WEBVTT - The Block is Hot: Gun Violence in America with AT Mitchell-Mann 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:02.640 I'm Tamika d Mallory and it ship Boy my son 0:00:02.720 --> 0:00:05.480 in general. We are your host of T m I, t. 0:00:05.559 --> 0:00:10.239 Mika and my Son's Information, Truth, Motivation and Inspiration. 0:00:09.840 --> 0:00:15.360 New Name, New Energy. What's up my son? 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:16.439 How are you doing? 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:23.680 To Mallory, I like that that's. 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:27.280 Okay with the. 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:29.280 Drum Rizzie, what's up? 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:30.640 What's up? What you got today? 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:33.840 Shout out to my brother at Mitchell, who we're gonna 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:36.320 be interviewing a little bit later. But he had this 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:41.000 dope event this weekend that I went to with my kids. 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:41.440 You know. 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:44.879 It was the Peaceful Summer Fest. Shout out to my 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:50.920 brother Fresher on Star Little Mama. You know, it was 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:53.280 just it was a really really dope event. The kids 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:56.120 were out there, they played, they had games, food, and 0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:58.320 it was just beautiful energy. Man, my kids don't be 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:00.920 liking me nowhere. And this this is the second year 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:02.319 in the road that we went to. And so when 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:04.200 I was taking them, they're like, where we going? 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:04.520 Dad? 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:07.039 Why don't you just let us stay home. I'm like, no, 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:09.760 you're not staying home, and they're like, where are we going? 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:11.560 I'm like, remember the event we went to last year 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:13.840 where they had the toys, they had the games and 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:16.640 it's oh yeah, yeah, I like that, but I'm gonna 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:17.000 go there. 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:19.760 So you know, they went out there, they was playing football, 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:23.000 they had games, came home with medals. 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:24.640 You know. Yeah, it was dope. 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:27.400 You know a lot of these kids got music and 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:29.280 it was it was it was a turned up show. 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:32.240 Shout out to Armstar, Armstar, my young little brother man. 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:35.920 He is one of those people that knows how to 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:38.320 hype the party up. Like he's one of them young 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:42.000 brothers and he's positive and he's dope. He dances like 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:46.800 none other, you know, onstars just like a yeah. So 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:49.680 watching him and he brought his wiffle group up in 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:52.960 there all dance and one of these kids did the hat. 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:56.040 He did something with he he flips the hat with his. 0:01:56.080 --> 0:01:59.280 Knees and his foot and he keeps landing on his 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:02.760 head and I was like, like, kids are talented. 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:04.960 Peaceful Summer, the. 0:02:04.960 --> 0:02:06.080 Peaceful summer Fast. 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:09.320 Shout out to my brother Freshia, who's another artist and 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:12.480 he's from Brooklyn, but he was the he was the 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:15.079 MC of the night, you know, the master the ceremony. 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:18.240 So he did a dope job and you know, just 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:22.400 introing everybody making people keeping the energy. It was just 0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:24.960 it was a dope event man. You know, I go 0:02:25.040 --> 0:02:27.640 out every now and then too things like that. So 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:30.000 shout out to at he gave back to Brooklyn. I 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:32.720 was a part, you know, I did my couple songs 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:35.080 and we had it was just it was a dope event. 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:35.280 Man. 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:37.800 Well that's good. I mean, you know, I think that. 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:43.040 Showing these young people talent, like that's what the community 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:46.839 is missing, that kind of stuff. I think that's kind 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:49.160 of what we've been talking about, is trying to provide 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:52.800 our you know, our young people with. 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:56.400 A way to see something. 0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:58.440 Yeah, positive experience fun. 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:00.959 Was they doing a lot. 0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:05.880 Of No, it wasn't no it was it was It 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:08.120 was not no talk and it was it was a 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:10.880 couple of songs. It was a couple of songs, like 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:14.840 they did some drill music. They had their little thing this, 0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:16.640 you know, they do this little stuff they go like 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:19.040 this and all that. But it wasn't no talk music. 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:20.120 You know. 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:25.200 So they was dancing, but it was kid friendly. But 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:27.840 they even they were doing, they wasn't doingn't I didn't 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:29.960 hear get it sexy in the part, Actually I didn't, 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:32.320 But there was it was like a kid friendly event. 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:32.800 I like that. 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:34.880 There was a couple of artists that you know, had 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:36.800 a couple of songs that you're like, okay, you got 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:38.480 But for the most part it was. 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:41.320 A kid friendly cool love it, love it at. 0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:44.000 He'll be here with us, Sure, yes, my brother at. 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:47.360 Let's see my thought of the day today. 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:53.320 So thinking about and I don't I don't have even 0:03:53.400 --> 0:04:00.280 the slither of energy necessary to sit and go through 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:08.640 the disgusting, vile behavior of Marjorie tail A Green. This 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:12.520 is a woman who time at the time is disrespectful 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:16.840 to people of color. And not only that, and she's 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:20.200 from Georgia, so she has embedded in her some of 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:21.160 that you know. 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:24.840 Deep state stuff. She's just she's. 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:29.880 Really, in my opinion discussing in my opinion, you know, 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:34.680 she's actually like a danger to the American public right 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:37.880 like she she is and to her colleagues because sometimes 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:40.440 she's so disrespectful. And we know, we saw what happened 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:43.320 with Jasmine Crockett that she a mess around and get 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:48.240 you out your your peace and your space and you 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:51.400 beat them, put your hands on her because she's that disrespectful. 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:56.320 And you know everything that I know every time I 0:04:56.440 --> 0:05:00.440 see Marjorie tail A Green speaking on issues, it's almost 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:03.920 like she goes out of her way to be as 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:09.680 anti progressive as possible. Like she's attempting to, as far 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:14.039 as I'm concerned, restore beyond conservatism. Like it's more than that, 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:23.400 it's like just deeply respect racist, sexist practices and policies. 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:26.120 And so, you know, if people don't know, if they 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:28.800 if you're like, who is Marjorie Taylor Green, just go 0:05:28.839 --> 0:05:31.680 look her up, read some articles. Look at the way 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:35.640 that she conducts herself on the hill and the way 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:38.400 that she has been put out there and has been 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:44.039 sort of propped up as a bully in the legislature. 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:47.120 So who's going to counterbalance that? 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:48.080 Right? 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:52.160 So you don't want Jamal Bowman because they say he 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:57.680 wasn't moderate moderate enough. He you know, leans too much 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:01.919 towards the left, and his constituents are not people who 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:08.960 overwhelmingly support that. Now they're going after the same people. 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:13.000 The APEX and all the GOP funded groups and other 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:18.919 special interest groups are now going after Congresswoman Corey Bush. 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:23.799 And you know, here's another individual that is like Jamal, 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:28.800 willing to speak out, willing to She's just as extreme 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:34.400 about righteousness and justice as Marjorie Taylor Green is about 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:38.760 racism and her and her antics. And what I'm trying 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:42.480 to understand from some of our people is, you know, 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:48.360 what do we do to balance this beyond maga mentality 0:06:48.680 --> 0:06:53.039 that we're seeing as part of those who are responsible 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:57.880 literally for making laws that will impact our lives for decades. 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:02.400 How do we but balance that. Yes, you do have 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:06.560 AOC of course, Alexandria A. 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:11.000 Cassio. You also have uh Ihan Omar. 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:14.880 You have Rashida, you have you have people there, but 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:18.320 in summerly you have people there who are considered to 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:21.320 be a part of a very progressive squad. But you 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:26.320 also need to have people, multiple people who are willing 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:31.480 to ping pong this nonsense that's happening within the government 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:32.360 in Washington. 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:34.040 And I feel like. 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:38.000 I would like to hear more about how what is 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:42.000 what is what? What is the strategy of the more 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:46.720 moderate community around how as they get more people elected 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:50.280 they are running people for office and various places around 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:50.720 the nation. 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:53.920 And I feel like we already have a number of moderates. 