Speaker 1: Call Zone Media.
Speaker 2: You know, sometimes in life you come across people like
Speaker 2: if if I'm gonna keep it a buck that you're
Speaker 2: just like, I just want y'all to like me.
Speaker 1: You ever met somebody like that, You're just like, man,
Speaker 1: I hope that I hope that food likes me. In like, like,
Speaker 1: just just be real with y'all.
Speaker 2: You know, there are some people that you meet that
Speaker 2: you just like from far away, you already know like,
Speaker 2: oh yeah, nah, we're gonna be homies. It's it's going down,
Speaker 2: you know. I felt like with Robert and Sophie and Cools,
Speaker 2: I was like, we're gonna be friends. It was just
Speaker 2: it was just so obvious to me that when we met,
Speaker 2: we would we would it would be that's it, we
Speaker 2: would link up the system. I'm about to introduce y'all
Speaker 2: to is somebody that was more like the first part
Speaker 2: where I was like, God, damn, man.
Speaker 1: I I hope she vibes with me.
Speaker 2: Because some people are just that brilliant, just that just
Speaker 2: that dope, and they just carried his presence to where
Speaker 2: you're like that there's a there's a calmness to their
Speaker 2: brilliance and it's just dope to watch I got introduced
Speaker 2: to this thing called the Expectations Project.
Speaker 1: This is a Terrorform episode.
Speaker 2: I'll introduce you to the Expectations Project and Zakia Jackson.
Speaker 1: Zach's I know that.
Speaker 2: Capitol Hill is a cesspool, like we all know it.
Speaker 2: You know, we all find that lobbying is frustrating. We
Speaker 2: already did a thing on lobbyists. But then there's a
Speaker 2: thing called advocacy, right, and we're going to talk about
Speaker 2: the difference between the two, how they're connected, and that
Speaker 2: there are people out there really actually trying to do
Speaker 2: dope things. The Expectations Project is a project around educational equity.
Speaker 1: I got involved.
Speaker 2: In their campaign. They were doing about zip codes, that
Speaker 2: your zip code shouldn't dictate your future. It's just the idea,
Speaker 2: like just because I live in this zip code doesn't
Speaker 2: mean that, like my school should be underfunded. The point
Speaker 2: is this black woman finna change y'all's life. Let me
Speaker 2: introduce y'all to a terror former mster, Kia Jackson.
Speaker 1: But before we do, currently.
Speaker 3: It's like this.
Speaker 1: Bullook is like this.
Speaker 2: Bullook is like this all right, this week it's like this, Well,
Speaker 2: first of all, the most unconsequential debate, the most unnecessary.
Speaker 2: First presidential debate is happening on Thursday, which depending on
Speaker 2: when you listen to this, hopefully you listen to this
Speaker 2: when it drops is tomorrow. I'm gonna go live on
Speaker 2: my YouTube prop hip hop and just be going along
Speaker 2: with y'all about this foolishness. The Lord, this is fitna
Speaker 2: be so funny because what don't we already know? What
Speaker 2: don't you already know about these people? This is they're
Speaker 2: truly just trying to prove that they not owed and
Speaker 2: they could own each other. Like that's the goal. The
Speaker 2: goal has to be you just trying to own each other.
Speaker 2: So we're gonna go, we're gonna talk about it. I
Speaker 2: basically just get yourself drink. Imagine me sitting in your
Speaker 2: living room just not being weird, but watching this debate's
Speaker 2: so that's what we're gonna do.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be sitting right here watching this mug with you.
Speaker 1: So that's Thursday.
Speaker 2: Also in that spirit, on June twenty ninth, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: be up in Seattle, like come see your boy live.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be rapping doing some music at Fast Penny
Speaker 2: Spirits in Seattle, Washington. You could also get tickets on
Speaker 2: my website prophip hop dot com. I'll probably be shouting
Speaker 2: that out as I'm going live, man, hopefully see y'all there.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, Like.
Speaker 2: I popped out Sunday at a five K run. Shout
Speaker 2: out Greg who is just a dope dude who he's
Speaker 2: like a distance runner. He connected with this org that
Speaker 2: is flying people, are flying sick kids who need medical help.
Speaker 2: Obviously sick kids out of Palestine, so you're flying them
Speaker 2: out of guys that to get a medical help.
Speaker 1: He was raising money for it. Praise the Lord.
Speaker 2: They reached their goal, met some dope people, so that
Speaker 2: was cool. I got to meet some of y'all. So
Speaker 2: all I'm saying is like, yo, like let's connect you
Speaker 2: feel me. Don't be weird though I'm begging you, don't
Speaker 2: be weird. And lastly, I say this with a complete
Speaker 2: straight face, dead serious. I cannot overstate the significance of
Speaker 2: what this can in France. Pop out was on Juneteenth
Speaker 2: that Kendrick Lamar did what I thought was going to
Speaker 2: be just a victory lap, like a celebration, you know,
Speaker 2: for the coast, because because they not like us, was
Speaker 2: such a big song. It was such a moment for
Speaker 2: the Coast. It was like, yeah, let's celebrate your.
Speaker 1: Win, homie. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: This sho parade. You earned it and you put on
Speaker 2: for the Coast. But this man made it so much
Speaker 2: more than himself. He turned around and he shined a
Speaker 2: light on everyone and shout out the homie DJ Head
Speaker 2: who we've had on this show, who curated this experience
Speaker 2: in the opening experience where he brought these other talents
Speaker 2: out like the Wolves meet the Wolves and Jay Worthy,
Speaker 2: and just the significance goes so far beyond a couple
Speaker 2: back and forth tracks about Drake.
Speaker 1: It was almost like Drake was like background noise.
Speaker 2: This brought together Like I say this again, zero exaggeration.
Speaker 2: The term hood politics is a play on words if
Speaker 2: you don't already know, but there is such things called
Speaker 2: hood politics that has to do with the politics between
Speaker 2: gangs and if you're gonna do music in Los Angeles, surprise, surprise,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of politics involved. If you're just gonna
Speaker 2: move around our city, we just you can't just move freely.
Speaker 2: We witnessed on Wednesday on that stage. I'm talking like
Speaker 2: generational Mortal sworn enemies. When we say sections like the
Speaker 2: hoods that don't they don't get along is the most
Speaker 2: under is just the understatement of the year.
Speaker 1: These we are enemies. They were on stage walking dancing.
Speaker 2: The joy, just the black joy that was on that
Speaker 2: stage from like I saw a tweet that said, it
Speaker 2: was like, think of all the Los Angeles gangs took
Speaker 2: pto from killing each other to do a sing along
Speaker 2: and dance together about how much they hate a Canadian
Speaker 2: and love a coast. So grown men shed tears like
Speaker 2: this was it was.
Speaker 1: It was singular.
Speaker 2: This is a moment in history that is not just
Speaker 2: for the West, because it's for hip hop as a whole.
Speaker 1: He united the coast. He halted this moment halted gang violence.
Speaker 2: And I think, I don't know what your belief system is,
Speaker 2: but like every once in a while, look, there's talent,
Speaker 2: there's hustle, there's luck, there's timing right place and right time,
Speaker 2: and then the stuff you just can't under you can't
Speaker 2: explain to where it's just like you are, you are
Speaker 2: God's choice, Like that man was chosen for as as
Speaker 2: the church folk would say, for such a time as this, Kendrick,
Speaker 2: that was.
