Join Kosta and his guest: Cindy Schueman, Executive Director for IMPACT Leadership and serving member for Board of Trustees at Motlow Community College and Tennessee Association of Community Leadership.
Proudly supporting the underrepresented populations of our community and actively seeking to promote the betterment of our area, Cindy’s primary mission is to ensure equal opportunities for all citizens and support diversity in the Upper Cumberland.
In This Episode: The motivation and inspiration behind IMPACT Leadership, how we can empower and educate our next generation of voters to be more civically engaged and the value of creating opportunity for people of color, minorities and those who are under represented in the Upper Cumberland.
Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev is a product of Morgan Franklin Media and recorded in Cookeville, TN.
Find out more about IMPACT Leadership:
https://impactleadershiptn.com/
Find out more about Kosta and all the ways we're better together:
http://kostayepifantsev.com/
Join Kosta and his guest: Cindy Schueman, Executive Director for IMPACT Leadership and serving member for Board of Trustees at Motlow Community College and Tennessee Association of Community Leadership.
Proudly supporting the underrepresented populations of our community and actively seeking to promote the betterment of our area, Cindy’s primary mission is to ensure equal opportunities for all citizens and support diversity in the Upper Cumberland.
In This Episode: The motivation and inspiration behind IMPACT Leadership, how we can empower and educate our next generation of voters to be more civically engaged and the value of creating opportunity for people of color, minorities and those who are under represented in the Upper Cumberland.
Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev is a product of Morgan Franklin Media and recorded in Cookeville, TN.
Find out more about IMPACT Leadership:
https://impactleadershiptn.com/
Find out more about Kosta and all the ways we're better together:
http://kostayepifantsev.com/
So moving toward being better humans, and the idea that race is not ethnic, or pigmentation, it's the human race, we have a long way to go, and a short amount of time to do it. Otherwise, the whole human race is going to be subjected to their own implosion.
Morgan Franklin:Welcome to Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev, a podcast on parenting business and living life intentionally. We're here every week to bring you thoughtful conversation, making your own path to success, challenging the status quo, and finding all the ways we're better together. Here's your host, Kosta Yepifantsev.
Kosta Yepifantsev:Hey, y'all, this is Kosta and today I'm here with my guest, Cindy Sherman, Executive Director for impact leadership, serving member for Board of Trustees at Motlow Community College and Tennessee Association of Community Leadership, proudly supporting the underrepresented populations of our community and actively seeking to promote the betterment of our area. Cindy's primary mission is to ensure equal opportunity for all citizens and support diversity in the upper Cumberland. Cindy, thank you so much for joining us today. I want to start this episode out with a question that might seem a little bit out of the blue, but it will help tie together the rest of the episode as the former chair of the Putnam County Republican Party. What does being a Republican mean to you?
Cindy Schueman:Well, if I were to define it for myself, being a Republican means embracing traditional values of limited government, fiscal responsibility and accountability, honorable self governance, integrity of for the people and by the people, policies that favor free enterprise and a strong military. But Can I also add, it's interesting to me that the lack of intelligence among people groups to be able to accurately define something of such importance as what is a Democrat or what is a Republican? What is critical race theory? What is diversity? What is socialized healthcare? The point is that people blindly follow a narrative to minimize their own work or effort to have fully engaged or understanding what the definition of a thing is
Kosta Yepifantsev:Growing up. You're from Chicago originally, right? Yes. Have you always been involved in politics? Or had a passion for politics? Absolutely. No. So when did this fire sort of come about where you're like, you know, I think I really want to participate in the Republican Party and being sort of at the forefront of decision making.
Cindy Schueman:I don't know that it was ever a fire. I think it was more an idea of preserving the qualities that make our idealistic vision of America, America.
Kosta Yepifantsev:Absolutely. So I read the letter that you wrote in the Herald citizen, what gave you the confidence to speak out?
Cindy Schueman:They simply spoke out because I was physically angered. And someone needed to say something. In fact, I was a little disappointed that more Republicans didn't say something. But I was really too upset at the arrogance of the PC ERP and their supporters to so expose whatever the heck is wrong with their souls and spew such public hatred.
Kosta Yepifantsev:Were you scared of the response that you were gonna get? Nope.
Cindy Schueman:I had no reservations, that principled I was doing the right thing.
Kosta Yepifantsev:Were you an activist and another life?
Cindy Schueman:No, not at all.
Kosta Yepifantsev:The only reason that I asked that is, you know, we had Mark Miller on the show, and we talked a little bit about him speaking out against the statue in the cemetery and the things that happened to him and his family. I mean, we're terrifying. You know, putting yourself out there and you are a person of significant position, being the chair of the Republican Party and criticizing the Republican Party, former chair. Right, exactly. Former chair, I'm sorry. I gotta ask, how has in your opinion, the Republican Party changed? Post Trump, you can go back as far as you want. In terms
Cindy Schueman:of when I was chair, and there were elections? Clearly, I believed that we ran more positive reasons why to vote Republican right, rather than the post Trump era of so much civil discourse being fake news and name calling and lying. It seems to be a boastful thing and arrogant thing to be Trump like to be loyal to a fault of not recognizing how uncivil civil discourse has become.
Kosta Yepifantsev:What yours, were you the chair of the Republican Party?
Cindy Schueman:So Darren has been chair for the last two years. Okay. So three years ago, I was chair for two terms and their two year terms.
