Speaker 1: Welcome to JA dot M, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: What's Up? Everybody? Welcome, Welcome to j dot Itill Podcast.
Speaker 1: This is Jill Scott and I'm here with my sister friends,
Speaker 1: Agent Graydon, Dan's lie. That's myself. Hello, everyone, high and lies,
Speaker 1: ain't Claire? I felt all that stretched? Jill felt. I
Speaker 1: felt it. I know it's it's the episode. Let's let's go.
Speaker 1: Been the weight Okay, I'm not gonna make your weight anymore.
Speaker 1: I was. I was about to zero whole story, but
Speaker 1: I'll tell you later. Well, welcome everybody. Um, we have
Speaker 1: an incredible guest here today. Her name is Kika Keith.
Speaker 1: I love your name for Kika. Yeah, it got attitude,
Speaker 1: It's got fuck yeah, Kika Keith, please like it if
Speaker 1: you be so kindness to share these accolades and this lovely,
Speaker 1: lovely young woman. I just first have to share a
Speaker 1: story because I understand that I live in Los Angeles right,
Speaker 1: it is not a majority black place. And when I
Speaker 1: lived in Hollywood, the one reason that I was scared
Speaker 1: to leave is because I had a black dispensary, a
Speaker 1: black owned dispensary. This is not something you hear a lot. Period.
Speaker 1: Better yet in Los Angeles. So when I moved to
Speaker 1: the Mert Park and I cold walked down the street
Speaker 1: because I passed by a dispensary that had a big
Speaker 1: gorilla on the top of it. What it looks like colors.
Speaker 1: I was like, well, all right, let me just stop
Speaker 1: and see what they got. I walked in. It was
Speaker 1: the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. And I'm
Speaker 1: talking about the colors. Never I've been in a lot
Speaker 1: of dispensaries, Yes, I'm telling my truth. I've been in
Speaker 1: a lot of dispensaries, but the color, the friendship, the
Speaker 1: feeling of culture, I'm talking about a dispens three all.
Speaker 1: When I walked in, it changed my life so much
Speaker 1: that every time I have somebody that comes out of town,
Speaker 1: I'm like, let's walk up the street and let's go. Well,
Speaker 1: it just so happens. On one particular day, I bring
Speaker 1: my godmother, Diana William who has been a guest on
Speaker 1: this show. I said, let's go to the dispensary. I'm
Speaker 1: about to blow your mind. We walk in and we
Speaker 1: see a familiar face named Marco Barrio, who happened to
Speaker 1: be the manager of the other black dispensary. That I
Speaker 1: had moved from in Hollywood, and he goes on to
Speaker 1: tell me the story of the owner of this place
Speaker 1: and the story of the struggle of how this place
Speaker 1: came into fruition in this neighborhood. People thought to make
Speaker 1: this happen, to make the dispensary here. There's a video
Speaker 1: when you walk in, it gives you the short of
Speaker 1: the story and the celebration with your priests and precesses
Speaker 1: about how they made this happen. And so Marco walks
Speaker 1: us to the office to introduce us to the woman
Speaker 1: who has founded this lovely space with her mural on
Speaker 1: the wall outside of the seven eleventh. I'm sorry, and
Speaker 1: her name is Big Kika, Big chikas presence. She's not
Speaker 1: just an entrepree nor she's an activist. She has been
Speaker 1: in this community for a long time doing amazing things,
Speaker 1: and now she has bought all kinds of peace to
Speaker 1: the community. Ladies and gentlemen, not just kicker Keith, big kickup.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna keep my thoughts to my listen.
Speaker 1: It's the big for me. It's the big for me
Speaker 1: that that tells me all the things I need to know.
Speaker 1: You should have. You should have lived with that. So
Speaker 1: I should have said that. When Jill and Asia displayed
Speaker 1: that they want and Amber said that they wanted to
Speaker 1: do a show about cannabis, weed, whatever you want to
Speaker 1: call it, I said, I have the person. I don't
Speaker 1: know her, but I'm gonna get her here and here
Speaker 1: she is and here she is. Round of applause. Here,
Speaker 1: thank you being here. Wow, you you own the first
Speaker 1: black owned dispensary. I mean I would assume it's the
Speaker 1: first woman, female owned, black woman owned dispensary. Damn. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it is. You were hard to paint huh yeah,
Speaker 1: very intentionally, and it is the first black woman on. Um.
Speaker 1: There are some pioneers black men that came before before me. Um.
Speaker 1: But yes, um, you know that was a part of
Speaker 1: the mission, not to be the first, but to knock
Speaker 1: the doors down. Come on. Yeah, yes, So can you
Speaker 1: talk about this? Can you talk about this story when
Speaker 1: you walk into when you walk into your shop, and
Speaker 1: you do see this video, A lot of people weren't there.
Speaker 1: They don't know the story of your struggle and how
Speaker 1: you got into even this world. Can you just break
Speaker 1: that down for us a little bit. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: I always like to go back to my roots. UM,
Speaker 1: because it was my parents and their profound love for
Speaker 1: black people in black history and black culture that they
Speaker 1: just ingrained in me since birth. UM. And so when
Speaker 1: I learned about the opportunity for recreation of cannabis in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, I was like, wait a minute, there's actually
Speaker 1: laws in the book that will benefit black and brown
Speaker 1: people who suffered the devastation from the War on drugs.
Speaker 1: And I was born in Pennsylvania but raised in Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: and UM, you know, I witnessed that, UM in South
Speaker 1: central l A. Witnessed the fact that I had to
Speaker 1: take my daughter to ten different schools because the schools
Speaker 1: in my community, UM, we're not adequate. And we know
Speaker 1: where all that stems from. And so when I learned
Speaker 1: about the opportunity to get a license, UM, it really
Speaker 1: was to be more about more than just myself, to
Speaker 1: help as many of us get through and cross the
Speaker 1: finish line. I had a beverage company prior to entering
Speaker 1: into UM the cannabis based guerrilla life, and UM, I
Speaker 1: know how hard it was. I had my own manufacturing facility,
Speaker 1: my own distribution. I had three refrigerator vehicles we take
Speaker 1: the Whole Foods and Gelson's and Bristol Farms, and I
Speaker 1: knew how many years it took me that we will
Speaker 1: work at one o'clock in the morning to make sure
Speaker 1: health inspector didn't come in because I didn't know ship
Speaker 1: about running no equipment and not doing it compliantly, coming
Speaker 1: from making it in the kitchen to then being at
Speaker 1: a facility. And I knew when I heard about this
Speaker 1: and the opportunity for our people to be a part
Speaker 1: of the industry, that the way they set it up
Speaker 1: was designed to fail, and that I had to prepare
Speaker 1: to fight. And I figured, I'm fighting for my ancestors
Speaker 1: that couldn't be a part of the cotton industry, tobacco, alcohol,
Speaker 1: you name it, up to the tech industry, um. Everything
Speaker 1: they've kept us out of it. And this was the
Speaker 1: first time that there were actually laws on the book
Speaker 1: to give us priority with licensing. If you came from
Speaker 1: inner city communities that were disproportionately affected by cannabis arrest,
Speaker 1: if you had a cannabis arrest or conviction, if you
Speaker 1: were low income, those were the qualifiers to be a
Speaker 1: part of priority licensing UM. And so I knew it
Speaker 1: was gonna be a fight. I didn't know it was
Speaker 1: gonna be this kind of fight. I went an active
Speaker 1: on whole food Shells in two thousand seventeen thinking that
Speaker 1: it would eight nine months because they were opening up
Speaker 1: in in uh two thousand and eighteen, And it literally
Speaker 1: took us three years and the lawsuit against the City
Speaker 1: of Los Angeles to be able to open our doors. Wow,
Speaker 1: even with the legislation that was on the books that
Speaker 1: was supposed to make it easier for you. Because I
Speaker 1: don't want to be clear on that, because I think
Speaker 1: a lot of times we think, oh, some laws have
Speaker 1: been passed, a program exists or such and such as
Speaker 1: already on the books. How come people aren't taking advantage
Speaker 1: because there's still going to be some you know, some
Speaker 1: things in our way, some things we have to move around,
Speaker 1: and some tenacity necessary, and I'm sure also a massive financial,
Speaker 1: you know, burden, because we're talking about our lawyers are
Speaker 1: not free, court costs are not free, and obviously the
Speaker 1: licensing itself is not free, because I you know, and
Speaker 1: please educate me, because I think the last that I
Speaker 1: heard is that even the license itself is very expensive,
Speaker 1: that it's a it's a huge financial undertaking, and so
Speaker 1: you know that in a lot of ways, that can
Speaker 1: leave a lot of our entrepreneurs out of the running
Speaker 1: from the gate. So was there any kind of anything
Speaker 1: on the books around like financial help or been selling
Speaker 1: weed for years and Kent and camp so we like
Speaker 1: for years? How does that work? A My dad calls
Speaker 1: it the trojan horse. They had to get voters to
Speaker 1: vote it in, and so the platform was always around,
Speaker 1: we're gonna write the governor of California here the same
Speaker 1: thing in New York Chicago. We're gonna right the wrong
Speaker 1: of the war on drugs, and we're gonna prioritize this community.
