Danny Barnes interview, 08 October 2025

Abstract

In this 2025 interview, East Cleveland native Mr. Danny Barnes reflects on his upbringing, and his educational experiences in the city’s schools, especially Shaw High School. He discusses the strong sense of community, the presence of Black-owned businesses, and the supportive environment that shaped his adolescence and early adulthood. Barnes recounts the origins of the first All Class Shaw Reunion in 2004, detailing his motivation to reunite former students, strengthen community ties, and inspire long-term engagement with East Cleveland. Barnes concludes by emphasizing the need for ownership, revitalization, and sustained civic participation to support East Cleveland’s future.

Interviewee

Barnes, Danny (interviewee)

Interviewer

Mays, Nicholas S. (interviewer)

Project

East Cleveland

Date

10-8-2025

Document Type

Oral History

Duration

84 minutes

Recommended Citation

"Danny Barnes interview, 08 October 2025" (2025). Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection. Interview 757005.
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/crohc000/1410

Transcript

Nick Mays [00:00:00] Okay. My name is Dr. Nicholas Mays and today is September 22, 2025. We are at the East Cleveland Public Library conducting an official oral history interview for the East Cleveland Oral History Project. I am joined by Mr. Danny Barnes, Shaw High School Class of 1981 alum and organizer of the first all Class shaw reunion in 2004. [00:00:29] Mr. Barnes is also a longtime advocate for community reconnection and for investment in East Cleveland. This conversation will become part of our archival and documentary record and digital documentary. Mr. Barnes, thank you for being here.

Danny Barnes [00:00:49] Yes.

Nick Mays [00:00:50] Can you begin by telling us your, your age and date of birth?

Danny Barnes [00:00:55] I am 62 years old. Date of birth is […] 1963. Yes. My name is Danny Barnes.

Nick Mays [00:01:01] Well, thank you Mr. Mr. Barnes, let’s talk about a little bit about your roots in East Cleveland and schooling first and foremost. When did your family first come to East Cleveland?

Danny Barnes [00:01:16] We moved in East Cleveland in 1978 I believe it was, we think it was in the seventh grade. And we moved from. [00:01:30] Buckeye area and from there my parents got a house over on Neladale.

Nick Mays [00:01:37] Where did your ancestors migrate from. [00:01:42] In terms of the South?

Danny Barnes [00:01:44] My mom migrated from Little Rock, Arkansas and my dad migrated from Jackson, Mississippi.

Nick Mays [00:01:51] Do you know the year, the decade?

Danny Barnes [00:01:54] No, I do.

Nick Mays [00:01:57] Have they, have your parents told you stories about. [00:02:03] Them growing up in the South?

Danny Barnes [00:02:06] No. You know that wasn’t part of our conversations growing up. My mom and dad, I guess they left the past in the past.

Nick Mays [00:02:15] Can you describe your upbringing? First and foremost start off with your parents, what your parents was like, maybe schooling or work that they did.

Danny Barnes [00:02:30] Well my upbringing was very family oriented. First of all my parents was my dad, he was the provider in the house. So my mom didn’t work so come from a family of nine, six boys and three girls. And so my dad was, he was a welder by trade. And my mom, like I said, she didn’t work until. [00:02:54] 1970, maybe 1980 when my dad passed in a car accident in 1979. And from then on my mom, you know, took over the hammer the family but come from a very close knit family because we grew up every as a generation because my mom’s parents actually lived in Maple Heights at the time. [00:03:17] And so every holiday our cousins and everybody migrated over to my grandparents house because my mom actually come from a family of it was 10 of them in her family as well. So everybody used to meet over at my grandparents house and so we grew up as a close knit family.

Nick Mays [00:03:39] What was one of the life lessons that you learned from both Your parents, you know, first with your dad that you remember today or kind of informed your life or your career, but also your mom too.

Danny Barnes [00:03:54] Well, from my dad’s side, I think it was just more so just perseverance. My dad was the type, he just. He never gave up, no matter what he did. When it came to providing for the family, my dad was just hardcore when it went to persevere, whatever it was. And from my mom’s side of the family is just. [00:04:14] My mom instilled in us. And one thing she always told us, just love first regardless, just love each other. And that was. That was very prevalent in our household.

Nick Mays [00:04:26] Going back to. And thank you for that, Mr. Barnes. Going back to coming up in East Cleveland from grade school, you know, up until high school. What was it like growing up in East Cleveland? And then also too, what. What schools did you attend?

Danny Barnes [00:04:45] Well, first of all, attended Charles Orr. Charles Orr was elementary. Don’t remember the exact dates, but that was on Huff. And then. Then we moved from Huff over to Buckeye area, went to Harvey Rice, so I attended Harvey Rice from, I believe the second grade to the sixth grade, and then went to Audubon from the seventh grade. [00:05:08] And then that’s when we moved over to East Cleveland. So then I attended Shaw High school from the 9th to the 12th grade. So growing up in East Cleveland was just an unbelievable experience because just to be in a predominantly black suburban area at that time and. And to be around our people and see that the different businesses and everything that was in the city that black people owned. [00:05:38] So it was really a very good experience. In addition to that, just the love of the community that everybody, everybody loved each other. And your neighbors, if you got in trouble with the neighbors, the neighbors can whoop you, take you home. And there was no argument about who was right or who was wrong. [00:05:58] If the neighbor said you did something, you got another whooping by your parents. So just to understand that analogy of just respecting people in general just was. Was a great experience.

Nick Mays [00:06:13] How would someone describe young Mr. Mr. Barnes growing up? Or how would you describe yourself as a kid or even a teenager?

Danny Barnes [00:06:25] You know, I was just always been a real laid back kind of dude, but very smart. I was very smart. It’s funny because I ran into an old classmate of mine back in the sixth grade and he contacted me on Facebook. And one thing he made reference to, he said. He said, man, I used to just admire you because you was just so very smart. [00:06:50] And he said, you. We used to have battles all the time about who got the best grades. And he, he reminded me and I forgot all about it, but he reminded me, said, only beat you one time when it came to grades. He said, I, I got 101 time on something and you got 98. [00:07:07] He said, that’s the only time I ever beat you. So, so growing up, I was just always a laid back guy and it was just a matter that I put. My education at the time was very important because that was something that parents instilled in us is you do your chores, when you come home, you do your homework and then you can go outside and play, but you better be home before the lights come on.

Nick Mays [00:07:32] So we’re going to get to high school years in Shaw, but even before that, do you remember. You know, how you spent your time after school? You know, whether it’s riding bikes or playing sports.

