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Speaker 1: Welcome to JA dot M, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: What's Up? Everybody? Welcome, Welcome to j dot Itill Podcast.

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Speaker 1: This is Jill Scott and I'm here with my sister friends,

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Speaker 1: Agent Graydon, Dan's lie. That's myself. Hello, everyone, high and lies,

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Speaker 1: ain't Claire? I felt all that stretched? Jill felt. I

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Speaker 1: felt it. I know it's it's the episode. Let's let's go.

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Speaker 1: Been the weight Okay, I'm not gonna make your weight anymore.

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Speaker 1: I was. I was about to zero whole story, but

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Speaker 1: I'll tell you later. Well, welcome everybody. Um, we have

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Speaker 1: an incredible guest here today. Her name is Kika Keith.

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Speaker 1: I love your name for Kika. Yeah, it got attitude,

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Speaker 1: It's got fuck yeah, Kika Keith, please like it if

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Speaker 1: you be so kindness to share these accolades and this lovely,

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Speaker 1: lovely young woman. I just first have to share a

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Speaker 1: story because I understand that I live in Los Angeles right,

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Speaker 1: it is not a majority black place. And when I

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Speaker 1: lived in Hollywood, the one reason that I was scared

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Speaker 1: to leave is because I had a black dispensary, a

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Speaker 1: black owned dispensary. This is not something you hear a lot. Period.

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Speaker 1: Better yet in Los Angeles. So when I moved to

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Speaker 1: the Mert Park and I cold walked down the street

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Speaker 1: because I passed by a dispensary that had a big

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Speaker 1: gorilla on the top of it. What it looks like colors.

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Speaker 1: I was like, well, all right, let me just stop

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Speaker 1: and see what they got. I walked in. It was

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Speaker 1: the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. And I'm

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Speaker 1: talking about the colors. Never I've been in a lot

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Speaker 1: of dispensaries, Yes, I'm telling my truth. I've been in

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Speaker 1: a lot of dispensaries, but the color, the friendship, the

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Speaker 1: feeling of culture, I'm talking about a dispens three all.

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Speaker 1: When I walked in, it changed my life so much

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Speaker 1: that every time I have somebody that comes out of town,

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Speaker 1: I'm like, let's walk up the street and let's go. Well,

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Speaker 1: it just so happens. On one particular day, I bring

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Speaker 1: my godmother, Diana William who has been a guest on

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Speaker 1: this show. I said, let's go to the dispensary. I'm

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Speaker 1: about to blow your mind. We walk in and we

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Speaker 1: see a familiar face named Marco Barrio, who happened to

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Speaker 1: be the manager of the other black dispensary. That I

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Speaker 1: had moved from in Hollywood, and he goes on to

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Speaker 1: tell me the story of the owner of this place

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Speaker 1: and the story of the struggle of how this place

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Speaker 1: came into fruition in this neighborhood. People thought to make

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Speaker 1: this happen, to make the dispensary here. There's a video

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Speaker 1: when you walk in, it gives you the short of

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Speaker 1: the story and the celebration with your priests and precesses

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Speaker 1: about how they made this happen. And so Marco walks

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Speaker 1: us to the office to introduce us to the woman

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Speaker 1: who has founded this lovely space with her mural on

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Speaker 1: the wall outside of the seven eleventh. I'm sorry, and

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Speaker 1: her name is Big Kika, Big chikas presence. She's not

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Speaker 1: just an entrepree nor she's an activist. She has been

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Speaker 1: in this community for a long time doing amazing things,

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Speaker 1: and now she has bought all kinds of peace to

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Speaker 1: the community. Ladies and gentlemen, not just kicker Keith, big kickup.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna keep my thoughts to my listen.

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Speaker 1: It's the big for me. It's the big for me

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Speaker 1: that that tells me all the things I need to know.

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Speaker 1: You should have. You should have lived with that. So

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Speaker 1: I should have said that. When Jill and Asia displayed

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Speaker 1: that they want and Amber said that they wanted to

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Speaker 1: do a show about cannabis, weed, whatever you want to

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Speaker 1: call it, I said, I have the person. I don't

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Speaker 1: know her, but I'm gonna get her here and here

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Speaker 1: she is and here she is. Round of applause. Here,

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Speaker 1: thank you being here. Wow, you you own the first

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Speaker 1: black owned dispensary. I mean I would assume it's the

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Speaker 1: first woman, female owned, black woman owned dispensary. Damn. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and it is. You were hard to paint huh yeah,

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Speaker 1: very intentionally, and it is the first black woman on. Um.

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Speaker 1: There are some pioneers black men that came before before me. Um.

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Speaker 1: But yes, um, you know that was a part of

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Speaker 1: the mission, not to be the first, but to knock

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Speaker 1: the doors down. Come on. Yeah, yes, So can you

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Speaker 1: talk about this? Can you talk about this story when

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Speaker 1: you walk into when you walk into your shop, and

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Speaker 1: you do see this video, A lot of people weren't there.

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Speaker 1: They don't know the story of your struggle and how

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Speaker 1: you got into even this world. Can you just break

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Speaker 1: that down for us a little bit. Yeah, you know,

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Speaker 1: I always like to go back to my roots. UM,

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Speaker 1: because it was my parents and their profound love for

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Speaker 1: black people in black history and black culture that they

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Speaker 1: just ingrained in me since birth. UM. And so when

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Speaker 1: I learned about the opportunity for recreation of cannabis in

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Speaker 1: Los Angeles, I was like, wait a minute, there's actually

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Speaker 1: laws in the book that will benefit black and brown

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Speaker 1: people who suffered the devastation from the War on drugs.

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Speaker 1: And I was born in Pennsylvania but raised in Los Angeles,

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Speaker 1: and UM, you know, I witnessed that, UM in South

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Speaker 1: central l A. Witnessed the fact that I had to

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Speaker 1: take my daughter to ten different schools because the schools

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Speaker 1: in my community, UM, we're not adequate. And we know

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Speaker 1: where all that stems from. And so when I learned

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Speaker 1: about the opportunity to get a license, UM, it really

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Speaker 1: was to be more about more than just myself, to

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Speaker 1: help as many of us get through and cross the

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Speaker 1: finish line. I had a beverage company prior to entering

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Speaker 1: into UM the cannabis based guerrilla life, and UM, I

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Speaker 1: know how hard it was. I had my own manufacturing facility,

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Speaker 1: my own distribution. I had three refrigerator vehicles we take

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Speaker 1: the Whole Foods and Gelson's and Bristol Farms, and I

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Speaker 1: knew how many years it took me that we will

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Speaker 1: work at one o'clock in the morning to make sure

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Speaker 1: health inspector didn't come in because I didn't know ship

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Speaker 1: about running no equipment and not doing it compliantly, coming

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Speaker 1: from making it in the kitchen to then being at

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Speaker 1: a facility. And I knew when I heard about this

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Speaker 1: and the opportunity for our people to be a part

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Speaker 1: of the industry, that the way they set it up

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Speaker 1: was designed to fail, and that I had to prepare

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Speaker 1: to fight. And I figured, I'm fighting for my ancestors

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Speaker 1: that couldn't be a part of the cotton industry, tobacco, alcohol,

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Speaker 1: you name it, up to the tech industry, um. Everything

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Speaker 1: they've kept us out of it. And this was the

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Speaker 1: first time that there were actually laws on the book

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Speaker 1: to give us priority with licensing. If you came from

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Speaker 1: inner city communities that were disproportionately affected by cannabis arrest,

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Speaker 1: if you had a cannabis arrest or conviction, if you

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Speaker 1: were low income, those were the qualifiers to be a

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Speaker 1: part of priority licensing UM. And so I knew it

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Speaker 1: was gonna be a fight. I didn't know it was

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Speaker 1: gonna be this kind of fight. I went an active

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Speaker 1: on whole food Shells in two thousand seventeen thinking that

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Speaker 1: it would eight nine months because they were opening up

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Speaker 1: in in uh two thousand and eighteen, And it literally

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Speaker 1: took us three years and the lawsuit against the City

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Speaker 1: of Los Angeles to be able to open our doors. Wow,

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Speaker 1: even with the legislation that was on the books that

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Speaker 1: was supposed to make it easier for you. Because I

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Speaker 1: don't want to be clear on that, because I think

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Speaker 1: a lot of times we think, oh, some laws have

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Speaker 1: been passed, a program exists or such and such as

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Speaker 1: already on the books. How come people aren't taking advantage

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Speaker 1: because there's still going to be some you know, some

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Speaker 1: things in our way, some things we have to move around,

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Speaker 1: and some tenacity necessary, and I'm sure also a massive financial,

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Speaker 1: you know, burden, because we're talking about our lawyers are

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Speaker 1: not free, court costs are not free, and obviously the

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Speaker 1: licensing itself is not free, because I you know, and

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Speaker 1: please educate me, because I think the last that I

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Speaker 1: heard is that even the license itself is very expensive,

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Speaker 1: that it's a it's a huge financial undertaking, and so

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Speaker 1: you know that in a lot of ways, that can

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Speaker 1: leave a lot of our entrepreneurs out of the running

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Speaker 1: from the gate. So was there any kind of anything

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Speaker 1: on the books around like financial help or been selling

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Speaker 1: weed for years and Kent and camp so we like

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Speaker 1: for years? How does that work? A My dad calls

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Speaker 1: it the trojan horse. They had to get voters to

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Speaker 1: vote it in, and so the platform was always around,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna write the governor of California here the same

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Speaker 1: thing in New York Chicago. We're gonna right the wrong

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Speaker 1: of the war on drugs, and we're gonna prioritize this community.

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Speaker 1: Yet they don't set up education and training. They're not

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Speaker 1: teaching compliance and regulation. There is no access to capital,

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Speaker 1: They have no oversight over these predatory agreements we call

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Speaker 1: them share proper agreements, where these white folks were coming

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Speaker 1: into the hood and looking for people that had cannabis

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Speaker 1: convictions and arrest and making them a strong man and

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Speaker 1: enticing them. I had a mom one time come to

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Speaker 1: me and say, listen, can you talk to my son.

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Speaker 1: She was like, he works at foot locker and he's

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Speaker 1: not understanding him signing a way for seven thousand dollars

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Speaker 1: a month. It's pennies on the dollar. I'm saying some

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Speaker 1: dispensaries make that in the first half of their day. Um.