Kosta Yepifantsev:So I mean, you were chair while Donald Trump was president. What was that? Like? I mean, here you are, you still have policy positions, you know, the each party is still running on something that matters, that's tangible, that you can wrap your arms around. And then it's like, boom. It's literally like somebody's just grabbing the foundations of our democracy of our capitalistic society of our institutions. And they're just like, ripping it like King Kong, just pulling at it. What's it like running the Republican being the chair of the Republican Party under that type of dynamic? At first,
Cindy Schueman:for me, I was super excited that Donald Trump seemed to be offering a voice to the voiceless. Same here. I loved that, about his campaign and his rhetoric,
Kosta Yepifantsev:drain the swamp, right? Yes. Well,
Cindy Schueman:and then the fact that a lot of politics really seems to come out of Metropolitan needs and areas where money is greatly generated, a lot of rural people not had a voice. And they've suffered greatly since the depression. So I really wasn't supportive that, of course. But it wasn't until he really started being exposed as a person, lack of really governmental process competence. He challenged a lot of the norms of our democracy. And the legitimacy of the image we have of a president who does not talk boastfully about strong dictators of other countries, right. I mean, it started to reveal itself that it was kind of ugly,
Kosta Yepifantsev:and I'm just talking from my own personal experience, it almost started to feel like we were becoming a bit of an autocracy. And I'll be honest, my parents talked a lot about growing up in the Soviet Union. And I did not want that. And I was I was like, okay, is he just playing to his base? Like, is he saying this? Because he wants to project the strong man image? And, yes, since the Great Depression, a lot of people in rural communities have lost jobs to globalization. They've earned less. And it's been difficult, and both parties are responsible for it. Absolutely. Yeah. But I think it's our institutions as a democracy that are so important. What concerned me more than anything else was that he was dismantling our institutions? Yes, so that he can consolidate and sort of and centralize power.
Cindy Schueman:He also aroused a lot of anger and fear about tolerance. multiracialism, multi ethnic, he easily demeaned people, groups, and women.
Kosta Yepifantsev:What's the purpose of that?
Cindy Schueman:Well, in my opinion, if terribly fractures, everything that decent humans should stand for,
Kosta Yepifantsev:how long? Do you think that we are going to have this tribalism? You know, this where you have to you have to pick a party, you have to completely commit to the party line, you can't have any differing theories or perspectives. How long are we going to be in this type of environment? And it seems like you know, your history pretty well, just from talking to you briefly. Has this ever happened before in America? Aside from like, maybe the Civil War?
Cindy Schueman:I think the pendulum swings, right. But I don't know history well enough, well enough to really address if there's been another period of American history with this kind of outcome as a result of the precedent that we had. I do think that Andrew Jackson was also a wildcard and promoted genocide of the Indians in a way that is just reprehensible.
Kosta Yepifantsev:Yeah. As you've said, nonprofit organizations cannot be politically affiliated. Why do you believe members of the Republican Party have taken such a hard stance against impact leadership, diversity, our LGBTQ community Science and Social Development overall, as someone who's been on the inside? What is their fear?
Cindy Schueman:Well, nonprofits by definition are nonpartisan organizations. And my realization is that the ridiculous rhetoric to garner political attention for the followers to blindly vote to preserve the life style. That's the fear. And this kind of election speech gives permission for political groups to attack an organization that doesn't represent the post Trump political way. If the PC RP wanted to complain that there's too much assistance for habitat of humanity, in their deference to all humanity, and any financial assistance that might be garnered to habitat than I think habitat would have been a target as well. But since impact leadership supports all communities, not just people of color, but diversity of religion, sexual orientation, disability, we support science, social development, we did not fit into the Republican election narrative of exclusion. Their campaign attack was against the only three African American candidates and other candidates affiliated with impact leadership. And as a former Republican and PCIP chair, I would never have supported this kind of election campaign, I really cannot begin to relate to this kind of person, and never want to be identified as one. Their fears simply self preservation of a vision of America that resembles the southern Jim Crow era, where white men have certain power and ownership or education, Lord, their elitism overall. Sadly, some in our community view diversity in government, business, religion, language, sexual orientation, skin color, age, or disability, not as a strength but as a weakness as a threat. They look back to an era when most in leadership or power positions were white men, likely Protestant and upper middle class. Even in more modern times, we can look back at the backlash of John Kennedy's campaign for him being a Catholic, or more recently, Mitt Romney as a Mormon. And we don't seem to escape bad behavior, prejudice, or the belief that White Men of a Certain ilk are the only ones meant to be president. That is not the US of today. Nor can we return to a previous era as a model for making America great again, especially since it never was great for some people groups.
Kosta Yepifantsev:If I say to you, I believe that the current Republican Party is the past democratic southern party of the 1950s and 60s, that it doesn't necessarily matter if you are Republican, or if you are Democrat. There is an ideology with the individual. And they just pick the party that best complements their message. What's your opinion on that?
Cindy Schueman:It is interesting to me, I have a friend who was secret service for Bill Clinton. I scuba dive and he was a scuba diver. And so he was assigned to Bill Clinton because Bill Clinton liked to scuba dive. And he said to me one time that there's really very little difference in a government that takes away freedoms and a government that grants freedoms. It took me a long time to think about that statement. But it seems to be so true.
Kosta Yepifantsev:Do you think that when you guys as an organization, meaning impact when you guys started publishing and advertising that you were starting to develop candidates that wanted to run for office? Was that a shot across the bow for people that were in the Republican Party? Obviously there is there unfortunately, there is no Democratic Party in Putnam County that has any competitive dynamics. So when you said we're going to be developing candidates, did that throw people off? Did that scare them?
Cindy Schueman:Well, it must have. But the thing is like de Prince was running for city council where you do not run on a party ticket. And so the idea that the PC RP tried to claim in that they attacked Democrats for being Democrats is false. Again, they just make up whatever they want to do what they want to. It's interesting, because the idea is to allow all people to be represented and promoting people of color to run for a seat at the table was not promoting Democrat or Republican. It was promoting a people group that wants to have a seat at the table.
