In this latest episode with Reginald Clark, he talks about how he journeyed from America to Saudi Arabia and then to Ireland, sharing his incredible life story. Reginald opens up about the challenges and triumphs he faced along the way, offering unique insights into the cultural shifts, personal growth, and unforgettable experiences that defined his path. Reginald’s story is one of resilience, adaptability, and an unyielding spirit. Tune in to hear about his transformative adventures, the people who influenced his journey, and the lessons he’s learned about embracing change and finding one’s true calling. This episode is a testament to the power of perseverance and the beauty of exploring the world beyond our comfort zones.
welcome back guys to the bear and Scully podcast with me Sean scolan AKA Scully old M AKA The Bear Eden the face for radio behind the scenes and today we’re joined with Reggie Clark Reggie welcome to the show thank you very much this isn’t our first time meeting no you were at the live shows you were and it was good old nice crack and then we got talking and we thought why don’t you come on the show this is my first time coming to uh Cooks down so good good sunny sunny cook time you have to put that’s one of them ticked off your bucket list but regie before we jump into it guys before we get into today’s pod I have to hit you with the the sales pitch Pon we have our patreon up and live now and we’re working hard behind the scenes uh doing our our follow-up interviews with other uh podcast where any questions you have and if there’s any podcast that significantly stuck a cord with you and you were like I’d like to know what happened them why don’t you drop us a message why don’t you ask us a question why don’t you subscribe to the patreon it’s ÂŁ350 a month um and and you get all that extra cont and I say much much more but ask Sean what is much much more I think that’s a sales pitch much much more I’ve told you what we’re doing and much much more just like right right we do want to make the Paton that more personal that more interactive that if you have a question for a certain guest on and for the likes of Reggie we you knew was coming on we would do a private thing say R’s coming on and you want to ask them questions about it then we will be fit to put them till Regan and we will be fit to credit the person that’s comment so if it’s something you want to do jump on if it’s not make sure you’re subscribed so look ready the seals pitched on uh um we look from what we know you’ve already lived quite a life so uh we but before we go into that let’s just go all the way back to the start where you grew up and give people an idea of who you are and where you’re from well I’m originally from a place called uh Portsmouth Virginia it’s more of a Navy type Town my father was in military and the Navy and uh we grew up there and uh I uh went to went to college there went to high school there related to high school I um uh went to this was this was around the time when they were integrating you know uh in the 19 late 1960s and 70s where they where the state or the government started to force integration because what was happening is the money was going to the C to the school schools that were you know in the suburbs which was predominantly white and the black schools were getting nothing and that’s why you know integration was forced and pushed and you started having you know the blacks going being busted to the suburbs and the white students were being bust to the black black schools and ironically I was the first uh class president of one of the um black school black college high schools I went to boogery Washington in norol Virginia and we had the first integrated prom where whereas before you you when you had a prom you had all whites going to their to their school to their dances and you had blacks going to theirs because the schools was were you know segregated and so what I did when we had the first integrated prom I made sure that it wasn’t just going to be black music it was going to be somebody who could perform music that everybody would enjoy and it was one of the best proms where you had them actually coming to the prom because when they first actually bust to our school they would just get on the bus and go back to the suburbs they wouldn’t go to the basketball games they wouldn’t go to the football games they thought that you know from what people would show on TV and give them the impression that most black people weren’t interested in education but then when they realize that you know we’re all the same you know we going to class and you know we’re learning the same thing but the one plus that came out of integration was when they bust the whites to the black schools we started getting all these other courses that we would not have gotten normally we would only get French and Spanish whereas when they bust the whites from the suburbs we got German you know we got all these extra languages that we would have never thought known about until they integrated the schools you know which which was which was a positive for you know was there much up evil in that because the only view that we ever had and this is how blinker it is like I’ve watched one or two like Remember the Titans and it’s a very glamorized view of of integation and and I’m sure it didn’t go across as easy as that but what what was that what was that like you know it’s prob of been weird when that was all kicking off was there well one of the things is you know ironically you know blacks tend to be very good at sports and I’m not saying white white people aren’t but I’m just saying related to basketball and stuff even when they had the schools where they was predominantly white you know they wanted to get certain you know athletes that could so they could be competitive you know and uh and and that was one of the things that I think that that helped to help to improve integration you know where as people feel that you know yeah we we we work you know I’m I’m going to predominantly not a black school now I’m going to predominantly school that used to be black but I’m part of you know the whites that I’m part of it and they were and they started coming out to the basketball games they started coming out to the football games because they real they thought that they had to get on the bus because they thought they were gonna get beat up and shot and everything else because of what you see on TV you know sometimes TV shows and and movies give the wrong impression of what is actually going on you know in the world what type of state is Virginia you know was it was it a hot I know that that you know along that that they call the b or whatever yeah it’s it’s it’s the South yeah but but it’s not as bad as as uh Mississippi I don’t know if you ever saw a movie called Mississippi Burning no I never did well believe me you need to watch it one time and you’ll see my my father my father’s mother was from Mississippi I used to hate to go down there because it was so racist and it’s still that way even right every even today I saw two articles today where there one guy made a he got he got arrested but he made a black person who he had he had arrested lick urine on the floor luckily luckily there was a video there and he got caught and now he’s been arrested and he’s been put in jail for one year but this is still happening this is the mentality of people in America right now some people in America not all you know if you look at you know one of the problems in it you see a lot of problems related to policing and all that you know unfortunately you know you got the five or 10% that are still racist and bigoted that they make it look bad for the 90% that or not and and like that is in so many things it is it is the small minority there is a lot of similarities between nor nor past not not racially motivated but religiously motivated and there has been a lot of similarities where we’ve had to have integration in school and we’ve had we’ve shed experiences were that that you know people in par were you know predominantly one or the other and it and it it was a small proportion of them that that you know you know so there is very similar you know traits and and not racially motivated but religiously motivated you know in in the past that you had but you know how have you experienced then you know you grew up