[00:00:15] Ellington Brown: Welcome to SpeakUP! International with Rita Burke and Elton Brown! Today we have Marcus Braxton and he is going to read an excerpt from his book,  Sun Roof Hitters and with that, the virtual floor is yours, Mr. Braxton!

[00:00:53] Marcus Braxton: Hello everyone. I am Marcus Scales Braxton, the author of this book, Sunroof Hitters, and I will be reading chapter five after giving a brief overview. Uh, it, the two main characters are Joe and Bob. The first couple of chapters are their backstories of their parents and how they came up through elementary.

This is when Bob actually met Joe chapter five, when Bob met Joe Joe's life. Was about to turn, take a turn for the better. Thanks to a newfound skill that not only boosted his self-esteem, but also his bank account with the money he had saved from his summer job and the winnings from an exhilarating dice game, he was ready to transform his wardrobe and step into the new school year with flare.

But he faced the dilemma. How was he going to get to the mall? Snag those much needed clothes. At first, he considered catching the bus with his friend Steve, but something about that plan just didn't sit right with them. Therefore, he turned to his mother for help, but her vague response told him all he needed to know.

It was likely a polite way of saying she couldn't assist him. After a moment of deliberation an idea struck him, he grabbed his phone and dialed up his uncle Jimmy, his father's brother, who happened to drive a blue Acura legend when Uncle Jimmy answered his voice was warm and welcoming. Hello, nephew.

It's been a long time. What's on your mind? Joe felt the overflow of excitement as he replied. Hey UNK. I could really use your help getting to the mall to shop for school clothes. There was a brief pause before Jimmy responded. You got a nephew! When are you thinking this Saturday? Is it cool if my friend Snee Steve?

Tag along Joe asked. Hopefully. Absolutely. I'll swing by to pick you both up at 10:00 AM sharp. So be ready. I'm gonna close it right there. Um, don't know if it went too long, but that is chapter five. This, to give you a little insight on the book, it's based in DC uh, as a couple of kids. Uh, the main two kids is Bob and Joe.

They form a crew, uh, as they go through junior high school and then the high school. And then they get into troublesome life, which is similar to. The DC life of urban kids, so it's exciting and exhilarating. Action packed story. 

[00:03:42] Rita Burke: The voice you have just heard reading his book is none other than Mr. Marcus Braxton. Now, Mr. Braxton that book certainly sounds exhilarating and I love being read too, so thank you. Next. The last person we had a conversation with, sometime last, we can SpeakUP! International. She was from Uganda, and so because we're called SpeakUP! International, we speak with people, we have conversations with people from all over the world.

Today we are talking with Mr. Braxton who is in D.C. He is an author, as we said at the top of the show, who was wrongfully incarcerated. And then just the exonerated. Today, Mr. Braxton is a teacher and lifelong chess student. I can tell you so much more about him, but his story is going to come out as we continue our discussion.

Welcome to SpeakUP! International Mr. Marcus Braxton! 

[00:04:53] Marcus Braxton: Thank you. Thank you so much.

[00:04:56] Ellington Brown: I wanna say thank you for taking the time to have a conversation with, Rita and I, I think that your story is very inspirational and I'm hoping that by the end of our conversation, between the three of us, that. Our audience will feel the same. So how did you discover your voice as a writer while you were incarcerated? How did you see yourself as a man, as a creator, and as a survivor? 

[00:05:34] Marcus Braxton: Well, uh, the writer part, I, I was formally a rapper. Um, I was a local rapper, but I did put out about nine mix tapes. Uh, so, and I, I wrote some R&B. Uh, so I've naturally a writer, uh, so while in there, rather than dwell on the circumstances.

Uh, I picked out a list of, and wrote down a list of books I would like to write, and in my corner of my cell, uh, it was two cells next to me. We could, we were a group of readers, so the books would get passed around, um, often, and I would hear the same story. Uh. Hey, already read that. Hey, I already read that.

Hey, I already read that. You got something else, you got something else to, it got to the point where I said, you know what? I know what you haven't read. You haven't read what I'm about to write. And so I wrote down, like I said, 10 titles and I chose this one. This one was actually near the bottom of the list, and I chose this one, uh, because they, everybody like Urbans.

