Speaker 1: Malik Books has how the knowledge you wants. Malik Books
Speaker 1: has how the knowledge you need. Books. Yeah, they have
Speaker 1: all the books that the whole wild world want to read. Books.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Malik's Bookshew bringing a world together with books,
Speaker 1: culture and community. Hi, my name is Malik Mohammed, your
Speaker 1: host of Malik's Bookshow. This is an exciting time. I
Speaker 1: went out in the community and I got a chance
Speaker 1: to talk to some kids about reading matters. I think
Speaker 1: that that is an excellent title for this episode, four
Speaker 1: teen Reading Matters. And I asked them that they like reading,
Speaker 1: and they were frankly honest and candid about whether they
Speaker 1: like reading. And I'm gonna share that conversation I had
Speaker 1: with these kids, these youths at a school. We went
Speaker 1: out and wats Also part of this episode is an
Speaker 1: interview I was blessed to do with a new author
Speaker 1: who wrote a book called Black Joy. Her name is
Speaker 1: Tracy Michelle Louis Digit and I got an opportunity to
Speaker 1: interview her. So I'm gonna share that interview on this episode.
Speaker 1: My book review for this episode is by an award
Speaker 1: winning Grammy winner. I believe fifteen Grammys she has won.
Speaker 1: She sold over sixty five million albums, and she's an activist.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna share that new book review by Alicia
Speaker 1: Keys new book Girl on Fire. So sit back, relax.
Speaker 1: Episode fourteen, Reading Matters. So I like to read? Okay,
Speaker 1: you don't like to read? You like to read. You
Speaker 1: gotta learn to like what you don't like. Tell you something,
Speaker 1: there's no advancement in this society and in this world
Speaker 1: without reading. Even if you don't like it, you gotta
Speaker 1: do it, and so you might as well learn to
Speaker 1: like it because reading reads. Opportunity to reading allows you
Speaker 1: to be able to open a whole new world and
Speaker 1: become what you want to become. You can't do unless
Speaker 1: you're reading books. You go to college, you gotta read.
Speaker 1: You go to high school, you gotta read. Whether it's
Speaker 1: reading book with the chapter or textbooks. Point is, you
Speaker 1: gotta read. My suggestion, learn to like what you don't like,
Speaker 1: Learn to appreciate what you don't like. Trust me, learn
Speaker 1: the like reading because reading is gonna be a part
Speaker 1: of your life for a while. To be are young?
Speaker 1: This middle school? Right? How you read? Welcome to Malik Books.
Speaker 1: This is Malik's book mobile. We don't tend to too
Speaker 1: when we're on Instagram, follow us. Yes, you do fash
Speaker 1: out everything. So let me ask you what kind of
Speaker 1: books on your bookshell at home? Um? I have to
Speaker 1: hate your kids, ghost boys this and I have some
Speaker 1: other black um, wonderful one. What about you know what
Speaker 1: books on your bookshall at home? Um? Dog man and
Speaker 1: captain under me? Okay, okay, but I see you found
Speaker 1: some books here. I appreciate that. And what school we
Speaker 1: are now? Charter the charter? All right, we'll grade you
Speaker 1: in almost ready five school? You follow me? Alright, I'm
Speaker 1: on Instagram, I'm onna TikTok, We're on Facebook and we
Speaker 1: have Twitter. All Beligue Books. You cannot be what you
Speaker 1: want to be on the sideline, fair will stagnatu period.
Speaker 1: Just get out of your own way. You keep pushing
Speaker 1: and I'm a pro. Welcome to Maligue Books. The Belak
Speaker 1: books was something that I think can served not only
Speaker 1: my family and me, but also the community because I
Speaker 1: want to make a difference in the change in the
Speaker 1: community by using books, because books changed me for the better.