Kosta Yepifantsev:You know, Damon was sitting where you sat, lead the week of the election. And I'll never forget this because obviously I supported Damon. Damon is a good friend of mine. He's got a great heart and he really wants to help this community. And I remember I asked him, I said, Do you think Cookeville is ready for a black city council member. And this is how you can tell somebody's character because, you know, when you have a regular politician, they're just like, oh yeah, of course, you know, just exuding confidence, regardless of if it's just like ridiculous, right? And he said, No. And I remember looking at him and thinking, how can we do better as a community. And granted, Lauren Wheaton, she is a female and the mayor of Cookeville. And I think having representation, a balance of representation is extremely important. So we don't have just one set of ideas. But I guess I got to ask you the same question. Do you think that we're ever going to have a person of color as a city council member?
Cindy Schueman:I like that the demographics are changing in Cookeville, just since being here, first moving here, breaking into circles of people who are second, third, fourth, fifth generation cook villian telling me it's not happening. And so the more outside people move in, the more opportunity for change occurs. So I have to be optimistic about that. If all like minded people move here that are like minded of the Republican Cookeville alien that is currently being expressed, then no, I'm not optimistic that change will occur.
Kosta Yepifantsev:I want to talk about the don't Pelosi Putnam, the website that was created leading up to the election for city council, and I want to talk about its impact. Do you believe the old saying that all press is good press?
Cindy Schueman:It is interesting, how physically nauseating I was at the BCRP election campaign, the don't Pelosi partner and the lack of other good Republicans speaking out. But in this case, one reason pursuing a legal lawsuit was challenging is because we could not prove financial loss. It seems what the PCR P did to impact leadership is equivalent to what Trump did to or for Georgia. Yeah. So we had more people inquire about our initiatives, more adults sign up for her program, and a little bit more financial gifting for the work we are doing does seem all press provides coverage. But not all coverage is beneficial to the unity of a society. The don't Pelosi Putnam campaign did sharpen the diversity issues for some voters. Impact leadership did benefit from the coverage even though the attack was negative. Most decent people saw the attackers as more revealing of being hateful and negative humans than the mindset of what impact leadership provides.
Kosta Yepifantsev:Do you think the Republican Party is literally cannibalizing itself right now?
Cindy Schueman:Yes, I think they are. And it's going to implode. Because in working with all age groups, of course, I think the millennials really started to bring about value to human life to work. You know, it's not all about let's work and get rich. Younger generations do not see the diversity that a lot of older generations grew up with.
Kosta Yepifantsev:I think younger generations also may feel the opportunity slipping away. It was it's interesting that you brought that up, because this morning, as I was preparing for this episode, I started thinking about how we can bring sort of a generational divide into this conversation. I think people born after 1965, even really, people born after 1980 is where it really started happening. I think they've lost in some ways kind of hope, with the ability to live the good life, quote, unquote. And I mean, something as simple as like retiring. You know, that's not applicable for a lot of Americans nowadays. So when Donald Trump comes in and 2016, and he says, I'm going to drain the swamp, me personally, I was like, Alright, we got our man in there, that's going to help us get to the bottom of why so many people are, you know, living paycheck to paycheck and living in poverty and feeling disenfranchised with the American dream. This is great, you know, but he took it to a dark place. And then he pulled the Republican Party with it. And we're seeing that play out right now in the 2022. midterms. And Americans are saying, well, listen, we want you to drain the swamp. We don't want this fear mongering and division. We don't want an insurrection. We want people to live a better life. And we didn't necessarily get that.
Cindy Schueman:No, maybe 401 case got it for a short while. Sure. But the idea of draining the swamp never really had clear definition. And one thing I've observed is that you might elect somebody that you think has integrity going in. But on the other side coming out, it seems that politics is synonymous with corruption, and to take it out financially on your people, instead of supporting people, we don't seem to get some things, right, we do a small episode on poverty. And there is a Canadian city that did an experiment that was hugely successful. And instead of looking at what other places might have to offer, we keep throwing good money after bad. And programs that use the money meant for let's say, poverty, for advancing the organization or institution, hiring more employees. So what 20% of the money gets to the people who need it? Because 80% is used in bureaucracy, right? Somehow that to me, would define draining the swamp.
Kosta Yepifantsev:Absolutely. And then you have just like straight up fraud, like you see in Mississippi, you know, like with the whole Brett Farve situation. I mean, you talk about public funds mis appropriated. That's next level. And it's interesting that you brought up entitlement and government programs and how useful they can become, you know, we technically had like a year and a half of a universal basic income experiment during COVID. And we decrease child poverty by 47%. And here's the thing, it's okay, that some people don't like entitlement spending, because some people that are, you know, adults may abuse it. But this is child poverty. This isn't adult poverty is a child poverty, if you don't want to impact child poverty, I don't know how to explain the morality behind it. I mean, I honestly I can't
Cindy Schueman:either, right. And it's so telling that Cookeville couldn't even solicit a target to come here. Because targets come to cities based on the average income. Right? So what does that say about an area? Yeah, and we have way too many homeless and way too many children that are homeless, they're not prepared for school being homeless.
Kosta Yepifantsev:So we have all these issues in our community. Believe me, you're not the first one. I've brought these things up. We talked about this on the rag. What do you think was the purpose of putting out the website? Don't Pelosi Putnam and your opinion,
Cindy Schueman:a couple of things, rumors maybe sure came my way. And one thing that wasn't rumor, but I had to laugh at literally to my face was said, diversity, and division have the same root
Kosta Yepifantsev:word. What does that even mean? So the
Cindy Schueman:etymology of a word has nothing to do with this issue. Yeah. And I said, Well, by that logic, I guess so does define and I think the work I'm doing is divine.
Kosta Yepifantsev:I mean, we're this is like, I mean, this is what we used to say to each other in like fifth grade.
Cindy Schueman:It's less than sophomore IQ, of course, but the person who said it to me wanted to sound so academic, so arrogant and righteous and self righteous. And I'm like, I just can't deal with this ignorance. This arrogant ignorance. Yeah. So it left me very cold. Yeah, I was also told that exposing those six candidates for what they really were was important. And a finger in my face saying you were Republican chair, you took the Republican oath, you know, that we have an oath to get as many Republicans elected as possible. Okay. My response was, I took the oath. I did not sell my soul to do it.