there and it was in the military were you did were you in the military no no my my father was in the military and you know like I say I I went to college I was a a math major I and graduated and uh luckily I I’ve worked for quite a few large corporations uh General Motors I worked Xerox I worked for Exxon and then I got an opportunity to go work overseas and I saw this a friend of mine was saying oh go ahead and take it for a couple of years and I uh saw the opportunity to go work in Saudi Arabia and uh I actually applied and and got offered the job and was working with the Saudi Saudi Navy through a military contract though when was this this was in 1981 that’s when I first moved and started working over overseas and I’ve been living overseas since since 81 not to pray or or what what age were you then when you Jesus 54 64 74 84 uh I was about less than 27 around 27 27 yeah and like Saudi Arabia back then you know it’s not you know a lot of people now all these developed countries they’re building that new State ofthe art like that new Utopia style City it’s yeah I’m sure it wasn’t like that back then well it wasn’t no it wasn’t like that then um but you know they they was they were starting to build you know I mean I was I was when I was working there you know you had a lot of money that was there and because one of the things that happened uh I was working for another company called savic which is the Saudi Arabian uh Chemical Company and before what they used to do and the ramco they used to burn off the um extra gas and then they realized oh you know we can make Plastics you know we can make all of these other items and they started fueling that in and created and created these other corpor corporations there and I was there mainly to train Saudis so my job was really to train myself out of a job you know took took 20 years but but uh so what exactly was it you did um uh my background was it computer so I mean I was doing you know helping to implement software uh when I wor with the sa Air Force I mean I was on the flight line when the first awax aircraft came in uh because I was working helping with the logistics systems and maintenance system you know they have 15 and F16 aircraft over there I would be supporting the software related to keeping them up and running because the the uh C130 aircraft because all of those you know most of those aircraft coming from America which means that all of the equipment and support you know items were coming from you know from the logistics uh companies I mean locations in America and they were tied in with the you know with the US government you know when they you know if you needed a new engine from for an F-15 it wouldn’t like it actually be coming from you know Bo or whatever it’ be coming through the through the military system and so you know us we had to make sure that we could tie all of that in so all of the equipment and stuff was coming in and tied in together and what was that like then moving to Saudi were you on your own or your partner at this time or uh ironically I started off on my own and uh I mean that’s but ironically that’s when I met my I met my wife there and and around 80 86 87 uh that’s when I started coming over to to uh uh to Northern irand that’s when I started coming over here because uh you know she was a nurse over there and we then we just started coming back and forth over here and and we got married in 1990 uh in America and uh but you know guess I’ve been it’s very little like I say people can tell me about Northern Ireland because I I pretty much know quite a bit of it you know I know about the history of of things is your wife s huh is your wife sday no no my wife’s from here that’s that’s only right right because because what because what I was thinking there was you’ve come from America over to Saudi Arabia theyve went and got a dart board and they’re like we’re going holiday where this land’s up they’re like Jesus where is Northern Ireland cuz I couldn’t see the thing so oh she was out working in Saudi she was a nurse ncu nurse yeah she was working for for one of the one of the hospitals there and and we met there because like I say in sa even though it was it was very stringent in terms of uh you know this you know how they tried to treat people I mean you know all of the experts you know we used to have parties together and and he because it it it it is a very religious country yes and and I know now like people are going to Abu daab and Dubai and there’s a more modern approach to that but that would not have been the situation then but no alcohol back then well no alcohol Legally Legally from I think there’s there’s a story behind this yeah do you about a bran yeah yeah what what it it’s a special name that y’all call it uh pin yeah yeah moonshine call it pin yeah people used to make that but you know if you get caught making it you you going to jail just don’t get caught then well some people used to get caught you know the problem was you know the the sais knew about it but as long as you didn’t actually bring it up so that it would impact their people yeah they kind of turn their heads you know to the compounds where they know it might have been going on you know I mean I used to make my own wine uh and you know I mean if you go to the grocery store and you see somebody with a with a case of this special Ro uh juice you know what they were going to do yeah yeah but like as you’re saying that and something I found you know even traveling and speaking to people in in the likes of the middle Amira country stuff like that there there are very much uh respect our culture don’t be pushing your culture to our culture uh come here pay and play but just be respectful so a lot of of what people’s misperception was that they have a very Str they have and they govern themselves by them religious laws but it’s if you keep that away from us but if you you start rolling down Main Street with a bottle of poton for see that you’re going to get bother that’s true I mean because uh even though you you know you you could buy alcohol uh but normally we would buy it from uh from the military people because military people would get uh an allotment of four or five bottles you know per person and they would be selling it to us for about $100 a bottle whereas you know it be it might cost maybe $10 or $15 but you know they went on good they went on good Sal like we were and you know we could afford it and and so You’ buy it but you lived there for quite some time so what what made you make the decision till move till Sonny Ireland um well the wife I got tired of not being able to drive and my daughters were at the age uh school age right at the school age so you had children two kid so you went back to America and well not ptic she she wasn’t from you went to America and got married no yeah I just went to America and got married but you know we were still working in in Saudi and both of my daughters were born in Saudi uh you know they I told them you know you could have you could have had a Saudi passport and American passport and a British passport and you could have an Irish passport if you wanted that’ll be some handling getting through security and just the just the the mix of of cultures that’s going on there but like and then I suppose then there was there was Private there schools and English speaking schools what what what language then were they that was it English yeah yeah they’d have English internation they have international schools uh in Saudi Arabia and it you know people be going there uh what age was your girls then when you decided to make that decision well my my oldest daughter was at six because then when we moved here she she ended up going to um uh School in Beaver yeah and and in belf area isn’t it it’s weird and I think this is an Irish thing and and definitely an Irish mummy thing more that they they want to return to Nest when you know when children are of age you we there’s so many aots of Irish around the world in Sydney Australia and all and they do all the partying so they it’s like they go through a cycle of the part the just arrived the partying then then move job and start settling down get a decent place they’re no longer in service wherever it is and they’ve meet somebody more likely met someone from 100 mile AC down the road they’ve traveled half the world and then M then it’s