Speaker 1: Miligu bus has how to knowledge you want, My league
Speaker 1: but has how the knowledge you need. But yet they
Speaker 1: have all the books that the whole wild world one
Speaker 1: up read Milieu buts. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to Malie's Bookshew
Speaker 1: bringing the world together with books, culture and community. Hi,
Speaker 1: my name is Malik, your host of Malife's Bookshelf.
Speaker 2: All week long since that debate, people.
Speaker 1: Have been popping up asking this one question, what's a
Speaker 1: black job? Well, I'll tell you what's a black job.
Speaker 1: Malik Books got all the books you need.
Speaker 2: I created it.
Speaker 1: I'm the founder and the co owner of Malie's Books,
Speaker 1: two locations.
Speaker 2: That's a black job.
Speaker 1: Now, let's get real, right now, let's get to the
Speaker 1: nitty gritty. We need to stop deceiving ourselves as black people.
Speaker 2: You know, good and well, what a black job is.
Speaker 2: There are certain things that.
Speaker 1: Was designed for us to do in America, and no
Speaker 1: white person.
Speaker 2: Wasn't going to do it.
Speaker 1: Housekeeping the mammies, picking up garbage and let us not
Speaker 1: forget the cotton. That's a black job. Stop trying to
Speaker 1: act like America don't have a history and that certain
Speaker 1: things wasn't designed for us to do.
Speaker 2: If there was some dirty jobs that had to be done.
Speaker 1: It was black people that they relegated to do those
Speaker 1: dirty jobs, those backbreaking jobs.
Speaker 2: That's what a black job is. And when the border
Speaker 2: exploded and.
Speaker 1: Twelve million people enter into this nation, let's keep it
Speaker 1: one hundred. Who is that going to affect.
Speaker 2: A lot of them jobs? Black people don't want to
Speaker 2: do no more.
Speaker 1: But their whole lot of people on this planet will
Speaker 1: be very grateful to do it, and they will become
Speaker 1: enriched because they recycle their money in their communities and
Speaker 1: they're able to expand and buy properties, buy commercial buildings,
Speaker 1: and grow generational wealth. All these black jobs that black
Speaker 1: people don't want to do no more. All right, other
Speaker 1: people are doing I remember doing construction and developing I
Speaker 1: guess improving on my homes over the years.
Speaker 2: Back in nineteen ninety.
Speaker 1: If you went up to home depot, you didn't see
Speaker 1: nobody but Hispanics willing to do some labor.
Speaker 2: There was a time when black people.
Speaker 1: Were the master builders of this nation and was the
Speaker 1: number one compenters, plumbers, electricians and otherwise.
Speaker 2: What has happened?
Speaker 1: So the Hispanics would be up at the home depot
Speaker 1: looking to get some work labor or some or skilled
Speaker 1: wouldn't be no black people none, No black people whatsoever.
Speaker 2: And I remember.
Speaker 1: Building a room looking for someone because I'm the contractor.
Speaker 2: I know what I want done. I just hey, you're a.
Speaker 1: Comper, you know I drive all. Hey, you know how
Speaker 1: to bank? Well, I'm gonna give you directions because I'm
Speaker 1: on the set. I don't need a contractor. I can
Speaker 1: guide you at that time.
Speaker 2: Right. Well, no black people, it's all his panties.
Speaker 1: And that's the case still today, from nineteen ninety to
Speaker 1: twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: Foult. Now, they got all the skills, got all the jobs.
Speaker 1: I don't hardly see no, I mean, colleague, and I
Speaker 1: don't hardly see no black tradesmen, skillsmen, compenters, builders. It's
Speaker 1: very difficult to find, and particularly one this good with integrity.
Speaker 2: Let's keep it one hundred.
Speaker 1: Now you know what a black job is the jobs
Speaker 1: that white people.
Speaker 2: Didn't want to do. Now they have brought.
Speaker 1: An explosion of immigrants in this nation, and they doing
Speaker 1: those jobs.
Speaker 2: Because black folks don't want to do. See, so we're
Speaker 2: not recycling much.