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:56.840 We have more moderates than anything else. 0:07:56.920 --> 0:07:59.400 We've got a lot of people in elected office that 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:03.240 know how to toe the line and walk the you know, 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:08.560 and and try to negotiate and be in a community 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:11.600 with these people. What we have, what we lack are 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:14.680 more people who if you talk crazy, I can talk 0:08:14.720 --> 0:08:18.640 crazy too. So let's talk crazy because what I'm talking crazy, 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:20.440 it's the right thing. And I don't want to make 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:24.120 a false equivalency because of Corey Bush. She might when 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:27.120 I say she talk crazy, it's nothing crazy about it, 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:30.080 but she's strong enough to be able to really go 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:35.439 hint toe to toe, toe to toe with a Marjorie 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:38.760 Tailer Green type of person. So I just just I 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:42.080 don't really have a finality, Like there's no point, no 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:46.360 finishing point to my statement. I'm just trying to understand 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:48.720 what are we going to do and how are we 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:52.559 going to balance what we're up against and the fact 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:56.480 that some of these people will not negotiate and it's 0:08:56.559 --> 0:09:04.360 not unfortunately they are becoming increasingly a majority within the 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:08.360 Republican Party. So what do we do when there's more 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:12.720 of those types of voices, or those voices are stronger 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:17.839 and louder and beginning to muffle the voices of those 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:21.680 people who are considered to be more Republican moderates, who, 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:22.559 by the way, the. 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:25.640 Republican Party, they don't do enough. If i'm if I 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:27.600 you know, from my perspective, they. 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:32.679 Don't do enough to quiet some of their own extremists. 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:35.199 They don't. That's that's never the thing. 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:38.400 So what they do is hide behind them, right, So 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:42.439 they speak, Yeah, they speak for them, right, because those 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:44.280 are things they want to say. They just can't say 0:09:44.320 --> 0:09:46.560 it out loud. So they just sit there and they 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:48.600 let them do it, and they just vote with him. 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:49.760 They don't. They don't. 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:50.839 They're not very vocal. 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:53.840 They just give their votes and and and show you 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:57.000 where they stand and take back all of the laws 0:09:57.040 --> 0:09:59.520 in the in the ground that civil rights and all 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:02.160 the things we got. They just quietly vote and take 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:03.480 them back. And they do it. 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:05.800 And it's not all of them, but it's a large 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:07.120 and it's a lot. 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:10.440 Of times, you know, we have to be as strategic. 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:13.680 Although we do need those people that allowed We need 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:16.120 those people that's gonna vote with us every time and 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:16.679 never have. 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:17.320 To say a word. 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:19.720 We just need those people that's gonna say, okay, yeah, 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:23.920 let him say it, right, but we got to support right, 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:24.200 that's what. 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:27.320 They said, Well, we don't want Jamaal Bowman to be 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:32.400 an activist. We want him to be a legislator. And 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:35.200 I don't disagree that he needs to be more or 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:39.400 he Yeah, he should be, and they should be more 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:44.040 legislated than anything else. But I don't hear the Republican 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:49.320 Party saying we don't need these loud, extreme voices. We 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:54.439 need you to be more moderate and conciliatory. 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:57.720 Because they never had to, right, because they understand that 0:10:57.840 --> 0:11:02.240 for the most part they've been in control of you know, 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:07.640 how this country has been ran because racism and you know, 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:09.720 division is as American as apple pie. 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:11.760 That's that is the basis of America. 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:14.640 And they're not trying to, you know, take away the 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:16.160 foundation of what America is. 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:18.600 So they're going to always quietly just support it. It's 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:19.160 not gonna let. 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:21.120 You know they support it. We have to put certain 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:25.200 voices who can be loud, right, and but the thing 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:26.480 is we can't fold. 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:28.959 But we can't fold when they. 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:30.559 Get loud and support them. 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:32.360 You got to support them. You got to go all 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:34.320 up to a lot of people scared to support them. 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:35.400 And no, he's too loud. 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:38.160 People will say it's not no support because there's many 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:44.600 that support, but it's not enough to stand just like 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:49.240 they do. They line up behind, like you said, may 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:53.480 not be loudly, but they line up behind the one 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:56.480 who are considered to be radical, but they are radical 0:11:56.640 --> 0:11:57.880 in a direction that's hard. 0:11:57.920 --> 0:11:59.320 It's like what they did with Kevinaugh. 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:02.280 Like just look at how they got Kavanaugh and like 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:04.440 the people, they didn't a lot of people. 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:06.720 They say, okay, you're gonna have your hair in your people. 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:09.040 People already know that they were voting that man, and 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:12.000 they didn't care nothing about that hearing. They said he 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:14.040 here to do a job, and he said, oh, no, no, 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:16.079 I wouldn't do anything road Wade. 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:20.000 No, no, maybe he did say how you know that? 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:21.760 I don't know that. He said he would not give you. 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:27.120 He made a statement that implied that he wouldn't. But 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:30.320 everybody had already known that he was already one of 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:33.760 those judges who was anti Rob Wade already. But when 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:37.040 they was questioned him, his statement just moved around there like, no, 0:12:37.200 --> 0:12:39.560 you know, I would uphold this and this and the 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:43.240 findings of this and that. Look it up, because he 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:46.920 definitely he wiggled around there. And what happens is he 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:48.640 got right in there and he did what they put 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:49.280 him in there to do. 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:52.320 I think a good example of what you're saying is 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:57.880 like the Tulsa, Oklahoma exactly hearings, because that's what they did. 0:12:58.000 --> 0:13:02.880 The court, the justices, several of them appeared to be 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:05.320 in support, and I wonder how they voted, because I 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:08.520 know that the end result was that they tossed the 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:14.880 case for those those I don't want to say, yeah, 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:19.760 elders who are still looking for reparations and justice for 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:23.679 what happened in the Tulsa bombings. But I don't know 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:27.000 exactly how all the judges voted. I just know that 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:30.560 the end result was whoever may have voted against it, 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:31.480 they didn't win. 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:34.600 They know how to play the position until they get 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:35.640 back home. 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:39.480 The systems that we have with the Supreme Court and 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:42.840 the higher courts of all the states, and the two 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:45.360 party system and all of that has to really I mean, 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:48.280 if we're going to really get serious about making some changes, 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:51.440 we're going to have to really dig deep and look 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:54.840 at line items. That's what they do when there's when 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:58.600 there's problems with the business. They get the budget and 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:04.040 they go line by. 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:08.240 My music segment today comes from an artist that I 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:11.040 actually met at the event that. 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:11.640 I did. 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:17.839 At the Peaceful Summer. I've heard the music of his 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:20.720 song before, but I actually met him. And this song 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:23.840 is such a dope song and I want you to 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:26.000 make sure you google it. His name is Mo Dub 0:14:26.560 --> 0:14:28.600 and the name of the song is called Same Heart. 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:33.440 It is such a powerful song. Mo Dub M O 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:38.440 dot d U b B. And this song is just 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:43.040 basically talking about we're all going through something, but we 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:46.160 all have one heart, like our heartbeats at the same time, 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:49.000 You're not the only person going through what you're going through. 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:51.440 It's such it's such a powerful song. We played the 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:54.200 like three songs in a row. The whole crowd was 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:57.000 just like it just is one of those songs. And 0:14:57.040 --> 0:15:00.480 it's been like a big song on TikTok. A lot 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:04.320 of people are doing the song over but seeing him 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:07.800 performing and just seeing the energy go look up Mo Dub, 0:15:08.560 --> 0:15:13.160 same hard, beautiful song. You know, I was moved, like, Yeah, 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:15.400 we gotta work together because that's the type of music 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:17.720 that I want to create, and I know we're gonna create. 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:20.000 So we're gonna be in the studio and in this 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:22.240 couple of weeks. So shout out to MODEB. Follow him 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:29.200 is mo dot d u bb on Instagram. And today 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:32.400 we have another one of our friends, more like my brother. 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:33.440 You know. 0:15:33.480 --> 0:15:37.200 He is the founder in chief of executive officer of 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:41.640 man Of Inc. He is also appointed by Mayor Adams 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:45.360 as the first New York City Gun Violence Preventions are 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:48.680 and the co chair of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force. 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:53.960 My brother Andre T. Mitchell Man, a k a. A. T. 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:56.120 Mitchell Man. What's going on? 0:15:56.280 --> 0:16:03.800 Game old, right, but it goes there. It's a reason 0:16:03.840 --> 0:16:06.320 for it. It's good to see you both be here 0:16:06.360 --> 0:16:07.160 with y'all again. 0:16:07.600 --> 0:16:10.080 Yes, when you in the studio the last time. 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:14.840 Never know, this is my first. I was just visual during. 