a bit more serious to come home for thing and then they have a baby and then after a while baby it’s great toddlers all because it’s so much nicer to walk the toddler around but when it comes to school time there’s almost like a I want them School the way I was schooled or you know and and and it’s that the draw of Home becomes the thing then which I’m not 100% sure because my my sister’s actually going through that cycle minut she’s in San Francisco and she’s she’s been there 12 13 years she loves it but she’s had a we baby now but she’s like oh I don’t know what I wanted to go to school here or want to school home so was it something similar like that there for the wife she wanted to once they were there want to come home here uh no really it was just a question she wanted she had had enough of Saudi Arabia and it was then it was just a question of where will we move to and the reason we moved here was because uh I was still doing it Consulting work in the Middle East and you know when you’ve been traveling for 20 years uh an 8 hour flight is better than a a 13-hour flight y you know because I used to you know back in those days they used to have a PanAm flight that would fly from daharan to New York and it was a 13-hour flight uh and you know we would always take that because we’d get straight into New York and then I could then I could take a short flight down into norfol uh and so so when you look at an 8 hour flight of going back and forth cuz I was still doing a lot of Consulting work in the middle relas it was just it was worth uh the five hours yeah that being in the on the you know being in the air but then that’s the 80s then late 80s that you’ve came back to to Northern nor isn’t it 99 is when I moved you you started coming 87 I moved I mean I was coming back and forth because I had you know I had met my wife we hadn’t gotten married yet but when we got married in 1990 you know I I say you then just coming here every year you know visiting her family and then we go to America you know and see my you would have seen some change in that that era of 89 90 till to 99 going through the peace process to the to the changes there were quite TR for us living through it we were younger and it’s not a massive recollection but looking back on it there was some changes going on in Northern irand and what was the fact that the peace agreement happened did it help for the coming back for you or you know I mean because when I first started flying over you know when I when I into the airport you know you know you had to go through security uh you know you had the police there you know going through the security gates uh going to the airport and back and them you know which was new to me and oh all all the checkpoints yeah the checkpoints yeah and uh and then you know I you know I moved here in 99 which was one year after the you know the the the peace peace agreement had been signed so uh and you know since then you know I have seen quite a few you know quite a few of the changes uh that have that have occurred but you you know and even before that you know I mean I would follow up on most most things that were going on because my you know my wife was from here and so I would just keep keep a breast of what I was coming across you know coming to when I you know when I’m coming in what was it like rage because back then know it’s we Northern Ireland’s become such a multicultural Nation but not then like you you would have literally been the only black man coming through the airport and I don’t mean that thing because like and people are saying this and and it’s so funny now in the day age we have to be so politically correct in what we say and if there’s something I say right that’s not like there’s no there’s no problem but I don’t have bad intent in anything I ever say but when you’re saying these things people are like but but back then there wouldn’t have been you would you know what way was it for you then was there like a because you’ve come from different cultures and you’ve seen people and then all of a sudden you come to arm backward backward is the only way I could describe it well see I wouldn’t call it you know see what’s interesting is you know I’ve got quite a few friends here from from both sides of the community now from the Catholic side of the community as I have told them uh a lot of the problems that they ran into are no different than the problems that black people ran into you know even when they talk about you know uh when you know um one of the things that that uh you know I know people that say I can’t they would never want to go and work um where is it the place for the uh for the ship the ship yard or the yeah they were never going to go there if they were catholic because they know they wouldn’t you know they couldn’t go work on the Titanic because they know they wouldn’t get out of there and you know those are similar problems that we used to have in America you know there were certain places you know if you’re black you don’t want to go in there because you won’t get out you know and even when I was growing up in certain you know uh certain communities you just don’t go into that area and you know things have changed now but but I can see you know I see quite a few similarities of what is what has gone over in in over here than then and what went through in America you know and it’s you know it was discrimination I mean some of the Catholics have had been discriminated against you know it’s it’s it’s a given you know and you can’t dispute that you know things have changed you know right now but back in those days you know there was somewhat of a double standard you know people don’t want to say that but a civil rights a civil rights struggle if there’s an imbalance in CI civil rights and any it doesn’t matter it leads to that sort of so like you know no matter what color you are the right to vote the the right to housing the right to health the right to job the right to prosperity it’s it’s it should be no matter who you what you are you know your skill set should be the determination that not the color skin or the religious values that you hold um I know because me and Sean always be like dodged the political bomb that’s which is a very loose term but but we’re we’re we’re disputing we’re we we’re talking facts and this is well documented fact like you know you know the right to vote the the right to housing the right to jobs was up until and that that was what caused unrest and and things so it is a very very similar thing you know a very similar situation and and and like so many cultures and societies has changed that it’s trying to find out how to live with each other and and how to to thing but you you’re you’re in that so you’ve seen that but what was the reception like to you well see one of the things is you know I grew up doing the Black Panther time you know so you know but the way people treat viewed the where the way America tried to view black panthers as though they were you know going around killing everybody where really if you look at the history you will see that the Black Panthers thought grew up trying to really improve the quality of people in their Community it wasn’t Attract it wasn’t a fact of trying to go after that was police that leads us back to that 5% where those 5% were really brutally Grassi and and it give a bad bad name to the and and I get what you’re saying the movement itself wasn’t an aggressive fish but some of what incurred then and and there was so much going on there but it’s it’s always the same way yeah yeah well but but but then you had the government who you know with with Jed G hoovera who was who was going he only he didn’t only go after the uh black panthers you know he went after the kennedies and everybody else you know so you had that corruption within the US government that you know that that people would Overlook you know but but other things I can say but what I see what I see between you know what I gone through in America and what you know I think what people have gone through over here in you know in Northern Ireland like I said there’s been a major Improvement uh they’ve identify things that that need to be addressed you know to put everything on an on an equal kill and you know gradually you’re getting there but you look at politics you know sometimes the Pol I used to joke about the politics