Danny Barnes [00:07:46] And basically that was it. It was out every day you come home. Like I said, it was, you do your chores, you do your homework. Then everybody went outside, you went outside. You either play football in the streets, played basketball, you rode your bike. But it was back then, it was such a. [00:08:02] Everybody was just community related. Everybody was outside, the kids. We didn’t, we didn’t stay indoors. It was, it was just outdoors was the thing to do.

Nick Mays [00:08:13] We’ll talk about East Cleveland today and, you know, the evolution of East Cleveland. But what was the, what was east, what was the East Cleveland you encountered, you know, in your, in your, in your young days in terms of infrastructure or businesses or just what was the community like? What was East Cleveland like?

Danny Barnes [00:08:36] It was, it was, like I said, it was such a. East Cleveland at that time was really the place to be because first of all, you couldn’t even litter in the city of East Cleveland. There was a $250 fine if you littered in the city of East Cleveland. So to have to come from that perspective of you had many homeowners, so everybody owned a home, people took care of their lawns. [00:09:04] And at that time, you couldn’t even walk in people’s grass at that time because it was unheard of. So to come from, you know, a place like that where people, you appreciated each other and the businesses, like I say, the black businesses, that was on the communities that, you know, people loved on each other. [00:09:28] And it was just, just being here was. It’s kind of hard to explain because you would have to actually be here to understand how we just got along.

Nick Mays [00:09:43] Moving on to your years at Shaw High School. What made Shaw special? When you were a student and talk about academics or Programs are, you know, athletics, school culture, et cetera.

Danny Barnes [00:10:03] Well, what made Shaw special? One thing is I think Shaw at that time had one of the largest indoor swimming pools. At that time, the athletics was off the chain. Shaw was good in football, good in basketball, track. We just, it was just. [00:10:24] They were just good in everything. And far as academics, I love Shaw because Shaw offered at that time so many different programs for you to get involved in. Far as academics. They had so many. [00:10:39] Like welding programs. They had. [00:10:43] If you want to be them, auto Mechanic, machine trades, DoH, cosmetology. It was just so many different ways that Shaw could offer a person to set them up for lifetime. And so that was one of the best things about being at Shaw because even if you decided that you didn’t want to go to college, you still had other options. [00:11:07] And I think that’s what set Shaw apart from a lot of other schools is because they gave you other options up to what you wanted to do with your life.

Nick Mays [00:11:17] For clarity, what year did you graduate?

Danny Barnes [00:11:20] 1981.

Nick Mays [00:11:23] Were you an athlete?

Danny Barnes [00:11:25] No. Well, I was, I come from a family of basketball players. All my brothers, we played basketball, but we were all short of course at that time. So it was all about the height, you tall, you could play. But come from a family of right now my nephew, I have a nephew that plays professional basketball overseas. [00:11:48] And because that’s what we did, we played basketball.

Nick Mays [00:11:51] How about the culture at Shark University? Can you describe like the day to day engagements, going to class and then you’re hanging out with your friends and your buddies?

Danny Barnes [00:12:04] It was, see Shaw, when the old Shaw was like being on a college campus because when you Shaw had a lounge, we had a dance lounge. So at lunchtime you would go to lunch and then after you eat lunch you go over to the lounge and you can dance. So when you interacting with people all through the, through the hallways and everything, even in the outside, it was just, just like being on a college campus. [00:12:36] It was just an unbelievable.

Nick Mays [00:12:42] Can you clarify? You said, you mentioned old Shaw. Can you talk about like the old Shaw versus new Shaw for people who don’t know?

Danny Barnes [00:12:55] Yeah, see the old, the old Shaw, there was. [00:13:01] There was two different buildings at the time. There was an old building and then they had a new building that they attached where we had all the, the machine trades and all those classes. So right now, when you look at the, with Shaw now it’s, it’s missing the, the old Shaw which was the, the building where, where most of everything was done. [00:13:24] That’s where you have most of your classes, unless you was in the other classes. But.

Nick Mays [00:13:31] So Shaw was rebuilt.

Danny Barnes [00:13:32] It was rebuilt. It was rebuilt in 2000, and I think they tore down in 2005, and I think it was finally rebuilt in 2006.

Nick Mays [00:13:43] Do you know when the original Shaw was built?

Danny Barnes [00:13:46] It was in 18 something. I have that on my itinerary, but I can’t remember the date.

Nick Mays [00:14:02] You know, you answered some of this. This question in process, but I think I’m going to state this question, which was my next question. Can you think of a vivid memory that captures what it was like at Shaw?

Danny Barnes [00:14:23] You know what I think. [00:14:27] The best memory at Shaw was the basketball games. That was the best memory because you’re talking about literally the whole gymnasium was always packed because everybody supported our basketball team. So just to. Just to be in that environment with the basketball team and they were as good as they were, it was. [00:14:50] Very great experience.

Nick Mays [00:14:56] Why do you think either then or now, Shaw High School is one of those institutions that residents have passion for or speak about or respect. Obviously it’s institution of education, but in my research the last couple of months, it’s more than that because people don’t talk about my high school. But it seems to me like Shaw. There can be a movie about Shaw.

Danny Barnes [00:15:33] Yes, yes.

Nick Mays [00:15:35] Can you. Can you speak to that or try to describe what that is?

Danny Barnes [00:15:39] You know, I think, like I say, the difference between Shaw and any other place was ours was really based on community, is because our whole community was involved in our lives. Not only just because everybody went to Shaw, but it was. It was. The community was totally involved in every. With everybody. So I think that in itself was. [00:16:06] An experience that some of the places just don’t get the opportunity to experience. And then there again, you know, being from a predominantly all black community at that particular time was really. It set us aside from everybody else.

Nick Mays [00:16:24] Moving forward. I want to talk a little bit about community identity in black space. And I know some of it you’ve discussed in passing. I want to talk about. Particularly, black businesses. Was black businesses a type of role model for you and seeing people that look like you owning businesses?

Danny Barnes [00:17:03] Absolutely, absolutely. Because, you know, when you growing up. [00:17:09] You know, when you. Especially when you’re looking on. At TV all the time, all you see on TV is white businesses and white people doing this, doing that. So when you actually grow up in an environment where you. Where you see black businesses and you see black owners, that’s very humbling and inspiring all at the same time.

Nick Mays [00:17:30] Just not black businesses specifically, but in general. You know, Black businesses, but in businesses in general. What businesses do you recall growing up?

