- Hey, what's up, y'all?
I'm here with Brian Austin Green.
Give it up. (mimics air horn)
(audience claps)
I am my own hype team, Brian.
There's no one really here, everyone's virtual.
- You're really good at it, though.
(Kelly and audience laugh)
- I'm good at cheering for myself.
I'm a good hype girl for myself.
This season y'all, we've partnered with Pilot Pen,
makers of the number one selling G2 gel ink pen
to share stories that prove how powerful
the simple act of writing can be.
When my next guest moved to a new town,
she worried about her young son.
Like many African-American moms,
she was concerned about what would happen
if he ever had to interact with the police.
So she took action, bringing him
to the station to meet local officers.
But she could have never known how close he'd get
to one of those officers through the art of letter writing.
Please welcome Kenesha and her nine-year-old son,
AJ, everybody. (mimics air horn)
What's going on, y'all?
Hey, well first, meet Brian.
- Hi. - Hi.
- Hi.
- All right, well Kenesha, can you tell me about AJ?
- Yes, so AJ was diagnosed with autism
around three years old,
and some of the more serious behaviors and problems
with his autism is that when there's a stressful situation
or something really high tension,
his verbal skills tend to go out the window.
And so he starts to act out.
A big example is when he was younger
and he used to be hungry,
he actually used to ram himself up against a wall
a lot to signify that he was hungry.
As long as I was living in like my small hometown
where everybody knows everybody,
there was sort of a safety net in the small town community.
But then I met my wonderful husband,
and we wanted to move to a bigger city.
And so when we moved to Goose Creek, South Carolina,
there was a little bit of a concern
about how would this new city,
how would the strangers,
and most importantly, how would the local police deal
with someone that maybe doesn't speak?
As a Black mother of a young Black male,
there is this concern over the relationship
between my son and meeting police officers.
So I just wanted to kind of hopefully
change that narrative into something more positive.
- It's very smart.
I mean, it's a clever thing to do too,
because not only you said you're afraid
'cause your son is a young, Black male,
and statistically, there's a reason
to be nervous with that with officers.
And so can you tell us about
taking him to meet everybody there?
- Yes, I wanted to take him to the police department,
just so that hopefully that maybe,
to kind of put a face to it.
Hopefully he could get to know the officers,
and the officers get to know him.
And I set up to have him take a tour
of the local police station.
And we met this wonderful officer named Captain Hill,
who kind of just really bonded with AJ right away.
They did the tour.
He asked questions, they did fingerprinting.
It was just really, really great to see,
and to see a change in AJ,
where he went from being a little shy
and worried about law enforcement and authority,
to now he said that they were his friends.
So we started visiting about once a month
to go and see them, bringing them cupcakes
or just to see how they were doing.
- And you said during the pandemic
this relationship kind of changed, right?
- Yes, during the pandemic we couldn't visit as often.
So that's when I decided to,
because I didn't want the bond that was happening to change.
So I had AJ to hand write letters
to his friend the police officers.
I wasn't too sure if they were going to respond.
I know they're very busy protecting the city.
But once again, Captain Hill
just stepped up and answered letters.
And then they just became
really good pen pals writing back and forth.
So it was a really, really great, great thing to see.
- That's amazing.
Brian, have you ever developed a strong bond
with someone through letter writing?
I know when I was a kid,
we had like pen pals across the world.
And I thought that was the coolest thing
to connect with someone like that.
Have you ever done that?
- Yeah, I did the same thing when I was younger.
But I mean, this story is amazing.
It's so proactive.
It's such an amazing way to reach out to people
in your community and proactively form that bond.
I mean, I give you such credit.
That's such an amazing idea.
- Yeah, I agree, I agree. - Thank you.
- And AJ, you sent Captain Hill a very special letter.
What did you write to him?
- Well, I write him about him being my godfather.
Because he's a cop, he always helps people.
He's always there for them, and he keeps me safe.
And he's my friend too.
- Ah, that's so cool, man.
