Tony Pearson: I didn't know anybody. So that was it. You know, everywhere I turned, something like that was happening. And um, but it was never easy. I never felt relaxed. You was always on edge because when would I eat next? Where am I gonna sleep? How is this gonna work out? You know what I mean? You're just on edge. There's no better to call. Um, I don't have any friends. You gotta make it work. You gotta make this work. It was very challenging. And then I looked back, how crazy could I be to get on a bus on a one-way ticket? I mean, you gotta be a little bit crazy, but I like I said, I felt no fear. Only when the kid left. Now I'm downtown alone. And then the fear hit me. In fact, I went to the emergency room. They said, You're hyperventilating. You're not, you know, you're physically healthy. But what's going on in your life? And I told her, she says, I understand. You're a survivor. You're making.

[25:04] Blaine Teamer: Tony, when you really got involved in the whole scene in Venice and on Muscle Beach and all of the excitement that was happening around that, what is the moment that you feel like you really started to take off professionally?

[25:20] Tony Pearson: Okay, it's a bit complex because when Arnold sent me to see Joe Weider, who really ran the magazine. Ben Weider was in Montreal. He was like the head guy, but Joe had the big office in Woodland Hills. He read all the magazine stuff. Joe looked at me and go, he looked me up and down. He says Arnold sent you here with his accent. Yeah, I'm 19, I'm excited, I'm gonna be in the magazine. You know, that was the biggest thing to be in the magazine. They're gonna do an article because Arnold sent me and he turned and walked away. And he said, Jack, write an article on this kid. Arnold sent him. And that told me a lot about Arnold, how much power he had for because when he wants something done, I guess Joe actually did it.

Without him, there's no bodybuilding. You know, Arnold's the face of bodybuilding, he is the number one guy, even today. So Joe turned his back on me. He didn't see any potential. He looked me up and down. This kid is a nobody. What was Arnold thinking? Why is he wasting my time? And he walks away. I mean, imagine that's what he's thinking. So I won a bunch of local shows, amateur shows in the state of California. You know, back in those days, if you won Mr. Los Angeles, which I did in Junior and Mr. Los Angeles and Mr. Southern California, or Mr. You know, you were going somewhere because the competition was fierce. All the guys that I competed against are all champions. They all became champions too.

So I won all those shows. And then I told people after I won Mr. Venice Beach, I'm gonna be Mr. America in two years. And everyone laughed. It's impossible. But once again, I there was something inside of me that was pushing me that I really believed I could do it. I said, two years. And I did two years. Mr. America was a big deal in those days. There's only one. And you're number one guy in the country. What happened was when I won Mr. America politically, I think it was set for someone else to win. And I upset the system. This is impossible. And I tell you how I did it. You have one minute to pose on stage, free posing. Whatever you want to do. There was curtains. I posed for a minute and 45 seconds.

And that's I think gave me the edge. Because in those days, if you outpose, outwork your opponent, you have a chance to win. But that's how close it was. I won by one point. They closed the curtains, they opened the curtains that I'm still posing. I said, I'm not leaving the stage until I finish my routine. The crowd went insane. I mean, that the house was rocking. It was echoing. And I think that's what we're all human. I think that influenced the judges too. And then the pose down with the favorite guy to win, he got all the publicity billing up to the show. He soon knew he had just won Mr. USA two weeks before. So in the pose down, I outposted. We for about five minutes, non-stop, just shot after pose after pose after pose, and I never stopped posing.

Because I knew that's it for me. If I don't win, I'll never get back on that stage. Now, once you win Mr. America, you get an endorsement contract with the leaders, you undercover the magazine, you get all the exhibitions. I got zero. I ended up sleeping, I went home once again. I ended up sleeping on a friend's sofa. I was a current Mr. America. So that's heartaching. So 77, 78, I won, so 79, that's where I was. And but the politics, once again, was not on my side. They wrote he's the worst Mr. America we've ever had. So you when you pick up the magazine when you're 21 years old and you read the article about yourself, how bad you are. You know what I mean? But that only motivated motivated me even more. I will show them. I kept my mouth shut and I trained even harder just to prove to them.

[28:57] Blaine Teamer: You had decided to take a competition that was outside of the US. You needed the money. And I got an offer. I think it might have been in Belize, right? And so you took the offer. Ben Weider has sent me a telegram in those days to the hotel. I arrived at the hotel. Mr. Pearson telegrams, I read the telegram. If you pose tomorrow, you will be suspended for life. Period. I got a decision to make. I got two dollars in my pocket.

[29:27] ♪ Musical number ♪

[30:27] And that's no lie.

[30:29] Oh.

[30:32] And welcome back to the Afro Existential Podcast.

[30:36] We wanna stay close to our Afroexistential roots.

[30:39] And let me tell you, Henri is one of the people who inspired this podcast.

[30:44] And he is always gonna keep it real and keep us grounded in what Afroexistentialism is all about.

