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First of All with Victor Blackwell

Stories That Will Impact Communities Of Color In 2025; Making Sense Of The Economy And Finances Ahead Of New Year; How To Build Wealth Regardless of Income Level In New Year; The Potential Impact Of Asking "What's Your Street Race?"; Actor Gabriel Luna On Increasing, Improving Latino Roles; CNN's Victor Blackwell Explores His Family's Fight For Freedom; Alicia Keys And Swizz Beatz Share Art Collection. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired December 28, 2024 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:00:00]

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He was a trailblazer in many ways and loved by many. In 2001, he became the first African American man chosen for the role of play-by-play at a Super Bowl. And he also hosted coverage of three Olympic Games in the 90s. He was a CBS studio host for March Madness for over 25 years. Greg Gumbel, losing his battle with cancer at the age of 78. And in speaking with a lot of my colleagues over the last 24 hours or so, you can just see how much he was loved and respected, revered by so many. Sad to see him pass away. Back to you.

Truly a trailblazer and a legend.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Carolyn, thank you.

AMARA WALKING, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Carolyn.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And thank you so much for joining us this morning.

WALKER: Thanks for being here. A special edition of First of All with Victor Blackwell is next.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, first of all, this is a special edition of our show. We're getting ready to welcome in the new year, and I wanted to take a look at the stories we've been committed to covering in 2024 that will continue to impact as we head into 2025.

So this hour we'll revisit conversations about the future of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, increasing representation of people of color, from the census to our TV screens, our movie screens. But if there is any story that shaped our year the most and set the stage for what's to come next year, it's the state of the economy. The conventional wisdom is that those issues define the 2024 presidential race. So we'll start this morning with a look at how we can all get our money right in the next year. Here to share their insight are Troy Millings and Rashad Bilal.

Together, they are the founders of the platform Earn Your Leisure. And they're the authors of a new book coming out in January, You Deserve To Be Rich, Master The Inner Game Of Wealth, and Claim Your Future. Gentlemen, thank you for being with me.

Let me start here because for those people who are not familiar with your platform and all the arms of it, Earn Your Leisure sounds like a mantra. It sounds like a directive statement. So let's start with the philosophy of how you approach wealth, building money and finances.

RASHAD BILAL, CO-CREATOR, EARN YOUR LEISURE: For sure. So our slogan is assets over liabilities. And that is something that is true in all things in life, but especially when it comes to money. So we're balanced people. We don't try to live like monks and tell people that they can't have any luxuries, but we feel that society as a whole has prioritized liabilities over assets. So we always encourage people to Pay themselves first to invest into the stock market, to invest into their 401(k)'s, to invest into real estate, to learn about cryptocurrency first as a priority and then with the money left over, have fun, go out, you know, go shopping, as opposed to what most people do with. They get paid and they have fun.

After they pay their bills, they go out, they go shopping, they go to sports games, and then any money that's left over, they try to save it.

BLACKWELL: Okay, so let's break this down because you talked about a lot of investing, but for some people this morning, investments seems a little far off. They're living paycheck to paycheck. They're just trying to make last Friday meet next Friday, right? So if, Troy, we are talking to those folks specifically, what step one, how do they get out of what seems like just struggling to keep their head above water?

TROY MILLINGS, CO-CREATOR, EARN YOUR LEISURE: Well, I think the first thing is to realize the mindset, right? The first thing is to understand that investing is for everybody. So it doesn't matter if you have a hundred dollars or if you have $10,000, you can participate in it. But I think the most important thing that people forget to do is actually create a plan. So first create a budget and see how much you're spending versus how much you're making and figuring out what you're going to do with that in between. Money, right? Do you have passive income? So we'd like to encourage people to do something called dollar cost averaging into the stock market because we know for one thing is that money will always replicate and appreciate over time if you put it into the economy.

We've always taught people that saving your way to wealth is not the strategy, right? We have to invest, we have to make sure that our assets are appreciating over time. And so when you start planning and budgeting for it now, then the future is going to look a lot better than it does now.

BLACKWELL: You know, you talked about the mindset, and part of what I understand you approach in this new book is the paycheck-to-paycheck psychological impact. If you grew up in a household where just trying to make it, as I said from last Friday to next Friday. What'd you find about the impact of that, Rashad?

