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Speaker 1: dot com. My next guest is that person who I
Speaker 1: met who's changing lives on a daily basis. Based in Houston, Texas.
Speaker 1: He was born in Louisiana. I had to say that
Speaker 1: because guess what, My parents were born in Louisiana, so
Speaker 1: he's cut from good stock. Then he moved to Texas.
Speaker 1: I was born in Texas. And it's uh And there's
Speaker 1: a proud graduate of Prayer of Prayer of you and there,
Speaker 1: which is right down the street from Houston, Texas. Now
Speaker 1: this is way it goes a little different. He's a
Speaker 1: proud member, lifetime member of cap Appaside I'm on Mega
Speaker 1: Sci Fi members. See that's the only thing in this
Speaker 1: intro that goes a little bit different, But I think
Speaker 1: that's great. Honorably discharged Vietnam War veteran where he served
Speaker 1: in the medical unit. He's a retired executive from MERK
Speaker 1: where he later national team in medical design and installed
Speaker 1: Merk's military medical branches. At the retire he found it,
Speaker 1: which is very special. The Buffalo Soldiers National Brasilium based
Speaker 1: in Houston, Texas. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations, Captain
Speaker 1: Paul Matthews. How you're doing, Yes, sir, how are you
Speaker 1: doing outstanding? Now? Are you in Houston right now? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Exactly at home in Texas, just outside of Houston. Cool. Well,
Speaker 1: let's talk. Let's talk about that. You're a little bit uh.
Speaker 1: You know, your life has a body of work tied
Speaker 1: to it as a as a person who was a college, college, lifestyle, professional, lifestyle, military.
Speaker 1: When you when you encompass all that together, Captain, what
Speaker 1: what stands out the most when you when you when
Speaker 1: people ask you to speak. What do you tell people
Speaker 1: when you when you're motivating them, when you're giving them
Speaker 1: nuggets of information about being successful? What do you talk about, well,
Speaker 1: I talk about, you know, having specific goals, direction and
Speaker 1: and leaving a place like pur of you being a
Speaker 1: second lieutenant in the United States Army and going on
Speaker 1: to a successful career in the pharmaceutical industry, and then
Speaker 1: being able to collect artifacts, documents, memorable, bilious from thirty
Speaker 1: years of of traveling around the country and starting a
Speaker 1: museum and now those other kinds of things that I thought,
Speaker 1: you know, make it all worthwhile. So that you know,
Speaker 1: we as African Americans have controlled the history narrative. I
Speaker 1: think that's the key, the key to the future is
Speaker 1: being able to to just demonstrate, you know, your history. Right.
Speaker 1: So when you talk about the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum,
Speaker 1: of course, you know many years ago Bob Marveley did
Speaker 1: an amazingly popular song called Buffalo Soldiers, right, and you know, yes, sir, yeah,
Speaker 1: The museum actually opened January the fifth of two thousand
Speaker 1: wound and we focus on and feature the Buffalo Soldiers,
Speaker 1: but in actuality, we give a perspective on the African
Speaker 1: American military experience from seventeen seventy to two thousands are
Speaker 1: from the Revolutionary War to the Persian Gup War. If
Speaker 1: you talk about personalities from Chris pasadics, the cold and
Speaker 1: foul and our missing. Our mission is to preserve, promote,
Speaker 1: and perpetuate the honor and legacy of the braves, men
Speaker 1: and women who fought, fled, and died in defense of America. Okay, cool,
Speaker 1: Now this is the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum. Who are
Speaker 1: the Buffalo Soldiers? Yeah, the Buffalo Soldiers were the peace
Speaker 1: keepers in the American with Uh. They build camps, sports, railroads,
Speaker 1: delivered the mills, strung telegraph wise, charted the land, chased
Speaker 1: down outlaws, common sharrows of Mexican revolutionaries. As a matter
Speaker 1: of fact, without the Buffalo Soldiers, the Westwood Movement would
Speaker 1: have been delayed, you know, fifty years. And just to
Speaker 1: put it in context, Uh, at the end of the
Speaker 1: Civil War, the army reorganized and established for segregated units
Speaker 1: that were African Americans, the ninth and His Cavalry and
Speaker 1: the twenty four and t Infantry, and those four segregated
Speaker 1: units went on to become what we commonly call now
Speaker 1: the Buffalo Soldiers. Okay, why why Buffalo Soldiers? Why did
Speaker 1: that they become part of Yeah, that's the mystery. Now
Speaker 1: I gotta I gotta drift down on that now, you
Speaker 1: know that exactly. The number one person that we get
Speaker 1: is that how did the Buffalo soldiers get their names?
