Send Wilk a text with your feedback! (incoming msgs only - I can't reply)
Adam Mizel is back on the show with an update on Unity Seats, the program he built to get strangers from different walks of life sitting together at games — and it's grown fast. Since his last visit, Adam and his team at US United have run Unity Seats with the Twins, the Lynx, and the Vikings here in Minnesota, working closely with the Sheriff Unity Network to bring together people who'd otherwise never cross paths.
Now he's taking the concept national. This Friday, the 25th anniversary of 9/11, hundreds of high schools across the country will host Unity Seats at their Friday Night Lights games, led by local sheriffs, with moments of silence and coin tosses honoring that day. Adam was living six blocks from the World Trade Center when it happened, and that history shapes why this project matters so much to him.
Wilk and Adam dig into what makes sports such a powerful unifier, why sheriffs are uniquely positioned to lead this kind of work, and Adam's simple ask for anyone listening at home: post one positive thing you did or saw this week and help “break the algorithm.” It's a grounded, hopeful conversation about what unity actually looks like when it isn't just a talking point.
Learn more and find a Friday Night Lights event near you at us-united.org.
Key Themes
● Sports as the last shared language — Adam makes the case that sports remain one of the few things left that cross nearly every line in this country, from a locker room full of people who “aren't supposed to like each other” to strangers in the stands who become friends over three hours.
● Sheriffs as apolitical community builders — elected by voters rather than appointed by politicians, and often the largest providers of mental health services in their counties, sheriffs occupy a rare position outside the usual political fight, which is why US United built an entire network around them.
● Scaling from stadiums to Friday nights — most of America doesn't live in a city with a pro team, so Adam and his partners built Friday Night Lights Unity Seats to bring the same idea to high school football games in communities of every size, from Manhattan to rural Montana.
● Breaking the algorithm — Adam's answer to “what can one person actually do” is deliberately small: post one positive, community-building moment a week and help shift what social media rewards.
● Getting out of the bubble — Wilk and Adam talk candidly about how quickly people get sorted into labels based on appearance alone, and what gets missed when we stop there instead of getting to know the person.
Takeaways
● You don't need a title, a platform, or money to build unity — Adam's ask is 30 seconds a week, posting one positive thing.
● Local partners — sheriffs, sports teams, schools, community organizations — are what make bridging work scale beyond one city at a time.
● The unity so many people associate with 9/11 in 2001 wasn't a one-time fluke — it's something Americans can choose again without needing a tragedy to prompt it.
● Get involved: follow US United on social media, email info@us-united.org to bring Friday Night Lights Unity Seats to your community, or simply show up to a game.
Adam Mizel is the co-founder of US United, a nonprofit built to help Americans reconnect across political and cultural divides, and co-founder of the Sheriff Unity Network alongside Genesee County, Michigan Sheriff Chris Swanson. He created Unity Seats, a program that partners with sports teams and local sheriffs to seat strangers side by side at games, and now leads the Friday Night Lights Unity Seats initiative marking the 25th anniversary of 9/11 in high school stadiums across the country.
Website: https://www.us-united.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/US-United-105221345302216
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/us-united/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@usunitedorg
Instagram: us_united_org | TikTok: US.united
The world is a better place if we are better people. Be grateful for all you’ve got. Make every day the day that you want it to be!
Please follow the DTH podcast on:
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter(X) , YouTube, Substack
Subscribe to us wherever you enjoy your audio or from our site. Please leave us a rating and feedback on Apple podcasts or other platforms. You can share your thoughts or request Wilk for a speaking engagement on our contact page: DerateTheHate.com/Contact
The Derate The Hate podcast is proudly produced in collaboration with Braver Angels — America’s largest grassroots, cross-partisan organization working toward civic renewal and bridging partisan divides. Learn more: BraverAngels.org
Welcome to the Derate The Hate Podcast!
*The views expressed by Wilk, his guest hosts &/or guests on the Derate The Hate podcast are their own and should not be attributed to any organization they may otherwise be affiliated with.
[00:00:00:00] Wilk Wilkinson: Adam Mizel was six blocks from the World Trade Center when the planes hit. He watched it happen with his own two eyes. 25 years later, he's not writing think pieces about that day. He's filling seats in high school football stadiums across the country with strangers sitting together on purpose. This Friday, over 100 communities are proving unity isn't just a memory, it's a choice. Stick with me. Welcome back, my friend, to the Derate the Hate podcast. I'm your host, Wilk Wilkinson, your blue collar sage calming outrage and helping to navigate a world divided by fog and those who would spread that fear, outrage and grievance. The Derate the Hate podcast is proudly produced in collaboration with Braver Angels, America's largest grassroots cross Partizan organization working toward civic renewal, this podcast amplifies the mission that we share to foster a more respectful and united America where civic friendship thrives even when we disagree. Each week, through the power of story, conversation, and connection with incredible guests, we work to build bridges instead of barriers, not to change minds on the issues, but to change how we see one another when we differ. Because friends, it really is about bettering the world one attitude at a time. We did not create the hate, but together we can Derate the Hate. So be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcast, share it with a friend and visit Braver Angels to learn how you can get involved in the movement to bridge the partizan divide. Friends, I am so incredibly grateful that you have joined me for another powerful Derate the Hate episode. So let's get to it. Adam Eisele is back on the podcast and he's brought a lot with him. Adam is the co-founder of US United, an organization built around one simple bet that Americans have a lot more in common than the loudest voices in politics and media want us to believe. Since we last talked, Adam has taken that bet and turned it into something you can actually sit in, literally. It's called unity seats. Adam works with sports teams around the country, including the twins, the Lynx and the Vikings. Right here in my state of Minnesota and with sheriffs around the country through the Sheriff's Unity Network to bring strangers together in the stands. Different backgrounds, different politics. Same section, same game. Now he's scaling that idea up in a big way. This Friday marks the solemn 25th anniversary of nine over 11, and Adam is organizing unity seats at high school football games in over 100 communities nationwide. Honoring that day, while testing whether we can still come together in the way that so many of us remember, Adam was living six blocks from the World Trade Center when it happened. So this one's personal for him, and honestly, it's personal for me, too. 911 is a big reason why I started paying attention to any of this in the first place. Let's get into it with my friend Adam Mizell. Here we go. Adam Mizel. Welcome back to the podcast, man. It is good to see you again.
[00:03:52:19] Adam Mizel: You too. It has been too long, as I said, like those of us on this journey trying to build unity. It's a tough one and we need to stick together and sometimes unify the unifier. So it's good to be with you.
[00:04:04:05] Wilk Wilkinson: That is right. That is right. Unifying the unifier. I love the way that sounds. I think the last time we were hanging out, we were in probably D.C., Mount Vernon right late last year for exactly for a bridging summit. But it's been about a year since you've been on the podcast and looking forward to seeing all that you've got going on, bringing that to Minnesota and speaking about bringing it to Minnesota. You were just recently in Minnesota. So yeah, I think that's as good a place to start as any this unity Seats thing that you're doing. Summer of unity. You were just in the state of Minnesota. So let's talk about that. Let's start there.