Speaker 1: Malak books give voice to the voiceless. My grandma walked
Speaker 1: the streets night and day. When I went to USC
Speaker 1: and that was only money I had once a month
Speaker 1: she sent me by selling Sweet Pay the Pies and
Speaker 1: Katie D's. Every time I would see her or talk
Speaker 1: to her, even on the phone, I would cry, it's
Speaker 1: just words of wisdom that that comes out. She has
Speaker 1: so many kids that love her because you just had
Speaker 1: a soul then was so loving that kind of gave
Speaker 1: birth to the crusade or praise Scotts Scholarship funk. I
Speaker 1: was a sprinter, so I've had junior Olympic champions I've
Speaker 1: set national records in track and field. Also was a
Speaker 1: former Olympian. Whether it was track, whether it was maleik books,
Speaker 1: they all kind of coincide with each other. I just
Speaker 1: love helping people where African, very independent bookstore that we
Speaker 1: carry in a very large, diverse and cultural children book
Speaker 1: selection because here at Malie we believe children all one
Speaker 1: hundred percent of our future and we know that self
Speaker 1: esteem grow from here, not here, and that's very important.
Speaker 1: You can find a whole different Worling books today there's
Speaker 1: not that many bookstore so people thank us for being
Speaker 1: an independent bookstore in the community and taking a chance
Speaker 1: where the Crusader Praise Scholarship front is giving over in
Speaker 1: the last five years eighteen scholarships the freshman in College
Speaker 1: and the purpose of the scholarship fund is just to
Speaker 1: help serve those in needs. Belie Books is just an
Speaker 1: extension of our community. Will brings me joy is to
Speaker 1: see someone feel joy from the work that we're doing.
Speaker 1: I would like to introduce you to our major guest tonight,
Speaker 1: whose new book Like Joy The Stories of Resistance, Resilience,
Speaker 1: and Restorate by Tracy Michelle Lewis. Digit She is Professor
Speaker 1: of English and Black Studies at the Community College of
Speaker 1: Philadelphia and the founder of heart Space, a healing community
Speaker 1: created to serve those who experienced trauma of any kind
Speaker 1: through the use of storytelling and art. As a writer,
Speaker 1: Tracy has published fifteen books, including several collaborations with numerous
Speaker 1: high profile authors. Also forthcoming is her dynamic book that
Speaker 1: We're gonna be talking about the Day Black Joy The
Speaker 1: Story of Resistance, Resilience and Restoration. I came across uh.
Speaker 1: I think it was j Rogers. I think he wrote
Speaker 1: something to the effect that said, you know, many books
Speaker 1: have been written that wow, you know doing it. This
Speaker 1: was during the time, you know, we've been in America
Speaker 1: and he in. Many psychiologrists and people wrote books saying
Speaker 1: how do Black people find joy and all the trauma
Speaker 1: that they've been experience through slavery, oppression, and so forth.
Speaker 1: And they was like, and they studying us because they
Speaker 1: because we like the same we like to dance, we
Speaker 1: like the shot, we still find time to find joy,
Speaker 1: and they don't understand that because the condition that we've
Speaker 1: been in has been a fight, has been resistance, it's
Speaker 1: been resilting, it's been restoration. So you know, it's they
Speaker 1: study us because we are loving people, we are forgiving people,
Speaker 1: and we still find joy. M hmm, yeah, yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1: So can you separate trauma from black joy though, because
Speaker 1: you know, mental health is a major issue all across
Speaker 1: the nation. Yeah. I think this book was written to
Speaker 1: counter the prevailing narrative that's out there of that we
Speaker 1: have low self esteem or that we are you know,
Speaker 1: um how um struggling because of something that is inherent
Speaker 1: to us and not necessarily the way these systems have
Speaker 1: you know, the positions that this these systems have put
Speaker 1: us in. And so my my goal with this book
Speaker 1: wasn't to center anyone else or any other you know,
Speaker 1: narrative about us, but just to focus on I opened
Speaker 1: the introduction of the book talking about our joys rooted
Speaker 1: and self compassion and empathy because I think it's about
Speaker 1: the way we see ourselves and the way we see
Speaker 1: and treat each other that really is more defining, right,
Speaker 1: because these these trauma, the rest of the the white
Speaker 1: supremacy and all the stuff that we we've dealt with,
Speaker 1: the trauma hasn't gone anywhere, right, it is, It is here,
Speaker 1: and it has been here. What has changed, maybe to
Speaker 1: your point, Malik, is maybe the way that we see
