I'm Jason Candor and this is the first episode of Majority 54, a podcast that helps the 54%

of us who didn't vote for Trump, talked to those who did about the most divisive issues

in our country.

Each episode of this show tackles a single issue by getting to know an actual human being

who's living it every day.

For episode one, I wanted to go straight at one of the most difficult conversations in

America right now, racial inequality.

So I went to Ferguson to talk to one of the most intriguing people I know, my friend Bruce

Franks.

Bruce is a small businessman who became a central figure in Ferguson after Michael Brown

was killed.

What he is more than anything is an activist.

And in the wake of Michael Brown's death, Bruce was in the streets.

He marched, he demonstrated, he still does both, but he also did something else.

He started an organization, 28-to-life, to build trust between the police and the community.

In last year, Bruce decided St. Louis needed an activist in the state legislature.

So he ran for and won a seat in the Missouri House, making him the only member of the

Missouri legislature whose rap videos have been viewed over a million times on YouTube.

Bruce and I had breakfast in Ferguson at a place called Kathy's Kitchen.

You'll hear my friend Kathy Jenkins and her husband Jerome cookin' in the background

a bit during this conversation in which Bruce said some pretty provocative stuff.

We don't have to keep researching us, but we know what the issues are.

...