Episodios

  • The Grand Dragon Warning: Traveling While Black Gen X in Polk County

    The Grand Dragon Warning: Traveling While Black Gen X in Polk County
    Oct 16 2025
    In 2008, I had just started my own law firm in Central Florida and was commuting daily through the quiet backroads of Polk County. One day, a young woman in my mentor’s office pulled me aside and said, “Be careful driving through that town — the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan lives there.”

    That moment stopped me cold. Not because I feared what might happen, but because it revealed something deeper — that even decades after Jim Crow, the echoes of history still shape how we move through certain spaces.

    In this episode, I revisit that conversation, unpack what it meant for me as a Black Gen Xer, and reflect on how generational awareness — even from those born long after the civil rights era — reminds us that history doesn’t fade just because the laws change.

    Join me as I explore why awareness isn’t paranoia, why silence doesn’t equal safety, and why talking about history isn’t divisive — it’s survival.

    🎧 Listen, reflect, and share this story with someone who believes history no longer matters. 💬 For exclusive reflections and bonus commentary, visit my Patreon at linktr.ee/anthonyreeves.

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    11 m
  • Pulled Over at Night: A Young Black Officer’s Lesson in Survival

    Pulled Over at Night: A Young Black Officer’s Lesson in Survival
    Oct 13 2025
    In 1996, I was a 27-year-old Black naval officer stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. One late night, I was driving home from Jacksonville along a dark, two-lane rural road — no lights, no traffic, just me and the sound of my tires against the pavement.

    Then I saw it — headlights, brake lights, and the unmistakable turn of a police cruiser making a U-turn behind me.

    In that moment, every image I had ever seen of how quickly things could go wrong for someone who looked like me came rushing to the surface. Nobody had ever given me “the talk.” I didn’t know the playbook. All I knew was that I wanted to make it home alive.

    This episode shares the story of that night — the split-second decisions, the unexpected conversation with the officer, and the reflections that came years later. It’s about instinct, survival, and the quiet ways Black Gen X learned lessons that weren’t always spoken but deeply understood.
    Because sometimes, survival isn’t about being brave — it’s about being wise.

    🔊 In This Episode:

    • Growing up without “the talk” about police encounters
    • The night I got pulled over in rural North Carolina
    • The three choices that flashed through my mind
    • How a shared military connection shifted the moment
    • Why survival sometimes means de-escalating before it begins
    • Reflections from older Black Marines who reminded me what mattered most

    💬 Call to Action:

    If this story resonates with you, share your thoughts in the comments or send a voice message through the platform. Your stories matter — and together, we keep these conversations alive.
    Explore more reflections, exclusive stories, and digital books at Linktree.com/mynameisreeves and join me on Patreon for behind-the-scenes access at Patreon.com/TheAnthonyReevesExperience.

    🏷️ Hashtags / Tags for Podcast Platforms

    #BlackGenX #TheAnthonyReevesExperience #LifeLessons #TrueStory #BlackMenAndPolice #CampLejeune #SurvivalStory #MilitaryLife #Awareness #GenXReflections

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    12 m
  • When the Laws Changed but the People Didn’t: The Gen X Reality After Desegregation

    When the Laws Changed but the People Didn’t: The Gen X Reality After Desegregation
    Oct 10 2025
    In this episode, Tony Reeves takes listeners beyond the viral video “Beware of the Klan County” to unpack what it truly meant for Black Generation X to grow up after the fall of legal segregation.
    The Civil Rights victories of the 1950s and 1960s—Brown v. Board of Education, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and the Fair Housing Act—changed the laws. But they didn’t immediately change the people.

    Tony explores how Gen X became the first generation to live without Jim Crow, yet still under the shadow of those who thrived during it. From courtrooms still fighting school segregation into the 1980s to the quiet persistence of prejudice in everyday life, this episode reveals the growing pains of a nation learning how to desegregate—and the emotional toll of being a transitional generation.
    Generation X inherited the promise of freedom without a blueprint for how to live it. This is our story.


    🔊 Highlights Include
    • Brown v. Board II and the slow road to integration
    • Why 1970 marked a turning point for institutional discrimination
    • How laws and culture reinforced one another for generations
    • What happened when the institutions changed but the bigots didn’t
    • The identity divide within Generation X
    • Why remembering history is not “dwelling on the past”
    🎙️ Call to Action (for your podcast outro or show notes)

    👉🏾 Join the conversation — Share your thoughts about growing up in the shadow of change. 👉🏾 Support the work — Visit mynameisreeves-shop.fourthwall.com for books and reflections from the Black Gen X Reflections collection.

    👉🏾 Subscribe to IN THE KNOW with Tony Reeves wherever you listen to podcasts for more real talk about history, identity, and lived experience.

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/in-the-know-with-tony-reeves--5596987/support.
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    15 m
  • Be Careful of the Klan County What a Quiet Warning in 1995 Taught Me About Awareness and Survival

    Be Careful of the Klan County What a Quiet Warning in 1995 Taught Me About Awareness and Survival
    Oct 7 2025
    In 1995, I arrived in Jacksonville, North Carolina — a young, proud Black naval officer reporting for duty at Camp Lejeune. Like anyone new to a duty station, I was trying to find my way — where to live, where to eat, and how to adjust.

    But within weeks, I received a warning I’ll never forget. A senior non-commissioned officer pulled me aside and said:

    “If you’re driving, make sure you drive the speed limit through that county.”
    At first, I thought he was talking about speed traps — until he told me that less than ten years earlier, that same county had a billboard that read:

    “Home of the Ku Klux Klan.”

    That warning changed how I saw everything. It wasn’t about fear — it was about awareness. Even though the signs came down, the attitudes hadn’t always disappeared.