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Speaker 1: And so it was very obvious, which is why I

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Speaker 1: had to end up really standing in the position that

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Speaker 1: I did. How much of a political game this was.

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Speaker 1: And it was really about once they pass that law,

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Speaker 1: every single month, changing little words in the law to

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Speaker 1: make sure that we couldn't get in, just to say

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Speaker 1: that they gave us an opportunity. Um. And you know

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Speaker 1: that has been the fight, and and that is you

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Speaker 1: know where the real work to this day, right New

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Speaker 1: York is just opening be just open their first dispensary.

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Speaker 1: But if you look at it, um, it's a way

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Speaker 1: to eradicate they're they're mad all these years not being

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Speaker 1: able to get the money our brothers and sisters are

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Speaker 1: making on the streets. Right. So once you legalize it,

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Speaker 1: then you're able to enforce it. And so that has

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Speaker 1: become the game. In l A, they had ten million

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Speaker 1: dollars allocator for education and funding um. But as soon

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Speaker 1: as they started it, before they opened up the social

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Speaker 1: equity program, they moved those funds to enforcement because those

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Speaker 1: existing marijuana dispensaries which were in l A. A hundred

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Speaker 1: and eighty seven only three were black. Um. And then

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Speaker 1: as soon as it was time for the social equity program,

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Speaker 1: all those white folks that got all this money and

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Speaker 1: they lobbying, they go onto the politicians and they're like, wait, wait, wait,

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Speaker 1: don't open more licenses for social equity. First you need

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Speaker 1: to enforce and shut down the other illegal ones. Where

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Speaker 1: are those that you know, people still in our neighborhoods?

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Speaker 1: And um, that has become the vicious game that every

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Speaker 1: day we're trying to dismantle. Um what what they've set up?

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Speaker 1: More real talk after the break, to have to be

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Speaker 1: aware of not only your own business practices, but also

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Speaker 1: keeping abreast of all the changes that are happening at

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Speaker 1: a legal and a in a in a political level.

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Speaker 1: That sounds like an extreme amount of diligence. It seems

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Speaker 1: like a lot to kind of constantly be aware of.

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Speaker 1: You have to be so hyper aware. What are some

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Speaker 1: of the kinds of like the coalition, right, Like I

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Speaker 1: have a coalition? Yeah, what are the things you have

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Speaker 1: in place that are like helping you? What are your supports?

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Speaker 1: What are the things you have that are helping you

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Speaker 1: to stay on top of all of that. She's um

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Speaker 1: the community. Um. When I, like I said, when I

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Speaker 1: realized that early on, we started having classes in coffee

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Speaker 1: shops in the part you know where we were literally

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Speaker 1: members Street Franklin and we were good out a Dandy's

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Speaker 1: on Crunshaw at midnight after the kids were asleep, and

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Speaker 1: we literally printed out hundreds of pages of the regulations

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Speaker 1: and we would read them and reread them, and then

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Speaker 1: we would create cliff notes. Once we made the cliff notes,

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Speaker 1: then we started holding classes. And the next thing, you know,

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Speaker 1: ten turned into twenty, turning the thirty, and these folks,

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Speaker 1: even the neighborhood councils, because we are also knew these

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Speaker 1: tax dollars were supposed to go into our inner city communities.

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Speaker 1: That was the other sales part, right. It wasn't just

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Speaker 1: about giving the licenses. It was that when we generate

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Speaker 1: these billions of dollars, now we're going to help fund

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Speaker 1: these underprivileged programs. So they weren't doing that, and that

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Speaker 1: became the next biggest effort as going into the neighborhood councils.

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Speaker 1: I would go to the block clubs and educate the

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Speaker 1: elders and tell them like, it's not just as life

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Speaker 1: getting licenses, y'all need to fight for these tax dollars.

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Speaker 1: And they became the coalition. I started Life Development and

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Speaker 1: we would organize buses to go down to these city

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Speaker 1: council meetings because you got to give public comment in

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Speaker 1: order to halk this, and we would create little scripts

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Speaker 1: and no cards, and we would consistently have twenty thirty

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Speaker 1: people that were rotating and out. Um it took me

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Speaker 1: two and a half years to even get to licensing.

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Speaker 1: So we turned our dispensary because you had to have

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Speaker 1: a property in order to apply. Another trip back. Twelve

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars a month was my rent on an empty building,

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Speaker 1: no business going in, but you had to have a

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Speaker 1: property in order to apply. So you know, fortunately I

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Speaker 1: had an investor early on that was vested that helped

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Speaker 1: fund me not working and fighting and whether it was

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Speaker 1: getting the buses or whatever was needed, because he knew

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Speaker 1: that that was the only way we were gonna win.

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Speaker 1: And so that allowed um us to educate the community

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Speaker 1: and actually created like grassroots obvious mum and so I

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Speaker 1: call our dispensary grill, our ex the house of people

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Speaker 1: built um because we would not be here if it

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Speaker 1: weren't for the fact that those people heard what I

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Speaker 1: was saying, took it on and became a part of

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Speaker 1: the force of nature that not just myself, but hundreds

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Speaker 1: of others were able to open their doors. Lead so

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Speaker 1: level headed and the completion go into the completion. We

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Speaker 1: we get a lot of big ideas and go, oh, yeah,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna do that. But then you realize how hard

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Speaker 1: it is. And then the first you know, seven people

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Speaker 1: turned into three, and then those three turned into one,

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Speaker 1: and then it's all over. You're starting all over again.

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Speaker 1: And then the legal ease of it all, like, oh,

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Speaker 1: if there's anything I hate to do, sit in front

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Speaker 1: of any kind of contract. Now you're talking legislation. Oh

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Speaker 1: my god. Wow. And and then the nuances, the changing

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Speaker 1: of of of words will change to the entire law.

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Speaker 1: Come on, I'd say, it's like the King James version

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Speaker 1: of the Bible, right, like they deliberately mix up words

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Speaker 1: to complicated for us. And look of these license holders

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Speaker 1: across the nation are white men. Yeah, and so I

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Speaker 1: I don't say that in any particular way other than

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Speaker 1: the truth of the matter. They say it as it is,

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Speaker 1: because it is what it is. Sorry, come on, No,

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Speaker 1: they have lobbyists, they hire attorneys and advisors that do

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Speaker 1: this part. You you said it early. I was like,

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Speaker 1: I did not come in I'm I am a serial entrepreneur.

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Speaker 1: I love business. I didn't come here to be a

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Speaker 1: politician or do policies or lobbying. And how much a

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Speaker 1: time it took out of where I should have been

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Speaker 1: using to build my business. Yeah, but it's it's the

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Speaker 1: weird kind of necessary tax that you have to pay

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Speaker 1: as a black entrepreneur where you just gotta you gotta

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Speaker 1: play all these roles. Yeah, we're in the music business

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Speaker 1: or in any other business, it's the same thing. It's

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Speaker 1: like you you sign up to sing songs, you end

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Speaker 1: up doing nine thousand other jobs just in order just

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Speaker 1: to kind of stay competitive and or to stay alive,

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Speaker 1: not even just competitive, but just to stay present. I

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Speaker 1: think it's just like it speaks to what it is.

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Speaker 1: But can I just say this, it needed and everybody

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Speaker 1: knows I'm not I'm not unique in this thought, but

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Speaker 1: it took a black woman to jump in there. I'm sorry,

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Speaker 1: it's just a fact. This, this is what really in

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Speaker 1: the end, of the day with people from miss is

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Speaker 1: the true kind of core of what feminism really is

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Speaker 1: all about and how Black women invented it, because the

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Speaker 1: idea around the empowerment of community based on need and

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Speaker 1: vulnerability is an understanding that at the core that black

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Speaker 1: women understand to the bone marrow. This is how we're

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Speaker 1: just wired. We're wired to understand the needs of many.

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Speaker 1: We are wired to understand that our success really doesn't

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Speaker 1: mean anything if everyone else around us is not able

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Speaker 1: to maintain and sustain in the same ways we're understanding this.

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Speaker 1: So it's like the idea of being a black woman

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Speaker 1: entrepreneur has to exist in this space. So I wanted

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Speaker 1: everybody to be really, really careful to listen to what

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Speaker 1: Kika is saying, because right now we have a lot

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Speaker 1: of misunderstanding around black excellence and generational wealth and a

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Speaker 1: lot of LLC talk. Let's make sure that we listen

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Speaker 1: to what she's saying. You cannot have You cannot be

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Speaker 1: entrepreneurial or business minded if you're not community minded. If

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Speaker 1: you are not mixing those two things together, if one

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Speaker 1: thing does not inform the other, then you're not making

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Speaker 1: any kind of systemic change. You are just simply making

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Speaker 1: dollars for yourself, and you simply making dollars for yourself

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Speaker 1: has nothing to do with the encouragement the empowerment of

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Speaker 1: the community that's going to come behind you. She said

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Speaker 1: specifically that this was about not being the first, but

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Speaker 1: opening up the doors for other people. That is a

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Speaker 1: key thing. Simply being the first doesn't mean that you

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Speaker 1: have done opened up a door being the first, just

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Speaker 1: being the first, you can be the first. You know,

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Speaker 1: capitalist billionaire who exploits people. Do you want to be that? No,

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Speaker 1: you don't. And understand that the attitude, this energy, and

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Speaker 1: this glow that you guys feel from Kika is funneled

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Speaker 1: through everybody around her, and that whole uh dispisensory all

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Speaker 1: those employees. When you walk in there, it is a

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Speaker 1: sense that they are empowered, they are happy, they are sister,

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Speaker 1: welcome to the store. You look beautiful. What is that?

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Speaker 1: It's just it's and and and that's to be said, Kika.

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Speaker 1: I'm wondering when you started at the Denny's, how this

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Speaker 1: has spread now, right, because I know that shout out

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Speaker 1: to Virgil who California Cannabis has about three locations, the

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Speaker 1: black owner, but can you talk about some of the

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Speaker 1: things that have come with this and that have been

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Speaker 1: built out of this collegature. Yeah, you know, from like

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Speaker 1: development beats from Social Equity Owners and Workers Association UM.

