WEBVTT

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I gotta think this through cool ,

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all right .

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Being black in today's Air Force

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means that the shoulders that I stand

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up on today , the grit , the

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fortitude , the legacy that I passed ,

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people endured for me to be in the

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position that I am today , I am

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internally grateful . It wasn't even

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really possible for someone of color to

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be in the military to even get respect

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or be recognized . You know , that was

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something that was far reaching , right ?

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Maybe , maybe 30 years down the line ,

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maybe we'll have somebody in the

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highest echelons to be able to fill

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those positions . Being in the Air

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Force right now um makes me feel like

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I'm contributing to show other people

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of color that there's no such thing as

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impossible , right ? The sky is the

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limit , but it's also a glass ceiling

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and if I break through that glass

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ceiling than anybody else can break

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through that glass ceiling . I love to

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see it personally . And it also gives

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me a lot of motivation to be able to

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get up to that hydrant and get up to

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those positions later on and knowing

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that I have that opportunity to do that .

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It allows me to be able to tell my

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Children , my grandchildren , hopefully

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my great grandchildren about the

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progressions of society ,

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anybody can go up and be of a high

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position , do great things . It's very

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powerful because I didn't think that

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was possible 18 years ago . I think

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there was a , You know , a certain

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amount of people that could reach that ,

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that platform and you know , that that

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highest Echelon . But now 10 years

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later , I'm like , I can do it , I

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think I can get there and if , if she

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believes it now , then I know that

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change has happened . I know those wins

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have , have occurred and we're still

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stacking those winds , we still got a

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couple of losses , but we still have

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those wins . Um , and hearing that is a ,

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is a major win for me today that

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actually made my day hearing that it

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actually makes me super excited for the

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future because I know that in my future

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I'll be able to do great things and uh

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one day be in your position , that

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would be pretty cool . But I gotta say ,

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I'm glad that I joined at a time where

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so much has changed and I'm able to

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have all these opportunities .