BILAL: Yes, it's detrimental for sure. You operate from a scarcity mindset as opposed to an abundance mindset. And as Troy said, you know, it comes down to budgeting a lot of times too. So if you don't have enough money left over, it's really two things that you can do at the end of the month. You can find ways to make more money or you can cut back, right? So the best thing is to actually do both.

So when you live paycheck to paycheck, a lot of times we don't even think about it. We just wing it because we just know that, okay, we're going to just spend however much we're going to get paid and then just wait until next month. So that idea of budgeting is really crucial, but also the idea of gaining new skills. Right. And that's why we encourage entrepreneurship.

[08:05:16]

I think investing in entrepreneurship kind of goes hand in hand. And that's something that we talk about in the book as well. As far as, you know, you can be an entrepreneur and still have a full-time job. A lot of times people think that it's one or the other, but we live in an economy right now where really no job is really 100 percent secure.

So if you're trying to have more money at the end of the month, then you should definitely look to cut back on things. But you should also look to increase your income at the same time. And there's a couple different ways how you can do that. But being an entrepreneur is something that I think is vitally important in today's society.

BLACKWELL: Do you think, this was a conversation I was having with my producer before the show? Does every person, or at least every household need a side hustle?

MILLINGS: Yes, I think it's important. Right. We always live by this mantra that one income is too close to none. And so like you said, no job is safe in this economy, especially with artificial intelligence. And that's not going anywhere. It's going to replace a lot of jobs and a lot of jobs that people in our community are used to or accustomed having.

So we got to figure out ways not to call them side hustles, but have side interests and side skills. So investing could be one of them. Trying to create a new business could be one of them. Or finding investment partners to create something new with is vitally important. Right. If we're looking at the future, working together is something that we have to look as an action plan to the future of our generation.

BLACKWELL: Yes. So there we've talked a bit about the people who are just trying to live paycheck to paycheck or get beyond paycheck to paycheck. And now the people who are financially stable, but they look at their top-line gross income or salary, and they think that number should buy me a better life than I have, a better lifestyle than I have. What is the editing auditing process to determine how to get more out of what you already have?

BILAL: The only way is that you have to beat inflation. At a multiple, at least three times more than what inflation is. So investing is the only way to do that. And if you feel that you're not living the way that you should live based off of the money that you're making, that's because the money that you're making is not what you think it really is. So, you know, growing up, we always thought that $100,000 was the benchmark. That's what we come from, working-class environments. And when we made $100,000 living in New York, we realized that didn't really go too far.

So that's why we really encourage investing. Because if you invest, then you're not, may not necessarily gain the benefits of that right away unless you're day trading or something like that. But over the course of time, your money is going to grow faster than inflation, so you'll be able to actually enjoy it at a certain point in time, as opposed to living in a situation where you're constantly making more money, but the prices of things constantly go up as well. So that's why it's vitally important to always put money into the market, put money into investments, but also increase your income over the course of time as well.

Being an entrepreneur is not something that we just encourage because we want the freedom and the luxuries, but it also allows you to kind of gauge your income up as opposed to a job which usually stays the same over the course of time.

BLACKWELL: There are some people who have to have some tough conversations when they look at -- how do I put this? There are some of us who are the beneficiaries of maybe a family investment to get where we are, to get us into college, through college, and we now have pretty high-paying jobs, but have maybe a hybrid of responsibility and obligation to take care of the whole family. How do we have some of those conversations if we want to do right by the people who did right by us, but the challenge of building wealth and growing financially is impeded? How do you approach those conversations?

MILLINGS: I mean, they're conversations that we need to have. A lot of times money, and especially the future of money is not discussed at our dinner tables. And so having strategic plan and being educated around it, right, whether that looks like how we're preparing for our state, how we're preparing for our wills, also how we're preparing for the next generation. We always hear the term generational wealth, but more importantly to us is sustainable wealth. What lessons are we passing down so that these conversations, when they come about life, there's an untimely death or there's an illness in the family. We've already prepared for that.

And so I think the education around it, which is something we alluded to in the book as well, is very important because it gives us the actual steps that we need to take in the event that these things happen.

[08:10:01]

BLACKWELL: Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings, Earn Your Leisure. Thank you both for being with me. Their new book, You Deserve to Be Rich, Master the Inner Game of Wealth, and Claim Your Future is out January 14th.