Speaker 1: Got He's got you.
Speaker 2: I'm a rapper, I'm from la I would love to
Speaker 2: I would love to sell out the form. I'd love
Speaker 2: to take on the greatest, the top, the top rapper
Speaker 2: in the world and take him down and then unite
Speaker 2: the community like I would love to do that. I'm
Speaker 2: not Kendrick was God's choice and it was I don't know.
Speaker 2: I'm just saying witnessing that. It was like, this is undeniable.
Speaker 1: It was.
Speaker 2: It is beautiful to see somebody walking their purpose. And
Speaker 2: that's what we saw. Anyway, for you guys Thursday and Saturday,
Speaker 2: all right, politics with prop This is one of the
Speaker 2: Terrorform episodes. I've already done a whole intro, so I
Speaker 2: don't need to redo this. Ladies and gentlemen, Please, wherever
Speaker 2: you are, make some noise. We won't hear it, but
Speaker 2: make some noise for mystic kid Jackson. Yeah, man, I
Speaker 2: ain't seen you in a while. We did a little
Speaker 2: like a slight little ketchup, you know, before we started recording,
Speaker 2: just about how how old comes and gets you when
Speaker 2: you don't when you don't want it to.
Speaker 3: True enough, I had a friend who just turned forty.
Speaker 3: I said, Ointments ointments. My brother need to.
Speaker 1: Have fam yo.
Speaker 2: Look I used to for me, Like, look, that's so funny.
Speaker 2: I've never worried about my knees until recently. I was like, dang,
Speaker 2: my knees hurt up. But one thing I found speaking
Speaker 2: about flying. We saw about flying before y'all got on,
Speaker 2: But like speaking about flying is my jam used to
Speaker 2: be like left side of the plane, window, seat, hoodie, headphones.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna knockout right, But now I'll be having to pee. Oh, so,
Speaker 1: like I gotta get it. I gotta get aisle. Now,
Speaker 1: I gotta get an aisle seat because I don't want
Speaker 1: to be having to tap these people be like sorry.
Speaker 3: Always in the aisle.
Speaker 4: Listen.
Speaker 3: I'm like I almost don't want to go. If an.
Speaker 1: Exactly one hour flight, I might last for that.
Speaker 2: But yeah, yeah, I was like, what is why do
Speaker 2: I have to pee again?
Speaker 1: Like dog? You know, like, well, here we are.
Speaker 3: I will I will full on do stretches in the aisle.
Speaker 3: I do not care how it looks, stretch my calves.
Speaker 3: I'll just pick up the bottom of my foot.
Speaker 2: We wanted to look, you wonder why, like I look
Speaker 2: the part of town I'm from, you know, the the
Speaker 2: Latino and Agents part of town. You see you see
Speaker 2: them eighty year old you know, chse Asian people outside stretching.
Speaker 2: I'm like, there's a reason why they live in that
Speaker 2: long and they lad limber because they because they get
Speaker 2: up and stretch. Yeah, what I'm like, lesson learned fam true?
Speaker 2: All right, all right, let's get down to it. Expectations Project,
Speaker 2: first of all, tell us what that is and then
Speaker 2: back up and I'm gonna do a little let's learn
Speaker 2: a little more about you, and then we can talk
Speaker 2: about like how we met.
Speaker 1: But Expectations Project, what is it?
Speaker 5: Great?
Speaker 3: We come alongside faith motivated people to help them demand
Speaker 3: policy change, policy changes in the systems that impact impact
Speaker 3: children's education in their lives.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 3: And so we do this one through focusing on narrative
Speaker 3: shifts around who children are and what they deserve, because
Speaker 3: you know, people be thinking a lot of things. Press
Speaker 3: them if you press them on it. So you're saying
Speaker 3: children don't deserve to be angry. Ever, that's what you believe,
Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying. So so we do that,
Speaker 3: and then we also support folks with specific advocacy actions
Speaker 3: like hey, here's something you can do here's something you
Speaker 3: can do right now, or we'll strategize. Sometimes there'll be
Speaker 3: a group of people from a certain organization or a
Speaker 3: place who care about something in their community and will
Speaker 3: help them figure out how to get policy changes for
Speaker 3: or what the next step is.
Speaker 2: Okay, So the next obvious question is like, okay, so
Speaker 2: how is that different than like Florida and Ron DeSantis
Speaker 2: and getting getting all the color, scraping all the color
Speaker 2: out of our schools and just saying that, like, you know,
Speaker 2: trans kids are a problem, and you know, talking about
Speaker 2: sex is killing children.
Speaker 1: You know, Like, how are you different in that?
Speaker 3: Yeah, those things are usually done, I should I think
Speaker 3: always frankly done where they're not actually focused on thriving children. Right.
Speaker 3: It has something to do with the agenda of adults
Speaker 3: and what adults want, what they're comfortable with, how adults
Speaker 3: can move the base of voters, that sort of thing.
Speaker 3: Lots of fear tactics to get voters to do what
Speaker 3: they want.
Speaker 5: That's the Ron DeSantis energy, Right.
Speaker 3: We are saying we're trying to come alongside you, you know,
Speaker 3: your community. Now, sometimes you might think some things that
Speaker 3: are harmful. We'll push back on that, but you know,
Speaker 3: your people, We want to come alongside you and help
Speaker 3: you make sure these black and brown kids and other
Speaker 3: marginalized kids are learning and have access to the things
Speaker 3: that they need. Right, So we use data, and we
Speaker 3: use spiritual conviction, and we use you know, strategy to
Speaker 3: help people do that.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So yeah, So so I'm here and I'm hoping y'all hear.
Speaker 2: The difference is like what's happening in you know, on
Speaker 2: our televisions across like most news things because it's so salacious.
Speaker 2: Is like you said, there's really not a care for
Speaker 2: the kids. It's more like and a lot of times
Speaker 2: a lot of these people that show up at these
Speaker 2: like school board meetings don't even be from that area.
Speaker 2: They just be wanting that it's a it's a strategy
Speaker 2: for power, right, And like I said, it's like it's
Speaker 2: more of a thing about the desire of the parent
Speaker 2: rather than and a scare tactic. That's that's a very
Speaker 2: important difference. So it's like, so you are an advocacy
Speaker 2: group that helps develop policy that actually reads actual data.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, right, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: And and another thing I think that's that's unique about y'all.
Speaker 2: Uh is the the the intersectionality of it all for
Speaker 2: you guys, like as far as like that, this is
Speaker 2: from I. I walked into an organization when I met
Speaker 2: y'all that was like completely led by black women. And
Speaker 2: for me, I was like, oh, you know, well, well
Speaker 2: that's well that's one, two and three for me. You
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying, like I'm down, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean, like let's roll, you know. And uh so yeah,
Speaker 2: so that was so there's that. Now back up, how
Speaker 2: did you get involved in this? Tell us a little
Speaker 2: bit about out yourself here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, let me just add one other thing. A lot
Speaker 3: of times faith motivated groups they think we're trying to
Speaker 3: get prayer in schools, right, or that we're about privatizing schools.
Speaker 3: We're absolutely not about.
Speaker 5: That, right.