Speaker 1: We became middle class, working in fact, but also being
Speaker 1: carpenter's plumbers, electric tradesmen, auto mechanics because of them, black.
Speaker 2: Jobs that other people didn't want to do.
Speaker 1: So this generation don't have lost their minds, don't know
Speaker 1: no history, don't read no books about our legacy. We
Speaker 1: just want to forget what that mean and what that is.
Speaker 1: America doesn't have enough jobs for everybody. So if a lot,
Speaker 1: if they let twelve million people, what they're gonna do,
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to do for self. They're gonna have
Speaker 1: to create a job. But then there were jobs I
Speaker 1: used to I was told this one. I was asked
Speaker 1: this question, and they say, well, if we don't let
Speaker 1: them in the country, then won't be no food pick now, really,
Speaker 1: so you would starve before you allow somebody to pick
Speaker 1: the food. You wouldn't go out there and pick it
Speaker 1: yourself if you had to. I mean think about that.
Speaker 1: You're not gonna pick the food unless someone else do
Speaker 1: it for you. Now, if you that lazy, then you
Speaker 1: don't deserve to eat because if it comes down to
Speaker 1: us having to pick our own food, you won't have
Speaker 1: to pick your own food. So it might not be
Speaker 1: a job that you want to do. But guess what,
Speaker 1: back in the day, that was a black job. You know,
Speaker 1: that's what we call a black job. The fact that
Speaker 1: we gotta walk around and try to make mockery of
Speaker 1: what is historically have been jobs that have been designed specifically.
Speaker 2: For black people.
Speaker 1: You can call it what they want, but this country
Speaker 1: has a legacy of racism and discrimination.
Speaker 2: And when you just allow.
Speaker 1: Twelve million majority immigrants, twelve million immigrant, majority of them
Speaker 1: with no skills, they taking somebody's job, They're affecting some
Speaker 1: group of people.
Speaker 2: They here to make a living, they here to compete
Speaker 2: for whatever jobs that are available in this nation.
Speaker 1: Now, I'm not mad at nobody seeking a better life.
Speaker 1: I'm not upset about no one seeking to change their reality.
Speaker 2: I'm not upset about that at.
Speaker 1: All, because if you're dissatisfied.
Speaker 2: You need to do so. I'm no body.
Speaker 1: Okay, So that's not my argument there, But I'm here to.
Speaker 2: Talk about a black job. What's a black job?
Speaker 1: And why we seem to think that this nation didn't design.
Speaker 2: Or set aside certain jobs just for black folks.
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 1: Now, when you got to integration and they opened up
Speaker 1: you know, restaurants and universities and workplace where they hired
Speaker 1: black folks to come in, and you ain't see it
Speaker 1: no more as a black job. But before that, before that,
Speaker 1: and that hasn't changed. There's still jobs here that certain
Speaker 1: people don't want to do, will not do, and they
Speaker 1: feel the above doing those types of jobs now. But
Speaker 1: after the civil rights movement, integration, all right, a lot
Speaker 1: of jobs opened up.
Speaker 2: The quote unquote wasn't necessarily what a black job.
Speaker 1: See and because of the segregation, guess what black folks
Speaker 1: had to do create a black job for themselves. Because
Speaker 1: the white man wasn't hotting. You couldn't go in the restaurant.
Speaker 1: It you better create your own restaurant. They were hired
Speaker 1: skillsmen come in and build beautiful homes for them. But
Speaker 1: after that, you gotta get out. But you wasn't but
Speaker 1: you wasn't allowed to work in certain places. You wasn't
Speaker 1: allowed to go certain places, and you you she just
Speaker 1: wasn't and you were not permitted to walk in the
Speaker 1: front door. So let's not forget our history what a
Speaker 1: black job is. It can be a multitude of things,
Speaker 1: but historically a black job with simply picking cotton and
Speaker 1: a whole lot of other things that white folks forced
Speaker 1: us to do and that they will would not do.
Speaker 1: That's a black job, and today you need to create
Speaker 1: a black job. Just going to school getting a degree
Speaker 1: is not enough to compete. And it's growing and ever
Speaker 1: changing complex world. You could chew gum and walk at.
