When Lee Habeeb tells stories, and he tells quite a few, he doesn’t delve into the salacious or dark side of life. There’s already too much of that crud. Habeeb also believes in walking-the-walk in life. Believe in the things you say, and realize them.
Habeeb is the host of Our American Stories, a daily two-hour talk show that profiles American heroes and icons from history, industry, entertainment, sports, and culture. The show is distributed by Premiere Networks.
“In the end, be a sermon; don’t give a sermon,” Habeeb said. That causes me to think of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. You can’t talk about integrity if you have none. Some people have lapsed for a moment, a bad voice in their heads. I just want to forgive those people.”
His faith is part of everyday life, but it came to Habeeb later.
“I observed things that can’t be explained,” Habeeb said. “I used to be skeptical of religious people, but I discovered how much good faith has done in this world. The abolition movement doesn’t happen without people of faith.”
At one point I started to not like some things about myself and I needed a change. Christianity changed a lot of men’s lives I respected later in life. Many never talked about it. I want to know what changed them. If someone is ready, I want to talk with them about it.
He said he’s never astounded by the worst actor in a company or business. On Habeeb’s show, one out of three stories is faith-based because faith drives the lives of so many good people in America. Two out of three stories reflect people’s lives.
“I love people. I love my neighbors. I don’t have any answers on the show we do. The world is what it is – we think it is better than what the news says it is. Much better.”
On Our American Stories, Habeeb is a student of history. Through our past we can understand our actions and dreams.
“On our show, we talk about days in history,” Habeeb said. “One day it will be a show about Arnold Palmer, James Madison, the War of 1812, sports, and business. We care what the average person thinks. If we’re talking about free enterprise, we want to know how they formed their thoughts on the subject.”
It’s the small things that people might wonder that make the show. Ideas come from everywhere.
“I want to know how Home Depot started. How did Pez come about? I have a lot of love for the lives other people have lived.”
For Habeeb, it’s about the dignity of work, and he said there’s dignity in every job. If your job is to sweep the floor, sweep it like Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel.
“Primacy of work is important,” Habeeb explained. “It provides meaning to our lives. We may think being a garbage man is a tough job. If you think he’s underpaid, go to the city council and bring it up.”
Habeeb loves the word ‘nostalgia’.
“To paraphrase historian David McCullough, we’re walking around in history right now.”
Habeeb isn’t afraid to look at controversial subjects. It’s those discussions that allow us to learn. He talked of Thomas Jefferson owning slaves, which was the disposition of the times, but said you also have to take into account the good things he did.
“He also accomplished many wonderful things,” Habeeb said. “He wrote the United States Declaration of Independence, established the Free Exercise clause, authorized the Louisiana Purchase and the Northwest Ordinance. Everybody owned slaves in 1776, but Jefferson wrote ‘All men are created equal.’ It’s all context.”
Those who signed the Declaration of Independence were men in their 30s, by today’s standards, young men.
“All of those signers had a lot to lose,” Habeeb said. “Dr. Benjamin Rush was one of the last to sign the Declaration, and he had a great quote. He said you could feel the hush in the room. They knew they were signing their own suicide pact, an act of treason.”
Habeeb explained there were three types of opinions when it came to the American Revolution; One-third of the colonies wanted war, one-third was against war, and the rest were under their tables hoping they weren’t going to get killed.
Henry Ford was a known anti-Semite. Again, Habeeb chooses to look at the potential good side of a man.
“He may have believed atrocious things, but Ford’s automotive plants were turned into factories during WWII to create airplanes,” Habeeb said. “It was the arsenal he helped create was used to annihilate the Nazi’s. Most unusual people are used for a good purpose. We push down the dark voices and lift the good voices.”
We haven’t had a Civil War in this country in a while. Does Habeeb feel we may be coming close today?
“Not at all. There may have been 500 hundred idiots who stormed the Capitol and arrested for it, but that doesn’t represent the other 70 million people that voted Republican. The members of Antifa in the protests in the summer of 2020 made them riots with their violence. That doesn’t reflect the ideology of 70 million people that voted Democrat.”
Habeeb presents nice, long, slow stories.
“We’re not trying to create click bait. We’re not carnal or salacious. Nearly everything we do has nothing to do with politics. We want people to talk to each other. Treat humans differently. There’s just so much lack of respect. These are the challenges of the day.”
Habeeb talked about some of the egregious things we’ve done as a society.
“It’s astounding to think when Duke Ellington was playing in a Harlem Club, he had to enter the venue through the back and walk through the kitchen to get to the stage. Blacks weren’t allowed in the club unless they were serving whites. We did a story on General George Patton,” Habeeb said. “He wasn’t using prayer to get to Berlin. I never want to stand in judgment. I like looking at the human spirit.”
Habeeb explained he’s concerned about a lot of things happening in our society. Instead of taking a side and blaming others, he insists on showing rather than telling.
“I’m concerned about young Black men growing up without fathers,” Habeeb said. “The amount and velocity of young boys without fathers is astounding. It’s a curse on the sons and they’re angry. You have one father that was an alcoholic and beat their son. That’s all they knew. We’ve never seen so many out of wedlock birth rates. People tell me the poverty family’s experience is no different than the Great Depression. Those kids had fathers. It’s not the same thing.”
“Habeeb said men didn’t use to father babies and leave. How do we bring that back? It starts with men saying to other men they know the pain they are feeling. They tell them they can make the decision to stop that cycle in your family. You can be a father to a son, be a grandfather, make the right choices and change your life.”
Our American Stories had a show that focused on good fathers. Not perfect fathers, but good men doing their best. Then they had a show featuring people with no fathers, or fathers who drank and beat their kids.
“If you only tell the good father stories, people wouldn’t want to tune in. You need to give equal time. We have to ask what people did to stop the cycle. Those are the stories I want to get. How can we triumph over our circumstances?”
Habeeb said there are two types of people. Some seek happiness in the pursuit of pleasure. Some find happiness in serving others.
“We did a story on Steve Jobs and wanted to find out what made Jobs tick,” Habeeb explained. “We had Walter Isaacson on, who wrote a book on Jobs. He said when he went to Jobs’ house, he was very unassuming. It looked like he’d just moved into the place, which he hadn’t.”
Jobs’ wife greeted Isaacson at the door, no pretense or flashes of wealth. Jobs wasn’t about that.
“He was always chasing the next great thing. He was living like he did in his college dorm. I learned that we all could have purchased stock in Apple and be rich today. I don’t begrudge people who did that. Most billionaires started with nothing. Jobs was an innovator. He didn’t take anything from anyone. Jobs never forced anyone to buy a cell phone.”