Speaker 3: We think that there are already Christians and people of
Speaker 3: faith in schools. We're trying to help people advance things
Speaker 3: for children, not with an agenda towards everybody should be
Speaker 3: a Christian.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 5: So that's an important distinction.
Speaker 1: Very important distinction.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the difference between like what I'll do and for.
Speaker 5: Yes, yep, yep. Absolutely.
Speaker 3: So your question was how did I get into all this?
Speaker 2: Yeah, like a little bit about your your trajectory and
Speaker 2: then how you got into this particular thing.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I was born in Southeast DC, grew up in Tennessee,
Speaker 3: and moved back to DC as an adult. My mama
Speaker 3: was raised in DC, and.
Speaker 1: I know in Southeast which we connected about. Well, yeah, anyway,
Speaker 1: go on.
Speaker 3: And I bring that up just to say, my mom
Speaker 3: taught me from her experiences directly and indirectly, what it
Speaker 3: really means to be from the hood, right, Like she
Speaker 3: taught me resourcefulness. She taught me creativity under pressure, how
Speaker 3: to defend yourself physically and otherwise, right, and how to
Speaker 3: pour everything you have into the people around you because
Speaker 3: we are who we got sort of thing. And so
Speaker 3: I lived in Nashville a long time. I went to
Speaker 3: elementary high school all of that stuff there, and started
Speaker 3: working there as a social worker, preschool teacher and doing.
Speaker 5: Youth development and all of that stuff.
Speaker 3: And as I was doing that, I didn't have the
Speaker 3: word policy in my vernacular really at that time, but
Speaker 3: I was noticing.
Speaker 5: A lot of stuff prop.
Speaker 3: I was like way a minute, you know, from my
Speaker 3: own schools growing up, but then also from the hundreds
Speaker 3: of students I worked with. I was noticing how something
Speaker 3: wasn't fair about how whole groups of students are treated,
Speaker 3: and it really made me angry, just simple things like
Speaker 3: the desks were way nicer at the other schools. When
Speaker 3: I would go to competitions, everything looked better up and there, right.
Speaker 3: And so I didn't know the word policy, but I
Speaker 3: started understanding it intuitively that something was not fair about
Speaker 3: how a whole group of students was decided to be
Speaker 3: treated by folks who maybe weren't even in the room
Speaker 3: with these students, right. And so, coming from the legacy
Speaker 3: of instigation on my father's side and the spirit of
Speaker 3: exploration on my mother's side, I said, well, let me
Speaker 3: get into this. Let me see how folks with more
Speaker 3: power than I do or making decisions and are organizing
Speaker 3: themselves and figuring stuff out. So I went to business school,
Speaker 3: and through business school I got out, and not a
Speaker 3: couple of years after that is when I started working
Speaker 3: for the Expectations Project because it brought together all of
Speaker 3: these things that I was passionate about education, faith communities.
Speaker 3: I had been wondering a long time, why aren't faith
Speaker 3: communities radicalizing anything that has anything to do with children
Speaker 3: right in it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like in an actual way that actually asked other
Speaker 1: to do with children.
Speaker 3: That's right, Yeah, that's right. Like I've been to all
Speaker 3: the vacation Bible schools and they're fun and they very meaningful,
Speaker 3: but it didn't stop me from having the struggles I
Speaker 3: had in schools with my family.
Speaker 5: And you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: So, yeah, I think to add a little color to
Speaker 2: the thing, Like the the southeast DC that your mom
Speaker 2: is from and my mom is from, in a lot
Speaker 2: of ways was kind of like it was kind of
Speaker 2: a Wakanda like it was just it was a black place,
Speaker 2: you know, and I think, you know, minus the Jim
Speaker 2: crowd segregation of it all, which was you know, it
Speaker 2: forced us over into this corner. But like you said,
Speaker 2: the defending of yourself the part of the community in
Speaker 2: a lot of ways, Like sometimes I hear my father
Speaker 2: talk about, you know, my dad's from Dallas, you know,
Speaker 2: from Dallas, Texas, and he saw that Both my mom
Speaker 2: and my dad used to say, like I went to
Speaker 2: all black high school, you know, and.
Speaker 1: Obviously that was because of segregation.
Speaker 2: However, there was a sense of community that I think
Speaker 2: in some ways I was a little jealous of you
Speaker 2: know that you're like every teacher, every administrator, everybody, they
Speaker 2: were all.
Speaker 1: Black, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: So you saw a community, a network of professional you
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying, in this space where you go
Speaker 2: to the corner store, that was mister Jenkins. When you
Speaker 2: go to the barbershop, that was you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: It was just this world where.
Speaker 2: You know, you're in this space to where you're you're
Speaker 2: seeing yourself in different versions of who y'all are reflected
Speaker 2: on so many different areas of culture. And then for you,
Speaker 2: then you get thrown in Nashville, You're like, that's right,
Speaker 2: what is happening right now? So did you was was
Speaker 2: there a little bit of like a shell shock around
Speaker 2: sort of the institutional racism from you from your childhood?
Speaker 5: Yes, because.
Speaker 3: You know, my mom is brilliant, my dad very smart,
Speaker 3: my I have all sorts of people in my family, right,
Speaker 3: So anything that was good came from black people. I
Speaker 3: didn't need white people as a.
Speaker 5: Reference point as a child, right, Anything that.
Speaker 3: Was good and beautiful and strong, it was just black
Speaker 3: people because that's who I knew, right, So then to
Speaker 3: be in schools were where as a child. I'm a child, right,
Speaker 3: I'm an elementary school in early middle school. White teachers
Speaker 3: are threatened by me because I'm so smart? What is that?
Speaker 1: Yeah? That the like I thought that's what we was
Speaker 1: here for. Yeah, like what what is I.
Speaker 3: Went to for part of my education? I went to
Speaker 3: this little, small private Christian school and I was the
Speaker 3: smartest kid in my class. And they this bent people
Speaker 3: out of shape so bad. Pro they were like say
Speaker 3: what now, like they I had teachers antagonize me. I
Speaker 3: had I won, like, you know, some academic awards. They
Speaker 3: took half of them away from me because they said
Speaker 3: it wasn't fair to the other kids.
Speaker 5: But I heard what they were saying.
Speaker 3: They were saying, we're not letting this little no.
Speaker 1: Yeah not not not here.
Speaker 3: Now yeah what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: So now, I remember in fourth grade, I remember my
Speaker 2: dad was furious where I had. Essentially I made straight a's,
Speaker 2: and my teacher during the parent teacher conference, he gave
Speaker 2: me all B pluses and he was telling my parents.
Speaker 1: That he wanted me to have something to strive for.
Speaker 1: Uh huhm. And my dad was like excuse.
Speaker 2: Me, like and and yeah, I've never like I've seen
Speaker 2: my dad livid because my father is a black man,
Speaker 2: and he's been living towards me.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm saying I've seen him lived towards the police.
Speaker 1: I've seen him livid.
Speaker 2: But this type of angry, I don't think I've ever
Speaker 2: seen it because because it was as you as as
Speaker 2: you're talking about, it was a sign of an institutional problem,
Speaker 2: Like how how do you tell it? Like it basically
Speaker 2: was like, are you doing that for the little white kids?
Speaker 2: If they get if they get straight a's, are you
Speaker 2: taking away they? Like what do you what do you
Speaker 2: mean work for? He made it like what I don't understand?
