WEBVTT - When They Go Low, We GET HIGH 0:00:03.520 --> 0:00:07.400 Welcome to JA dot M, a production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:16.080 What's Up? Everybody? Welcome, Welcome to j dot Itill Podcast. 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:19.360 This is Jill Scott and I'm here with my sister friends, 0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:27.240 Agent Graydon, Dan's lie. That's myself. Hello, everyone, high and lies, 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:31.360 ain't Claire? I felt all that stretched? Jill felt. I 0:00:31.480 --> 0:00:35.760 felt it. I know it's it's the episode. Let's let's go. 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:43.000 Been the weight Okay, I'm not gonna make your weight anymore. 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:45.920 I was. I was about to zero whole story, but 0:00:46.000 --> 0:00:50.640 I'll tell you later. Well, welcome everybody. Um, we have 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:54.680 an incredible guest here today. Her name is Kika Keith. 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:59.480 I love your name for Kika. Yeah, it got attitude, 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:06.840 It's got fuck yeah, Kika Keith, please like it if 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:10.240 you be so kindness to share these accolades and this lovely, 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:12.679 lovely young woman. I just first have to share a 0:01:12.720 --> 0:01:16.160 story because I understand that I live in Los Angeles right, 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:19.000 it is not a majority black place. And when I 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:21.480 lived in Hollywood, the one reason that I was scared 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:23.800 to leave is because I had a black dispensary, a 0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:27.840 black owned dispensary. This is not something you hear a lot. Period. 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:31.679 Better yet in Los Angeles. So when I moved to 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:34.400 the Mert Park and I cold walked down the street 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:36.600 because I passed by a dispensary that had a big 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:38.560 gorilla on the top of it. What it looks like colors. 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:41.319 I was like, well, all right, let me just stop 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:45.039 and see what they got. I walked in. It was 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:47.760 the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. And I'm 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:50.160 talking about the colors. Never I've been in a lot 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:52.480 of dispensaries, Yes, I'm telling my truth. I've been in 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:57.520 a lot of dispensaries, but the color, the friendship, the 0:01:57.560 --> 0:02:00.920 feeling of culture, I'm talking about a dispens three all. 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:03.080 When I walked in, it changed my life so much 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:04.960 that every time I have somebody that comes out of town, 0:02:04.960 --> 0:02:07.240 I'm like, let's walk up the street and let's go. Well, 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:10.440 it just so happens. On one particular day, I bring 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:12.520 my godmother, Diana William who has been a guest on 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:14.520 this show. I said, let's go to the dispensary. I'm 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:17.400 about to blow your mind. We walk in and we 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:20.800 see a familiar face named Marco Barrio, who happened to 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:24.240 be the manager of the other black dispensary. That I 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:27.520 had moved from in Hollywood, and he goes on to 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:30.079 tell me the story of the owner of this place 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:33.400 and the story of the struggle of how this place 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:36.519 came into fruition in this neighborhood. People thought to make 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:39.400 this happen, to make the dispensary here. There's a video 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:41.240 when you walk in, it gives you the short of 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:44.959 the story and the celebration with your priests and precesses 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:47.760 about how they made this happen. And so Marco walks 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:49.919 us to the office to introduce us to the woman 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:53.080 who has founded this lovely space with her mural on 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:56.080 the wall outside of the seven eleventh. I'm sorry, and 0:02:56.120 --> 0:02:59.360 her name is Big Kika, Big chikas presence. She's not 0:02:59.400 --> 0:03:01.640 just an entrepree nor she's an activist. She has been 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:04.280 in this community for a long time doing amazing things, 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:06.920 and now she has bought all kinds of peace to 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:13.600 the community. Ladies and gentlemen, not just kicker Keith, big kickup. 0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:19.800 I'm gonna I'm gonna keep my thoughts to my listen. 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:22.080 It's the big for me. It's the big for me 0:03:22.680 --> 0:03:24.840 that that tells me all the things I need to know. 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:27.000 You should have. You should have lived with that. So 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:29.520 I should have said that. When Jill and Asia displayed 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:31.320 that they want and Amber said that they wanted to 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:33.440 do a show about cannabis, weed, whatever you want to 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:35.600 call it, I said, I have the person. I don't 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:38.800 know her, but I'm gonna get her here and here 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:44.720 she is and here she is. Round of applause. Here, 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:50.200 thank you being here. Wow, you you own the first 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:53.680 black owned dispensary. I mean I would assume it's the 0:03:53.720 --> 0:04:00.280 first woman, female owned, black woman owned dispensary. Damn. Yeah, 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:02.520 and it is. You were hard to paint huh yeah, 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:05.560 very intentionally, and it is the first black woman on. Um. 