00:00I think it's such an important cause, you know, it really is about mentoring our young
00:11kids to become our future leaders.
00:14And I think Susan Taylor is so dynamic, has set such a wonderful example for all of us
00:18to follow.
00:19And if I can support her in any way, why not be here and do that?
00:22Susan represents that proverb, I mean the scripture in the Bible that talks about if
00:27we all walked outside of our front door and did a little something for somebody else,
00:31the world would take care of itself and heal itself.
00:33Susan Taylor, from the bottom of her toes through her marrow, has lived like this as
00:39long as I've known her.
00:40You have a number of people who are not growing up in two-parent households, who are not in
00:44a situation where they have folks who have their back.
00:47My wife and I have taken in four of my nieces, and we are raising them because my sister and
00:54her husband aren't doing their job.
00:55You know, I have 700 young women who attend my college, and I think for some of them about
00:59the difference that mentoring might have made for them, we try to do it now, but we like
01:03to grab young people earlier and make sure they have positive people constantly sowing into
01:09their lives so that they understand how to be, who we are, how to go on a job interview,
01:16how to talk to people, how to look people in the eye.
01:19All of those things are things that some of our young people are missing at home.
01:22Their parents are busy, their parents are working, or their parents aren't there.
01:26We have a generation of young people who are in crisis, and they're not going to be secured
01:31by political will or public policy.
01:33So it's really time for the black community to step up because we have more of our white
01:38sisters and brothers mentoring our children than we have African Americans doing it.
01:42So this is a call to action, it's a call to commitment, and we're saying not on our watch.
01:47We're not going to let our children fail.
01:48We're going to secure this generation, and we're going back to get the ones that people
01:52say we have lost.
01:53It's so important because of Susan Taylor.
01:57I'm an essence woman.
01:57Before I was an essence woman, I was an essence girl.
02:01I've grown up with essence.
02:02It was, you know, it represented who I wanted to be in the world.
02:07And so Susan Taylor is a shero of mine because she not only talks it, but lives in the spirit,
02:16and has understood for a very long time, she's one of those first voices out there saying,
02:21we have got to learn to mentor our children.
02:25We have got to learn that when you get, you give.
02:28When you learn, you teach.
02:30The problem is there's a whole generation of people who forgot to tell their kids who
02:36they really were, who forgot to, you know, we're so happy celebrating the fruits of freedom,
02:42the fruits of the civil rights movement.
02:44They forgot to pass on the responsibility to their children.
02:48That's what the National Cares Program is all about.
02:50It's about saying, we see you, we hear you, we care about you, and we're going to do something
02:57about making your possibility for success something that's real in the world.
03:01Peace.
03:02What's up, y'all?
03:03This is Carmen.
03:04This is Susan Taylor.
03:05You know me.
03:06I'm Ruby Dee.
03:07I'm Oprah, and I'm watching Essence TV.
03:11I don't watch a lot of TV, but I'm watching Essence TV.
03:20You
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