Speaker 2: The same time.
Speaker 1: Get your paper, get your degree, but also do for
Speaker 1: self as well as you can work in corporate America
Speaker 1: if you so desired, but you also need to do
Speaker 1: for self. There's an opportunity in America to explode in growth,
Speaker 1: both internally and externally, both financially and otherwise. So take
Speaker 1: advantage of the opportunity and don't limit yourself, but create
Speaker 1: that black job, because that's what a black job is,
Speaker 1: the one you created like I created elite books, all right, peace,
Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed what I had to.
Speaker 3: Say, a community, elite and just down traveling it back
Speaker 3: from the thirtieth Essence Festival, I was here in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you, if you never attended it, that's successival.
Speaker 1: I definitely recommend it was huge. It has blown up
Speaker 1: into a huge, huge corporate.
Speaker 4: Event electric I mean thousand upon thousands of thousands. This
Speaker 4: is my first time ever attending the Essays Festival, and people.
Speaker 1: From all over the country, if not something from around
Speaker 1: the world.
Speaker 5: Music culture, that's what it was all about.
Speaker 1: There were tons of activations and vendors throughout the convention.
Speaker 5: I had a festive time. Let me tell you who
Speaker 5: what was said. Vacation wasn't exhausting.
Speaker 1: This wasn't no resting relaxation that I thought, you know,
Speaker 1: because the month of June we had a banging at.
Speaker 4: Believe Books, one event after a major event after another.
Speaker 5: And so I came out here to celebrate my.
Speaker 6: Fiftieth well my sixtieth birthday in April's fiftieth birthday, and
Speaker 6: we kind of targeted our birthday is a place where
Speaker 6: we would try together and celebrate.
Speaker 5: But let me tell you this, this was a well
Speaker 5: attended event. I'm thankful I was able to make it
Speaker 5: this year.
Speaker 1: This the thirtieth anniversary of the Essence Festival, was a
Speaker 1: huge successful. Essence Blown Up Now that's a black magazine.
Speaker 1: They've been around for a long time, and the magazine
Speaker 1: a salts black woman and the culture and the beauty.
Speaker 5: Of black women.
Speaker 1: Well, this year's Essence Festival had huge partnerships like Target,
Speaker 1: Aten and T Disney and McDonald's also called CoA Cola.
Speaker 1: They had huge activations.
Speaker 5: But I got to.
Speaker 1: Point out something because I went to the convention and
Speaker 1: I walked around. I went to they had what was
Speaker 1: called Essen's Authors, all right, because Essen's bringing authors, they
Speaker 1: feature certain books, they have a lot of panels. So
Speaker 1: I got a chance to stop by. I ran into
Speaker 1: Michael Harritt, the author of Black History, A f also
Speaker 1: ran into a few other authors, as well as people
Speaker 1: in the industry, the publishing industry, I mean HarperCollins and
Speaker 1: so forth. There was some legends they were honoring this year,
Speaker 1: Brenda Jackson, who writes a lot of historical fiction, as
Speaker 1: well as Beverly Jenkins also who writes a lot of
Speaker 1: historical fiction. They were honored for their contribution as black authors.
Speaker 1: Brenda Jackson is on her one hundred and fifty book.
Speaker 5: Can you imagine that?
Speaker 1: I mean, now, there are some authors that have written
Speaker 1: a lot of books, but I ain't never met him personally,
Speaker 1: but I met brit To Jackson and she wrote one
Speaker 1: hundred She's on one hundred and fiftieth books. So it
Speaker 1: was powerful to meet legends that have been in the
Speaker 1: publishing industry and for quite some time as well as
Speaker 1: it was just nice to be around.
Speaker 5: People love books.
Speaker 2: We loved black.
Speaker 1: Books was kind of one of the quotes that was
Speaker 1: on a big billboard inside the space. The activation was
Speaker 1: a very beautiful space, and I honored to have traveled
Speaker 1: out to the Essence Festival and be there to witness
Speaker 1: such a well organized, curated, designed, marketed space for black authors.