Speaker 1: And they came from the Shihene warriors. They saw two
Speaker 1: things and the soldiers that they saw in the buffalo
Speaker 1: it was a naturally curly hair and that farocius fighting spirit,
Speaker 1: and they put those two things together and they came
Speaker 1: up with wild buffalo in the turn, while buffalo eventually
Speaker 1: became Buffalo soldiers. Wow. So you said, like I think
Speaker 1: earlier in your conversation, you said, over thirty years you've
Speaker 1: been collecting. What have you been collecting? We have all
Speaker 1: types of unique artifacts, documents, memorabilis, uh, some of these.
Speaker 1: The one of the kind items you see at the
Speaker 1: museum is that a letter from a Korean War veteran
Speaker 1: and African American who was the twenty fourth Infantry Regiment
Speaker 1: and he was then Korea, and he wrote a letter
Speaker 1: back to his mom who lives in Brownwood, Texas. And
Speaker 1: he opened up by saying things are quiet here, how
Speaker 1: things are quiet at home? And then he said, we
Speaker 1: heard today that our unit was going to be integrated.
Speaker 1: Now that's a very powerful letter because this is nineteen one,
Speaker 1: and here you have a black man in Korea fighting
Speaker 1: for the liberation of Koreans and a segregated on him.
Speaker 1: So that's a very powerful historical perspective to look at.
Speaker 1: And also how he reacted, how it was like, uh,
Speaker 1: I guess uh, you know, I have to say it's
Speaker 1: a big deal because nobody won't. Because when you're separate,
Speaker 1: that that that that applies that there is something wrong,
Speaker 1: there is something that you know, there's something different about
Speaker 1: you that can't be can't be unless they say associated
Speaker 1: assimilated with every body else. And that's what people do.
Speaker 1: That's what people don't understand about racism, about discrimination, about segregation,
Speaker 1: is that is that whenever you you're not just black
Speaker 1: boy any grade, whether it's cash structure, based on finances
Speaker 1: or whatever. You know, when you tell when you won't
Speaker 1: let everybody participate or have the same opportunities to win,
Speaker 1: then that there's a there's a designation that there's something
Speaker 1: wrong with you that you should not have that opportunity.
Speaker 1: In the military, when you're out there fighting laying your
Speaker 1: life on the line for the same cause, that even
Speaker 1: that should be even more mind boggling. Correct, Oh, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: And you know that's that's a very good point. Even
Speaker 1: though they had the same time of the equipment and
Speaker 1: arms and all of that. You know, the army is
Speaker 1: basically a microcosm of America. And so but I should
Speaker 1: say that the military was on the van or of
Speaker 1: the moderns. They civil rights movement. So there that's important
Speaker 1: to note. You know, as a matter of fact, when
Speaker 1: you when you go back back to her favorite Duckness,
Speaker 1: and he made a very important point at the start
Speaker 1: of the Civil War. He said, give the colored man
Speaker 1: a uniform of buckle with the US on it, a
Speaker 1: button with an eel on it, and a musket, and
Speaker 1: you're making a citizen. But you're also making amend. That's
Speaker 1: what he's trying to do is make sure the Civil
Speaker 1: War was being fought for freedom and not just to
Speaker 1: save the Union. And the only way you can do
Speaker 1: that yet for the black man the blue uniform. And
Speaker 1: that same message carrot over to World War One, when
Speaker 1: du Boys said in a famous Crisis Magazine article at
Speaker 1: the start in the World War One, he said, put
Speaker 1: aside your differences, goal with these come back the first
Speaker 1: class citizens. And in World War Two, the same messages
Speaker 1: came along as this is called a double D for
Speaker 1: victory victory against the actors in Europe and victory against
Speaker 1: racism at home, you know. So those were at the
Speaker 1: end of War War two. The soldiers that came back,
Speaker 1: you know, were the individuals that supplied the funds you
Speaker 1: know that helped to move forward the modern civil rights movement.