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:11.680 There are some pioneers black men that came before before me. Um. 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:15.000 But yes, um, you know that was a part of 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:18.040 the mission, not to be the first, but to knock 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:23.080 the doors down. Come on. Yeah, yes, So can you 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:25.240 talk about this? Can you talk about this story when 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:27.120 you walk into when you walk into your shop, and 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:29.640 you do see this video, A lot of people weren't there. 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:31.760 They don't know the story of your struggle and how 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:34.480 you got into even this world. Can you just break 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:37.120 that down for us a little bit. Yeah, you know, 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:40.680 I always like to go back to my roots. UM, 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:44.599 because it was my parents and their profound love for 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:48.640 black people in black history and black culture that they 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:52.040 just ingrained in me since birth. UM. And so when 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:55.200 I learned about the opportunity for recreation of cannabis in 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:58.640 Los Angeles, I was like, wait a minute, there's actually 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:01.159 laws in the book that will benefit black and brown 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:04.520 people who suffered the devastation from the War on drugs. 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:09.320 And I was born in Pennsylvania but raised in Los Angeles, 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:12.520 and UM, you know, I witnessed that, UM in South 0:05:12.560 --> 0:05:15.599 central l A. Witnessed the fact that I had to 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:20.600 take my daughter to ten different schools because the schools 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:23.719 in my community, UM, we're not adequate. And we know 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:25.800 where all that stems from. And so when I learned 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:29.760 about the opportunity to get a license, UM, it really 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:33.560 was to be more about more than just myself, to 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:35.560 help as many of us get through and cross the 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:39.560 finish line. I had a beverage company prior to entering 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:44.560 into UM the cannabis based guerrilla life, and UM, I 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:47.240 know how hard it was. I had my own manufacturing facility, 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:50.440 my own distribution. I had three refrigerator vehicles we take 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:53.839 the Whole Foods and Gelson's and Bristol Farms, and I 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:56.000 knew how many years it took me that we will 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:58.480 work at one o'clock in the morning to make sure 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:01.679 health inspector didn't come in because I didn't know ship 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:05.240 about running no equipment and not doing it compliantly, coming 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:07.880 from making it in the kitchen to then being at 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:10.920 a facility. And I knew when I heard about this 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:14.280 and the opportunity for our people to be a part 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:16.640 of the industry, that the way they set it up 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:19.080 was designed to fail, and that I had to prepare 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:22.240 to fight. And I figured, I'm fighting for my ancestors 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:25.400 that couldn't be a part of the cotton industry, tobacco, alcohol, 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:29.000 you name it, up to the tech industry, um. Everything 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:30.839 they've kept us out of it. And this was the 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:32.919 first time that there were actually laws on the book 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:36.320 to give us priority with licensing. If you came from 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:41.080 inner city communities that were disproportionately affected by cannabis arrest, 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:44.159 if you had a cannabis arrest or conviction, if you 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:47.480 were low income, those were the qualifiers to be a 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:51.680 part of priority licensing UM. And so I knew it 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:53.000 was gonna be a fight. I didn't know it was 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:56.040 gonna be this kind of fight. I went an active 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:59.640 on whole food Shells in two thousand seventeen thinking that 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:01.840 it would eight nine months because they were opening up 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:05.719 in in uh two thousand and eighteen, And it literally 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:08.560 took us three years and the lawsuit against the City 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:12.560 of Los Angeles to be able to open our doors. Wow, 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:16.040 even with the legislation that was on the books that 0:07:16.160 --> 0:07:18.680 was supposed to make it easier for you. Because I 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:20.520 don't want to be clear on that, because I think 