I wrote the first like three chapters, and I let one, one, uh, cell friend read it and he was like, oh man, you ja got something. You, you should ja keep going. And after five chapters, I passed it to three people. So by the time I get to 10 chapters, they were telling me, uh, when I'm out doing the tear playing chess, as I always play chess, they be like, uh.

We need you to go back in the cell and finish writing the chapters because we trying to finish reading the book so it got to the point where I duplicated the book and I can show you the original chapters. These are the original chapters. This is chapter seven, chapter nine. And I had to make two copies to keep 'em circulating because I actually had three copies.

I had two of these and I had a composition book, which I kept. So I had to write double time just so I would make sure if someone who was reading the book they got in trouble and went through the hole. I still have a copy. Uh, but that's, that's how I started really writing in there. 

[00:08:20] Rita Burke: So based on what you're saying, it sounds to me as if writing comes naturally to you, would you say that's the case?

[00:08:32] Marcus Braxton: Honestly, I'm a math whi first. I've not been strong in English, but when. I started my rap career. I had to learn English, so that's when I got a love for the words. And that takes math as well when you're matching the, the timing of the words. So that started my, my, my love for writing. But naturally, I'm a mathematician.

I like math. I love chess!

[00:09:01] Ellington Brown: I, I can imagine the shuffling that went on between those, your original manuscript, and then you got two other copies going and you're trying to keep them, updated. I'm sure that in itself must have been, draining. What moment in that jail cell when you realized your story wasn't just an escape, but a mission?

When did you realize that, I've got something here. I'm going to finish this and I'm going to present it to the world. 

[00:09:39] Marcus Braxton: Uh, it was. It was a, it was two guys, one guy, his name is Marcus as well. I don't remember his last name. Um, and he is a comedian and he's, and he's a known comedian.

So when he got it. He was so intense. He was, and he just kept telling me, this is the best book I've ever read. You need to finish this. You need to finish this. Please tell me when you going to finish this. That was, that was impactful. But the second one was when my friend named Glock, he's from my side of town, when he read it.

And he just stayed in the cell one day and it wasn't, I'm like, what's wrong with Clark? So I go and see him, I'm like, Hey, what's up? What's up? And I'm getting kind of broken up, just thinking about the moment he's broken up. He's like, bro, I, he said, man, I used to walk past that school every day, so. That's when I knew it was powerful and I say, I gotta finish this because it really what they say, it take you out there.

So even though you locked up, if you get a book so powerful that. It takes you out there. That's the actual definition of being able to lock up the body and not the mind. So that's the, that's that was the moment when I knew it was that impactful 

[00:11:22] Rita Burke: sounds, sounds profound. I like this statement with locking up the body and not the mind, and I suspect that our ancestors.

And who were enslaved, obviously, that's what gave them the strength that even though their bodies were there, their minds were always thinking and planning and writing. Now, you've alluded to, you've told us lots of little tidbits about things that happened. While you were locked up. So I'm going to go to the chase now and ask you the question.

Talk about being incarcerated, whatever you wanna tell us about that. Talk about it, maybe why, how, 

[00:12:21] Marcus Braxton: okay. I will share. Um, I was locked up for a violent child, violent crime, uh, charged. Prematurely my name dragged through the mud and I was facing a lot of time. I was facing life plus 58. So what that means if I died and came back, I still have to do 58 years.

Um, with that being said, my mindset was different. I'm a different type of person. Obviously I meditate, I read different types of literature. And I always knew that I was innocent and I always knew that I would be home. It took 18 months, uh, I lost everything. I lost my apartment that I had for over five years.

I lost my cars, um, lost a lot of my customers and my cable business. Um, uh, but while in there I had to figure out a way to keep my mind steady, uh, with all the pushbacks and every time they. Pushed it back, pushed it back, obviously waiting 18 months for a trial, but for a trial of that magnitude, I found out through a different people there that that was not uncommon for that lengthy, uh, time.