Speaker 2: Like so yeah, he man, he ripped that man. He
Speaker 2: told that man apart boy and uh And I didn't
Speaker 2: know until after because, uh, you know, you're not in
Speaker 2: the parent teacher conference.
Speaker 1: I just walked in and out. I saw my grades
Speaker 1: and I was like, wow, b pluses, Oh all right,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Like I don't the thought doesn't cross your mind that
Speaker 2: your teacher can tell you even though you earned something
Speaker 2: that you don't you didn't. Yeah, Like I didn't know
Speaker 2: that was possible. I thought if I earn a hey,
Speaker 2: I get a Hey, you know what I'm saying. So, yeah,
Speaker 2: so that was there. There that there was there was
Speaker 2: that you know experience that I O of like where
Speaker 2: I can like really relate to like them them them
Speaker 2: saying well, you earn these awards, but we're not going
Speaker 2: to give them to you because it's not fair to
Speaker 2: the I thought this was America. I thought it was
Speaker 2: if you work hard, you succeed, Like what did you say?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Oh man.
Speaker 2: So I got involved with y'all over the the the
Speaker 2: zip Codes campaign.
Speaker 5: That was the first one.
Speaker 1: That was a word okay, uh we I flew out
Speaker 1: to DC. You know, we had a briefing.
Speaker 2: You kind of taught us what what y'all was trying
Speaker 2: to do, and they gave an example very specific to
Speaker 2: California that the zip code between Beverly Hills and Compton
Speaker 2: are one number. It's a one number difference with the
Speaker 2: budget for these two places. So so you're the art
Speaker 2: the the the the argument was it was around right,
Speaker 2: like tying funding to taxes, right, is that that's what
Speaker 2: That's what it was that Yeah, so that so if
Speaker 2: you're if you're tying your your your school funding to
Speaker 2: the property taxes, essentially you're perpetuating this wealth gap, this
Speaker 2: educational gap, because and and it's so stupid, and like
Speaker 2: the picture you're giving was like so stupid.
Speaker 1: It's like literally one number apart.
Speaker 3: But like and it's punishing children for something that they
Speaker 3: already maybe have some financial struggles obviously, right, and now
Speaker 3: you're gonna punish them again for not being born to
Speaker 3: a wealthy family.
Speaker 2: Like that again, Yeah, I'm gonna punish you for not
Speaker 2: being brought as your fault. I we I think a
Speaker 2: lot of this would like you know, when you when
Speaker 2: you kind of like when you kind of like you're
Speaker 2: from La and then you kind of like have this
Speaker 2: like epiphany after spending most of your teen years seeing
Speaker 2: somebody in the opposite neighborhood as your op like this
Speaker 2: is my enemy. And and then you realize like, well,
Speaker 2: he ain't choose to get born over there, like I
Speaker 2: didn't choose to.
Speaker 1: Get born over here. And neither one of us.
Speaker 2: Own our houses, like we're we're all renters, and we
Speaker 2: don't own these blocks, Like why am I defending these
Speaker 2: Why are we defending with our lives these blocks.
Speaker 1: We don't own? This is what are we doing? Like
Speaker 1: this is ridiculous, you know I didn't.
Speaker 2: And then I say all the time, like Nipsey had
Speaker 2: a line like you know you only repping where your
Speaker 2: mama pay a rent, Like this's just that's the reason
Speaker 2: you repped this where your mama pay a rent. That's
Speaker 2: why you from this hood like that ain't got nothing
Speaker 2: to do, Like what are we doing?
Speaker 1: Guys? You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: So I think that like that reality of like why
Speaker 2: didn't get I didn't choose to get born in Compton
Speaker 2: and so and if that's the case, like you're again,
Speaker 2: you're you're creating a discrepancy, a disparaging you know, a
Speaker 2: discrip disparage.
Speaker 1: What's the word I'm looking for.
Speaker 5: Discrepancy?
Speaker 2: Maybe I don't. Yes, that don't have to be there,
Speaker 2: Like it doesn't have to be like that. And I
Speaker 2: think that's what I appreciated about like a lot of
Speaker 2: the stuff that y'all do to where you're like it
Speaker 2: don't really, it don't have to be like this, Yeah,
Speaker 2: like you don't have to tie your the funding for
Speaker 2: your educational programs, Like it doesn't have to be like that.
Speaker 3: No, it's a choice. And I think especially earlier on
Speaker 3: when I started working at expectations. It was so big
Speaker 3: and it still is to help people understand there are
Speaker 3: choices made daily that allow this to happen. This is
Speaker 3: not primarily about the choices parents made, you know, to
Speaker 3: exist in the world. And it's not to say that
Speaker 3: some parents aren't making better choices than others, but detangling
Speaker 3: notions of wealth from personal choice. Whoa that is so
Speaker 3: related to so many things, including education and how systems
Speaker 3: work and what we have access to. I worked for
Speaker 3: a job once with youth leaders, and in our curriculum
Speaker 3: was something that basically said God trusts some people more
Speaker 3: than others with money, and so we need to like
Speaker 3: almost like be deferential to those people God trusts more
Speaker 3: that when I tell you that, I flipped out. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and without knowing what I was doing actually good on me.
Speaker 3: I started thinking strategically, how do I get this change
Speaker 3: policy wise? Because this is influencing so many people. What
Speaker 3: they put in the curriculum isn't a policy, but curriculum
Speaker 3: is a policy, right like curriculum is a form of policy.
Speaker 3: How do I get this curriculum change so that all
Speaker 3: these other people influencing youth don't spread this message that
Speaker 3: God favors wealth and wealthy people that they have better
Speaker 3: character that is absolutely diabolical.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and and and in a practical sense most of
Speaker 2: the time incorrect, Like it's.
Speaker 1: Usually the opposite. They're they're usually the worst people. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. Yeah, Yeah, And I think that
Speaker 1: like ss yes, stress, and I think that like you know,
Speaker 1: the the.
Speaker 2: The difficulty, uh somebody like yourself. This like you know,
Speaker 2: it's it's very important even for for this audience, you
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying, because you know, we cuss on
Speaker 2: this show. You know, we we drinking smoke, and you
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying, Like it's it's street, you know
Speaker 2: what I'm saying, Like.
Speaker 1: And but there their experience with church is.
Speaker 2: Especially when we like when you and I say, like
Speaker 2: faith based. A lot of times we talk in deacon board.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, you know, the motherboard. You
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying. We're talking. Yes, we have an
Speaker 2: entirely different experience than what America thinks when they think Christian.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, Like you just we have it.
Speaker 2: So when you hear statements like well we believe that God,
Speaker 2: you know, sovereignly elected these people to have wealth, and
Speaker 2: therefore it's a sign of like clearly it's a sign
Speaker 2: of God's blessing.
Speaker 1: So that's why they're in trust.
Speaker 2: You know, you stretch that logic to why you stretch
Speaker 2: it's at the end of the day, it's why it's supremacy.
Speaker 1: It's white supremacy.