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:22.160 COVID pendant on with two people. 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:25.960 My mom, my dad, my mother, my father, and I 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:28.400 was actually in this. I was in her belly during 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:30.920 this when the shot. She was pregnant with me. 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:33.840 So, yeah, how did you find that? 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:36.480 My family gave it to me. You know, you got 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:39.880 uncles and you know family always they got those old 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:42.320 pictures and they can tell you exactly what was going 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:44.880 on at that time. And that's when I was like, oh, 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:46.720 I gotta have that. I never kind of had a 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:49.840 picture with my mom and my dad together, and it 0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:52.600 looked like they was like in love, you know what 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:54.760 I mean. So at least I feel good. I was 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:57.400 conceived with some love, you know, so I had to 0:16:57.440 --> 0:16:57.720 have it. 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:01.040 So how you been at you know, I've been with you, 0:17:01.080 --> 0:17:03.520 I guess was talking about your event that you had 0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:08.800 this weekend, Safe Summer Peace Peace my fault, the Peaceful 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:09.400 Summer Fest. 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:14.040 Yes, I've been good though. Bro. You always got a 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:18.240 VIP access card, all access card whenever you choose to 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:21.720 pull up. But yeah, it was it's our way of 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:25.280 closing out. We closed out Gun Violence Awareness Month on 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:28.160 the twenty ninth and thank you again nice for always 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:30.159 pulling up and being a part of the program. And 0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:34.679 it was a great way to conclude this month thirty days. 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:36.960 As you'll all know, it was an extension of our work, 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:40.000 you know, Tamika of creating Peace Week at the beginning 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:42.520 of the year, and then in the middle of the year, 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:45.520 during the month of June, we deem it gun Violence 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:48.399 Awareness Month. And that's for all the members of the 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:50.720 Gun Violence Awareness movement to kind of get down to 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:53.440 raise awareness around gun violence. So we had that big 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:56.919 program in Kanassi, Brooklyn, this past weekend, and so it 0:17:56.960 --> 0:17:58.920 was good to have you and so many others join 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:02.479 us on stage and us just celebrate you know, gun 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:03.560 violence away Iness month. 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:06.560 It was a pleasure to be there. Man The work 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:09.240 that you do is phenomenal. We've talked about it before. 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:11.280 Some people may not, I don't know unless they're under 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:14.439 a rock somewhere that don't know what you do. You 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:17.040 know what Man Up does explain to them what it is, 0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:21.080 how it started, and what you you know contributing Man Up, Inc. 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:28.080 It's a blessing of organization twenty years now. Young organization 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:31.520 established twenty years ago, two thousand and four, after the 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:35.159 unfortunate shooting and killing of an eight year old his 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:37.840 name is Dashawn day Dee Hill in Brooklyn, New York, 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:42.000 in tragic afternoon, we heard that these children that got shot, 0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:44.919 that's the word on the street. Myself, I responded with 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:48.400 my local council member, Charles Barron, to that crime scene, 0:18:48.520 --> 0:18:51.439 rushed to the hospital and that's where I met that 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:54.960 family in the trauma area in the hospital where he 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:59.640 was unfortunately passed away from then and I was already 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:03.199 an activists, but I felt even as one that was 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:06.359 already doing work on the ground that I wasn't doing enough. 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:09.119 If we're not going to be able to stop, you know, 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:11.879 the shootings to the degree where nobody, like the women 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:14.679 and the children are safe, then I felt there was 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:16.680 more that could be done, and that's what happened. Man 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:18.919 I think became a part of that work. Man and 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:23.320 now twenty years later, multi million dollar nonprofit, close to 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:27.040 one hundred employees, not including the youth employees. We have 0:19:27.080 --> 0:19:30.439 about fifteen locations now throughout the city, mostly in the 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:34.199 Borough of Brooklyn. We're in the detention centers with the 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:36.919 young bros in there, We're in the hospitals, we're in 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:39.520 the schools, and we are on the streets as you 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:41.280 know it. So, like you said, unless people have been 0:19:41.359 --> 0:19:43.359 under the rock, I don't know why they wouldn't probably 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:46.040 know about Man Up, but you know here we are. 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:49.639 So I asked you about your parents and your family 0:19:49.680 --> 0:19:52.800 because I think that you know, a lot of times 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:55.359 people know us for what we do, but they have 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:57.520 no idea of our stories, like where we come from. 0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:00.399 And you've told they were at the time it was 0:20:00.440 --> 0:20:04.760 street politicians. But now tiam I, you've told our followers 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:08.480 and listeners in the past about your story, But would 0:20:08.520 --> 0:20:13.480 you give us, you know, another briefing on at and 0:20:13.840 --> 0:20:17.200 where you started and then where you are today, how 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:20.360 you feel about where you are today going from your 0:20:21.280 --> 0:20:27.760 beginning point to now being reguarded by communities and by 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:32.200 the mayor and by other leaders across the country, as 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:36.480 you know, one of our most effective organizers around gun 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:37.720 violence awareness. 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:40.760 Well, thank you. I mean, I'm my story. I'm sure 0:20:40.760 --> 0:20:44.240 it's like most you know. Was a little boy born 0:20:44.280 --> 0:20:48.840 into a single parent household, my strong mom who had 0:20:48.920 --> 0:20:52.920 eight kids all together. I was the third of eight 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:57.000 kids that was blessed to be born. So we grew 0:20:57.040 --> 0:21:00.080 up in Brooklyn in this case, mostly in Brownsville in 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:02.960 East New York, Brooklyn. And so that's a pretty tough 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:05.439 neighborhood's pretty you know, rough, and so we had to 0:21:06.040 --> 0:21:08.679 you know, fin for ourselves. But you know, just we 0:21:08.800 --> 0:21:11.440 learned a lot of how to really share, We learned 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:14.439 how to you know, care, how to really you know, 0:21:14.680 --> 0:21:17.560 just really love on each other. You know. I didn't 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:19.760 have like maybe some people who come from like a 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:22.160 low like maybe a single like to they the only 0:21:22.240 --> 0:21:25.400 kid childhouse. I had like five six other brothers and sisters. 0:21:25.560 --> 0:21:27.439 So we loved on each other, you know, and uh, 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:30.359 you know, just growing up in in the communities and 0:21:30.640 --> 0:21:34.040 that part of Brooklyn was pretty hard. But at the 0:21:34.080 --> 0:21:37.119 same time, you know, it taught me, you know a lot. 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:38.919 I mean, I was the kid, believe it or not, 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:41.879 I loved to learn. I loved school. So I was 0:21:41.960 --> 0:21:44.280 that young man. I couldn't wait till summer was over 0:21:44.720 --> 0:21:47.439 so I can go back to school to learn. So 0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:50.560 you can, you know, consider me a nerd because I 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:53.840 did homework, I studied, and I did well. I got 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:56.800 good grades, so you know, I just wanted to be 0:21:56.920 --> 0:21:59.200 down too. Though at the same time, most of the time, 0:21:59.240 --> 0:22:01.240 the girls that I don't know if they're still less 0:22:01.280 --> 0:22:03.719 way today, they don't. They don't want to talk to 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:05.919 to the nerds, you know. So I had to figure 0:22:06.000 --> 0:22:08.960 my way out. And that's when i've you know, I 0:22:09.080 --> 0:22:12.200 realized that it was about being partially part of the streets, 0:22:12.240 --> 0:22:16.679 and so I entered into that realm eventually, you know, 0:22:16.760 --> 0:22:19.080 by being in the streets. I've been shot before, you know, 0:22:19.880 --> 0:22:23.080 I've been you know, imprisoned. I was actually put you know, 0:22:23.200 --> 0:22:25.879 in prison for a crime I didn't commit. It was 0:22:25.960 --> 0:22:29.479 charged with murder and a homicide in Brooklyn. I went 0:22:29.600 --> 0:22:31.159 to trial because I thought, you know, that was my 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:33.920 first and only time that I experienced something like that 0:22:35.480 --> 0:22:38.200 where I assumed that the justice of the scales of 0:22:38.320 --> 0:22:41.280 justice was fair. But I know now that I didn't 0:22:41.280 --> 0:22:43.000 know then that if you don't have no money, you 0:22:43.040 --> 0:22:45.240 come from poverty, you don't have the knowledge of the law, 0:22:46.600 --> 0:22:48.760 then you're gonna be railroaded. And that's what happened to me. 0:22:48.800 --> 0:22:50.800 I got found guilty of a crime I didn't commit, 0:22:50.840 --> 0:22:53.240 and I was sent to prison, and I worked my 0:22:53.320 --> 0:22:55.719 way out from prison. To be very honest with you, 0:22:55.800 --> 0:22:58.960 I mean, you know, I felt my way into a 0:22:58.960 --> 0:23:02.640 maximum security prison, and I had to realize that if 0:23:02.680 --> 0:23:04.720 I'm going to you know, get home in one piece, 0:23:04.760 --> 0:23:07.400 I had to figure that lifestyle out, as you know, mice, 0:23:07.880 --> 0:23:11.639 It's real like that. But I always just you know, 0:23:11.800 --> 0:23:13.800 just really still. I was able to get back to school. 0:23:13.800 --> 0:23:15.760 I was able to go back to school, back to 0:23:15.800 --> 0:23:19.679 college while in prison. And then while in college, I 0:23:19.800 --> 0:23:22.240 was given a chance to come home early because I 0:23:22.320 --> 0:23:25.439 was doing so well. And I came back into my 0:23:25.480 --> 0:23:28.600 community where they glorify a prison, you know, the young 0:23:28.640 --> 0:23:31.000 bros And people was like, oh, yo, it was happy. 0:23:31.359 --> 0:23:33.680 You know, they wanted all those war stories. I wasn't 0:23:33.680 --> 0:23:36.600 giving it up. I was like, you crazy, it was wild, 0:23:36.680 --> 0:23:39.440 it's whack, and I'm not taking nothing, nothing away from 0:23:39.480 --> 0:23:41.919 some good brothers and sisters. That's behind the wall. But 0:23:41.960 --> 0:23:44.640 I think they would even agree that prison is really 0:23:44.720 --> 0:23:47.680 for suckers. It's not really what we want our young 0:23:47.720 --> 0:23:50.360 people to to end up the rest of their lives. 0:23:50.440 --> 0:23:52.639 And just started getting busy every day since then, and 0:23:52.680 --> 0:23:55.639 so my mindset was different, and I just continued to 0:23:55.680 --> 0:23:58.639 beat the ground and change the hopefully the trajectory of 0:23:58.680 --> 0:24:01.000 other people following them out shoes like that. How long 0:24:01.040 --> 0:24:04.760 did you do all together? I served sixteen years. Sixteen years, 0:24:05.359 --> 0:24:09.320 I have six altogether, meaning I had start five years 0:24:09.359 --> 0:24:12.680 in prison and I had to serve eleven years on parole. 