Speaker 1: Yet they don't set up education and training. They're not
Speaker 1: teaching compliance and regulation. There is no access to capital,
Speaker 1: They have no oversight over these predatory agreements we call
Speaker 1: them share proper agreements, where these white folks were coming
Speaker 1: into the hood and looking for people that had cannabis
Speaker 1: convictions and arrest and making them a strong man and
Speaker 1: enticing them. I had a mom one time come to
Speaker 1: me and say, listen, can you talk to my son.
Speaker 1: She was like, he works at foot locker and he's
Speaker 1: not understanding him signing a way for seven thousand dollars
Speaker 1: a month. It's pennies on the dollar. I'm saying some
Speaker 1: dispensaries make that in the first half of their day. Um.
Speaker 1: And so it was very obvious, which is why I
Speaker 1: had to end up really standing in the position that
Speaker 1: I did. How much of a political game this was.
Speaker 1: And it was really about once they pass that law,
Speaker 1: every single month, changing little words in the law to
Speaker 1: make sure that we couldn't get in, just to say
Speaker 1: that they gave us an opportunity. Um. And you know
Speaker 1: that has been the fight, and and that is you
Speaker 1: know where the real work to this day, right New
Speaker 1: York is just opening be just open their first dispensary.
Speaker 1: But if you look at it, um, it's a way
Speaker 1: to eradicate they're they're mad all these years not being
Speaker 1: able to get the money our brothers and sisters are
Speaker 1: making on the streets. Right. So once you legalize it,
Speaker 1: then you're able to enforce it. And so that has
Speaker 1: become the game. In l A, they had ten million
Speaker 1: dollars allocator for education and funding um. But as soon
Speaker 1: as they started it, before they opened up the social
Speaker 1: equity program, they moved those funds to enforcement because those
Speaker 1: existing marijuana dispensaries which were in l A. A hundred
Speaker 1: and eighty seven only three were black. Um. And then
Speaker 1: as soon as it was time for the social equity program,
Speaker 1: all those white folks that got all this money and
Speaker 1: they lobbying, they go onto the politicians and they're like, wait, wait, wait,
Speaker 1: don't open more licenses for social equity. First you need
Speaker 1: to enforce and shut down the other illegal ones. Where
Speaker 1: are those that you know, people still in our neighborhoods?
Speaker 1: And um, that has become the vicious game that every
Speaker 1: day we're trying to dismantle. Um what what they've set up?
Speaker 1: More real talk after the break, to have to be
Speaker 1: aware of not only your own business practices, but also
Speaker 1: keeping abreast of all the changes that are happening at
Speaker 1: a legal and a in a in a political level.
Speaker 1: That sounds like an extreme amount of diligence. It seems
Speaker 1: like a lot to kind of constantly be aware of.
Speaker 1: You have to be so hyper aware. What are some
Speaker 1: of the kinds of like the coalition, right, Like I
Speaker 1: have a coalition? Yeah, what are the things you have
Speaker 1: in place that are like helping you? What are your supports?
Speaker 1: What are the things you have that are helping you
Speaker 1: to stay on top of all of that. She's um
Speaker 1: the community. Um. When I, like I said, when I
Speaker 1: realized that early on, we started having classes in coffee
Speaker 1: shops in the part you know where we were literally
Speaker 1: members Street Franklin and we were good out a Dandy's
Speaker 1: on Crunshaw at midnight after the kids were asleep, and
Speaker 1: we literally printed out hundreds of pages of the regulations
Speaker 1: and we would read them and reread them, and then
Speaker 1: we would create cliff notes. Once we made the cliff notes,
Speaker 1: then we started holding classes. And the next thing, you know,
Speaker 1: ten turned into twenty, turning the thirty, and these folks,
Speaker 1: even the neighborhood councils, because we are also knew these
Speaker 1: tax dollars were supposed to go into our inner city communities.
Speaker 1: That was the other sales part, right. It wasn't just
Speaker 1: about giving the licenses. It was that when we generate
Speaker 1: these billions of dollars, now we're going to help fund
Speaker 1: these underprivileged programs. So they weren't doing that, and that
Speaker 1: became the next biggest effort as going into the neighborhood councils.
Speaker 1: I would go to the block clubs and educate the
Speaker 1: elders and tell them like, it's not just as life
Speaker 1: getting licenses, y'all need to fight for these tax dollars.
Speaker 1: And they became the coalition. I started Life Development and
Speaker 1: we would organize buses to go down to these city
Speaker 1: council meetings because you got to give public comment in
Speaker 1: order to halk this, and we would create little scripts
Speaker 1: and no cards, and we would consistently have twenty thirty
Speaker 1: people that were rotating and out. Um it took me
Speaker 1: two and a half years to even get to licensing.
Speaker 1: So we turned our dispensary because you had to have
Speaker 1: a property in order to apply. Another trip back. Twelve
Speaker 1: thousand dollars a month was my rent on an empty building,
Speaker 1: no business going in, but you had to have a
Speaker 1: property in order to apply. So you know, fortunately I
Speaker 1: had an investor early on that was vested that helped
Speaker 1: fund me not working and fighting and whether it was
Speaker 1: getting the buses or whatever was needed, because he knew
Speaker 1: that that was the only way we were gonna win.
