WEBVTT - INTERVIEW: Tamika D. Mallory On Finding Her Voice, Boycotting Companies Rolling Back DEI, New Book + More 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:03.279 Wake that ass up early in the morning. The breakfast 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:04.720 Club Morning. 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:08.799 Everybody's dej Envy, Jess, hilarious, Charlamage the guy we are 0:00:08.840 --> 0:00:11.440 the breakfast Club Lo La Rosa feeling and for Jess, 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:12.080 and we got. 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:14.320 A special guest in the building. Yes, indeed, my new 0:00:14.360 --> 0:00:15.480 book is out right now. 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:18.079 I Live to Tell a Story, A memoir of love, 0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:21.120 legacy and resilience. Ladies and gentlemen to me a Mallory, 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:23.000 welcome back to me on family. 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:23.720 How are you feeling. 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:26.400 It's good to see y'all. I'm good. I'm feeling excited. 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:29.840 Uh yeah, another book today today came out to day. 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:31.640 I Live to day story a memoir. 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:35.159 Yes, and thank you, my brother, thank you. Because you know, 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:40.360 Charlemagne and I as a family made some decisions about 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:42.560 my book deal. I called him to say, hey, I 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:44.800 don't know, am I supposed to it was during the summer. 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:46.479 No, it was twenty twenty one. 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:49.560 I don't know. Okay, it was twenty twenty right, because 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:52.519 the book was released in twenty twenty one, So you know, 0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:54.840 I called him to be like, hey, they're offering me 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:57.360 a lot of money, but there's a lot of people 0:00:57.480 --> 0:00:58.960 offering me different deals. 0:00:59.200 --> 0:00:59.959 What should I do? 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:02.600 So he's like, well, you know, I have a new imprint, 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:05.320 and you know, if you want to be my first book, 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:07.280 I'm down to do a deal with you. And I 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:08.920 was like, Oh, I didn't even need to hear the 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:12.720 rest of it. I just said yes, and I'm excited. 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:14.240 I'm glad that I did. I had a lot of 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:18.440 creative control here. I would text you and say they're 0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:21.800 not listening to me. Tell them something, you know, But 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:25.280 it worked out. The whole team has put a lot 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:28.120 of love and energy in these both books. But this 0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:29.679 one right here is real special to me. 0:01:30.000 --> 0:01:32.399 What's the difference in mindset when it comes to a memoir? 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:33.920 Because I live to tell a story as a memoir. 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:36.080 State of Emergency wasn't a memoir. What's the difference between 0:01:36.080 --> 0:01:36.360 the two. 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:36.560 Yeah. 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:40.199 State of Emergency was more so my theory of change 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:44.400 for America. It was really a prescription for what I 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:47.440 think we need to do as a country, and especially 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:51.920 how people can be not just allies of ours, but 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:54.800 really accomplices like throw down with us, get yourself in 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:58.880 trouble if you really stand with black people. But this 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:03.120 book is a prescription for me and hopefully what comes 0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:05.400 out of it is that somebody else will read the 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:07.360 book and say, wow, I have I've had some of 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:11.000 the same challenges, or I was thinking of going down 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:13.280 the same path, but I see something different that I 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:15.480 can do. And I know there's a lot of people 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:18.920 out here, especially young girls, who need somebody to tell 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:22.000 them that their mistakes are not the end of life, 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:24.560 you know, because everybody's going to tell you, Oh, you're 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:27.960 too fast, you're too loud, you talk too much. That's 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:30.360 what that's the black girl experience. I'm sure you know 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:34.880 we talk all the time, but you know, but I 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:37.320 think what you now see is that people pay me 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:39.960 to talk. Right, So I went from being told that 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:43.560 I needed to be quiet to people saying, hey, speak up, 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:45.960 you know, and speak up for me. So I'm hoping 0:02:46.000 --> 0:02:48.160 that it translates in that way. And in fact, a 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:50.840 lot of people got pre copies, and you know all 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:53.720 the things that happens in the publishing world, and I've 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:56.840 already been hearing from people and I'm on my third 0:02:56.919 --> 0:02:59.040 tour date pre release. 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:00.720 Well now I'll release. 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:05.440 But the folks who are meeting me and saying, hey, 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:07.720 you touched me in so many ways just because you 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:10.480 were honest about things we try to hide. 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:12.800 That has been really powerful. 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:15.000 What was the decision to do because the front of 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:17.600 the book there's a braids on one side. In the 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:21.280 back of the book is the blone thirty inch bus 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:22.360 down exactly? 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:24.160 What was that decision? 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:31.240 So yeah, so I came up with that. My mother 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:34.480 kept saying, your first book was really good and I 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:36.680 loved it, but your picture needs to be on it. 