over here and then when Donald Trump one I had to shut up well and and and like but and I might have to shut up again no no because and this is a thing I would often say that I think politics in this country is the shackle to the Past yeah because the only thing that keeps their par and them in place is playing that that green and blue c that that you know or was green and orange politics and but we’re you know I think we’re on the the cusp of a different age like we have children attend and like integated things that’s not even it’s not even thought about it’s not done now where it actively had to be done it’s done now because their friends are here or their friends are there uh you’re you’re my kids have no idea even just you were saying about whenever you come to Ireland and you know going through security so the checkpoints so Cookstown at that time like me and on we we were probably it was one way in and one way out at Cookstown so there was concrete ballards put on each of the way side roads cooktown Main Street what is it 2 m long 3 m long so they had long as straight one at the top one at the bottom checkpoint and they had checkpoints so these were tirs the were TIR set up and the the Army was standing stopping everybody but I’m I’m just I’m going to that story because my uncle he actually lived in Philly for years so he did and I mind he actually come home at one stage and I don’t know whether he was drinking or what it was but he had he had got a flight home and I think this is the right story but he had came down in the middle of the street and either fell asleep or what and drove into the checkpoint and they jumped out and they were going to shoot him they thought that he was somebody who was trying to drive into them and kill them so he came down the street and straight into the checkpoint crashed in it and the British army jumped out with guns and they were going to shoot him they thought that he was like a bomber or whatever but you know behold woke up who the [ __ ] pocked out there but that’s a different time and and that’s only one generation yeah and where are at the tail end of it I actually said this in another podcast one time I was lying in my bed one night and I I’ll never forget this as long as I live and I can be that old so this is in greed as a as a life memory because it’s very Vivid in my even the smells of going to my Granny if that makes sense to you like I it’s ingrained my head I can remember the blankets we were lying bed and the next thing a cop come in to our bedroom I top bunk my my brother in the bottom bunk one of them scoop me up and goes we’re gone let’s go and I can hear him shouting myad was going what’s going on what’s going on and back then the doors didn’t lock like get didn’t lock the door they were just walking in it was a bomb was four doors up and when we came out I could see this like we robot thing like a we tracks thing I can just remember the lares and it all come up around the front and they’re all in and we were just we were getting evacuated down to the our side of the Housing state and we luckily my granny lived down the our side and we went and we the three of us my two we sisters me were putting the bed I can still remember like the blanket the the the scenario because I was like there’s a bomb there’s a bomb up at our house like but you near laugh about it now you near laugh about them things now and be like all right you mind the time and scooped up but at that time that was a real thing like there’s a potential that there would have been a bomb going off in somebody’s house or underneath a car whatever else so the reality of that there is very different and you know how you know times are changing nobody bought her nid nobody said a night nothing was in the paper and nobody can Don anything nobody you know now if something happens everyone everyone and I think everyone with the right mind there’s still always that small percentage we always say that want want to keep the the you know they just want me him and and and thing but like you know and not to pick certain things but a young policeman was attacked while he was up training uh footballers up with that I know about that yes followed up on that absolute disgust through the whole entire community that something like this could happen and now and something that was a norm and a given and not a norm and a given but something that was not not the same as when that’s how you know things are changing and that’s why I have good hope for the young but also see social media see social media I’m laughing this because you talk about segregation we segreg so we went to a Catholic school then I went to Mex scho and I had never met a Protestant till I went to Mexico and I swear I swear to they were going to have horns in their head no the the I know but that that this sounds so silly right and it was and but the similarities in in the past like we’re talking about we’ve religious differences and you have yours are more obvious cuz they color differences right but they’re not more they’re not once you ask go he dead on or I’m playing rby with him next week you know and then you realize this is all for gazi this is all a pish you know because you know then you realize that my biggest thing was intriga and and and that’s why I went to that because I was like the separation in housing and keeping in different areas in different schools made me believe that these people were evil without ever knowing anything right and then then all through my Rugby life I played I couldn’t tell you who was what I could tell you by name because we know by name but some names you don’t know and then you don’t and but I can tell you one thing we used to slag the absolute life each and the names we used to call each other people would have said that that was but this was the banter that we used to have you know and and back and forth and like we’d have had that but what about the boy used to drive us home from the car wash well I name him used to say how you be F all the time I know those words but but he was that was that I would clean something and I step back and goes Jes that’s a bit more Protestant look but that was because we had that level of b or things can be said now and people are so weary of what you know I always say where is your heart when you say something if there’s a malice in you when you’re saying something then that’s that’s what we need to be careful of now we’re getting so in the world and we do need to be right and right in what we say and right what we say because we’re upset people or were were you know there’s years of HT or things like that there and maybe on this podcast us talking about this and people will say realize the heart what we were saying but there’s times when people say something and you get a glimpse of of who they are and it’s not good it’s not a good Glimpse MH you know what’s in their heart so I always say sometimes I always be so worried in social media cuz I am the worst person I come out with things with there’s no filter in my my head and I say something and I’m like someday and I say but the one constant thing I always have my head is I don’t have hate for anyone I’m not a I’m not a sectarian I’m not a racist person I’m you know like I I I could be a dick and I could have come out with things a time if somebody ever caught that or I said that thing at a time you know and it wasn’t because my thought PN is just something that I’ve said if I was caught at that time and that was shown again it would put me in in a in a bad light but like I think everyone I I genuinely think if anyone could ever say they haven’t said something at a time that if it was caught on the one off it it wouldn’t true you Bly but I would say in general how people are and that’s why it was what we’ve had come and we’re talking about this and it’s just it’s like a parallel it it it it is it has so many similarities and and and in that and and it does relate to that and we always be like we shouldn’t touch we get a lot of politicians especially around this time of year where they’re they want the reach so the message and we’re like we can’t we we’re we’re hands off because we don’t really we don’t bother that but no it’s good to have you here because it’s good to hear somebody that actually actually has lived you know coming here and seeing this with experiencing their own uh