Speaker 1: ourselves in it Um. I I attribute some of that
Speaker 1: to yes, mental health challenges maybe, but also UM retired, right,
Speaker 1: And so part of that exhaustion is what I said
Speaker 1: earlier about allowing that righteous rage and that despair to
Speaker 1: become all consuming in this container that we have, right
Speaker 1: and not being able to tap into our access the
Speaker 1: joy that our ancestors always the thing that drove them,
Speaker 1: that drove them to migrate from Kentucky to someone you know,
Speaker 1: like like. I think I think that's the piece. I
Speaker 1: think it's important for me to not focus on um
Speaker 1: the narrative of who black people are, but how we
Speaker 1: treat each other, I think, and how we see ourselves,
Speaker 1: and there is no way to please everybody, you know,
Speaker 1: you we have to have an agenda that focuses on
Speaker 1: our real issues, and if we don't, then those issues
Speaker 1: are never addressed. And I think that you pointed out
Speaker 1: that we can learn from the past. That's the point.
Speaker 1: That's the most important thing from yesterday is to learn
Speaker 1: from it so that we can try to pass out
Speaker 1: in the future. We know it don't work, so we
Speaker 1: have to apply with will work. And if that exhausting
Speaker 1: that you talked about is real, because like I used
Speaker 1: to beat that drum all the time about this and
Speaker 1: about that, and it was nothing but talking about the problem.
Speaker 1: But I have no solution, and that's what typically goes
Speaker 1: on today. We can talk about the problem, but we
Speaker 1: need to come up with solutions. And that's where I'm
Speaker 1: at right now because I'm exhausted about beating that drum
Speaker 1: about the problem. We don't know what's going on the
Speaker 1: last hundred years. Much hasn't changed, but we gotta figure
Speaker 1: out what steps we need to make to make a
Speaker 1: real difference, to create a generation of change. And so
Speaker 1: it starts now. I think your book is a great
Speaker 1: contribution because it is addressing um we are resisting, resistance, resilience,
Speaker 1: and restoration. We have overcome a lot, but we got
Speaker 1: a long way to go and we can do it.
Speaker 1: We got listen and Tracy, you know, you use it
Speaker 1: all you experience in your life. You're reading fifteen books.
Speaker 1: You are talking a issue that is real trauma, but
Speaker 1: yet celebrating the good that came out of it. Black Joy.
Speaker 1: So I think that you know me personally, I personally
Speaker 1: think that we need to unite, pull some money together,
Speaker 1: by some land and build a new future right there
Speaker 1: to date. Yeah, I I mean the global pandemic kind
Speaker 1: of pushed me into it, but like really having to
Speaker 1: sit with myself and ask where do I want to be,
Speaker 1: where do I want my child to be? And and
Speaker 1: really thinking about land. That's important and we cannot discount
Speaker 1: that that that matters, and that we have to have
Speaker 1: a base. No foreigners come over here, they create a
Speaker 1: base and they in a hub and a home in
Speaker 1: a community. You know, say, we have to do the
Speaker 1: same thing. It's a belonging, it's a calling. It's just natural,
Speaker 1: you know, it's a connection. And so we're trying to
Speaker 1: build our roots and we can do it right here,
Speaker 1: right here, and we should because we are so important
Speaker 1: in this country. We have embellished this because we're just
Speaker 1: in the country is great because of persevere. Because of
Speaker 1: them three words. Resistance results in restoring. Because of them
Speaker 1: three words. This is why this country has become one
Speaker 1: of the greatest of all time in modern world. One
Speaker 1: of the things that I read in your book and
Speaker 1: that you talked about trade she was the influence did
Speaker 1: Efty had And I ask you about you know, I
Speaker 1: want to ask you about because you know the hip
Speaker 1: hop community, rappers in the very influential and so what
Speaker 1: part did that play in your life and how you
Speaker 1: became a career writer? M hm question, Now that is
Speaker 1: a good question. I'm amazed at how many times forty
Speaker 1: has come up in mind conversations last couple of weeks. Honestly,
Speaker 1: and writing that piece, I did not think that it
Speaker 1: would be like the thing that people gravitate. I think
Speaker 1: what I was trying to do in that piece was
Speaker 1: really just talking about the role that hip hop and
Speaker 1: music in general played in my identity and how I
Speaker 1: how I saw myself. Um, and it wasn't you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of times people talk about music. Even in
Speaker 1: the there's another piece called the Healing Power of Prince Um.