[00:04:39:06] Adam Mizel: Sure. And actually I'm going to back up to give you the context of that. As you and I spoke last year, I was on a road trip across the country in a purple and white pickup truck looking for unity. And I'm trying to understand what Americans think unity is. And do they think it exists and how do they feel about it? And as we discussed, one of the surprises is the vast majority of people. And I talk to everybody all red, blue, purple, yellow, green didn't matter. Almost everyone does not believe the country's is divided. As politicians in media present, they know that Americans are smart and they know they're being manipulated to a large degree on that, right? But they don't know what to do. And so a lot of people looking for hope and inspiration, and we came up with this idea last summer of unity seats. Like, we need to make unity cool and at least on par in culture with fighting in division. And if you step back and say what still unifies Americans, right? Top of the list is sports top, top of the list. We just saw it in the World Cup. You know, I'm I'm I lived in New York City for a long time. I grew up in new Jersey. The Knicks, man. My whole life they had not won a championship. But you saw the impact that had on the city. But even beyond. Right. So we said, how do we tap into sports? And we came up with this idea of unity seats. And so now we get tickets. Whether we do it professional college or high school, we're getting seats. Tickets usually had a recurring basis with let's Focus for simplicity and professional teams. We'll get a half a dozen seats from those teams on a recurring basis. We will work with the teams, often with sheriffs that are in our Sheriff Unity network who are locally know so many great people doing work, trying to build bridges. And what we try to do is get two groups of 2 or 3 people who do not know each other and are different on the surface. Right? There's so many ways we're all different. But basically, I don't want people who are living in the same neighborhood or, you know, same culture, because I want people who really feel different because if I put you and me, if you and, well, you and I go to to a twins game or a Vikings game, Minneapolis, we don't know each other and we spend 2 or 3 hours watching the game together. We get on the jumbotron because that's part of what we do with unity seats for promoting it in arena and in social and all that. But you and I spend 2 or 3 hours watching the game together. What happens? Yeah. We're friends.
[00:06:59:14] Wilk Wilkinson: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. We're going to become friends for sure.
[00:07:02:11] Adam Mizel: We respect each other. We are listening to. Each other. So then sometimes things come up that we don't always agree on. But I don't say you're goddamn wrong, Wilk I'm right on this. Why? No. We have a conversation. Because we built a relationship that started with something we had in common. Right? So unity got me great seats to the game. Division left me home alone on the sofa, and now I'm showing you how your rewarded as a unifier and sports is the vehicle to send that message. And so we've been we started that on a road trip last summer. We did that with the Red Sox and the Pirates and it grew. As I said, we do it once or twice a week now. Proteins. And so did where you were. We organized. We've been doing every first Friday of every homestand with the twins. All season has been unity. See tonight at Target Field.
[00:07:49:12] Wilk Wilkinson: Awesome, cool.
[00:07:50:22] Adam Mizel: We started to work with the Lynx. We started in now with the Vikings. And we came up with this idea of let's do a Unity Sports and Seats weekend in Minneapolis to help the city heal and come back from what has been a brutal year. Between all of the issues with Ice and all of the issues and politics. And it goes on and on and on. And so we started with unity seats on Saturday afternoon with the Lynx playing the aces, an unbelievable game, by the way. Two of the top teams. We had, you know, we had a. Two groups of people that know each other. One was a from a, a not for profit that helps kids in Minneapolis. And then you know some business people. Right. And we watch the game. And then on Sunday we did a community service event at the Macedonia Baptist Church, was a back to school event where they were giving out backpacks and school supplies to kids who were going, who didn't have access to those resources, as well as a bunch of other groups that were medical services and health services and other services to make them aware of. And the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, because we worked with Sheriff Witt in Minneapolis on this, was co-hosting that. So we all volunteered all day. Then Sunday night, unity seats at the Vikings training camp. And I can tell you, it was pretty clear who was going to win the quarterback competition. Just watching that. All right. And I also tell you, as a Vikings, if you're a Vikings fan, I would worry about quarterback this year. Having watched both Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy in practice, he is not going to be easy this year if you're Vikings.
[00:09:19:12] Wilk Wilkinson: Well, I think we're I think a few of us are cringing up here right now about that. And then yeah, okay, there's a number of things I want to unpack here, Adam, because there's this is amazing. I mean, when you first started talking about this last year when you were on here with me about the idea of using sports as this unifying, you know, this vessel for for bringing together people. I'm like, this is a fantastic idea because it is a great unifier if done in the right way. This idea of unity seats is amazing. And we talked a little bit back then, and I want to revisit that. Today is about this sheriff's unity network. that is part of us united because I think all the different through lines here in the in the different elements to what you've done here and brought together to make this thing happen, like with Sheriff Witt here in, in Minnesota and then the different youth organizations, different things. But the sheriffs talk to me or more specifically, let's revisit this for the listeners. What's the significance of the the sheriffs and the sheriffs network? That's part of this whole deal that that part of this equation.
[00:10:30:08] Adam Mizel: You got it. So I was co-founded by me and Sheriff Chris Swanson from Genesee County, Michigan, which is where Flint is. Yeah. And when I first met Chris almost six years ago now, I, like most Americans, I think, couldn't tell you the difference between a sheriff or a police officer or anything else. I'm like, I think sheriffs are a rare untold story or not well-known story in this country, because there's something there's a couple of things very unique about sheriffs compared to other law enforcement. There are two real things that it is a constitutionally defined office in every state constitution in which there are sheriffs and there's sheriffs in 47 to 50 states, and almost, almost like 99% of these sheriffs are elected. And those are important distinctions, because what it means is the sheriff is outside of the political process, in a city or in a county or in a state, because they don't report to a politician, they report to the voters. And because of that, they approach law enforcement and they approach community building generally differently than traditional law enforcement, traditional police. And that is not a criticism of anybody. But sheriffs spend much more energy on community building and community events and bringing people together because those are their voters, because it makes them more effective in their jobs as law enforcement. And it reduces crime. I mean, a couple of things that I have, I learned along the way. One, most sheriffs are also jailers. So as running the jail there, the biggest sheriffs are the biggest providers of mental health services in the United States of America. Because 70 to 80% of the people who are in jail in county jails, which is where you start before you either go to state or federal prison, you stay in county jail or you get released. Are there because of some one or both mental health or drugs? Yep. So that's what they have to treat because as Sheriff Darren Hall in Nashville, which is Davidson County, would say, look at them. If I don't treat the symptoms, then I am not doing my job. I just got a revolving door in and out of my jail. My community is not safe or no one's happy. And so I've got to address in particular mental health. And so we provide services. We have had to learn. We have to get resources. Because if I don't help people in my jail address mental health issues, they're coming right back the minute they're out. Yep. You know it and I know it and no one's happy. And so we looked at that and said, look, there are just I'm going to make up the 8020 rule there, 20% of sheriffs who probably don't subscribe to all of what I'm saying. There's always people that know you don't have 100% of anything, but most vast majority of the sheriffs out there are doing that work. And so we at US United said, sing it through Chris's eyes and then others. These sheriffs can be our local partners to execute and implement what we're doing on a national scale, bringing it locally. So as we discussed in the past, we do something every year called the Holiday Giving Spectacular with Sheriff Spring communities together at the holidays and helping families in need and really solving problems. And the unity seats became the same example of that, which is, all right, if we're going to bring these to Minneapolis or we're bringing them to Detroit, or we're bringing them to Atlanta, we're bringing them to Dallas or to LA, who can we work with? Who can both help identify people who should be in those seats are in those seats sometimes, you know, representative of a different structure in the community. And we said sheriffs can be part of that answer. So that's that piece which leads to this really big thing we're doing in less than a month, taking building on unity seats. We said, God, September 11th this year, it's the 25th anniversary, 25th anniversary of the nine over 11 attacks, which blows my mind has been 25 years because.
[00:14:33:07] Wilk Wilkinson: Yeah.