Danny Barnes [00:17:46] First of all, I recall the cable company. The cable company was owned by a black man at the time. His daughter actually graduated from Shaw. In addition to that, you had mechanic shops. [00:18:02] And we had BM Barbecue was one of the. [00:18:07] Places that everybody went because, you know, Cleveland is known for Polish boys. And that was one of the things that BM. They were just really good at. The Polish boys and the donut shop, you know, that’s where everybody migrated to.

Nick Mays [00:18:23] What is the donut shop?

Danny Barnes [00:18:26] I forget the name of it.

Nick Mays [00:18:29] Is it Peter Pan?

Danny Barnes [00:18:30] Peter Pan. Peter Pan.

Nick Mays [00:18:31] What is it about Peter Pan?

Danny Barnes [00:18:33] You know, I guess it was just. That was just a meeting spot. There was just a meeting spot, and the donuts were good at that time. So more so I think it was just the meeting spot that was just where everybody migrated. Because when you got out of school, most people walked in that direction toward Peter Pan, you know, Me, on the other hand, we walked up the hill, but everybody else walked west where Peter Pan was.

Nick Mays [00:19:00] Can you recall remember actually going in and eating donuts, whether with your friends or family?

Danny Barnes [00:19:06] Yes, yes, definitely. Because, you know, like I say, that was the only donut spot at, you know, in East Cleveland at the time. So, you know, we used to go in there, you know, a lot just to get donuts.

Nick Mays [00:19:21] Can you contrast that era with black businesses and businesses in general in East Cleveland to what we’re seeing today?

Danny Barnes [00:19:36] What we’re seeing today in East Cleveland?

Nick Mays [00:19:37] Yeah.

Danny Barnes [00:19:38] Oh, it’s like it’s night and day. It’s really night and day. Because. There again, then, people had a strong will to be successful, I believe. And. [00:19:57] Unfortunately, now, when you got politics involved in East Cleveland, because back then, we didn’t have mayors. We had what they called city managers. And so most of the city services were owned by the city of East Cleveland. So that in itself provided people with jobs. But now when they switched over to the mayors, then a lot of the services were. [00:20:26] Sent out to third parties. And that in itself was a definite change in the city.

Nick Mays [00:20:37] How does seeing the blight or the infrastructure make you feel, for example? I know what it makes me feel like, what I think about, as a non-East Cleveland resident or outsider. But when you’re driving through East Cleveland, how does that. What does it.

Danny Barnes [00:21:02] Very disappointed. Very, very disappointed. Very. [00:21:08] Saddened by the way that the city has went downhill. Because like I said, when you grow up in an environment where you can’t even litter in the city, and then you Drive through the city now and the roads are not taken care of. There’s garbage, you know, everywhere. Nobody really is taking care of their lawns anymore because you don’t have that home ownership. [00:21:32] So it’s really, really sad to drive through here.

Nick Mays [00:21:36] Now, does your mind contrast to like when you were young?

Danny Barnes [00:21:42] It does, it does, because it’s like, wow, I remember when it used to look like this. And now you, you, you dealt with the, the way it looks now.

Nick Mays [00:21:57] All right, thank you for that. And, and later on in the interview, we’ll, we’ll talk about the future. [00:22:07] So I want to talk about the, the first all Class Shaw reunion. But, but first and first and foremost, let’s, let’s talk about post high school. You graduate from, from shaw University in 1981. [00:22:30] Do you go to college and what is life like after high school?

Danny Barnes [00:22:35] Well, yes, I went to college. Actually. I went to the first year I went to Tennessee State University, and that was in 1982. So after, after that year I spent there. I came back home because I was really culture shocked because being away from home my first time, especially in the the South, because growing up, I never even went South. [00:23:00] My parents, when my dad went back home, my dad would generally go by itself. So I never even knew what the south looked like. So going there was culture shock. So I came back home in 82. In 84, I enrolled in University of Akron and then I went to the Army Reserve prior to going to the University of Akron in 1984. [00:23:25] And in 89 and 88, I just moved. I stopped going to school because I didn’t really know what I wanted to be. I knew I was capable of doing a whole lot of things, but I just didn’t know what. So I ended up moving to Greensboro, North Carolina and got a job as a consultant for a company called Telecheck. [00:23:50] Worked there for a few years and then got into the insurance industry. [00:23:54] Got married, had two daughters at the time. And from there I moved to Atlanta, Georgia. So in Atlanta, I ended up getting into the mortgage industry. And so I lived in Atlanta for 10 years, migrated back here to Cleveland, and then I started a real estate investment company. When I moved back here, did you.

Nick Mays [00:24:21] Did you Migrate to Cleveland or East Cleveland?

Danny Barnes [00:24:23] No, I migrated back to Cleveland. Yes.

Nick Mays [00:24:27] For clarity, did you graduate from Akron U.

Danny Barnes [00:24:31] No.

Nick Mays [00:24:31] Okay. When did you, when did you get out of the army?

Danny Barnes [00:24:38] In 1990.

Nick Mays [00:24:39] Was it the Army?

Danny Barnes [00:24:40] No, Army Reserve. Army Reserve, yes.

Nick Mays [00:24:46] Okay, so moving on, the, the, the first all Class Shaw reunion. First of all, can you take some time. And discuss why did you create the first all class reunion in 2004? But before you discuss why you developed and created this concept and founded this event, can you first just describe what is the Shaw reunion?

Danny Barnes [00:25:27] Well, the first all class reunion, it was really is just about bringing all classes together. And so. [00:25:35] Because what I was, the whole thought processes was. [00:25:41] That because when you think about high school, high school, you, when you’re in high school, you either got three classes before you and you got three classes behind you. But everybody, when they have their class reunions, they always just, you know, go with the class they graduated with. But you having a relationship with all these people before you and behind you. [00:26:04] So at that time I thought, well, wait a minute, I was in, I don’t know if it was happening in Atlanta or in North Carolina when I heard on the radio about an all class reunion. So when I got back to Cleveland and going through East Cleveland, because like I said, when I started my real estate investment company, I actually started buying houses in East Cleveland before I did the all class reunion. [00:26:28] So I was. [00:26:31] It just dawned on me one day when I got home and I just started writing down things that we used to like doing way back in the day. And so I came up with a whole itinerary at that time of, of what we could do over a four day period. And so I contacted two young lady friends of mine and I told them exactly what I wanted to do. [00:26:55] And in the process, we went to the principal at Shaw at that time, his name was Clarence Bozeman. We went to him and we told him, this is what we want to do. We want to bring all the all Shaw people back here in the community because we needed that. [00:27:16] And so he gave us the okay. So he basically said, yes, whatever you need, if you need to utilize the buildings. Because at that time we didn’t even know Shaw was going in the process of being torn down. All we knew was, hey, I want to put together this all class reunion because the love of this city is still within us. [00:27:36] And so that’s what I did. I just, I ended up meeting with the principal and he gave us, he let us utilize the. [00:27:46] Buildings. So first we had what we called last chance to hand dance, which was utilized in our corps lounge because that’s what the place where we used to have our dances at our school dances. So that was the last chance to hand dance because since the school was being torn down, so that was a very, very successful event. [00:28:08] So at that time we gave out the itineraries at that event to let people know that, hey, all class reunion is coming in August of this year. So then after that, we had. We reached out to everybody that ever went to Shaw and gave them the opportunity to to come and walk through the school for the last time before it was tore down. [00:28:37] And it was an amazing day that day because not only did you have the predominantly black people that grew up in my time, but you had the white people that grew up way before me that went to Shaw, that came through there and walked through Shaw for the last time. [00:28:59] So it was a very, very humbling experience just to put this thing together in itself, because at the time, I never knew how it would even turn out. It was just based on my whole perception of where I grew up at, realizing that, wait a minute, we was community based city. Everybody loved Shaw. [00:29:26] So if I could put together these events and bring everybody back together, then maybe not only we can come together based on these events, but actually we can come together with ideals on how we can form other groups outside of this in order to reinvest back into the city.