So diversity, equity, and inclusion programs are under threat as we head into 2025, and it's a story we've been committed to covering. Ahead, a look at the debate over DEI from the military to corporate America. Plus, a look at the new CNN film about Luther Vandross that has details about the iconic singer that you've likely never heard before.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:15:13]

BLACKWELL: A story we're committed to covering in 2025 is the targeting of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. When President-elect Trump takes office next month, one of the administration's first cuts will likely be to DEI. And House Republicans appear eager to join in.

Right now, they're backing the dismantled DEI Act. It would close all federal DEI offices, prohibit funding to DEI programs, amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and overturn Biden administration executive orders. Congresswoman Yvette Clark is the next leader of the Congressional Black Caucus, and she predicts extreme pushback to any moves House Republicans or President-elect Trump make to cut programs at federal agencies.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. YVETTE CLARK, (D) CHAIR-ELECT, CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS: People of color can't dream for what they can't see. And for generations, you know, there has been such systemic racism in our nation that individuals have been held back though they have the talent, the expertise, and the ability from advancing whether it's in the federal government or the private sector due to the lack of involvement, inclusion, there has just been those lost opportunities. And what DEI does is it reminds us of the diversity of our nation, that talent comes in every person. And so what's happening right now is a backlash to recognizing the multiracial, multi-religious, multicultural nature of our country.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: And anti-DEI efforts extend well beyond Washington, D.C.'s civil workforce. President-elect Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon is vowing to remove so called WOKE leaders from the Defense Department. Pete Hegseth claims, and this is a quote, that the dumbest phrase on planet Earth in the military is our diversity is our strength.

I recently spoke with two people who have unique historical and personal perspectives on this. Captain Mary Tobin is a U.S. Army veteran. She served two combat tours in Iraq. She's a West Point grad and now a veteran fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution. Retired Major General Dana Petard is also a West Point grad who also served in Iraq. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAPT. MARY TOBIN, VETERAN FELLOW, HOOVER INSTITUTION AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY: I think the case has already been made for the strength of diversity. We see throughout our military history thousands, millions of minorities, those who would be considered a part of the WOKE crew serving in the military, and not only support positions, but also those in combat units, combat situations. I think of my fellow women, my sisters in arms who have been trained as Rangers, who have been trained in naval special warfare operations, who have, who are right now serving at various levels within our military with valor and distinction. I think of my West Point sister, Captain Lindsey Heigler, who received an award for valor supporting special operations in Afghanistan. And I think of my own service being the only woman in field artillery units and combat aviation units. And so the case has already been made.

MAJ. GENERAL DANA PITTARD, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Our U.S. military was desegregated in 1948. That allowed a lot of people of color talent to get into the military and to excel. My own father was a private in 1950, and he was able to reach the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1970. That would have never happened if the military hadn't desegregated. So there's opportunity there, but what really is, it's bringing the talent of America, whether whatever color you are, whatever gender you are, bring it to the forefront and you go as high as your talent will take you.

The ship has sailed decades ago. As far as women in combat, yes, officially, maybe 12 years ago, that certain roles of infantry and armor fire pilots was opened up. But women have been in combat for decades. So that ship has sailed. We're not going back.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: And corporate America is also facing pressure to scale back the DEI programs, especially those boosted after the protests of 2020. Walmart is the biggest company to do it so far. They recently announced an early end to a five-year, $100 million social justice investment. It was meant to address systemic issues for black people in areas like education and health and criminal justice. Walmart's racial equity training programs are also ending. LGBTQ inclusion, also a big part of DEI. Walmart says they're reviewing their funding of events like Pride.

[08:20:15]

Now, when this announcement first came out, we spoke with Shaun Harper. He's the founder of the Race and Equity Center, now based at the University of Southern California. And we asked if this signals more to come in the new year.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHAUN HARPER, FOUNDER, USC RACE AND EQUITY CENTER: You know, I think it's really fascinating to me that a social media influencer, not an expert who's worked in hundreds of companies, not a person who studied DEI and actually has data about what's happening in companies, but an influencer can take to social media and ultimately convinced dozens of companies to undo their DEI commitments. That strongly signals that they were not serious commitments to begin with.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Millions of us know and love the music of Luther Vandross. I probably shouldn't even be talking over it, but you may not know the life story behind the music. We have a look at the new CNN film. That should change that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:25:50]

BLACKWELL: There are not too many artists with a voice so iconic. We're just days away from the premiere of a new CNN film on the life and career of legendary singer Luther Vandross. And I had exclusive access to the opening of the Luther Vandross exhibit last month at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles.