    In this episode, I share how that experience shaped my understanding of race, safety, and survival in America — and why it still matters today.

    This story also marks the first reference to my upcoming book, Traveling While Black Gen X, a reflection on what it meant for my generation — post–Jim Crow, pre-smartphone — to navigate freedom and fear on the same road.

    🎧 Listen now to hear how one warning became a lifelong reminder that awareness is not fear — it’s protection.

    Call to Action

    If this episode resonates with you: ✅ Follow and share this podcast with someone who values real stories and honest reflections. 💬 Join the conversation by leaving a comment or message on my socials. 📚 Learn more about my upcoming book, Traveling While Black Gen X, and how these experiences shaped its creation.

    🏷️ Hashtags / Tags

    #BeCarefulOfTheKlanCounty #TravelingWhileBlackGenX #DrivingWhileBlack #BlackGenX #TheAnthonyReevesExperience #AmericanHistory #BlackExperience #TonyReeves #AwarenessNotFear #Storytime #RealTalkPodcast

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    7 m
  • Commentary on the Comments: Black Gen X and the Stories History Forgot

    Commentary on the Comments: Black Gen X and the Stories History Forgot
    Oct 4 2025
    In this special Commentary on the Comments episode of IN THE KNOW with Tony Reeves, I’m responding to a viewer who asked a simple but powerful question:

    “Why do you keep talking about Black Generation X?”

    My answer goes far beyond nostalgia. Black Gen X stands at the crossroads of history — the first generation to grow up in a legally desegregated world but still carry the weight of institutional racism’s shadow.

    In this reflection, I explore how history remembers other generations through defining moments like Prohibition, World War II, and the Civil Rights Movement — but rarely defines our generation by anything beyond pop culture and MTV.

    I discuss how that historical oversight shapes the way we understand progress, identity, and belonging — and why it’s dangerous to “delete” parts of our shared story in the name of moving on.
    ✊🏾 Key themes:
    • How history overlooks Black Gen X in favor of larger narratives
    • Why we’re called the “transitional generation”
    • The risk of erasing lived experiences in the name of progress
    • Why remembering our stories is essential to understanding where we are today
    💬 Join the conversation: Do you think Black Gen X has been overlooked or misrepresented in American history? Share your thoughts on YouTube or social media using the hashtag #CommentaryOnTheComments — I might feature your response in a future episode.

    🔔 Follow IN THE KNOW with Tony Reeves wherever you get your podcasts for more reflections on life, identity, and the truth behind the stories we tell.

    🎧 Listen. Reflect. Engage.

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    12 m
  • When Welcome Turns to Unwelcome: A Black Gen X Childhood Reality

    When Welcome Turns to Unwelcome: A Black Gen X Childhood Reality
    Oct 3 2025
    At 7 years old, I thought I found the perfect friend. We played, laughed, and shared childhood joy—until one day, he told me we couldn’t play anymore because I was Black. That moment of rejection was my first real encounter with how quickly a welcoming space could become unwelcome.

    In this episode, I reflect on the innocence lost that day and how it shaped my understanding of race, belonging, and adaptation as a Black Gen Xer. From childhood confusion to adult perspective, I explore what it meant to grow up in spaces where acceptance was conditional and rejection could arrive without warning.

    Tune in for a personal story about resilience, race, and the lifelong impact of a single childhood moment.


    Do you want me to also add a short call-to-action for listeners (e.g., inviting them to follow, share their own experiences, or check out your e-books/memberships) so the podcast description doubles as both narrative and promotion?

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    9 m
  • Did We Get It Right? Generation X, Racism, and Learning Without a Roadmap

    Did We Get It Right? Generation X, Racism, and Learning Without a Roadmap
    Sep 30 2025
    In this episode, I reflect on what it meant to be a Black Gen Xer navigating college life, cultural misunderstandings, and the loneliness of being “the only one” in spaces where I didn’t always feel welcome. From being told that HBCUs weren’t “the real world,” to living four years as the only Black student on my dorm floor, I share the raw lessons and coping strategies that my generation had to invent on the fly.

    We didn’t always get it right—but we tried. Gen X carried the burden of learning to survive in a world that claimed to be equal but wasn’t, and we passed those lessons—messy as they were—on to future generations.

    🎧 Tune in as I explore:
    • Why people “Monday morning quarterback” racism but rarely understand what it feels like in real time
    • How cultural misunderstandings shaped my interactions and forced me to adapt
    • What it meant to be the only one, and how safe spaces became essential for survival
    • Why Generation X is the overlooked bridge generation between Baby Boomers and Millennials

    📩 Stay connected beyond the podcast:
    👉 Sign up for my mailing list:Mailing list signup
    📚 Explore my eBooks: https://mynameisreeves-shop.fourthwall.com/

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    7 m
  • My First Encounter with Racism: A Childhood Story in the 1970s South

    My First Encounter with Racism: A Childhood Story in the 1970s South
    Sep 26 2025
    In this episode, I share my very first experience of being exposed to racism as a child growing up in the rural South during the 1970s. At just eight years old, an innocent invitation to play on a trampoline turned into a painful lesson about exclusion, bigotry, and the way prejudice is passed down through generations.

    But this story is also about courage. When I was told I wasn’t welcome, one Cub Scout Den Mother stood up for me, making it clear that if I wasn’t accepted, none of the kids would be a part of it. That moment showed me not only what racism looked like up close, but also what it means to have someone defend you when you can’t defend yourself.
    Join me as I reflect on:
    • The innocence of childhood interrupted by racism.
    • How generational prejudice poisons relationships.
    • The powerful role of allies who refuse to stay silent.
    • Why these stories still matter today.


    👉 After listening, I’d love to hear from you: When was your first exposure to racism or bigotry?

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    9 m