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:22.920 a lot of times we think, oh, some laws have 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:26.720 been passed, a program exists or such and such as 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:29.880 already on the books. How come people aren't taking advantage 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:33.320 because there's still going to be some you know, some 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:35.760 things in our way, some things we have to move around, 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:41.480 and some tenacity necessary, and I'm sure also a massive financial, 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:44.680 you know, burden, because we're talking about our lawyers are 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:48.640 not free, court costs are not free, and obviously the 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:52.400 licensing itself is not free, because I you know, and 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:56.200 please educate me, because I think the last that I 0:07:56.280 --> 0:08:01.040 heard is that even the license itself is very expensive, 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:04.480 that it's a it's a huge financial undertaking, and so 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:06.160 you know that in a lot of ways, that can 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:08.520 leave a lot of our entrepreneurs out of the running 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:11.800 from the gate. So was there any kind of anything 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:15.040 on the books around like financial help or been selling 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:17.960 weed for years and Kent and camp so we like 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:24.160 for years? How does that work? A My dad calls 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:27.320 it the trojan horse. They had to get voters to 0:08:27.400 --> 0:08:31.080 vote it in, and so the platform was always around, 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:33.960 we're gonna write the governor of California here the same 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:36.439 thing in New York Chicago. We're gonna right the wrong 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:39.720 of the war on drugs, and we're gonna prioritize this community. 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:42.760 Yet they don't set up education and training. They're not 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:46.600 teaching compliance and regulation. There is no access to capital, 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:50.280 They have no oversight over these predatory agreements we call 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:53.240 them share proper agreements, where these white folks were coming 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:56.920 into the hood and looking for people that had cannabis 0:08:56.920 --> 0:09:00.160 convictions and arrest and making them a strong man and 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:02.720 enticing them. I had a mom one time come to 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:04.680 me and say, listen, can you talk to my son. 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:07.319 She was like, he works at foot locker and he's 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:10.400 not understanding him signing a way for seven thousand dollars 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:13.640 a month. It's pennies on the dollar. I'm saying some 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:17.440 dispensaries make that in the first half of their day. Um. 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:21.360 And so it was very obvious, which is why I 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:23.640 had to end up really standing in the position that 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:26.480 I did. How much of a political game this was. 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:29.080 And it was really about once they pass that law, 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:32.520 every single month, changing little words in the law to 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:35.280 make sure that we couldn't get in, just to say 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:38.960 that they gave us an opportunity. Um. And you know 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:41.560 that has been the fight, and and that is you 0:09:41.600 --> 0:09:44.400 know where the real work to this day, right New 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:47.680 York is just opening be just open their first dispensary. 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:50.120 But if you look at it, um, it's a way 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:53.079 to eradicate they're they're mad all these years not being 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:55.040 able to get the money our brothers and sisters are 0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:58.440 making on the streets. Right. So once you legalize it, 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:01.480 then you're able to enforce it. And so that has 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:04.160 become the game. In l A, they had ten million 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:08.120 dollars allocator for education and funding um. But as soon 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:11.000 as they started it, before they opened up the social 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:15.320 equity program, they moved those funds to enforcement because those 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:19.040 existing marijuana dispensaries which were in l A. A hundred 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:23.160 and eighty seven only three were black. Um. And then 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:25.680 as soon as it was time for the social equity program, 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:27.760 all those white folks that got all this money and 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:31.600 they lobbying, they go onto the politicians and they're like, wait, wait, wait, 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:35.000 don't open more licenses for social equity. First you need 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:38.280 to enforce and shut down the other illegal ones. Where 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:41.760 are those that you know, people still in our neighborhoods? 