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Speaker 1: And I understood and saw UM from person after person

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Speaker 1: that just came in with ridiculous predatory contracts UM. And

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Speaker 1: the fact that we had to do with the city

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Speaker 1: and with the state, UM, that we needed to unionize

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Speaker 1: and really be a collective force UM. And so that's

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Speaker 1: where the lawsuits fawned from. Because the City of l A,

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Speaker 1: after three thousand dollars in debt foldiness property, they opened

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Speaker 1: up the licensing process finally for Social Equity about two

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Speaker 1: years later. It was supposed to be a first come,

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Speaker 1: first served, so the fastest person to upload your application

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Speaker 1: online the first one hundred, and they kind of like

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Speaker 1: a you know, some tickets, um, the ticketmaster, some sneakers

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Speaker 1: or something that's crazy. That's crazy now. But just going

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Speaker 1: back to them little things they know in the hood

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Speaker 1: for the people who qualify, we are the slowest internet services, right,

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Speaker 1: so all of those things they knew. We were going

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Speaker 1: down and telling them like these white folks are using

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Speaker 1: box in order to make sure that their people get

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Speaker 1: in early. And you know how God will work, happened

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Speaker 1: to be in the room with the person that got

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Speaker 1: in ten minutes early before the start time. And as

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Speaker 1: God will work it, I had organized about thirty people

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Speaker 1: were in the room that we were all looking at

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Speaker 1: the clock. I'm going to do our application at the

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Speaker 1: same time, and we have for screen record their applications.

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Speaker 1: So we actually had the video recording and personal government

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Speaker 1: ten minutes early. We so so when it came out

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Speaker 1: that we looked at the list and out of the hundred,

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Speaker 1: maybe nineteen were black, there was about thirty Armenians on there.

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Speaker 1: We didn't have no representation. I was like, oh no.

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Speaker 1: And so that's where the Social Equity Owners and Workers

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Speaker 1: Association really formed UM. As we organized if I have

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Speaker 1: a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles, and you know,

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Speaker 1: we did, like Obama beginning campaigns where he's on one

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Speaker 1: in five dollar donations to hire a black attorney. UM

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Speaker 1: that represented us, and we filed that lawsuit against the

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Speaker 1: city of l A. They settled UM and we got

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Speaker 1: a hundred additional retail licenses for Equity and then that's

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Speaker 1: how I was able to open my doors and ninety

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Speaker 1: nine others. UM. And it has been that type of

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Speaker 1: work from taking that on the city council and stomping

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Speaker 1: on them. And I use some tactics that I've my

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Speaker 1: parents taught me when I was young, just reading about

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Speaker 1: our history, Like people said we couldn't do it, and

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Speaker 1: we were getting out with picket signs and organize and

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Speaker 1: folks around the clock. UM, and we wouldn't stop. Was

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Speaker 1: the key. UM that even if it were five or

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Speaker 1: ten of us, we wouldn't stop. We will be at

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Speaker 1: every meeting and press and press UM. And we've seen UM,

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Speaker 1: that's that's the only way, UM, that it will work.

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Speaker 1: And yeah, we've been pushed that way. We're here so

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Speaker 1: often that that is fantastic. And it just it just

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Speaker 1: shows everyone that that's listening, within listening ears what it

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Speaker 1: really takes. And when I say it, I'm talking about

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Speaker 1: any level of justice that you're looking for in this

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Speaker 1: particular place we're talking about. You know, people say, oh,

390
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Speaker 1: the marches doesn't they don't work, and the picketing doesn't work. Well,

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Speaker 1: it we're talking about longevity. It is it is that

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Speaker 1: UM refusing to to give up spirit. You know, it's

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Speaker 1: that I think what's been working in America is that

394
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Speaker 1: we get exhausted after a while. Yes, they count on that.

395
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Speaker 1: And then and then you found another business owners or

396
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Speaker 1: people that wanted to start businesses. Just just tell them

397
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Speaker 1: truth here. Sometimes even with an opportunity, you have people

398
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Speaker 1: that won't show up for it. How did you find

399
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Speaker 1: the people that were like, yes, I want to open

400
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Speaker 1: a business, Yes, here's my business plan. M How did

401
00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:12,520
Speaker 1: you find those people? Really that real grass suits energy,

402
00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:16,280
Speaker 1: like for real, we were at coffee shops and workforce

403
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Speaker 1: development centers and the hood, um. And it would start

404
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Speaker 1: with five people and then they would tell their other friends, UM.

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Speaker 1: And it was was just for real word of mouth

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Speaker 1: about people who really wanted it, right, Um. Everybody wanted

407
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Speaker 1: this opportunity. I remember early on, UM, they would have

408
00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:38,479
Speaker 1: ads on Facebook that would have yachts and you know,

409
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Speaker 1: uh Ferrari's and be like, don't you want to be

410
00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:44,439
Speaker 1: in the cannabis industry? Come sign up for the social

411
00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:48,520
Speaker 1: equity program um. And so you you have those folks

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Speaker 1: which were the biggest portion. Right So now when I

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Speaker 1: say that one hundred, maybe a good oney of them

414
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Speaker 1: where our folks, right, um? Because we just couldn't control that,

415
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Speaker 1: but you had so many more that we're going for that,

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Speaker 1: you know, and still go for it to this day

417
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Speaker 1: as these licenses continue, that are down to get that

418
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Speaker 1: ten thousand dollars a month and give away that generational

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Speaker 1: wealth because that is in the licenses, It is not

420
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Speaker 1: in selling, it is not in your monthly you know.

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Speaker 1: Going back to the long haul, you really, everything we

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Speaker 1: do as a people better be for our children's children.

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Speaker 1: It better be you know, I mean, we're not going

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Speaker 1: to ever see or feel it in our lifetime and

425
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Speaker 1: if we don't make those moves collectively. And so those

426
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Speaker 1: were the folks, Jill, that were harder to gather, the

427
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Speaker 1: ones that weren't willing to compromise um, the ones that

428
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Speaker 1: we're willing to stand and do the hard work and

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Speaker 1: be relentless about it. And those numbers were much smaller.

430
00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:53,720
Speaker 1: But those small numbers, once again, we never had hundreds

431
00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:56,800
Speaker 1: of people protesting, you know, I mean, it was the

432
00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:00,040
Speaker 1: consistency of having twenty or thirty people always show and

433
00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:03,000
Speaker 1: a lot of the times it was the same fifteen

434
00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:06,399
Speaker 1: and we rotated that other fifteen or twenty for the

435
00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:09,119
Speaker 1: folks that would only show up once or twice I

436
00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:11,280
Speaker 1: was jealous that I moved here after that. I was

437
00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:13,399
Speaker 1: seriously jealous. I was like, I wanted to be a

438
00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:17,200
Speaker 1: part of the progress I ever. I mean, I would

439
00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:19,240
Speaker 1: say this all the time when we're talking about like

440
00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:22,560
Speaker 1: school stuff, I'd be like, everyway, oh, parents don't involve.

441
00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:24,240
Speaker 1: I'm like, y'all, come on now, y'all know the PJ

442
00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:29,080
Speaker 1: is five parents. You know it's five. It's the same five.

443
00:25:30,119 --> 00:25:33,080
Speaker 1: It's the same fire to the rotate to the new five, right,

444
00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:36,600
Speaker 1: And it's like and and and I think a lot

445
00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:38,399
Speaker 1: of that also has to do with so you know,

446
00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:41,359
Speaker 1: um not to make excuses or anything like that, I

447
00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:44,680
Speaker 1: do think that black folks are tired and they are

448
00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:49,560
Speaker 1: you know, and they don't always have the time, the money,

449
00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:53,679
Speaker 1: the energy, the education. And that's one thing I just

450
00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:56,480
Speaker 1: really just sticks out for me, that's like sticking on

451
00:25:56,640 --> 00:25:59,120
Speaker 1: my heart is the education piece, because I think that's

452
00:25:59,119 --> 00:26:02,840
Speaker 1: what motivates be. People feel motivated when they have understood

453
00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:05,520
Speaker 1: the full grasp of what they're looking at and they

454
00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:07,960
Speaker 1: can actually see themselves as a part of it. It's

455
00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:11,440
Speaker 1: like if if they don't understand it, then it's just

456
00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:13,760
Speaker 1: just always ends up being a pipe dream. You know,

457
00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:16,399
Speaker 1: like it's just the thing that exists out there that

458
00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:18,520
Speaker 1: people say you can have, But then when you get there,

459
00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:21,080
Speaker 1: you're like, no, I don't actually see myself there because

460
00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:23,280
Speaker 1: people are counting on you feeling that way too, so

461
00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:29,040
Speaker 1: they can be isolated, yeah, isolated from the reality of things, right,

462
00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:31,440
Speaker 1: And this is one of the the one thing I think

463
00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:33,680
Speaker 1: that is really valuable about what you're saying. At least

464
00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:35,920
Speaker 1: what I'm getting from what you're saying, which is inspirational

465
00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:40,080
Speaker 1: for me, is that your parents are still the sense

466
00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:43,840
Speaker 1: of fighting you by you understanding knowing your history, your

467
00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:47,400
Speaker 1: history of your family, and the history of your culture.

468
00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:50,760
Speaker 1: And that's why that's super important because you can never

469
00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:53,040
Speaker 1: know what your child's life or what the children in

470
00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:55,160
Speaker 1: your community's life is going to be like in the future.

471
00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:57,439
Speaker 1: You don't know what business they're gonna get into. But

472
00:26:57,520 --> 00:26:59,439
Speaker 1: what you do know is that the value of what

473
00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:01,960
Speaker 1: your teaching them, the values that you share with them,

474
00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:05,239
Speaker 1: they're gonna take into those different industries. I'm sure your

475
00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:08,400
Speaker 1: parents are your parent there you're gonna be selling cannabis then,

476
00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:11,399
Speaker 1: But but the way that you're able to take what

477
00:27:11,560 --> 00:27:14,640
Speaker 1: they instilled in you and apply that out into the

478
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:18,080
Speaker 1: world can only be making them proud, can only be

479
00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:22,320
Speaker 1: making them look at you in amazement and and and

480
00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:25,760
Speaker 1: and inspiration, because this is what our children do when

481
00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:28,600
Speaker 1: they know who they are. And we've had this conversation

482
00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:35,080
Speaker 1: down slow, they say that again, this is what you

483
00:27:35,119 --> 00:27:37,280
Speaker 1: can accomplish when you know who you are. When your

484
00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:39,920
Speaker 1: children know who they are, they can go out into

485
00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:42,639
Speaker 1: the world to take that into any room because they

486
00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:45,000
Speaker 1: will not believe the lie that somebody tells them. When

487
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:48,320
Speaker 1: they get there, They're like, you lie, because that ain't

488
00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:51,880
Speaker 1: who I am. We just said this conversation before we

489
00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:56,119
Speaker 1: started recording. We're looking at the background, Um, we can

490
00:27:56,200 --> 00:27:58,760
Speaker 1: see this, so we'll we'll kind of explain it to you.