Nick Mays [00:29:49] Can you walk us through the steps of conception, like writing notes to the event, going live, day of. What is that process like?

Danny Barnes [00:30:02] You know, it was. [00:30:05] It was easy.

Nick Mays [00:30:06] And what’s in the weeds? But I just. I think. I just think it’s fascinating. I think it’s a good question.

Danny Barnes [00:30:12] I’m gonna tell you. It was easy for me only because I knew everything that we liked doing back then. So all I did is I put it on paper first. I wrote everything down, everything that we like to do. And then I strategically, excuse me, strategically just eliminated some of the things based on the time that we had to do each event. [00:30:37] So first of all, I knew we liked basketball. So I knew on Thursdays, with everybody coming in the city, they would love to come to a basketball game. So that was the first event. Then secondly, I said, well, we got to have what we call a meet and greet because it’s everybody coming back. [00:30:58] Then you want everybody to come together dressed up, because that’s what we did back then. We dressed up coming to school. So I had to meet and greet at the Cleveland Brown Stadium. [00:31:12] And then I said, well, wait a minute, we have to have something coming through the city to show people that even though the city has maybe going downhill now, but we are still here. So we had a parade through the city of East Cleveland that Saturday. And then Saturday night we had the black and red ball, which was at the Sheraton downtown, which is now the Westin and then of course, Sunday was the big hurrah, the picnic. [00:31:49] So we had the picnic at that time. We had it at Euclid Creek and literally we shut Euclid Creek down. The police had to come in there and stop people from coming in there because there were so many people. Was such a. [00:32:06] That was such a successful event over four days and it was only put together by three people. [00:32:15] So myself and my two other lady, Tracy Ellis and Tracy Freeman.

Nick Mays [00:32:22] Mr. Barnes, you had a meet and greet at the Cleveland Browns Stadium.

Danny Barnes [00:32:27] At the Cleveland Browns Stadium.

Nick Mays [00:32:29] How. How was that possible?

Danny Barnes [00:32:32] Because Cleveland Brown Stadium has. They have. [00:32:38] What they call. [00:32:41] Rooms that you can rent. So the way I found out about the Cleveland Brown stadium was because my fraternity had a party there. And when they had that party there, I’m like, this is a beautiful place inside. And so that’s why I decided, okay, well, it’s going to be the Cleveland Brown Stadium. [00:33:00] Because I knew we had to capacity to fill it with. Because I think that room at that room must have held maybe a thousand, two thousand people or something at the time. So I knew we definitely had the capacity to fill it. And so that’s where the ideal came from, Cleveland Brown Stadium.

Nick Mays [00:33:21] So I had my own experience with the Shaw reunion this summer, which was a fun, great, insightful experience. I want to. I want you to put me in the first Shaw reunion. Like the, the Sunday, the actual, like the, the. The event on Sunday. Like, what was it like? And like describe.

Danny Barnes [00:33:47] It was. I’m going to tell you, it was breathtaking because there again, I never even really thought that so much love would come back after all those years. [00:34:04] And so at the. So all we did, basically we just. The whole front of Euclid Creek was our area. So we got up early that morning. [00:34:17] Because at that time we, at the first one, we just had hot dogs, hamburgers and potato chips or whatever we served at the picnic at that time. So. And that whole front area was just packed with people. It was literally like sardines. It was that crowded in the park. So it was just an overwhelming experience just to be there at that first one. [00:34:45] To realize, wait a minute, we, after all these years, we can come back and just love on each other like, we never left Shaw.

Nick Mays [00:34:56] Do you have the numbers? Do you know how many people are at the Sunday event, the picnic event?

Danny Barnes [00:35:00] I don’t have the numbers. All I could tell you, if you ever been to Euclid Creek in that first area, as soon as you drive up in Euclid Creek, that Whole area was just packed with people. And like I say, the police had to come in here and literally shut it down because there were so many people.

Nick Mays [00:35:26] So. As I alluded to, I did get to experience the Shaw reunion picnic this summer and had just a great time. And I was there, you know, as a person, as an individual kind of having a good time. But. But I was also there to conduct research. Right. Take photos, obviously, as a part of the East Cleveland oral history project that I’m working on. And so one of the things that. Some of the things that I was thinking about was just beautiful black people. I saw entrepreneurship. I saw love. And fellowship. I saw people passionate about Shaw. I mean, they were wearing the gear and the clothes. Another thing I saw was intergenerational dynamic that existed. Can you. Can you comment on that and talk about that? And was that. Was that a part of what you were looking to do?

Danny Barnes [00:36:53] Oh, absolutely, absolutely. Because see shaw extends. [00:37:00] Further than just us being there. Our kids are an extension of where we come from. So even. Even at the first one that I did, my daughters were here, My daughters experienced that with me to put this together and see how it unfolded. So that’s always been. I think everybody that went to Shaw there is an extension of who we are.

Nick Mays [00:37:28] Mr. Barnes, I met people at the Shaw event who came from out of town, no longer live in East Cleveland.

Danny Barnes [00:37:39] Yes, indeed.

Nick Mays [00:37:45] And who traveled. From Chicago. [00:37:50] I met a woman from Idaho. I met someone from the west coast who said, I come every year, I travel every year. I’m trying to understand that. Can you help me understand this?