The big, one of the biggest things was I did not have a paid lawyer, and I think I had $320. Now my cable company does do well, uh, maybe profit, maybe a thousand dollars a month maybe, uh, give or take what's going on. Um, I, I was naturally a vegan and I don't eat sweets, so my cellmate convinced me, and I don't, I don't eat meat.

I, I, I had to eat fish 'cause I was in there. But my cellmate convinced me to run a store. So I asked him, I was like, well, hold, I'm gonna need a knife and all of this, right? And he said, he was like, can you fight? And that's my man razor. And I was like, yeah, I could fight from Southeast China. Yeah, I could fight.

He's like, you don't need no knife, don't worry about it. So I wound up running a store and the profit was so significant. I was able to save my life because I was able to pay. For a real lawyer because the public defenders was not gonna get that type of charge. Uh, they were not, it was not gonna happen.

But I, I, I was able to, to grind up by selling snack cakes and tuna fish and what everything was on commissary doubling, sometimes tripling the money. Uh, and I had had two accounts I had to go into to, to keep the store running and because. I didn't eat that type of stuff, Sweetss and stuff. I was able to profit enough every week to not only pay my lawyer, but to pay my cell phone bills to do a lot of things that the normal individual would not be able to do.

Um, I seen a lot of things in there. I, I wind up leaving the regular block, which was, and this was P-G-D-O-C, uh, that's Prince George's County Department of Corrections. But I wound up getting into the kitchen, um, after being in there almost a year, and that kind of changed and went for the better. Uh, but I got charged falsely for stealing some cookies and they put me in the hole for three days.

They let me out. I got, found me not guilty, but it, it was some stuff. And let me tell you, in there, I seen a book. I have never seen in my 47 years, like it's, it's things in prison that you do not wanna see that, that, that and stuff that that happens that you not even wanna talk about. But those are some of the things.

Um, that's a brief, that's a nice overview, I would say, of what, what happened in prison for my state.

[00:16:44] Ellington Brown: Okay, so you were in incarcerated for 18 months at least, and you were held without bail, they had no intentions of letting you go. How did that teach you or what did you learn about humanity? Uh, justice and the power of personal purpose and the other question is you had this store, what were you selling?

[00:17:16] Marcus Braxton: Uh, potato chips, uh, every little Debbie Snack cakes, cookies. Tuna fish, um, oodles and noodles, whatever you think. Whatever they had on the commiss, whatever they, that's, yeah, that's what I would say on the commissary. Can you, can you still hear me? 

[00:17:39] Ellington Brown: We can still hear you. 18 months have passed. You're selling, potato chips. I guess this is, this would be great, especially when the kitchen is closed and people still wanna have something to munch on.

They, were able to come to you to get that, which I think is great and. How did you feel when the other inmates, encouraged you to continue? How did you, how did it make you feel? 

[00:18:13] Marcus Braxton: It made me know that I had something, um, and it made me feel, I, I had a, a another purpose on top of a lot of the other stuff I was doing because as I stated, I'm a chess teacher.

Um. So when I was in there before I went in and everything had every, everything has a purpose. Before I went in, I was teaching young kids chess. Uh, I believe that because I learned chess at 11, that if you learn that you would be able to think and you'll move better. So I had actually given up on older kids, uh, teaching them chess.

I thought they were too far gone, but being inside. I wound up teaching a few kids and I wound up running the whole tournament and everything. First, first tournament in there. Uh, of course I won the tournament. It was close, but, but me teaching those kids chess and seeing them saying, Hey, sensee scales, that's my, uh, middle name more, um, my nickname, sensee skills.

Check me out. Look what I learned. Look up. Watch this. Look how I beat this person. So that's been the core of what I've been thinking and, and how well I've revolve around. But when they took my focus and said, Hey, you, I don't want you playing no handball. I don't want you even playing chess. You need to go finish this book.

And I'm like, well, like, hey, y'all know this is what I do. I do the no bro, you need to go. So it, it, it changed the whole mindset of the book. I'm like, I really gotta put this book out. I, I have, I have to finish this book. And I woke up. Because my, my line of discipline is I wake up every day without a alarm clock, four or five when it's quiet.