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:45.679 And um, that has become the vicious game that every 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:49.760 day we're trying to dismantle. Um what what they've set up? 0:10:54.840 --> 0:11:07.439 More real talk after the break, to have to be 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:12.120 aware of not only your own business practices, but also 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:15.839 keeping abreast of all the changes that are happening at 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:18.839 a legal and a in a in a political level. 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:23.560 That sounds like an extreme amount of diligence. It seems 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:27.600 like a lot to kind of constantly be aware of. 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:31.000 You have to be so hyper aware. What are some 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:34.120 of the kinds of like the coalition, right, Like I 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:36.280 have a coalition? Yeah, what are the things you have 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:38.800 in place that are like helping you? What are your supports? 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:41.079 What are the things you have that are helping you 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:44.240 to stay on top of all of that. She's um 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:47.679 the community. Um. When I, like I said, when I 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:53.800 realized that early on, we started having classes in coffee 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:57.240 shops in the part you know where we were literally 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:00.720 members Street Franklin and we were good out a Dandy's 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:03.880 on Crunshaw at midnight after the kids were asleep, and 0:12:04.040 --> 0:12:07.200 we literally printed out hundreds of pages of the regulations 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:10.280 and we would read them and reread them, and then 0:12:10.320 --> 0:12:13.320 we would create cliff notes. Once we made the cliff notes, 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:16.000 then we started holding classes. And the next thing, you know, 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:19.360 ten turned into twenty, turning the thirty, and these folks, 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:25.000 even the neighborhood councils, because we are also knew these 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:28.720 tax dollars were supposed to go into our inner city communities. 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:31.679 That was the other sales part, right. It wasn't just 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:34.880 about giving the licenses. It was that when we generate 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:37.559 these billions of dollars, now we're going to help fund 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:42.520 these underprivileged programs. So they weren't doing that, and that 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:45.920 became the next biggest effort as going into the neighborhood councils. 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:49.080 I would go to the block clubs and educate the 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:52.720 elders and tell them like, it's not just as life 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:56.400 getting licenses, y'all need to fight for these tax dollars. 0:12:56.520 --> 0:13:01.800 And they became the coalition. I started Life Development and 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:04.280 we would organize buses to go down to these city 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:08.000 council meetings because you got to give public comment in 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:10.680 order to halk this, and we would create little scripts 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:15.559 and no cards, and we would consistently have twenty thirty 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:19.840 people that were rotating and out. Um it took me 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:22.199 two and a half years to even get to licensing. 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:24.960 So we turned our dispensary because you had to have 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:28.040 a property in order to apply. Another trip back. Twelve 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:33.320 thousand dollars a month was my rent on an empty building, 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:36.200 no business going in, but you had to have a 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:42.040 property in order to apply. So you know, fortunately I 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:44.920 had an investor early on that was vested that helped 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:48.959 fund me not working and fighting and whether it was 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:52.920 getting the buses or whatever was needed, because he knew 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:54.480 that that was the only way we were gonna win. 0:13:54.600 --> 0:13:58.040 And so that allowed um us to educate the community 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:02.520 and actually created like grassroots obvious mum and so I 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:05.199 call our dispensary grill, our ex the house of people 0:14:05.240 --> 0:14:09.480 built um because we would not be here if it 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:11.800 weren't for the fact that those people heard what I 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:14.760 was saying, took it on and became a part of 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:19.240 the force of nature that not just myself, but hundreds 0:14:19.280 --> 0:14:23.200 of others were able to open their doors. Lead so 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:28.240 level headed and the completion go into the completion. We 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:30.560 we get a lot of big ideas and go, oh, yeah, 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:32.480 we're gonna do that. But then you realize how hard 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:36.160 it is. And then the first you know, seven people 0:14:36.200 --> 0:14:39.360 turned into three, and then those three turned into one, 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:41.720 and then it's all over. You're starting all over again. 0:14:42.280 --> 0:14:45.880 And then the legal ease of it all, like, oh, 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:49.200 if there's anything I hate to do, sit in front 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:52.640 of any kind of contract. Now you're talking legislation. Oh 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:57.160 my god. Wow. And and then the nuances, the changing 0:14:57.200 --> 0:15:00.840 of of of words will change to the entire law. 