0:24:13.280 --> 0:24:16.120 And so people, most people don't count that parole time, 0:24:16.160 --> 0:24:18.919 but mice, you know that once you are on parole, 0:24:18.960 --> 0:24:22.439 they remind you you are still a state property, you 0:24:22.480 --> 0:24:24.480 still state property, and that you can go back to 0:24:24.560 --> 0:24:27.000 jail at any dingy get time. So I had to 0:24:27.000 --> 0:24:30.040 serve the entirety of my duration of time, and it's 0:24:30.080 --> 0:24:33.719 actually hard dr to do it on parole than it 0:24:33.760 --> 0:24:35.080 is to be inside here. 0:24:35.280 --> 0:24:36.280 I heard yah. 0:24:36.320 --> 0:24:40.480 Because they regulate everything inside so you pretty much they 0:24:40.520 --> 0:24:42.879 make sure you go here and there. But when you're outside, 0:24:43.760 --> 0:24:48.399 those probation if you got a probation officer or parole 0:24:48.440 --> 0:24:51.040 over so that don't get along with you. You know, 0:24:51.119 --> 0:24:53.720 they put stipulations on you. They say you violated this. 0:24:53.960 --> 0:24:56.440 They make everything hard for you. They tell you can't 0:24:56.480 --> 0:24:58.520 go to certain jobs, you can't go to certain places, 0:24:58.520 --> 0:24:59.560 you can't be here. 0:24:59.600 --> 0:25:01.720 You have a curfew, and out. 0:25:01.600 --> 0:25:03.920 Here you gotta. You gotta take care of everything yourself. 0:25:04.480 --> 0:25:06.280 In prison, things have provided. 0:25:05.920 --> 0:25:12.280 You and then fit with because in prison you can. 0:25:11.960 --> 0:25:15.080 Tell you conduct your responsibilities. Out here if your dad 0:25:15.240 --> 0:25:17.760 you know you got responsibilities. 0:25:17.320 --> 0:25:20.320 Them is like yeah, alone, I see I saw you 0:25:20.440 --> 0:25:20.840 walk in. 0:25:21.040 --> 0:25:21.800 You better deliver. 0:25:21.880 --> 0:25:22.680 It's a very. 0:25:22.520 --> 0:25:25.600 Powerful way to express it. 0:25:25.680 --> 0:25:26.640 You have to deliver. 0:25:26.800 --> 0:25:29.560 You gotta deliver if you if you really about your 0:25:29.600 --> 0:25:31.120 life and you say you're a man, that you say 0:25:31.160 --> 0:25:33.439 that you are, you gotta and then not only just 0:25:33.480 --> 0:25:36.080 for your kids, but then you go back, like I said, 0:25:36.080 --> 0:25:39.520 in two communities where we come from, you know where 0:25:39.600 --> 0:25:41.760 they have friends, and you gotta be able to look 0:25:41.760 --> 0:25:44.760 out for everybody. Now kids. And so that's that's again, 0:25:44.800 --> 0:25:48.520 that's how I started in this work. And I don't 0:25:48.520 --> 0:25:50.359 regret it. You know, I used to complain I was 0:25:50.400 --> 0:25:52.399 better because I got you know, I went to prison 0:25:52.400 --> 0:25:56.240 for somebody and do but I realized my purpose though 0:25:56.480 --> 0:26:00.760 you know, I understand it now completely. So been a blessing. 0:26:01.080 --> 0:26:03.439 So this work that you've been doing, like you were 0:26:03.440 --> 0:26:08.320 one of the architects along with Tamika and Erica, the 0:26:08.400 --> 0:26:13.000 architects of this this what we call the crisis management 0:26:13.000 --> 0:26:15.679 system in New York City. Yes, you know, and and 0:26:15.720 --> 0:26:17.960 you said where it came from? You said, what this 0:26:18.160 --> 0:26:21.800 what happened with young Dade? And I seen you at 0:26:21.800 --> 0:26:24.480 an event that you were promoting the book, sir, that 0:26:24.640 --> 0:26:27.200 you know that I've seen that the mother Dade's mother 0:26:27.600 --> 0:26:31.200 had wrote and give us some background around. 0:26:30.920 --> 0:26:33.520 The well, like you said, myself, my dear sister Meka, 0:26:33.720 --> 0:26:37.159 Tamika uh and of course our sister Erica. You know, 0:26:37.240 --> 0:26:39.440 we like to pride ourselves. We were, you know, the 0:26:39.760 --> 0:26:43.720 three amigos. You know of that time where we committed, 0:26:43.840 --> 0:26:47.679 well before there was any bread, any money, that we 0:26:47.680 --> 0:26:50.280 would stick together, we would playing together, we would we 0:26:50.280 --> 0:26:52.720 would just do everything together. And we did that. You know, 0:26:52.800 --> 0:26:54.800 we wanted to raise the bar again. It was like 0:26:54.880 --> 0:26:58.919 raising the awareness around gun violence. And so in the 0:26:59.119 --> 0:27:01.640 in the process of our organizations that we were all 0:27:01.680 --> 0:27:05.960 affiliated with, you know, we was able to strategize and 0:27:06.400 --> 0:27:08.639 really get the City of New York at that time 0:27:09.000 --> 0:27:11.840 to pay more attention to the work that we've been 0:27:11.880 --> 0:27:15.480 doing for so many years. And that at that time, 0:27:15.560 --> 0:27:18.680 Speaker Quinn was the Speaker of the City Council. Mayor 0:27:18.760 --> 0:27:21.760 Bloomberg was the Mayor of the city. They was able 0:27:21.800 --> 0:27:23.919 to we created the task for us. You know, it 0:27:24.000 --> 0:27:26.200 was the first task force. This task force our culture 0:27:26.320 --> 0:27:29.560 now was one that I sat on then, you know, 0:27:29.800 --> 0:27:34.040 back in twenty like thirteen. And you know, in that 0:27:34.160 --> 0:27:36.760 task force effort, we was able to really put the 0:27:36.960 --> 0:27:41.480 real meat to the work and really added more resources. 0:27:41.480 --> 0:27:44.800 That's the birth of the crisis Management system. And so yeah, 0:27:44.800 --> 0:27:48.080 we're real proud of that. Today's over eighty nine million 0:27:48.160 --> 0:27:51.200 dollar initiative in the City of New York. It funds 0:27:51.240 --> 0:27:57.040 about forty organizations, so many different agencies are affiliated with it, 0:27:57.080 --> 0:27:59.600 and so many jobs have been created. Now it's more 0:27:59.680 --> 0:28:02.200 like a job for most folks, you know, versus when 0:28:02.200 --> 0:28:04.960 we were doing it. It was a mission driven sort 0:28:04.960 --> 0:28:06.920 of effort. And that's the hard part now because you 0:28:06.920 --> 0:28:08.960 don't know who's in it for the mission and who's 0:28:09.000 --> 0:28:10.879 in it for the money. Most are in it for 0:28:10.960 --> 0:28:14.040 the money, you know. But that being said, man, you know, 0:28:14.240 --> 0:28:17.760 like you said, Dayday's mom, she actually has always been 0:28:17.800 --> 0:28:21.159 and she can attest to the twenty year commitment that 0:28:21.280 --> 0:28:24.560 I made to her when I met her twenty years ago, 0:28:25.080 --> 0:28:28.119 because when she wrote this children's book called Day Day Games, 0:28:28.160 --> 0:28:31.520 It's Wings, which was a centennial it was our little 0:28:31.640 --> 0:28:35.520 twenty year anniversary book, and we published it and now 0:28:35.560 --> 0:28:37.560 it's out, you know, on Amazon and all of the 0:28:37.640 --> 0:28:41.960 places you can about books. Our Department of Education Chancellor David 0:28:42.000 --> 0:28:45.959 Banks has now purchased over ten thousand copies of this 0:28:46.000 --> 0:28:49.080 book to disseminate throughout the city in the different schools. 0:28:49.440 --> 0:28:52.000 But it's a story about your little data eight year 0:28:52.040 --> 0:28:54.400 old little Day They like most kids, just being kids 0:28:54.920 --> 0:28:56.920 and then I'm wanting to go outside and play in 0:28:56.960 --> 0:28:59.560 this case, you know, coming home from school, and that's 0:28:59.560 --> 0:29:01.600 when the try agedy happened, just on his way home 0:29:01.600 --> 0:29:04.280 from school. And it's a beautiful book the way that 0:29:04.360 --> 0:29:06.959 you could tell it through the lens of young people 0:29:07.280 --> 0:29:10.360 without them being so frightened because it talks about the 0:29:10.400 --> 0:29:12.760 pain and then it talks about the purpose, and then 0:29:13.120 --> 0:29:15.320 you know the triumph that came out of it. The 0:29:15.320 --> 0:29:18.560 community rallied around his little boy's life. And today, like 0:29:18.640 --> 0:29:21.360 I said, now we are we would like to consider 0:29:21.400 --> 0:29:24.000 ourselves a stickler or a staple in our neighborhood. 0:29:24.680 --> 0:29:25.640 It's a beautiful thing. 0:29:26.560 --> 0:29:31.320 So being the gun violence preventions are like, what do 0:29:31.360 --> 0:29:33.520 you what are you seeing inside the city as far 0:29:33.520 --> 0:29:34.320 as gun violence. 0:29:34.520 --> 0:29:38.080 That's interesting, man, because when I got this appointment by 0:29:38.120 --> 0:29:41.560 Mayor Adams, now two years ago this time, if y'all remember, 0:29:41.560 --> 0:29:45.200 we walked over the Brooklyn Bridge together and we took 0:29:45.240 --> 0:29:49.520 over the steps. That's never happened before, especially for an 0:29:49.560 --> 0:29:52.680 appointment by the mayor. He would attest to that he's 0:29:52.720 --> 0:29:55.680 never seen that many people come out to stand in 0:29:55.720 --> 0:29:58.520 support of the appointee in that case. That that was 0:29:58.560 --> 0:30:03.600 two years ago, and you know, going back into government, 0:30:03.600 --> 0:30:06.280 because I was already a council member's chief of staff, 0:30:06.960 --> 0:30:08.840 I was counseled, I was chief of staff the council 0:30:08.920 --> 0:30:13.200 number Charles Barnon. I've been inside the walls in the 0:30:13.200 --> 0:30:18.320 halls of government just never like this. So now interesting, 0:30:18.440 --> 0:30:20.800 like you said, what it's like, because there's actually a 0:30:20.840 --> 0:30:24.880 divide in there. You know, there's the mayoral side is 0:30:24.920 --> 0:30:28.120 the blue side. Then there's the speaker in the city 0:30:28.160 --> 0:30:31.520 council side, which is the red side. Believe it or not. 0:30:31.600 --> 0:30:35.000 Literally they got red rooms and blue rooms, and so 0:30:35.840 --> 0:30:37.840 I used to be on the red room side. Now 0:30:37.840 --> 0:30:40.000 I'm over with the folks on the blue room side. 0:30:40.040 --> 0:30:42.240 And you wonder the wide things all the way they 0:30:42.280 --> 0:30:43.240 are in our neighborhoods. 0:30:43.280 --> 0:30:44.520 Now you just see it clear. 0:30:44.600 --> 0:30:49.240 You can see it there like this bottleneck. So much division, 0:30:49.440 --> 0:30:53.000 you know, so much unnecessary. I mean, just beef and 0:30:53.040 --> 0:30:55.480 we want our kids to stop beefing. You know, we 0:30:55.560 --> 0:30:58.960 gotta work it from the top. So I'm now, interestingly enough, 0:30:59.000 --> 0:31:01.360 I come from the boots on the ground. And so 0:31:01.400 --> 0:31:04.760 that's what was really surprising about my appointment because out 0:31:04.760 --> 0:31:07.280 in grassroots and I'm going back in and I'm talking 0:31:07.280 --> 0:31:10.000 about this issue that nobody really wants to talk about, 0:31:10.080 --> 0:31:13.480 called gun violence. The mayor did something unique. He said, 0:31:13.520 --> 0:31:15.600 I don't want you just to be on the task force. 0:31:15.760 --> 0:31:19.440 I want you to co chair this task force. Like literally, 0:31:19.520 --> 0:31:21.080 you're gonna leave. You're gonna sit at the head of 0:31:21.080 --> 0:31:23.959 the table, and I'm gonna put every commissioner at your table, 0:31:24.440 --> 0:31:28.120 every deputy commissioner at my table from all the city agencies, 0:31:28.360 --> 0:31:30.840 and everybody got to go into their tool kit. Everybody 0:31:30.880 --> 0:31:32.320 got to go and look and see what they could 0:31:32.320 --> 0:31:34.960 do about this issue called gun violence. And so that's 0:31:35.000 --> 0:31:37.960 been like I said, now two years. At first, you know, 0:31:38.440 --> 0:31:40.400 it was it was getting to know you better kind 0:31:40.440 --> 0:31:42.440 of thing. They didn't know why the mayor would pick me. 0:31:42.480 --> 0:31:45.000 And he'll tell you in a minute. I know at 0:31:45.240 --> 0:31:47.600 like I know my son, I know Tamika. I know 0:31:47.680 --> 0:31:49.880 that we are on the ground, and he wanted somebody 0:31:49.880 --> 0:31:52.800 from the ground to be in the mix. Today were 0:31:52.840 --> 0:31:56.360 moving along. Man. We've actually we created a blueprint, a 0:31:56.400 --> 0:32:01.640 community plan that's seven strategies that we focusing on the 0:32:01.680 --> 0:32:04.480 top six precincts in the City of New York where 0:32:04.600 --> 0:32:06.920 most of the gun violence is coming from. It's actually 0:32:07.000 --> 0:32:11.480 thirty precincts all together, it's seventy seven precincts, and out 0:32:11.480 --> 0:32:14.680 of the seventy seven precincts, thirty of them are responsible 0:32:14.680 --> 0:32:17.480 for ninety eight percent of the gun violence. And out 0:32:17.480 --> 0:32:21.720 of the thirty six of them are responsible for over 0:32:21.840 --> 0:32:25.560 thirty percent, So we call those the top six. And 0:32:25.600 --> 0:32:28.560 so what we're doing is really laser focusing in those 0:32:28.600 --> 0:32:30.880 neighborhoods at first, and then we're going to move on 0:32:30.920 --> 0:32:34.000 to the other communities and pouring mad resources. Bro, It's 0:32:34.040 --> 0:32:37.120 really like we got to really have if there's mass shootings, 0:32:37.120 --> 0:32:39.160 we need mass resources. 0:32:39.520 --> 0:32:44.040 Well, I remember you used to be very particular about 0:32:44.480 --> 0:32:48.040 how police were engaged in your work, right, you were 0:32:48.160 --> 0:32:51.600 very particular about that. You was just like, I can't 0:32:52.040 --> 0:32:58.840 overdo it because your model is community safety, not policing absolutely, 0:32:59.440 --> 0:33:02.120 But now that you work with the government, I wonder 0:33:02.320 --> 0:33:06.120 has it shifted or how do you deal with their 0:33:06.320 --> 0:33:07.240 desire to be. 0:33:07.280 --> 0:33:08.320 The only ones? 0:33:08.760 --> 0:33:11.640 And then I think Mayor Adams is a little bit 0:33:11.680 --> 0:33:16.640 different because he does cite sometimes that there are groups 0:33:16.680 --> 0:33:20.000 around the city that are doing great work. But Deblasio 0:33:20.560 --> 0:33:24.240 was he failed to even though he gave money, lots 0:33:24.240 --> 0:33:27.120 of money, poured resources in and showed a lot of 0:33:27.160 --> 0:33:30.440 respect to us off camera, But whenever he would do 0:33:30.520 --> 0:33:33.840 a press conference, he would always talk about the number 0:33:34.080 --> 0:33:37.280 safety and the numbers of violent incidents going down and 0:33:37.320 --> 0:33:41.000 speak about police. Never did he marry the two. So 0:33:41.040 --> 0:33:44.440 I'm just wondering with the ins and outs that you see. What, 0:33:44.600 --> 0:33:47.240 how have you evolved in that area or is it 0:33:47.320 --> 0:33:48.240 pretty much the same? 0:33:48.680 --> 0:33:51.840 Well, I'm still me. I'm just another elevated version of me. 0:33:52.040 --> 0:33:55.440 That's why my last name has been hyphenated. Right, I'm 0:33:55.440 --> 0:33:56.280 going through like. 0:33:56.240 --> 0:34:02.760 A midlife christ. 0:34:00.680 --> 0:34:04.239 Like milikas my moment. You know, most people don't know 0:34:04.720 --> 0:34:09.000 who Malik, you basses, that's Malcolm X, right, and so 0:34:09.120 --> 0:34:10.880 when he went to that next level, that's why I 0:34:10.880 --> 0:34:13.800 believe I am now So like you said, we were 0:34:13.880 --> 0:34:17.640 coming from protests, were coming from activism. So I know 0:34:17.680 --> 0:34:19.440 how to stand tald. I know how to look them 0:34:19.480 --> 0:34:21.719 in the eye. I'm not intimidated when I go into 0:34:21.760 --> 0:34:24.319 those rooms. The difference is today I have access to 0:34:24.400 --> 0:34:27.240 the top chiefs and all of the departments across the city, 0:34:27.640 --> 0:34:30.279 and so with them, they got to learn how to 0:34:30.280 --> 0:34:32.200 deal with me more so than I got to learn 0:34:32.200 --> 0:34:34.839 how to deal with them. And so I speak for 0:34:34.920 --> 0:34:37.920 the community right. When I understand what issues come about, 0:34:38.880 --> 0:34:41.480 I know how to articulate it. I'm now seen another 0:34:41.560 --> 0:34:44.880 side too, which is their side of the equation. You know, 0:34:44.960 --> 0:34:48.279 we are under surveillance New York City. Like literally it's 0:34:48.360 --> 0:34:52.200 about ninety almost ninety nine percent under surveillance, meaning the 0:34:52.239 --> 0:34:55.799 moment you step out your house, they got odds on you. 0:34:55.840 --> 0:34:58.719 Whether it's in the sky through the drones or whether 0:34:58.760 --> 0:35:00.320 it's through the towers. 