[00:14:33:22] Adam Mizel: Yeah, I lived at the time in Tribeca, six blocks from the World Trade Center. I saw with these two eyes planes running into buildings. I saw people jumping out of buildings because that was a less painful way to die than the alternative. Yeah, I fed first responders. Right. So visceral reaction to it. But this year is the 25th anniversary. And we said, what can we. And it's Friday, September 11th. So I did is organizing right now Friday Night Lights unity seats at hundreds of high school's football games across America, led by sheriffs, often with a moment of silence or coin toss on nine over 11. And the point being, we can honor fallen heroes. But so many people, and I don't agree with this statement, would say, hey, the last time this country was unified was after nine over 11 in 2001. I think that's a very hard view, but we can show 25 years later, hey, you know what? We are still capital United States of America because look, here's 123, 223 different high schools and communities hosting unity seats, celebrating unity on nine over 11. This is what unity can look like in America right now. And so we're doing that with a bunch of sheriffs, a bunch of schools, and we will be in. So we're 101 hundred places on nine over 11. And that is the power of sports to bring us together and to unify us.
[00:16:08:02] Wilk Wilkinson: Yeah. That is well, yeah, that's incredible. And yeah, a lot of people do talk about that, that kind of 912 unifying that, that moment. And and I've even talked about that before, Adam, where, in as part of my story because that's really the genesis of where I started thinking about politics, talking about politics a little bit more, getting involved and trying to understand what was going on in the world. And, and I think a lot of us that are old enough to remember that feeling then and when, you know, people came together, they got the little flags on their windows and things like that. It did feel more unified. But I think you're right. I think there is a kind of a hard stance to say, you know, we you know, that's the last time we were unified because I don't think that that's true. I think that that really lends to the idea that we're not nearly as divided as people would have you believe. What I think there is, though, and I you know, I'm interested to get your take on this. What I think there is, though, is there's this, this impression, or we get we get that impression because not too many, whether it be politicians, media organizations, social media and stuff like that, we just don't highlight enough how these great things that are bringing people together, like us, united or brave or angels or, you know, the pro fund, these organizations that are working so hard, you know, you and I make, you know, we talk about this, this is not the easiest work. And, well, it's not easy work at all because the forces that stand against us in doing this work of bringing people together for the purpose of unity, you know, making people understand that we are not nearly as divided as as some would have you believe. That's why I love this idea of tying this to sports that you've done. And I love the idea. You know, you bring in the sheriffs aspect of this. You bring in the the sports teams and and God bless these organizations that are partnering with you on this and working with you on this. And and it's not I mean, it doesn't surprise me at all that like, organizations here in Minnesota are doing this with you because the Vikings, the twins, the Lynx, you know, these organizations are very, very strongly rooted in the community based action here in the state of Minnesota. Minnesota gets an awful bad rap for a lot of things these days, and I think some of its warranted, but a lot of it is not. And I love the fact that you're partnering with these organizations. What is some of the big things that you're you're seeing Adam, from these organizations, and what is the feedback that you're getting from the organizations themselves, whether it be feedback that they're receiving from, like those jumbotron moments and things like that? Dig into that a little bit for me.
[00:19:00:09] Adam Mizel: Yeah. Great question. And I think it starts with almost all the sports teams that we speak with. They realize they're important role in their communities. Right. And they do a lot to try to help those communities. But they they as I describe what we're trying to do, they quickly realize how they are uniquely positioned to help. Right. Because there is nothing more unifying than a locker room. Right? Think about it. Pick any team you've got between you know, I think it's 11 or 12 on an NBA team up to, you know, 45 on an NFL team of incredibly different people, right, who aren't supposed to like each other sometimes in theory, when you on the surface, right. And they all figure out how to get together and unify for a common goal, right? And that common goal, win the game, win the championship. But that means they're figuring that out. That is the same thing that you and I are saying in this. We're Americans. We have a common goal, the the success of our country and ultimately that we can take care of ourselves. Our families, feed, housing basic things. We have common goals that we have to remember. And so sports teams and athletes appreciate their ability to share those lessons. Because one of my questions is always, hey, what are lessons in the locker room? What are lessons in the team that you do to bring people together that everyone can do in their day to day lives? So the teams love that and they're very happy to promote it. They're promoting it again besides an arena, and we do it on the jumbotron and it's posting about it in their social media as we do. You know, we work a lot with the NBA and they love sharing what we're doing in NBA cares, because they want those messages out there because they have that ability to set culture. So it's really been a positive working relationship. And yes, do I run into teams that are like, oh, we don't have any seats or you know, we're already doing something like this or whatever. Sure. I mean, again, you're not going to get everybody, but it's the vast majority. Like, how can I help? Right. This sounds great. And then we work with them to plug into their communities. And so it is absolutely I think we'll continue to grow and can be a game changer. And we will, you know, we'll start engaging more and more people. We do this work with influencers and say, let's run a contest and nominate people that your friends in your community who you think fully should be in the unity seats. Let's go. Right. Let's make this fun. Let's make this something that we all can get behind.
[00:21:28:07] Wilk Wilkinson: That's awesome. That's awesome. And and when when the sheriffs that you're working with, when they're looking to kind of pick the people or what's the, what's the process that, that they are using to find those folks because, I mean, I can imagine in each of these different areas that you're going to, Adam, that that there are all kinds of different organizations that are would love to be part of, of what you're doing. But you obviously, you know, you don't get a whole section of seats. You get a, you know, you get a small a small set of seats and, and what's the what's the process that people are doing? How are the sheriffs helping to pick that. And then obviously in conjunction with you, what does that look like.
[00:22:14:10] Adam Mizel: Well, I mean it's conversation and understanding the mission. And then, you know, the sheriffs are able to say, look, here's this group that is helping, you know, kids and mentoring children. So let's have the director and one of the kids and then, hey. Here are other first responders, sometimes your military veterans, right. Or here's someone that's in the business community who's been helpful and supportive of the sheriff's office. And so you're trying to get that those groups together so that it's, again, people that are different. I mean, literally on Sunday, I was sitting at the twins game since I was here, I was on Monday night at the twins game, and we had a group of child, a kid mentoring and support group, and I was sitting with a 16 year old boy first time he'd been to a baseball game and we were talking about things. He goes, hey, Adam, do you mentor people? I'm like, I try, but I'm busy. He's like, would you mentor me?
[00:23:09:13] Wilk Wilkinson: Nice. Very nice. I'm like, did you get goosebumps?
[00:23:12:17] Adam Mizel: I was like, yeah, yeah, but that's the point, right? Yeah. So happens in unity seats, right. Because there's a 16 year old from, I think from the north side of Minneapolis, you know, living, living in foster home, trying to figure out his way in the world and saying, hey, what can I learn? Can you help me? You obviously know some stuff, right? And look, there's lots of mentoring organizations. I'm not. But my point being, that could have been me. That could have been, you know, the senior vice president of whatever at U.S. Bank who was there, right? Which sometimes, like, that's the point of changing that. We're we're another coming. We're going to do some unity seats back in Minneapolis, probably at a Vikings game. We work. I'm friends with the CMO of land O'Lakes, which is based in Minneapolis, and we have this idea of bringing member owners of their cooperative. So farmers from around the Minnesota region to unity seats with people who live in the cities, whether it's a Somali immigrant or whether it's, you know, the, you know, one of her executives. But the point is, let's bring those. That's how you start to select people and share what would be there as part of it. Because again, I've got a law enforcement constituency. I've got, you know, farmers from Minnesota, I've got Minneapolis natives, probably immigrants. And all of a sudden, wow, I never thought that group of people be sitting together and having fun and talking to each other. Right, right. Getting out of the bubbles, you know, as you and I discuss, one of the things that very much refocus on us United is breaking people out of the bubbles that we all live and work in social media in, and getting in, breaking down the labels that we then use to process the world. And those aren't bad things, but you and I'm never if you're label if if I see Wilk and I have labeled you based on what I think? Sure. On the surface I'm not going to sympathize or compromise with with the label. I'm going to compromise and sympathize with both the person. Right. That's what you need to do.