491
00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:04,280
Speaker 1: There's a fantaire stick hot pink wall behind Big Kika,

492
00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:08,399
Speaker 1: and there are her her family members. Everybody looks like

493
00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:11,919
Speaker 1: beautiful and strong. This is her shop, y'all. This is

494
00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:15,399
Speaker 1: how you feel that feeling you get overwhelmed when you

495
00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:17,600
Speaker 1: walk in. I'm literally I wish I could. I want

496
00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:20,520
Speaker 1: y'all to just come with me, because that's a dispensary.

497
00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:24,600
Speaker 1: I'm not supposed to get them overwhelmed by you know

498
00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:28,320
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, But you are In the beginning of

499
00:28:28,359 --> 00:28:30,439
Speaker 1: our conversation today, I was telling ya I was reading

500
00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:33,480
Speaker 1: a collection of essays by Zora new Hurston, and in

501
00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:36,960
Speaker 1: the introduction it talks about the black of study. And

502
00:28:37,080 --> 00:28:39,760
Speaker 1: that's what it's so important, is to get into understanding

503
00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:42,760
Speaker 1: our state of being. Our state of being is what

504
00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,080
Speaker 1: we take with us everywhere that we go. And so yes,

505
00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:47,320
Speaker 1: it is important for you to walk into us dispensary

506
00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:49,760
Speaker 1: and feel that. But I didn't know how does she

507
00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:54,280
Speaker 1: knowtic that's important that that becomes the standard to which

508
00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:59,400
Speaker 1: you enjoy and an enter into the way. Yes, man,

509
00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:02,000
Speaker 1: look at all of our spaces, look at all of

510
00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:04,640
Speaker 1: our spaces. We have our ancestors on the wall. You know,

511
00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:08,600
Speaker 1: we're like minded people in that way. And I know

512
00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:12,480
Speaker 1: for certain when there is a legacy involved, legacy, yes,

513
00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:14,600
Speaker 1: but when you also likely just say, when you know

514
00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:19,080
Speaker 1: who you are, it matters that much more. It matters

515
00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:22,600
Speaker 1: that you're what you're doing and how you're presenting, and

516
00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:26,200
Speaker 1: it matters that much more to you, So you fight

517
00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:28,760
Speaker 1: for it a little harder. If not, I'm next to

518
00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:31,200
Speaker 1: the table my mom, not next to my wall. I'm

519
00:29:31,240 --> 00:29:38,960
Speaker 1: next to my bedside table. So we're gonna take a

520
00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:51,400
Speaker 1: quick break and then we'll be right back. Can you

521
00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:53,960
Speaker 1: please talk about the inside of your store, and not

522
00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:56,520
Speaker 1: just the aesthetic, but also I told the girls, I

523
00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:59,440
Speaker 1: was like, I'm collecting pins thanks to your store of

524
00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:03,160
Speaker 1: me and the loan Grace Jones, and and you also

525
00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:06,480
Speaker 1: have a chest in there just just just high like

526
00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:09,960
Speaker 1: brown and black cannabis owning it. I just can you

527
00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:11,880
Speaker 1: talk about what once you got in, how you was

528
00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:15,000
Speaker 1: gonna make it look like, Yeah, that's so funny that

529
00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:18,640
Speaker 1: y'all are talking about my grandparents because Nanda and my

530
00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:23,000
Speaker 1: grandmother behind me Um in her house, she used to

531
00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:27,160
Speaker 1: keep the Christmas tree up to least June, as long

532
00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:29,080
Speaker 1: as it wasn't getting better. We would have to keep

533
00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:33,680
Speaker 1: on filling up the water and literally even in the daytime,

534
00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:37,120
Speaker 1: have these colorful lights on her tree. And then after

535
00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:39,640
Speaker 1: June she would have us take a little fake plant

536
00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:42,760
Speaker 1: and put the Christmas tree lights around it. And people

537
00:30:42,760 --> 00:30:46,160
Speaker 1: will come into her house, our friends, and be like, oh, no,

538
00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:49,280
Speaker 1: what it is your grandmother's house. I just feel good

539
00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:51,600
Speaker 1: love if I don't know what the feeling is. So

540
00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:54,600
Speaker 1: I was very deliberate when you go in with these

541
00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:59,600
Speaker 1: color choices, Um and the color blocking are bright colors

542
00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:03,720
Speaker 1: like her Christmas tree lights. Um. We even have the

543
00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:07,360
Speaker 1: crafted on Crunshall with the with the neon lights behind it,

544
00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:11,479
Speaker 1: UM to really accentuate this brightness the yellow wall. So

545
00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:14,600
Speaker 1: I also speaking about the black aesthetic and black women,

546
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:20,360
Speaker 1: had a black woman designer designed the space, UM, Joscelyn

547
00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:26,280
Speaker 1: Joy Um. And so all of those things were very intentional. UM.

548
00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:29,520
Speaker 1: The dispensaries on Crenshaw Boulevard and it is right at

549
00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:33,640
Speaker 1: the bottom of Baldwin Hills Windsor Hills, which is the

550
00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:38,160
Speaker 1: largest UM Black a community as far as income and

551
00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:42,520
Speaker 1: wealth in the United States, but very rarely do those

552
00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:49,080
Speaker 1: folks come down the hill to Crenshaw. Even that in

553
00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:52,920
Speaker 1: the design, in the intent. UM. So I'm so glad

554
00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:56,280
Speaker 1: you feel that. When I was sitting with Joscelyn day

555
00:31:56,320 --> 00:31:58,560
Speaker 1: after day, I was like, but it has to feel

556
00:31:58,800 --> 00:32:02,640
Speaker 1: so that the grandma's aunties up the hill will come

557
00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:06,840
Speaker 1: down here. Um. And so that was always the intent

558
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:11,080
Speaker 1: for our people and the inner generational mix that we

559
00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:15,280
Speaker 1: were really purpose from having my product and whole foods

560
00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:18,440
Speaker 1: and health food stores and not just being the name

561
00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:21,920
Speaker 1: is Gorilla Aurex wellness code right um And It is

562
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:26,040
Speaker 1: really based my parents. We were vegetarians in the seventies.

563
00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:30,040
Speaker 1: Of course, um when I when it wasn't popular. Um,

564
00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:33,400
Speaker 1: and so that's just my whole being and what I

565
00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:35,600
Speaker 1: wanted to give to the community. So even in the

566
00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:38,600
Speaker 1: design a party that was I wanted to feel like

567
00:32:38,600 --> 00:32:43,960
Speaker 1: you're going into Whole Foods or G n C vitamin section, right,

568
00:32:44,160 --> 00:32:48,040
Speaker 1: and so unlike stores that are typical like Apple stores,

569
00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:50,600
Speaker 1: they kind of set of dispensaries nowadays are really ster

570
00:32:51,320 --> 00:32:54,880
Speaker 1: white and glass boxes. We put most of our inventory

571
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:58,440
Speaker 1: is on the floor and it's stopped like a grocery store. Um,

572
00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:01,600
Speaker 1: so when you're walking in, you don't feel that inhibition

573
00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:05,280
Speaker 1: about asking your met at the door by a product specialist.

574
00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:08,400
Speaker 1: You have your own personal shopper that walks you through

575
00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:12,080
Speaker 1: the whole store. We have the Black Tender. Yeah yeah, sorry,

576
00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:16,400
Speaker 1: but a tender. We have the largest selection of black

577
00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:20,760
Speaker 1: owned brands and women owned brands in the state of California. Um,

578
00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:23,560
Speaker 1: we're very deliberate. I remember one time and Whole Foods,

579
00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:26,320
Speaker 1: we became really friends with the receiver, brought him a

580
00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:30,160
Speaker 1: Guerrilla Life hoodie and he moved naked juices out of

581
00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:33,000
Speaker 1: the section and put our Gorilla Life drinks on that

582
00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:36,000
Speaker 1: prime shell space. And it was at that point that

583
00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:39,280
Speaker 1: I understood a that you could do that but be

584
00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:43,320
Speaker 1: the even thought process of where products are stored in house.

585
00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:45,400
Speaker 1: So you have these stores will be like, oh yeah,

586
00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:48,040
Speaker 1: well we carry black brands, but they're over in the corner.

587
00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:51,800
Speaker 1: We deliberately put the whole you bar in the front

588
00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:54,280
Speaker 1: to be black owned brands where it's the first thing

589
00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:56,640
Speaker 1: you see. They don't have to pay for, no shelving

590
00:33:56,720 --> 00:34:00,520
Speaker 1: space on do nothing extra. We move brand to put

591
00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:03,880
Speaker 1: them in the place. Um. And that has been our commitment. Um,

592
00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:07,000
Speaker 1: like you were saying, we highlight reparations, book club, it's

593
00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:09,759
Speaker 1: a Black Woman On book club in the community. Um.

594
00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:12,640
Speaker 1: Instead of just having all cannabis things, we got the

595
00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:15,000
Speaker 1: books on the shelves as a part of the displays

596
00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:17,279
Speaker 1: so people ask where you can buy it and go

597
00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:20,040
Speaker 1: down the street. Um. We did the Black Book to

598
00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:23,320
Speaker 1: highlight the black businesses. Swift Cafe on the black another

599
00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:27,120
Speaker 1: Black Woman on Cafe. So when people come, we become

600
00:34:27,200 --> 00:34:30,799
Speaker 1: like a destination point where close X. When you come in,

601
00:34:31,040 --> 00:34:32,879
Speaker 1: don't just come to my business and then go over

602
00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:34,920
Speaker 1: to the wood, go down the street and get you

603
00:34:34,960 --> 00:34:39,719
Speaker 1: some money. Check out Lamar Park while you're there inside.

