Lawrence Jones, a recognizable member of TheBlaze TV network, joined Glenn's program Wednesday evening along with several of his friends for an open conversation about racism in America.
A former Obama supporter who once bought into the idea all Republicans were racist, Lawrence shared the story of what changed his heart.
Watch the clip below.
Later in the program, Glenn dove into a very honest dialogue about racism with Lawrence and a few of his friends, who happened to disagree with him about certain black-lives-matter vs all-lives-matter issues.
Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors.
GLENN: What I really try to want to get to, and Lawrence, you said this the other day, that there are some things that people can do to each other that would calm the seas a bit.
LAWRENCE: I was talking about I’m not saying that all white people should feel guilty. I’m not talking about slavery, I’m talking about the civil rights movement. But I think it would help if some black people could see some white people come to them and say look, my ancestors may have or may not have participated in that, but I’m sorry. I’m sorry. What happened was screwed up.
GLENN: Does that make a difference to you?
BRITTNEY: You know, I think it would make a difference because a lot of times you just try and gauge the situation. If I can be honest, I try and gauge the situation with a white person if they’re going to treat me right or if they’re going to treat me with respect or if they’re going to be disrespectful. I think it’s a big culture barrier between all of us.
GLENN: Because that’s really risky for you to say, can I be really risky back?
BRITTNEY: Yes, sir.
GLENN: I gauge, and I didn’t used to do this until the last five, eight years. I now gauge in a conversation with a black person, are you hostile? Are you going to try to trap me? Are you going to immediately assume I’m a racist, and so you’re trying to trap me into something? Do you know what I mean? Does that make sense?
BRITTNEY: Trap you into?
GLENN: Trap me into, take something that I say, instead of—I just said black. What do you mean, black? Why isn’t it African-American? You know what I mean?
BRITTNEY: That makes sense.
GLENN: So we’re at the situation to where we’re not really talking to each other because you’re gauging me, I’m gauging you, and we’re wasting time.
LAWRENCE: That’s part of the problem. It’s like everybody, you see it on news network every single day. There needs to be a conversation, but in order for a conversation to take place, the conversation needs to be unfiltered, and people to be able to lay out their heart, both white and black.
BRITTNEY: I agree.
SHANE: The conversation also needs to be fostered by some genuine desire for earnest communication. Right now we’re in the situation where—
GLENN: Everybody’s trying to win.
SHANE: Well, yeah, that’s right. This isn’t a competition, and this isn’t a sensationalistic news media issue. This is a human dignity issue, and having conversations like this like we had in the green room, that’s what’s going to effect change.
LAWRENCE: But there’s some people on both sides that are opposed to that. I posted on my Facebook, Glenn, the other day, that some of my friends are part of black lives matter and they’re going to be coming on the show. Some of the hate that I got was how could you be friends with them? Because I love them. I trust them more than I trust you because they have my back. I know at the end of the day we disagree politically, but I know that if I’m in need, they’re going to make sure I have food, a roof over my head.
GLENN: We never used to split ourselves. I’m older than all of you guys, but we didn’t split ourselves the way we’re splitting ourselves now. When push came to shove, we were still all Americans.