Kosta Yepifantsev:Wow. So you're talking about diversity and division, and I saw that whole thing about diversity equaling division, and I was extremely confused by it. So I guess you have a lot more experience. And you probably talked to a lot more people that maybe gave you some explanation. What does that mean, diversity equals division.
Cindy Schueman:I can't give you a clue.
Kosta Yepifantsev:I mean, why say diversity equals racism?
Cindy Schueman:Well, in essence, I guess that's what they did. Really just looking at what they did. They targeted not only people that weren't specifically Republican, people who had voted both ways, people who were running as independents, but they targeted them and labeled them as like wolves in sheep's clothing. Right? Yeah. To try and knock them out of being elected. What did they have to worry about when we're 75 or 80%? Republican in this county,
Kosta Yepifantsev:right? You know, I gotta wrap a bow on this thing. And I'm gonna go from the very beginning. First off, Abraham Lincoln was a Republican who ended slavery, and he was on the Federalist side, meaning that he wasn't for states rights. He was For keeping the Union together, which is very similar to the dynamics of the Democratic Party right now, literally to say that you took the Republican oath, is, I really hate to make it sound like this. But I just think that people need to understand their history better. And instead of putting a tag line and a party identification, and I'm a part of this club, and this is how I need to think that club has changed dramatically in the last century, and you just need to call it for what it is.
Cindy Schueman:Well, it's audacity to me that people in the Bible Belt will profess their faith as some shield or honor that they are somehow immune to being questioned. I don't know what it is, when in fact, it has never been my understanding that in facing the Lord in any capacity, that he gives a rip if I'm a Republican or a Democrat. Exactly. That is not an oath that should be at the expense of selling your soul.
Kosta Yepifantsev:Right? And if religion is the greatest tool for morality, if it's the best way to galvanize a community to say, you need to do the right thing, and if you can't do the right thing, then there's religion that's gonna keep you on the right track and doing the right thing, this whole thing with don't Pelosi Putnam and and attacking people, it doesn't seem in line with the overall goal of Christianity and religion. Absolutely. It is not. And no one's spoken to it. That's just what I don't. That's alright, I digress. Let's talk a little bit more about the racial dynamics in the upper Cumberland, from where you're standing? Does racism still exist in the upper Cumberland? And what does it look like, but also what needs to be done?
Cindy Schueman:When the Supreme Court had to define pornography, they said they knew it when they saw it, right. But it was hard to put words to it. Racism is kind of the same thing. Because it's so closeted, it's so hidden. I think racism is alive, thriving and exists in this area, and in the hearts of many who may or may not even recognize that their speech, their jokes, or their attitudes are racist, in an area that from time to time, we get keh keh keh fliers where people have said unimaginable racist things to me in an area that by natural consequence is primarily white, without regard to advancing or welcoming non whites, non Christians, non Americans, racism is very much alive here. To me, it's frankly embarrassing. I was at Cane Creek, walking an Akita, my mom's dog who we've since had to put down, but a man in a white pickup truck was getting fishing gear out of his truck and said, beautiful dog, my dogs are trained to chase and use the N word, African Americans off my property. I'm floored by how outspoken racism can be to actually say it out loud. All of us have ethnic preferences. And most of us are most comfortable when we are with those of similar likeness, whether it's religious affiliation, a business, a professional group, or a skin color. When I promoted impact leadership, and I went in the community offering a different kind of we'll talk about that later, but a different kind of leadership program. I had people in powerful positions, say out loud, very racist things. And words are like cancer, they stick to your skin, you can't go home and shower them off. And I was really, maybe naively but very shocked by the out loud, spoken racist comments in this community.
Kosta Yepifantsev:What are they going to gain from this type of rhetoric? What's the purpose of it? Because I'm pretty sure that there's 10,000 open jobs in the upper Cumberland. So it's not an economic issue. What are people afraid of?
Cindy Schueman:They whoever they is, sometimes can make it an economic issue that all the Hispanics are taking their jobs, really, the Hispanics are doing jobs, many white people won't do anyway. And the Christian nationalist politician is talking out of both sides of his mouth when he says we need to fear Muslims because they kill gay people. And yet at the same time, now they want to introduce legislature preventing the advancement of inclusion of gay, LGBTQ transgender, and it's not love. So it's coming from a place of fear and or hate, but in this community, if we listen to a Muslim or a refugee tell their story We can hear how racist they feel the community is. So you don't have to take my word for it. Ask people who are being affected by it.
Kosta Yepifantsev:What is Christian nationalism? I mean, I've heard it a few times. But I just if you maybe could give some background like, what exactly is Christian nationalism supposed to mean? And is it a new term? Because it literally I haven't heard it, since like the last maybe in the last like year.
Cindy Schueman:I think, in particular, in the Bible Belt, where people were Christian denominational dogma, it is the expression of that dogma being the only truth related to a Christian country where we really don't want Muslims. And it's expressed then, in political agendas,
Kosta Yepifantsev:is there a purpose behind it? Well control, okay. Control for who though,
Cindy Schueman:when you want to control the idea of what you think your community is supposed to be? Religion and Politics together is the ultimate control. Yeah, separation of church and state go out the window when they can use church to control the state. Right, right.
Kosta Yepifantsev:Because church has an immoral and an emotional response. Whereas politics, it has an emotional response. But obviously, it wasn't like it is now back then. I mean, there was a response, but it wasn't anywhere near what it is today, if you look back in history, and you see how religion has been used. So if you think of like something like the great crusades, for example, I mean, that slaughtered hundreds of 1000s of people in the Middle East, because they were advocating on behalf of Christianity and against Islam. I mean, you look at the Catholic Church versus the Protestant church, all throughout Europe. I mean, the founding fathers created this country to take church out of it, because they've had 500 years of war, death and misery, and persecution and persecution, and said, Let's just govern for what's best for the people, not what they believe in.