And so I would wake up and start writing then, and then I have to double back at lunchtime to, to, after I write this, to do the second copy before I can even pass it out. Like, like they, yeah. So just the, the overall process of what had to happen. Made me mentally aware of how impact impactful that it could possibly become.

[00:20:34] Rita Burke: You know, you talk about a purpose and your bio says that you found purpose is in an unlikely piece, but it sounds to me as if you have a mission or that purpose developed into a movement or a mission, and so kudos to you! So elaborate on this statement, please and I think you talked a little bit about it, about finding purpose in an unlikely place.

Expand on that a little bit. 

[00:21:11] Marcus Braxton: I would say finding purpose and more so defining my purpose. Uh, when you're blessed, like, like a lot of people are, and I'm one of the people who have been blessed. To be able to have money drawn to me, I may work for it, but I have been blessed most of my life to, to be with, uh, more so than without.

Uh, so on the outside, you kind of lose sight of your purpose when you, you are surrounded by so many things revolving around money. So about everything being tooken from me, it, it, it reen enlightened me. It, it made me focus on what's really important. Uh, I say a lot of, uh, a lot, a lot of people don't really overstand that it's only a few things you really need in life and incarceration teaches you.

You don't need money because you never touch a dollar while you were in there. You may need some type of people to send you things and things like that, but actual physical money, you don't need that. So when I got in there as I I, I kind of went over. I was still lingering on my, which I'm, I'm, I'm really, uh, geared up to work towards, which is called Think First Chess entrepreneurship.

It's a nonprofit organization. I'm starting teaching kids chess and teaching kids entrepreneurship that we can be owners because I have a bus, I'm a business owner, not just consumers. So that really. Refocus me that setback and being stripped of all the material goods that I had in my life and being put there.

And I still, like I said, you put me in the jungle, I'm gonna come out with a, you know, a line coat, you know, some biscuit, skin slippers and so forth. But that made me really identify. What you need and what the real purpose of life is. I've had those blessings. I'm 47, so now it's time to give back. So if redefine my purpose, and I wrote this book, and this is just a segue to my next book, which is a chess book, which is gonna go along with my, uh, nonprofit.

And the chess book is, is gonna be. Basically think first and how it relates to life. And teaching you, if you make these same mistakes on the chess board, you're gonna keep losing. So if you make these same mistakes in life, you are gonna keep losing. 

[00:24:02] Ellington Brown: Mm-hmm. 

[00:24:03] Marcus Braxton: So that's redefining my purpose from the pain that I've went through from being falsely in prison.

[00:24:11] Ellington Brown: Okay. So you talked a little bit about your, about your book, uh, sunroof, uh, hitters. I wanna know you, you live in DC and this is no, well, every, every state has, every city has their own culture. So how did you feel compelled to include maybe some of the street education that Washington DC provides in. The book Sunroof Hitters.

[00:24:51] Marcus Braxton: Well, majority of the reads that, uh, are in prison, the hat reads are two different type of reads, urban books, and it's, it is, it is documentaries. Uh, urban books have always been probably the top pick, you know, since the Times of Iceberg Slim, and books of that nature. Uh, so sticking with that theme, because that's what a lot of people that were incarcerated be alongside me, were requesting.

I chose to write that, that type of book. Uh, me also reading other books and I got kind of a knowledge of what the urban book was, and that drove me not only to write the urban book, but to make it specific. To the people who are around me. And I, I, it is not it, it is a fiction, but a lot of things can be, is, are so relatable that it brings upon questions.

Are everything fiction? 'cause some things are real. The schools, the schools, the schools, the streets, the places, the hoods, these things are real. And because those people were incarcerated with me when they read, they're going to relate. So that's what drove me to, to do it that way. 

[00:26:13] Rita Burke: Your story is certainly amazingly fascinating.

I am drawn right in, but I wanna shift away a little bit from the place that you have to call home, away from home, and you know, we're writing to your podcast. Talk to us about your podcast. 