604
00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:43,640
Speaker 1: Cool cool, come on that. It was our intent, um

605
00:34:43,719 --> 00:34:46,759
Speaker 1: and the model very intentionally, not just a design to

606
00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:51,680
Speaker 1: attract people and have something very high end in our community. UM,

607
00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:54,960
Speaker 1: but to put that stake in the ground. Because they

608
00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:57,640
Speaker 1: just opened to train stations. We know what happens and

609
00:34:57,760 --> 00:35:03,680
Speaker 1: across the country the game is happening around. We want

610
00:35:03,719 --> 00:35:06,840
Speaker 1: to re gentrify and show black folks how we do

611
00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:12,080
Speaker 1: it and have them come, come on, come and open

612
00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:14,960
Speaker 1: up stores on the block and get the properties in

613
00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:17,920
Speaker 1: our community and and create that energy and be a

614
00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:20,839
Speaker 1: model for how we should be existing in this day

615
00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:23,319
Speaker 1: and age and not talking about I remember back in

616
00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:26,359
Speaker 1: the damn day and people would talk about we. They

617
00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:29,040
Speaker 1: would just be like, Oh, that's for them, stole us.

618
00:35:29,360 --> 00:35:32,000
Speaker 1: You know, that's he's a that's the pothead. You know,

619
00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:36,120
Speaker 1: they're not gonna they're gonna achieve anything in life. You know,

620
00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:43,200
Speaker 1: ever achieve anything in life? And I recall the first

621
00:35:43,239 --> 00:35:46,000
Speaker 1: time that I had marijuana, and all I remember doing

622
00:35:46,080 --> 00:35:50,160
Speaker 1: was laughing. I laughed so much that I laughed till

623
00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:53,160
Speaker 1: I had to take a nap. It was wonderful, laugh

624
00:35:53,239 --> 00:35:57,400
Speaker 1: till tears, just just laughed and I don't you know,

625
00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:01,000
Speaker 1: I can't really remember like what was making me laugh

626
00:36:01,160 --> 00:36:04,440
Speaker 1: like that or allowing me to be so free that

627
00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:07,319
Speaker 1: I just couldn't help a giggle all over. What was

628
00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:10,680
Speaker 1: that moment when you knew that marijuana was beneficial not

629
00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:16,080
Speaker 1: only for you but for the people. Uh, I was

630
00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:27,880
Speaker 1: blessed once again. My dad UM study Rastafarian principles. So

631
00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:31,960
Speaker 1: it was in my house whole growing up, and it

632
00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:36,359
Speaker 1: was always such a very spiritual and intellectual connection. When

633
00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:38,600
Speaker 1: I would see them smoking, right, they would be at

634
00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:42,120
Speaker 1: the round tables like some war rooms in the house,

635
00:36:42,680 --> 00:36:44,839
Speaker 1: and my dad would have groups of people in there

636
00:36:44,880 --> 00:36:49,160
Speaker 1: having all kinds of conversations and teachings. And that was

637
00:36:49,719 --> 00:36:52,919
Speaker 1: you know, like in the native community. Um, that peace play.

638
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:55,279
Speaker 1: But it was something that just generated for me. What

639
00:36:55,480 --> 00:37:01,279
Speaker 1: I witnessed, um, just such greatness uh and joy. Then

640
00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:04,160
Speaker 1: they were sitting around laughing and talking after that. And

641
00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:08,640
Speaker 1: so my relationship, my mom calls it holy um my

642
00:37:08,640 --> 00:37:12,480
Speaker 1: my relationship with it, and I have three children. Their

643
00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:18,680
Speaker 1: relationship with it, UM is you know, very spiritual and um,

644
00:37:19,120 --> 00:37:21,920
Speaker 1: like you're saying, jealous sense of joy. And so I

645
00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:25,000
Speaker 1: I never had those stigmas, and that has been a

646
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:27,799
Speaker 1: part of my quest is to fight those because I

647
00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:31,319
Speaker 1: know how we use it, um, you know, not just

648
00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:35,520
Speaker 1: uh smoking in it, but for the topical purposes. I

649
00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:37,560
Speaker 1: know when I give it to folks that you know,

650
00:37:37,560 --> 00:37:41,200
Speaker 1: I've been on chemotherapy and talking about my mom doesn't

651
00:37:41,239 --> 00:37:43,920
Speaker 1: have an appetite, she can't eat, you know. I know,

652
00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:47,319
Speaker 1: for folks that are suffering from PTSD and depression and

653
00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:50,920
Speaker 1: anxiety that come into store just like mad but as

654
00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:52,560
Speaker 1: soon as they get that bag in their hand, you

655
00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:56,439
Speaker 1: could feel that weight um lift off of them. Um.

656
00:37:56,719 --> 00:38:00,759
Speaker 1: And so I've always seen it as very transformative. And

657
00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:04,240
Speaker 1: I'm always pretty I guess raised pretty culture. I've never

658
00:38:04,680 --> 00:38:08,840
Speaker 1: fell into those stigmas um ever in life about weed

659
00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:14,120
Speaker 1: maybe trying to say candidates, that's a word. It's about

660
00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:18,240
Speaker 1: so many things that when you don't have the stigma,

661
00:38:18,680 --> 00:38:21,680
Speaker 1: the biases and the opinions don't affect you because you

662
00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:24,879
Speaker 1: don't have it. Don't have it. But that's political too,

663
00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:27,640
Speaker 1: and and that says a lot about out of the

664
00:38:27,680 --> 00:38:31,320
Speaker 1: box parenting also because I think a lot of times

665
00:38:31,400 --> 00:38:34,480
Speaker 1: we talk about parenting, and we've talked about it on

666
00:38:34,560 --> 00:38:37,520
Speaker 1: this show. All of us have experienced this from a

667
00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:40,920
Speaker 1: lot of places. Is that people you've got to parent

668
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:43,480
Speaker 1: this certain kind of way. And it's like, look at

669
00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:47,480
Speaker 1: what happens to your young people when you don't instill

670
00:38:47,640 --> 00:38:52,280
Speaker 1: shame around certain things, when you're not afraid to allow

671
00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:55,880
Speaker 1: them to understand and see what it takes to do

672
00:38:56,120 --> 00:38:58,720
Speaker 1: what it is you're asking them to do. You cannot

673
00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:03,680
Speaker 1: raise revolution areas if you're not revolutionary and you're sinking

674
00:39:03,840 --> 00:39:07,160
Speaker 1: and then you're doing. You have to say you have

675
00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:09,719
Speaker 1: to do so that then they will say and do

676
00:39:10,239 --> 00:39:13,920
Speaker 1: and it's second nature. I just my god today, the

677
00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:16,360
Speaker 1: first time I smoke with my grandmother and my father,

678
00:39:16,680 --> 00:39:20,160
Speaker 1: it's life changing. That that moment, that breakdown of a law.

679
00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:24,960
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, it's it's life. It's life changing. Okay,

680
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:27,040
Speaker 1: Well I was also gonna say too, don't forget. There

681
00:39:27,080 --> 00:39:28,920
Speaker 1: was a documentary And it's funny because me and Virgil

682
00:39:28,960 --> 00:39:31,680
Speaker 1: have debated over this documentary, The Grass is Greener that

683
00:39:31,800 --> 00:39:35,120
Speaker 1: Fat Fire Freddy did, And it's funny that we put

684
00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:37,080
Speaker 1: stigmas on things because at the end of the day,

685
00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:40,200
Speaker 1: Agea that stigma just comes from one of your favorite phrases,

686
00:39:40,880 --> 00:39:45,400
Speaker 1: white supremacy, because based on based on the history of

687
00:39:45,440 --> 00:39:48,400
Speaker 1: marijuana and it being you know, kind of associated with

688
00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:50,640
Speaker 1: black and brown people. That's all of a sudden, it's

689
00:39:50,640 --> 00:39:53,919
Speaker 1: associated with us, So it's bad. And so we take

690
00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:56,640
Speaker 1: on that because whatever the white man say, say, it's

691
00:39:56,680 --> 00:39:58,320
Speaker 1: the law. And so now we tell a lot of

692
00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:00,640
Speaker 1: our kids and stuff that's bad. That's this, that's that.

693
00:40:00,680 --> 00:40:03,560
Speaker 1: But that's crazy right when you think about it, it's

694
00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:06,760
Speaker 1: it always brought joy. But because it brought joy initially

695
00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:09,680
Speaker 1: the brown and black people first, that's a problem. Look.

696
00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:12,680
Speaker 1: I came home that night after after having the trees

697
00:40:12,719 --> 00:40:15,680
Speaker 1: with my girlfriend. I came home that night. My mother

698
00:40:15,760 --> 00:40:19,160
Speaker 1: said she caught me in the living room. She said, UM,

699
00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:21,960
Speaker 1: don't mind job. I'm in college at this time. And

700
00:40:22,040 --> 00:40:26,440
Speaker 1: she's like, uh, you've been smoking that reefer And I

701
00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:33,400
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, just giddy. You were smoking at reefer?

702
00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:37,440
Speaker 1: I said yeah. She said, I'm just so disappointed. Do

703
00:40:37,440 --> 00:40:39,840
Speaker 1: you understand what this is. It's a gateway drug. It

704
00:40:39,920 --> 00:40:42,719
Speaker 1: opens the door for other drugs, you know, commercials, all

705
00:40:42,719 --> 00:40:48,880
Speaker 1: the things. And she said that propaganda and I was like, mom, un,

706
00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:50,920
Speaker 1: let's just say I'm I was twenty at the time.

707
00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:54,640
Speaker 1: I said, Mom, they have I been to jail. She's

708
00:40:54,719 --> 00:40:58,279
Speaker 1: like no. I was like, uh, you know, do I

709
00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:00,799
Speaker 1: do I have? Um, they don't don't have a lot

710
00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:05,200
Speaker 1: of kids running around. She was like, no, that wouldn't

711
00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:06,879
Speaker 1: be so bad. I said, but it would right now

712
00:41:06,880 --> 00:41:12,680
Speaker 1: because I had the money. But from simple um, you know, well,

713
00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:15,880
Speaker 1: am I in trouble in any way? And am I

714
00:41:15,960 --> 00:41:18,160
Speaker 1: in school? She was like yeah. I was like, am

715
00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:20,600
Speaker 1: I doing well in school? She was like yeah. I

716
00:41:20,680 --> 00:41:23,360
Speaker 1: was like, you might going to leave me alone about

717
00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:29,319
Speaker 1: this one. Well, I'm not. I'm not harming anyone at all,

718
00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:33,319
Speaker 1: m M. And I felt like it was such a

719
00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:37,080
Speaker 1: benefit because I had been really stressed out working two jobs,

720
00:41:37,120 --> 00:41:40,040
Speaker 1: going to school. And this one night my girlfriend had,

721
00:41:40,040 --> 00:41:43,319
Speaker 1: as my mother would say, a dubie and you just

722
00:41:43,400 --> 00:41:50,759
Speaker 1: melted in that. And I do bead and the first

723
00:41:50,800 --> 00:41:54,360
Speaker 1: time ever been uh experience in cannabis. Wasn't smoking it.