Cindy Schueman:What higher authority do you have than to say God's on your side? This is God's word. Well, it was God's word 2004 1000 years ago, we cannot necessarily put ourselves in the cultural setting of that time, you know, if God isn't for all time, he's not the authority we want to make him to be. He is a God of all time, and for all people, if in fact, he is the only judge of the heart. I can't judge anyone else's heart. I don't want that job either. But if he's the ultimate authority, but you can contain people in a particular dogma, you give them a false sense of this is what God says, and it is the ultimate authority. And that's what it's going to be. Do you
Kosta Yepifantsev:think it's getting better or worse, worse, these types of attacks, these types of things don't help us feel like let me seek out Christianity because Christianity is now tied to such harmful rhetoric. Like what happened with this don't Pelosi Putnam website?
Cindy Schueman:Well, I think for years, I had a friend back in Illinois who wanted to start a church. And he said, If I only get people who have been harmed by the church, I have a bigger congregation than any other church in in the Chicagoland area. So when you look at that, and then you look at how the church has really harmed the homosexual community, whether or not they want to preach that homosexuality is a sin. The fact that you have someone trying to have a relationship with God, and then they're told they're gonna go to hell.
Kosta Yepifantsev:How that doesn't work, right. How do you reason with that? Yeah, yeah.
Cindy Schueman:And then, even during the pandemic, the pastor where I go to church, commented to me that they were closed for a time during the pandemic, when they reopened, he asked the congregation out of consideration for the elderly or their neighbor, to please wear a mask. Many people left the church because their autonomy was challenged, particularly and I'm gonna say it out loud, particularly Republicans who feel their autonomy is more important than being told how to be considerate to someone else. That's wild. It's pathetic,
Kosta Yepifantsev:agreed. Let's hop into impact leadership. Let's unpack it completely. Tell us about impact leadership. What inspired you to create this organization and what the primary mission is?
Cindy Schueman:The inspiration for impact leadership came from a conversation with the then impact organization about how they could promote a further outreach in the community for diversity and lead into leadership positions for the underrepresented, which is what caused the attack, I think from the PRP in the first place, just wanting underrepresented people to have a seat at the table. So I didn't have to think about the concept at all. I moved here from Chicago in 2011. And it's hard to live in a community where racism is spoken out loud, especially with my sense of inclusion. And I've often commented It was harder to move here 600 miles south than living in Egypt for a month, the Southern Culture Shock was a bit surprising to me in 2011. Had I moved here in the 60s, I could have expected what I didn't expect in 2011. But I accepted the challenge to promote impact leadership, not because it was my mission, but because I believed it was really God's work to love your neighbor as yourself. There's a difference between a transactional leadership program, which is you pay money and you get a product or service or something, a transformative organization is a little different mission. So this requires of an organization to be clear on its function, emotional and intellectual, and social aspirations of the vision. So the function is what we're trying to accomplish, or the problem that we're trying to solve. And my thought is that we are offering an opportunity to understand integration and inclusion of all diversity through education. The emotional is addressing feelings, providing empowerment, having a heightened sense of inclusion, looking forward to the betterment of your life, and the community. The social is concerned with how each individual wants to be perceived each person's story, their development personally or professionally, and how they relate with others or encouragement. The aspirational aspect sits at the highest level of what motivates people. This involves an individual becoming what they want to be living the fullest life financially secure, successful, and understanding the known factors involved in the aspiration of themselves becoming better. And we use Maslow's hierarchy, because the understanding is so clear that you know, the first leg is having your physical needs met, right? The second leg is belonging, and the third leg is safety. And those all have to be met in a healthy way, by the time you're 11 years old. And then what sits on top of the three legged table is self awareness. You can't reach some of those things until you understand that the talent that you possess, to achieve all the things that make you feel valuable and empowered, is it's no good just to yourself, you have to know how to share it.
Kosta Yepifantsev:Have you received more participation since Donald Trump has been elected in office or less? More?
Cindy Schueman:Okay, but to be honest, in an organization that measures growth by numbers, if we weren't growing, regardless of Trump, but we kind of exponentially grew after the peace ERP.
Kosta Yepifantsev:Yeah. So you know, impact is essentially and it was created by two African Americans,
Cindy Schueman:well, maybe more than two, okay. In the early days, many of the black community they would gather together and I called it It is Saturday morning porch sitting, but they would make lists as a 2% market share. Many stores in the community did not carry products they wanted, they'd make a list and somebody would go to Nashville or Nashville and get things that they wanted. Well, especially the guys working at TTU or more servi, a lifelong HR professional at fleetguard realized that they had more to offer to the black community than just Saturday morning porch sitting so it grew from several people into the impact organization. Dr. Rob Owens is a founding member who's still active and participates. So when it formed to be impact innovative men progressing African American community to get there, they decided to honor one or two or three black people in the community who have contributed in positive ways to the growth of Cookeville who are not recognized in any other capacity and in the white majority white community.
Kosta Yepifantsev:It's not just an African American organization now correct
Cindy Schueman:in 2015, when we solidified impact leadership, it was birthed out of impact. But we solidified that arm Sure, they changed the acronym to be innovative minds progressing all communities together,
Kosta Yepifantsev:I just I don't understand how the P CRP saw impact as a threat. When it's 90, like 2%, white in the in the upper Cumberland, it just doesn't make any sense why you would put yourself in such a compromised position, meaning that BCRP
Cindy Schueman:not only that, but many of the eastern Indian want to be Republican, but they can, but they can't relate to that kind of thing since they are a minority ethnic group. Yeah. And they sit on my board.