Speaker 1: So these people worked in the they came back, they
Speaker 1: had trades, they took the g I bal you know,
Speaker 1: they went to trade schools. A good examples of the
Speaker 1: Texas Southern University started out as as a trade schools.
Speaker 1: And so these individuals became the Miller class that supported
Speaker 1: you know, the more Lucy Kings and the Abnaces and
Speaker 1: all the other civil rights move All right on the phone,
Speaker 1: as of the founder of the Buffalo Soldier National Museum
Speaker 1: in Houston, Texas. We'll be back with more because I
Speaker 1: want to emphasize the military being the band guard of
Speaker 1: civil rights movement. I just for Sean mcgond, you're listening
Speaker 1: to money making conversation. Um, when I look at my life,
Speaker 1: I look at their the challenges. Um. Growing it up
Speaker 1: in the inner city, growing up with two parents, one
Speaker 1: was a truck driver one was to stay at home
Speaker 1: mom and six sisters, two brothers. UM. I live in
Speaker 1: an environment that people say success doesn't happen easy, but
Speaker 1: I think opportunity is what enables you to be successful.
Speaker 1: And when I was talking earlier on our first break
Speaker 1: with Captain Matthews, Captain Paul Matthews, the founder of the
Speaker 1: Buffalo Soldier's National Museum, he was saying that the that
Speaker 1: the military was at the at the forefront of civil
Speaker 1: rights movement, and he was talking about this letter that
Speaker 1: was written in nineteen fifty one, and it was talking
Speaker 1: about his unit was about to be integrated as ninety one.
Speaker 1: Just to set that in perspective, Brown versus the Board
Speaker 1: of Education was not settled that landmark case until nteen
Speaker 1: fifty four, So the military was already positioned itself to
Speaker 1: understand that there should be lanes of equality and we
Speaker 1: shouldn't be treating people different. I'm not saying it was
Speaker 1: overnight there, but I was just saying that was in
Speaker 1: fifty one Brown versus Board, which is where everybody considers
Speaker 1: a landmark. As far as segregated education was insecuctional, unconstitutional,
Speaker 1: wasn't anything fifty four. So I wanted to just point
Speaker 1: it out to you what you said earlier, Captain, that
Speaker 1: the military was at the early stages and being able
Speaker 1: to enable African American men or black men as they
Speaker 1: were known back then, or negroes depending on the time
Speaker 1: frame of that participation. You know, we get a name
Speaker 1: change every twenty years, you know. Yeah, and so you
Speaker 1: know and that that that's really a role that you played,
Speaker 1: you know, and and being there and when when I
Speaker 1: took the tour, and because we have a relationship and
Speaker 1: I got real busy. Uh, it's something that I promised
Speaker 1: him that I'm want to do it far as some
Speaker 1: fundraising activity with the museum, it's just that, um, you know,
Speaker 1: a little thing called the Air National Guards stepped in
Speaker 1: and had me all fifty states immediately. That it caused
Speaker 1: me to delay. So I apologize, But what I cannot
Speaker 1: apologize for is the success of what you're trying to
Speaker 1: do with educating all individuals, not African Americans, when they
Speaker 1: come to that museum, tell us about that experience. Yeah.
Speaker 1: What we say here at the museum is that when
Speaker 1: you go to other museums, you get content. When you
Speaker 1: come to the Buffalo Soldiers, that's museum. You get context
Speaker 1: because we talked about the items, how it revolves around you,
Speaker 1: how you revolved around it. Uh, let me give you
Speaker 1: a good example. We're talking about and say the Emancipation Proclamation.
Speaker 1: You know it's an executive border, but what came out
Speaker 1: of that was June Tea. If you look at section
Speaker 1: nine and section ten of the Emancipation Proclamation, it states
Speaker 1: that the slaves would be free when federal troops occupied
Speaker 1: the territory, and that occurred in Texas on June and nineteenth,
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty five, when Major General Garden Ranges landed in
Speaker 1: Galveston read the proclamation. But he had three hundred black
Speaker 1: troops with him to enforce the law. So that's the key.
