1:29:02 All right, I want to get her back up some time to co-host the whole show with me. She's an amazing author and talks to hosts in her own right. Bottom of the hour, we'll go back to your calls, folks. Melissa Tate is a Christian conservative author, activist, political commentator, and social media influencer born and raised in Africa. Melissa came to the United States at the age of 19 to attend college where she earned a degree in business administration after working at a large bank for years as an investment advisor. Melissa started her own business by the age of 27 She had a thriving small business with several employees. She's married to her college sweetheart today, is a mother of three. RealMelissaTate.com and the book is Choice.
1:29:42 X'd out privilege. Choice white privilege. What's race got to do with it? And she's here with us to talk about all the craziness happening in the world. And I know she's been a big defender of free speech. She's been speaking. I've been a big fan of hers for several years. I've known about her and it's just really great to have you here. There's so many questions I've got, but wow, what a time to be alive. Well, thank you so much for having me, Alex. Yeah, everything that's happening is just really surreal. Just watching everything that's taking place has just been absolutely surreal. I mean, I used to watch some of your videos and I used to think, well, I think Alex is going a little too far, but I don't think you went far enough.
1:30:22 It's just been so crazy. I just feel like I've woken up in like Twilight Zone or some sort of a dystopic movie. But yeah, it's been crazy. How did you wake up? Because you reach millions of people now. You got a best-selling book. I mean, what was your process of waking up? What formed your views? So when I moved to the United States, I obviously immediately I aligned with the Republican Party because, you know, Zimbabweans are very conservative. I was raised very Christian, very conservative, very traditional. So when I moved here, I automatically said, well, I guess I'm a Republican. So I was all for George Bush and all of that. And then I kind of started to notice that both parties, because I've always been very interested in politics, but not involved. So I
1:31:10 So I just always used to kind of follow it. And then during the Tea Party movement, I started to notice that there was like a division between the Republicans that are really for the people and then the Republicans that are just kind of more establishment. So that's when I think I started to wake up. And then I actually saw one of your documentaries, The Obama Deception, and that kind of opened up my mind to other issues and stuff. So I was like, oh, wow. So that was kind of my journey in waking up. But really I had kind of checked out of politics for the most part, because I just felt like both parties were corrupt. And then 2016, I mean, 2016 is when I got excited. I mean, I wasn't immediately on the Trump train, but when Trump started going, I was like, that's the guy who's gonna take down both parties. He's gonna take on the Republican establishment. He's gonna take on the Democrat establishment and most importantly, the media.
1:32:03 So I immediately got on the Trump train and then I would hear that Trump tweeted this, Trump tweeted that. So I was like, let me get on this Twitter to see what he's saying for myself. So I logged on to Twitter, created an account. I started to connect with other conservatives on Twitter, and then I started tweeting out my own thoughts and, you know, posting just basically being a digital warrior and exposing all the lies that the media was saying about Trump. And then I started growing a really big following. So before you knew it, I had like hundreds of thousands of followers. President Trump is retweeting me. And before you know it, I'm at the White House taking a selfie with the president of the United States. So if you would have told me that when I was a little girl growing up in Zimbabwe, that I'd be at the White House taking a selfie with the president of the United States, I would have said, that's fake news.
1:32:51 So it's been an incredible journey. But yeah, so that's kind of my story as far as how I got involved. Well, Alyssa, you just said it all. You would have had those talents in Zimbabwe, but you wouldn't have had the opportunities. It's not that America gave you this. You came to a place where you would be recognized. And then when you got here, people immediately recognized you're smart, You're well spoken, you're beautiful, we love you. And that's what scares the left is they want to try to make us all at each other's throats when we're all just ready to come together and be successful and love God and justice. And that's why they try to suppress you. But you're right. How many other amazing people are there like you of every race, color and creed are all human that we don't know about? That's what's so amazing. I'm just glad you stepped up so we get to know you.
1:33:38 Well Alex, you're absolutely right. So when I came to the United States, you know, this was like a great opportunity for me. And just coming here with nothing, $300 in my pocket, a suitcase full of clothes, I arrive in the United States, I work hard, determination, that's just what my mother taught me, you know. So I worked my way through college, it was a supernatural thing because actually when I came to the United States, it was during a time that My own country was having an economic collapse of devastating proportions, and I'm sure you know a lot about that. But so obviously my mom couldn't afford to send me to the United States, but I came here by faith because my mom believed that I would be able to work hard and God would supernaturally provide. And he did. And I was able to pay my way through college. I graduated. I got a good job. I started my own business.
1:34:31 And by the time I was 27 years old, I had a business that was doing seven figures. You know, I had multiple employees living the American dream. So when I start to hear this narrative that America is systemically racist and oppressive and evil and white supremacist, I'm like, that is not true. That is not the America that I know. is 2020 is where I feel like it was a turning point. During the George Floyd tragedy that happened and then the ensuing riots and all of this stuff, you know how the left just took advantage of that and took that as an opportunity to smear the country as a systemically racist and evil nation. And for the first time, this was the first time that I started to hear this narrative in the mainstream because I used to see in the echo chambers, far left echo chambers of Twitter,
1:35:36 academia, but for the first time I was starting to hear my friends and family parrot these talking points of systemic racism. And for me what it is, is a bunch of weird white academic liberals stealing black people's identity and claiming they represent any problems you have. I mean look at these weird-ass white people worshipping George Floyd. That's a cult. Yes, absolutely. And that's the thing, you know, it's mostly driven by white people, but the white liberals, you know, that drive this. And so when I when all this started happening, I just got so frustrated just seeing all the ignorance that was around me. My pastor started putting up Black Lives Matter decals on the windows of the church, apologizing for his white privilege.
1:36:17 I mean, it just blew my mind and I got so frustrated. And that's when I, you know, in my frustration, the Lord just spoke to me and said, write a book about it and educate people. Because, you know, I'm somebody who follows politics very closely. So I know Black Lives Matter is an organization that does nothing for black people. I mean, they do very little, if anything. I mean, this is an organization that mostly raises funds for, you know, far left I'm
1:37:02 So I was like, you know what, I need to educate particularly, you know, even Christians and conservatives because, you know, they were falling for this and they're thinking, oh, well, I need to help black people. I even had people call me, oh, how do you feel about George Floyd's death? How does that affect you? I'm like, you know, That doesn't affect me, that's not who I am, that's not who my children are, that's not how I raise my children to live their lives like that. And to me it's kind of patronizing for somebody to say that because somebody who's black was killed, who was in this situation, now I should feel that same way. And it's mostly white liberals who come up and say these kinds of things. So I thought, you know what, I need to write a book about this. So I did, so I wrote the book Choice Privilege.
1:37:44 And basically it's a play on the words white privilege. I cross out where it says white and I put in choice because in my experience and what I've seen in America, it's not the color of your skin that determines your destiny and the quality of your life. It is the choices that you make. I came here with nothing. I made really good choices because my mother instilled in me values that the choices that you make is really what's going to determine your destiny and your life. So that's just the attitude I came over here with. My mother was like, you know, the world doesn't owe you anything. So well, Melissa Tate, I'm sold and your books amazing. Let's come back and look at what's contemporarily happening in your ideas of how to fix it and how to bring people together because what you're doing is amazing for an ambassador to humanity of real unity, not division. We'll be right back with the author of Choice Privilege. Stay with us. Melissa Tate is on fire. Melissa Tate's our guest. Hard to turn this great song off.