Danny Barnes [00:38:06] That’s. That’s how it’s all. That’s how it’s always been. Even from the inception when I. When I first put it together, I had. I had a bunch of email addresses. So from the email addresses, what I would do is I would send the itinerary to the people that lived out of town. So just based on that in itself, people came from all over, and they continue to do so because it’s just not. [00:38:33] It’s just not for the people that live here in Cleveland. Everybody. You went to Shaw. The word gets out and everybody comes back.

Nick Mays [00:38:44] And there’s. There’s non Shaw graduates, East Cleveland residents.

Danny Barnes [00:38:49] Yes, it is. Yes, it is.

Nick Mays [00:38:51] As active and as pumped as if they graduated.

Danny Barnes [00:38:56] Yeah. Yes. Yes, indeed.

Nick Mays [00:39:00] Thought it was very interesting. You said that in the early conversation that you and I had that the reunion was more than a party. Can you describe or unpack that? Talk about that?

Danny Barnes [00:39:24] Yes. See, my whole. The Whole concept of the reunion was basically just to bring everybody back to. [00:39:37] Trying to start these cluster of groups so that we can somehow come together to save our city. Because it was so many, so many smart people that went to Shaw that have great careers. So, you know, if you can bring everybody back and somehow come together with ideals, then we can achieve a whole lot more than us just doing things on our own. [00:40:07] So that was really one of the main purposes of doing the all Class reunion was, guys, we got to do more than just, you know, do our own thing because we come from a great city. So we need to give back to this great city.

Nick Mays [00:40:22] What does that mean? Can you talk about what. Can you describe that? What’s giving back?

Danny Barnes [00:40:26] Giving back is.

Nick Mays [00:40:30] In terms of your aim or your goal.

Danny Barnes [00:40:33] Whatever time. Whatever time. You have to see, my whole thing is this. [00:40:40] We got to bring up those generations that still live in East Cleveland. So they need tutoring programs, they need mentoring programs. [00:40:49] They need to know that they are part of something bigger than where they are. So with us being in that environment that we come from, that it’s imperative for us to realize, wait a minute, guys. Our job is a lot more than going out and be successful. We gotta make sure that we give back to the people that live there now to ensure that they’re successful.

Nick Mays [00:41:22] Mr. Barnes at the time that you conceptualized the Shaw All Class reunion. You were living in Atlanta. Is that correct?

Danny Barnes [00:41:39] Yes, at the time that the ideal came, I was living in Atlanta.

Nick Mays [00:41:44] What were you doing in Atlanta at the time? Where were you working?

Danny Barnes [00:41:46] I was a mortgage. I was in the mortgage industry. Then.

Nick Mays [00:41:50] Were you successful?

Danny Barnes [00:41:51] Yes. Yes.

Nick Mays [00:41:53] Okay, so you’re living in Atlanta. [00:41:57] Economically. Economically, you’re successful, good job, but your mind and heart was East Cleveland. How can I. How can I build an event or function to support East Cleveland? Where does that come from, sir? I mean, you. You. You said it yourself. You’re successful, right? You’re. You had a good job, but you were still thinking about East Cleveland.

Danny Barnes [00:42:31] Well, there again, because, like I say, our job is a lot greater than ourselves. So think about it. When I grew up in East Cleveland. [00:42:43] My experience was there was a lot of black businesses, so those were role models. So even though I migrated away from East Cleveland, but my heart was still in East Cleveland. Because, again, because our job is more than just being successful in our own endeavors. Our job is to raise the kids that’s living in East Cleveland now to make sure that they have those same opportunities that we have. [00:43:12] Even though the city has changed A lot. But it doesn’t mean that we can’t come back and give back.

Nick Mays [00:43:18] Yeah. For me, this is a part of a bigger picture and what I think of as a phenomenon. In terms of East Cleveland Residents; people here and people no longer living in East Cleveland. But there is something about East Cleveland and the folks who are connected to East Cleveland where, you know, they’re truly resolved and adamant about giving back and building, you know, building East Cleveland and be being part of the transformation. You know, there’s folks that I’ve interviewed and I’ve researched who had the means to leave East Cleveland and decided to stay, or folks who left East Cleveland, but they still have their foot in East Cleveland some way, giving back. [00:44:18] So. Yeah, and I was saying that, you know, the same thing that you, you know, you did in terms of being in Atlanta, but thinking about community in East Cleveland and building community and supporting and. And giving back is one of the things that I see in my research and engagement with East Cleveland, where folks who are still here or maybe or no longer East Cleveland are still finding ways to contribute, to give back, are resolved about being part of the transformation of East Cleveland. [00:45:02] There’s folks who have the means to move but decided not to move because they want to see the city through. Can you. I’ve been trying to understand that. Have you thought about that yourself, or could you talk about that, describe what it is?

Danny Barnes [00:45:23] You know, all I could say. [00:45:27] It was just. It was just love. It was just so much love that was. [00:45:34] That was part of our community. And that’s why it’s. That’s why people have, you know, that’s why they come back. Because in spite of the way it looks now, we had love for each other. And that’s a big plus just to love each other in spite of our differences.

Nick Mays [00:45:55] Do you see the Shaw reunion Dynamic. This event, and what you see at the event in terms of love, family, entrepreneurship, you know, blackness, beautiful, good music. Is that an extension of the historical community of East Cleveland?

Danny Barnes [00:46:27] Yes, it is. No doubt about it. Because, see, Shaw prepared us very well because, like I say, with all the different. [00:46:39] Different things that we could do at Shaw at that particular time, whether you wanted to go to college or whether you had. You had skills, you wanted to be a hairdresser in cosmetology, dho, you know, Shaw provided all that for you. So when you have a school and a city that backs you like Shaw did, it’s just an experience that you can’t really explain because it was just so much love.

Nick Mays [00:47:10] Going Back to. Back to when it was an idea. And of course, anytime we have an idea.The next thing is for us to articulate that idea to folks. Can you recall or remember anyone saying, that’s not gonna work. What are you doing?

Danny Barnes [00:47:30] Nobody ever said it. It’s funny because I went to. I went to maybe two or three guy friends of mine first. And I said, hey, guys, I’m putting together this all class reunion. Do you guys want to. Want to contribute anything to it and help you get off the ground? And. [00:47:51] I’m the type of guy, I’m not going to chase you. If I present you with something. [00:47:58] And you don’t respond, I keep moving. So that’s when I contacted the two lady friends of mine who I knew were. One of them is an Alpha female. So I knew that they would. That us working together will get it done. And it was ironic because, see, with being in a fraternity and one of the ladies, she’s in a sorority. [00:48:24] See, we knew exactly how to make it work. We knew that we have to meet up. So we used to meet up, I think twice a week. And so when we met up twice a week, everybody had duties, everybody had something that needed to be done. So when we came to that next meeting, you need to have that done. [00:48:49] So it worked perfect. That’s why we were able to get it done with just three people, because we understood the process.

