Transcript
A (0:00)
Daniel or Danny F. Collins was born on April 12, 1983, in Fort Pierce, Florida. He would later go on to play college baseball and was drafted by the Atlanta Braves. But that's not what's important for our story. Following a motorcycle accident. Accident and a subsequent opioid addiction, Danny would then spend 14 years in prison, where he became part of a white supremacist group. He deeply, deeply supported Donald Trump in his first election, claiming that it would save the white race. And now he speaks out against racism, against the injustice of the incarceration system in America and how we've now expanded that to immigrants. And this today is a journey about hope and education, learning, transforming yourself from the bottom up. Professional baseball player, drug addict, homeless. Now speaking, being active, trying to change hearts and minds. Danny F. Collins today on Flipping Tables. Danny, welcome to Flipping Tables. Thank you for being here.
B (1:06)
Thank you for having me.
A (1:08)
So we were just talking before we got on about the craziness of life and our circumstances and surrounding. How are you holding up with everything that's been going on the last month?
B (1:19)
I mean, doing fairly well, all things considered. Um, as I said, it's difficult when you live in a community that doesn't align with your. Your beliefs and values. So it's full throttle 24 7.
A (1:33)
Yes, it's. It's pretty. It's pretty hot and heavy and. And I gave a little bit of an intro in the beginning of the episode, but I would love to hear, like, your story because you have a platform built on changing your mind, and I would. I would love to hear about, you know, you getting into MAGA in the first place and then how you eventually ended up leaving.
B (1:54)
Okay, well, just to give you a little backstory, I used to play professional baseball. I grew up in a small town in South Florida. I signed with the Atlanta Braves at the age of 19. I played for about three years, ended up getting in a motorcycle accident. Yeah. Succumbed to opiate addiction.
A (2:13)
Oh, damn.
B (2:14)
In that process, I lost everything and ultimately went to prison. I was raised in a community that's Christian, conservative. I didn't really get into politics, I guess, as much until Trump came into the forefront of everything. And I think that kind of got a lot more people involved and engaged, at least especially poor white people in the rural communities that were previously kind of, you know, disengaged and not really paying attention to what was going on. And I was one of those people. But I went to prison in 2009, and, you know, I was. I did 10 years in prison years. But while in prison, I met a guy, I was this white Christian conservative, and I had met this guy who was a black Muslim, and he was sentenced from the same community as me at the age of 16. He was sentenced to 20 years, followed by 10 years of probation. What? But him and I. Yeah, him and I became friends, and we're from the same community. And typically when you're from the same area in prison, you kind of, you know, gravitate towards people because it gives you. It's like a conversation starter, right?