Speaker 1: I love that. Yeah, yeah, you know, like a lot
Speaker 1: of times people think of music as escaped, especially if
Speaker 1: you have a traumatic childhood. You think, um that it
Speaker 1: is a way for you know, you to escape into
Speaker 1: the music. Right. We hear that language a lot, and
Speaker 1: I guess there's some truth to it. But for me,
Speaker 1: it allowed me to see a version of myself that
Speaker 1: had not been reality but could have been. Right. So
Speaker 1: when I was in the Burger King dancing with the
Speaker 1: mob to Mary J. Blige, and I saw Mary J.
Speaker 1: Blige like like I saw a version of myself that
Speaker 1: was confident, that was you know, you know, comfortable in
Speaker 1: her skin that you know, and there were there were
Speaker 1: all of it. I could envision It was like a visualization.
Speaker 1: I could have envisioned myself being loved, loving all of
Speaker 1: these things. And so the music for me listening to
Speaker 1: E forty and the Click was really just about the
Speaker 1: turn of a phrase, the language. Oh I can do that,
Speaker 1: I can I can write in metaphors, I can speak,
Speaker 1: you know like I can do those kinds of things,
Speaker 1: And it excited me right, and it informed who I
Speaker 1: would later become. Right, But it was really about like
Speaker 1: not escape, but just who you know, I don't have
Speaker 1: to limit myself as to be this brown this little
Speaker 1: brown girl from Kentucky. Um. I my parents and my
Speaker 1: family always said that I was the big dreamer, like
Speaker 1: you know I was. You know, I took my three
Speaker 1: hundred dollars in my budget Rentald Van and I drove
Speaker 1: myself to Chicago, to the South Side, to the little
Speaker 1: studio market on the Lake and that's where and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do my thing right, and you know all that
Speaker 1: came with that. So the music just kind of helped
Speaker 1: me dream. I guess is a is the best way
Speaker 1: to say it, I said earlier. I have a podcast
Speaker 1: called Leech's Bookshelf, bringing a world together to books, culture
Speaker 1: and community. My question, what is on your bookshelf and
Speaker 1: what was the most significant book that you have read
Speaker 1: the impacted your life. I'm looking at my bookshelves now
Speaker 1: and I'm like, there there is no way that I
Speaker 1: could do because they all speak to a different part
Speaker 1: of me, a different space and time. When I read
Speaker 1: it or whether I teached it, I teached it, taught it.
Speaker 1: Um or anything you like, I could went on the
Speaker 1: one hand saying their eyes were watching God. On the
Speaker 1: other hand, I can say Sula and the other guy
Speaker 1: I can say, you know, Breathe or you know Heavy
Speaker 1: or any of these other books. But they are all
Speaker 1: have equal value because they all and like informed me. Right.
Speaker 1: It would be like saying, which one do you like
Speaker 1: your you know, your arm or your leg? Well, they
Speaker 1: kind of, I mean, they serve different purposes, but they're
Speaker 1: kind of both useful and and scessary. And that's how
Speaker 1: I feel like about most like black literature. Um, you
Speaker 1: know what you guys are doing at Malik Books, and
Speaker 1: it's necessary because those children that are walking in and
Speaker 1: they're picking up those books on that massive I don't
Speaker 1: even know you guys have that that massive you know,
Speaker 1: children's bookshelf. Like is I remember going to the library.