Nick Mays [00:49:02] Can you, can you talk about the legacy of, in your view, what is the legacy so far of this, this yearly event that you started? How long did you run it?

Danny Barnes [00:49:18] Well, I just did it at one year. I did it that one year. And so in 2006 is when the Alumni association continued it on after, like I say, after the school was tore down. So right now I think the legacy is great to keep it going. But I would, as I mentioned before, being a part of the Alumni Association, I think we. [00:49:45] They should be doing a lot more because I think, as I mentioned, we should be involved. The community should know who we are, not know who we are just based on a weekend. You should know who we are because we got tutoring programs set up in the school, we got mentoring programs set up, we got different programs set up in the school where they know who we are. [00:50:07] So that’s the only, the only thing that I would change far as this event goes every year, because they do offer scholarships. They give scholarships to kids. But to me, it’s more than just a scholarship. Because if you’re talking about a community based. [00:50:28] Community based organization, then that organization should Be known in your community. [00:50:36] So I think they. I think we just got off a little as to what the whole purpose was for the all class reunion and. But I think they’re gonna get back on track because I think at some point they’re about to change. [00:50:51] Another person is about to become the president and I think he sees the vision of what I had initially and I think so it’s gonna be. It’s gonna get back on track.

Nick Mays [00:51:00] What is that vision?

Danny Barnes [00:51:02] There again, it was just. It was more so of making sure that we got involved in our community regardless of where we lived, because we had to make sure that the kids behind us. [00:51:18] Was not left behind.

Nick Mays [00:51:20] And what you’re saying is using the. It’s an entity now or the event as a vehicle.

Danny Barnes [00:51:30] As a vehicle, yes. Because think about it. When you have all these brilliant minds that had came out of Shaw that’s doing all these brilliant things. So if we can collectively come together as a whole, we can change the whole outlook of East Cleveland.

Nick Mays [00:51:50] Would that be maybe in a non profit? I don’t want to put words in your mouth.

Danny Barnes [00:51:59] It don’t have to be a non profit. It could be just coming together. Matter of fact, I’m working on. I got something that I’m doing right now that it’s going to be an extension of what the all class reunion is. However, it will be more so a way to have ownership in creating. [00:52:23] Legacies for ourselves.

Nick Mays [00:52:27] Before we pivot on the topic. I want to. Beyond the. Beyond the founding of the event or what is, you know, the Shaw reunion entity. How did you stay connected to East Cleveland in North Carolina and when you were living in Atlanta?

Danny Barnes [00:52:52] Because, you know, you always still.

Danny Barnes [00:52:56] You Know, had friends that still lived here. So even, even when I come back home, I always come back home. Always go back to East Cleveland. So, you know, my mom never. My mom never lived far away from the city of East Cleveland. So we would always. When I, When I come back home, I always come back home every holiday. [00:53:16] So I’m always back in East Cleveland. So just can’t get away from it.

Nick Mays [00:53:22] Was that intentional?

Danny Barnes [00:53:23] It was intentional. Is intentional, yes.

Nick Mays [00:53:26] What about your family? Your. Well, first and foremost. I know you. You alluded to children. How many children?

Danny Barnes [00:53:36] It was nine of us. It was. Oh, do I have. I have three daughters. Three daughters.

Nick Mays [00:53:42] Okay. Did they also travel with you?

Danny Barnes [00:53:46] Yes. When. When. See, when I used to come home, my daughters were born. My first two were born in North Carolina. So every time I came home for the holidays, they came with me. So they grew up knowing the love that we had for East Cleveland.

Nick Mays [00:54:08] I want to. You had mentioned in passing entrepreneurship, and one of it is rehabbing and owning properties in East Cleveland. [00:54:19] First, how many property did you own? And. Rather than elsewhere, you did it in East Cleveland?

Danny Barnes [00:54:29] In East Cleveland, yes.

Nick Mays [00:54:31] Can you talk about your entrepreneurship and why in East Cleveland?

Danny Barnes [00:54:35] Well, because when I came back. [00:54:39] I thought that. And I came back in 2003, so I thought that it was an ideal time to just start buying, rehabbing houses in the city. Because at that particular time, I was under the impression that at some point this. We got to be on a growth spurt. We got to get this city back together. And so me and my partner, we started a company and we started just buying houses, just rehabbing them, and we sold some and then we rented some. [00:55:14] So we end up purchasing. At the time, I think it was like 12 homes in the city of East Cleveland. And even today, my whole. [00:55:24] I’m still going to buy more houses in East Cleveland because, again, I think East Cleveland is going to be moving in another direction. And certainly I want myself and most of the alumni members to be a part of that, because we have to have ownership. We have to have to own businesses, we have to own houses, we have to do these type of things. [00:55:52] So that’s a very important endeavor that I want to achieve.

Nick Mays [00:55:56] Why are you so. Or can you explain or discuss Why are you so adamant that, quote, we have to have ownership?

Danny Barnes [00:56:09] Because think about it. I think what we’re taught is you go to college, you get a good job, and it’s all about you. But. [00:56:22] Ownership is very important because that’s how you leave legacies. So when I pass on, I want my daughters, because you can have life insurance and all those things, but at the end of the day. [00:56:34] Do you own anything? We all grew up in communities, and we experienced that growing up in our community where we have black people who own stuff. So I want to continue that because that’s very important to have ownership. [00:56:50] Not just leave your kids with a whole bunch of money, but if we can own a McDonald’s collectively, if we can own a McDonald’s, that’s achieving something, because no matter how much money I have, and I can go and buy and own the McDonald’s myself, but am I helping anybody else? So my whole purpose is to help everybody have ownership.

Nick Mays [00:57:18] What about in the context of current revitalization efforts and redevelopment efforts and the concept of East Cleveland is having ownership? Is that a part of.

Danny Barnes [00:57:31] Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Even. Even, like, I Say, the. The current. [00:57:39] Thing that I put together now, it’s based on. Just based on strictly ownership. So when they start redeveloping the whole city, we have to have a voice. We can’t have a voice if we don’t have ownership, because you’re going to let everybody else come in and just rehab your city. But if we don’t have ownership in the city, how’s it benefiting us.