civil rights you know at home and coming here and seeing how we you know as a culture how we’re coming on I you know I actually tried to get on the policing board several times and got down to I got to the first level one time but you know you know I know every place is is who you know yeah you know and my view of thinking of getting on it was because I thought I would have AIT a different perspective yeah you know view yeah because you know I worked with you know I was I’ve worked with quite a few of the U uh policing Bo with with the police on certain um uh they had different groups related to the ethnic minorities and and I was working with with them on a couple of those uh organizations and you know and know quite a few police anyway because some of them live not not too far from me and you know we would talk back and forth about different things and are you sure you’re not in the CIA or something no working 19 was all cover I reckon you’re what do you think I’ve seen enough movies no like like for example you know I don’t know if seever about seven eight years ago there was a there was a big mess that was going on in Belfast and you know you all always they always have the uh helicopters and stuff you know video and and stuff and uh some people threw some threw some bricks down on these police and and uh you know see in America you know whether I it’s not that I support a policing completely you know in terms of America because you got that 10% that’s that’s bad but see over here you know they let people get away with it you know you you you videoing them and then and you know you you let you see who actually dropped the uh bricks on these policemen’s head and you know they’re not arrested you know that’s one thing about Americans sometime when they if if you go in there when they go in they they not going to sit around and tap dance around yeah you know they’re going to clear sh you you look at what’s going on you know you go look at stuff that’s going on in der or London dery which way or whichever way you want to call it and you see trucks being burned and all that that will not happen in America it will not happen you know even though like I say there is some there’s some issues related to American police but you will not see that they’re going to sit there and let uh but that but that here yeah yeah totally politicians here don’t unite know there’s a thing there there is a thing here and it’s a weird thing now because h i be out in Sp a lot and two of the guys I know are police out there and anywhere we go they are held in quite high regard in their Community they are you know where we hold doctors and we hold solicitors we have this level of respect and you know no not respect but you know what I mean they the whole positions in the community that people would look in in Sp that is a a position of authority but also the becomes a level of respect with it yeah and people are like hey you know Jose is in the in the police loal and and and he’s a good he’s he’s a good guy and he’s a good job you need any problem you speak to him so it’s here and America has it too because of of of the history that they had that people look at certain jobs like that and they don’t give it the respect so when they go out they’re almost saying like oh that’s part and partial of your job why should that be part and partial why should the Patra bomb being thrown at you while you’re trying like the funny thing about it is the people that threw these things right if something was going terribly wrong and they’re in trouble the first thing they’re going to do is ring the police you know and and and that is it’s it’s the most ironic thing about it and on here we’ve give them a lot of slating we’ve actually give a lot of Praise You Know in in the way some of the things have been handled and the way some of the things have been mishandled you know so but it’s I think until you get to a place where uh and I think this is a good sign and in a commun in a in a in a in a in a culture that if a place and a and a court system is respected that they’ve earned it they have to have earned it like you know then it shows you that things are in a lot better of a place you know and maybe I’m giving not a glamorized view of Spain but I would say other countries around the world that that that that they have it they have a good balance you’re out in Australia or New Zealand that’s respect the job out there not around here and you go but between paddle bombs and thrown bricks on place’s heads have you enjoyed Ling yeah well let me just say one other point I mean like this is why I feel as though they don’t really realize the the luck how lucky they are you know because over here you’ve got the you know you all use the uh the Water cannons whereas in America you know they’re using bullets yeah and and and and even you know I know a lot of the police and I know that even when they use the water cannons they have to go to the arbman because they got to go through all of this crap related to what was the pressure of the water and all of this you know I know all the background I’m saying I’d rather get hit with some water then hit with a gun I but look listen if you know this is the thing about this here right if you know how sharp the teeth in the dog is you ain’t going to want to get bit so like they know they can stand around and they know there’s too much bollocks that they have to go through that like the chances and then if they see a can roll in they’ll all disperse right but there’s nothing funnier than watching a man get absolutely lifted off the roof of a car by a water Cann but but what I’m saying is you know you start gathering in America and [ __ ] me it could go absolutely so I like because you know have you ever seen the clip of the Florida Sheriff talking about the home invasion and he’s like look obviously one of them one of you have shot somebody um you haven’t come forward you’re in a bit of trouble we don’t we you won’t get in trouble here in the State of Florida because we in encourage you to shoot but if you want to come on the weekend we will give you shooting practice so that when you shoot them you’ll shoot them dead and it’ll save the taxpayer money and I was like right first and foremost what sort of it’s it’s crazy that he can come out but he’s right he’s right because now what’s going to happen is how often is someone going to go around and Breck in at someone’s home if they know that they’re going to get shot yeah you know you know if you have that and like that’s what I’m saying to like we we have uh serial offenders here that broke into 14 15 people’s houses and so and people don’t know the untold damage that it leaves they think oh they stole a few pound there’s people no they’ve broke the window and cut themselves and then they suited off the person that owns the house that’s what’s happened but but that’s how I messed up it is here but you’re right yeah but tell meh yourself have you experienced much racial abuse when you you’ve come to Northern irland because we I I know I’m going to give you a conversation later on about how I’ve witnessed years ago but have you have you had much bother no I’ve it it happened one time um when I had first got here uh and my my wife told me don’t act like I was back in America because I was getting ready to go back and I play baseball I was getting ready to go back to the house and get a baseball bit and uh give him a good weapon you know you what it was right it was right during the the the 12th and we was going down you know going uh down to to watch you know the celebration and you know it was some young drunk drunken guys who wanted to try to make some comments and uh made a couple of slurred comments that I didn’t like but I I decided to just to just to overlook it uh but other than that i’ know I’ve never had had any any major problems my daughters have had a couple of problems um but the schools have actually taken care of that uh in in in both instances there was one instance that my my daughter had that happened at at her house she was moving and a local Northern Ireland person uh made some very nasty comments and so she called she called the police and I was actually going to pick her up to bring her back to my house uh but she know how I was so she wouldn’t let me in the house so uh to the police came and uh when the police when the police