His lifelong friends and music collaborators Marcus Miller and Fonzie Thornton, as well as the director of the film, Don Porter, spoke with me about Luther's legacy and who he was both on and off the stage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL (voiceover): Singer, songwriter, producer, eight-time Grammy winner with 11 consecutive platinum or double platinum selling albums. Mr. Luther Vandross. Millions of fans around the world know his unmistakable voice and classic love songs. But what you may not know is the story of how he became a star.

FONZI THORNTON, MUSICIAN AND FRIEND OF LUTHER VANDROSS: The day that I met him, it was clear to me, this dude is going to wind up being on the radio. First of all, he sang better than everybody. He had a vision about how he sang.

I try to do songs that I think I can do differently, you know, and that I think fit me, you know, sort of like what somebody chooses to wear.

BLACKWELL (voiceover): Luther was inspired by the icons, the Supremes, Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick. And before his solo career, Luther grew to be a top background vocalist.

LUTHER VANDROSS (AMERICAN SINGER-SONGWRITER AND RECORD PRODUCER): I used to sing background vocals for Roberta Flack on the road. And Roberta sometimes would have interviews and sometimes she'd be unable to show up at sound checks. So I would sing her songs for her in sound checks to test her microphone.

BLACKWELL: And throughout his career, Luther kept those friends from the early days close.

DAWN PORTER, DIRECTOR, "LUTHER: NEVER TOO MUCH": One of the many things that's so impressive about Luther over the course of his life is how his friends have remained so constant. I really wanted to have people who could tell you how he laughed, could tell you how he was silly, could tell you about him as a person.

BLACKWELL: what memories come back about Luther when you see these relics, these artifacts from that period?

There's people who can sing, there are people who can arrange, people who can play. But Luther wanted to be. He had a vision of the entire thing.

BLACKWELL: What most fans probably don't know is that Luther meticulously designed every aspect of his shows. The costumes, the lighting, and choreography.

PORTER: I love talking to people who are the, like, OG Luther fans, and they're like, you cannot tell me something I don't know. And then they're all like, what? What? What? That's a really interesting thing with a black artist is he literally was everywhere. He just wasn't always visible. I really like to think of this as also a celebration of black music.

BLACKWELL: And that's what this film is a celebration of Luther's artistry and a look at the man professionally and personally.

He called me from L.A., where he was living. He said, listen, I'm nominated for Best RNB Vocal. I'm not going to win anyway. Why don't you come and hang out with me? And went to the Grammys, and he won for here and Now. This is the dude I met in the projects, and he is winning a Grammy.

PORTER: When you kind of travel through time with this movie and with Luther's journey, you remember these moments, these spectacular moments. This is all part of American culture. It's not just black culture, it's American culture.

BLACKWELL: Nearly 20 years after his passing, Luther still inspires artists and fans through the power of his voice.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: The all-new CNN film "Luther: Never Too Much", premieres New Year's Day at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific on CNN. And there's so many talents like Luther Vandross that never get the chance to shine because the odds are stacked against them in systemic. There's another story we're committed to covering in 2025.

Ahead, a look at why representation matters and what's being done to improve it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Well, we know representation matters, and in 2024, we featured some new efforts to make 2025 and beyond more inclusive, from how we make movies to what we call ourselves and each other. On the draft version of the 2030 census, for instance, the federal government recently added new answer options to the question of race and ethnicity. Latino will be an option, and then you can choose Cuban or Colombian or Puerto Rican, for example.

[08:35:00]

And some experts argue there's important data the government is still missing. First of all, Latino is not a race. So a new report out of UCLA calls for adding another question, "Street Race"? I asked Dr. Nancy Lopez to explain what that is. She's the author of the report and co-founder of the Institute for the Study of Race and Social Justice at the University of New Mexico.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. NANCY LOPEZ, AUTHOR OF UCLA REPORT ON "STREET RACE": Street race is asking people to reflect on if you were out in public, what race do you think others who do not know you would automatically assume you are based on what you look like. And that is referring to not just skin color, but also facial features and hair texture and other physical characteristics. And why is this important? Because race is not simply about how you identify. That's absolutely important.