Nick Mays [00:58:11] Pivoting to understanding that the decline and responsibility. Give me a second here. From your vantage point, what most accelerated the decline of East Cleveland?

Danny Barnes [00:58:44] Two things. One was, like I said, when they converted from city managers to mayors, they took all of the employment base out of the city. And then drugs. Because when drugs came through East Cleveland, that was one of the things that just tore the city apart.

Nick Mays [00:59:11] How did, in your view, how did shifts from home ownership to transient change neighborhoods and the culture in East Cleveland?

Danny Barnes [00:59:25] How did it shift is because of. Because of those things. I think people, I think homeowners begin to realize in the late 80s that the city was changing. And so, of course, when you see things change, it’s not like, you know, like it was when you grew up. Then first thing you want to do is get out, you know, go to another suburb. [00:59:50] And because of that is why. [00:59:55] The city is in despair right now. [01:00:00] Because, of course, when you have transient, you know, people come. They just. They there for a time period, they don’t care. But back then, even though we had a lot of apartment buildings, but people had. They knew where they were. They knew that you couldn’t do certain things in the city and get away with it, so they didn’t do it. [01:00:20] But now you got all these transient people, they come in, they tear up, and they move on. So you got to establish some type of. [01:00:33] Credible forum like we had to, so people understand that. [01:00:41] This is a place where. [01:00:44] You can appreciate. [01:00:47] So we have to get back to that.

Nick Mays [01:00:52] I need to go back. I had a question and I missed it. And this is. This question deals with your involvement in the Shaw reunion entity. Right. So in my experience, in fact, I met you at the Char reunion this summer, and before I met you, at least three, three or four different folks said, you have to meet Danny. You have to meet Danny. He’s the founder. He’s the reason why we’re all here. What does that mean to you?

Danny Barnes [01:01:38] It just means that they appreciate what I’ve done, that they. They respect the fact that I had the ideal to to bring this to the forefront so that we can experience this because there again, you know, I, I never even had. I knew that we could do something, but didn’t really know that it would expand to this. [01:02:07] But, but for people to just say that. And I get it all the time, people, you know, they like, they congratulate me for starting this because them something to come back to every year because at the end of the day we’re getting older, so we’re losing classmates every day, you know, and just to come back to see your former classmates is just, is an experience within itself.

Nick Mays [01:02:32] You’ve since handed this, after first year, you handed it over. Do you see yourself playing a role in the future?

Danny Barnes [01:02:43] More than likely, yes. Because of the. [01:02:50] New president? Because I think I’m going to work hand in hand with him in order to facilitate what alumni association should be in the community. So he have great ideas and I told him, I’ll share some ideas with you and we can make sure that this continue on. But the main thing is we have to get the younger people involved because you can have alumni association, but if you don’t have the young people involved, then at some point it’s going to go away. [01:03:26] So I think definitely in the future.

Nick Mays [01:03:31] You know, I was thinking, and I’m wondering if you could comment on this, on the intelligent intergenerational aspect. Because again, you saw, you know, you. You know, folks who graduated from Shaw and they were there with their children, grandchildren and great, great grandchildren.

Danny Barnes [01:04:00] Yep.

Nick Mays [01:04:03] And so, you know, one of the things I was thinking, I made a comment to one of the people I was, I was there, Ms. Najae Jackson. And I said, hey, you know, if I was young, if I was in elementary and I saw this, it would make me want to graduate high school.

Danny Barnes [01:04:25] Right. Right.

Nick Mays [01:04:26] To come back later as a graduate. I’m wondering, and maybe I’m thinking, I’m thinking more of it. You know, I’m thinking of this as a academic, I guess, but I’m wondering if you thought about that.

Danny Barnes [01:04:41] I never have thought about that. Not in that aspect.

Nick Mays [01:04:46] Just in terms of the intergenerational aspect.

Danny Barnes [01:04:51] Well, from the intergenerational aspect, yes. Because I think even in the beginning, I think people. [01:04:59] Brought their kids grandkids because I guess they wanted to expose them to see this is what we could do now. So I don’t, I don’t, you know, I don’t know. I don’t know. It’s just, it’s amazing just to even think that, that we. [01:05:20] We’Ve come this far.

Nick Mays [01:05:24] Thank you for that. [01:05:32] So pivoting, pivoting. Or moving forward. There’s current revitalization efforts, redevelopment efforts going on in East Cleveland as we speak, in the east targeted areas now called Circle District, neighborhood. Do you just in general, do you support revitalization, the external revitalization efforts that are taking place?

Danny Barnes [01:06:05] Yes, because it’s needed. There’s no question about it. It’s needed. So in order for the city to come back, you have to revitalize the city. [01:06:18] And because at this point you have so many abandoned houses, so many abandoned apartments here in the city, so at some point you got to do something about it if you want the city to come back to where it used to be. But again, the main thing is now that we know this is going to take place, we have to have ownership. [01:06:41] So that’s the main thing. Because. [01:06:46] Everybody else got dollars, we got dollars too. But we need to come together collectively so that we have a say. So in what goes on in the city.

Nick Mays [01:06:55] What do you want to see with respect to revitalization in terms of buildings or businesses or landmarks?

Danny Barnes [01:07:03] I just want to see it come back to where it used to be because, you know, people used to literally be afraid to drive through East Cleveland for number one because our police department didn’t play. [01:07:20] When you grow up in a city where you literally can go to sleep at night and leave your door open, that says a lot about your city. And that’s what we used to be able to encounter in our city. So we have to get back to that and it’s not hard to do, but we have to have collective interest to make sure that that takes place.

Nick Mays [01:07:47] Let me ask you a question, Mr. Barnes. Is there any banks or grocery stores in East Cleveland?

Danny Barnes [01:07:55] There’s definitely not grocery stores anymore. And if I’m not mistaken, it might not be any banks anymore because it used to be the last bank was over there off of. [01:08:09] Was. [01:08:11] Right, right down here, not too far down here. That was the last bank on Euclid. On Euclid? Yeah, right there on Euclid and Forest Hills. Forest Hills Boulevard. Right when you go up there, that it was a bank right on the left hand side. I forget the name of it.

Nick Mays [01:08:26] So moving forward, is that something you would like to see here?

Danny Barnes [01:08:30] Absolutely. You have to, because that’s part of a community you got to have. When I grew up, we had pick and pay. Pick and pay was the right there on Euclid in Strathmore. It’s a building. The same building is right there when it was a pick and pay. So if you don’t have grocery store, you don’t have bank in your community. [01:08:53] That says a lot about your community, because those are things that’s very imperative.