Speaker 1: And it was very important that while I was there
Speaker 1: that had I dropped by that booth because as a
Speaker 1: black bookstore who host a lot of authors, I wanted
Speaker 1: to meet as many as possible, particularly since Malik is
Speaker 1: the height man of books. So it was a very,
Speaker 1: very very wonderful experience.
Speaker 5: The place was huge.
Speaker 1: I'm be honest, I've been to a lot of conventions
Speaker 1: in my life. That was the biggest convention, particularly a
Speaker 1: black convention, that I've ever attended. And I got to
Speaker 1: give kudos to Essens for the many years serving the culture,
Speaker 1: elevating the culture, and evolving the culture. So I was
Speaker 1: proud to be there. I was proud to participate. And
Speaker 1: let me say this, you haven't attended the Essen Festival,
Speaker 1: I would encourage you to do. So that was my
Speaker 1: first time, and like I said, that was the thirtieth
Speaker 1: and a first of the Essens Festival. So I would
Speaker 1: definite return visit it again. But just let me tell
Speaker 1: you some of the things that I just wanted to
Speaker 1: point out. It's nothing, it's not a knock on the essence,
Speaker 1: but it's just something that because the event is all
Speaker 1: about empowerment, it's all about the culture, it's all about elevation,
Speaker 1: it's all about the black experience.
Speaker 7: And it was amazing to see to my surprise, like
Speaker 7: Target had this huge booth, so they McDonalds so that
Speaker 7: Coca Cola and.
Speaker 1: Target was given out this they had this.
Speaker 5: This quote it was called security bag.
Speaker 1: All right, you know something that if you know anything
Speaker 1: about black culture, you know we say security bag. So anyway,
Speaker 1: they had in big letters given out bags. I didn't
Speaker 1: find out that that's what they was given out until
Speaker 1: I asked, I said, I asked one of the security
Speaker 1: I said, wow, what's all these people in this line?
Speaker 5: What are they getting? And he said getting a bag?
Speaker 5: I said, what, listen, let me tell you this line was.
Speaker 1: It had a point where it say sixty minutes all right,
Speaker 1: then it went past that to another area.
Speaker 5: Literally people were standing.
Speaker 1: Line for eighty minutes to get a ten cent bag.
Speaker 1: Now I got to ask the question, how much.
Speaker 5: Do you value your time?
Speaker 1: Was a target bag with a couple of two cent
Speaker 1: items worth eighty minutes of your time? Well, I got
Speaker 1: to talk about that, but I'm gonna talk about that
Speaker 1: at a different time because I don't want to talk
Speaker 1: about it on this segment.
Speaker 8: Because that's a mindset and that's something different. But the
Speaker 8: essence for Vote, I thought was like prolific to see something.
Speaker 5: Organized in the way that it was and.
Speaker 9: Bringing people to get They had like three major concerts
Speaker 9: hit one headline by I Believe Cash Money, one headline
Speaker 9: by Usher, and the.
Speaker 5: Other headline by Janet Jocksh.
Speaker 1: I went to the Janey Jacks Carcle powerful. It was
Speaker 1: a very very entertaining concert. Maids played Honor and Frankie
Speaker 1: Belly also Victoria when they performed the very sexy and
Speaker 1: classy forty five minutes of Entertainment. Now, I mean it
Speaker 1: was entertaining. S WV put on it, put it down
Speaker 1: odies but Goodies, R and B was live and well.
Speaker 1: Janet did her thing. She's prolific, she's exciting. She's one
Speaker 1: of the most top female no just artist period in
Speaker 1: the world.
Speaker 5: And her songs are.
Speaker 1: Hits for days, so it was a charged up concert.
Speaker 1: I went to a brunch at the Highest Hotel. It
Speaker 1: was three thousand people dressing in all white crazy. That
Speaker 1: was the largest brunch I've attended in my life.
Speaker 5: And people we partied.
Speaker 1: These bands just got to beat the capital of bands
Speaker 1: live music.
Speaker 5: It was extraordinary.