Speaker 1: And so that allowed um us to educate the community
Speaker 1: and actually created like grassroots obvious mum and so I
Speaker 1: call our dispensary grill, our ex the house of people
Speaker 1: built um because we would not be here if it
Speaker 1: weren't for the fact that those people heard what I
Speaker 1: was saying, took it on and became a part of
Speaker 1: the force of nature that not just myself, but hundreds
Speaker 1: of others were able to open their doors. Lead so
Speaker 1: level headed and the completion go into the completion. We
Speaker 1: we get a lot of big ideas and go, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: we're gonna do that. But then you realize how hard
Speaker 1: it is. And then the first you know, seven people
Speaker 1: turned into three, and then those three turned into one,
Speaker 1: and then it's all over. You're starting all over again.
Speaker 1: And then the legal ease of it all, like, oh,
Speaker 1: if there's anything I hate to do, sit in front
Speaker 1: of any kind of contract. Now you're talking legislation. Oh
Speaker 1: my god. Wow. And and then the nuances, the changing
Speaker 1: of of of words will change to the entire law.
Speaker 1: Come on, I'd say, it's like the King James version
Speaker 1: of the Bible, right, like they deliberately mix up words
Speaker 1: to complicated for us. And look of these license holders
Speaker 1: across the nation are white men. Yeah, and so I
Speaker 1: I don't say that in any particular way other than
Speaker 1: the truth of the matter. They say it as it is,
Speaker 1: because it is what it is. Sorry, come on, No,
Speaker 1: they have lobbyists, they hire attorneys and advisors that do
Speaker 1: this part. You you said it early. I was like,
Speaker 1: I did not come in I'm I am a serial entrepreneur.
Speaker 1: I love business. I didn't come here to be a
Speaker 1: politician or do policies or lobbying. And how much a
Speaker 1: time it took out of where I should have been
Speaker 1: using to build my business. Yeah, but it's it's the
Speaker 1: weird kind of necessary tax that you have to pay
Speaker 1: as a black entrepreneur where you just gotta you gotta
Speaker 1: play all these roles. Yeah, we're in the music business
Speaker 1: or in any other business, it's the same thing. It's
Speaker 1: like you you sign up to sing songs, you end
Speaker 1: up doing nine thousand other jobs just in order just
Speaker 1: to kind of stay competitive and or to stay alive,
Speaker 1: not even just competitive, but just to stay present. I
Speaker 1: think it's just like it speaks to what it is.
Speaker 1: But can I just say this, it needed and everybody
Speaker 1: knows I'm not I'm not unique in this thought, but
Speaker 1: it took a black woman to jump in there. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: it's just a fact. This, this is what really in
Speaker 1: the end, of the day with people from miss is
Speaker 1: the true kind of core of what feminism really is
Speaker 1: all about and how Black women invented it, because the
Speaker 1: idea around the empowerment of community based on need and
Speaker 1: vulnerability is an understanding that at the core that black
Speaker 1: women understand to the bone marrow. This is how we're
Speaker 1: just wired. We're wired to understand the needs of many.
Speaker 1: We are wired to understand that our success really doesn't
Speaker 1: mean anything if everyone else around us is not able
Speaker 1: to maintain and sustain in the same ways we're understanding this.
Speaker 1: So it's like the idea of being a black woman
Speaker 1: entrepreneur has to exist in this space. So I wanted
Speaker 1: everybody to be really, really careful to listen to what
Speaker 1: Kika is saying, because right now we have a lot
Speaker 1: of misunderstanding around black excellence and generational wealth and a
Speaker 1: lot of LLC talk. Let's make sure that we listen
Speaker 1: to what she's saying. You cannot have You cannot be
Speaker 1: entrepreneurial or business minded if you're not community minded. If
Speaker 1: you are not mixing those two things together, if one
Speaker 1: thing does not inform the other, then you're not making
Speaker 1: any kind of systemic change. You are just simply making
Speaker 1: dollars for yourself, and you simply making dollars for yourself
Speaker 1: has nothing to do with the encouragement the empowerment of
Speaker 1: the community that's going to come behind you. She said
Speaker 1: specifically that this was about not being the first, but
Speaker 1: opening up the doors for other people. That is a
Speaker 1: key thing. Simply being the first doesn't mean that you
Speaker 1: have done opened up a door being the first, just
Speaker 1: being the first, you can be the first. You know,
Speaker 1: capitalist billionaire who exploits people. Do you want to be that? No,
Speaker 1: you don't. And understand that the attitude, this energy, and
Speaker 1: this glow that you guys feel from Kika is funneled
Speaker 1: through everybody around her, and that whole uh dispisensory all
Speaker 1: those employees. When you walk in there, it is a
Speaker 1: sense that they are empowered, they are happy, they are sister,
Speaker 1: welcome to the store. You look beautiful. What is that?
Speaker 1: It's just it's and and and that's to be said, Kika.
Speaker 1: I'm wondering when you started at the Denny's, how this
Speaker 1: has spread now, right, because I know that shout out
Speaker 1: to Virgil who California Cannabis has about three locations, the
Speaker 1: black owner, but can you talk about some of the
Speaker 1: things that have come with this and that have been
Speaker 1: built out of this collegature. Yeah, you know, from like
Speaker 1: development beats from Social Equity Owners and Workers Association UM.
Speaker 1: And I understood and saw UM from person after person
Speaker 1: that just came in with ridiculous predatory contracts UM. And
Speaker 1: the fact that we had to do with the city
Speaker 1: and with the state, UM, that we needed to unionize
Speaker 1: and really be a collective force UM. And so that's
Speaker 1: where the lawsuits fawned from. Because the City of l A,
Speaker 1: after three thousand dollars in debt foldiness property, they opened
Speaker 1: up the licensing process finally for Social Equity about two
Speaker 1: years later. It was supposed to be a first come,
Speaker 1: first served, so the fastest person to upload your application
Speaker 1: online the first one hundred, and they kind of like
Speaker 1: a you know, some tickets, um, the ticketmaster, some sneakers
Speaker 1: or something that's crazy. That's crazy now. But just going
Speaker 1: back to them little things they know in the hood
Speaker 1: for the people who qualify, we are the slowest internet services, right,
Speaker 1: so all of those things they knew. We were going
Speaker 1: down and telling them like these white folks are using
Speaker 1: box in order to make sure that their people get
Speaker 1: in early. And you know how God will work, happened
Speaker 1: to be in the room with the person that got
Speaker 1: in ten minutes early before the start time. And as
Speaker 1: God will work it, I had organized about thirty people
Speaker 1: were in the room that we were all looking at
Speaker 1: the clock. I'm going to do our application at the
Speaker 1: same time, and we have for screen record their applications.
Speaker 1: So we actually had the video recording and personal government
Speaker 1: ten minutes early. We so so when it came out
Speaker 1: that we looked at the list and out of the hundred,
Speaker 1: maybe nineteen were black, there was about thirty Armenians on there.
Speaker 1: We didn't have no representation. I was like, oh no.
Speaker 1: And so that's where the Social Equity Owners and Workers
Speaker 1: Association really formed UM. As we organized if I have
Speaker 1: a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles, and you know,
Speaker 1: we did, like Obama beginning campaigns where he's on one
Speaker 1: in five dollar donations to hire a black attorney. UM
Speaker 1: that represented us, and we filed that lawsuit against the
Speaker 1: city of l A. They settled UM and we got
Speaker 1: a hundred additional retail licenses for Equity and then that's
Speaker 1: how I was able to open my doors and ninety
Speaker 1: nine others. UM. And it has been that type of
Speaker 1: work from taking that on the city council and stomping
Speaker 1: on them. And I use some tactics that I've my
Speaker 1: parents taught me when I was young, just reading about
Speaker 1: our history, Like people said we couldn't do it, and
Speaker 1: we were getting out with picket signs and organize and
Speaker 1: folks around the clock. UM, and we wouldn't stop. Was
Speaker 1: the key. UM that even if it were five or
Speaker 1: ten of us, we wouldn't stop. We will be at
Speaker 1: every meeting and press and press UM. And we've seen UM,
Speaker 1: that's that's the only way, UM, that it will work.