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:04.440 Come on, I'd say, it's like the King James version 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:08.400 of the Bible, right, like they deliberately mix up words 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:12.880 to complicated for us. And look of these license holders 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:15.520 across the nation are white men. Yeah, and so I 0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:18.960 I don't say that in any particular way other than 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:21.280 the truth of the matter. They say it as it is, 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:25.400 because it is what it is. Sorry, come on, No, 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:29.400 they have lobbyists, they hire attorneys and advisors that do 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:31.480 this part. You you said it early. I was like, 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:33.920 I did not come in I'm I am a serial entrepreneur. 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:35.920 I love business. I didn't come here to be a 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:39.480 politician or do policies or lobbying. And how much a 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:41.720 time it took out of where I should have been 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:44.440 using to build my business. Yeah, but it's it's the 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:47.040 weird kind of necessary tax that you have to pay 0:15:47.080 --> 0:15:49.360 as a black entrepreneur where you just gotta you gotta 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:52.640 play all these roles. Yeah, we're in the music business 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:54.800 or in any other business, it's the same thing. It's 0:15:54.840 --> 0:15:57.360 like you you sign up to sing songs, you end 0:15:57.440 --> 0:16:00.640 up doing nine thousand other jobs just in order just 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:03.880 to kind of stay competitive and or to stay alive, 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:07.080 not even just competitive, but just to stay present. I 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:09.800 think it's just like it speaks to what it is. 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:14.120 But can I just say this, it needed and everybody 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:16.480 knows I'm not I'm not unique in this thought, but 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:19.400 it took a black woman to jump in there. I'm sorry, 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:22.760 it's just a fact. This, this is what really in 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:24.520 the end, of the day with people from miss is 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:27.120 the true kind of core of what feminism really is 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:30.440 all about and how Black women invented it, because the 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:34.400 idea around the empowerment of community based on need and 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:38.200 vulnerability is an understanding that at the core that black 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:41.920 women understand to the bone marrow. This is how we're 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:45.280 just wired. We're wired to understand the needs of many. 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:48.680 We are wired to understand that our success really doesn't 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:51.440 mean anything if everyone else around us is not able 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:55.080 to maintain and sustain in the same ways we're understanding this. 0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:57.840 So it's like the idea of being a black woman 0:16:58.000 --> 0:17:00.600 entrepreneur has to exist in this space. So I wanted 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:03.600 everybody to be really, really careful to listen to what 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:06.840 Kika is saying, because right now we have a lot 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:10.359 of misunderstanding around black excellence and generational wealth and a 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:13.640 lot of LLC talk. Let's make sure that we listen 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:17.000 to what she's saying. You cannot have You cannot be 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:21.240 entrepreneurial or business minded if you're not community minded. If 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:24.560 you are not mixing those two things together, if one 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:27.440 thing does not inform the other, then you're not making 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:30.160 any kind of systemic change. You are just simply making 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:33.879 dollars for yourself, and you simply making dollars for yourself 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:38.480 has nothing to do with the encouragement the empowerment of 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:41.040 the community that's going to come behind you. She said 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:46.520 specifically that this was about not being the first, but 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:50.720 opening up the doors for other people. That is a 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:53.800 key thing. Simply being the first doesn't mean that you 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:56.240 have done opened up a door being the first, just 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:59.719 being the first, you can be the first. You know, 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:03.960 capitalist billionaire who exploits people. Do you want to be that? No, 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:08.399 you don't. And understand that the attitude, this energy, and 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:11.960 this glow that you guys feel from Kika is funneled 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:16.840 through everybody around her, and that whole uh dispisensory all 0:18:16.840 --> 0:18:19.280 those employees. When you walk in there, it is a 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:22.119 sense that they are empowered, they are happy, they are sister, 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:24.679 welcome to the store. You look beautiful. What is that? 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:27.439 It's just it's and and and that's to be said, Kika. 