0:35:00.160 --> 0:35:03.120 They doing something stuff like nobody. 0:35:02.719 --> 0:35:06.880 Knows I'm seeing I'm seeing the movie, right, So you 0:35:06.960 --> 0:35:09.920 heard me, Like our people can tell us anything. But 0:35:09.960 --> 0:35:11.960 then when I see what they like, all on for 0:35:12.000 --> 0:35:14.640 a second before you go off, let me take a 0:35:14.680 --> 0:35:18.000 look at this, And I'm like okay with that all 0:35:18.080 --> 0:35:20.040 the time, So you know, I still know. My mama 0:35:20.080 --> 0:35:21.960 told me, if we're gonna lie, you know, make sure 0:35:22.000 --> 0:35:24.960 we go and lie together. Right, they don't tell me 0:35:25.040 --> 0:35:29.080 the truth. So now I'm looking stupid and I'm out 0:35:29.120 --> 0:35:31.120 there fighting and they ain't telling me all the other 0:35:31.160 --> 0:35:34.120 stuff I already know. So you be knowing what I'm saying. 0:35:34.160 --> 0:35:36.799 But I'm still me and I'm gonna always remain You know, 0:35:36.840 --> 0:35:39.240 that's sticking because the police still have a long ways 0:35:39.280 --> 0:35:42.040 to go before we could build a bridge before you know, 0:35:42.080 --> 0:35:45.000 there's a real divide and and that I'm I'm pro community. 0:35:45.040 --> 0:35:47.520 I tell them that all the time, Like you said, 0:35:47.560 --> 0:35:51.200 system into community, safety, not just public safety. I'm more 0:35:51.200 --> 0:35:52.280 into community safety. 0:35:52.640 --> 0:35:57.560 I was just gonna say the commissioner Coban, I actually 0:35:57.719 --> 0:36:01.080 like him, you know, conversations that I've had with him, 0:36:01.480 --> 0:36:04.480 he gives the impression that he really gets it. But 0:36:04.560 --> 0:36:08.640 no matter which commissioner you put in place, the systems 0:36:08.680 --> 0:36:18.000 are archaic, and the desire to remain a terrorizing, occupying 0:36:18.239 --> 0:36:22.240 force is something that is deeply embedded in law enforcement 0:36:22.360 --> 0:36:23.200 across the nation. 0:36:23.280 --> 0:36:24.439 I'm not just saying in New York. 0:36:24.800 --> 0:36:26.719 So you could come in there and be like we're 0:36:26.719 --> 0:36:29.279 gonna do this and that, and do this and that 0:36:29.360 --> 0:36:32.200 and the third and you should make significant shape like 0:36:32.239 --> 0:36:34.759 we are putting you in position or you have been 0:36:34.800 --> 0:36:39.000 put in position to fight against the wind at all times, 0:36:39.000 --> 0:36:40.360 and that's what we want to see. And if you 0:36:40.400 --> 0:36:45.200 don't do that, then there's challenges. But I've also learned 0:36:45.600 --> 0:36:50.200 because obviously under the Raymond Kelly administration, when we work 0:36:50.320 --> 0:36:53.439 very closely with Phil Banks, I used to be in 0:36:53.600 --> 0:36:56.560 law City Hall every day. In fact, I would be 0:36:57.080 --> 0:37:00.239 no in one police plaza. I would be in want 0:37:00.280 --> 0:37:04.960 police plaza, arguing or working on a plan or trying 0:37:04.960 --> 0:37:08.759 to figure out the community. What is it called the 0:37:09.000 --> 0:37:11.160 community safety, what was the Blue Shirts. 0:37:10.840 --> 0:37:13.640 Called the community trying to work. 0:37:13.480 --> 0:37:16.680 With community affairs and doing all my work, and then 0:37:16.719 --> 0:37:18.920 if I had a conference call that had to do 0:37:18.960 --> 0:37:22.520 with something completely different, I find your little office, going 0:37:22.560 --> 0:37:25.680 there and do my work and then go outside the 0:37:25.760 --> 0:37:29.560 building and protest them at five o'clock, six o'clock. And 0:37:29.960 --> 0:37:32.800 I did, and I mean, and I would go inside 0:37:32.800 --> 0:37:35.799 and tell them like, y'all are just wrong, Like you 0:37:36.080 --> 0:37:41.439 just are wrong. We would have debates, conversations, arguments, all 0:37:41.480 --> 0:37:44.239 of that, and I would still take my ass outside 0:37:44.320 --> 0:37:47.280 and say, and I'm going to protest against y'all because 0:37:47.719 --> 0:37:51.839 you know, some of these people are good people, Yes, 0:37:52.200 --> 0:37:56.560 good people. Phil Banks, great guy, but still has, in 0:37:56.600 --> 0:38:01.440 my judgment, his mind set on that system at times. 0:38:01.719 --> 0:38:03.640 And you have to be willing to work with them, 0:38:03.640 --> 0:38:06.399 but you also have to be willing to call their 0:38:06.560 --> 0:38:07.719 assets out. 0:38:07.600 --> 0:38:11.680 When they're wrong. And there's no two ways about it, right, 0:38:11.719 --> 0:38:13.920 And so you're like me, I'm on it, just like that, 0:38:14.000 --> 0:38:17.000 I call a spade a spade. You got to be 0:38:17.160 --> 0:38:19.479 the system. You can't. You can't be the system without 0:38:19.480 --> 0:38:21.800 a system, which is also part of why we created 0:38:21.840 --> 0:38:25.520 the crisis management systems. Right and Erica talks about that 0:38:25.600 --> 0:38:27.719 all the time, so that we could use that as 0:38:27.760 --> 0:38:31.960 a weapon, because really we're talking about systematic oppression on 0:38:32.000 --> 0:38:35.480 our people. The police department is an example of it. 0:38:35.840 --> 0:38:38.120 As my sister mentioned, all of them that may be 0:38:38.440 --> 0:38:41.440 in that department are not all bad people, but just 0:38:41.480 --> 0:38:46.000 like anything, you have your minority of those that just 0:38:46.040 --> 0:38:48.600 need to go like straight up, and they make it 0:38:48.600 --> 0:38:51.360 look bad for every fact, you know, and so that 0:38:51.520 --> 0:38:54.600 few and until they're willing to call their own out, 0:38:54.800 --> 0:38:57.000 and really we want to see that as a community, 0:38:57.120 --> 0:39:00.319 see how they handle their own you know, don't think 0:39:00.320 --> 0:39:01.799 it's going to be a lot of progress made in 0:39:01.800 --> 0:39:03.760 the streets, right, because that's what we as a community 0:39:03.840 --> 0:39:07.520 be looking for, is just and accountability. So, like I 0:39:07.640 --> 0:39:11.640 was saying, under this current administration versus the previous administration 0:39:11.760 --> 0:39:15.160 around and I've been around since Juliani, right and not 0:39:15.320 --> 0:39:18.360 seeing how it's been played out since nine to eleven. 0:39:18.880 --> 0:39:22.200 And I can attest that this administration with the mayor 0:39:22.239 --> 0:39:26.440 at the helm him coming from the community side of 0:39:26.600 --> 0:39:29.520 things when he was also on the job he co 0:39:29.600 --> 0:39:33.000 founded one hundred Blacks and law Enforcement who Cared and 0:39:33.200 --> 0:39:36.160 him knowing what that's like to make sure that police 0:39:36.440 --> 0:39:39.840 violence and misconduct and things like that has to be addressed. 0:39:40.920 --> 0:39:44.120 I can honestly say that they are more like you said, 0:39:44.280 --> 0:39:47.040 they're more understanding, and I think we're a lot more 0:39:47.080 --> 0:39:52.439 closer to respectfully making some policy changes, because that's really 0:39:52.440 --> 0:39:55.120 what you have to change. The majority of the department. 0:39:55.800 --> 0:39:58.600 Those are the middle managements I would think are the problem. 0:39:58.920 --> 0:40:01.960 It's not the heads of shop. It's not the CEOs 0:40:02.120 --> 0:40:04.640 or the chiefs. They the white shirts, they get it. 0:40:04.640 --> 0:40:07.640 It's not community affairs officers, the sky Blues. I tell them, 0:40:07.920 --> 0:40:11.480 they understand. It's the people who are out there in 0:40:11.600 --> 0:40:14.840 charge at the prect level, at the desk, the desk sergeant, 0:40:14.880 --> 0:40:18.000 those that oversee the street patrol right, those that have 0:40:18.239 --> 0:40:21.279 those the authority on the ground is where we need 0:40:21.680 --> 0:40:24.600 to the most impact. Because even the rookies, right they're 0:40:24.600 --> 0:40:28.240 coming out of the academy and undergoing some innovative training, 0:40:28.600 --> 0:40:31.000 but if they're putting to a precinct and they are 0:40:31.200 --> 0:40:33.399 paired up with an officer who've been on the job 0:40:33.440 --> 0:40:35.759 for twenty five to thirty years of doing it the 0:40:35.800 --> 0:40:38.000 way that they've been doing it, a lot of even 0:40:38.040 --> 0:40:41.160 what they which trained to do, they can't do because 0:40:41.280 --> 0:40:43.839 the people who are out there on the ground are 0:40:43.880 --> 0:40:46.120 going to be the ones that trump them. And so 0:40:46.680 --> 0:40:49.600 that's where I think we need to focus our attentions 0:40:49.680 --> 0:40:50.040 on that. 0:40:50.200 --> 0:40:51.879 I never thought about it that way. 0:40:52.400 --> 0:40:56.040 Yeah, And it doesn't mean that we're saying that the 0:40:56.400 --> 0:41:00.520 activists and the organizers should not continue to raise whole hell, 0:41:00.600 --> 0:41:04.279 because you can't change a system unless the lights are 0:41:04.280 --> 0:41:07.880 on and the pressure is being applied. And so certainly 0:41:08.400 --> 0:41:11.560 I'm not you know, I would never I would never 0:41:11.680 --> 0:41:15.760 suggest that because I believe from my conversations with Caban 0:41:16.080 --> 0:41:19.040 the commissioner, that all of a sudden, I would not 0:41:19.280 --> 0:41:23.600 oppose violence because police violence is still happening and it's 0:41:23.800 --> 0:41:27.560 very real in this city and again across the country. 0:41:27.920 --> 0:41:29.800 But I do know that I could have a better 0:41:29.920 --> 0:41:33.680 conversation with him, because in the past we couldn't have 0:41:33.719 --> 0:41:34.719 conversations at all. 0:41:35.040 --> 0:41:39.799 And and by the way, Raymond Kelly, you know, he. 0:41:39.880 --> 0:41:42.360 Was a nice guy, but he was a stickler for 0:41:42.440 --> 0:41:46.800 the system remaining at you know, with the police having 0:41:46.880 --> 0:41:50.239 the power, that's a big part of the problem is 0:41:50.280 --> 0:41:53.359 that they want all they want power that. 0:41:53.440 --> 0:41:57.120 Is unchecked, and that's what Trump is talking about. 0:41:57.680 --> 0:42:01.640 Impunity for police office is and that's and that's a 0:42:01.680 --> 0:42:03.479 mindset that we've had to crack. 0:42:03.560 --> 0:42:05.520 So we still want to be outside as. 0:42:05.360 --> 0:42:09.719 We should, and I think we should always encourage young activists. 0:42:09.760 --> 0:42:12.960 I'm excited when I see that they are, you know, 0:42:13.120 --> 0:42:15.320 taking it to the streets right, you know, and getting 0:42:15.360 --> 0:42:19.080 their boots you know, on the ground, because that's the 0:42:19.080 --> 0:42:21.320 only way, like we know that some people in power 0:42:21.360 --> 0:42:24.880 are going to honorably respect them and really take what 0:42:24.920 --> 0:42:26.279 they're saying serious. 0:42:27.000 --> 0:42:29.520 So I would I just want to know, being doing 0:42:29.560 --> 0:42:32.759 this work and during gun violence away in this month, 0:42:33.320 --> 0:42:36.560 how is gun violence like, what is going on the streets? 0:42:36.560 --> 0:42:40.120 Hot? Is it summertime? 0:42:40.760 --> 0:42:43.759 You know how it is? Like it's hot, it's still hot. 0:42:43.840 --> 0:42:46.160 We are far from where we all want to be, 0:42:47.080 --> 0:42:49.719 but we also are not where we want was either. 0:42:50.200 --> 0:42:51.799 You know, if you look at the numbers in the 0:42:51.840 --> 0:42:55.200 eighties and the nineties and the early two thousands when 0:42:55.239 --> 0:42:57.680 it related to like homicides and shootings in the city 0:42:57.680 --> 0:43:00.279 of New York were like almost two hundred per sent 0:43:00.960 --> 0:43:04.480 less decreased than it was back then. This era, we 0:43:04.520 --> 0:43:07.400 are in the arrange around two hundred to something homicides 0:43:07.440 --> 0:43:10.320 with averaging it, but even though all those are just numbers, 0:43:10.360 --> 0:43:13.160 right and not people. We always got to remember every 0:43:13.280 --> 0:43:15.319 person that we every prody we talk about as a 0:43:15.360 --> 0:43:18.279 human being that represents a family. So we really want 0:43:18.360 --> 0:43:21.080 to continue the efforts that we're doing. We're heading in 0:43:21.120 --> 0:43:24.000 the right directions. You're seeing a lot more stabbings and 0:43:24.040 --> 0:43:27.000 that's you know, something that a lot of people don't understand. 0:43:27.040 --> 0:43:30.000 That says that there's a culture shift happening. When people 0:43:30.040 --> 0:43:32.440 are having disputes where they used to go run and 0:43:32.440 --> 0:43:34.439 get the gun and handle their beef with a gun, 0:43:34.480 --> 0:43:38.360 they're now choosing different weapons. So there is a shift 0:43:38.440 --> 0:43:41.160 that is happening. That's actually not a bad thing. And again, 0:43:41.520 --> 0:43:43.719 I've been stabbed too, so I know a stab woond, 0:43:43.719 --> 0:43:46.040 I've been shot. I know the difference, and be honest 0:43:46.040 --> 0:43:48.400 with your stab wound is to me, is more worse 0:43:48.440 --> 0:43:53.680 than the gunshot wound. However, the people, the behavior changes happening. 0:43:53.840 --> 0:43:56.160 You know, people are changing their mind. People are getting 0:43:56.200 --> 0:43:59.400 sick and tired of going to jail. People are beginning 0:43:59.440 --> 0:44:01.759 to also learn earn that we could talk that these 0:44:01.800 --> 0:44:06.040 things out, these these disputes, these beefs that men were 0:44:06.080 --> 0:44:08.840 talking a minuscule beef they beefing over nothing off of 0:44:09.280 --> 0:44:11.279 something that can be talked out. And that's the work 0:44:11.320 --> 0:44:13.680 that the men and women of the crisis management system 0:44:14.080 --> 0:44:16.400 is doing here in New York City and all across 0:44:16.440 --> 0:44:19.560 the country. You got violence interruptors, you got people that are 0:44:19.640 --> 0:44:22.200 hospital responders and people that are out there working in 0:44:22.280 --> 0:44:26.160 case management positions, and they're just coaching the public on 0:44:26.280 --> 0:44:30.400 how to resolve your conflicts without it happened to result 0:44:30.400 --> 0:44:32.840 with violence. And I think that's a good sign. So 0:44:32.840 --> 0:44:36.759 we are much safer, that's the reality. But the perception 0:44:37.640 --> 0:44:39.080 is that it's still unsafe out there. 0:44:39.120 --> 0:44:43.279 It's people are especially when you're getting people knocking you 0:44:43.320 --> 0:44:45.600 in your face on the train and people. 