Speaker 1: And yeah, we've been pushed that way. We're here so
Speaker 1: often that that is fantastic. And it just it just
Speaker 1: shows everyone that that's listening, within listening ears what it
Speaker 1: really takes. And when I say it, I'm talking about
Speaker 1: any level of justice that you're looking for in this
Speaker 1: particular place we're talking about. You know, people say, oh,
Speaker 1: the marches doesn't they don't work, and the picketing doesn't work. Well,
Speaker 1: it we're talking about longevity. It is it is that
Speaker 1: UM refusing to to give up spirit. You know, it's
Speaker 1: that I think what's been working in America is that
Speaker 1: we get exhausted after a while. Yes, they count on that.
Speaker 1: And then and then you found another business owners or
Speaker 1: people that wanted to start businesses. Just just tell them
Speaker 1: truth here. Sometimes even with an opportunity, you have people
Speaker 1: that won't show up for it. How did you find
Speaker 1: the people that were like, yes, I want to open
Speaker 1: a business, Yes, here's my business plan. M How did
Speaker 1: you find those people? Really that real grass suits energy,
Speaker 1: like for real, we were at coffee shops and workforce
Speaker 1: development centers and the hood, um. And it would start
Speaker 1: with five people and then they would tell their other friends, UM.
Speaker 1: And it was was just for real word of mouth
Speaker 1: about people who really wanted it, right, Um. Everybody wanted
Speaker 1: this opportunity. I remember early on, UM, they would have
Speaker 1: ads on Facebook that would have yachts and you know,
Speaker 1: uh Ferrari's and be like, don't you want to be
Speaker 1: in the cannabis industry? Come sign up for the social
Speaker 1: equity program um. And so you you have those folks
Speaker 1: which were the biggest portion. Right So now when I
Speaker 1: say that one hundred, maybe a good oney of them
Speaker 1: where our folks, right, um? Because we just couldn't control that,
Speaker 1: but you had so many more that we're going for that,
Speaker 1: you know, and still go for it to this day
Speaker 1: as these licenses continue, that are down to get that
Speaker 1: ten thousand dollars a month and give away that generational
Speaker 1: wealth because that is in the licenses, It is not
Speaker 1: in selling, it is not in your monthly you know.
Speaker 1: Going back to the long haul, you really, everything we
Speaker 1: do as a people better be for our children's children.
Speaker 1: It better be you know, I mean, we're not going
Speaker 1: to ever see or feel it in our lifetime and
Speaker 1: if we don't make those moves collectively. And so those
Speaker 1: were the folks, Jill, that were harder to gather, the
Speaker 1: ones that weren't willing to compromise um, the ones that
Speaker 1: we're willing to stand and do the hard work and
Speaker 1: be relentless about it. And those numbers were much smaller.
Speaker 1: But those small numbers, once again, we never had hundreds
Speaker 1: of people protesting, you know, I mean, it was the
Speaker 1: consistency of having twenty or thirty people always show and
Speaker 1: a lot of the times it was the same fifteen
Speaker 1: and we rotated that other fifteen or twenty for the
Speaker 1: folks that would only show up once or twice I
Speaker 1: was jealous that I moved here after that. I was
Speaker 1: seriously jealous. I was like, I wanted to be a
Speaker 1: part of the progress I ever. I mean, I would
Speaker 1: say this all the time when we're talking about like
Speaker 1: school stuff, I'd be like, everyway, oh, parents don't involve.
Speaker 1: I'm like, y'all, come on now, y'all know the PJ
Speaker 1: is five parents. You know it's five. It's the same five.
Speaker 1: It's the same fire to the rotate to the new five, right,
Speaker 1: And it's like and and and I think a lot
Speaker 1: of that also has to do with so you know,
Speaker 1: um not to make excuses or anything like that, I
Speaker 1: do think that black folks are tired and they are
Speaker 1: you know, and they don't always have the time, the money,
Speaker 1: the energy, the education. And that's one thing I just
Speaker 1: really just sticks out for me, that's like sticking on
Speaker 1: my heart is the education piece, because I think that's
Speaker 1: what motivates be. People feel motivated when they have understood
Speaker 1: the full grasp of what they're looking at and they
Speaker 1: can actually see themselves as a part of it. It's
Speaker 1: like if if they don't understand it, then it's just
Speaker 1: just always ends up being a pipe dream. You know,
Speaker 1: like it's just the thing that exists out there that
Speaker 1: people say you can have, But then when you get there,
Speaker 1: you're like, no, I don't actually see myself there because
Speaker 1: people are counting on you feeling that way too, so
Speaker 1: they can be isolated, yeah, isolated from the reality of things, right,
Speaker 1: And this is one of the the one thing I think
Speaker 1: that is really valuable about what you're saying. At least
Speaker 1: what I'm getting from what you're saying, which is inspirational
Speaker 1: for me, is that your parents are still the sense
Speaker 1: of fighting you by you understanding knowing your history, your
Speaker 1: history of your family, and the history of your culture.
Speaker 1: And that's why that's super important because you can never
Speaker 1: know what your child's life or what the children in
Speaker 1: your community's life is going to be like in the future.
Speaker 1: You don't know what business they're gonna get into. But
Speaker 1: what you do know is that the value of what
Speaker 1: your teaching them, the values that you share with them,
Speaker 1: they're gonna take into those different industries. I'm sure your
Speaker 1: parents are your parent there you're gonna be selling cannabis then,
Speaker 1: But but the way that you're able to take what
Speaker 1: they instilled in you and apply that out into the
Speaker 1: world can only be making them proud, can only be
Speaker 1: making them look at you in amazement and and and
Speaker 1: and inspiration, because this is what our children do when
Speaker 1: they know who they are. And we've had this conversation
Speaker 1: down slow, they say that again, this is what you
Speaker 1: can accomplish when you know who you are. When your
Speaker 1: children know who they are, they can go out into
Speaker 1: the world to take that into any room because they
Speaker 1: will not believe the lie that somebody tells them. When
Speaker 1: they get there, They're like, you lie, because that ain't
Speaker 1: who I am. We just said this conversation before we
Speaker 1: started recording. We're looking at the background, Um, we can
Speaker 1: see this, so we'll we'll kind of explain it to you.
Speaker 1: There's a fantaire stick hot pink wall behind Big Kika,
Speaker 1: and there are her her family members. Everybody looks like
Speaker 1: beautiful and strong. This is her shop, y'all. This is
Speaker 1: how you feel that feeling you get overwhelmed when you
Speaker 1: walk in. I'm literally I wish I could. I want
Speaker 1: y'all to just come with me, because that's a dispensary.