came uh the male policeman uh was pretty nasty to a certain extent the the female policewoman uh really was very fair in relationship to the problem that had had occurred and what was what’s happening is the comments that were made to my daughter she actually called my Mo my my my wife and was talking to her on the phone and the policeman who was up there he heard her talking and pretty much tried to side with the person who was who had been making the negative you know [ __ ] type comments to my daughter and uh and you know so I actually took it to the to the to the husman and uh we had a and and and they didn’t they didn’t get rid of him but they uh yeah let him know that you know uh this is not the way you’re supposed to be acting and you know I had it documented but there’s a part of me this in a way you we all know how like you know well just just one comment remember the the George Floyd p uh I was actually there for the George Floyd uh uh Pro peaceful protest and I actually spoke at the event and you know the police were coming out they came out before you know before the event actually started and you know they stopped and asked me you know uh all these questions and I pretty much had to tell him you know uh see he thought I was probably an immigrant or a migrant Refugee and I said said look you you want my US Passport or you want my Irish passport I really don’t care what you want you want to write a ticket write it you know and so you know he wrote a ticket and stuff but if you followed up on it they all had to apologize because they had discriminated against uh us when we did that when we did that peaceful protest you you you got arrested not arrested but I just got a got a ticket to find like a uh disturbance of the pie or what or like it was related to because it was right around the time of Co oh right okay okay now but but the thing about it is the people the group that put the put the protest together they marked off that the distance between the people was double what the original one was supposed to be so it was more than just okay it’s supposed to be 6 feet it was 12et it doesn’t matter now we’re all looking back at it and saying you give people out fins while while you were attending party and like it Jesus was a stupid but but it was see was a double standard because I I mean I was if you check out I mean I was on TV quite a bit with BBC and TV talking because they were talking to me my probably probably because I was an American also but and I was there but I highlighted the fact that you know the week before there was a whole group up in Newcastle because the weather was so good and they gave out no they gave nobody tickets the week after you know there was a lot of the uh UDA guys and stuff there thinking that we were going to be there the next week because there had been a lot of protests in London related to statues being knocked down for people who used to be slave own and see so they thought and so they were doing a protest the next week related to you know protecting the statues and they thought that we were going to be there which we weren’t and the police gave nobody a ticket you know and so that was brought up you know and that’s why you know they had an internal investigation related to in the psnr and they had to come back and state that yes there was a double standard they discriminated and the police horsman did a a fill report and say the exact same thing so they had to end up apologizing you know over here y’all do a lot of apologies you know people I I’m not interested in apologies just admit the fact that you’re going to correct what you’ve done wrong the only thing you know when when they’re embarrassed and they have to make public apologies somebody’s getting slapped on the wrist somewhere to to improve and maybe if a situation like that Rose again that they would you know it not that I would be defended because I get what you’re saying a par military group is going to come out one week and it’s no problem and people are going to hold a peaceful protest next week and and then it becomes an issue um you know it almost feels like this conversation doesn’t change we think we’re getting better and even America thinks that you know they’re getting better and then things happen to to show things that it’s not it’s not you know it’s not gone away yeah um George Floyd created that massive black lives matter movement um you know for us and and and when you’re you’re talking about things like that but I I actually the reason I said this to you is because for a lot of younger ones now you know Northern Ireland Ireland as a whole and it’s it’s now starting to experience more problems with mass immigration and and and how they’re finding their way forward with with new religions and and and different things but I remember when I was younger and uh I we we were in primary school I had a very close friend who was mix R and he he was the only mixed R child in our school and it like and you know the like it all remind me of the the Japanese old proverb of the netics outs going to have the most bother and and and only he was a big big boy and a strong boy like you mess with him you you know you and almost a part of me was like he had to be like that because he did get he did get and and I would like to think that our our we’re pretty tolerant culture and we’re we’re good culture because we’re bring you on to an our thing and I I don’t and I want to ask you because the reason I asked you your experience was and and he he he did have a lot of hustle you know not anywhere around us not anywhere around our thing because people knew what he’s like you know he’s a big boy athletic boy you want to you want to give him [ __ ] you’re going to get a B it wasn’t even that it was we got home them he was a good lad he was a we up together we we all up we actually didn’t know this this is how this is what I’m saying about living together and grw up because we all wanted the same together there’s no difference it’s only like other schools that we want to do things somebody else would say something more like we didn’t realize there was a difference you know you realize it different but we it wasn’t conscious in my mind I’ll tell you exact same thing my my mom’s from London and she is a very strong London accent and I didn’t know she had a different accent until I was older is that s because it’s all I knew mhm so I didn’t know till the point I looked around I was like oh [ __ ] that’s right he does have and and and and then this happened and I seen that and I was like but the reason I’m saying that to you is because I remember one time uh this Canadian uh tourist was here and he wrote a report and and he was a white guy and and he wrote a report and he says Northern island is the most racist place he’s ever been to in his life and that he had and and it was homophobic and racist towards him and I was like call me b but I didn’t believe what he was saying mhm I was like nor nor is too caught up in fighting each other to have enough time to go down this but maybe you see this is what I’m saying maybe that’s the blinker view that I’m only given from from my knowledge and maybe that guy was buying on maybe I was completely wrong but that’s why I want to ask you how it was for you settling back here and and like you know what did you experience now I know we’re going through a very transitional period here where like you know when you were here and that’s not a long time ago when you come here in the ’90s there wouldn’t have be many black men yeah but now you know if you were up you wouldn’t be it it wouldn’t be the only person you know what I mean it wouldn’t be you know you’re different because there’s so many different races now in Norther over the last 30 years that’s how quick it’s changed mhm well one of the things that that I’ve done I mean I work with a lot of Charities and one of the Charities is a charity called Aon which is African Community Support organization and you know one of the things that we would do I worked with for about 15 years is we would work with government organizations to help you know people who are coming in from different you know the different ethnic minority countries to blend in and understand you know what benefits they could get and and how to accept the culture here and to hopefully get you know people here to understand and accept