Speaker 1: You know, they had troops that the African Americans that
Speaker 1: went throughout the state of Texas enforcing the emancipation proclamations.
Speaker 1: Because in reality, the Emancipation Proclamation didn't free anyone because
Speaker 1: it was more no, it's only applied to the states
Speaker 1: that were not in control of the Union. So if
Speaker 1: you were a Southern state, the Junior had no control
Speaker 1: over you, so then your slaves are not free, right,
Speaker 1: and so that's the that's that's that's the key. But
Speaker 1: you know it's also something that you was mentioning how
Speaker 1: life is about, how we're giving an opportunity. You know,
Speaker 1: the African American men being in the military going to
Speaker 1: these trade schools, they started establishing a middle class lifestyle
Speaker 1: they started, which is really important from an economic structure
Speaker 1: because we're talking about the The Buffalo Soldiers Museum is
Speaker 1: based in Houston, Texas. And I'm gonna tell you some
Speaker 1: stereotypes are bound when when you have people say, well,
Speaker 1: they got a Buffalo Soldiers Museum, you know, you think
Speaker 1: it's a little small museum. I went over there with
Speaker 1: preconceived notions that I was gonna walk in there, gonna
Speaker 1: walk around the corner a couple of high and buys,
Speaker 1: and I'm out. Now, this is a beautiful, multi story,
Speaker 1: twenty three thousand square foot facility that also is rented
Speaker 1: out for large scales or private events, and uh, it's
Speaker 1: it's amazingly beautiful. And so that's the that's a perception
Speaker 1: that you have to overcome as well of what people
Speaker 1: think the experience will be, what your facility looks like, correct, Captain,
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Because we started in actually a three thousand
Speaker 1: square foot buildings and then we moved to the twy
Speaker 1: three thousand square feet three three stories. Uh. We have weddings,
Speaker 1: their family unions, you know, meeting greeds, birthday parties on
Speaker 1: our second floor we called the Hurstein Gallery. Then the
Speaker 1: first floor with all the exhibits more than ten thousand
Speaker 1: square feet. Uh. We we have the largest collection of
Speaker 1: African American military memorabilia in the world. And so you know,
Speaker 1: we're very excited about our new space and looking forward
Speaker 1: to you know, continued success. Kevin, how can you communicate
Speaker 1: to support besides do you have a website? You donate budding?
Speaker 1: You know, how can we how can we support it?
Speaker 1: Because you know, you ever, you know, private emissions and
Speaker 1: private donations do happen. There's other ways that we can
Speaker 1: support the museum. Oh yeah, that's you know. First of all,
Speaker 1: you can come visited tours and see the exhibits. You
Speaker 1: can plan events after the museum, and more importantly, you
Speaker 1: become a member. You know, you can be and then
Speaker 1: you can make donations. You know, so we have you know,
Speaker 1: maybe a five year old you know, being financially independent.
Speaker 1: We have a minimum five million dollar endowment. So all
Speaker 1: of these things, uh, community based activities that you can
Speaker 1: get involved with. Right when you said how do you
Speaker 1: how do you become independent? To talk to me, because
Speaker 1: you know, I'm all about telling people how to participate,
Speaker 1: telling people how they can make a difference. And like
Speaker 1: I've learned in politics, you don't have to make a
Speaker 1: thousand dollars. You can make a five dollar dollar, twenty dollars,
Speaker 1: you know, all those add up uh to thousands of dollars,
Speaker 1: millions of dollars. And so how does this campaign, what
Speaker 1: is the point? What is the point angle? And how
Speaker 1: can we have get the word out on money making conversations?