Speaker 1: I'm not supposed to get them overwhelmed by you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, But you are In the beginning of
Speaker 1: our conversation today, I was telling ya I was reading
Speaker 1: a collection of essays by Zora new Hurston, and in
Speaker 1: the introduction it talks about the black of study. And
Speaker 1: that's what it's so important, is to get into understanding
Speaker 1: our state of being. Our state of being is what
Speaker 1: we take with us everywhere that we go. And so yes,
Speaker 1: it is important for you to walk into us dispensary
Speaker 1: and feel that. But I didn't know how does she
Speaker 1: knowtic that's important that that becomes the standard to which
Speaker 1: you enjoy and an enter into the way. Yes, man,
Speaker 1: look at all of our spaces, look at all of
Speaker 1: our spaces. We have our ancestors on the wall. You know,
Speaker 1: we're like minded people in that way. And I know
Speaker 1: for certain when there is a legacy involved, legacy, yes,
Speaker 1: but when you also likely just say, when you know
Speaker 1: who you are, it matters that much more. It matters
Speaker 1: that you're what you're doing and how you're presenting, and
Speaker 1: it matters that much more to you, So you fight
Speaker 1: for it a little harder. If not, I'm next to
Speaker 1: the table my mom, not next to my wall. I'm
Speaker 1: next to my bedside table. So we're gonna take a
Speaker 1: quick break and then we'll be right back. Can you
Speaker 1: please talk about the inside of your store, and not
Speaker 1: just the aesthetic, but also I told the girls, I
Speaker 1: was like, I'm collecting pins thanks to your store of
Speaker 1: me and the loan Grace Jones, and and you also
Speaker 1: have a chest in there just just just high like
Speaker 1: brown and black cannabis owning it. I just can you
Speaker 1: talk about what once you got in, how you was
Speaker 1: gonna make it look like, Yeah, that's so funny that
Speaker 1: y'all are talking about my grandparents because Nanda and my
Speaker 1: grandmother behind me Um in her house, she used to
Speaker 1: keep the Christmas tree up to least June, as long
Speaker 1: as it wasn't getting better. We would have to keep
Speaker 1: on filling up the water and literally even in the daytime,
Speaker 1: have these colorful lights on her tree. And then after
Speaker 1: June she would have us take a little fake plant
Speaker 1: and put the Christmas tree lights around it. And people
Speaker 1: will come into her house, our friends, and be like, oh, no,
Speaker 1: what it is your grandmother's house. I just feel good
Speaker 1: love if I don't know what the feeling is. So
Speaker 1: I was very deliberate when you go in with these
Speaker 1: color choices, Um and the color blocking are bright colors
Speaker 1: like her Christmas tree lights. Um. We even have the
Speaker 1: crafted on Crunshall with the with the neon lights behind it,
Speaker 1: UM to really accentuate this brightness the yellow wall. So
Speaker 1: I also speaking about the black aesthetic and black women,
Speaker 1: had a black woman designer designed the space, UM, Joscelyn
Speaker 1: Joy Um. And so all of those things were very intentional. UM.
Speaker 1: The dispensaries on Crenshaw Boulevard and it is right at
Speaker 1: the bottom of Baldwin Hills Windsor Hills, which is the
Speaker 1: largest UM Black a community as far as income and
Speaker 1: wealth in the United States, but very rarely do those
Speaker 1: folks come down the hill to Crenshaw. Even that in
Speaker 1: the design, in the intent. UM. So I'm so glad
Speaker 1: you feel that. When I was sitting with Joscelyn day
Speaker 1: after day, I was like, but it has to feel
Speaker 1: so that the grandma's aunties up the hill will come
Speaker 1: down here. Um. And so that was always the intent
Speaker 1: for our people and the inner generational mix that we
Speaker 1: were really purpose from having my product and whole foods
Speaker 1: and health food stores and not just being the name
Speaker 1: is Gorilla Aurex wellness code right um And It is
Speaker 1: really based my parents. We were vegetarians in the seventies.
Speaker 1: Of course, um when I when it wasn't popular. Um,
Speaker 1: and so that's just my whole being and what I
Speaker 1: wanted to give to the community. So even in the
Speaker 1: design a party that was I wanted to feel like
Speaker 1: you're going into Whole Foods or G n C vitamin section, right,
Speaker 1: and so unlike stores that are typical like Apple stores,
Speaker 1: they kind of set of dispensaries nowadays are really ster
Speaker 1: white and glass boxes. We put most of our inventory
Speaker 1: is on the floor and it's stopped like a grocery store. Um,
Speaker 1: so when you're walking in, you don't feel that inhibition
Speaker 1: about asking your met at the door by a product specialist.
Speaker 1: You have your own personal shopper that walks you through
Speaker 1: the whole store. We have the Black Tender. Yeah yeah, sorry,
Speaker 1: but a tender. We have the largest selection of black
Speaker 1: owned brands and women owned brands in the state of California. Um,
Speaker 1: we're very deliberate. I remember one time and Whole Foods,
Speaker 1: we became really friends with the receiver, brought him a
Speaker 1: Guerrilla Life hoodie and he moved naked juices out of
Speaker 1: the section and put our Gorilla Life drinks on that
Speaker 1: prime shell space. And it was at that point that
Speaker 1: I understood a that you could do that but be
Speaker 1: the even thought process of where products are stored in house.
Speaker 1: So you have these stores will be like, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: well we carry black brands, but they're over in the corner.
Speaker 1: We deliberately put the whole you bar in the front
Speaker 1: to be black owned brands where it's the first thing
Speaker 1: you see. They don't have to pay for, no shelving
Speaker 1: space on do nothing extra. We move brand to put
Speaker 1: them in the place. Um. And that has been our commitment. Um,
Speaker 1: like you were saying, we highlight reparations, book club, it's
Speaker 1: a Black Woman On book club in the community. Um.
Speaker 1: Instead of just having all cannabis things, we got the
Speaker 1: books on the shelves as a part of the displays
Speaker 1: so people ask where you can buy it and go
Speaker 1: down the street. Um. We did the Black Book to
Speaker 1: highlight the black businesses. Swift Cafe on the black another
Speaker 1: Black Woman on Cafe. So when people come, we become
Speaker 1: like a destination point where close X. When you come in,
Speaker 1: don't just come to my business and then go over
Speaker 1: to the wood, go down the street and get you
Speaker 1: some money. Check out Lamar Park while you're there inside.
Speaker 1: Cool cool, come on that. It was our intent, um
Speaker 1: and the model very intentionally, not just a design to
Speaker 1: attract people and have something very high end in our community. UM,
Speaker 1: but to put that stake in the ground. Because they
Speaker 1: just opened to train stations. We know what happens and
Speaker 1: across the country the game is happening around. We want
Speaker 1: to re gentrify and show black folks how we do
Speaker 1: it and have them come, come on, come and open
Speaker 1: up stores on the block and get the properties in
Speaker 1: our community and and create that energy and be a
Speaker 1: model for how we should be existing in this day
Speaker 1: and age and not talking about I remember back in
Speaker 1: the damn day and people would talk about we. They
Speaker 1: would just be like, Oh, that's for them, stole us.
Speaker 1: You know, that's he's a that's the pothead. You know,
Speaker 1: they're not gonna they're gonna achieve anything in life. You know,
Speaker 1: ever achieve anything in life? And I recall the first
Speaker 1: time that I had marijuana, and all I remember doing
Speaker 1: was laughing. I laughed so much that I laughed till
Speaker 1: I had to take a nap. It was wonderful, laugh
Speaker 1: till tears, just just laughed and I don't you know,
Speaker 1: I can't really remember like what was making me laugh
Speaker 1: like that or allowing me to be so free that
Speaker 1: I just couldn't help a giggle all over. What was
Speaker 1: that moment when you knew that marijuana was beneficial not
Speaker 1: only for you but for the people. Uh, I was
Speaker 1: blessed once again. My dad UM study Rastafarian principles. So
Speaker 1: it was in my house whole growing up, and it
Speaker 1: was always such a very spiritual and intellectual connection. When
Speaker 1: I would see them smoking, right, they would be at
Speaker 1: the round tables like some war rooms in the house,
Speaker 1: and my dad would have groups of people in there
Speaker 1: having all kinds of conversations and teachings. And that was
Speaker 1: you know, like in the native community. Um, that peace play.