But it's also about how others see you when you show up to look for an apartment or you access health care in an emergency room. So we do need to collect more than one measure of race, and street race would be a major improvement. There's a saying in many Latinx homes, (Speaking in Foreign Language). Race has a visual component. Ethnicity is about your cultural heritage.

Those are two different questions and they require different questions. Just as sexuality and gender, income and wealth, those are different constructs. So you absolutely need to have separate questions. And as one of my colleagues of demographer who retired from The Census Bureau, Dr. Howard Hogan says, if you don't know what you're measuring, any question will do. So these data are crucial for understanding discrimination in housing, employment, health care, et cetera.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And representation on our screens matters to consider. Actor Pedro Pascal and Gladiator 2 big role in one of the biggest movies of the year, TBD on how the film does during award season. But if it plays a part of a broader effort to expand the kinds of roles we see Latino actors play.

Actor Gabriel Luna is the co-star of another Pedro Pascal hit, HBO's "The Last of Us." Luna is part of a campaign along with the National Hispanic Media Coalition to boost Latino representation in film. And we spoke earlier this year about why that matters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GABRIEL LUNA, ACTOR AND PRODUCER: I felt very strongly that I wanted to be at the center of the story. I wanted to be. I wanted to play characters that my mother, my grandmother would be proud of, you know, and it's -- and those roles were few and far between. It was, you know, when you grow up in this business and you see yourself and you have a vision for what could be possible, you know, you have to adhere pretty strongly to those opportunities or seeking those opportunities and know becomes a very powerful word.

And -- but you know, you wish that there were for every one role there is as a lead for a Latino there are 20 for other demographics. So it's just -- but you know, you have to play it. You have to be a little more strategic there.

And I've been very fortunate to play roles of the "Ghost Rider" from Marvel, "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." "The Terminator," "Terminator: Dark Fate," roles traditionally played and depicted by Caucasian actors. And while there -- while I was met with a bit of pushback at the onset, once it came out, it was evident that people -- if the quality is there, they're willing to accept and see themselves in heroes that are in Latino characters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Well, still ahead, I heard from so many people moved by what I discovered when I looked into my family history last year on Juneteenth. Thanks to the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina, I was able to trace my lineage back to my ancestor Sarah, who sued for her freedom from slavery. Well, this year there was a new discovery after I looked into the origins of my last name.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:43:07]

BLACKWELL: And O'Brien knows why he's an O'Brien. A Goldstein knows why she's a Goldstein. Why am I a Blackwell? A lot of black Americans have a similar question. And for a lot of us, the answer is not so simple.

So I went on a new journey this past year to see if I could find out more about the history of my family and the origins of our Blackwell name. Here's what I found.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL (voice-over): It's been one year since my family learned of our astonishing history that brought me to tears.

BLACKWELL: Man, this is -- oh, man.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): I was covering the opening of the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina. And through the genealogists in its Center for Family History, I learned that in the late 18th century, an enslaved woman in Northumberland County, Virginia named Sarah. My seven times great grandmother sued her enslaver for her freedom and the freedom of her descendants and won.

Dr. Shelley Murphy is the center's director.

DR. SHELLEY MURPHY, HEAD GENEAOLOGIST, INTERNATIONAL AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM: Your line started out enslaved and became free up until where you're at right now.

Give me a hug. How are you?

BLACKWELL: Good to see you.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): Recently, I invited Dr. Murphy to Baltimore to meet my mother and my cousins, all overwhelmed by the discovery -- all beneficiaries of Sarah's groundbreaking lawsuit.

TONY BLACKWELL, VICTOR BLACKWELL'S COUSIN: To have women step up and speak out about their freedom back then is just -- it was just incredible.

MURPHY: That threat of being killed or sold, unbelievable.

T. BLACKWELL: Yes.

MURPHY: Unbelievable. And that's something that should go generations.

ZELDA MARSHALL, VICTOR BLACKWELL'S COUSIN: That just blew me away that this was in our bloodline, you know. Sometimes you don't think it but, you know, you are -- we are powerful.

VANESSA GIBSON, VICTOR BLACKWELL'S MOTHER: And, you know, it's sad that our parents -- especially our fathers --

[08:45:04]

MURPHY: Yeah.

GIBSON: -- who were Blackwells are not here.