[00:25:14:00] Wilk Wilkinson: Well, and that's something that happens or does not happen nearly often enough. Adam, you and I both know this people once once they they determine who you are based on your whatever your characteristics are. You know, maybe a guy like me, short hair, long ago. T I'm a big guy. You know, people come to some kind of kind of determination of who I am based on what I look like, as opposed to, you know, what I do or who I am as a human being. You know what's in here. And instead of what's all out here in the outward appearance, you know, sometimes they may make that decision that this is just not a guy that I want to have anything to do with. You know, they see me out on the street. I've got tattoos, big guy. You know, maybe they don't want to have anything to do with a guy like that because it just it sets something off in their brain that they. But what they are doing is missing out on. I don't mean just me. I mean, I think people are missing out of me, don't want to meet me. But you know, if I agree, all of the different things, all of the different things, all of the different people that that we see on a given daily basis, if we prejudge them based on their outward appearance instead of who they are inside, who they are in here, they're doing themselves a disservice because they're missing out on a lot. So I love the idea breaking people out of their bubbles, breaking people out of their silos, and and getting to know people. Now let's, let's let's talk a little bit more about the Friday Night Lights thing, because I definitely want to try and get this episode out before, before 911. I think it's hugely important that people, you know, realize what this thing is and how they can support it. And, I mean, Friday Night Lights, I mean, people will remember the movie from way back in the day, The Seer or I don't know if the series or the movie came out first don't matter at this point. But the important thing is what this thing the 25th anniversary of the most horrific attack on civilian life in this country. And it's something that that you guys are coordinating with, with sheriffs around the country, high school sports teams around the country. Friday night football is a staple for for many, many, many communities in this in this great nation of ours. Digging a little bit deeper on how you came up with that, the, the the concept there, who you've got working with you on this and how this thing is going to shake out.
[00:27:45:19] Adam Mizel: You got it. So I mean, the concept really was just building on unity seats. And part of I kept thinking about, hey, it's great we're doing this with professional teams, but most of America doesn't live in a city with a professional team, and every community can and should do unity seats and every. So what's what goes on everywhere? Well, there's high school sports, you know, whether it's high school sports, it could be a music concert that goes to that community. It could be, you know, there's a local drag race or, you know, demolition derby or rodeo. It doesn't matter, right? There are events that communities everywhere come together at. If that happens, you can have unity seats because the messages look at these people who are sitting together who don't know each other and are different. And so it's like, how can we do this at scale in a lot of places? And I'm like, high school football right? There it is. Right? Did you said there's nothing more American in tradition than that Friday Night Lights? And so then we just, you know, you look at the calendar and you're like, oh my God, this Friday the 25th. Like it's just all sort of serendipitously dropped in place. I was connected by a friend who's helping do this with a company called district one, which is a marketing services and a communications tech company that provides a set of platforms to over 20,000 high schools in America. So they know all the high schools. I said, all right, well, check, I got that. I said, I know a lot of sheriffs or can figure out how to get to a lot of sheriffs. And, and we're working with sometimes with city local police to we're not sheriff only but like I can get it because I think law enforcement again back to who is that apolitical? I mean, yes, sheriffs run for office and they're either a Republican or a Democrat, but they're not. They'll I'll tell you if you call me, I don't ask whether you whether you're blue or red, you bleed red. I'm helping you. Right, right, right, right. We said, and we needed someone who could be a a consistent presence at every game we do. So that's the sheriff. They can lead a moment of silence for the coin toss and be in the unity seats as the host and expressing to people why we have unity seats. And so we started to map that out. And so over the last, you know, because unfortunately, I didn't think of this six months ago would help because, you know, but sometimes deadlines get focused in the mind. You know, over the last 45 days, we've been scrambling, doing all the sign ups, getting all the commitments. And we're kind of our deadline is end of this week, very early next week. And we'll end up, I think, with 100 to 150 different communities in sheriffs involved in some places doing multiple games, like, I know, Sheriff, what Minneapolis is going to do. I think three games, Sheriff Gonzales in Houston in Harris County is doing four different games. But then, you know, Sheriff Holton and Ravalli County, Montana, well, there's one game, right? There's one high school. We're there. Right. And there you go. Right. But that's the point. It's great in Montana and it's great in Houston, Texas, and it's great in New York City. It's going to be. So we will be we'll certainly. And so we're doing that. We will have marquee games. Certainly. New York, Arlington, Virginia area, Somerset County and Pennsylvania, where Shanksville is for obvious reasons. We'll have meaningful games there. We'll have some big games and big games in Texas because that's where Friday Night Lights started. Well, yeah. Yeah. And we've got, you know, Midland, Odessa, Midland County, which is where Midland Odessa is, where the show is set, is on board. So we'll have some very fun things going on. And, you know, we'll be captured. Well. So, you know, kids will be running out with flags. We'll have that moment of silence. We'll have, you know, an announcement that goes on the PA system and where there's scoreboards, we have graphics and the whole thing, because some of those stadiums in Texas and Florida are like professional stadiums, not right. You know, I can tell you, the high school I went to in Morristown, new Jersey is no fancy scoreboard. There's, you know, there's no video going on, but that's okay too. And so we'll make it this moment and make clear we're celebrating. And our message to everybody who's at those games and lots and social, lots of TV and news. But we have a message. And this, I mean, this will resonate with you just because people say, Adam, what can I do, right? I'm not the president. I'm not a billionaire. I'm not this I'm not that. What am I going to do to build unity? And so our message right now to everybody is what you can do is work with us to break the algorithm. Americans understand big tech, social media, data centers, AI, all of this is contributing and leading division. They don't know what to do, break the algorithm. And so that's what you do and how you do that. Just once a week, post in your feed. Take one minute something positive kind community building that you did or you saw. Just share it once a week. Because if millions of us do that, we literally break the social media algorithm, right? That's right. And do that. So that's what everyone in the stands and you know, we're going to have also two things like pass the purple like I'm I'm purple red blue purple. We'll have a purple digital football. Pass that football right. And pass it to your friends and say I'm passing you unity. I'm passing you kindness. Break the algorithm. Right. And if we start doing that as Americans, we start making real change. Because as you know, there's no superhero, there's no Superman, there's no Wonder Woman coming to save us. We the people like right behind you in your background. It's up to us and we can do this. And. But people keep saying, Adam, how I need hope, I need ideas. Here it is. Unity seats 911. Break the algorithm and keep on going and don't stop.
[00:33:33:23] Wilk Wilkinson: That's incredible. Man. That is incredible. Yep. There's a a lot of great work going on here, man. And you're doing great things. I'm so, so grateful that you've come on to share this with the listeners. If there is there a way, like on your website where they can find out where some of these Friday night light things are going on, or is it best to just like, follow you on social media
[00:33:55:22] Adam Mizel: Follow us?
[00:33:56:10] Wilk Wilkinson: Yeah.
[00:33:57:10] Adam Mizel: Yeah, I'd say right now follow us on social media. You know, you look for our purple and white logo as United. It's you know, we have us united on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn, you name it, it's there. We will probably next week do a press release with listing all the locations that are committed so far. We'll get that out there. That'll be we'll put that on our website, but you can follow it. We're working hard to get almost every state. So look, if somebody has an idea, you say, hey, I want this in my community. Email me info at United. It'll get to me. We'll reach out to the sheriff and the high school in your community. We're doing that already. You can come to games, you know, look, just like, you know, this is braver angels. I'm always, you know, everything we do is not inexpensive. Like our website. We can. We can take donors. I sell hats, I mean, like, all the things, you know, but however you want to get involved, get involved, because that's what it takes. So many Americans don't think nor want us to be divided. But I get it. We're busy, man. You got one, two, three jobs, you got family, got kids, you got school. Like, that's why we're trying to be like, here's what you can do. 30s a minute a week. Simple stuff. But we need you involved. Because if people like us don't, if the if all of us in the middle who don't think and want us divided don't get involved, we'll keep seeing more of what we got, which is the people who want us to be divided or the loudest screaming about it and making it happen. Well, we can change that.