0:44:45.400 --> 0:44:47.719 Getting pushed on the training tracks. So a lot of 0:44:47.760 --> 0:44:50.080 peoples and rightfully, you hear gunshot. This is the you know, 0:44:50.200 --> 0:44:53.280 fourth of July week in coming up, so we always 0:44:53.280 --> 0:44:55.879 cringe around this time of the year because of the fireworks, 0:44:56.200 --> 0:44:58.279 and that triggers a lot of people, you know, when 0:44:58.280 --> 0:45:01.040 they hear these loud booms. A lot of people are afraid. 0:45:01.120 --> 0:45:03.360 Our families have been so living in trauma for so 0:45:03.520 --> 0:45:06.279 long that the time they hear something like a firecracker, 0:45:06.360 --> 0:45:09.759 they they're jumping into their their tubs. You know how 0:45:09.760 --> 0:45:12.520 they're training their kids to duck, you know, roll and 0:45:12.560 --> 0:45:14.880 all of those because they could be because it could 0:45:14.880 --> 0:45:16.560 be right, and we're not going to stick around and 0:45:16.600 --> 0:45:19.279 see if it wasn't. So, yeah, we are heading in 0:45:19.280 --> 0:45:22.399 the right direction. Things are getting much better, I think 0:45:22.480 --> 0:45:26.239 as a city collectively, everybody is doing their part, but 0:45:26.400 --> 0:45:28.480 we also got some still a way to go. 0:45:28.760 --> 0:45:31.600 There's some areas around the city where you know that 0:45:32.520 --> 0:45:36.560 things have gotten better. The data is clear that violence 0:45:37.280 --> 0:45:41.799 has reduced significantly, and communities are safer. And the other question, 0:45:41.840 --> 0:45:44.080 because if you know, I try to think the way 0:45:44.120 --> 0:45:49.359 that I know some of my super brilliant listeners they 0:45:49.400 --> 0:45:52.320 are and they and sometimes they like to be ornery 0:45:53.000 --> 0:45:57.640 and and and and trolling me, but they're really brilliant, 0:45:57.680 --> 0:46:00.000 you know what I'm saying. And so they ask criticals 0:46:00.280 --> 0:46:04.360 questions that feel like they're trying to be contradictory, but 0:46:04.400 --> 0:46:07.040 they're actually not. They're really just trying to get to 0:46:07.080 --> 0:46:09.120 the bat line. So if I say to you, do 0:46:09.200 --> 0:46:12.480 you know some places where things are better? Their response 0:46:12.520 --> 0:46:16.120 would be, oh, that's because it's gentrified, right, That's what 0:46:16.160 --> 0:46:18.560 they would say, Like, oh, the white people moved in 0:46:18.640 --> 0:46:20.879 and of course it got better. But I don't think 0:46:20.920 --> 0:46:22.680 that that is one hundred percent truth. 0:46:22.719 --> 0:46:26.840 So give us some very much not true. So where 0:46:26.880 --> 0:46:30.920 we are, where the crisis management system organizations, men and women, 0:46:32.000 --> 0:46:35.040 boots are on the ground, we can and this is 0:46:35.120 --> 0:46:37.560 by data. We can show you from all the way 0:46:37.640 --> 0:46:41.200 up from the South BRONX and or Senior, other parts 0:46:41.200 --> 0:46:46.040 of the BX, and throughout Central Harlem, East Harlem. You know, 0:46:46.239 --> 0:46:48.799 you go through Queens in South Jamaica, you go to 0:46:48.920 --> 0:46:51.719 far Rockaway. We could go into Brooklyn where I am 0:46:51.760 --> 0:46:54.880 in East New York, and in Brownsville and East Flatbush 0:46:54.960 --> 0:46:57.560 and other parts and even just like for example, in 0:46:57.600 --> 0:47:01.120 Staten Island this past Sunday, I had the privilege of 0:47:01.160 --> 0:47:03.680 being out there with my brothers and sisters of the 0:47:03.960 --> 0:47:06.600 True to Life team out there headed by my brother 0:47:06.920 --> 0:47:10.760 I and Mike, Perry and Rachel. They just celebrated one 0:47:10.800 --> 0:47:14.359 thousand days of no shooting, like literally no shooting in 0:47:14.400 --> 0:47:18.680 that precinct area. Now, this is the difference inside the precincts. 0:47:18.680 --> 0:47:22.359 We don't cover the whole precinct. But where we are 0:47:22.640 --> 0:47:26.440 the organizations, I'm mentioning the CCDs, the King of Kings, 0:47:26.840 --> 0:47:30.759 the East Saved East Harlem's not another child's ink, the 0:47:30.880 --> 0:47:35.520 Brags and the SOSS and all of us those organizations, 0:47:35.560 --> 0:47:39.200 the elite learners and the bevos and all of us. 0:47:39.239 --> 0:47:44.680 Where we are is statistically safer. And that's data that 0:47:44.719 --> 0:47:47.120 can back that up. Because that's one of the things 0:47:47.120 --> 0:47:49.880 that I receive on a weekly basis is the data 0:47:50.080 --> 0:47:52.080 I get the pin maps. I look at the maps. 0:47:52.120 --> 0:47:55.239 I can sell you where where we are, where we 0:47:55.320 --> 0:47:58.359 are inside the precinct. The precinct might be up, but 0:47:58.520 --> 0:48:01.520 in the areas where the groups are, it's down. And 0:48:01.560 --> 0:48:05.839 that's the evidence that we have at our disposal to 0:48:06.000 --> 0:48:07.960 kind of dispute anybody that would. 0:48:07.719 --> 0:48:11.440 Love to do to spend it takes resources to do 0:48:11.560 --> 0:48:13.600 more work. So if people say, well then why don't 0:48:13.640 --> 0:48:15.800 y'all do it over there, well, why don't you donate? 0:48:16.000 --> 0:48:16.640 Don't you give up? 0:48:16.640 --> 0:48:18.840 And why Monday? 0:48:19.400 --> 0:48:21.880 We're doing this in one shift to day. Literally, this 0:48:22.000 --> 0:48:25.640 is only happening eight hours out of one day normally 0:48:26.000 --> 0:48:26.480 three ships. 0:48:26.520 --> 0:48:28.319 Yeah, we said that. We were saying that the other 0:48:28.400 --> 0:48:32.319 day about what strategies we think. We think violence is 0:48:32.360 --> 0:48:37.239 happening mostly at twelve and beyond beyond early morning time. 0:48:37.360 --> 0:48:39.880 So you know, the city and the states need to 0:48:40.000 --> 0:48:42.520 fund organizations that can. 0:48:42.440 --> 0:48:46.680 Have seven day week because violence. 0:48:46.400 --> 0:48:48.960 Is having twenty four hours, and you know, the people 0:48:49.000 --> 0:48:51.520 in the communities know that there are times where the 0:48:52.360 --> 0:48:54.400 violence is highest. You know, And I was going to 0:48:54.400 --> 0:48:57.920 ask you pretty much the same thing, but what do 0:48:58.000 --> 0:49:01.120 you think of some effective strategies that you've been using 0:49:01.160 --> 0:49:03.880 that in certain areas you see that it works. 0:49:04.080 --> 0:49:04.719 To me, I. 0:49:04.640 --> 0:49:07.920 Think the effective strategy, the most effective strategy that we've 0:49:07.960 --> 0:49:11.600 been using today to minimate the violence is using the 0:49:11.640 --> 0:49:15.719 credible messages by us literally looking at a body of 0:49:15.760 --> 0:49:20.359 people who are residents of our city who have never 0:49:20.400 --> 0:49:23.600 been asked to participate in anything positive for the most 0:49:23.600 --> 0:49:26.920 of them in their lives. We have able to go 0:49:27.000 --> 0:49:30.080 to people who are influent, you, people who have been 0:49:30.120 --> 0:49:33.080 there and done that, and we're able to approach them 0:49:33.160 --> 0:49:36.960 and say, look, we need you. Now. We've tried police, everybody, 0:49:37.000 --> 0:49:39.240 we tried all the type of what we haven't tried 0:49:39.320 --> 0:49:42.640 is how about you getting involved in that fight and 0:49:43.160 --> 0:49:46.160 having that type of individual with that type of credibility, 0:49:46.719 --> 0:49:49.560 having that type of influence that can talk straight to 0:49:49.719 --> 0:49:52.759 the element and be able to say yo, pause when 0:49:53.000 --> 0:49:55.520 when they call for a pause or ceasefire. To me, 0:49:55.640 --> 0:50:00.000 is it's our secret weapon. We've never had this done before. 0:50:00.280 --> 0:50:02.719 And now this is why this is catching wildfire all 0:50:02.760 --> 0:50:07.480 across the nation, the utilization of credible messengers, right, people 0:50:07.880 --> 0:50:10.800 who come from them same neighborhoods, who have that lived 0:50:10.840 --> 0:50:14.480 experience like myself. I've been shot, I've been jailed, I've 0:50:14.480 --> 0:50:17.040 been out there, and I'm the one that can relate 0:50:17.080 --> 0:50:19.160 with the population of people who may be in that 0:50:19.280 --> 0:50:22.880 life today, approach that individual and talking to them not 0:50:22.960 --> 0:50:26.080 in an aggressive fashion, like a threatening fashion, but in 0:50:26.120 --> 0:50:29.759 a realistic like yo, bro, real conversations and reasoning like 0:50:29.800 --> 0:50:32.120 I can understand. Like, we don't go to them with 0:50:32.320 --> 0:50:35.359 no bullshit, like we're not asking them to put down 0:50:35.360 --> 0:50:37.160 a gun if we ain't got nothing to replace it with, 0:50:37.440 --> 0:50:40.440 because that's unrealistic. We know what it's like. We hustled. 0:50:40.480 --> 0:50:42.200 We understand that we got to feed. Like I said, 0:50:42.200 --> 0:50:44.440 I came from a big family. What I wanted to 0:50:44.440 --> 0:50:46.719 do was go back in the crib and help my moms, right, 0:50:47.080 --> 0:50:48.799 and most of the others that are out there, they're 0:50:48.840 --> 0:50:51.320 thinking the same way. So by having these men and 0:50:51.360 --> 0:50:54.120 women that are braived, they don't have vests, they don't 0:50:54.120 --> 0:50:59.000 have guns, they don't have shields or radios or helicopters 0:50:59.080 --> 0:51:01.960 or drones. They just got big hearts and they're not 0:51:02.000 --> 0:51:06.080 and they're not scared of their own element. That has 0:51:06.080 --> 0:51:09.319 been the biggest fact though, And now people that have 0:51:09.400 --> 0:51:12.120 been in that lifestyle have changed their lifestyles around their 0:51:12.280 --> 0:51:17.319 transforming and emerging into all different types of other professions. 0:51:17.360 --> 0:51:21.400 There's spinoffs in colleges, like there's spin offs in business, 0:51:21.480 --> 0:51:25.280 there's spinoffs in community based they're having their own nonprofits. 0:51:25.520 --> 0:51:28.480 To me, that's been the blessing of the work that 0:51:28.520 --> 0:51:31.400 we have been able to found systems shift the real proud. 0:51:31.840 --> 0:51:33.120 Of what we did together. 0:51:33.320 --> 0:51:35.440 And I am you know a lot of times you 0:51:35.480 --> 0:51:38.040 have to keep telling me the story because they say 0:51:38.080 --> 0:51:41.400 that the best way for people to remember and for 0:51:41.600 --> 0:51:45.600 history to stick is to continue to tell the story. 0:51:45.680 --> 0:51:49.120 Until I found myself having to say we created the 0:51:49.239 --> 0:51:52.280 crisis management system in New York almost one hundred million 0:51:52.320 --> 0:51:54.920 dollars and having to come and people are like, what 0:51:55.120 --> 0:51:57.879 that's you know, amazing, But you know, I would say 0:51:57.920 --> 0:52:01.200 that if I had to give another thing that you said, 0:52:01.239 --> 0:52:04.520 what are the strategies? I would say another piece with 0:52:04.600 --> 0:52:07.680 the credible messengers, which is number one, is the consistency. 0:52:07.800 --> 0:52:10.239 And it's the same thing as last week when we 0:52:10.360 --> 0:52:16.560 interviewed the women from l Ees and they have an 0:52:16.680 --> 0:52:20.960 educational program. They go into schools. Then you guys, actually 0:52:21.680 --> 0:52:25.040 you should be partnered with the les folks because what 0:52:25.080 --> 0:52:28.480 they do is going to the schools and receive the 0:52:28.560 --> 0:52:30.880 data of the children who are not showing up. 0:52:31.239 --> 0:52:34.359 And they find the kids. They find them. 0:52:34.440 --> 0:52:36.440 They could be in what they were saying that they 0:52:36.520 --> 0:52:39.720 found kids in Yemen. They found kids, they're in Africa, 0:52:39.880 --> 0:52:44.120 somebody you know, they're pregnant, don't have a babysitter, don't 0:52:44.120 --> 0:52:48.759 have food, don't have whatever. And they find solutions to 0:52:49.600 --> 0:52:51.960 you know, helping to get these kids back in the schools. 0:52:52.000 --> 0:52:53.879 And many of the schools that were on the. 0:52:53.840 --> 0:52:57.680 Watch list have gotten better as a result of the 0:52:57.719 --> 0:53:00.960 work that they are doing working with families and pinpointing 0:53:01.080 --> 0:53:05.400 problems even within the system and then reading the policy 0:53:06.239 --> 0:53:09.759 of the system to find a loopholes to get these 0:53:09.840 --> 0:53:11.560 children the type of help that they need. 0:53:11.800 --> 0:53:12.760 I mean, this is powerful. 0:53:12.760 --> 0:53:15.359 We went to all to do whole way mentoring, hall 0:53:15.440 --> 0:53:19.360 way way monitor mentoring, but they have you know, brothers 0:53:19.400 --> 0:53:22.280 from the community that go into the school and pretty 0:53:22.360 --> 0:53:25.120 much Whollway monitors and they build it with the brothers 0:53:25.360 --> 0:53:27.879 and the sisters, and they build relationships so they make 0:53:27.920 --> 0:53:29.960 sure when they come to school, they walk in them too. 0:53:30.040 --> 0:53:32.560 The class they're able to sense and see what's going on. 0:53:32.680 --> 0:53:34.880 If it's something going on, they get ahead of it. 0:53:35.160 --> 0:53:38.560 So they build a whole community model that is ensuring 0:53:38.640 --> 0:53:41.040 that our kids get the best education and they're safe 0:53:41.040 --> 0:53:41.640 at the same time. 0:53:42.120 --> 0:53:46.840 And I think that what Erica always wanted. Erica Ford 0:53:46.840 --> 0:53:50.160 for those people who are listening, she's our sister and 0:53:50.239 --> 0:53:53.440 she it was the three of us that work tirelessly 0:53:53.560 --> 0:53:57.680 to create this model and Erica. You know, I think 0:53:57.680 --> 0:54:01.120 about Erica now because she just recently did a lot conversation, 0:54:01.400 --> 0:54:05.600 a live video where she's talking about her health and 0:54:05.719 --> 0:54:09.200 how her health has been ailing and she's been through 0:54:09.239 --> 0:54:11.120 a lot to try to get herself better. And we 0:54:11.239 --> 0:54:13.520 know from looking at Erika from being around her, that 0:54:13.600 --> 0:54:16.600 she really is dealing with some serious health challenges. But 0:54:16.680 --> 0:54:20.040 one of the things about I promised that if there 0:54:20.160 --> 0:54:24.319 was some scientific, I don't know person around that they 0:54:24.440 --> 0:54:26.280 could pinpoint. 0:54:27.120 --> 0:54:28.799 Those moments when she was. 0:54:28.920 --> 0:54:34.840 Literally birthing the crisis management system from like her soul 0:54:35.200 --> 0:54:38.000 and doing the work at the same time to how 0:54:38.080 --> 0:54:41.480 it takes you down, like it can take so much 0:54:41.640 --> 0:54:46.440 from you that she was fighting to help people understand 0:54:46.600 --> 0:54:50.120 that a holistic approach. And that's why I brought up 0:54:50.239 --> 0:54:54.400 l e s because all things have to work together. 0:54:54.960 --> 0:54:58.160 And that's what's wrong with government. Sometimes we go in 0:54:58.200 --> 0:55:01.320 to talk to legislators and they don't have no idea 0:55:01.360 --> 0:55:04.840 about other pieces of legislation that's coming out of different 0:55:04.920 --> 0:55:08.960 offices or other things that's happening. It's not all connected. 