Speaker 2: It's you say, well, why God isn't trusted these people
Speaker 2: to have dominion over the world, And it's your job
Speaker 2: as a good Christian white man and white woman to
Speaker 2: be gracious And so that's their understanding. It's like, well,
Speaker 2: slavery's the system. So and since I've been entrusted with
Speaker 2: this position, oh, I need to come at it with
Speaker 2: humilion and make sure I'm treating this fairly like and
Speaker 2: how like you said, it's absolutely diabolical and batshit you
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying. So so uh so you with
Speaker 2: the wisdom that you had, was like, okay, you're you're
Speaker 2: starting your starting position, your your your original premise, no
Speaker 2: matter what we do for no matter what we do
Speaker 2: after that, if this is where you're starting from, like
Speaker 2: there's so yeah, it's never gonna work.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's never going to work. It's never going to
Speaker 3: be liberatory. Yeah, it's never going to humanize parents who
Speaker 3: don't have a lot of money and are working their
Speaker 3: ass off for their kids. Right. It's never going to
Speaker 3: honor people who are choosing between medicine and rent this month,
Speaker 3: which I have done before. A terrible position to be in,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. Yeah, And it's going to
Speaker 3: keep people bound to an idea that's not real.
Speaker 5: But we're going to keep trying to achieve.
Speaker 3: This essentially level of whiteness that we think would make
Speaker 3: us free. And they're not free themselves, but they do
Speaker 3: have more money can play around.
Speaker 1: At least you can pay for it.
Speaker 4: Though.
Speaker 1: I'm reminded of two things.
Speaker 2: One is like something from my own story, and then
Speaker 2: two is a a thing that you said. I don't
Speaker 2: know if it was to me or to a room,
Speaker 2: but you said it, and I was just like, damn.
Speaker 2: But there was one thing I remember, you know, to
Speaker 2: your point, a lot of families, you know specifically, like
Speaker 2: I'm gonna say black and brown families. Your face was
Speaker 2: this choice once you have children to be like, why
Speaker 2: I want my kids to go to a better school, right,
Speaker 2: So you're like, okay, I want them to get the
Speaker 2: better education, so you choose to move out of a
Speaker 2: neighborhood that's way more comfortable, way more accepting, to where
Speaker 2: it's like, you know, for the like the Latinos, you like,
Speaker 2: I mean, I can there's a Badia truck right there.
Speaker 2: I know that there's pandulce on the way of the school.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, Like I can get the tortillas.
Speaker 2: I like, you know what I'm saying. Like for me,
Speaker 2: it was like as simple as like I just need
Speaker 2: some hair grease, like I need to be able to
Speaker 2: like I want to be able to go to the store.
Speaker 2: I mean even even like right now, like I was, like,
Speaker 2: I live in it and this is it's similar. It's
Speaker 2: not as bad, but like I live in a predominantly
Speaker 2: like Mexican part of town. But there was I wanted.
Speaker 2: I'm wanted to learn how to make black eyed peas.
Speaker 2: And y'all everybody knows, they all know. Alm was my wife,
Speaker 2: and she had in our la hipster of it all
Speaker 2: our farm box that we get delivered a produce every week.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Come on now, Yeah, it was we had a bushel
Speaker 2: of kale of some greens. So I was like, Oh,
Speaker 2: I need to go get a turkey. I need to
Speaker 2: go get a turkey leg, you know, cause I was like,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna make some greens and I walked in there
Speaker 2: and I had to I had to go to Crenshaw
Speaker 2: to get some get a smoke turkey leg because they
Speaker 2: just don't sell it here. And it's and it's because well,
Speaker 2: this is Mexican, Like y'all don't cook with that, you
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying. And it's like it's understand it's understandable,
Speaker 2: like you know, but you could get you could get
Speaker 2: called up. There is here, you know what I'm saying. So,
Speaker 2: like that's their environment, you feel me. So for me,
Speaker 2: it was as simple as like I just want to
Speaker 2: get some hair grease, you know what I'm saying. Like
Speaker 2: I just so as as a parent, you make a
Speaker 2: decision to be like, well we got to go move
Speaker 2: out to the outskirts and now those comforts, those types
Speaker 2: of communities, that is good for your children's mental health,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying. So now it's like you
Speaker 2: in this good school, which was my story, I'm in
Speaker 2: this good school, I'm surrounded by these white kids and
Speaker 2: I'm fighting every other day, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 2: because I look. I remember the I mean the first
Speaker 2: day I was out there, I just walked down to
Speaker 2: the park.
Speaker 1: I was gonna play some basketball. This little this little
Speaker 1: boy looked at me.
Speaker 2: It was like and I was curious because I had
Speaker 2: never seen I was like this, this white boy looks
Speaker 2: like a like an eighties movie to me, I had
Speaker 2: never seen like a white boy.
Speaker 1: White boy.
Speaker 2: I was like, with the swooped hair and the blonde
Speaker 2: and I was like, oh my god, they're real people.
Speaker 2: Like I didn't know these movie characters were like act
Speaker 2: like they were based on actual people. So I'm looking
Speaker 2: at him like, dang, that's crazy. He was like, you
Speaker 2: got staring problem. I was like, oh, I'm gonna slap
Speaker 2: the shit out of you.
Speaker 1: Like I was like, because where we're from, that means
Speaker 1: you ready to get away. Yeah, you ready to get down.
Speaker 2: So I was like, okay, so I just got here,
Speaker 2: so I'm like, all right, we're gonna have to get down,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying. Like it was just it
Speaker 2: was almost like immediate. But then I like clicked into
Speaker 2: reality because I started looking around at the rest of
Speaker 2: the park and I was like, oh, I'm gonna get mopped,
Speaker 2: Like if I if I fire on this kid, They're
Speaker 2: all gonna jump Ben. And I'm like, and I'm most
Speaker 2: likely gonna have to go to school with you. You know,
Speaker 2: so again where we from, that means like, oh, we're
Speaker 2: gonna be fighting every day.
Speaker 1: Then, you know, I'm like, well, I don't want to
Speaker 1: fight out.
Speaker 3: I ain't got no backup.
Speaker 1: They all in. They all in the city. The backup
Speaker 1: in the city. They don't go to the school no more,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: But so so so I say that to say why
Speaker 2: I feel like what y'all do is so important, is
Speaker 2: like it would have been wonderful if I could have
Speaker 2: gotten that quality of education.
Speaker 1: Where I was from.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, because because I get to
Speaker 2: have the again, I get to walk by mister Jones's
Speaker 2: liquor store, walk in there, Hey, mister Jones.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. I have that community that
Speaker 1: I that I had at home.
Speaker 2: You feel me that now it's like I'm busted all
Speaker 2: the way to the other side of town. Like you
Speaker 2: learn to make new friends, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 2: But like that was missing you know what I mean,
Speaker 2: And I feel like what y'all do is at least
Speaker 2: one of the reasons why that that project resonated with
Speaker 2: me was like, I wish I would have had that,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm.
Speaker 5: Saying, absolutely, absolutely?
Speaker 2: And then another thing dream, that's the dream, right, that's
Speaker 2: the dream. And then another thing you said and I
Speaker 2: would And I mean, it's kind of like it's very
Speaker 2: much a uh a mic drop statement, but I would
Speaker 2: love for you to elaborate a little further. Is you
Speaker 2: said a budget sheet is a moral document?