[30:50] It makes it easier to do what must be done.

[30:53] And so here is my question.

[30:55] Where I live, we have um I don't like to call it alleyways, but through ways in the back of our houses where the trash is at, and uh and so that's the back of everyone's house.

[31:08] When I walk my dog, I may see a plant in the alleyway.

[31:17] Or through way. Plant may be bordering someone's back fence.

[31:22] Oh, how interesting.

[31:23] And I'm thinking to myself, well, technically, their property line ends at that fence.

[31:28] Or am I wrong?

[31:30] And anything that may be in the alleyway, even though it's adjacent to their property.

[31:35] Right.

[31:35] Should be considered a fair game.

[31:37] Who told you that?

[31:38] So I may be walking my dog past a nice little spider plant.

[31:42] Snake plant.

[31:44] And so these are plants that are actually in the ground.

[31:47] It's not like somebody dropped a.

[31:48] No, these are in the ground plants, I assume.

[31:51] People think it's their plants.

[31:54] Like you think it's yours.

[31:55] Well, I think it's a I think it's a through way.

[31:58] And it's, you know, it's whoever goes through that way, they may, you know, accidentally have their hand fall on the ground and begin digging.

[32:07] Pulling.

[32:07] Digging and pulling.

[32:09] Digging and pulling.

[32:10] Is he crazy, Doctor?

[32:11] We don't use that term in the medical profession.

[32:14] A woman had some work done on her property, so she I don't know why she said it to me of all people.

[32:19] And she said, Well, I'll have a new fence put in and all my spider plants are gonna die.

[32:24] Are they spider plants or snake plants?

[32:25] Snake plants, snake plants.

[32:26] And if you want them, you can just come and take them.

[32:29] Okay.

[32:29] So I did.

[32:30] I went up there and I did took all the plants, and I and now I have snake plants in the front of my house because I had flower, I have flower boxes.

[32:38] And so I said, Oh, these look great.

[32:41] Right.

[32:41] And I said, But I need a couple more just to fill in the spots.

[32:44] And I saw other people had snake plants too on their property, which I think they probably wanted to keep.

[32:50] I don't know, but I thought to myself, the property line ends at the fence.

[32:54] This is all throughway space.

[32:56] Right.

[32:56] Is he crazy, Doctor?

[32:57] We don't use that term in the medical profession.

[33:00] It's okay for you to do.

[33:01] Why don't you just ask them and say, hey, do you mind if I pull up your plants that are in the back that I keep looking nice and dirt cast.

[33:15] I have two sections that I've pulled up.

[33:17] I pulled up, um, I had plants that I said to myself, because those spider plants don't need a lot of sound.

[33:22] Are they spider plants or snake plants?

[33:27] You can tell that to the judge.

[33:29] Oh, Judge, I just thought they were snake plants.

[33:31] I mean spider plants.

[33:33] I understand spider plants, you can just take.

[33:36] And so yeah, so I have pulled up um how many different houses?

[33:40] One.

[33:41] Well, White House is my neighbor across the street.

[33:44] So you've been traveling different alleys.

[33:46] I've been traveling different alleys.

[33:49] Now that you have heard the story.

[33:51] So what's your question?

[33:53] Is that a through space that people can take other people's plants that are bordering their property?

[33:59] Or am I taking their bordering plant property plants?

[34:03] I think I can answer the question this way.

[34:06] If I was caught taking the plant while the person saw me pulling out the plant.

[34:09] Oh no, they will shoot you in the face.

[34:12] I think I would say if you looked out of your backyard through the through wave and you saw some black man pulling plants out of adjacent to my property.

[34:21] Right.

[34:21] What would you think that was?

[34:23] I would call that get the holes out and and sell more those motherfuckers.

[34:30] Here we go back in time.

[34:39] Well, there you have your answer.

[34:41] It makes it easier to do what must be done.

[34:47] We are so glad you joined us for another episode of the Afro Existential Podcast.

[34:54] Email us your comments or questions at Afro EX Podcast at gmail.com.

[34:59] And take a moment to visit us at our website, AfroEX Podcast.com for more fun and insightful content.

[35:07] Email us your comments or questions at Afro EX Podcast at gmail.com.

[35:12] Anything else?

[35:13] And follow us on Instagram at the AfroEX Theater.

[35:18] Anything else?

[35:19] A special thank you to our guest, Tony Pearson.

[35:22] And you can follow Tony on Instagram at Tony Pearson87.

[35:27] And his autobiography driven is available on Amazon.

[35:32] And to our friends in the Netherlands, but don't.

[35:34] To our friends in France, mercy beaucoup.

[35:37] And to our wonderful friends in the UK, cheers.

[35:41] And wherever else in the world you may listen to us, thank you so much.

[35:45] And as always, have a great day on purpose.

[35:48] I accept your chance.

[35:49] The Afro Existential Podcast is part of the Broadway Podcast Network.