0:55:09.080 --> 0:55:11.680 And I think that so that's one. So I think 0:55:11.680 --> 0:55:15.839 the connection is one. But the commitment, the consistency of 0:55:15.960 --> 0:55:20.800 being like on the wall, like a young person knows 0:55:21.080 --> 0:55:26.000 I'm gonna see Ray or John or Lisa or so, 0:55:26.080 --> 0:55:29.160 and so even if I don't even really like that person, 0:55:29.520 --> 0:55:33.759 they have to care to keep coming back here all 0:55:33.800 --> 0:55:37.160 the time, you know what I'm saying, Yeah, yeah. 0:55:37.040 --> 0:55:40.440 You can't. Somebody you know didn't give up on us, right, 0:55:40.600 --> 0:55:42.520 this is while we're sitting here, right, And so if 0:55:42.520 --> 0:55:46.520 you're correct that that practice is key in this work with. 0:55:46.640 --> 0:55:50.360 How do you keep your teams consistent because they have 0:55:50.440 --> 0:55:51.160 problems too. 0:55:51.680 --> 0:55:52.919 Life is happening? Are? 0:55:53.200 --> 0:55:58.440 They are our first participant, right to get the body 0:55:58.440 --> 0:56:00.520 of people that we send out into the streets, they 0:56:00.560 --> 0:56:03.719 got to be a minimum working on theyself to go 0:56:03.800 --> 0:56:06.400 into a community that's troubled and say I want. 0:56:06.239 --> 0:56:07.280 To help you. 0:56:07.280 --> 0:56:11.160 You know, you're not helping yourself, so you know, healing people, 0:56:11.280 --> 0:56:14.480 heal people, you know, and so you correct. So what 0:56:14.560 --> 0:56:16.640 I do, and I know others are following and doing 0:56:16.680 --> 0:56:20.920 the same thing, is we constantly pour our resources into them, right, 0:56:21.040 --> 0:56:23.720 We test drive them, We take them around the block first, 0:56:24.160 --> 0:56:27.120 and then if it's working with them, then we know 0:56:27.200 --> 0:56:30.200 it works because they now can go into a community 0:56:30.200 --> 0:56:33.600 that they come from and speak from experience, you know, 0:56:33.680 --> 0:56:36.840 And consistency is the key. We often have to have 0:56:36.880 --> 0:56:40.680 what I care, constant reinforcement training, right because we've been 0:56:40.719 --> 0:56:43.160 out there for so long. A lot of the crime 0:56:43.239 --> 0:56:46.719 genitive attitudes that we possess in our heads are in 0:56:47.239 --> 0:56:50.480 our DNA. So sometimes you could walk into a supermarket 0:56:50.520 --> 0:56:52.920 and you see the grapes and you see the fruit, 0:56:52.960 --> 0:56:55.360 and you start, you know, nibbling away at the fruit 0:56:55.400 --> 0:56:57.799 and the grapes, and you're not paying for it, right, 0:56:57.880 --> 0:56:59.680 you know, or you might see a stick of gum 0:57:00.200 --> 0:57:02.200 it up or a bag of chips in the store, 0:57:02.680 --> 0:57:06.200 and you just naturally, you know, realizing that if you 0:57:06.280 --> 0:57:07.960 got to check out with that, you got to pay 0:57:08.000 --> 0:57:10.240 on your way out, because if not, you're on camera, 0:57:10.320 --> 0:57:12.759 going back to surveillance, and they're going to be able 0:57:12.800 --> 0:57:14.480 to pick you up. And so we got to realize 0:57:14.520 --> 0:57:17.320 that some things that we have been doing since we 0:57:17.320 --> 0:57:20.680 were children, we got to flush that stuff out our system. 0:57:21.160 --> 0:57:23.520 We got to teach our new behaviors in terms of 0:57:23.600 --> 0:57:25.960 how we go. Like when we were raised as by moms, 0:57:26.120 --> 0:57:27.840 she taught us that if someone hit you, you what 0:57:28.920 --> 0:57:30.840 hit them back, right, And now some of our families 0:57:30.880 --> 0:57:33.959 got even deeper that like pick up a bottle, brust 0:57:34.000 --> 0:57:37.600 them upside their head like a lot. We've been taught 0:57:37.640 --> 0:57:40.080 that growing up, and now we got to retrain and 0:57:40.120 --> 0:57:43.919 reteach ourselves that that that may not necessarily be the 0:57:43.960 --> 0:57:47.680 best way to handle that strife. Because if that person 0:57:47.720 --> 0:57:50.120 bleeds and goes to the hospital out that person bleeds 0:57:50.160 --> 0:57:52.640 out and does that's a homicide. 0:57:52.080 --> 0:57:54.400 That has happened to people we know. 0:57:54.480 --> 0:57:56.480 And people only doing what they were taught to do. 0:57:57.200 --> 0:58:00.520 We were forced here through violence absolutely, and then we 0:58:00.600 --> 0:58:05.000 have been through the most violent practices and the most 0:58:05.160 --> 0:58:08.200 violent A study, if you are a study. 0:58:09.360 --> 0:58:10.920 Hasn't can continue to be. 0:58:11.040 --> 0:58:16.040 Done about the violence that we had to suffer. How 0:58:16.240 --> 0:58:20.360 hard is it to get a people to give up 0:58:20.400 --> 0:58:23.560 and be stripped of everything they know and be willing 0:58:23.640 --> 0:58:29.040 to bow down and be forced to tend the land, 0:58:29.560 --> 0:58:33.560 raise the kids, you know, feed the babies, have to 0:58:33.640 --> 0:58:37.680 have sex and be raped, you know, against our will. 0:58:38.160 --> 0:58:41.520 The violence that it took to break us is the 0:58:41.640 --> 0:58:45.400 violent attitude that so many have passed down from generation. 0:58:45.720 --> 0:58:49.440 And so when you think about that, man, we're going, 0:58:49.640 --> 0:58:50.760 you know it's deep. 0:58:51.000 --> 0:58:52.360 I don't want you to leave. 0:58:52.400 --> 0:58:56.680 Without us talking about the business of this. If I'm 0:58:56.760 --> 0:58:59.479 the mayor and I'm sitting here, if I'm the mayor 0:58:59.520 --> 0:59:03.640 from Ville, Alabama was a town where my mother is from. 0:59:04.320 --> 0:59:06.880 And I'm watching this right now because Hey, I like 0:59:06.960 --> 0:59:08.840 my song. I listen to his music. I love to 0:59:08.880 --> 0:59:13.240 listen to the show. Talk about I'm the mayor. What 0:59:13.400 --> 0:59:17.640 does he or she need to do? How can they 0:59:17.960 --> 0:59:21.360 participate in this? What does the business of an operation 0:59:21.760 --> 0:59:24.400 like this look? And I know there's many sides because 0:59:24.440 --> 0:59:27.920 you got local groups, your local organizations which you can 0:59:27.960 --> 0:59:30.959 speak to. But then it gets bigger as you start 0:59:31.040 --> 0:59:32.320 talking about city participating. 0:59:32.320 --> 0:59:35.080 I think New York City is the best example. You 0:59:35.120 --> 0:59:39.160 know this mayor, Mayor Eric Adams did something bold, Like 0:59:39.200 --> 0:59:42.919 I said, he appointed somebody from the streets and made 0:59:42.920 --> 0:59:46.280 that personal part of his administration. Other mayors around the 0:59:46.280 --> 0:59:49.480 country needs to really consider that. Right now, they're being 0:59:49.520 --> 0:59:52.760 advised by people who really don't understand that. Study the 0:59:52.760 --> 0:59:55.479 book and they learned it in school, but they never 0:59:55.560 --> 0:59:58.280 really lived through it and understand it completing. They may 0:59:58.320 --> 1:00:01.440 not have the connections most of these mans needed, and 1:00:01.480 --> 1:00:04.480 that is to the streets, right, And so I think 1:00:04.560 --> 1:00:07.320 that's a good example. We need to use our playbook. 1:00:07.360 --> 1:00:09.200 They need to look at who they may have in 1:00:09.280 --> 1:00:12.080 their city, and then they need to think about how 1:00:12.120 --> 1:00:15.320 do we replicate what we know is working. There are 1:00:15.320 --> 1:00:18.120 a number of models across the country that is working, 1:00:18.240 --> 1:00:20.080 and I think that's something that a lot of mans 1:00:20.120 --> 1:00:23.440 I see as I travel are utilizing. But again, it's 1:00:23.480 --> 1:00:26.800 back to a holistic approach, right, there's no one way 1:00:26.880 --> 1:00:29.919 out out of this situation. We have to look at 1:00:29.960 --> 1:00:32.760 that and also say that those mans like they got 1:00:32.800 --> 1:00:35.240 to be willing to put their money where their mouth 1:00:35.440 --> 1:00:39.800 is because gun violence is very expensive. You know, it's 1:00:39.800 --> 1:00:43.160 that on the average, it's about a million dollars per 1:00:43.640 --> 1:00:48.080 shooting victim that the city will actually expense. You think 1:00:48.080 --> 1:00:51.480 about it, right, a person gets shot, how many responders, 1:00:51.520 --> 1:00:54.760 how many emergency responders respond to, how many police officers, 1:00:54.760 --> 1:00:57.200 how many firefighters got to clean up the blood off 1:00:57.240 --> 1:01:01.040 the street, how many our ambulance in tease folks? How 1:01:01.080 --> 1:01:04.280 many people in the hospitals that are waiting doctors? And 1:01:04.320 --> 1:01:06.360 then somebody on the other side of the gun, right, 1:01:06.400 --> 1:01:09.400 who is the perpetrator, has to Now there's a DA's 1:01:09.440 --> 1:01:12.320 office that's going to investigate right in the police department. 1:01:12.720 --> 1:01:14.680 Then that person may get captured and have to go 1:01:14.720 --> 1:01:17.280 through the courts, right and all those court officers, and 1:01:17.320 --> 1:01:19.760 then that person may have to be detained. That's now 1:01:19.840 --> 1:01:22.800 correctional facility. And so there you see all of the 1:01:22.840 --> 1:01:26.840 plethora of different moneies that we as people that pay taxes, 1:01:27.240 --> 1:01:30.280 are investing in the one person. One person being not 1:01:30.320 --> 1:01:35.280 talking about that person dies at a whole level. If 1:01:35.280 --> 1:01:37.440 they live, they got hospitalization. You know, the cost of 1:01:37.480 --> 1:01:40.360 hospital bills today to treat you know, a person we 1:01:40.440 --> 1:01:43.320 have is expensive. So if we got that kind of 1:01:43.320 --> 1:01:46.240 money to, you know, to dole out and commit. We 1:01:46.320 --> 1:01:48.800 need to also look at how much we commit in 1:01:48.960 --> 1:01:51.960 the alternatives to violence, Right, how do we do the 1:01:52.040 --> 1:01:55.320 alternatives to police and models like what we have here 1:01:55.360 --> 1:01:57.840 in New York City, the community violence and divention model 1:01:58.200 --> 1:02:00.000 that we have in New York City, like the Christ 1:02:00.240 --> 1:02:03.400 Management System. Mayors across the city and across the country 1:02:03.400 --> 1:02:06.280 can do that. They can make a commitment because they 1:02:06.320 --> 1:02:09.480 are in control of their own budget and make that 1:02:09.560 --> 1:02:12.840 wise investment, just like they do in their security cameras. Right. 1:02:12.880 --> 1:02:15.960 They that stuff costs money and they just need to 1:02:15.960 --> 1:02:18.160 look at it from that end. And then it's a 1:02:18.160 --> 1:02:20.280 part of public sit it's a part of public saty. 1:02:20.320 --> 1:02:22.880 It's an investment. It's a real investment. But you got 1:02:22.880 --> 1:02:26.000 to use the people from those communities. You can't have 1:02:26.120 --> 1:02:29.400 people that just represent that community. You have to have 1:02:29.440 --> 1:02:32.200 people who have literally come from those neighborhoods. 1:02:32.800 --> 1:02:35.120 Well, listening, Tee, we can talk for hours like we 1:02:35.200 --> 1:02:38.240 always do. My brother, I'm always in awe at the 1:02:38.240 --> 1:02:41.680 work you do and how you constantly stay boots to 1:02:41.720 --> 1:02:45.800 the ground. You know, you're a mentor, You're a motivator, 1:02:46.200 --> 1:02:48.240 you know, and a true leader. You know, when I 1:02:48.280 --> 1:02:50.800 started doing this work, you're one of the first people 1:02:51.200 --> 1:02:54.640 that I modeled myself after watching how you move and 1:02:54.680 --> 1:02:58.120 how you conduct yourself, how you move honorably, and how 1:02:58.160 --> 1:03:01.560 you're consistent and always authentic, and everybody would say the 1:03:01.600 --> 1:03:04.920 same thing about you. So you know, you you've definitely 1:03:05.000 --> 1:03:07.920 earned everything that you got in this work, and you 1:03:08.000 --> 1:03:09.520 continue to do the work, sir. 1:03:09.560 --> 1:03:12.080 So I just want to say that we appreciate you, man. 1:03:12.640 --> 1:03:15.240 It's always a pleasure to talk to you, man, and 1:03:15.240 --> 1:03:18.439 we're gonna be on that battlefield with you change. 1:03:18.120 --> 1:03:20.800 When you got the city. And it's not even a job. 1:03:21.000 --> 1:03:22.640 No, it's not even a job because you don't even 1:03:22.680 --> 1:03:26.920 guess not I do not even if this is a 1:03:27.000 --> 1:03:29.480 mission right that I'm on that we're on. I mean, 1:03:29.520 --> 1:03:30.840 they couldn't even pay us enough. 1:03:31.280 --> 1:03:33.520 But I know that how much does it cost to 1:03:33.600 --> 1:03:36.040 run one of your sites at minimum? 1:03:36.200 --> 1:03:40.680 Effectively half a million dollars a year, just at minimum, 1:03:41.040 --> 1:03:43.640 that's gonna get you just maybe about maybe eight to 1:03:43.840 --> 1:03:45.040 maybe ten employees. 1:03:45.520 --> 1:03:48.040 You think about it, Not everybody is outside. 1:03:48.600 --> 1:03:50.280 We have to have a back office and things like that. 1:03:50.320 --> 1:03:53.200 So it's not enough money. And that's only for one shift, 1:03:53.560 --> 1:03:56.200 remember only one eight hour shift. We can only employ 1:03:56.280 --> 1:03:58.280 them up to eight hours, and after that the rest 1:03:58.320 --> 1:04:01.480 of the day, the neighborhoods left on their own right, 1:04:01.560 --> 1:04:03.360 and so we really got to work. We still got 1:04:03.360 --> 1:04:06.640 more work to do. It we need to just working 1:04:06.680 --> 1:04:09.480 alongside y'all, knowing that I got comrades like y'all that 1:04:09.560 --> 1:04:12.320 are you know, back in call and vice versa. Y'all 1:04:12.360 --> 1:04:15.240 know that we pop out boycott black murder. You know 1:04:15.320 --> 1:04:17.760 how we get down and you know, it makes me 1:04:17.920 --> 1:04:20.360 know that when I'm doing I'm not doing a loan, 1:04:20.680 --> 1:04:22.640 you know, because that's that's the part of it, you know, 1:04:22.720 --> 1:04:25.040 being a general who leads from the front, you know, 1:04:25.160 --> 1:04:27.000 just knowing that I got back up, I got my 1:04:27.080 --> 1:04:30.160 peoples whenever I need them, as we've seen demonstrated this 1:04:30.160 --> 1:04:33.520 past Saturday, as you you know, will always do, you know, Tamika, 1:04:33.720 --> 1:04:35.400 when we got to go in front of any crowd, 1:04:35.760 --> 1:04:37.920 I appreciate this opportunity. 1:04:37.640 --> 1:04:39.960 Yeah for sure. I you know that how much I 1:04:40.160 --> 1:04:42.919 love and admire what you do. And you know we're 1:04:43.040 --> 1:04:45.680 talking about Erica and her situation, but you can look 1:04:45.720 --> 1:04:48.280 at each one of us and see where this work 1:04:48.720 --> 1:04:52.640 has taken so much from us, you know, just we've 1:04:52.680 --> 1:04:55.360 given and given and given, and I would do it again, 1:04:55.560 --> 1:04:57.560 you know, I would do it again. But I know 1:04:57.720 --> 1:05:01.360 the points in our lives when we were near death, 1:05:02.120 --> 1:05:08.160 trying to save somebody else, trying to save organizations, save whatever. 1:05:08.640 --> 1:05:11.760 And you know, I don't know. I guess we go 1:05:11.880 --> 1:05:14.960 round and around in circles. But it feels good to 1:05:15.120 --> 1:05:17.600 know that we're getting to the place where at least 1:05:17.640 --> 1:05:20.600 we could try to take care of ourselves while doing 1:05:20.640 --> 1:05:22.520 the work at the same time. So it's good to 1:05:22.520 --> 1:05:24.200 see you take the care of yourself. 