Kosta Yepifantsev:Can I ask you a little bit of political strategy since you are the chair and you probably worked in that type of stuff every single day, as the Republican Party alienates more and more voters and the congressional district maps have been redrawn, and they drew in the fifth, sixth, and seventh district into Davidson County. And I looked at the numbers, and they didn't quite reflect a significant increase in democratic vote versus Republican votes. John Burroughs lost a little bit of ground, I think, maybe like 5% or something like that. But they're gonna have to change their messaging, because if they don't, do you think that they're going to start losing congressional seats, because Davidson County is going to actually mobilize and get out the vote and rural communities like ours. I mean, I have a hard time connecting with the Republican Party right now. Because I don't know what they're gonna think of me if I'm not, you know, born in America. If I'm not at Sunday service, I mean, I'm a white dude with four kids, and I sound American. But are they gonna say something like, he's the Russian, or he's a commie.
Cindy Schueman:I know, it's not to be trusted. I'll tell you, I used to be proud of being Republican. And I'm much more cautious about having that feeling or even publicly stating a political position. In fact, I think it's more prudent to avoid it. Right. And as Chairman of tackle Tennessee association of community leaders, 95 counties across the state, we all come to the table for the betterment of our community leadership programs for the betterment of the people as well as the program. It's interesting how, in fact, leadership being attacked, affected all of them to say, Well, let's not talk about politics, let's get it out of the realm of conversation as to not make ourselves a target.
Kosta Yepifantsev:That is so dangerous, because if you say I will no longer talk about politics, you're leaving the discourse to the extreme on both sides.
Cindy Schueman:Well, from everything I've ever heard or read, it only takes 2% of extremists to damage all the rest.
Kosta Yepifantsev:Revolutionary War literally thought about that this morning. You're absolutely right. Revolutionary War 2% of the US population decided to leave their association with England.
Cindy Schueman:Well, and is it Brigitte Gabriel makes the same argument. We have extremists in every religion. We have extremists in every political party. We have extremists who aren't affiliated to anything.
Kosta Yepifantsev:I mean, imagine 6 million Americans deciding to come together and overthrowing the US government. I mean, I know like me personally, like I would take pause to going against a military of 6 million, you know, mobilization of 6 million. I reflect back on my parents talking about the Russian Revolution, the Bolshevik Party in 1917 was not a big party. They came in and Lenin was in Sweden or Switzerland for years. I mean, they came in and they literally overthrew the government convinced the people to slaughter the monarchy. Now, granted, he wasn't very popular, but still, he didn't deserve to die, and took power for the next 180 years. It's not that far fetched to think that, uh, you can change the life of many.
Cindy Schueman:Well, let's hope the upcoming generations can change things more positively.
Kosta Yepifantsev:You know, I was watching the 2022 midterms and the results that came out. And I don't know if this is gonna necessarily be a popular statement. But for the first time in a long time, I started to see common sense prevail. I started to see people say ah, I'm I'm really tired of the noise. I want to good job, honest living, raise my family. And if the world changes, I don't want to be persecuted. And I think I think voters came out in support of the Democratic Party, because they're just they're tired of the rhetoric.
Cindy Schueman:So first thing I noticed after Trump was not reelected, is that the noise quieted down, the Loyalists have not, but I guess he announced his presidential candidacy again,
Kosta Yepifantsev:I guess the question that I have is, why do you think that just regular everyday Americans don't take the time to drive to Nashville and speak to their representative, or schedule a meeting maybe with their representative, it just doesn't seem like people are as engaged as they should be? When circumstances are so dire. And I don't mean dire as in there's no hope. But they're sensitive,
Cindy Schueman:being born in the 50s, after the height of World War Two, it seemed that many, many Americans had so much faith and trust in a federal government that had integrity and honor, that political apathy not only set in among working people, adults, but it gets squeezed out of education as well. And so that apathy allowed the government to fall into the corrupt ways that they seem to be going. And I think that if we don't get bold enough to stand up and say something, we could be in trouble.
Kosta Yepifantsev:Let's talk about education. How do we explain to people that education is the only pathway forward? Because we cannot make progress in the issues we don't understand. So in your opinion, how do we begin this journey of education, and what should be covered
Cindy Schueman:in Tennessee, we could spend a lot more money on quality education, we can also strive to shape a curriculum that develops good citizens, as opposed to good Republicans or good Christians, a good citizen will want equal opportunity for all a system that is not rigged, when before the law, and to become aware of the American promise as a land of opportunity, safe economically, sound and a place of security for anyone's family, as well as our educational knowledge of America's failings, such as slavery, genocide, robber, Baron capitalism, we have a mixed record for certain of our own behavior, and then to have the audacity to condemn the behavior of other countries, dictatorships, genocides, or religions, when we are equally guilty, so moving toward being better humans, and the idea that race is not ethnic, or pigmentation. It's the human race, we have a long way to go, and a short amount of time to do it. Otherwise, the whole human race is going to be subject to their own implosion.
Kosta Yepifantsev:Absolutely. You know, when Barack Obama won the presidential election in 2008, I was 19. I just literally started my first job. And I remember this guy coming in, and he was talking about how Obama needed to be careful because he would be shot. And I was so shocked by that. Like, I was like, What are you talking about man like, talking about assassinating like President like, and obviously he was he was inferring because he was African American. And I guess he didn't agree with an African American being President. Do you think it's a Tennessee problem, though? And the reason I say that is, I mean, Georgia. I grew up in Georgia, and there's 50%. African American in Atlanta. When you get out of Atlanta, there is more racist rhetoric in communities like the suburbs. So is this a Tennessee problem? Is this a ruler versus Metro problem? Is this a North versus South problem? Like where's this ideology coming from?
Cindy Schueman:I think it goes back a long ways because Colin Woodard came out with a book America's nations. And in it he talks about, you know, the first settling of the colonies and the mindsets that were developed in those colonies as the colonies spread. So did the mindset. So Tennessee has a southern Appalachia mindset according to this book, and I think he now defines 11 nations within one nation. And when you read the As summations of the love and paragraphs of the different regions, you absolutely can identify this area. In that definition. We have never been united in terms of geographic location since the beginning.