Joining us now is Captain Tom Hill
of the Goose Creek Police Department
in South Carolina, give it up!
(audience claps)
What's up, Captain Hill?
So before we talk about AJ's letter to you,
can you tell us about your relationship with him?
- Oh my goodness.
Well, I'm a extreme family man.
I've got an amazing wife, two grown boys
that are out of the house already
and a amazing 15 year old daughter.
So family is everything to me.
So when Kenesha brought AJ into the police department,
it really resonated with me that she wanted
to introduce her autistic son to the police.
So I was more than happy to walk him around.
the police department, introduced him to officers.
We got him a ID card.
I rolled his fingerprints.
And we gave him a little Teddy bear and sent him on his way.
When he left that day, like so many other tours
that we've given, we just really hoped
that we had at least reached one young man.
- Yeah, well, can you tell us
about the letters between you two?
- Oh yes.
About a week after I received the first letter,
and they were really cool little letters.
He would ask me what was my favorite color,
what it was like to be on the SWAT team,
what it's like to be a captain.
But I can tell you, nothing prepared me
for the letter that he sent to me.
- Yeah, well you have the letter, like you just showed us,
him asking you to be his godfather.
Can you read a bit of it?
- Oh yeah, he said, "Dear Captain Hill,
"How are you?
"Are you staying safe?
"I wanted to ask you if you would be my godfather."
Excuse me.
"A dad who will be there for me when my dad can't."
- Hey, when we're touched, that just mean it matters.
So that's all right.
And I am full-on just balling.
Okay, yeah, it's like...
What was he saying about his father?
- His dad has to work out of the country.
So when he can, he comes home, but he wanted...
- [Kelly] It's okay.
- He just wanted me to be there for him
when his dad couldn't be there.
- Woo.
Now I can't talk, so that's contagious.
So that's such a beautiful thing.
And it's such an honest thing.
Isn't it funny how kids,
it's so easy for kids to say something like that,
but adults, it would take 10 years of therapy?
I mean, just from a friend's point of view, not my own.
So Captain Hill, what did you think when you read that?
Because I mean, obviously it moved you.
And you're a daddy yourself.
So what did you think?
'Cause you said normally, you're asked about
kind of other kinds of questions,
nothing so serious and so meaningful, probably.
What did you think about that?
- This was huge for me.
I mean, I was just glad I was in my office
with the door closed when I read it, it really moved me.
It meant a lot, to know that
I've impacted some young man like that.
It's amazing.
- Oh, it's a beautiful thing.
And we need more stories like this.
We always hear the negative ones,
not the the beautiful ones like this.
So Kenesha and AJ, do you have anything
you wanna say to Captain Hill?
AJ, you want to?
- Thank you for being my godfather,
my protector, and my friend.
- Yeah, I'm just so grateful that you took the time
to actually really see AJ,
and see past like the disability,
and really just take him in.
And I really feel like it has truly changed his future,
the narrative of his future in such a positive way.
So we're beyond grateful.
- Absolutely, and I mean, Captain Hill,
is there anything you'd like to say?
Because I find like doing this show now,
we're almost coming towards the end of our second season.
And it's interesting how you always think like,
they're the ones saying thank you.
But don't you feel like when,
like that's affected you just as much?
Don't you think that's changed your life
just as much in these kinds of situations?
- Oh, absolutely.
I think that there's just
such a huge divide in America right now.
And police organizations have to institute
some form of community-oriented policing to help
and create those partnerships with the minority communities.
We just really need to bridge that gap,
even if we have to do it one person at a time.
- Man, hate can have such a big presence,
but love can have an even bigger one.
So I love getting to share these stories
and be the vessel for them.
Thank y'all so much for joining us.
And a special thank you to Pilot Pen.
They believe in the power of pen pals, I do as well.
And that's why Pilot is sending AJ
and the Goose Creek Police
a bundle of their go-to G2, gel ink pens.
This way they can keep exchanging letters
and making a difference in their community.
It's a beautiful thing every community
should think about doing, just saying.