[00:26:38] Marcus Braxton: Okay. My podcast. It is called Block Boy Sport Talk. It's on YouTube. I have a Patreon page. I'm on, I I'm a lot of places.

If you block Boy Sport Talk Now I actually started the Part podcast. Uh. Before the incident and it had just began to get a little spark. I started on the couch. I'm a big boxing fan. I'm a extremely huge boxing fan. So I started sitting on the couch with a buddy and we just were talking boxing, doing predictions, and I started filming it and I was, I was right a lot, so, so it, it got a little traction going.

And we said, why don't we expand and just not do boxing, start doing sports as well. So we, we segued from Block Boy Box Talk. That's how it started. And we, we, uh, we never let that go, but we added Block Boy Sports Talk and we would come on weekly. We would review mostly, you know, if it's football season, the games, and we would, uh, me and one of the, the guy that I chose to be the host, the co-host.

We just, we gel extremely well. We gel extremely well. So when I came home, a lot of people, they were waiting on the first show. The first show went pretty good, and then the show was September went boners. And it, it made me know that, oh, I got it. I got, I got something. I really got something. So I write all my goals down every month.

And one of the biggest things is I, I check 'em so I can check everything off, but the, the book was the top priority. So the book get my YouTube channel, monetized it, start the nonprofit. These are the top three things. So the book is done. I got the hard cover up, uh, then, you know, the, the, the paper back out.

So it's, it's focusing on the YouTube and I start. I'm trying to figure out what, what I need to do to get monetized, and I'm not there yet, but I have enough subscribers and everything's going up. I mean, the, the views are going crazy. I've had, uh, special guests on notable, uh, ex fighters. We just had Sean Baby Mitchell on.

Um, we had Andrew Council on like, we, it's a, it's a, it's a, it is a nice show. We do a top five, our biggest podcast every Monday. Um, we just did our 50th episode, um, that did pretty well. We just did our 50th first as well. And we will be doing a show to predict the fights for this weekend with Pit Bull crew and Roach from Roach.

And Roach is from right here in uh. DMV area. 

[00:29:39] Ellington Brown: How have individuals respond, uh, to the podcast? One, when you invite guests to come on your show and they find out that you've been incarcerated, does that create a stumbling block for people to want to be on your show. Do you find that people maybe they say, oh, well no, that's, you know, I'm gonna pass on on your podcast?

[00:30:13] Marcus Braxton: No, most no. Most people don't even know. Um, but if they did their research, they would know that I was innocent from the jump. Uh, I don't have any problems like that. I'm a lovable person. Everybody likes me. Uh, so no, that's, that's never been a problem. 

[00:30:32] Rita Burke: We're talking with Marcus Braxton, and at the top of the show we asked him if he was related to a certain well-known Braxton. He said, no, but I'll speak of international. We seek to inform, inspire, and to educate the well. So my next question to you is, had you not been incarcerated, do you think you would've written that book?

[00:31:03] Marcus Braxton: No. No, honestly not. Honestly, and no, I wouldn't have written a book. I wouldn't have been so focused. Uh, sometimes, uh, it's, it is not up to you to choose your path. Sometimes your path is choosing for you, but you still have to do things to stay on, on, on certain paths. You have to be disciplined, uh, you have to believe, but sometimes you get knocked back to be shown, uh, what's important, what's, what's, what's really important.

And as I stated, I'm, I'm 47. I, I've had, I've did a lot of things and I've had a lot of good times. Whereas though I feel now it is, it's time to give back. Not that my life is over, it's just this different phase where it's time to give back and, and help some of the, uh, less fortunate, become more fortunate, at least in the mind state, because education is the true, uh, uh, uh, most powerful currency.

So if I can educate and help out our youth, uh, especially right here in the, in the DMV area. To get them to be able to think first and, uh, make better choices. Um, then I, I think then that I've served my purpose. 

[00:32:22] Ellington Brown: So what does redemption look like to you today? Now that your story has been released to the planet?

[00:32:37] Marcus Braxton: Um.

I am not really that type of person that looks deep into redemption. Uh, I feel good, of course, and not, it's not a big I told you so moment. No, I feel good. Uh, a lot of people, a lot of people who do believe in me, uh, that's still by my side. A lot of who needed to fall off fell off. Uh, it, it is what it is.