Speaker 1: I think this is the capitol musicians for show, especially
Speaker 1: for jazz. I mean, we walked down Bourbon Street and
Speaker 1: popped into a couple of places and the music was
Speaker 1: just popping and on and culture and entertaining and exciting
Speaker 1: and electric.
Speaker 5: And these live bands, man.
Speaker 2: They are amazing.
Speaker 5: Went down the Frenchman Quarter.
Speaker 1: You know, we took a taxi, but it was a
Speaker 1: bike taxi, right, and the guy was like, you want
Speaker 1: Bourmonton Street or you want Frenchman Quarter.
Speaker 5: I was she's And then he gave me us a definition.
Speaker 1: She said, if you want to go to the Sioux
Speaker 1: and Crazy, you go to Bourbon Street.
Speaker 5: If you want to be around adults, you go to
Speaker 5: Frenchman Quarters.
Speaker 1: I said, okay, We're going to Frenchman Quarters because I've
Speaker 1: already done the Bourbon already. I do concur what he said,
Speaker 1: but it was funny how he said it, because he
Speaker 1: lives out there, works out.
Speaker 5: There, and he was pumping that biking. We had a
Speaker 5: wonderful time.
Speaker 1: We ended up down at Frenchman Quarters, saw a couple
Speaker 1: of lines man so all week long, hotel, pool, fun, music, dancing, concerts, convention.
Speaker 1: It was just a amazing five six days here. I
Speaker 1: had a wonderful time and I'm hitting back home, and
Speaker 1: I just wanted to give y'all taste because you know,
Speaker 1: Malice bookshelf bringing a world together with books, culture and community.
Speaker 1: All that I witnessed out here, our witness books, witness culture,
Speaker 1: and our witness community. Now I just want to touch
Speaker 1: on briefly here is how much is your time worth?
Speaker 5: All right?
Speaker 1: Because time equals money, time can equal health, time can equal.
Speaker 5: Whatever you want it to be. But the question is.
Speaker 1: If a person gonna complain about how much they get
Speaker 1: paid an hour, then they got to ask themselves. Is
Speaker 1: waiting in line for eighty minutes to get a ten
Speaker 1: cent bag from Target and to walk around with a
Speaker 1: bag that Target is not paying you to walk around
Speaker 1: and advertise them for is that viable use of your time?
Speaker 1: That's where this stegment how valuable is your time.
Speaker 5: Worth? Came from when I saw what I saw.
Speaker 1: I saw people standing in the line an hour to
Speaker 1: get a free French fry from McDonald's.
Speaker 5: Right, they had a whole fashion thing that they was doing.
Speaker 1: But on the side they're giving our free French fry
Speaker 1: and people stand in a line an hour to get
Speaker 1: some fries. I said to myself, No, Ray, about twenty
Speaker 1: meters is the full court, even if they're charging the
Speaker 1: fries five ballas how much is your time of work
Speaker 1: that you were standing rid to get a free French fries,
Speaker 1: to get a ten shin bang, to be in Disney
Speaker 1: line to get some free Mickey Mouse head pieces that
Speaker 1: probably cost five cent for them to make, mass produced,
Speaker 1: probably from China.
Speaker 5: So my question is how much is your time worth?
Speaker 5: How falable do you fighting your time?
Speaker 10: Because for me, that should be it should be a
Speaker 10: conversation to be addressed. They could have easily gave out
Speaker 10: them bags as you were walking.
Speaker 1: In, and Target could have did some other type of activation.
Speaker 5: But to put together an activation and.
Speaker 10: To have.
Speaker 1: People standing line to get at tention back, that's mind control.
Speaker 1: To me.
Speaker 5: You're giving them your power that you have.
Speaker 10: Control over, because that's not a good use of your time.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 1: Do you know they had a lot of vendors from
Speaker 1: all over this country came there to set up, pay thousands,
Speaker 1: thousands and thousands of dollars to display their product.
Speaker 5: For the people.