Speaker 1: Mm, And I was like, damn, do you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying? Can you can? You can? You can? You
Speaker 1: can you expound on that a little more?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Absolutely, thanks? Prop A budget is you know, we
Speaker 3: know what a budget.
Speaker 5: Is is how you're going to spend the money. That's
Speaker 5: what a budget is.
Speaker 3: What we're gonna do with this money, how we're gonna
Speaker 3: give it to different folks, who gets what?
Speaker 6: Right?
Speaker 3: And the reason is a moral document is in determining
Speaker 3: where the money goes. We are making an education budget,
Speaker 3: moral judgments about who deserves what. When you say who
Speaker 3: deserves what, that is a moral decision. Yes, there's a
Speaker 3: ton of heat in DC right now because of some
Speaker 3: choices the mayor and the council people are making. Who
Speaker 3: was hot, it's hot right now in DC, But a
Speaker 3: lot of programs for kids are being cut while money
Speaker 3: is being put into capital investments, basically like getting more
Speaker 3: business into downtown. And my mom and I keep talking
Speaker 3: about it, and I keep saying, you don't. Actually a
Speaker 3: lot of times we make it as the only one
Speaker 3: thing can be chosen. I refuse to accept that that
Speaker 3: is true. Congress does that all the time. There are
Speaker 3: ways to choose multiple things. But also, if we had
Speaker 3: to let something go, why wouldn't we choose children?
Speaker 5: Why would we choose children to let go?
Speaker 7: Right, So, we're making a moral choice when we say
Speaker 7: kids don't really need after will care, kids don't really
Speaker 7: need early childhood education.
Speaker 3: The money should go towards more subsidies for businesses that
Speaker 3: aren't small businesses by the way, often yeah, let's provide
Speaker 3: money there.
Speaker 1: And somebody also, I just.
Speaker 3: I just am dumbfounding, like that's not actually how uplift works,
Speaker 3: Like if you were really focused on rising the rising
Speaker 3: tide or like bringing everybody up together.
Speaker 5: Trickle down is false.
Speaker 3: That's actually not.
Speaker 2: That's what I'm just about to say is like, why
Speaker 2: are y'all still holding on to that.
Speaker 3: It's been forty years. It's don't work it don't people
Speaker 3: write whole PhDs on it. White people write PhD yes too,
Speaker 3: It's not just us need that for your validation, right, Yeah,
Speaker 3: there is.
Speaker 6: A white man going around telling people that have rich
Speaker 6: people just paid their taxes, we could fully fund universal
Speaker 6: education I think through college, which everyone just paid their taxes.
Speaker 1: So funny with the laws we already have.
Speaker 2: Like okay, with the laws we already have, if you
Speaker 2: just if you just paid it, college would be free.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah.
Speaker 3: So so much of this work is deep. It is
Speaker 3: like it's like pulling uncovering it. What's that very spiritual
Speaker 3: old term uncovering the veil or removing the.
Speaker 1: Veil in the veil.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, like nah, it doesn't have to This is
Speaker 3: how it needs to be if there is enough.
Speaker 2: And it beat him saying people that be like, well,
Speaker 2: kids have nothing to do. There's a problem with vagrancy.
Speaker 2: Why they always loitering? Why are you guys doing well?
Speaker 1: Fam You know what I'm.
Speaker 2: Saying, like, well, you know why, because you took away
Speaker 2: our after school programs. What we're supposed to do, well,
Speaker 2: kids are you know, well, there, we're gonna have an
Speaker 2: we're gonna have an undeveloped workforce. Well, you know, the
Speaker 2: head start was great, Like I felt very prepared, and
Speaker 2: now I'm that because you took away something that was working.
Speaker 1: That's the crazy part to me. And I'm like this,
Speaker 1: this was working, like because what we're doing.
Speaker 5: Girls.
Speaker 3: Back to the Moral document, not everyone knows what's happening,
Speaker 3: and people ride on that and there's a lot of confusion.
Speaker 3: But some people do know exactly the choices they're making,
Speaker 3: and they're saying black people as a whole, or poor
Speaker 3: black people or black people from this neighborhood and immigrants
Speaker 3: who are too.
Speaker 1: Brown or you know, yeah, nobody knows.
Speaker 3: People we're not so worried about. We don't need to
Speaker 3: protect them. They're not worthy of deep care and they're
Speaker 3: certainly not.
Speaker 5: Uh applicable for equity. We know, we're not even trying
Speaker 5: to because.
Speaker 2: They're definitely not putting, uh, they're definitely not putting none
Speaker 2: of the Norwegian or Scandinavian immigrants on buses, you know,
Speaker 2: sending them up to sending them up to New York
Speaker 2: and Chicago. You're not putting them on but they immigrants too,
Speaker 2: you're not putting them on buses. Yep, yeah, this you're
Speaker 2: so brilliant. Okay, So here's the big question. Well there,
Speaker 2: Before I get to the big question, first, the first
Speaker 2: question is what are y'all working on now?
Speaker 3: Yeah, there are three kind of big efforts we have
Speaker 3: right now. One is under the umbrella of truth Matters
Speaker 3: for students. So all the stuff around book bands and
Speaker 3: don't kids shouldn't be on come per bowl, white kids
Speaker 3: shouldn't be at school, But also the stuff around uh,
Speaker 3: trans kids and gender and parents' rights, all of that
Speaker 3: are the same people driving that engine. And it is
Speaker 3: around coordinated attacks against truth right and against educating all kids.
Speaker 3: And so we are giving people resources and actions they
Speaker 3: can take to fight back against that.
Speaker 5: We're also doing a campaign around.
Speaker 3: Helping people just really understand what's going on in a
Speaker 3: deep way.
Speaker 5: We call it telling it like it is or classes
Speaker 5: in session. So where did all these things come from?
Speaker 3: What's time?
Speaker 5: Proper?
Speaker 3: I remember we had a conversation. You called me and
Speaker 3: you were like, ze, what what is the root of
Speaker 3: some of this? It was while forty five was still
Speaker 3: in office, something around the seventeen seventy six stuffy and.
Speaker 1: All of that is the problem.
Speaker 3: Yes, so we are actually doing work around explaining these
Speaker 3: things that people could know where this comes from. As
Speaker 3: you would say, prop, these people are not smarter than you,
Speaker 3: They just use another language, so we demystify the language.
Speaker 3: And then the last thing we were working on economic mobility,
Speaker 3: which some people think is weird since we're an education organization,
Speaker 3: but we really understand that family need money and resources
Speaker 3: and that it provides a level of stability that cannot
Speaker 3: be underscored. And again I mentioned it earlier, but the
Speaker 3: data shows there's enough money, there is enough resources, but
Speaker 3: it's being hoarded, it's not being distributed, and we have
Speaker 3: to help help.
Speaker 5: There be better access. So we have a lot of
Speaker 5: work around.
Speaker 1: That right now, love it. And then the biggie yes,
Speaker 1: if okay, whoever, whoever forty seven is, Yeah, however it is,
Speaker 1: let's set that aside, whatever dystopian we're about to live through. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if you could write America's education policy, writ what would
Speaker 1: you write? Perfect?
Speaker 5: Yeah, perfect world.