[00:35:25:17] Wilk Wilkinson: That's right. We can change that. Yeah. I mean, and coming together across difference. And I mean, when you're talking about the middle, what I think of when I think about the middle is I don't think about people that that aren't Republican or aren't Democrat, you know, just independents. I think of all those people that are in that exhausted middle that are tired, sick and tired of all the toxicity on the outside edges of our cultural divide. These culture wars are being driven by the loudest and ugliest voices on the outside edges. All of the reasonable people are not middle of the road, not middle of the road politically. But we're in the middle because we're not on the outside fringes of this ugly, toxic culture war. Adam, this has been incredible. the work you're doing is is absolutely awesome. I love what you're doing here. The sheriffs network, the unity seats, the Friday night lights. So much to see. Make sure you check it out. Us dash United is the website and people can find out more about you. Contact you through our show notes as well. And I appreciate you man. Thank you so much.
[00:36:33:22] Adam Mizel: Thanks for having me as a guest and I totally appreciate the work you're doing. We need more people like you out there.
[00:36:40:06] Wilk Wilkinson: Friends, I want to thank you so much for tuning in. And if there's anything in this episode that provided exceptional value to you, please make sure to hit that share button. If you haven't done so already, please be sure to subscribe to get the Derate The Hate podcast sent to your email inbox every week. We really are better together. So please take a moment to visit Braver Angels and consider joining the movement towards civic renewal and bridging our political divide. This is Wilk wrapping up for the week saying get out there. Be kind to one another. Be grateful for everything you've got. And remember, it's up to you to make every day the day that you want it to be. With that, my friend. I'm going to back on out of here and we will catch you next week. Take care.
Transcript is AI generated and may contain errors [00:00:00:00] Wilk Wilkinson: Adam Mizel was six blocks from the World Trade Center when the planes hit. He watched it happen with his own two eyes. 25 years later, he's not writing think pieces about that day. He's filling seats in high school football stadiums across the country with strangers sitting together on purpose.
This Friday, over 100 communities are proving unity isn't just a memory, it's a choice. Stick with me. Welcome back, my friend, to the Derate the Hate podcast. I'm your host, Wilk Wilkinson, your blue collar sage calming outrage and helping to navigate a world divided by fog and those who would spread that fear, outrage and grievance.
The Derate the Hate podcast is proudly produced in collaboration with Braver Angels, America's largest grassroots cross Partizan organization working toward civic renewal, this podcast amplifies the mission that we share to foster a more respectful and united America where civic friendship thrives even when we disagree. Each week, through the power of story, conversation, and connection with incredible guests, we work to build bridges instead of barriers, not to change minds on the issues, but to change how we see one another when we differ. Because friends, it really is about bettering the world one attitude at a time. We did not create the hate, but together we can Derate the Hate.
So be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcast, share it with a friend and visit Braver Angels to learn how you can get involved in the movement to bridge the partizan divide. Friends, I am so incredibly grateful that you have joined me for another powerful Derate the Hate episode. So let's get to it. Adam Eisele is back on the podcast and he's brought a lot with him.
Adam is the co-founder of US United, an organization built around one simple bet that Americans have a lot more in common than the loudest voices in politics and media want us to believe. Since we last talked, Adam has taken that bet and turned it into something you can actually sit in, literally. It's called unity seats. Adam works with sports teams around the country, including the twins, the Lynx and the Vikings.
Right here in my state of Minnesota and with sheriffs around the country through the Sheriff's Unity Network to bring strangers together in the stands. Different backgrounds, different politics. Same section, same game. Now he's scaling that idea up in a big way.
This Friday marks the solemn 25th anniversary of nine over 11, and Adam is organizing unity seats at high school football games in over 100 communities nationwide. Honoring that day, while testing whether we can still come together in the way that so many of us remember, Adam was living six blocks from the World Trade Center when it happened. So this one's personal for him, and honestly, it's personal for me, too. 911 is a big reason why I started paying attention to any of this in the first place.
Let's get into it with my friend Adam Mizell. Here we go. Adam Mizel. Welcome back to the podcast, man.
It is good to see you again. [00:03:52:19] Adam Mizel: You too. It has been too long, as I said, like those of us on this journey trying to build unity. It's a tough one and we need to stick together and sometimes unify the unifier.
So it's good to be with you. [00:04:04:05] Wilk Wilkinson: That is right. That is right. Unifying the unifier.
I love the way that sounds. I think the last time we were hanging out, we were in probably D.C., Mount Vernon right late last year for exactly for a bridging summit. But it's been about a year since you've been on the podcast and looking forward to seeing all that you've got going on, bringing that to Minnesota and speaking about bringing it to Minnesota. You were just recently in Minnesota.
So yeah, I think that's as good a place to start as any this unity Seats thing that you're doing. Summer of unity. You were just in the state of Minnesota. So let's talk about that.
Let's start there. [00:04:39:06] Adam Mizel: Sure. And actually I'm going to back up to give you the context of that. As you and I spoke last year, I was on a road trip across the country in a purple and white pickup truck looking for unity.
And I'm trying to understand what Americans think unity is. And do they think it exists and how do they feel about it? And as we discussed, one of the surprises is the vast majority of people. And I talk to everybody all red, blue, purple, yellow, green didn't matter.
Almost everyone does not believe the country's is divided. As politicians in media present, they know that Americans are smart and they know they're being manipulated to a large degree on that, right? But they don't know what to do. And so a lot of people looking for hope and inspiration, and we came up with this idea last summer of unity seats.
Like, we need to make unity cool and at least on par in culture with fighting in division. And if you step back and say what still unifies Americans, right? Top of the list is sports top, top of the list. We just saw it in the World Cup.
You know, I'm I'm I lived in New York City for a long time. I grew up in new Jersey. The Knicks, man. My whole life they had not won a championship.
But you saw the impact that had on the city. But even beyond. Right. So we said, how do we tap into sports?
And we came up with this idea of unity seats. And so now we get tickets. Whether we do it professional college or high school, we're getting seats. Tickets usually had a recurring basis with let's Focus for simplicity and professional teams.
We'll get a half a dozen seats from those teams on a recurring basis. We will work with the teams, often with sheriffs that are in our Sheriff Unity network who are locally know so many great people doing work, trying to build bridges. And what we try to do is get two groups of 2 or 3 people who do not know each other and are different on the surface. Right?
There's so many ways we're all different. But basically, I don't want people who are living in the same neighborhood or, you know, same culture, because I want people who really feel different because if I put you and me, if you and, well, you and I go to to a twins game or a Vikings game, Minneapolis, we don't know each other and we spend 2 or 3 hours watching the game together. We get on the jumbotron because that's part of what we do with unity seats for promoting it in arena and in social and all that. But you and I spend 2 or 3 hours watching the game together.
What happens? Yeah. We're friends. [00:06:59:14] Wilk Wilkinson: Yeah, exactly.
Yeah. We're going to become friends for sure. [00:07:02:11] Adam Mizel: We respect each other. We are listening to.
Each other. So then sometimes things come up that we don't always agree on. But I don't say you're goddamn wrong, Wilk I'm right on this. Why?
No. We have a conversation. Because we built a relationship that started with something we had in common. Right?
So unity got me great seats to the game. Division left me home alone on the sofa, and now I'm showing you how your rewarded as a unifier and sports is the vehicle to send that message. And so we've been we started that on a road trip last summer. We did that with the Red Sox and the Pirates and it grew.
As I said, we do it once or twice a week now. Proteins. And so did where you were. We organized.