MARSHALL: Not here to see it.

MURPHY: Right.

GIBSON: And didn't know it. It would have been a story that they would have been so proud --

MARSHALL: Proud.

GIBSON: -- and would have passed it on to us --

BLACKWELL: Yeah.

GIBSON: -- had they known.

MURPHY: Yes.

MARSHALL: Had they known.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): And last summer, my mother and our cousins drove to the county where Sarah won her freedom to pass that story on.

GIBSON: Well, we took a trip down to Northumberland County --

MARSHALL: Yes.

GIBSON: -- last summer for the Blackwell reunion. We didn't know hardly any of the people there --

MARSHALL: Right, right.

GIBSON: -- from that family.

T. BLACKWELL: I'm longing to find out more about the Blackwell side because unfortunately, we didn't know much about our side of the family growing up.

V. BLACKWELL (voice-over): That journey begins here in Montgomery, Alabama with Bryan Stevenson. He's the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative and its new massive National Monument to Freedom.

BRYAN STEVENSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: It's created by reviewing the 1870 census, and the 1870 census in the United States was the first time that formerly enslaved people had an opportunity to claim a surname that the government would recognize.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): More than 122,000 surnames on this wall, front and back, about four stories tall and about half the length of a football field.

STEVENSON: Yes, we want to tell the story about the horrors, and the degradation, and the violence of slavery, but we also want to tell the other story about the resilience of enslaved people. About the courage, the strength, the perseverance.

There you are. Just jump out of me.

BLACKWELL: There it is.

STEVENSON: Yes, it is.

BLACKWELL: How about that? Wow. To see that name with the, what, 122,000 others --

STEVENSON: Yeah.

BLACKWELL: -- it is both humbling but also it gives my family a place.

STEVENSON: Yes, that's right. Forty percent of the people who were enslaved claimed names that were associated with enslavers -- not to honor the enslaver, but they were just trying to create kinship and community with brothers and sisters and parents. They didn't want to give up on that, so they adopted those names.

BLACKWELL: They could have been sold off or traded off.

STEVENSON: Could have been sold off, exactly. MURPHY: The Blackwell line came into the Virginia colonies in 1636. Joseph Blackwell up into Northumberland.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): Dr. Murphy and other genealogists traced three Blackwell family lines coming into the colonies, but Murphy was only able to connect my line to the start of the 19th century.

MURPHY: There is a Mishack Blackwell and a Mishack Jr. Blackwell. And the first one was born about 1810.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): My great-great-great-great grandfather.

MURPHY: Just because of the area, Virginia, nine times out of 10 he would have been enslaved.

T. BLACKWELL: I never really heard much about the Blackwell family. So to hear this and to get information on this is -- I'm 65 years old. It feels good.

MARSHALL: Yeah.

V. BLACKWELL (voice-over): There are so many more questions to be answered but the more we look and the more we learned, the more we appreciate our ancestors and their will to persevere.

STEVENSON: I think to know that you are the heir of people who found a way to survive, who found a way to overcome all of the hardship is something that should generate pride.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: That's right. And this journey to find out more about my ancestors has fueled curiosity throughout my family. These are pictures of the copy of the lawsuit that Sarah filed in the late 18th century. There's one in my home, in my mother's home, several of my cousins homes. It's not only a marker to show gratitude to Sarah and filing that lawsuit against her enslaver, but as Brian said, also an acknowledgement and remembrance of those who suffered through and survived slavery.

Coming up, a look back at when I met Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz and the moment they saw something very personal to them on display here in Atlanta for the first time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALICIA KEYS, MUSICIAN AND COLLECTOR: Wow. So it's like that.

SWIZZ BEATZ, MUSIC PRODUCER AND COLLECTOR: Beautiful. This is curated. Very beautiful.

KEYS: OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [08:53:40]

BLACKWELL: So if you watch the show, you know by now that I am an art lover. And that's why one part of this show that's really special to share with you is the series we call Art is Life. I think art enriches life. And it's safe to say that Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz, they agree.

The couple are giants of the music industry, and now they're sharing their collection featuring giants of the art world for the first time. It's called Giants Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beats and Alicia Keys. And were there when the couple saw their exhibition at the High Museum in Atlanta for the first time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEATZ: Hello. This is Swizz Beatz. I'm from the South Bronx, New York City. And I'm a collector.