724
00:41:54,480 --> 00:41:59,720
Speaker 1: My mother made some brownies and yeah, we was cooking

725
00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:06,040
Speaker 1: things giving dinner. So good. My mom made these brownties

726
00:42:06,080 --> 00:42:08,640
Speaker 1: and we was was cooking Thanksgiving. There's one of the

727
00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:11,400
Speaker 1: first times we had like a really quiet Thanksgiving. It

728
00:42:11,480 --> 00:42:15,480
Speaker 1: was just me and her at the time. My sister, no, no, no,

729
00:42:15,520 --> 00:42:21,360
Speaker 1: my sister was uh boyfriend fiance energy, she was gonne,

730
00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:24,360
Speaker 1: So it was just me and Big Suit, Big Geek,

731
00:42:24,560 --> 00:42:26,680
Speaker 1: Big Suit. Ya got you gotta get to do Big Suit.

732
00:42:26,719 --> 00:42:28,239
Speaker 1: You had to watch something. You gotta listen to some

733
00:42:28,280 --> 00:42:32,080
Speaker 1: of these old episodes. But I was like, you know,

734
00:42:32,120 --> 00:42:34,680
Speaker 1: so we she made these brownies. We've turned on she

735
00:42:34,719 --> 00:42:36,880
Speaker 1: turned on the music, and all I remember was how

736
00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:41,120
Speaker 1: good the music sounded, and um, you know, and we

737
00:42:41,200 --> 00:42:45,840
Speaker 1: cooked that whole meal and it was just like it

738
00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:49,720
Speaker 1: was just such a cool experience for me because my mom.

739
00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:51,680
Speaker 1: I grew up in the household too of both parents

740
00:42:51,719 --> 00:42:54,359
Speaker 1: who smoked, but we just never saw it. It's so

741
00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:58,040
Speaker 1: funny that they talked about things corrupting kids and both

742
00:42:58,120 --> 00:43:00,920
Speaker 1: my parents moved. I had never seen them smoke before

743
00:43:00,920 --> 00:43:02,840
Speaker 1: I knew they did, but it just wasn't like a

744
00:43:02,920 --> 00:43:06,600
Speaker 1: thing I ever saw, really. But it's just funny that

745
00:43:07,440 --> 00:43:09,319
Speaker 1: it wasn't even something that I had went to doing

746
00:43:09,360 --> 00:43:11,520
Speaker 1: my own. But you know, I'm glad to see the

747
00:43:11,560 --> 00:43:14,440
Speaker 1: statement kind of getting away and us getting more education

748
00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:16,360
Speaker 1: about it. I know we're still in many of the

749
00:43:16,400 --> 00:43:19,200
Speaker 1: states and in the United States, still on the fence

750
00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:22,480
Speaker 1: around legalities and what what state is legal here, not

751
00:43:22,600 --> 00:43:25,000
Speaker 1: legal or what's the vibes here? And I do know

752
00:43:25,080 --> 00:43:28,040
Speaker 1: that young people are smoking a lot earlier, and so

753
00:43:28,080 --> 00:43:30,200
Speaker 1: we're trying to get our young people to navigate what

754
00:43:30,239 --> 00:43:33,000
Speaker 1: that means for them legally so that they don't get

755
00:43:33,040 --> 00:43:35,960
Speaker 1: caught in between the gap. You know, one of the

756
00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:38,239
Speaker 1: conversations that I'm having with my young folks is helping

757
00:43:38,280 --> 00:43:42,560
Speaker 1: them to understand the state they live in, having them

758
00:43:42,680 --> 00:43:45,279
Speaker 1: understand a lot of these That's that's why the diligence

759
00:43:45,360 --> 00:43:51,520
Speaker 1: is important. That deminized what's not decriminalized. So I think

760
00:43:51,520 --> 00:43:54,400
Speaker 1: it's important that we stay diligent no matter what we're doing,

761
00:43:54,840 --> 00:43:57,080
Speaker 1: knowing that, yes, this work is being done, but there's

762
00:43:57,120 --> 00:43:58,799
Speaker 1: so much more work to do. So we have to

763
00:43:58,880 --> 00:44:02,319
Speaker 1: keep our our young people informed that they have all

764
00:44:02,360 --> 00:44:06,680
Speaker 1: the proper education, specifically around legally, because we don't want

765
00:44:06,680 --> 00:44:08,799
Speaker 1: them to get so relaxed that they get out there

766
00:44:08,800 --> 00:44:10,359
Speaker 1: and get caught out there and we have to deal

767
00:44:10,400 --> 00:44:12,840
Speaker 1: with a different type of legal situation. I would go

768
00:44:12,920 --> 00:44:16,080
Speaker 1: with that for the whole gamut, for all the things.

769
00:44:16,400 --> 00:44:19,239
Speaker 1: When we're talking about sex, give them all the information,

770
00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:23,120
Speaker 1: you know, we're talking about drugs or I don't even

771
00:44:23,160 --> 00:44:25,920
Speaker 1: like to call weed the drug. I just think that's unfair.

772
00:44:27,040 --> 00:44:29,399
Speaker 1: I don't know, friends, help me out with that one.

773
00:44:30,200 --> 00:44:34,919
Speaker 1: Is we to drug? Yeah, I got a new way

774
00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:39,120
Speaker 1: of thinking for you. Prevention and education on cannabis. We

775
00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:42,839
Speaker 1: need to be teaching them about the business because if

776
00:44:42,880 --> 00:44:45,760
Speaker 1: you start looking at it more about the business opportunities,

777
00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:49,400
Speaker 1: you start to lose the even time or the necessity

778
00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:54,200
Speaker 1: for recreationally sitting around and using your time getting high. Um.

779
00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:57,120
Speaker 1: And when I say the business, it's just not the licenses.

780
00:44:57,640 --> 00:45:01,879
Speaker 1: Ancillary side is so transfer horrible. Whether you're an electrician,

781
00:45:02,440 --> 00:45:06,080
Speaker 1: whether you're a carpenter, whether you're in marketing, whether you're

782
00:45:06,120 --> 00:45:10,400
Speaker 1: an accountant, lawyer. If you go into the niche of

783
00:45:10,600 --> 00:45:13,319
Speaker 1: cannabis for any of those things, you know how many

784
00:45:13,360 --> 00:45:16,120
Speaker 1: facilities have to be built right now that you need

785
00:45:16,160 --> 00:45:18,279
Speaker 1: to know the right lighting for cultivation. If you just

786
00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:20,880
Speaker 1: learn that one thing, you can take that. You know

787
00:45:20,880 --> 00:45:23,520
Speaker 1: how many people are looking for skilled people in that area.

788
00:45:23,800 --> 00:45:27,120
Speaker 1: Even in the workforce, Cannabis is the fastest growing workforce

789
00:45:27,239 --> 00:45:31,160
Speaker 1: across the country, more than nurses, more than a m t,

790
00:45:31,760 --> 00:45:36,960
Speaker 1: more than electricians. Um. The fastest growing industry. Right. And

791
00:45:37,000 --> 00:45:39,200
Speaker 1: so I would say to those young people early on,

792
00:45:39,800 --> 00:45:42,759
Speaker 1: start and start investing your time reading and getting a

793
00:45:42,800 --> 00:45:44,640
Speaker 1: part of and figuring out how you're about to gain

794
00:45:44,719 --> 00:45:47,520
Speaker 1: this damn system and be a part of the industry.

795
00:45:47,719 --> 00:45:50,239
Speaker 1: Because I promise you the reason why I fight fight

796
00:45:50,360 --> 00:45:52,919
Speaker 1: so hard is because I know that I'm a part

797
00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:55,240
Speaker 1: of being what's going to be in the history books

798
00:45:55,239 --> 00:45:58,000
Speaker 1: and all realness of this. This is a brand new

799
00:45:58,160 --> 00:46:01,560
Speaker 1: industry in the mirror of London. Come down and visit

800
00:46:01,600 --> 00:46:05,160
Speaker 1: our dispensary and he didn't trip. Yeah, about three or

801
00:46:05,200 --> 00:46:09,600
Speaker 1: four months ago, UM and he visited about five licensed

802
00:46:09,719 --> 00:46:13,080
Speaker 1: facilities across the country. They selected Artist in Los Angeles.

803
00:46:13,080 --> 00:46:15,600
Speaker 1: That's the only dispensary that he visited to be able

804
00:46:15,600 --> 00:46:17,480
Speaker 1: to have an understanding of what this would look like

805
00:46:17,520 --> 00:46:20,959
Speaker 1: to legalize UM in London. Because people don't think about

806
00:46:20,960 --> 00:46:23,479
Speaker 1: global legalization and how where we are in a sense

807
00:46:23,480 --> 00:46:27,680
Speaker 1: of global legalization and the brand newness of this industry y'all.

808
00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:30,759
Speaker 1: So when we learn these regulations or we understand and

809
00:46:30,840 --> 00:46:33,759
Speaker 1: we started just participating, Listen, you don't even gotta do

810
00:46:33,800 --> 00:46:36,200
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff, but just start being engaged, because

811
00:46:36,200 --> 00:46:39,560
Speaker 1: you'll hear the opportunities of where you can be business planning.

812
00:46:39,600 --> 00:46:42,760
Speaker 1: You'll hear the opportunities where you can go. It's crazy.

813
00:46:42,920 --> 00:46:45,560
Speaker 1: That's the reason why fights are That's the reason why

814
00:46:45,560 --> 00:46:48,160
Speaker 1: I stay in this because I do know what will

815
00:46:48,239 --> 00:46:50,840
Speaker 1: happen twenty or fifty years from now, in this moment

816
00:46:50,880 --> 00:46:54,960
Speaker 1: in time. And so for all the black people, specifically

817
00:46:55,120 --> 00:46:58,760
Speaker 1: black people, you know, great for everybody, but black people

818
00:46:59,360 --> 00:47:02,880
Speaker 1: the most we got the we We've been the most incarcerated.