Speaker 1: But it was something that just generated for me. What
Speaker 1: I witnessed, um, just such greatness uh and joy. Then
Speaker 1: they were sitting around laughing and talking after that. And
Speaker 1: so my relationship, my mom calls it holy um my
Speaker 1: my relationship with it, and I have three children. Their
Speaker 1: relationship with it, UM is you know, very spiritual and um,
Speaker 1: like you're saying, jealous sense of joy. And so I
Speaker 1: I never had those stigmas, and that has been a
Speaker 1: part of my quest is to fight those because I
Speaker 1: know how we use it, um, you know, not just
Speaker 1: uh smoking in it, but for the topical purposes. I
Speaker 1: know when I give it to folks that you know,
Speaker 1: I've been on chemotherapy and talking about my mom doesn't
Speaker 1: have an appetite, she can't eat, you know. I know,
Speaker 1: for folks that are suffering from PTSD and depression and
Speaker 1: anxiety that come into store just like mad but as
Speaker 1: soon as they get that bag in their hand, you
Speaker 1: could feel that weight um lift off of them. Um.
Speaker 1: And so I've always seen it as very transformative. And
Speaker 1: I'm always pretty I guess raised pretty culture. I've never
Speaker 1: fell into those stigmas um ever in life about weed
Speaker 1: maybe trying to say candidates, that's a word. It's about
Speaker 1: so many things that when you don't have the stigma,
Speaker 1: the biases and the opinions don't affect you because you
Speaker 1: don't have it. Don't have it. But that's political too,
Speaker 1: and and that says a lot about out of the
Speaker 1: box parenting also because I think a lot of times
Speaker 1: we talk about parenting, and we've talked about it on
Speaker 1: this show. All of us have experienced this from a
Speaker 1: lot of places. Is that people you've got to parent
Speaker 1: this certain kind of way. And it's like, look at
Speaker 1: what happens to your young people when you don't instill
Speaker 1: shame around certain things, when you're not afraid to allow
Speaker 1: them to understand and see what it takes to do
Speaker 1: what it is you're asking them to do. You cannot
Speaker 1: raise revolution areas if you're not revolutionary and you're sinking
Speaker 1: and then you're doing. You have to say you have
Speaker 1: to do so that then they will say and do
Speaker 1: and it's second nature. I just my god today, the
Speaker 1: first time I smoke with my grandmother and my father,
Speaker 1: it's life changing. That that moment, that breakdown of a law.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, it's it's life. It's life changing. Okay,
Speaker 1: Well I was also gonna say too, don't forget. There
Speaker 1: was a documentary And it's funny because me and Virgil
Speaker 1: have debated over this documentary, The Grass is Greener that
Speaker 1: Fat Fire Freddy did, And it's funny that we put
Speaker 1: stigmas on things because at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: Agea that stigma just comes from one of your favorite phrases,
Speaker 1: white supremacy, because based on based on the history of
Speaker 1: marijuana and it being you know, kind of associated with
Speaker 1: black and brown people. That's all of a sudden, it's
Speaker 1: associated with us, So it's bad. And so we take
Speaker 1: on that because whatever the white man say, say, it's
Speaker 1: the law. And so now we tell a lot of
Speaker 1: our kids and stuff that's bad. That's this, that's that.
Speaker 1: But that's crazy right when you think about it, it's
Speaker 1: it always brought joy. But because it brought joy initially
Speaker 1: the brown and black people first, that's a problem. Look.
Speaker 1: I came home that night after after having the trees
Speaker 1: with my girlfriend. I came home that night. My mother
Speaker 1: said she caught me in the living room. She said, UM,
Speaker 1: don't mind job. I'm in college at this time. And
Speaker 1: she's like, uh, you've been smoking that reefer And I
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, just giddy. You were smoking at reefer?
Speaker 1: I said yeah. She said, I'm just so disappointed. Do
Speaker 1: you understand what this is. It's a gateway drug. It
Speaker 1: opens the door for other drugs, you know, commercials, all
Speaker 1: the things. And she said that propaganda and I was like, mom, un,
Speaker 1: let's just say I'm I was twenty at the time.
Speaker 1: I said, Mom, they have I been to jail. She's
Speaker 1: like no. I was like, uh, you know, do I
Speaker 1: do I have? Um, they don't don't have a lot
Speaker 1: of kids running around. She was like, no, that wouldn't
Speaker 1: be so bad. I said, but it would right now
Speaker 1: because I had the money. But from simple um, you know, well,
Speaker 1: am I in trouble in any way? And am I
Speaker 1: in school? She was like yeah. I was like, am
Speaker 1: I doing well in school? She was like yeah. I
Speaker 1: was like, you might going to leave me alone about
Speaker 1: this one. Well, I'm not. I'm not harming anyone at all,
Speaker 1: m M. And I felt like it was such a
Speaker 1: benefit because I had been really stressed out working two jobs,
Speaker 1: going to school. And this one night my girlfriend had,
Speaker 1: as my mother would say, a dubie and you just
Speaker 1: melted in that. And I do bead and the first
Speaker 1: time ever been uh experience in cannabis. Wasn't smoking it.
Speaker 1: My mother made some brownies and yeah, we was cooking
Speaker 1: things giving dinner. So good. My mom made these brownties
Speaker 1: and we was was cooking Thanksgiving. There's one of the
Speaker 1: first times we had like a really quiet Thanksgiving. It
Speaker 1: was just me and her at the time. My sister, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: my sister was uh boyfriend fiance energy, she was gonne,
Speaker 1: So it was just me and Big Suit, Big Geek,
Speaker 1: Big Suit. Ya got you gotta get to do Big Suit.
Speaker 1: You had to watch something. You gotta listen to some
Speaker 1: of these old episodes. But I was like, you know,
Speaker 1: so we she made these brownies. We've turned on she
Speaker 1: turned on the music, and all I remember was how
Speaker 1: good the music sounded, and um, you know, and we
Speaker 1: cooked that whole meal and it was just like it
Speaker 1: was just such a cool experience for me because my mom.