Kosta Yepifantsev:Why don't people take the time though, like to learn, like you have the background, the history, the political dynamics, like we're talking about how education is the solution to this, and you obviously have a curriculum that you've developed in impact leadership, correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what you were attacked over was the fact that they were saying you were putting out critical race theory in public schools, like, what is that?
Cindy Schueman:So here's the thing we offer in the program, Gallup StrengthsFinder assessment, which has 34 markers, and it identifies your top five markers, and the markers are very integrated. Everyone has all 34 markers, I trust Gallup pretty well, because not only have they done hundreds of 1000s of assessments, but they have been around since maybe the 40s, or 50s, as data collection of all kinds, they developed this very well into a science to say, these top five markers dictate how you personally are going to think assess a resolve and respond, whether in a work situation, a church situation or home situation. So it's pretty consistent. And also pretty consistent throughout your life, the things that change in those markers are only as your educational confidence might be developed. So to say that is to also say this, my top marker is learner. So I love learning. One in 33, and a half million people are going to have the same five markers as I do in the same order, without the same life experiences, without the same geographic area, without the same religious input, without the same educational awareness. So there is more diversity on the planet in how you think, then there isn't skin tone, there's 110 Different pigmentations there 7000 different languages. So unless an adult is interested in improving themselves and learning, and trust me, they all aren't, they are not going to enroll in our program.
Kosta Yepifantsev:So where do they get their education from?
Cindy Schueman:I'm going to say many adults coast through life, they wake up every day without necessarily a sense of purpose, but maybe a sense of I have to go to work to feed my family, I have to watch my four kids, I have to whatever, without necessarily having any deep thought about why they exist.
Kosta Yepifantsev:Well, you know, here's what's interesting about that statement, a couple years back, I was at a fantasy football draft party. And we were all playing poker while we were drafting, sitting next to this guy. And I'd known him for a really long time. And I just started this podcast. And I was really engaged in politics, especially when I first started this podcast, just trying to analyze every single decision, every policy, like crafting messages, like learning as much as I could about it. And so he kind of knew that I was maybe leaning towards one political party versus the other. And I remember him saying, I don't know how you can prescribe to some of the Democratic ideologies, if you know that they're trying to ruin and take away our country. And I was like, What do you mean, like news to me? Right? I didn't know. I didn't know anybody was trying to take our country away. Like, tell me more. And this is the part that always gets me. They don't have anything to say, or add. And I'm not saying that this is only Republicans or because this is also Democrats. They don't have anything to say, but what the party messages are what they heard on Fox News or on MSNBC. There's no intelligent debate, because they haven't taken the time to learn. Yeah. So how do we fix that? Like, how do we get more people to start having those conversations? I don't know. Do we start, you know, mandating a couple hours every week that you shouldn't be working, you should be reading or I mean, what,
Cindy Schueman:you know, passing American citizenship is very challenging. Most Americans can't do it.
Kosta Yepifantsev:I helped them My grandparents and my parents both study for that test. And it seems
Cindy Schueman:it'd be interesting if some kind of pre election course. Yeah, would be mandated. Sure, yeah, it'd be interesting. But there would be many, many people complaining that we're trying to limit who could vote in, blah, blah, blah. So I don't know if it could be implemented, but it would be beneficial to our election process.
Kosta Yepifantsev:Very good point. So you're a Caucasian woman, and you often speak on providing a seat at the table to those who are underrepresented in this community. I want to ask this as plainly as possible. Why is representation not equality, but representation, such a radical idea to so many,
Cindy Schueman:it is essential that underrepresented groups, ethnic minorities, women, poor people, etc, all be allowed, and given a platform to tell their stories. It's not all about me, it's not all about white people's journey. Although it is representative of a lot of black eyes. Stories of other people's journeys are paramount to the human condition, the human survival, the human unity. It's not all about older white Christian men speaking for them. I don't want other people speaking for me, I'm sure that most underrepresented don't feel that other people can speak for them either. I think the elites are all about control power and keeping it the same. They're afraid of representation, because a seat at the table signifies a quality of representation, not equality. But it is also a submission of sorts, because the person at the table has to recognize that they have to submit to the underrepresented having a seat at the table. So my position is this. If you have a seat at the table, it's your responsibility to open up a seat at the table for those who don't have a seat at the table. But you have to do it without coaching them to be more white like coaching them how to be a member of this board or this table. Because the minute you coach them, you've invalidated who they are. And that's not the goal. Being born, a certain skin color is a birthmark, your skin color is one 1000s of your DNA means 990 9000s of your DNA is the same as everybody else's. So we need to get rid of at least mitigate somehow, this attitude that making America great is the power of white men whose mentality is still stuck in the 40s and 50s.
Kosta Yepifantsev:And I think you said it perfectly. When you said that an African American as he gains status position. He can't have like a bionic slaying or, you know, he has to dress like his white counterparts have similar interests, like his white counterparts. I always wonder like Obama, you know, he was obviously from a mixed family. His mother was white, his father was black. He didn't speak with any type of slang. Do you think that we're ready as a society to accept people for who they are?
Cindy Schueman:There's a an image that was pointed out to me. I am not a Star Trek, follower or fan. But there's an image of Captain Kirk, I think it is right. Walking into some kind of Galaxy community. Sure. And there, there's creatures and colors and elephant noses and pig eyes and what I don't know. I mean, it's, it's an array. That's diversity. And getting to the point of that tolerance really has to come from a place of just loving humanity, the acceptance and tolerance. And that's why I put a lot of hope in the younger generations. They are not tolerant of older people's intolerance. I agree. And so I'm hoping that some of these generational crimes, literally crimes against humanity can be abated. With a younger population saying that's not the way it is.