819
00:47:03,080 --> 00:47:06,040
Speaker 1: We've been the most disproportionately arrested. We've been the most

820
00:47:06,080 --> 00:47:08,279
Speaker 1: to lose our lives. We have the highest number of

821
00:47:08,360 --> 00:47:11,040
Speaker 1: children in foster care because of the War on drugs.

822
00:47:11,080 --> 00:47:14,359
Speaker 1: It is our obligation to be involved. It is our

823
00:47:14,440 --> 00:47:18,000
Speaker 1: obligation to spread the word that these tax dollars, these

824
00:47:18,040 --> 00:47:21,760
Speaker 1: licenses and our skill set be used and co opted

825
00:47:21,840 --> 00:47:24,600
Speaker 1: and work together. And you've gotta have a team. I'm

826
00:47:24,640 --> 00:47:27,120
Speaker 1: a year and four months and I got forty seven

827
00:47:27,160 --> 00:47:33,839
Speaker 1: employees right, come from my community. Um, and so the

828
00:47:33,880 --> 00:47:37,480
Speaker 1: opportunities that are there, um, we're working. Actually, we just

829
00:47:37,520 --> 00:47:40,200
Speaker 1: acquired the building next door to us to open up

830
00:47:40,200 --> 00:47:46,000
Speaker 1: a mock training for detail the Guerrilla University, liking it

831
00:47:46,040 --> 00:47:49,600
Speaker 1: to McDonald's University. And this is also a performerly incarcerated,

832
00:47:49,719 --> 00:47:53,120
Speaker 1: right is that what I read? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

833
00:47:53,280 --> 00:47:56,960
Speaker 1: like creating that halfway. Look, we know the same These

834
00:47:57,040 --> 00:47:59,279
Speaker 1: walls are new and that's how they're based in the

835
00:47:59,280 --> 00:48:04,359
Speaker 1: whole industry, right, So cultivation you need a skill set, right,

836
00:48:04,440 --> 00:48:08,560
Speaker 1: so not all everything else our learning and it's the

837
00:48:08,680 --> 00:48:13,000
Speaker 1: rules and regulations, UM. And so I just continue to

838
00:48:13,120 --> 00:48:15,719
Speaker 1: encourage all of us that wouldn't think twice about it

839
00:48:16,120 --> 00:48:19,520
Speaker 1: just to understand how we can work cooperatively. And it

840
00:48:19,560 --> 00:48:22,279
Speaker 1: will take a collective unit of us to do it

841
00:48:22,280 --> 00:48:26,440
Speaker 1: because it is expensive to get in um. But that's

842
00:48:26,680 --> 00:48:30,520
Speaker 1: you know, that's an easy battle, UM if we work together.

843
00:48:30,600 --> 00:48:37,360
Speaker 1: And so that that's really critical, y'all. More conversation after

844
00:48:37,480 --> 00:48:50,719
Speaker 1: the break. Can you at least give us like three

845
00:48:50,840 --> 00:48:54,880
Speaker 1: either organizations or uh pages that we should be following

846
00:48:54,920 --> 00:48:57,960
Speaker 1: to be a part of the solutions, to be a

847
00:48:58,000 --> 00:49:03,240
Speaker 1: part of the like all all the things. Yes, Cannabis

848
00:49:03,440 --> 00:49:07,320
Speaker 1: dot l a city dot org um. That's the City

849
00:49:07,360 --> 00:49:11,319
Speaker 1: of Los Angeles, Cannabis Department, UM, Cannabis dot l A

850
00:49:11,360 --> 00:49:15,000
Speaker 1: city dot org um. And when you click around and

851
00:49:15,080 --> 00:49:19,120
Speaker 1: you go into the regulations, there's a social equity report

852
00:49:19,239 --> 00:49:23,680
Speaker 1: that was written. UM. Find that social equity report and

853
00:49:23,719 --> 00:49:25,759
Speaker 1: read it, and it tells it does a great job

854
00:49:26,120 --> 00:49:30,160
Speaker 1: of concisely saying why we're here, the methodology of why

855
00:49:30,280 --> 00:49:33,200
Speaker 1: social equity should be created based on these disproportion and

856
00:49:33,360 --> 00:49:35,960
Speaker 1: arrest And when I say that, break it down, l

857
00:49:36,000 --> 00:49:39,920
Speaker 1: A is eight percent black folks, but we represented of

858
00:49:39,960 --> 00:49:44,120
Speaker 1: the arrest right, so I want to say disproportionate um.

859
00:49:44,640 --> 00:49:47,279
Speaker 1: But then it also tells you all of the components,

860
00:49:47,320 --> 00:49:50,200
Speaker 1: tells you the cost of starting up these businesses. It

861
00:49:50,239 --> 00:49:53,160
Speaker 1: tells you the pieces that are necessary in every community

862
00:49:53,560 --> 00:49:56,600
Speaker 1: if we want to start or actually press our city

863
00:49:56,640 --> 00:50:00,399
Speaker 1: folks to have these sort of laws and regulations and play.

864
00:50:00,480 --> 00:50:02,520
Speaker 1: To me, it's like the Bible of House should have

865
00:50:02,560 --> 00:50:05,120
Speaker 1: been executed and l A did the complete opposite of

866
00:50:05,200 --> 00:50:08,160
Speaker 1: everything that was in that three hundred thousand dollar report.

867
00:50:08,200 --> 00:50:10,759
Speaker 1: But to me, that's a great way, a simple way

868
00:50:10,840 --> 00:50:14,400
Speaker 1: for us just start grasping what it is. If l

869
00:50:14,480 --> 00:50:17,080
Speaker 1: A did it wrong, I'm it sounds unhopeful for the

870
00:50:17,080 --> 00:50:19,120
Speaker 1: other states too, are so far behind. But I think

871
00:50:19,120 --> 00:50:20,960
Speaker 1: what she's saying is that if you look at what

872
00:50:21,000 --> 00:50:23,480
Speaker 1: that framework is, it's a good place to start as

873
00:50:23,640 --> 00:50:27,000
Speaker 1: advocate in your particular city or states that even though

874
00:50:27,040 --> 00:50:31,239
Speaker 1: they didn't actually do it. The place is good is

875
00:50:31,280 --> 00:50:35,319
Speaker 1: good and obviously every state has different laws and those

876
00:50:35,360 --> 00:50:38,759
Speaker 1: things have been considered. Definitely, shout out to all the

877
00:50:39,360 --> 00:50:42,800
Speaker 1: people that are in school currently or working in agriculture.

878
00:50:43,280 --> 00:50:48,480
Speaker 1: That's that's a big one. Yeah, that's yeah, shout out

879
00:50:48,480 --> 00:50:50,000
Speaker 1: to I just want to shoutut to Tara mart and

880
00:50:50,000 --> 00:50:52,439
Speaker 1: one of the sisters that was and then the fight

881
00:50:52,520 --> 00:50:55,200
Speaker 1: to help lobby for Jersey and other states to become

882
00:50:55,239 --> 00:50:57,279
Speaker 1: recreational because we are in there, y'all, but we know

883
00:50:57,480 --> 00:50:59,120
Speaker 1: we can see the sisters. We gotta say their name

884
00:50:59,239 --> 00:51:05,239
Speaker 1: like because nobody else now we do it and recognize

885
00:51:05,239 --> 00:51:09,600
Speaker 1: too that it will open up federally sooner than later. UM.

886
00:51:09,680 --> 00:51:12,279
Speaker 1: And it doesn't take a lot of us, but there's

887
00:51:12,320 --> 00:51:14,520
Speaker 1: a few of us in each one of these places.

888
00:51:14,600 --> 00:51:17,640
Speaker 1: When it when we're allowed to have interstate commerce, our

889
00:51:17,680 --> 00:51:21,000
Speaker 1: ability to connect and work together. UM, it's how we

890
00:51:21,080 --> 00:51:24,680
Speaker 1: create this ecosystem of the supply chain within amongst ourselves

891
00:51:25,200 --> 00:51:27,959
Speaker 1: and that's why we continue to educate UM on SULB

892
00:51:27,960 --> 00:51:33,319
Speaker 1: Life Development Group dot org is our website and we

893
00:51:33,440 --> 00:51:35,919
Speaker 1: just I'd just like to be a resource y'all come

894
00:51:35,960 --> 00:51:39,120
Speaker 1: through to the expensary tap in anything that I can

895
00:51:39,160 --> 00:51:41,520
Speaker 1: share once again and be in the first it was

896
00:51:41,560 --> 00:51:43,640
Speaker 1: to be able to have the blueprint to then say okay, y'all,

897
00:51:43,640 --> 00:51:45,640
Speaker 1: this is how I did. We just want to continue

898
00:51:45,719 --> 00:51:48,239
Speaker 1: to support you beyond just coming to the store too.

899
00:51:48,320 --> 00:51:51,960
Speaker 1: So and that's a lot of all of our black businesses, like, yeah,

900
00:51:52,000 --> 00:51:53,960
Speaker 1: we support by coming to the store, but there's other

901
00:51:54,000 --> 00:51:57,600
Speaker 1: ways to support. We need to know. Yeah, I love

902
00:51:57,760 --> 00:52:00,480
Speaker 1: the fact that we that that you circle back to business,

903
00:52:00,520 --> 00:52:02,920
Speaker 1: you circle back to the community, You circle back to

904
00:52:02,960 --> 00:52:05,920
Speaker 1: these things and move away from the individual and remind

905
00:52:06,000 --> 00:52:08,320
Speaker 1: us of what's necessary for us to do moving forward.

906
00:52:08,400 --> 00:52:10,760
Speaker 1: I just really admire you in every way. I didn't

907
00:52:10,760 --> 00:52:14,200
Speaker 1: know you prior to this interview, and I feel blessed

908
00:52:14,239 --> 00:52:16,440
Speaker 1: and grateful and honored to have gotten to hear what

909
00:52:16,480 --> 00:52:20,680
Speaker 1: you had to say today. Truthfully, it's such a good reminder.

910
00:52:20,719 --> 00:52:22,759
Speaker 1: It's a good reminder because I think in this kind

911
00:52:22,800 --> 00:52:26,160
Speaker 1: of capitalist society, we can really get really down about

912
00:52:26,200 --> 00:52:29,000
Speaker 1: the possibility. Is what it looks like to be successful?