We've been doing every first Friday of every homestand with the twins. All season has been unity. See tonight at Target Field. [00:07:49:12] Wilk Wilkinson: Awesome, cool.
[00:07:50:22] Adam Mizel: We started to work with the Lynx. We started in now with the Vikings. And we came up with this idea of let's do a Unity Sports and Seats weekend in Minneapolis to help the city heal and come back from what has been a brutal year. Between all of the issues with Ice and all of the issues and politics.
And it goes on and on and on. And so we started with unity seats on Saturday afternoon with the Lynx playing the aces, an unbelievable game, by the way. Two of the top teams. We had, you know, we had a.
Two groups of people that know each other. One was a from a, a not for profit that helps kids in Minneapolis. And then you know some business people. Right.
And we watch the game. And then on Sunday we did a community service event at the Macedonia Baptist Church, was a back to school event where they were giving out backpacks and school supplies to kids who were going, who didn't have access to those resources, as well as a bunch of other groups that were medical services and health services and other services to make them aware of. And the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, because we worked with Sheriff Witt in Minneapolis on this, was co-hosting that. So we all volunteered all day.
Then Sunday night, unity seats at the Vikings training camp. And I can tell you, it was pretty clear who was going to win the quarterback competition. Just watching that. All right.
And I also tell you, as a Vikings, if you're a Vikings fan, I would worry about quarterback this year. Having watched both Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy in practice, he is not going to be easy this year if you're Vikings. [00:09:19:12] Wilk Wilkinson: Well, I think we're I think a few of us are cringing up here right now about that.
And then yeah, okay, there's a number of things I want to unpack here, Adam, because there's this is amazing. I mean, when you first started talking about this last year when you were on here with me about the idea of using sports as this unifying, you know, this vessel for for bringing together people. I'm like, this is a fantastic idea because it is a great unifier if done in the right way. This idea of unity seats is amazing.
And we talked a little bit back then, and I want to revisit that. Today is about this sheriff's unity network. that is part of us united because I think all the different through lines here in the in the different elements to what you've done here and brought together to make this thing happen, like with Sheriff Witt here in, in Minnesota and then the different youth organizations, different things. But the sheriffs talk to me or more specifically, let's revisit this for the listeners.
What's the significance of the the sheriffs and the sheriffs network? That's part of this whole deal that that part of this equation. [00:10:30:08] Adam Mizel: You got it. So I was co-founded by me and Sheriff Chris Swanson from Genesee County, Michigan, which is where Flint is.
Yeah. And when I first met Chris almost six years ago now, I, like most Americans, I think, couldn't tell you the difference between a sheriff or a police officer or anything else. I'm like, I think sheriffs are a rare untold story or not well-known story in this country, because there's something there's a couple of things very unique about sheriffs compared to other law enforcement. There are two real things that it is a constitutionally defined office in every state constitution in which there are sheriffs and there's sheriffs in 47 to 50 states, and almost, almost like 99% of these sheriffs are elected.
And those are important distinctions, because what it means is the sheriff is outside of the political process, in a city or in a county or in a state, because they don't report to a politician, they report to the voters. And because of that, they approach law enforcement and they approach community building generally differently than traditional law enforcement, traditional police. And that is not a criticism of anybody. But sheriffs spend much more energy on community building and community events and bringing people together because those are their voters, because it makes them more effective in their jobs as law enforcement.
And it reduces crime. I mean, a couple of things that I have, I learned along the way. One, most sheriffs are also jailers. So as running the jail there, the biggest sheriffs are the biggest providers of mental health services in the United States of America.
Because 70 to 80% of the people who are in jail in county jails, which is where you start before you either go to state or federal prison, you stay in county jail or you get released. Are there because of some one or both mental health or drugs? Yep. So that's what they have to treat because as Sheriff Darren Hall in Nashville, which is Davidson County, would say, look at them.
If I don't treat the symptoms, then I am not doing my job. I just got a revolving door in and out of my jail. My community is not safe or no one's happy. And so I've got to address in particular mental health.
And so we provide services. We have had to learn. We have to get resources. Because if I don't help people in my jail address mental health issues, they're coming right back the minute they're out.
Yep. You know it and I know it and no one's happy. And so we looked at that and said, look, there are just I'm going to make up the 8020 rule there, 20% of sheriffs who probably don't subscribe to all of what I'm saying. There's always people that know you don't have 100% of anything, but most vast majority of the sheriffs out there are doing that work.
And so we at US United said, sing it through Chris's eyes and then others. These sheriffs can be our local partners to execute and implement what we're doing on a national scale, bringing it locally. So as we discussed in the past, we do something every year called the Holiday Giving Spectacular with Sheriff Spring communities together at the holidays and helping families in need and really solving problems. And the unity seats became the same example of that, which is, all right, if we're going to bring these to Minneapolis or we're bringing them to Detroit, or we're bringing them to Atlanta, we're bringing them to Dallas or to LA, who can we work with?
Who can both help identify people who should be in those seats are in those seats sometimes, you know, representative of a different structure in the community. And we said sheriffs can be part of that answer. So that's that piece which leads to this really big thing we're doing in less than a month, taking building on unity seats. We said, God, September 11th this year, it's the 25th anniversary, 25th anniversary of the nine over 11 attacks, which blows my mind has been 25 years because.
[00:14:33:07] Wilk Wilkinson: Yeah. [00:14:33:22] Adam Mizel: Yeah, I lived at the time in Tribeca, six blocks from the World Trade Center. I saw with these two eyes planes running into buildings. I saw people jumping out of buildings because that was a less painful way to die than the alternative.
Yeah, I fed first responders. Right. So visceral reaction to it. But this year is the 25th anniversary.
And we said, what can we. And it's Friday, September 11th. So I did is organizing right now Friday Night Lights unity seats at hundreds of high school's football games across America, led by sheriffs, often with a moment of silence or coin toss on nine over 11. And the point being, we can honor fallen heroes.
But so many people, and I don't agree with this statement, would say, hey, the last time this country was unified was after nine over 11 in 2001. I think that's a very hard view, but we can show 25 years later, hey, you know what? We are still capital United States of America because look, here's 123, 223 different high schools and communities hosting unity seats, celebrating unity on nine over 11. This is what unity can look like in America right now.
And so we're doing that with a bunch of sheriffs, a bunch of schools, and we will be in. So we're 101 hundred places on nine over 11. And that is the power of sports to bring us together and to unify us. [00:16:08:02] Wilk Wilkinson: Yeah.
That is well, yeah, that's incredible. And yeah, a lot of people do talk about that, that kind of 912 unifying that, that moment. And and I've even talked about that before, Adam, where, in as part of my story because that's really the genesis of where I started thinking about politics, talking about politics a little bit more, getting involved and trying to understand what was going on in the world. And, and I think a lot of us that are old enough to remember that feeling then and when, you know, people came together, they got the little flags on their windows and things like that.
It did feel more unified. But I think you're right. I think there is a kind of a hard stance to say, you know, we you know, that's the last time we were unified because I don't think that that's true. I think that that really lends to the idea that we're not nearly as divided as people would have you believe.
What I think there is, though, and I you know, I'm interested to get your take on this. What I think there is, though, is there's this, this impression, or we get we get that impression because not too many, whether it be politicians, media organizations, social media and stuff like that, we just don't highlight enough how these great things that are bringing people together, like us, united or brave or angels or, you know, the pro fund, these organizations that are working so hard, you know, you and I make, you know, we talk about this, this is not the easiest work. And, well, it's not easy work at all because the forces that stand against us in doing this work of bringing people together for the purpose of unity, you know, making people understand that we are not nearly as divided as as some would have you believe. That's why I love this idea of tying this to sports that you've done.