Speaker 1: Right there? The objective is to increase our our membership, uh,
Speaker 1: to have uh ample you know, a thousand people being
Speaker 1: members them for you know months. Uh. Those are the
Speaker 1: kinds of things that helps build the financial wealth of
Speaker 1: the organization. They have corporations, foundations that get grant for
Speaker 1: all different programs that we have, you know, so you
Speaker 1: and and then those are the things that really makes
Speaker 1: you financially independent, because it would be a good to
Speaker 1: him a million people that joined in for you know,
Speaker 1: thirty dollars a year. Yeah, So all those kinds of
Speaker 1: things they add up over time. Well, you know something
Speaker 1: I'm about adding up. That's called good man, that's called
Speaker 1: you know. One thing what you think about is that
Speaker 1: you know, I get to go there, I got that,
Speaker 1: I got, I got the personal tour, you know, get
Speaker 1: those extra private stories. Now what just the what just
Speaker 1: the most difficult artifacts are the best story of any
Speaker 1: artifact that you brought to the museum. Oh and that's
Speaker 1: a very tough one. Relaxing here, you know which child
Speaker 1: is the best? Oh, you're gonna go down all your
Speaker 1: all your artifactor children. Don't you do that to me, captain,
Speaker 1: don't you do that? But we have a a bronze
Speaker 1: bust of a Buffalo soldier is called the Old Soldier,
Speaker 1: and it was done by Eddie Dixon and and he
Speaker 1: lives in a Fort Worth, Texas, on them real Texas.
Speaker 1: And when before we bought the museum and before we
Speaker 1: moved in, I met with the board and said, wants
Speaker 1: to get in our new building. We need something special
Speaker 1: to go in it. And they said, what are you
Speaker 1: thinking about? I said, as a bronze bust of a
Speaker 1: buffalo soldier is called the Old Soldier. And I showed
Speaker 1: him a picture of it. I say, this is one
Speaker 1: of three's that port levin Worth, Kansas. Two of three
Speaker 1: is in Georgia, and I'm not sure what three or
Speaker 1: three is. And look at this. Nine months later, nine
Speaker 1: months later, got a call from a couple in Paris, Texas,
Speaker 1: said they had a bronze bus of a Buffalo soldiers
Speaker 1: they want to donate to the museum and that Braun
Speaker 1: the bus was the old soldier. M hmm, yeah, that's
Speaker 1: a testimony the Now that's a very special piece that
Speaker 1: we have, something that we wanted and much for praying
Speaker 1: for actually, and nine months later get it as a donation. Ye,
Speaker 1: special special gift. Well that's right. Uh. The the amazing
Speaker 1: thing about you know you, I've been in Smithsonian. I've
Speaker 1: been to a lot of great museums in New York.
Speaker 1: As a kid in high school, they take you to
Speaker 1: museums and so are you on that? You are you
Speaker 1: on that like a high school tour list of middle
Speaker 1: school tour list? How do people find out about your museum? Yeah,
Speaker 1: we are connected with the Convention of Visitors Bureau. Uh.
Speaker 1: We have this the multi the media access word of mouth,
Speaker 1: so all of the avenues that it is in the
Speaker 1: advertising world. We're part of that. We belong to the
Speaker 1: Eustern Museum District Association, the African American Museum Association, and
Speaker 1: the National Organization of Museum, so you know we are
Speaker 1: affiliated with all of those entities. It's really good. I'm
Speaker 1: talking to Captain Paul Matthews. Uh. He's the founder of
Speaker 1: the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum, which is a twin three
Speaker 1: thousand square food museum located and Houston, Texas. The mission
Speaker 1: of the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum is to educate the
Speaker 1: public and to preserve, promote, and perpetuate the history, tradition,
Speaker 1: and outstanding contributions of America's Buffalo Soldiers from the Revolutionary
Speaker 1: War to the present. The amazing thing about it is
Speaker 1: that when I when when I went there, I learned
Speaker 1: so much and I want to go back and all right,
Speaker 1: so much more that I'm committed to helping raise funds
Speaker 1: so he can meet his goal again. I want to
Speaker 1: thank you for taking the time to come on my show, sir. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know I've been near a building. You know I've
Speaker 1: made a commitment to you, and I brought you in
Speaker 1: my show just to remind you that I didn't forget
Speaker 1: and you are part of my future. Okay, thank you
Speaker 1: very much. We appreciate it. Look, thank you, sir. Now
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