King Randall is a 21-year-old Marine veteran seeking to make a difference in the lives of the children living in Albany, Georgia, a predominantly black city. The young man founded The “X” for Boys, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of disadvantaged boys through education, about two years ago. Randall has been trying to obtain a building to create a school for these boys, many of whom have had troubled backgrounds.

So, it should come as no surprise that the local government is attempting to block this initiative.

On Tuesday, Randall appeared on “Fox News Primetime” with host Lawrence B. Jones to discuss the roadblocks that the school board is placing in his path as he seeks to build a learning program that will help these young men achieve success. Jones began the conversation by acknowledging the work Randall has done so far.

“King I’ve been so proud of your trajectory because you’re out there fighting for the community every single day. You just bought some land. You’re helping raise young men up, teaching them about firearms. You’re educating them. Tell us about what you do every day,” Jones said.

Randall responded:

Well, I work with children. I’ve been working with them for two years now. I actually started taking temporary custody of children in my home. I work with children that have been molested. They have been sexually abused, that have been starved at home, et cetera. These children don’t have anywhere to sleep. And I take them into my home and I make things happen. And we were in the process of opening a school for these children in the city of Albany.

The founder delved into the recent problems his organization, whose motto is “Making Men Great Again,” is facing. He explained that the group has been working on a deal to buy a building from the local school district. “But they’ve been giving us push back and trying to do things that are blatantly counterproductive to what we were trying to do. We were trying to open our own private school in the city of Albany. Yet our leadership, our excuse me, our school board leadership doesn’t want those things to happen,” Randall said.

Jones asked what specific actions the school board is taking to hamper Randall’s efforts.

Randall replied:

Well, we’re actually trying to purchase a school from them that was up for demolition. Mind you. I’ll say again, the school was up for demolition and they gave us a contract back excuse me, a purchase sale agreement. And that said, they want a half a million dollars, well over half a million dollars for this school that was up for demolition. And I wasn’t even really too upset about that until I got the contract stipulations. I’ve never seen a purchase agreement where a seller tells the buyer what they can and can’t do with the building.

Randall went on to explain that the school board put a stipulation in the deed of conveyance that the “X” for Boys “cannot use the school that we’re purchasing to open a private or a charter school unless the Dougherty County school system is providing the core educational services, meaning they would get funding for the students coming to our school.”

He added: “And we can’t teach what we want to teach.”

The young leader indicated that he believes taxpayers want the school to be donated to Randall’s program. He explained that the superintendent told them that “the only way they could donate the school to us is that we could prove that the school would be a public benefit for the community.”

Randall continued: “And clearly our school and our track record for the X for Boys is proven. We’re not an up and starting program, we’ve been running for two years, we have an 86 percent reading comprehension rate, zero percent recidivism; every child that’s come to us from jail has never been back.”

The young man also discussed the impact the school board’s slow-walking of the matter is impacting the boys who wish to attend the school. “We have children in foster homes and group homes waiting for the school to be open. We have many parents waiting for the school to be open,” he said. “And I’ve been stalling these parents for seven months because they say that they are so busy that they cannot get this deal done. And I find it absolutely absurd that I have to keep telling these children to wait, to wait, to wait.”

At this point, Randall dropped the bomb when he explained the likely reason why the district insists on blocking the deal. “And I decided today that I was going to cancel those negotiations with them because I had to get three phone calls after we had a meeting with our school superintendent that said allegedly that he said that we were a competition that he didn’t want to be there,” Randall said.

Jones agreed: “We see it all across the country when you put these kids, give them a choice. They perform in charter schools. You cannot sell a bag of spoiled goods saying just because they’re poor and because they live in a different neighborhood that they can’t be educated. We know that’s not true.”

Randall pointed out the absurdity of the superintendent’s alleged comments by noting that his organization is focused on children who have been in the system, not necessarily trying to take students from the district.

“But to hear the blatant disregard for our students thinking this is a game, a competition is a game to me, our children are dying and you’re looking at them as competition,” Randall said. “We’re not even trying to get children from their school system. We’re trying to get children from the judicial system, children on the street, children that are not even enrolled in your schools.”

Earlier this month, the “X” for Boys purchased about 40 acres of land in Albany which will be used to launch a summer camp program that will teach boys a number of different skills such as cooking, hunting, and fishing. Students will also learn about trades and how to become electricians, plumbers, construction workers, and other professions.

If you wish to know more about the “X” for Boys, check out their website.