Speaker 1: I grew up in the household too of both parents
Speaker 1: who smoked, but we just never saw it. It's so
Speaker 1: funny that they talked about things corrupting kids and both
Speaker 1: my parents moved. I had never seen them smoke before
Speaker 1: I knew they did, but it just wasn't like a
Speaker 1: thing I ever saw, really. But it's just funny that
Speaker 1: it wasn't even something that I had went to doing
Speaker 1: my own. But you know, I'm glad to see the
Speaker 1: statement kind of getting away and us getting more education
Speaker 1: about it. I know we're still in many of the
Speaker 1: states and in the United States, still on the fence
Speaker 1: around legalities and what what state is legal here, not
Speaker 1: legal or what's the vibes here? And I do know
Speaker 1: that young people are smoking a lot earlier, and so
Speaker 1: we're trying to get our young people to navigate what
Speaker 1: that means for them legally so that they don't get
Speaker 1: caught in between the gap. You know, one of the
Speaker 1: conversations that I'm having with my young folks is helping
Speaker 1: them to understand the state they live in, having them
Speaker 1: understand a lot of these That's that's why the diligence
Speaker 1: is important. That deminized what's not decriminalized. So I think
Speaker 1: it's important that we stay diligent no matter what we're doing,
Speaker 1: knowing that, yes, this work is being done, but there's
Speaker 1: so much more work to do. So we have to
Speaker 1: keep our our young people informed that they have all
Speaker 1: the proper education, specifically around legally, because we don't want
Speaker 1: them to get so relaxed that they get out there
Speaker 1: and get caught out there and we have to deal
Speaker 1: with a different type of legal situation. I would go
Speaker 1: with that for the whole gamut, for all the things.
Speaker 1: When we're talking about sex, give them all the information,
Speaker 1: you know, we're talking about drugs or I don't even
Speaker 1: like to call weed the drug. I just think that's unfair.
Speaker 1: I don't know, friends, help me out with that one.
Speaker 1: Is we to drug? Yeah, I got a new way
Speaker 1: of thinking for you. Prevention and education on cannabis. We
Speaker 1: need to be teaching them about the business because if
Speaker 1: you start looking at it more about the business opportunities,
Speaker 1: you start to lose the even time or the necessity
Speaker 1: for recreationally sitting around and using your time getting high. Um.
Speaker 1: And when I say the business, it's just not the licenses.
Speaker 1: Ancillary side is so transfer horrible. Whether you're an electrician,
Speaker 1: whether you're a carpenter, whether you're in marketing, whether you're
Speaker 1: an accountant, lawyer. If you go into the niche of
Speaker 1: cannabis for any of those things, you know how many
Speaker 1: facilities have to be built right now that you need
Speaker 1: to know the right lighting for cultivation. If you just
Speaker 1: learn that one thing, you can take that. You know
Speaker 1: how many people are looking for skilled people in that area.
Speaker 1: Even in the workforce, Cannabis is the fastest growing workforce
Speaker 1: across the country, more than nurses, more than a m t,
Speaker 1: more than electricians. Um. The fastest growing industry. Right. And
Speaker 1: so I would say to those young people early on,
Speaker 1: start and start investing your time reading and getting a
Speaker 1: part of and figuring out how you're about to gain
Speaker 1: this damn system and be a part of the industry.
Speaker 1: Because I promise you the reason why I fight fight
Speaker 1: so hard is because I know that I'm a part
Speaker 1: of being what's going to be in the history books
Speaker 1: and all realness of this. This is a brand new
Speaker 1: industry in the mirror of London. Come down and visit
Speaker 1: our dispensary and he didn't trip. Yeah, about three or
Speaker 1: four months ago, UM and he visited about five licensed
Speaker 1: facilities across the country. They selected Artist in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: That's the only dispensary that he visited to be able
Speaker 1: to have an understanding of what this would look like
Speaker 1: to legalize UM in London. Because people don't think about
Speaker 1: global legalization and how where we are in a sense
Speaker 1: of global legalization and the brand newness of this industry y'all.
Speaker 1: So when we learn these regulations or we understand and
Speaker 1: we started just participating, Listen, you don't even gotta do
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff, but just start being engaged, because
Speaker 1: you'll hear the opportunities of where you can be business planning.
Speaker 1: You'll hear the opportunities where you can go. It's crazy.
Speaker 1: That's the reason why fights are That's the reason why
Speaker 1: I stay in this because I do know what will
Speaker 1: happen twenty or fifty years from now, in this moment
Speaker 1: in time. And so for all the black people, specifically
Speaker 1: black people, you know, great for everybody, but black people
Speaker 1: the most we got the we We've been the most incarcerated.
Speaker 1: We've been the most disproportionately arrested. We've been the most
Speaker 1: to lose our lives. We have the highest number of
Speaker 1: children in foster care because of the War on drugs.
Speaker 1: It is our obligation to be involved. It is our
Speaker 1: obligation to spread the word that these tax dollars, these
Speaker 1: licenses and our skill set be used and co opted
Speaker 1: and work together. And you've gotta have a team. I'm
Speaker 1: a year and four months and I got forty seven
Speaker 1: employees right, come from my community. Um, and so the
Speaker 1: opportunities that are there, um, we're working. Actually, we just
Speaker 1: acquired the building next door to us to open up
Speaker 1: a mock training for detail the Guerrilla University, liking it
Speaker 1: to McDonald's University. And this is also a performerly incarcerated,
Speaker 1: right is that what I read? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: like creating that halfway. Look, we know the same These
Speaker 1: walls are new and that's how they're based in the
Speaker 1: whole industry, right, So cultivation you need a skill set, right,
Speaker 1: so not all everything else our learning and it's the
Speaker 1: rules and regulations, UM. And so I just continue to
Speaker 1: encourage all of us that wouldn't think twice about it
Speaker 1: just to understand how we can work cooperatively. And it
Speaker 1: will take a collective unit of us to do it
Speaker 1: because it is expensive to get in um. But that's
Speaker 1: you know, that's an easy battle, UM if we work together.
Speaker 1: And so that that's really critical, y'all. More conversation after
Speaker 1: the break. Can you at least give us like three
Speaker 1: either organizations or uh pages that we should be following
Speaker 1: to be a part of the solutions, to be a
Speaker 1: part of the like all all the things. Yes, Cannabis
Speaker 1: dot l a city dot org um. That's the City
Speaker 1: of Los Angeles, Cannabis Department, UM, Cannabis dot l A
Speaker 1: city dot org um. And when you click around and
Speaker 1: you go into the regulations, there's a social equity report
Speaker 1: that was written. UM. Find that social equity report and
Speaker 1: read it, and it tells it does a great job
Speaker 1: of concisely saying why we're here, the methodology of why
Speaker 1: social equity should be created based on these disproportion and
Speaker 1: arrest And when I say that, break it down, l
Speaker 1: A is eight percent black folks, but we represented of
Speaker 1: the arrest right, so I want to say disproportionate um.
Speaker 1: But then it also tells you all of the components,
Speaker 1: tells you the cost of starting up these businesses. It
Speaker 1: tells you the pieces that are necessary in every community
Speaker 1: if we want to start or actually press our city
Speaker 1: folks to have these sort of laws and regulations and play.
Speaker 1: To me, it's like the Bible of House should have
Speaker 1: been executed and l A did the complete opposite of
Speaker 1: everything that was in that three hundred thousand dollar report.
Speaker 1: But to me, that's a great way, a simple way
Speaker 1: for us just start grasping what it is. If l
Speaker 1: A did it wrong, I'm it sounds unhopeful for the
Speaker 1: other states too, are so far behind. But I think
Speaker 1: what she's saying is that if you look at what
Speaker 1: that framework is, it's a good place to start as
Speaker 1: advocate in your particular city or states that even though
Speaker 1: they didn't actually do it. The place is good is
Speaker 1: good and obviously every state has different laws and those
Speaker 1: things have been considered. Definitely, shout out to all the
Speaker 1: people that are in school currently or working in agriculture.