Speaker 3: We would have an expanded tax credit again that we
Speaker 3: had in twenty twenty one, lifted a whole bunch of
Speaker 3: kids out of poverty, gave them stability, and then they
Speaker 3: let it lapse, and now they're trying to bring one back,
Speaker 3: and we're working on that. We want it, but it's
Speaker 3: baby compared to what was existing before. So we want
Speaker 3: the expanded child tax credit, gift parents money. Put money
Speaker 3: in the hands, and people just put money in their
Speaker 3: hands and they will spend it on transportation and food
Speaker 3: and childcare. They're not out here spending it on whatever
Speaker 3: stuff that people are being accused of. Right, I would
Speaker 3: then say funding more modern school infrastructure, so get rid
Speaker 3: of the digital divide. Everybody needs wireless kidsney buses that
Speaker 3: don't break down when it's too hot. And I know
Speaker 3: it seems silly to say this, but it's true. It
Speaker 3: needs to be said. They need clean water, and they
Speaker 3: need clean air, and any food, any food.
Speaker 5: Props, so.
Speaker 3: Infrastructure around that. We want teachers to be trusted and
Speaker 3: treated like professionals, So pay them and give them what
Speaker 3: they need to succeed in schools. Treat them like the
Speaker 3: subject matic spirts there are. And for everyone who says,
Speaker 3: what about the bad teachers, then we will deal with
Speaker 3: those teachers. But but so much of other industry, every other.
Speaker 2: I don't understand such a singer, like every industry, you
Speaker 2: deal with it.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: The two more things we would invest in the mental
Speaker 3: and emotional well being of students, like to let a
Speaker 3: Child Be a Child.
Speaker 4: Campaign you did with us making sure that children what
Speaker 4: they need. There's still thirty five million students in schools
Speaker 4: with police but without key mental health and other health
Speaker 4: staff for children, and so we need that to be addressed.
Speaker 3: And then finally, our policy priority areas are really shaped
Speaker 3: around what does it mean to center the joy of
Speaker 3: black and brown students in their education? That can actually
Speaker 3: be a policy central of joy black and brown kids
Speaker 3: can be fully affirmed in school. Schools could be inclusive,
Speaker 3: culturally responsive in their curriculum and the books that they see,
Speaker 3: and in the recruitment.
Speaker 5: Retention and hiring of teachers.
Speaker 3: There can be folks who look like any student, all
Speaker 3: the students who are represented, you know in these schools.
Speaker 3: I think only two percent of public school educators or
Speaker 3: black men.
Speaker 5: What the heck?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you know, yeah.
Speaker 3: So those are the That's what I would write, That's
Speaker 3: what we would write at CP.
Speaker 2: Center and the joy that dude, you're like, I almost
Speaker 2: want to cry man, because it was like because I
Speaker 2: remember that, I like it was a stark difference, Yes,
Speaker 2: from like one school experience to the next one, Like
Speaker 2: it was jolting. And even now as a parent, I
Speaker 2: remember when my oldest daughter when they were doing their
Speaker 2: you know, uh early American like immigrants project, and they
Speaker 2: did this like Ellis Island thing. So it was supposed
Speaker 2: to be like, we'll dress up like your ancestors and
Speaker 2: we're gonna do a whole Ellis Island kind of like
Speaker 2: fun thing that they were going to learn about history.
Speaker 2: And me and I Alma looked at each other and
Speaker 2: we was like, we didn't go through Ellis Island. I
Speaker 2: was like I was, I was like, you, well, do
Speaker 2: we not participate? Do you what do you want her
Speaker 2: to dress up as? I'm like, that's not that's not
Speaker 2: our history. You said, we're learning our history. You want
Speaker 2: to know how, you want to know how we got here?
Speaker 2: You really want my child? You want my child to
Speaker 2: dress up how we got here? Is that that that's
Speaker 2: what y'all want to do. I don't think you want
Speaker 2: to smoke. You would have known better and like and
Speaker 2: like you said, like you had a if you had
Speaker 2: a black teacher in that room.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, You had a brown teacher,
Speaker 1: you had an agent teacher.
Speaker 2: They they probably be like, nah, I don't know if
Speaker 2: we did, we're gonna tweak this project a little differently,
Speaker 2: you know. So that being said, my youngest daughter, her
Speaker 2: project is just about ancestry. So her project was bring
Speaker 2: pictures from your grandparents, your your your great grandparents, learn
Speaker 2: about your stories, bring in food from your community.
Speaker 1: You know, they said.
Speaker 2: One of them once she's doing is like build a
Speaker 2: model or a drawing of the types of homes you
Speaker 2: would have lived in. You know what I'm saying. So
Speaker 2: you're you're you're learning the same thing. You feel me like,
Speaker 2: you're there, you're the the The goal of that project
Speaker 2: is the same, you know what I'm saying. But now
Speaker 2: you know, I'm not furious having to sit into the
Speaker 2: audience for this play that y'all doing for Ellis Island,
Speaker 2: like furious, I remember, like I just and trying not
Speaker 2: to show it on my face because my daughter just
Speaker 2: she's my little fourth grader, you know, she just trying
Speaker 2: to do her homework and she's participating.
Speaker 1: We're in friends.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not her fault.
Speaker 1: You understand what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: So I'm but like me and I almost like rubbing
Speaker 2: my shoulder because I'm furious, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: This Friday and that, But that was my oldest, my
Speaker 2: youngest This Friday, they were like, we're gonna bring in
Speaker 2: dishes from our culture, almost.
Speaker 1: Gonna make basle.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna make a you know, we already made black
Speaker 2: eyed peas, so it's like bringing black eyed peasle. Like
Speaker 2: I'm like, Okay, this is this is what you're trying
Speaker 2: to accomplish, and it's accessible. You understand what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Those that nuance like you said, that's why I like
Speaker 2: I almost started crying.
Speaker 1: He was like, yo, send her the joy.
Speaker 2: Because that would that would bring me joy. If I
Speaker 2: was a kid, I would have been like, oh, this
Speaker 2: is dope. Yes, okay, this is we're gonna bring you
Speaker 2: know what I mean.
Speaker 3: People don't understand how much joy facilitates learning. Yeah, much,
Speaker 3: so much, not just for kids, for adults too, but
Speaker 3: don't be but you know, it creates a lot of
Speaker 3: space for wonder, for dreaming, for creativity, which is helpful
Speaker 3: in any topic, math or English or another language or geography.
Speaker 3: That sort of a kind of tenderness you can have
Speaker 3: when you're joyful is good for learning, and it's good
Speaker 3: for for creating an environment where kids feel safe and
Speaker 3: seen and heard. Right, and we just audacious enough to say,
Speaker 3: let's let's make policy.
Speaker 1: Let's make it a law. Yeah, what if it was
Speaker 1: a law.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, what if it was a law? Was
Speaker 1: wrong with that?
Speaker 3: Let's to be able to do that, right, Let's let's
Speaker 3: do that. And I love something about the example you shared.
Speaker 3: Being culturally sensitive and being aware doesn't necessarily mean you
Speaker 3: have to start from scratch with your like that that activity.
Speaker 3: It's good to have children do activities that have them
Speaker 3: bring in things, but don't be so don't like neglect
Speaker 3: the tapestry of students that you're workat with.
Speaker 1: It's not hard.
Speaker 2: I feel like people always say, well, you're gonna you're
Speaker 2: make a teacher's work.
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, really, it's not that hard.