Kosta Yepifantsev:I think social media has played a pretty significant role, especially for not necessarily the millennial generation. It's played a role but much more sizeable role in Gen Z, and those generations after them. Like there's so much diversity and representation in social media. I'm not going to say who said this statement, but before we wrap up, I want to hear your thoughts. thoughts on this? Someone told me that the reason why we need to go against critical race theory, or why we need to limit exposure to LGBTQ perspectives, or why we don't need to focus so significantly on the issues of diversity, which she considered to be like division is because we have so many mental health issues in our younger populations, and that these types of issues only propagate an increase the mental health issues within those communities. And so unless we want to make the problem worse, those aren't topics that we should address. So what's your what's your thoughts on that?
Cindy Schueman:Well, my response would be, I'd like to know the source of that information, not who told you, but the source of their statement? Sure. I don't know that I off the cuff can buy into that at all. I think the dysfunctions the mental illness of children can be attributed to a number of things, but not social ills that they don't know as a child,
Kosta Yepifantsev:right? What's the warning for our community and other growing small towns in this area? If we can expose the hateful and manipulative agenda in leadership? What do you think will happen? And most importantly, why does it matter?
Cindy Schueman:Well, one warning is that we absolutely need to keep local print and other media coverage such as radio, TV, podcasts like yours, the Herald citizen blogs, we need to keep them alive and healthy at our local level to hold elected officials at least accountable. There's plenty of evidence to show and conclusively support that without such accountability, corruption thrives. With the loss of so many newspapers across the country. This has been well documented. Small mindedness to me is a disease. People ingrained with different dogmas who've put God in a box and made him out of their image leave us all fractured, in irreparable ways, the collateral damage to families, faiths, community organizations, the injustice and hate will compound along with the longevity of the injury. So what the P CRP did, I had so many African Americans say to me, they set us back 25 years from the progress we felt we'd made in Cookeville. How do you compensate for feeling like you've been setback 25 years, when progress has been too small to begin with? small minded self preservation in authentic, pretentious leaders, that collectively engineer bondage to fortify their own positions of Supremacy is the danger, and they end up talking out of both sides of their mouth. It matters in so many ways, sociologically, the implications, the cultural ramifications if we don't begin to grow and inclusive society. And I think further, we need to discern leaders to be either motivational visionaries who want a betterment for all in their society, and who govern all in their society, or the leaders are manipulators of their own personal agenda. Even in a small community, this is evident. Not everyone is an authentic leader for inclusion.
Kosta Yepifantsev:Are we ever going to respect each other again, and see ourselves as people and not as political parties?
Cindy Schueman:I think there's a majority of the population that can and does demonstrate respect, haven't lost all hope. I think those people are also promoters of inclusion and see all people because you can't have respect just for the white landowners, and see other people and parties with respect. That's inconsistent, right? And if nothing else at all, people are consistent.
Kosta Yepifantsev:Absolutely. And I gotta say, the midterms did show us that there's, there's hope on the horizon, that hateful rhetoric is not going to win out. What do you see as the future of the Putnam County Republican Party?
Cindy Schueman:dangerously? I would like to see the respected elected officials of Putnam County speak out against what they did because quite frankly, it has implications and reflection of them being a Republican being voted into office with the support of the Republican Party that was such as I called them bottom feeders. I am positive that Randy Porter, Eddie Farris, do not want to be associated with the kind of Republican that was expressed in the don't Pelosi Putnam County campaign.
Kosta Yepifantsev:Do you think that our local elected officials, do you think that they should be worried about their political future? If they continue down this road?
Cindy Schueman:Well, yes and no. Again, we have no Democratic Party to oppose them. And yes, because like I said, it's an it's a reflection, if they're going to feel confident in saying I'm a Republican. And these are the positive reasons why when you have a political party, representing 80% of the population with the negative bottom feeding, abhorrent, reprehensible behavior,
Kosta Yepifantsev:last question, and then we're gonna wrap it up. And thank you very much. I know this has been a very long conversation longer than most of my episodes. But I love to hear people's perspective that have been in the political environment, because in my opinion, politics are so important to us, not just how we operate our country, how we govern how our economy works, but it is underpinned with our civility and our safety. And so for that reason, thank you very much. Why do you think that people who are in poverty, specifically in this area, vote Republican, when the resources that they need to get out of poverty is most likely tied to a Democratic agenda? Having to how do people come to terms with that?
Cindy Schueman:I think a lot of it's because they're uneducated, about what that politician what their platform might really be what their gender might really be. So they're trusting in a system that they've trusted in being unaware. Another reason might be just misinformation. But it's hard to vote for a man, particularly a man, very few women are in the running. When again, we as humans don't really get to judge their heart, we don't really know what their intent or their motivation is, if their motivation is some kind of self preservation, power, manipulation. It doesn't always show until they're in office, right. And poor people are the least informed,
Kosta Yepifantsev:because they're the ones that are probably busiest trying to put food on the table. So we always like to end the show on a high note, who is someone that makes you better when you're together?
Cindy Schueman:Well, in keeping with the political theme that you have really expressed, I would like to make that a political person that I think has contributed to making people better. I am totally doing this from my own experience, working with Randy Porter. He is authentic, he's genuine. Randy Porter is someone that does things for other people, without anyone knowing without making a show. I know that his faith is genuine to him. And he seems to be a man who lives with integrity, and works with people with integrity, and is often not elevated to the level of appreciation with peers who want to take all the glory. And I respect Randy porter a great deal.
Morgan Franklin:Thank you for joining us on this episode of Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev. If you've enjoyed listening and you want to hear more, make sure you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. Leave us a review or better yet, share this episode with a friend. Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev is a Kosta Yepifantsev Production. Today's episode was written and produced by Morgan Franklin post production mixing and editing by Mike Franklin. Want to know more about Kosta visit us at kostayepifantsev.com We're better together.