913
00:52:29,040 --> 00:52:32,400
Speaker 1: What does it look like to be in business? What

914
00:52:32,440 --> 00:52:35,600
Speaker 1: does it look like to grow community? Is it possible

915
00:52:35,640 --> 00:52:37,840
Speaker 1: to do both? To get yourself a little bag? But

916
00:52:37,880 --> 00:52:42,040
Speaker 1: at the same time, and I needed to hear this

917
00:52:42,120 --> 00:52:44,840
Speaker 1: from you today because this has given me a different

918
00:52:44,920 --> 00:52:47,399
Speaker 1: kind of you know, you know, battery in my bag

919
00:52:47,560 --> 00:52:51,800
Speaker 1: around what it can look like. And I just encourage

920
00:52:51,840 --> 00:52:54,520
Speaker 1: everybody to continue to use your imagination because I think

921
00:52:54,600 --> 00:52:59,120
Speaker 1: what happens is that that imagination gets stifled. You can't

922
00:52:59,320 --> 00:53:03,920
Speaker 1: see that a thing is possible. You just you convince

923
00:53:03,960 --> 00:53:07,520
Speaker 1: yourself it's just not gonna happen. So I just am

924
00:53:07,560 --> 00:53:11,000
Speaker 1: grateful for you today. I really am grateful. I'm grateful

925
00:53:11,040 --> 00:53:13,600
Speaker 1: for your ancestors. I speak their names without knowing them,

926
00:53:13,600 --> 00:53:19,359
Speaker 1: and I just for them. They didn't think child, they

927
00:53:19,360 --> 00:53:25,120
Speaker 1: did a thing, come on good things, and you just

928
00:53:25,160 --> 00:53:28,040
Speaker 1: touched on something that I believe is the core of

929
00:53:28,120 --> 00:53:30,680
Speaker 1: how I move. And what I've seen is this is

930
00:53:30,680 --> 00:53:33,719
Speaker 1: the fourth business that I've started UM, but this is

931
00:53:33,760 --> 00:53:37,080
Speaker 1: the one where it was always about. After Sweet Strings

932
00:53:37,719 --> 00:53:41,320
Speaker 1: UM and losing my my music academy, it was always

933
00:53:41,320 --> 00:53:43,080
Speaker 1: about let me go make this money and then I

934
00:53:43,120 --> 00:53:46,239
Speaker 1: can go give back. And I had to take a

935
00:53:46,239 --> 00:53:49,279
Speaker 1: different approach UM because it wouldn't work with just me

936
00:53:49,400 --> 00:53:52,399
Speaker 1: being here standing. The loan is that let me give

937
00:53:52,440 --> 00:53:56,400
Speaker 1: back while I'm building, And every time I stay centered

938
00:53:56,480 --> 00:54:01,879
Speaker 1: on that, the universe opens just oraculous stores. Um. That

939
00:54:02,080 --> 00:54:05,680
Speaker 1: is not anything about my work, UM, And I would

940
00:54:05,760 --> 00:54:08,440
Speaker 1: say and challenge us all to be able to figure

941
00:54:08,480 --> 00:54:12,680
Speaker 1: that out and to challenge ourselves to not wait, um

942
00:54:12,880 --> 00:54:15,239
Speaker 1: for to give back, but figure out for the work

943
00:54:15,280 --> 00:54:17,399
Speaker 1: that we do how it can align. Like I said,

944
00:54:17,400 --> 00:54:19,279
Speaker 1: I had to write the cliff notes for myself, So

945
00:54:19,320 --> 00:54:21,680
Speaker 1: then why am I not sharing the cliff notes at

946
00:54:21,680 --> 00:54:24,279
Speaker 1: the same at the same time that I'm learning it.

947
00:54:24,520 --> 00:54:28,239
Speaker 1: What we often do is wait until we have covered everything, well,

948
00:54:28,280 --> 00:54:31,520
Speaker 1: give you a tidbit and worried about them someone else

949
00:54:31,520 --> 00:54:34,319
Speaker 1: that I'm giving that to compete and knock me out, um.

950
00:54:34,320 --> 00:54:36,520
Speaker 1: But it really is important. And I think the other

951
00:54:36,560 --> 00:54:38,960
Speaker 1: side of that is my mission has always been the

952
00:54:39,000 --> 00:54:42,560
Speaker 1: finest for profit that funds my nonprofit. And I came

953
00:54:42,600 --> 00:54:45,800
Speaker 1: to Cannabis because I intend on open and up sweet

954
00:54:45,840 --> 00:54:49,480
Speaker 1: strings again in our music academy, UM for the kids.

955
00:54:49,880 --> 00:54:52,719
Speaker 1: And so that is really what motivates me when I

956
00:54:52,760 --> 00:54:56,319
Speaker 1: want to sit down and and get tired. UM, it's

957
00:54:56,400 --> 00:54:59,239
Speaker 1: that this has to work, um, because we have to

958
00:54:59,280 --> 00:55:01,399
Speaker 1: be able to ren us and funding things that really

959
00:55:01,480 --> 00:55:04,720
Speaker 1: make a difference for our children. Our hearts are full,

960
00:55:05,120 --> 00:55:07,960
Speaker 1: proud of my neighborhood. Man, if you might do me

961
00:55:08,040 --> 00:55:13,120
Speaker 1: the honors of allowing me to read the mission. All right,

962
00:55:13,480 --> 00:55:18,040
Speaker 1: this is the mission for Guerrilla our X Wellness. Correct. Yes,

963
00:55:18,800 --> 00:55:24,360
Speaker 1: we are the physical manifestation of black feminine resilience, power,

964
00:55:24,480 --> 00:55:29,160
Speaker 1: and creativity. We are the advocates for those fundamentally oppressed

965
00:55:29,200 --> 00:55:33,440
Speaker 1: by America's unjust criminal justice system. We are the future

966
00:55:33,560 --> 00:55:39,360
Speaker 1: legacy of healers, hustlers, and history makers, diligently honoring the

967
00:55:39,440 --> 00:55:42,719
Speaker 1: strong women who came before us. We are the promise

968
00:55:42,840 --> 00:55:46,440
Speaker 1: of a brighter, more equitable future in South central l A.

969
00:55:46,520 --> 00:55:55,000
Speaker 1: And might I add myself the world y'all, y'all take care, blessings, y'all, blessing.

970
00:55:57,160 --> 00:56:00,520
Speaker 1: I mean, that's all I got. That's really it. Our are.

971
00:56:01,760 --> 00:56:05,680
Speaker 1: They've been educated in so many ways. Please remember um

972
00:56:05,880 --> 00:56:08,960
Speaker 1: to rewind this and play back and slow down and

973
00:56:09,200 --> 00:56:13,200
Speaker 1: take the cliff notes. Take the cliff notes. None of

974
00:56:13,280 --> 00:56:16,439
Speaker 1: us here at j dot ill know everything, but we're

975
00:56:16,520 --> 00:56:19,520
Speaker 1: learning as we grow, and it is a pleasure to

976
00:56:19,560 --> 00:56:22,680
Speaker 1: share anything that we're learning with you. Thank you so

977
00:56:22,760 --> 00:56:28,719
Speaker 1: much all for listening. Face. How do you eat an elephant?

978
00:56:29,520 --> 00:56:35,920
Speaker 1: One by it? Kind? Hello, listeners, it's amber Your fearless

979
00:56:35,920 --> 00:56:39,120
Speaker 1: producer here. We have been so excited to get this

980
00:56:39,200 --> 00:56:42,000
Speaker 1: episode to you. Black women really do get us hire

981
00:56:42,760 --> 00:56:45,279
Speaker 1: to learn more about Gorilla are X and all the

982
00:56:45,360 --> 00:56:48,640
Speaker 1: amazing things that they are doing in the community and

983
00:56:48,640 --> 00:56:52,080
Speaker 1: all the incredible products they provide. Check out their website

984
00:56:52,600 --> 00:56:57,000
Speaker 1: Gorilla r X Wellness dot com. The site is literally

985
00:56:57,200 --> 00:57:00,560
Speaker 1: as beautiful as the store that, like you described, he

986
00:57:00,760 --> 00:57:03,880
Speaker 1: got also left us with some incredible resources in this episode.

987
00:57:04,400 --> 00:57:06,840
Speaker 1: I'll drop links to those sites and the show notes,

988
00:57:07,640 --> 00:57:10,760
Speaker 1: and if you want to learn more about cannabis and spirituality,

989
00:57:11,080 --> 00:57:14,440
Speaker 1: I'll leave a link that explains how Rastafarians use the

990
00:57:14,440 --> 00:57:29,880
Speaker 1: herb for spiritual connection. Hi. If you have comments on

991
00:57:29,960 --> 00:57:33,280
Speaker 1: something he said in this episode called eight six six

992
00:57:33,680 --> 00:57:36,760
Speaker 1: Hey Jill, if you want to add to this conversation,

993
00:57:37,040 --> 00:57:40,960
Speaker 1: that's eight six six four nine five four five by

994
00:57:41,120 --> 00:57:43,520
Speaker 1: don't forget to tell us your name and the episode

995
00:57:43,560 --> 00:57:47,000
Speaker 1: you're referring to. You might just hear your message on

996
00:57:47,080 --> 00:57:50,840
Speaker 1: a future episode. Thank you for listening to Jill Scott

997
00:57:50,880 --> 00:57:57,840
Speaker 1: Presents Jay dot Ill the podcast. Yes, Karema, I'm sorry

998
00:57:58,280 --> 00:58:00,560
Speaker 1: distracted my whole show. Mommy. When you walk by, you

999
00:58:00,640 --> 00:58:04,000
Speaker 1: just dracted the whole show. MoMA just walked up and

1000
00:58:04,040 --> 00:58:13,440
Speaker 1: her apps were giving what needed to be gave. Yes, Dama, Yes,

1001
00:58:13,920 --> 00:58:16,600
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, y'all for those who are listening, Laya's mom

1002
00:58:16,680 --> 00:58:18,720
Speaker 1: is that work. She's amazing. We want to give it

1003
00:58:18,800 --> 00:58:20,480
Speaker 1: up to Big Koree, but she came through there and

1004
00:58:20,520 --> 00:58:23,760
Speaker 1: showed us her app work and it was fantastic, fantastic.

1005
00:58:25,680 --> 00:58:29,120
Speaker 1: J dot Ill is a production of I heart Radio.

1006
00:58:29,320 --> 00:58:32,600
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i

1007
00:58:32,760 --> 00:58:37,120
Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to

1008
00:58:37,160 --> 00:58:38,320
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.