Maybe, you know, due to the circumstances. But as I said before, I've been blessed to the point, though a lot of people were leeches, so it's not necessarily redemption, but I don't have to worry about a lot of the fakeness and a lot of that type of stuff. Now that a KI came home, found not guilty. Now I wrote a book.

It's, I, it's, it's some envy going on, but the redemption part of it is. Just me actually coming home and never stopping and, and when I be able to give back and I actually have a chess school sitting on one of these local DC blocks, then that will be redemptiono. 

[00:33:51] Rita Burke: So that is the long-term goal. 

[00:33:54] Marcus Braxton: Yes. To 

[00:33:55] Rita Burke: have a chest

tell us, tell her our audience. What the words not guilty meant to you when you heard them? What the words not guilty felt like when you first heard them, and you can go wild with that. 

[00:34:16] Marcus Braxton: Um, it felt extremely good, like I would say when, when the, when the baby came and got me before, when I was going back in, first of all, they came back and this is.

This is a high profile murder trial. They came back with the verdict in 45 minutes, and the bailiff said, he pulled me out. He was like, you need the time. You need a couple minutes to pray and all that. I was like, no, I'm good. I, I've been meditating for the last 15 minutes. I'm ready to go. You know, gave you my tie back.

I put my tie back in and I knew. That it was gonna be not guilty. It felt awesome. Don't, don't, don't let me undersell that. But when I went out there, when as soon as I walked in the courtroom, my friend dread, my friend dreaded, he looked at me and smiled so big, and then I smiled so big back at him that his girl smiled.

From then on, this is before, this is just me walking back in the courtroom before they come and sit the, you know, before they get, uh, and from then on I'm smiling the whole, like the energy change. So it was, it was exciting, it was exhilarating and I thought it was slight chance of some bs. Now they, if they want to, you know, let go, they can't convict me on none of the big charges.

They might try to get me on some, one of the little side charges for a couple of years. But they, when they said not guilty on every count, I feel awesome. I feel awesome. Not as good as my aunt. She went out in the parking lot and did what they do. The snow angels shout in the middle of the parking lot.

I'm front of the court building, but I feel great. 

[00:36:15] Ellington Brown: That is, wonderful. And just the way you expressed that feeling, I could feel it. I could feel that the relief, and knowing as you're walking into that courtroom that you're guilty. I mean, there's nothing. What else are they gonna say? And for them to then actually say it, I'm sure it was, it was just almost mind blowing.

[00:36:42] Marcus Braxton: It was the foreman and the lady, like she was smiling. The foreman was smiling when she said it. She said, I'm looking like, like, like I said, the the, when the moment I came in, the smile, it just became infectious. And she said, not guilty. Not guilty. And she just kept saying like, they, it was like, it was amazing.

It was different. Like, I wish it was recorded. 

[00:37:07] Ellington Brown: Well, you know, I'm sure that the, uh. The judge doesn't, isn't able to, to say that to everyone every day and for him to or her to have this piece of good news to give to someone, I'm sure also made them feel good as well. You talked about chess and how much you like chess.

You said that your second book is gonna be about, about chess. So how has chess influenced the way you navigate your business relationships and long-term strategy? You did talk a little bit about long about your, about what your goals are. 

[00:37:58] Marcus Braxton: Well. As I stated as well before, chess taught me not to do the same things over again.

So you have a lot of times you have to think outside the box. You have to try think different things. Uh, I don't know a whole lot of people who do what I do. I have a streaming service that gets paid on residual income. I wake up to money, but that it took me to think out of the box to say. I don't wanna work for Domino's anymore.

I worked for Domino's for 20 years, but I took from them learning how to read a profit, a law statement. And what's crazy about that is I rarely made profit for them. I did sales, but I rarely made profit for them. So I took from them, uh uh, the knowledge. So chess teaches me not only. Sometimes to, to, to make sure, to, to, to think outta the box.

To think out the box. Don't do the same thing over and over again. It's not working. Try and, and to, to be experimental. Try new things. You'll learn it faster. 