And I love the idea. You know, you bring in the sheriffs aspect of this. You bring in the the sports teams and and God bless these organizations that are partnering with you on this and working with you on this. And and it's not I mean, it doesn't surprise me at all that like, organizations here in Minnesota are doing this with you because the Vikings, the twins, the Lynx, you know, these organizations are very, very strongly rooted in the community based action here in the state of Minnesota.
Minnesota gets an awful bad rap for a lot of things these days, and I think some of its warranted, but a lot of it is not. And I love the fact that you're partnering with these organizations. What is some of the big things that you're you're seeing Adam, from these organizations, and what is the feedback that you're getting from the organizations themselves, whether it be feedback that they're receiving from, like those jumbotron moments and things like that? Dig into that a little bit for me.
[00:19:00:09] Adam Mizel: Yeah. Great question. And I think it starts with almost all the sports teams that we speak with. They realize they're important role in their communities.
Right. And they do a lot to try to help those communities. But they they as I describe what we're trying to do, they quickly realize how they are uniquely positioned to help. Right.
Because there is nothing more unifying than a locker room. Right? Think about it. Pick any team you've got between you know, I think it's 11 or 12 on an NBA team up to, you know, 45 on an NFL team of incredibly different people, right, who aren't supposed to like each other sometimes in theory, when you on the surface, right.
And they all figure out how to get together and unify for a common goal, right? And that common goal, win the game, win the championship. But that means they're figuring that out. That is the same thing that you and I are saying in this.
We're Americans. We have a common goal, the the success of our country and ultimately that we can take care of ourselves. Our families, feed, housing basic things. We have common goals that we have to remember.
And so sports teams and athletes appreciate their ability to share those lessons. Because one of my questions is always, hey, what are lessons in the locker room? What are lessons in the team that you do to bring people together that everyone can do in their day to day lives? So the teams love that and they're very happy to promote it.
They're promoting it again besides an arena, and we do it on the jumbotron and it's posting about it in their social media as we do. You know, we work a lot with the NBA and they love sharing what we're doing in NBA cares, because they want those messages out there because they have that ability to set culture. So it's really been a positive working relationship. And yes, do I run into teams that are like, oh, we don't have any seats or you know, we're already doing something like this or whatever.
Sure. I mean, again, you're not going to get everybody, but it's the vast majority. Like, how can I help? Right.
This sounds great. And then we work with them to plug into their communities. And so it is absolutely I think we'll continue to grow and can be a game changer. And we will, you know, we'll start engaging more and more people.
We do this work with influencers and say, let's run a contest and nominate people that your friends in your community who you think fully should be in the unity seats. Let's go. Right. Let's make this fun.
Let's make this something that we all can get behind. [00:21:28:07] Wilk Wilkinson: That's awesome. That's awesome. And and when when the sheriffs that you're working with, when they're looking to kind of pick the people or what's the, what's the process that, that they are using to find those folks because, I mean, I can imagine in each of these different areas that you're going to, Adam, that that there are all kinds of different organizations that are would love to be part of, of what you're doing.
But you obviously, you know, you don't get a whole section of seats. You get a, you know, you get a small a small set of seats and, and what's the what's the process that people are doing? How are the sheriffs helping to pick that. And then obviously in conjunction with you, what does that look like.
[00:22:14:10] Adam Mizel: Well, I mean it's conversation and understanding the mission. And then, you know, the sheriffs are able to say, look, here's this group that is helping, you know, kids and mentoring children. So let's have the director and one of the kids and then, hey. Here are other first responders, sometimes your military veterans, right.
Or here's someone that's in the business community who's been helpful and supportive of the sheriff's office. And so you're trying to get that those groups together so that it's, again, people that are different. I mean, literally on Sunday, I was sitting at the twins game since I was here, I was on Monday night at the twins game, and we had a group of child, a kid mentoring and support group, and I was sitting with a 16 year old boy first time he'd been to a baseball game and we were talking about things. He goes, hey, Adam, do you mentor people?
I'm like, I try, but I'm busy. He's like, would you mentor me? [00:23:09:13] Wilk Wilkinson: Nice. Very nice.
I'm like, did you get goosebumps? [00:23:12:17] Adam Mizel: I was like, yeah, yeah, but that's the point, right? Yeah. So happens in unity seats, right.
Because there's a 16 year old from, I think from the north side of Minneapolis, you know, living, living in foster home, trying to figure out his way in the world and saying, hey, what can I learn? Can you help me? You obviously know some stuff, right? And look, there's lots of mentoring organizations.
I'm not. But my point being, that could have been me. That could have been, you know, the senior vice president of whatever at U.S. Bank who was there, right?
Which sometimes, like, that's the point of changing that. We're we're another coming. We're going to do some unity seats back in Minneapolis, probably at a Vikings game. We work.
I'm friends with the CMO of land O'Lakes, which is based in Minneapolis, and we have this idea of bringing member owners of their cooperative. So farmers from around the Minnesota region to unity seats with people who live in the cities, whether it's a Somali immigrant or whether it's, you know, the, you know, one of her executives. But the point is, let's bring those. That's how you start to select people and share what would be there as part of it.
Because again, I've got a law enforcement constituency. I've got, you know, farmers from Minnesota, I've got Minneapolis natives, probably immigrants. And all of a sudden, wow, I never thought that group of people be sitting together and having fun and talking to each other. Right, right.
Getting out of the bubbles, you know, as you and I discuss, one of the things that very much refocus on us United is breaking people out of the bubbles that we all live and work in social media in, and getting in, breaking down the labels that we then use to process the world. And those aren't bad things, but you and I'm never if you're label if if I see Wilk and I have labeled you based on what I think? Sure. On the surface I'm not going to sympathize or compromise with with the label.
I'm going to compromise and sympathize with both the person. Right. That's what you need to do. [00:25:14:00] Wilk Wilkinson: Well, and that's something that happens or does not happen nearly often enough.
Adam, you and I both know this people once once they they determine who you are based on your whatever your characteristics are. You know, maybe a guy like me, short hair, long ago. T I'm a big guy. You know, people come to some kind of kind of determination of who I am based on what I look like, as opposed to, you know, what I do or who I am as a human being.
You know what's in here. And instead of what's all out here in the outward appearance, you know, sometimes they may make that decision that this is just not a guy that I want to have anything to do with. You know, they see me out on the street. I've got tattoos, big guy.
You know, maybe they don't want to have anything to do with a guy like that because it just it sets something off in their brain that they. But what they are doing is missing out on. I don't mean just me. I mean, I think people are missing out of me, don't want to meet me.
But you know, if I agree, all of the different things, all of the different things, all of the different people that that we see on a given daily basis, if we prejudge them based on their outward appearance instead of who they are inside, who they are in here, they're doing themselves a disservice because they're missing out on a lot. So I love the idea breaking people out of their bubbles, breaking people out of their silos, and and getting to know people. Now let's, let's let's talk a little bit more about the Friday Night Lights thing, because I definitely want to try and get this episode out before, before 911. I think it's hugely important that people, you know, realize what this thing is and how they can support it.
And, I mean, Friday Night Lights, I mean, people will remember the movie from way back in the day, The Seer or I don't know if the series or the movie came out first don't matter at this point. But the important thing is what this thing the 25th anniversary of the most horrific attack on civilian life in this country. And it's something that that you guys are coordinating with, with sheriffs around the country, high school sports teams around the country. Friday night football is a staple for for many, many, many communities in this in this great nation of ours.
Digging a little bit deeper on how you came up with that, the, the the concept there, who you've got working with you on this and how this thing is going to shake out. [00:27:45:19] Adam Mizel: You got it. So I mean, the concept really was just building on unity seats. And part of I kept thinking about, hey, it's great we're doing this with professional teams, but most of America doesn't live in a city with a professional team, and every community can and should do unity seats and every.