Nick Mays [01:09:02] What would you say is. Well, in fact, before we get to the closing questions. Continuing on, revitalization, ownership, and the role of East Cleveland, because I hear. In our conversation and in your responses that East Cleveland should and must play a role and be a part of economic development and Revitalization efforts. Including yourself. Yes, Mr. Barnes. So you’ve emphasized collective ownership and generational wealth and. And being a part of any revitalization efforts in East Cleveland that East Clevelanders should be a part of it and benefit from it, including. Yes, including yourself. Can you talk about any projects you’re working on or how you see yourself playing a role?

Danny Barnes [01:10:11] Well, I came up with this concept right now called investment marketing. Investment marketing basically means if you combine personal investments with strategic partnerships, you automatically create generational wealth. So what that basically means, say, for example, we all put our money in the bank, right? So if you got $50 and you put $50 in the bank, at the end of the year, that $50 worth, what? [01:10:40] $50 and some pennies. But so say if you have 15,000 other people that did the exact same thing, basically, that gives the bank $750,000 that they can utilize to do whatever they want to do with it. And who benefits off of that? The bank. [01:11:02] So what if we took that same principle, that same concept, where now we’re taking. We putting our money into an investment vehicle for us, but now we benefit as opposed to the bank benefiting. So now you’re creating these income streams for everybody that’s involved, because we can own that McDonald’s in our neighborhood, we can own that Firestone in our neighborhood, or we can own all these different things because now our money is working for us as opposed to the bank taking our money and they benefiting off of it.

Nick Mays [01:11:42] And you seek to leverage this to support the future development of East Cleveland.

Danny Barnes [01:11:50] Yep. Matter of fact, what I did is I. [01:11:53] Put out. [01:11:56] Maybe about five or six months ago, I just asked a question on Facebook. I said, how many of you guys, if I started an investment group that would like to participate in that? A whole bunch of people responded. [01:12:15] So now I’m at the point. Now I put together a letter that basically explains what I’m going to do and also a PowerPoint presentation. And therefore, once I send it out to them, they just respond. But at the end of the day, it’s all about us working together collectively to make sure that we have A voice when this revitalization go on, that we have ownership?

Nick Mays [01:12:48] Where are you at in the process, in terms of this idea of going live?

Danny Barnes [01:12:55] It’s already. It’s at 99.9% done. It’s just one more step I gotta do to put. [01:13:08] And it’s all just a docusign to put on the contract so I can send the contract out to them online and they can sign it. That’s it.

Nick Mays [01:13:16] When could we look forward to it being official? Times a month in year.

Danny Barnes [01:13:24] What’s this? September. October.

Nick Mays [01:13:26] October.

Danny Barnes [01:13:26] Yep.

Nick Mays [01:13:27] Okay.

Danny Barnes [01:13:27] It’ll be official.

Nick Mays [01:13:28] That soon?

Danny Barnes [01:13:28] Yes, sir. That soon? Yes.

Nick Mays [01:13:32] Okay. And then finally in. In closing, there’s a couple of questions. In closing. What. What do outsiders, in your view most misunderstand about East Cleveland?

Danny Barnes [01:13:51] I don’t even know if they really misunderstand East Cleveland. I think most outsiders. You know, it’s funny you asked that question because my ex wife and I, she used to go to Cleveland Heights. So Cleveland Heights was one of our rivalry schools. So we would be out and randomly walk up to somebody and just ask them, if you had the chance to go to a different school than where you graduated from, what school would it be? [01:14:22] Everybody, hands down, always says shaw High School. Everybody, a random individual that will just be out and everybody would say, shaw High School. So to answer your question, I don’t.

Nick Mays [01:14:37] If it’s not misunderstood, then What are outsiders missing about East Cleveland? And just to help you understand where this question is from; it’s informed by what we see in a popular media and discourse about East Cleveland, which 95 of it is. Is all negative.

Danny Barnes [01:15:03] Absolutely right. Absolutely.

Nick Mays [01:15:04] So, you know, so therefore. If for those who’ve never been in East Cleveland or never encountered in East Cleveland, all they know is about the poor city in the world and plight and crisis. What is it that they don’t know or should know about East Cleveland?

Danny Barnes [01:15:29] Well, what they don’t know, basically, is. [01:15:34] You know, growing up in East Cleveland the way it used to be is what they don’t know because like you say, when you. Right now, they don’t have. They have a different picture because this is what. What it looks like right now. But East Cleveland didn’t just get there overnight. East Cleveland got there because of politics, because of people who was put in office that didn’t care about the city, was concerned with, you know, their pockets and doing things. [01:16:07] And so when you have that type of environment going on in any city, the city gonna go downhill. So when, especially when you take out the employment aspects of the city. When you have a city that owns, that operates everything within the city and they employing people in the city, so that means you appreciate where you are. [01:16:28] So without all that, the city is going to eventually go downhill. So people. So that’s one part they don’t understand is the love that we had back then for the city. [01:16:45] But there again, we just got to do something different to bring it back so people can see that. [01:16:55] Our work is not done. We might have left the city, we might have migrated in different states and done different things, but we still have a job to do.

Nick Mays [01:17:04] Mr. Barnes, are you optimistic about the future of East Cleveland?

Danny Barnes [01:17:08] Very much so, yes. Because I know where we came from. And just by knowing that we have, we have so many people that’s been a part of this growing up process that still have love for our city. So that’s why I’m so very much optimistic about where the city is going to go.

Nick Mays [01:17:38] If you had 30 seconds to speak directly to Shaw alumni and current residents, what’s your message?

Danny Barnes [01:17:47] Message is just, guys, we have to do something collectively. We can’t continue to go down that same old road. What’s the saying is if so we just got to stop insanity because at the end of the day, in order for us to progress.

Nick Mays [01:18:08] So if you. Continue to do the same thing and expecting different results, it’s insanity.

Danny Barnes [01:18:12] It’s insanity. So we got to do something different. So we, first of all, we gotta, we gotta elect a mayor that has the city heart in mind, because that, it starts in that office. So as a resident, for all the residents there, make sure that you vote for the mayor who has the city in mind and, and not themselves.

Nick Mays [01:18:39] Well, Mr. Barnes, thank you for your time. Thank you for your contribution to East Cleveland and the legacy that you’ve created. [01:18:53] With the Shaw High School reunion and contributions to come. And we appreciate you. Thank you.

Danny Barnes [01:19:03] And thank you. Thank you for having me.

Nick Mays [01:19:06] Great stuff.

Danny Barnes [01:19:07] Yes, sir. Appreciate you, man. No doubt, no doubt, no doubt.

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