you know their culture also uh you know I work I guess I work with fair trade and I work with tiny life the premature baby uh I’m still with the tiny well with with fair trade I work I’m on the lisburn and the Belfast fair trade Community we we actually started it up about 15 years ago and and I still work with fa trades that looks after from for source and stuff that there um cuz a lot of it comes from you know smaller count where the the big companies don’t give the benefit to those countries you know and and a lot of War torn count diamonds stuff that’s been pled and P and stuff like that so there there once to get it to F tree because I know that’s massive in the jewelry industry that that the if for treade say look listen this isn’t Sly own Diamond this is you know stuff like that there but um like you know but like the bananas and you know coffee and all of those type of things you know we we we try to push you know not push but it’s made a lot of conglomerates have to have to change stuff they stock stuff they at the start they were like you’ll never get anywhere I remember when that was coming about you’ll never get anywhere and and now there a lot of them it’s nearly become like it’s that’s the standard now you must be for which is brilliant so like you obviously do a lot you obviously put a lot back into the community you’ve listed about four or five different charties and working with IDs and working and and thing so like you’ve rightly integrated into the community you know would you call here your home uh pretty much uh yeah I mean I you know I I actually did quite a bit with one of the churches I go to I mean it’s it’s not a question you know it is a as a Protestant church but it’s not a question whether I’m Protestant or Catholic or you know I’m a Baptist technically from American standpoint and the church that I was going to was legga Curry and they would send people out to uh a bino Faso to drill for water because you know people couldn’t drink you know the water was so bad there and I just I decided to go raise my hand and go there and help I been I went there around three or four times there and uh where is is that North Africa yeah yeah North Africa uh Prett it’s not not the place to go to now but when I was there it wasn’t wasn’t as bad as it is right now but uh you know it was a place where you know I just enjoyed the fact that I was able to provide you know with the church helping out because you know we we benefit from the St that we forget about the fact of how how easy it is for us to drink good clean water and stuff like that and and then you go out there and you know they they’re just looking at you know one of the even one of the cups that plastic bottles that you drink and you putting it in the trash and you know they’re running there to get that because that’s the only thing they’ll be able to get so that they can actually drink water out of anything and uh so I mean I really enjoyed being able to give back you know there must have been a great feeling that if you go out there and you install mine or you know there must have been a great sense of you know pride and and and because a lot of the churches do amazing missionary work there was an amazing woman here locally and she she actually got shot out didn’t thing but the amount of mission work i’ done was absolutely incredible but one one thing you said you were talking about your was it your your cousin your your aunt something from Canada who you hadn’t seen in years you made a comment a couple ago when I went to um my last I’m this has I just let you know how old I am I went to my 50th class anniversary High School class reunion a couple of years ago and uh you know and I I say was integrated and we had you know quite a several of you know the whites Who had who had been integrated and they actually came and it just highlighted how you know you got to overlook sometime the mentality that’s not actually what you thought what you would really like to be you know they actually came there and enjoyed enjoyed our enjoyed the event and uh you know looking forward to having our 55th Earth one you know they already started looking for something like that to see people you know to see people who are still around uh get together again yeah yeah and do do you go back to nor much uh I go back every I nor I go back every year yeah because uh I bought a house for my mother uh and my mother and father back in the 1990s and that was when I was doing I was doing well working working overseas so and I just felt that they had done so much to help me to get be able to me and my I got a twin brother too we we went to college and you know my sister went to col know and you know they you know they had to struggle because times are times were tough then and it’s always it’s always still been a double standard you know I mean I mean yeah black people are doing better than they used to do but you know you’ll never catch up from what happened in slavery you know I mean you look at America yeah yeah you got a few blacks that are millionaires and billionaires but if you look at the relationship you know like I keep saying you know you’ll never catch up you know you just got to be happy with what you get do you think that H do you think think they’ll never catch up yes I yes yes you’ll never catch up you you know you can’t look at what somebody you know you’ve got four 500 years where you know they got all of the you know you look at the you look at America how how much property would would you know because most of the stuff is based on you know real estate and property you know and back in those days you know they discriminated in terms of EV being able to even buy property and even when my father was in the military and they had the GI Bill they the bank still discriminated against against them and the government was supposed to be helping to get them money so that they could buy property you know but the reason I asked you that is and and because it it make me sad to think that things can’t level out or change because America’s only for 300 years old as it is now you know it was Native America before 1700 before Christopher columus went out so like and you’re talking about back then 40 and 50 years ago there’s a massive change now like you know you would have you wouldn’t have that same issue that that you might have new issues or less but things are changing in a short you couldn’t when you when they were inting the school if I told you there was going to be a black president within your lifetime you may have struggled to believe that yes I agree so things have changed and would it would be sad to think that it’ll never catch up or it’ll never be just you know if you’re your skill set who you are is what determines your future because it almost presets for for younger black children that you can’t achieve that where you can go to the highest position in the land there’s nothing nothing off the table I agree with you 100% I mean but but even even related to you even related to Obama um you know getting eight years which was good uh you know the reason the reason why um who was it uh who was it the lady um Clinton Clinton Hillary re I you know Hillary Clinton you know didn’t get it uh is because partly because America a lot of the Americans who didn’t vote who hadn’t been voting for years you know were upset that Obama had won two times you know it it still goes back to race no matter what you say you know related to the Republicans and the Democrats I normally vote Democrat you know now this year I you know I don’t know what I want to vote because neither one of them you know they they both of them are joke to me you know you go with Trump or you go with Biden Biden can’t even remember what his name is sometimes he’s not a well person you know he’s i i i i i my biggest weirdest thing about this is is the people gloss over that this monzel yeah he is literally suffering from some sort of Alzheimer’s or demena in front of the in the strongest position and and I I I find it it it highlights the the the puppet politician role as in the wealthy people are behind that’s right but the fact that in the Forefront of everything is an ill person and nobody has seemed to have addressed this is is to me I’m like is is is is people just like does nobody say that this is an an elderly old man that he’s ill that he’s in the highest