Speaker 1: And then you take eighty minutes, sixty minutes of your time,
Speaker 1: said walking around and looking at these different vendors in
Speaker 1: the different products that they created and offered into enriched
Speaker 1: Black entrepreneurship. To wait in line to get a free
Speaker 1: ten cent bag, that to me is kind of productive.
Speaker 5: And to me, I saw that as an insult to.
Speaker 1: For an activation that man, they said, I don't even
Speaker 1: went one day and the thing was huge. A million
Speaker 1: square foot was occupied and it was huge. And I'm saying,
Speaker 1: it's about education, it's about the culture, and Target ain't
Speaker 1: about the cold now.
Speaker 11: They sell the culture, but they ain't about the culture now.
Speaker 11: And I'm glad to see that they selling, you know,
Speaker 11: bringing in activations, black products and so forth, and selling.
Speaker 1: It to the distributing it because some of us can
Speaker 1: create a product but don't have a way to distribut it.
Speaker 1: So Target it's helping some of these activate, some selling
Speaker 1: black and celebration to.
Speaker 5: Sell that product. And be distributed through CHI. That's a
Speaker 5: wonderful thing.
Speaker 2: And many of.
Speaker 1: Those activations or those part could have been there for
Speaker 1: people to walk up and engage. But the standing line
Speaker 1: that was the main Activate the standing line and get
Speaker 1: a cheap ten cent bag.
Speaker 5: That for eighty seventy sixty minutes. I thought that that
Speaker 5: was insulting to me too, that you got the your.
Speaker 8: Time miners, the value of your time miners, and that's
Speaker 8: not a balance or an equal balance.
Speaker 5: You're not getting a term for your time in that case.
Speaker 5: And to me, stuff like that because they had.
Speaker 1: Like they had activations of talking about economics and economic growth.
Speaker 5: And business and so forth. They had an economic summit, which.
Speaker 1: Is great, which to me was also crazy because they
Speaker 1: had Okay, you had to go through security to get in,
Speaker 1: you had to go do a double.
Speaker 5: Security to get in that when they was required more
Speaker 5: to get inside of there than it was to get
Speaker 5: inside of the actual.
Speaker 1: Convintion, which I said, now you know, I meant people
Speaker 1: that's gonna turn off and discourage it. They're not gonna
Speaker 1: go to the most important thing here, which is inside
Speaker 1: of the economic summing as well. So I said, man,
Speaker 1: why won't you do that you know where you make
Speaker 1: it difficult to go to the most important part, which
Speaker 1: is the economic summing.
Speaker 5: Well, anyway, whoever.
Speaker 1: Was talking something that right there should have been the
Speaker 1: first thing addressed.
Speaker 5: How much is your time order? How much do you
Speaker 5: value your time? Because the line to get a.
Speaker 1: Tent with then you know target is a major spot.
Speaker 1: So it would have been like, oh, you're attacking you
Speaker 1: know target. We don't want to undermine our sponsors. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, you got to find a way
Speaker 1: to address that. Maybe that wasn't the best way to
Speaker 1: address it at that time, But when they debrief and
Speaker 1: talk about they need to talk about a better strategy
Speaker 1: and a better use of people's time, because that takes
Speaker 1: away from all the other vendors that came across the
Speaker 1: nation to bring you products that they have created or
Speaker 1: published or ain't a fright to. So I just think
Speaker 1: that I think that it shouldn't be addressed because I
Speaker 1: don't think that you should have people waiting in the
Speaker 1: line that long to get something that's not even worth
Speaker 1: their time.
Speaker 5: I don't even think it's there fault. Sometimes you just
Speaker 5: don't know. Sometimes you just don't know.
Speaker 2: I just thought that I'll do a segment.
Speaker 5: How much is your time worth?
Speaker 1: That before you begin to decide on something, think about
Speaker 1: how much your time is worth so that to make
Speaker 1: sure you're getting something worth your time. Thanks for listening
Speaker 1: to Maleak's Bookshelf, where topics on the shelf are books, culture,
Speaker 1: and community.
Speaker 2: Be sure to subscribe and leave me a review. Check
Speaker 2: out my instagram at Malak Books. See you next time.