KEYS: This is Alicia Keys. I'm from New York. And I'm a collector.

BLACKWELL: What's the philosophy behind collecting?

BEATZ: Well, for us is by the artist, for the artist, with the people. Well, collecting is spiritual, you know, like when you see something, you feel it.

KEYS: There's a real passion and the love as artists to really support and collect artists. We understand how hard it is to be an artist. We understand how hard it is to have autonomy over your work. It just changes the relationship and the dynamics. So I think it creates something that is very unique and very special. When you see the exhibition, you're going to feel it.

[08:55:05]

BEATZ: I love photography. My grandfather had the black room in the house. I was always there when he was taking photos. And I just love photography because it's the actual moment, you know, and to see Shabazz and, you know, Gordon Parks like these are moments that they were actually there for, and then brought them back for the world to see and discover and to share with people. I think that it's very poetic, and it's timeless.

KEYS: And then I would say the tightest for sure.

BEATZ: I think that's the best piece. You know, these works slide in and out and change the image.

KEYS: So what you see on the side goes in the middle, and the Muhammad Ali's silhouette is going to be always the centerpiece. But each image that fills it tells a different story.

BEATZ: If we wasn't recording mommy, daddy be playing.

KEYS: Right. BEATZ: So you have mommy, daddy playing, so when people come and they can relax their shoulders and feel like they in our homes. Most of the people in our collection, we know they're our friends. They're living artists. We would support them. They would support us. And it just feels better knowing all of these artists that's on this wall, that's living are family members to us.

And so it's collecting from the heart. Because, you know, we're preserving those works with the artists also. You know, the artists can come and take anything from the Dean collection. They can come and use works to go on their shows. They can -- they're always invited as their work.

BLACKWELL: This is a fraction of the Dean collection. How many pieces are there?

BEATZ: Many.

KEYS: Maybe 15 percent this represents.

BEATZ: Yes.

KEYS: Maybe.

BEATZ: I agree.

BLACKWELL: So more than 1,000 pieces.

BEATZ: Yes, for sure. This is the first major exhibition of our work, but it's also the first collection of color ever in a major museum to tour.

KEYS: I have to say he is not probably able to say this himself. He's brilliant. I mean, he's a really unbelievable.

BEATZ: Thank you. Thank you.

KEYS: There's a very special thing that he can identify in an artist very early, and so many people can't. And so oftentimes we're, I think, seeing artists in their beginnings. And we can tell that there is -- there's so much that's going to come.

BLACKWELL: So what I told people I was coming to interview, they -- several people wanted me to ask this question.

KEYS: OK.

BLACKWELL: OK. What advice do you have for people who are just starting out?

KEYS: OK. That's a good question.

BEATZ: If you see somebody that you like, try to contact them, try to go visit this studio, build a relationship. Also is being ahead of the curve, right? Like to me, I would tell everybody about photography. Like today, so much talent around the world in photography. And this is going to come by storm. Remember, I said this in the interview, I'm telling you. Photography is coming.

BLACKWELL: Why giants?

KEYS: So not only are the works oversized, many of the works are oversized, but also the creators of the works are giants. They're masters. And they're incredible. And this idea of accessing your own giants, being unafraid to be as big as possible, take up space in the room, be present. Be powerful. Be you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: And thanks to the Dean's for sharing their time and their collection with us. Giants art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys can be seen at the High Museum in Atlanta now through January 19th. Then it goes on tour around the world through 2030. Check out high.org for more on this Atlanta stop.

So I also love any chance to feature music on this show. And good news. So this is one of my favorite stories this year that we I had the opportunity to do both. It features some students in Kentucky who challenge their school district through music by dropping the bop of the summer.

Yes, we got to let the beat drop get to the chorus, guys. The group is the Real Young Prodigys. They're from the Jefferson County School District in Louisville. And this year WAVE reported that the district was cutting busing to most magnet and traditional schools because of shortage of bus drivers, transportation delays. So they shot this music video with the help of an organization called Hip Hop Into Learning.

Its founders say their mission is to give kids a platform to use hip hop and music videos to make positive changes in their community. The Real Young Prodigys.

[09:00:00]

I still see you and their hit "Where My Bus At?" I look forward to seeing what you do in 2025. Now to keep up with what we've got coming in the new year, follow me on --