So what's what goes on everywhere? Well, there's high school sports, you know, whether it's high school sports, it could be a music concert that goes to that community. It could be, you know, there's a local drag race or, you know, demolition derby or rodeo. It doesn't matter, right?
There are events that communities everywhere come together at. If that happens, you can have unity seats because the messages look at these people who are sitting together who don't know each other and are different. And so it's like, how can we do this at scale in a lot of places? And I'm like, high school football right?
There it is. Right? Did you said there's nothing more American in tradition than that Friday Night Lights? And so then we just, you know, you look at the calendar and you're like, oh my God, this Friday the 25th.
Like it's just all sort of serendipitously dropped in place. I was connected by a friend who's helping do this with a company called district one, which is a marketing services and a communications tech company that provides a set of platforms to over 20,000 high schools in America. So they know all the high schools. I said, all right, well, check, I got that.
I said, I know a lot of sheriffs or can figure out how to get to a lot of sheriffs. And, and we're working with sometimes with city local police to we're not sheriff only but like I can get it because I think law enforcement again back to who is that apolitical? I mean, yes, sheriffs run for office and they're either a Republican or a Democrat, but they're not. They'll I'll tell you if you call me, I don't ask whether you whether you're blue or red, you bleed red.
I'm helping you. Right, right, right, right. We said, and we needed someone who could be a a consistent presence at every game we do. So that's the sheriff.
They can lead a moment of silence for the coin toss and be in the unity seats as the host and expressing to people why we have unity seats. And so we started to map that out. And so over the last, you know, because unfortunately, I didn't think of this six months ago would help because, you know, but sometimes deadlines get focused in the mind. You know, over the last 45 days, we've been scrambling, doing all the sign ups, getting all the commitments.
And we're kind of our deadline is end of this week, very early next week. And we'll end up, I think, with 100 to 150 different communities in sheriffs involved in some places doing multiple games, like, I know, Sheriff, what Minneapolis is going to do. I think three games, Sheriff Gonzales in Houston in Harris County is doing four different games. But then, you know, Sheriff Holton and Ravalli County, Montana, well, there's one game, right?
There's one high school. We're there. Right. And there you go.
Right. But that's the point. It's great in Montana and it's great in Houston, Texas, and it's great in New York City. It's going to be.
So we will be we'll certainly. And so we're doing that. We will have marquee games. Certainly.
New York, Arlington, Virginia area, Somerset County and Pennsylvania, where Shanksville is for obvious reasons. We'll have meaningful games there. We'll have some big games and big games in Texas because that's where Friday Night Lights started. Well, yeah.
Yeah. And we've got, you know, Midland, Odessa, Midland County, which is where Midland Odessa is, where the show is set, is on board. So we'll have some very fun things going on. And, you know, we'll be captured.
Well. So, you know, kids will be running out with flags. We'll have that moment of silence. We'll have, you know, an announcement that goes on the PA system and where there's scoreboards, we have graphics and the whole thing, because some of those stadiums in Texas and Florida are like professional stadiums, not right.
You know, I can tell you, the high school I went to in Morristown, new Jersey is no fancy scoreboard. There's, you know, there's no video going on, but that's okay too. And so we'll make it this moment and make clear we're celebrating. And our message to everybody who's at those games and lots and social, lots of TV and news.
But we have a message. And this, I mean, this will resonate with you just because people say, Adam, what can I do, right? I'm not the president. I'm not a billionaire.
I'm not this I'm not that. What am I going to do to build unity? And so our message right now to everybody is what you can do is work with us to break the algorithm. Americans understand big tech, social media, data centers, AI, all of this is contributing and leading division.
They don't know what to do, break the algorithm. And so that's what you do and how you do that. Just once a week, post in your feed. Take one minute something positive kind community building that you did or you saw.
Just share it once a week. Because if millions of us do that, we literally break the social media algorithm, right? That's right. And do that.
So that's what everyone in the stands and you know, we're going to have also two things like pass the purple like I'm I'm purple red blue purple. We'll have a purple digital football. Pass that football right. And pass it to your friends and say I'm passing you unity.
I'm passing you kindness. Break the algorithm. Right. And if we start doing that as Americans, we start making real change.
Because as you know, there's no superhero, there's no Superman, there's no Wonder Woman coming to save us. We the people like right behind you in your background. It's up to us and we can do this. And.
But people keep saying, Adam, how I need hope, I need ideas. Here it is. Unity seats 911. Break the algorithm and keep on going and don't stop.
[00:33:33:23] Wilk Wilkinson: That's incredible. Man. That is incredible. Yep.
There's a a lot of great work going on here, man. And you're doing great things. I'm so, so grateful that you've come on to share this with the listeners. If there is there a way, like on your website where they can find out where some of these Friday night light things are going on, or is it best to just like, follow you on social media [00:33:55:22] Adam Mizel: Follow us?
[00:33:56:10] Wilk Wilkinson: Yeah. [00:33:57:10] Adam Mizel: Yeah, I'd say right now follow us on social media. You know, you look for our purple and white logo as United. It's you know, we have us united on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn, you name it, it's there.
We will probably next week do a press release with listing all the locations that are committed so far. We'll get that out there. That'll be we'll put that on our website, but you can follow it. We're working hard to get almost every state.
So look, if somebody has an idea, you say, hey, I want this in my community. Email me info at United. It'll get to me. We'll reach out to the sheriff and the high school in your community.
We're doing that already. You can come to games, you know, look, just like, you know, this is braver angels. I'm always, you know, everything we do is not inexpensive. Like our website.
We can. We can take donors. I sell hats, I mean, like, all the things, you know, but however you want to get involved, get involved, because that's what it takes. So many Americans don't think nor want us to be divided.
But I get it. We're busy, man. You got one, two, three jobs, you got family, got kids, you got school. Like, that's why we're trying to be like, here's what you can do.
30s a minute a week. Simple stuff. But we need you involved. Because if people like us don't, if the if all of us in the middle who don't think and want us divided don't get involved, we'll keep seeing more of what we got, which is the people who want us to be divided or the loudest screaming about it and making it happen.
Well, we can change that. [00:35:25:17] Wilk Wilkinson: That's right. We can change that. Yeah.
I mean, and coming together across difference. And I mean, when you're talking about the middle, what I think of when I think about the middle is I don't think about people that that aren't Republican or aren't Democrat, you know, just independents. I think of all those people that are in that exhausted middle that are tired, sick and tired of all the toxicity on the outside edges of our cultural divide. These culture wars are being driven by the loudest and ugliest voices on the outside edges.
All of the reasonable people are not middle of the road, not middle of the road politically. But we're in the middle because we're not on the outside fringes of this ugly, toxic culture war. Adam, this has been incredible. the work you're doing is is absolutely awesome.
I love what you're doing here. The sheriffs network, the unity seats, the Friday night lights. So much to see. Make sure you check it out.
Us dash United is the website and people can find out more about you. Contact you through our show notes as well. And I appreciate you man. Thank you so much.
[00:36:33:22] Adam Mizel: Thanks for having me as a guest and I totally appreciate the work you're doing. We need more people like you out there. [00:36:40:06] Wilk Wilkinson: Friends, I want to thank you so much for tuning in. And if there's anything in this episode that provided exceptional value to you, please make sure to hit that share button.
If you haven't done so already, please be sure to subscribe to get the Derate The Hate podcast sent to your email inbox every week. We really are better together. So please take a moment to visit Braver Angels and consider joining the movement towards civic renewal and bridging our political divide. This is Wilk wrapping up for the week saying get out there.
Be kind to one another. Be grateful for everything you've got. And remember, it's up to you to make every day the day that you want it to be. With that, my friend.
I'm going to back on out of here and we will catch you next week. Take care.
Comments & Upvotes