[00:39:16] Rita Burke: So as a former chest clear and back then, I'm sure I could have beaten you. To a current chess player, to a person who ultimately will have his own school.

Where did you learn to play and why were you interested in chess in the first place? 

[00:39:37] Marcus Braxton: My uncle Richard. Uncle. My uncle Richard Graves, my mother's brother, he taught me when I was 11 and uh, I beat him when I was 12. Uh. I've always been really good at math, um, and figuring things out. So when he taught me, it was interesting.

It was a, first of all, it, it was a lot to learn, um, because you gotta learn the pieces, the moves, the strategies. So being able to take all of that in and it's, it's a math, it's, it's a big math problem. But it's, it's the game within the game. It's thinking ahead and it so it's, it is so much to it. That's how I fell in love with it.

That's how we, when and where I learned the game and who I learned the game from. Um, and it, it is, it is been one of the biggest things that I say, I say a lot. It saved my life because when most people didn't have that mindset, they made, they didn't make. Better choices that I did, uh, to avoid some of the pitfalls that, that were going on in that time.

[00:40:49] Ellington Brown: When you, you talked, uh, earlier about wanting to. Teach kids how to play chess and also to understand how, um, entrepreneurism, how that all works. So how do you see that fitting in with the way. The youth are going, I guess to me, youth are going in the, especially our people, they're going in the wrong direction.

They are moving towards the, you know, the expensive sneakers, you know, all the best clothes that they can muster up. Not knowing that okay, either. One or two things. Either you wear them out or you grow the, you know, you outgrow them in terms of weight. How are you going to help these individuals understand that, okay, you know what, those $400, uh, sneakers are great, but you know, you could take that money and invest it in something maybe on your own business.

Stocks and bonds. How are you going to get them to see the light and know that by looking like they have money doesn't mean that they have it? 

[00:42:17] Marcus Braxton: Well, it's, it's two ways. It's two ways. One, I'm gonna start young. I, I wanna start with the youth as my original plan. Not that I would turn down the older kids.

Um. It's a lot of fun enough for nonprofits, so I don't, I know that this task is not gonna be a hard task to accomplish, so to, to keep their mind you, you start young and that's when you, you train their minds. Now the other thing is you only have five senses, and the number one, one we use is our eyes. So they like what they see.

If you're not modeling at least what they, the potential of what they want, then a lot of 'em not are not gonna listen to you. So me being who I am, I'm able to relate both ways. I'm not wealthy, but I've, I've never been not well off. So I can. I can show, as I stated, I can show the, a prophet a loss statement.

And that brings upon education, that brings upon a new understanding or overstanding rather, what they, they, they're built in. What they chase is what they see and what they overstand and they, they what they believe is important, but when you can show them a different way. And you break down the knowledge and give them the real knowledge, and you can show the proof behind the knowledge.

That's one thing I love about a p and l. You shows us where all the money went, shows what came in you, shows what you're left with. So if you can show them, then it will start educating them and eventually it'll start changing some of their mindset. Now we're not gonna save them all, and I've, I've learned that the hard way that you can't save everyone, but, there are some unicorns out here. You know, it's not just a bunch of horses. There are some eagles out here. Believe me, it's not just a bunch of pigeons. So our job or my job is to find as many eagles as possible so they can turn, lead the next generation, pass on what I have, knowledge, what I know, and and teach them the importance of

informing and educating others and passing on what they know. 

[00:44:54] Rita Burke: Well, you touched a little bit on my next question, and I don't think that's really fair. That's cheating, but my next question was going to ask for you to finish a statement, finish a sentence, and it goes like this. I plan to use my strengths and my voice to.

I plan to use my strengths, my abilities, and my voice to finish that sentence, 

[00:45:26] Marcus Braxton: to educate, lead, and teach. Teach, teach, educate is kind of the same, to educate, lead, and inspire.

You were not 

[00:45:39] Rita Burke: who, who are you gonna educate, lead, and inspire? 