powerful position in the world that he’s got nuclear codes that that this man’s not well the Democrats can’t come up with somebody better than it that’s the question is you know whether whether it’s a Democrats or whether it’s an independent you know you need somebody who’s supposed to be representing the the strongest country in the world and you know it just makes you scratch your head you know what I’m actually thinking here too you know for staying away from politics We Done Right our job but then so look you know where’s life for you now your your your young yours are growing up have you any grandchildren oh no not yet not yet not yet no no grandchildren yet but uh hopefully hopefully they’ll get there soon you know but you know it’s been like I say it’s been a good a good life for me I mean um the fact that I was lucky enough to actually even start working overseas you know and I didn’t think I was going to do that you know and you know I’ve I’ve met quite a few nice people I mean my my best friend is uh you remember the movie The The Bodyguard and my best friend is the uh saxophone player Kurt whan right yeah and uh in fact we I talk to him every almost every other day we talk on on WhatsApp and all that and and he actually came over here in 2014 and did a free concert he came over to visit me because I had I had visited him in in at his home in Memphis we actually met in 1979 when I was working in Houston he was playing at a in Houston he he’s from Memphis but I met him he was going to school in Houston and I was working for Exxon down there and he was playing at a club and we met up and we and at that time he wasn’t that uh star but he got picked up by Bob James and uh and then but we just kept in contact with each other even when I was working over in Saudi Arabia and and then uh you know then he you know became real I wouldn’t say famous but he you know he became real popular and uh because I actually met u i met Whitney Houston through him because one time I flew in from from Saudi Arabia and I always would try to find out where he’s playing it and I’d say if I if I got time you know I was I was making good money so if he if he was in a different place I could afford to fly over even if I fly I fly into North for got you know if he said oh I’m in Houston or I’m in this place I would fly over and catch him playing and he said I’m up in Boston uh playing with uh with Whitney and U and this is when she was just started dating uh what was that yeah she had just because I I didn’t meet him but he was there uh and uh he said if you can get up to Boston I got free tickets for you so I flew up there and met her and and you know saw him again and uh like I said we’ve been we’ve been good friends you know and I’m trying to get him to come back uh he said he wants to come back because he did a he actually did a memorial for my mother when she passed away uh he was actually in nor that weekend that of the funeral uh that my mother passed away and he did a memorial for and he actually did a memorial for me uh for my birthday this year you know I turned 70 and he uh he did a video clip you know talking about our all of our 35 40 years of knowing each other yeah so uh so I’ve been I’ve been lucky I mean i’ you know you’re saying that like you’re done you’re not done yet I’m not done yet no didn’t I say my i’ now and I’ve got good local friends here you know I mean I know you know I know uh I’ve known Robin Robin Elliott for around 14 years we’ve been good friends in fact he had he and he was helping me out when Kurt came here because he actually did a couple of interviews with Kurt when he was here and uh last year I met the uh James Martin and uh you know because he you know he’d won the Oscar and I met him at the um US Consul at the Fourth of July event where you know they don’t invite any Americans uh normally but they invite me because I complained so much I said I said you look I’ve been working you know I’ve been working overse for 40 some years and I’ve had good relationships with with the consulants and embassies you know especially in Saudi Arabia you know I was there doing the Gulf War you know and so she di right now yeah and I I used to go I used to go up to the front line with you know where where they were fighting and you know because we and then we would invite them back down to our houses you know when uh during that during the time so uh you know but I had good relationships because one time we had to we complained with the US cons US Government Us consulant in and Embassy in daharan because they didn’t provide us with with the uh gas mask and the other countries were providing gas mask for their for their for their people and so we had to write we voiced highly complaint and then then about two two or three days later we we got gas mask but it’s not because you know because all the military people were getting mask but then you know I said you know we’re we’re civilians we Americans you know you you know what are you you supposed to be supporting us also Al and uh when it got when it got on CNN news then we actually got it you’ve lived you need to start writing Memoirs of of all this oh I by the way I was during the Gulf War I was out know I was in the Gulf when when the golf war was going on yeah so um I got a piece of a a scod missile if you want to see one too oh doesn’t surprise me re I put it my C my wife don’t like seeing it up there so and uh well you know tell me this so what you you you’re inated in thing what do you do now as your down time you work with a lot of different chares and well I I work part time at a at a at a bakery because one my father was a cook in the military and I I really like uh cooking and baking and uh I actually had a cafe in lisb for a couple of years uh and it was more pretty much American type uh cuz I like to bake and stuff and uh I mean at my house I I might invite you to the house one time I’ve actually got a smoker that I built I built myself yeah had me on a l i don’t know if you know this to look at me but I would enjoy a good bar I you know cuz I I smoke my turkeys I smoke my my ribs and stuff so for a lot of people Virginia places like that that the smoking that’s the home of of you know barbecue and stuff like that me and my brother we actually made a smoker as well yeah so my uncle does a lot of fishing yeah and he smokes his own salmon yeah so uh remember the first spot he had said about smoking making a smoker so me and my brother we welded up two drums and smoker but Sam was nice now not the first B remember do you remember how smoked it put far too much stuff in it and it was too close you know remember the first one but H you have a smoker right let me just just give you that it’s it’s actually built off of a a commercial refrigerator you know so that means I got plenty of face and then I got this smoking end on the end of it what what are we talking are we brisket ribs brisket ribs I smoke my turkeys I don’t I mean I haven’t cooked a turkey in the oven in about 20 20 some years and I and I also have a turkey fryer you know see Americans we we fry turkey also so I you know I’m you know I may have lived over here for these many years but I I I bring my equipment from America when I need to yeah what what what sort of rubs is the bouron what are we until here just to give me a clear idea of what I can expect when I stop cuz you’re Mak so at the moment you know you’re you’re working parttime and you’re still in Belfast you’re working with the charties and all’s good yeah yeah everything’s good everybody keeps saying you know I’m cutting my grass they say why why don’t you have a rideing lawn more yet I said no I don’t need a rten lawn more I’m I’m strong enough to be able to push a lawn more I can I can keep cutting my grass okay I’m fine I thoroughly enjoyed talking to you and and it was great to have you up and and it was great to have you at the live show you know we had we chat after we didn’t get the the chat much but it was good to have you but it was great to have you here and uh I’d like to keep in touch and definitely will barbecue I’m going call you fire up the dates regie and we we be there but look I want to thank you very much for coming up and and I want to thank you for sharing your your your journey with us and and it’s been good crack good crack thank you very much thank you hope you enjoyed it for