Speaker 1: That's that's a big one. Yeah, that's yeah, shout out
Speaker 1: to I just want to shoutut to Tara mart and
Speaker 1: one of the sisters that was and then the fight
Speaker 1: to help lobby for Jersey and other states to become
Speaker 1: recreational because we are in there, y'all, but we know
Speaker 1: we can see the sisters. We gotta say their name
Speaker 1: like because nobody else now we do it and recognize
Speaker 1: too that it will open up federally sooner than later. UM.
Speaker 1: And it doesn't take a lot of us, but there's
Speaker 1: a few of us in each one of these places.
Speaker 1: When it when we're allowed to have interstate commerce, our
Speaker 1: ability to connect and work together. UM, it's how we
Speaker 1: create this ecosystem of the supply chain within amongst ourselves
Speaker 1: and that's why we continue to educate UM on SULB
Speaker 1: Life Development Group dot org is our website and we
Speaker 1: just I'd just like to be a resource y'all come
Speaker 1: through to the expensary tap in anything that I can
Speaker 1: share once again and be in the first it was
Speaker 1: to be able to have the blueprint to then say okay, y'all,
Speaker 1: this is how I did. We just want to continue
Speaker 1: to support you beyond just coming to the store too.
Speaker 1: So and that's a lot of all of our black businesses, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we support by coming to the store, but there's other
Speaker 1: ways to support. We need to know. Yeah, I love
Speaker 1: the fact that we that that you circle back to business,
Speaker 1: you circle back to the community, You circle back to
Speaker 1: these things and move away from the individual and remind
Speaker 1: us of what's necessary for us to do moving forward.
Speaker 1: I just really admire you in every way. I didn't
Speaker 1: know you prior to this interview, and I feel blessed
Speaker 1: and grateful and honored to have gotten to hear what
Speaker 1: you had to say today. Truthfully, it's such a good reminder.
Speaker 1: It's a good reminder because I think in this kind
Speaker 1: of capitalist society, we can really get really down about
Speaker 1: the possibility. Is what it looks like to be successful?
Speaker 1: What does it look like to be in business? What
Speaker 1: does it look like to grow community? Is it possible
Speaker 1: to do both? To get yourself a little bag? But
Speaker 1: at the same time, and I needed to hear this
Speaker 1: from you today because this has given me a different
Speaker 1: kind of you know, you know, battery in my bag
Speaker 1: around what it can look like. And I just encourage
Speaker 1: everybody to continue to use your imagination because I think
Speaker 1: what happens is that that imagination gets stifled. You can't
Speaker 1: see that a thing is possible. You just you convince
Speaker 1: yourself it's just not gonna happen. So I just am
Speaker 1: grateful for you today. I really am grateful. I'm grateful
Speaker 1: for your ancestors. I speak their names without knowing them,
Speaker 1: and I just for them. They didn't think child, they
Speaker 1: did a thing, come on good things, and you just
Speaker 1: touched on something that I believe is the core of
Speaker 1: how I move. And what I've seen is this is
Speaker 1: the fourth business that I've started UM, but this is
Speaker 1: the one where it was always about. After Sweet Strings
Speaker 1: UM and losing my my music academy, it was always
Speaker 1: about let me go make this money and then I
Speaker 1: can go give back. And I had to take a
Speaker 1: different approach UM because it wouldn't work with just me
Speaker 1: being here standing. The loan is that let me give
Speaker 1: back while I'm building, And every time I stay centered
Speaker 1: on that, the universe opens just oraculous stores. Um. That
Speaker 1: is not anything about my work, UM, And I would
Speaker 1: say and challenge us all to be able to figure
Speaker 1: that out and to challenge ourselves to not wait, um
Speaker 1: for to give back, but figure out for the work
Speaker 1: that we do how it can align. Like I said,
Speaker 1: I had to write the cliff notes for myself, So
Speaker 1: then why am I not sharing the cliff notes at
Speaker 1: the same at the same time that I'm learning it.
Speaker 1: What we often do is wait until we have covered everything, well,
Speaker 1: give you a tidbit and worried about them someone else
Speaker 1: that I'm giving that to compete and knock me out, um.
Speaker 1: But it really is important. And I think the other
Speaker 1: side of that is my mission has always been the
Speaker 1: finest for profit that funds my nonprofit. And I came
Speaker 1: to Cannabis because I intend on open and up sweet
Speaker 1: strings again in our music academy, UM for the kids.
Speaker 1: And so that is really what motivates me when I
Speaker 1: want to sit down and and get tired. UM, it's
Speaker 1: that this has to work, um, because we have to
Speaker 1: be able to ren us and funding things that really
Speaker 1: make a difference for our children. Our hearts are full,
Speaker 1: proud of my neighborhood. Man, if you might do me
Speaker 1: the honors of allowing me to read the mission. All right,
Speaker 1: this is the mission for Guerrilla our X Wellness. Correct. Yes,
Speaker 1: we are the physical manifestation of black feminine resilience, power,
Speaker 1: and creativity. We are the advocates for those fundamentally oppressed
Speaker 1: by America's unjust criminal justice system. We are the future
Speaker 1: legacy of healers, hustlers, and history makers, diligently honoring the
Speaker 1: strong women who came before us. We are the promise
Speaker 1: of a brighter, more equitable future in South central l A.
Speaker 1: And might I add myself the world y'all, y'all take care, blessings, y'all, blessing.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's all I got. That's really it. Our are.
Speaker 1: They've been educated in so many ways. Please remember um
Speaker 1: to rewind this and play back and slow down and
Speaker 1: take the cliff notes. Take the cliff notes. None of
Speaker 1: us here at j dot ill know everything, but we're
Speaker 1: learning as we grow, and it is a pleasure to
Speaker 1: share anything that we're learning with you. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much all for listening. Face. How do you eat an elephant?
Speaker 1: One by it? Kind? Hello, listeners, it's amber Your fearless
Speaker 1: producer here. We have been so excited to get this
Speaker 1: episode to you. Black women really do get us hire
Speaker 1: to learn more about Gorilla are X and all the
Speaker 1: amazing things that they are doing in the community and
Speaker 1: all the incredible products they provide. Check out their website
Speaker 1: Gorilla r X Wellness dot com. The site is literally
Speaker 1: as beautiful as the store that, like you described, he
Speaker 1: got also left us with some incredible resources in this episode.
Speaker 1: I'll drop links to those sites and the show notes,
Speaker 1: and if you want to learn more about cannabis and spirituality,
Speaker 1: I'll leave a link that explains how Rastafarians use the
Speaker 1: herb for spiritual connection. Hi. If you have comments on
Speaker 1: something he said in this episode called eight six six
Speaker 1: Hey Jill, if you want to add to this conversation,
Speaker 1: that's eight six six four nine five four five by
Speaker 1: don't forget to tell us your name and the episode
Speaker 1: you're referring to. You might just hear your message on
Speaker 1: a future episode. Thank you for listening to Jill Scott
Speaker 1: Presents Jay dot Ill the podcast. Yes, Karema, I'm sorry
Speaker 1: distracted my whole show. Mommy. When you walk by, you
Speaker 1: just dracted the whole show. MoMA just walked up and
Speaker 1: her apps were giving what needed to be gave. Yes, Dama, Yes,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, y'all for those who are listening, Laya's mom
Speaker 1: is that work. She's amazing. We want to give it
Speaker 1: up to Big Koree, but she came through there and
Speaker 1: showed us her app work and it was fantastic, fantastic.
Speaker 1: J dot Ill is a production of I heart Radio.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i
Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.