[00:45:44] Marcus Braxton: Uh, the, the youth, the mostly urban youth. But I do not turn down any color. I'm not on that, never been on that. Uh, but the youth, uh, the ages from four. The primary age is four to 11. That's my target market. 

[00:46:05] Rita Burke: Mm-hmm. 

[00:46:05] Marcus Braxton: Or my target is my, that's my target.

That's who I plan on targeted and essentially, 

[00:46:13] Ellington Brown: What message do you want black authors, returning citizens, young entrepreneurs to hear when they encounter your work? Your message?

[00:46:28] Marcus Braxton: If you get a goal, first of all, get it a goal. Find out what you wanna do. Once you get a goal, write it down. Write it down, write it down, and review it every month until you get it. It's really that simple. Majority of the things. Almost anything that comes out in this world, it come from the mind first.

Before it ever was a car, somebody had to think of it first. So write it down.

[00:47:01] Ellington Brown: Okay. Well, you know, I know some people that are very much into that. They, if they, they're going to know what they're gonna do every day because they write it down. And, uh, like go, it is almost like going to Costco where you have a laundry, you know, a, I mean, a list. And some people I know are like that.

They're very, organized and I think that's a great thing. And it sounds like that happens to be one of your skills. So when you think about the future, your writing, your platform, even your community. What legacy are you building toward?

[00:47:49] Marcus Braxton: Uh, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, legacy? I started my own streaming company. I also started a digital World, smart Electronics, which is a, uh, partner company as well. I, I, I like, I would like to quote the great soldier Boy, that's crazy. He said, uh, somebody asked him, why do you have 25 businesses? He said, well, why don't you have 25 businesses?

So I, my legacy is definitely entrepreneurship. Get as many businesses as possible. Why we, why do we keep complaining? And when we see. What they say is foreigners open up and all of these businesses when if you do the research and you put in enough paperwork and enough time, you can open up businesses as well.

So I'm gonna leave behind an entrepreneurship legacy, a think first, chess and entrepreneurship legacy. So though that's the legacy I plan on leaving behind 

[00:48:56] Ellington Brown: your story, Marcus is inspirational. We talked a about. Your early life incarceration, your identity, the making of your, book, Sunroof Hitters to be followed, uh, by your book.

That's gonna help individuals learn how to play chess, which I think is wonderful. We talked a little bit about redemption being creative, the how you were able to generate purpose during your, your incarceration and part of your legacy, what you want to see, uh, what you want to leave behind, which was basically building, uh.

Uh, these are youth so that they too know how to make money, passive money, where they're not beating themselves across the head and the shoulders trying to make 20 cents. And I think that's a wonderful, wonderful thing. And I, we really do appreciate your inspirational story today. Rita, do you have something you wanna add?

[00:50:07] Rita Burke: Yes. I just wanna say thank you so much to Marcus Braxton for joining us and speak of international. Your story, there's no question about it. There's a lot of learning in there. There's a lot of inspiration in there, and I like your drive. So thank you for being with us today, and I'm sure that our listeners will benefit tremendously from hearing your story.

Thank. 

[00:50:35] Marcus Braxton: Well, thank you again so much for having me on. Speak International. For everyone out there, the book is on Amazon Sunroof Hitter Book, One of the Sunroof Hitter Series, so there definitely will be a book two out. It's a Fab Star book on Amazon. The hardcover is available as well. Also the ebook is available.

The ebook is going on sale for as little as 99 cents on, so also check out the podcast Block Boy Sport Talk. We will have your predictions, your parlays, that's on YouTube. That is Block Boy Sport Talk on YouTube. Check us out each and every Monday as we go live. 

[00:51:20] Ellington Brown: Thank you very, much!

We wasn't expecting that advertisement, but that's okay. that's what, we do is at SpeakUP! International. We help everybody, move ahead. When you come out with your chess book, let us know, how did the release of the book go? How are people responding to it?

We would like to know. So please do not hesitate in, uh, getting in touch with us so that we're able to have yet another conversation with you, Marcus. 

[00:51:51] Marcus Braxton: Okay. Thank you Mr. Brown. Thank you, Rita. I appreciate you all having me on. 

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