Speaker 2: Like if you if you as as a former educator,
Speaker 2: if you're looking at the thing I'm looking at my
Speaker 2: comic core, I'm looking at like the I'm looking at
Speaker 2: the learning objectives, and I'm going Okay, this is what
Speaker 2: you want, this is what they need to know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, and like you said.
Speaker 2: If you treat educators as professionals, then they're going to
Speaker 2: be like, all right, let me think, let me think
Speaker 2: about it, let me think of what would be fun,
Speaker 2: you know, what would be a due way to do this.
Speaker 1: And it's really.
Speaker 2: Like like they're given that example where I'm like, you're
Speaker 2: the learning goals the same, you know, And I'm like,
Speaker 2: if you came through Ellis Island, if your family came
Speaker 2: through Ellis Island, do that mine didn't. I'm not saying don't.
Speaker 2: Like you said, you don't have to start it. You
Speaker 2: don't have to not do that.
Speaker 3: You're not feeding up kids. If that's no experience.
Speaker 2: No, that's not everybody's experience, not everybody's experience. It's like people, Oh,
Speaker 2: it's so overwhelming. If I have to cater to everybody,
Speaker 2: then it's like, well bro, it's really is not that.
Speaker 2: It's not that serious player, you know what I'm saying, like.
Speaker 1: Oh, well kids got peanut allergies. A nigga and his
Speaker 1: kids gluten free. I'm like, well do you want the
Speaker 1: kid to die?
Speaker 2: Fam Like like you because it's inconvenient, Like what's wrong
Speaker 2: with you?
Speaker 4: Don't?
Speaker 1: Like the kid could die eat peanuts?
Speaker 2: I don't understand why that is what's the.
Speaker 3: Problem, like.
Speaker 1: Like you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Like just yeah, you know? Or yeah, we can go
Speaker 2: on forever about this and just yet could Yeah.
Speaker 3: There is an Afro Latina teacher who's Dominican, a teacher
Speaker 3: educator named Lorene her mom, and she talks about textured teaching.
Speaker 5: What does it mean to show up in a textured way?
Speaker 3: I love that that allows your students to be fully seen.
Speaker 3: And the part that's hard about it, prop is I
Speaker 3: think it's hard when teachers don't want to examine themselves
Speaker 3: or when adults don't want to reckon. That's that's hard. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and you neither you and I as educators are saying
Speaker 3: that education is simple. We're saying it's not as hard
Speaker 3: as y'all. It's not as complicated as y'all are making
Speaker 3: it out to be. To be inclusive, yeah inclusive, yes, yes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're right, Yeah, inclusivity It can be done, like
Speaker 2: you said, if you just sit down and think for yourself,
Speaker 2: like okay.
Speaker 3: And that's what we say to people about advocacy too.
Speaker 3: It can be dramatic and super hard, or you might
Speaker 3: actually be doing versions of it already that you don't realize,
Speaker 3: And maybe we could come along and help you see that.
Speaker 3: We're not trying to make you have a whole new
Speaker 3: way of life. Necessarily, we want to come alongside and say, oh, well,
Speaker 3: just show up at this meeting and say this, and
Speaker 3: if you can't show up, ask mother so and so
Speaker 3: to go to the meeting. Like we can incorporate this
Speaker 3: into our lives, the demanding that children get what they
Speaker 3: deserve and not shoulder all the burden in our own communities,
Speaker 3: because I think sometimes parents also feel guilty, like y'all
Speaker 3: are supposed to be able to do everything under the sun,
Speaker 3: all by yourself for your kids. How prop how could you?
Speaker 1: No, you can't, how could you do that?
Speaker 3: You deserve better from the places that are educating your children.
Speaker 5: And it's okay to ask for what you deserve.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Serena Williams. Comay to ask for an apology.
Speaker 3: It's okay to say this is what I deserve. It's
Speaker 3: okay to to demand more.
Speaker 1: Can't add to that?
Speaker 2: So perfect, So please tell them where to find you,
Speaker 2: Where to find Expectations Project. What types of things you
Speaker 2: guys like, you guys need donations, you guys need like.
Speaker 5: Like, oh awesome, thank you.
Speaker 3: We are Our website is expectations dot org. Please check
Speaker 3: us out there. We are in the midst of a campaign.
Speaker 3: We're trying to raise money a few hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 3: by September, which will put us in a really great
Speaker 3: place over the next year. So we're not asking any
Speaker 3: of you to write one check unless you want to,
Speaker 3: but expanding our donation base would be super helpful and
Speaker 3: we can plug you in and then also check out
Speaker 3: the campaigns on our website that we're doing right now
Speaker 3: as well. You can find us on ig at expect Project.
Speaker 5: I think that's right. I'd be terrible, gave the wrong I.
Speaker 3: Looking at it now, And you can also find us
Speaker 3: on Facebook at the Expectations Project and you can see
Speaker 3: the campaigns we're doing right now. We've been doing a
Speaker 3: lot around the truth matters and as I mentioned earlier,
Speaker 3: economics mobility. So sign up for our resources. Let us
Speaker 3: support you any way we can. You can find me
Speaker 3: yes on Instagram as well at lady ze Love Now
Speaker 3: I'd be silly on there.
Speaker 1: So y'all like we get to see the real youth.
Speaker 3: It's all education. Now you're going to see my fens.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Black girl, travel boy, she'd be outside.
Speaker 3: I'll be outside. But you'll get an education too. If
Speaker 3: you want to stick with just the education, stick with
Speaker 3: the company's side. All right.
Speaker 2: When you when you run the thing, then you can
Speaker 2: have your own I G and dont buy your own thing.
Speaker 1: I do what I want on my I G. That's right.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me on. It's a
Speaker 3: blessing to be in the work the struggle a celebration
Speaker 3: with you.
Speaker 1: So thank you man, Thank you sis.
Speaker 2: All right, all right, now don't you hit stop on
Speaker 2: this pod. You better listen to these credits. I need
Speaker 2: you to finish this thing so I can get the
Speaker 2: download numbers. Okay, so don't stop it yet, but listen.
Speaker 2: This was recorded in East Lost Boyle Heights by your
Speaker 2: boy Propaganda. Tap in with me at prop hip hop
Speaker 2: dot com. If you're in the Coldbrew coffee we got
Speaker 2: terraform Coldbrew. You can go there dot com and use
Speaker 2: promo code hood get twenty percent off get yourself some coffee.
Speaker 2: This was mixed edited and mastered by your boy Matt
Speaker 2: Alsowski Killing the Beat Softly. Check out his website Matdowsowski
Speaker 2: dot com.
Speaker 1: I'm a spell it for you because I.
Speaker 2: Know M A T T O S O W s
Speaker 2: ki dot com Matdowsowski dot com. He got more music
Speaker 2: and stuff like that on there, so gonna check out.
Speaker 1: The heat.
Speaker 2: Politics is a member of cool Zone Media, executive produced
Speaker 2: by Sophie Lichterman, part of the iHeartMedia podcast network. Your
Speaker 2: theme music and scoring is also by the one and
Speaker 2: nobly Mattowsowski. Still killing the beat Softly, So listen, don't
Speaker 2: let nobody lie to you. If you understand urban living,
Speaker 2: you understand politics. These people is not smarter than you.
Speaker 2: We'll see y'all next week.