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:30.919 I'm wondering when you started at the Denny's, how this 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:33.560 has spread now, right, because I know that shout out 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:36.800 to Virgil who California Cannabis has about three locations, the 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:39.040 black owner, but can you talk about some of the 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:40.560 things that have come with this and that have been 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:45.159 built out of this collegature. Yeah, you know, from like 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:50.520 development beats from Social Equity Owners and Workers Association UM. 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:54.960 And I understood and saw UM from person after person 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:59.040 that just came in with ridiculous predatory contracts UM. And 0:18:59.080 --> 0:19:01.359 the fact that we had to do with the city 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:04.880 and with the state, UM, that we needed to unionize 0:19:05.040 --> 0:19:09.520 and really be a collective force UM. And so that's 0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:12.960 where the lawsuits fawned from. Because the City of l A, 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:17.840 after three thousand dollars in debt foldiness property, they opened 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:21.560 up the licensing process finally for Social Equity about two 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:24.280 years later. It was supposed to be a first come, 0:19:24.359 --> 0:19:27.600 first served, so the fastest person to upload your application 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:30.720 online the first one hundred, and they kind of like 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:34.920 a you know, some tickets, um, the ticketmaster, some sneakers 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:40.200 or something that's crazy. That's crazy now. But just going 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:42.920 back to them little things they know in the hood 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:47.360 for the people who qualify, we are the slowest internet services, right, 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:50.880 so all of those things they knew. We were going 0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:54.040 down and telling them like these white folks are using 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:56.600 box in order to make sure that their people get 0:19:56.600 --> 0:20:00.359 in early. And you know how God will work, happened 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:03.240 to be in the room with the person that got 0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:07.920 in ten minutes early before the start time. And as 0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:12.240 God will work it, I had organized about thirty people 0:20:12.280 --> 0:20:14.199 were in the room that we were all looking at 0:20:14.240 --> 0:20:16.159 the clock. I'm going to do our application at the 0:20:16.200 --> 0:20:22.040 same time, and we have for screen record their applications. 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:25.880 So we actually had the video recording and personal government 0:20:26.080 --> 0:20:31.240 ten minutes early. We so so when it came out 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:35.640 that we looked at the list and out of the hundred, 0:20:36.119 --> 0:20:40.879 maybe nineteen were black, there was about thirty Armenians on there. 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:44.720 We didn't have no representation. I was like, oh no. 0:20:44.880 --> 0:20:48.399 And so that's where the Social Equity Owners and Workers 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:52.359 Association really formed UM. As we organized if I have 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:55.879 a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles, and you know, 0:20:55.960 --> 0:21:00.200 we did, like Obama beginning campaigns where he's on one 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:04.560 in five dollar donations to hire a black attorney. UM 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:08.520 that represented us, and we filed that lawsuit against the 0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:11.359 city of l A. They settled UM and we got 0:21:11.400 --> 0:21:15.440 a hundred additional retail licenses for Equity and then that's 0:21:15.440 --> 0:21:18.119 how I was able to open my doors and ninety 0:21:18.240 --> 0:21:22.320 nine others. UM. And it has been that type of 0:21:22.359 --> 0:21:25.400 work from taking that on the city council and stomping 0:21:25.440 --> 0:21:28.280 on them. And I use some tactics that I've my 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:31.160 parents taught me when I was young, just reading about 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:34.280 our history, Like people said we couldn't do it, and 0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:37.000 we were getting out with picket signs and organize and 0:21:37.080 --> 0:21:42.520 folks around the clock. UM, and we wouldn't stop. Was 0:21:42.560 --> 0:21:46.199 the key. UM that even if it were five or 0:21:46.280 --> 0:21:49.160 ten of us, we wouldn't stop. We will be at 0:21:49.240 --> 0:21:54.040 every meeting and press and press UM. And we've seen UM, 0:21:54.280 --> 0:21:58.040 that's that's the only way, UM, that it will work. 0:21:58.320 --> 0:22:02.120 And yeah, we've been pushed that way. We're here so 0:22:02.200 --> 0:22:06.280 often that that is fantastic. And it just it just 0:22:06.359 --> 0:22:11.439 shows everyone that that's listening, within listening ears what it 0:22:11.600 --> 0:22:15.200 really takes. And when I say it, I'm talking about 0:22:15.240 --> 0:22:18.600 any level of justice that you're looking for in this 0:22:18.680 --> 0:22:22.200 particular place we're talking about. You know, people say, oh, 0:22:22.320 --> 0:22:27.520 the marches doesn't they don't work, and the picketing doesn't work. Well, 0:22:27.760 --> 0:22:32.920 it we're talking about longevity. It is it is that 0:22:33.600 --> 0:22:38.320 UM refusing to to give up spirit. You know, it's 0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:41.720 that I think what's been working in America is that 0:22:41.760 --> 0:22:46.200 we get exhausted after a while. Yes, they count on that. 0:22:47.840 --> 0:22:52.240 And then and then you found another business owners or 0:22:52.560 --> 0:22:55.800 people that wanted to start businesses. Just just tell them 0:22:55.840 --> 0:22:59.560 truth here. Sometimes even with an opportunity, you have people 0:22:59.600 --> 0:23:02.520 that won't show up for it. How did you find 0:23:02.560 --> 0:23:05.120 the people that were like, yes, I want to open 0:23:05.160 --> 0:23:08.720 a business, Yes, here's my business plan. M How did 0:23:08.720 --> 0:23:12.520