1:05:23.840 --> 1:05:23.920 And. 1:05:26.120 --> 1:05:27.000 We appreciate you. 1:05:27.040 --> 1:05:27.160 Man. 1:05:27.640 --> 1:05:30.400 You've got to open door policy anytime. Hen thank you. 1:05:32.080 --> 1:05:35.600 For those people who are listening. This is literally how 1:05:35.920 --> 1:05:38.440 we do our work. We hear things, we get inspired, 1:05:38.480 --> 1:05:41.160 and we start putting pieces together and the next thing, 1:05:41.200 --> 1:05:44.240 you know, you all get to see the finished product, 1:05:44.280 --> 1:05:48.960 or at least the development product of you know, of us, 1:05:48.680 --> 1:05:52.040 of strategy. And I think the coalition, like I said, 1:05:52.040 --> 1:05:54.440 it's the gumbo, like everything is in the pot, and 1:05:54.640 --> 1:05:56.600 I think it's going to be fulfilling. 1:05:56.960 --> 1:05:59.640 Yes, shout out to our brother at Man for always 1:06:00.160 --> 1:06:03.080 coming through. You know, he's really like a big brother 1:06:03.160 --> 1:06:05.680 to me. Calls me all the time. I ask advice, 1:06:06.320 --> 1:06:10.360 you know, and he has the lived experience and he does, 1:06:10.480 --> 1:06:15.040 you know, And he's always got he's always just authentic man. 1:06:15.200 --> 1:06:18.520 And you never see a more positive brother. You very 1:06:18.600 --> 1:06:20.240 rarely hear At raised his voice. 1:06:20.840 --> 1:06:23.280 You know, he's very passionate. I've seen it, but I don't. 1:06:23.360 --> 1:06:25.600 I mean, I've seen it too, but I very rarely 1:06:25.600 --> 1:06:26.160 see it. Man. 1:06:26.160 --> 1:06:28.480 He knows he's a people person, you know, you know 1:06:28.520 --> 1:06:30.080 how people know how to communicate. Yea. 1:06:31.200 --> 1:06:33.439 He knows how to get away from people too, when 1:06:33.440 --> 1:06:36.680 he feels like they're taking him to that place. Like 1:06:36.760 --> 1:06:42.360 he said, the first uh, the first client is you. 1:06:42.360 --> 1:06:45.040 You gotta work on you before you could go out 1:06:45.120 --> 1:06:48.080 and do work for other people. And we constantly are 1:06:49.560 --> 1:06:53.520 holding one another accountable for that and until freedom in 1:06:53.560 --> 1:06:57.840 our larger spaces that we have to be mindful of. 1:06:58.000 --> 1:07:02.000 Like you, nobody's perfect and saying AT is perfect, certainly 1:07:02.080 --> 1:07:05.640 we're not. But we do have to be more mindful 1:07:05.720 --> 1:07:09.920 of how we carry ourselves as we claim to be 1:07:10.160 --> 1:07:13.240 leaders of other people. And you know, I've had to 1:07:13.360 --> 1:07:16.440 learn conflict resolution skills within me. 1:07:16.480 --> 1:07:18.680 I'm talking about my own conflict with myself. 1:07:19.960 --> 1:07:24.960 Forget about conflict because you conflict with you, I have then, exactly, 1:07:25.080 --> 1:07:27.400 and then you can't get out of conflict with nobody 1:07:27.400 --> 1:07:29.200 if you don't start the conflict with you. And that's 1:07:29.240 --> 1:07:32.840 exactly how I ended up being addicted, because there's a 1:07:32.880 --> 1:07:35.880 conflict within And if you don't have the skills to 1:07:35.960 --> 1:07:38.960 be able to acknowledge that you're being triggered to the 1:07:39.000 --> 1:07:40.400 point where you're making. 1:07:40.120 --> 1:07:43.840 Bad decisions, you will go. 1:07:44.280 --> 1:07:47.400 I mean, things could get really, really, really bad. You 1:07:47.560 --> 1:07:52.480 have to have the skill of saying to yourself, Okay, 1:07:53.360 --> 1:07:56.120 is it the bottle of alcohol that I need? 1:07:56.240 --> 1:07:59.640 Or is it prayer? Or is it meditation? Or is 1:07:59.680 --> 1:08:01.760 it what? And it's a fight again, it's a fight 1:08:01.800 --> 1:08:02.439 against the wind. 1:08:04.360 --> 1:08:08.640 Listen, you you've mastered that. I mean you you well, 1:08:08.680 --> 1:08:11.680 I won't say the word master, you overcome. But I 1:08:11.720 --> 1:08:14.919 think that you're very aware, you know. And I think 1:08:15.360 --> 1:08:15.760 what they. 1:08:15.680 --> 1:08:19.200 Say behavior, yeah, yes. 1:08:19.560 --> 1:08:21.559 Yeah, I just think that you're a lot more aware. 1:08:21.600 --> 1:08:24.639 And I think they say in order for someone who's 1:08:24.640 --> 1:08:26.559 an attic, you have to acknowledge you're an addict. 1:08:27.040 --> 1:08:31.160 You have to always be aware of things that trigger you, 1:08:31.280 --> 1:08:33.640 things that set you with that, and you seem very 1:08:33.720 --> 1:08:34.759 aware of those things. 1:08:34.880 --> 1:08:37.400 You know, you always acknowledge this, and I know this 1:08:37.479 --> 1:08:39.160 and that, and I know I'm not doing that and I'm 1:08:39.120 --> 1:08:41.880 gonna stay away. So you know, that's that's part of growth, 1:08:41.920 --> 1:08:45.759 that's part of you know, identifying the conflict within yourself. 1:08:45.800 --> 1:08:48.280 But what happens when the addiction becomes food? 1:08:50.320 --> 1:08:52.680 I mean, that's that's one of the biggest addictions in 1:08:52.680 --> 1:08:53.040 the world. 1:08:53.720 --> 1:08:54.080 For real. 1:08:54.200 --> 1:08:55.840 You have to figure it out. So now I don't 1:08:55.840 --> 1:09:00.320 get it today, It's it's pretty much simple. I just 1:09:00.360 --> 1:09:03.800 don't get why in the hell we only have these 1:09:03.840 --> 1:09:08.919 two seventy and eighty yeo men as our candidates to president. 1:09:09.040 --> 1:09:11.040 I just don't understand that. Like I don't understand how 1:09:11.080 --> 1:09:14.479 we got ourselves in the clusterfuck. This is what we 1:09:14.560 --> 1:09:18.439 call a complete clusterfuck. Like you have to choose between 1:09:20.120 --> 1:09:26.679 Joe and Donald Like you don't have to know. I'm 1:09:26.680 --> 1:09:28.759 saying some one of them is going to be the president. 1:09:29.360 --> 1:09:31.640 But I'm just saying, if you choose to go with 1:09:32.320 --> 1:09:33.240 Joe Stein. 1:09:33.360 --> 1:09:36.559 I'm talking about but yeah, and I love doctor Cornell 1:09:36.560 --> 1:09:38.519 West and and you know how. 1:09:38.479 --> 1:09:40.200 Many other people are right in for president. 1:09:40.320 --> 1:09:42.759 Problem Yeah, but I'm trying to tell you doctor Cornell 1:09:42.800 --> 1:09:46.559 West would be I would love that doctor Cornell West. 1:09:46.920 --> 1:09:49.879 But I'm talking about realistically, when we having a conversation 1:09:49.920 --> 1:09:53.120 about who's going to be voted as the President of 1:09:53.120 --> 1:09:59.000 the United States, is Joe or Donald? And none of 1:09:59.000 --> 1:10:01.519 them to me are fit to that just this my 1:10:01.720 --> 1:10:04.759 personal event. They don't fit the criteria what it takes 1:10:04.760 --> 1:10:07.360 to be have leadership. Now, when I look at both camps, 1:10:07.640 --> 1:10:10.840 I say to myself, so maybe maybe I don't think 1:10:10.920 --> 1:10:13.320 Jason Tatum is the best player to me, maybe I 1:10:13.320 --> 1:10:14.800 don't think he's like the best leader. But I can 1:10:14.880 --> 1:10:17.280 look and see how the Bosston Celtics can win the 1:10:17.360 --> 1:10:20.280 championship because I might be like, oh, now Jalen Brown 1:10:20.400 --> 1:10:24.360 is dope and for Zenias, oh and they got Drew Holliday. 1:10:24.439 --> 1:10:26.000 Like there's a team. 1:10:26.280 --> 1:10:28.200 And that's how I look at and this this is 1:10:28.200 --> 1:10:30.240 the that's the only benefit to me. When I look 1:10:30.280 --> 1:10:33.600 at Joe's team, I know that he's surrounded by smart, 1:10:33.840 --> 1:10:38.200 brilliant individuals who have you know, credentials and who actually 1:10:38.600 --> 1:10:39.479 want to do good. 1:10:40.160 --> 1:10:41.160 You know, I don't. 1:10:42.479 --> 1:10:45.200 I mean right, I mean we know them. 1:10:45.280 --> 1:10:47.599 Exactly, so that that that's the plus. 1:10:47.840 --> 1:10:50.000 I don't see the only thing Trump does is higher 1:10:50.040 --> 1:10:52.400 people that he thinks he can control, and he thinks 1:10:52.439 --> 1:10:56.520 he's smarter than and if he's smarter than or he's 1:10:56.600 --> 1:10:58.720 it's racist all those things. But I'm saying, but if 1:10:58.720 --> 1:11:02.200 he's smarter than the people that he hiring, then that's 1:11:02.439 --> 1:11:03.200 crazy to me. 1:11:03.640 --> 1:11:05.679 I don't either. 1:11:05.840 --> 1:11:09.840 It's try to break it down because I don't even know. 1:11:10.000 --> 1:11:11.439 I don't even want to break it down. 1:11:11.600 --> 1:11:15.160 I just want because I just don't understand because when 1:11:15.160 --> 1:11:17.680 I'm looking, I'm like, I'm watching these people debate and 1:11:17.760 --> 1:11:21.120 watching them move and watching them talk, and I'm like, this, 1:11:21.120 --> 1:11:24.679 this can't be life. It's like, nah, this can't really 1:11:24.760 --> 1:11:27.360 like be life. But it is, you know, And in 1:11:27.439 --> 1:11:29.960 November people have to make decisions. There's no way that 1:11:30.000 --> 1:11:32.400 I'm not going to vote. But I just don't understand 1:11:32.760 --> 1:11:35.280 how this is what we've come to. And this is 1:11:35.280 --> 1:11:39.080 what I say after this election. If we're not intentional 1:11:40.200 --> 1:11:45.080 about creating something that combats with the system, is the 1:11:45.320 --> 1:11:49.120 quote unquote something different. If we're not intentional about creating 1:11:49.160 --> 1:11:52.719 something different, then we just deserve whatever we get. Because 1:11:52.760 --> 1:11:55.920 I thought that was everybody's strategy after the last election. 1:11:56.439 --> 1:11:58.519 When people say, oh, we don't want this now cool. 1:11:59.360 --> 1:12:03.320 Whoever gets is who is our you know, the person 1:12:03.360 --> 1:12:05.760 that we're gonna fight against. We ain't got none of 1:12:05.760 --> 1:12:07.600 these people as our allies. We're gonna fight against that. 1:12:07.640 --> 1:12:11.240 We're gonna push them, We're gonna create our own structure system. 1:12:11.439 --> 1:12:14.160 We're gonna create something that forces them to do what 1:12:14.240 --> 1:12:16.280 it is that we want them to do. And then 1:12:16.560 --> 1:12:19.000 we're gonna put the people that we want in place 1:12:19.040 --> 1:12:19.479 in place. 1:12:19.600 --> 1:12:21.040 That's that should be distracted. 1:12:21.120 --> 1:12:24.320 I mean, that's that's really good. But it takes more 1:12:24.360 --> 1:12:27.280 than four years, and I don't know if it tasts. 1:12:27.600 --> 1:12:29.479 It does because when you start talking about putting a 1:12:29.520 --> 1:12:32.000 structure and a system in place, and and you have 1:12:32.640 --> 1:12:36.160 a portion of First of all, we have to identify, 1:12:37.200 --> 1:12:40.200 just as you know, as an organizer for all of 1:12:40.240 --> 1:12:43.120 these years, the first thing that we have to do 1:12:43.200 --> 1:12:46.800 is identify who's really really with us, which whittles down 1:12:47.560 --> 1:12:50.320 and then we also have to be willing to look 1:12:50.360 --> 1:12:53.720 at those people who who look like us, who are 1:12:53.720 --> 1:12:57.559 an imminent threat to what we're attempting to do. Then 1:12:57.640 --> 1:12:59.639 you have to figure out how to separate the two 1:13:00.040 --> 1:13:04.559 because a lot of times, and you mentioned this before, 1:13:04.680 --> 1:13:08.479 you look at that you know, you look at well, 1:13:08.520 --> 1:13:09.200 we just said it. 1:13:12.040 --> 1:13:15.080 You you think people. 1:13:16.200 --> 1:13:20.400 Are with you and you're traveling with them down the road, 1:13:20.479 --> 1:13:23.720 and then you find out that their interest and the 1:13:23.760 --> 1:13:25.599 way in which they line up. 1:13:25.880 --> 1:13:27.479 Is so is it? 1:13:27.680 --> 1:13:32.080 It's actually it pulls us backwards. So first of all, 1:13:32.120 --> 1:13:35.160 you've got to identify who who are, who is the day? 1:13:35.200 --> 1:13:38.479 Who is the we that even wants something different, because 1:13:38.520 --> 1:13:43.600 some people just want comfort, they don't want different, and 1:13:43.760 --> 1:13:44.960 difference means pain. 1:13:45.000 --> 1:13:48.679 It's going to be painful, that's true, I think. 1:13:48.720 --> 1:13:50.360 But I think there's a lot of people that want 1:13:50.360 --> 1:13:51.000 something different. 1:13:51.120 --> 1:13:54.439 I think I think there's so many people that feel 1:13:54.600 --> 1:14:02.760 underrepresented and unseen within this current structuring system that if 1:14:03.000 --> 1:14:08.719 people were very intentional about creating and building and really 1:14:08.760 --> 1:14:12.080 doing the work necessary to create something different, it would 1:14:12.080 --> 1:14:12.719 be possible. 1:14:13.040 --> 1:14:16.320 So what do you think happened to all the people 1:14:16.320 --> 1:14:17.800 who really did try. 1:14:17.680 --> 1:14:21.880 What usually happens with movements and structures. There's too many chiefs. 1:14:21.600 --> 1:14:23.400 So you don't think that that's the same that. 1:14:24.400 --> 1:14:24.880 I don't know. 1:14:25.000 --> 1:14:26.840 I just think the way that you go about it, 1:14:26.920 --> 1:14:30.200 right is really create sitting down with like minds. 1:14:30.280 --> 1:14:30.479 Right. 1:14:30.560 --> 1:14:34.200 It's like anything you create a team, you keep on Okay, 1:14:34.439 --> 1:14:36.320 you say you want to be in the team. Oh yeah, 1:14:36.320 --> 1:14:38.000 you're not. Really you don't want because you want to 1:14:38.000 --> 1:14:39.200 do what you want to do. But this is what 1:14:39.240 --> 1:14:41.040 we need you to do for this team. And a 1:14:41.120 --> 1:14:45.880 lot of people don't understand. And America got this way 1:14:45.960 --> 1:14:49.840 because they created something and everybody probably wasn't on the 1:14:49.880 --> 1:14:52.800 same page, right, So we have to have the same 1:14:54.360 --> 1:14:58.280 steadfastness energy, like what it's going to take to to 1:14:58.439 --> 1:15:00.559 break the system. It's going to take this saying energy 1:15:00.560 --> 1:15:03.000 that they put in to make the system. So if 1:15:03.040 --> 1:15:06.479 we just complacent, you know, and we just sit around 1:15:06.479 --> 1:15:08.320 and we just saying, Okay, you know what, I'm tired. 1:15:09.200 --> 1:15:10.840 He don't want to listen. They don't want to listen. 1:15:10.880 --> 1:15:13.280 I'm just tired. It's not gonna work like that. And 1:15:13.320 --> 1:15:17.360 with that said, we've come to the end of another episode. 1:15:17.840 --> 1:15:22.400 Shout out to brother at Andre T. Mitchell Man. Hit 1:15:22.479 --> 1:15:26.120 us up at TMI Underscore Show and let us know 1:15:26.120 --> 1:15:27.880 what you like, let us know what you don't like, 1:15:28.280 --> 1:15:30.200 tell us who you want to see, give us some 1:15:30.240 --> 1:15:33.439 topics we want to hear from you. We appreciate y'all 1:15:33.439 --> 1:15:36.920 for following us, keeping us number one. We love all 1:15:37.000 --> 1:15:39.240 the love that y'all give us and we try to 1:15:39.280 --> 1:15:42.320 give it back. I'm not gonna always be right to Mek, 1:15:42.320 --> 1:15:44.200 it's not gonna always be wrong, but we will both 1:15:44.640 --> 1:15:48.280 always and I mean always, be authentic. 1:15:49.439 --> 1:15:50.600 How Yoda. 1:15:59.240 --> 1:16:00.240 Check out the video. 1:16:00.040 --> 1:16:03.160 Your version of t M every single Wednesday on I 1:16:03.400 --> 1:16:04.439 Woman dot TV. 1:16:05.000 --> 1:16:05.479 That's how we