Speaker 1: I remember like that feeling. I get it to this day.
Speaker 1: My husband like like cracks up because I can go
Speaker 1: into a bookstore a library and I'm just like, wait
Speaker 1: a minute, now, I didn't do that, you know, Like
Speaker 1: I just get like this feeling of like and it's
Speaker 1: almost overwhelmed because I can't read them all, Like I
Speaker 1: just I want to read them all, so I don't know.
Speaker 1: I can't give you one. But because Malik's bookshelf is
Speaker 1: all about it's like I got a bookshelf. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm do book review, but I got my own personal bookshelf.
Speaker 1: But we all do. We all like certain books, and
Speaker 1: certain books have opened us up and created and charted
Speaker 1: a path for us, and we inspired us and where
Speaker 1: this has been fun. This has been fun and I
Speaker 1: really enjoyed our conversation. Um, it was very enlightening. I
Speaker 1: appreciate this opportunity Malik Books to host you, Tracy, thank you,
Speaker 1: and maliek Books look forward to y'all selling a million
Speaker 1: and them books best. My book review for this episode
Speaker 1: is a new book schedule for March first. Now. The
Speaker 1: author of this book, it's a Grammy Award winner as
Speaker 1: well as an activist and she has written books in
Speaker 1: the path, but this is a new book. This targeting youth,
Speaker 1: is targeting the young, and it's a graphic novel. And
Speaker 1: the author who sold over sixty five million is Alicia Keys.
Speaker 1: Her new book title Girl on Fire Now. What's interesting
Speaker 1: about that that title was a song that she wrote
Speaker 1: called Girl on Fire Now I'm not a singer, and
Speaker 1: but if I could, you know, singing a little bit,
Speaker 1: I would, But hey, I would just cause you to
Speaker 1: turn off this podcast. Now what this graphic novel is
Speaker 1: all about. It's about this young girl who discovers when
Speaker 1: she was put under pressure and that's when you find
Speaker 1: the strengthen you. When she was puting under pressure because
Speaker 1: her brother was arrested by the police and being concerned
Speaker 1: that he might be harmed, she discovered she had this
Speaker 1: ability that came from her mind and the fire within
Speaker 1: her brought this power to help free her brother. But
Speaker 1: in so doing, the people who are feelains in the
Speaker 1: community discovered that she had this ability and put her
Speaker 1: in the corner to try to manipulate and use her
Speaker 1: to the adventage. Sound familiar, that's how the society sometimes works.
Speaker 1: So this is a realistic book. It is relatable, it
Speaker 1: is a graphic novel, it is entertaining, and it's by
Speaker 1: someone who sold sixty five million albums, a Grammy Award
Speaker 1: winner an activists Alicia Keys, who is a woman herself
Speaker 1: and can relate to what I used. And our community
Speaker 1: needs to inspire to read, to elevate and to find
Speaker 1: that fire within you, because where your gifts are they
Speaker 1: within you. And sometimes you have to go under pressure
Speaker 1: in order to find that true gift, to find who
Speaker 1: you are. And so the car the Girl on Fire,
Speaker 1: that's how she discovered her abilities which came from within
Speaker 1: and came from her mind. So this new graphic novel
Speaker 1: by Alicia Key, Girl on Fire, this is a great book.
Speaker 1: A lot of kids love graphic novels. Is graphic novels
Speaker 1: is one of the hottest Johnary of books today. It's
Speaker 1: a good young reader book. So go out to get
Speaker 1: your copy today. That's my book with you for today,
Speaker 1: Girl on Fire by Alicia Keys. Thanks for listening to
Speaker 1: Malik's Bookshelf where topics on the Shelf, our books, culture
Speaker 1: and communities. Be sure to subscribe and leave me a review.
Speaker 1: Check out my Instagram at Belik Books. See you next time.