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:38.960 And I was like, mom, my memoir is going to 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:42.000 have a picture. And I was tossing and turning with 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:46.800 how to represent myself properly? What the corn rolls people 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:50.640 know me for? Especially if you met me after George 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:54.400 Floyd passed away because of or was killed because of 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:59.680 the viral speech in Minneapolis, you probably met the corn 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:03.440 roll because that was all we had, and especially during 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:07.760 the pandemic, I could only get some corn rolls from 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:09.320 my homegirl who does my. 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:11.120 Hair, who was braiding, but we. 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:13.800 Weren't like weaving and doing all of that, spending eight 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:16.320 hours in the salon. So I was out in the 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:21.520 summertime in Kentucky. It was hot, everything was closed down. 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:24.200 The corn rolls worked, and a lot of people met 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:26.680 me that way, and that's me. I'm on the ground. 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:29.400 I love my corn rolls. You see, I've decided to 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:33.200 keep this look even during this release. But that's just 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:37.000 that's not I'm not one dimensional, right, My bus down 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:39.400 is another part of my life. I like to be 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:42.560 a girly girl, and so I've struggled with how to 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:45.120 do both things. Could I put two pictures, it wouldn't 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:47.479 have been too much. And then I just came up 0:04:47.520 --> 0:04:50.320 with this idea that I wanted to half do and 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:55.599 everybody thought I was absolutely crazy until they designed it 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:57.520 and came back and said, you know what, this might 0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:00.640 actually work. And the other thing that people don't really see, 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:03.000 and well, you know, I pointed out all the time 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:05.440 is that the housing projects I was born and raised 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:08.320 in is in the background of the book, so you 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:13.919 can see the buildings literally where I grew up. And 0:05:13.960 --> 0:05:17.960 it's it's really this cover is more than just a cover. 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:20.800 It's like telling you a story about what's in the 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:21.960 book and what's in my life. 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:23.200 Is that where you found your voice? 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:27.080 Brothers, absolutely, because you know in the book there's a 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:29.320 part where it talks about me running around the house 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:31.640 as a little kid, saying power to the people, power 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:33.720 to the people, and everybody in my house is like, okay, 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:35.559 we get it, power to the people, but we tied 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:39.920 go to sleep. My parents have always been super duper black. 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:43.839 They wear Dashiki sweatsuits. You know, they like that black 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:49.359 Koofi's black. And you know, they always took me to 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:53.440 places and spaces where I was empowered, even as a 0:05:53.480 --> 0:05:55.560 young kid. You know, you take your kids places and 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:58.120 don't think they're paying attention. But it was getting in 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:02.200 me from young so it translated into you know, where 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:04.400 I am today, and it's been all throughout my life. 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:08.120 What I have learned is when and where to speak. 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:12.800 I've learned to be more mindful and careful about what 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:15.599 I say, you know, and where I say it. But 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:17.800 when I was young, I just was like i'mna say 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:20.360 anything because y'all said power to the people. 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:22.480 So hey, it's like you gotta go there sing woo. 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:24.320 That's a good point because I like, you know, they 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:29.880 always say the opposite of courage is not cowardice is conformity. 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:31.760 So you think that's conforming. 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:34.520 Well, I don't think I was conforming, I think, or 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:37.600 now I don't think I'm conforming. But I'm just wiser, 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:42.000 you know, and I also have learned to protect my peace, 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:43.920 so I don't want to get in every fight. 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:45.960 I don't want to argue all the time. I used 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:46.320 to do that. 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:48.560 I used to spend my whole day going back and 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:51.520 forth with people. And then I realized that I was 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:56.080 not necessarily being as effective in my own life because 0:06:56.160 --> 0:06:59.800 my time was spent debating with people who that's what 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:02.120 they do, you know what I mean, that's all they do. 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:04.440 I got all these other things. I run businesses, I 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:06.719 run an organization, I have all this stuff going on, 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:09.480 and I'm sitting up here just in every argument all 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:11.920 the time. So I just decided to make my voice 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:16.000 mean more by using it at the appropriate time. So 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:18.480 I wouldn't say it's conformity, but it certainly is wisdom. 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:20.360 Do you remember what point in your life that was 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:22.800 when you decided to do that, because you have a 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:23.960 lot of battles. 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:28.680 What was that when well, stop arguing with him all 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:32.760 the time? That's where it first started. I just got Look, 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:39.880 I just stopped because between him and Bruh, we can 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:43.119 stay on a text threat for three days fighting about 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:45.480 the same thing. So I just learned how to just 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:50.840 be like, you know what, I'm gonna be quiet. I 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:54.600 know exactly what he does. But we do have meaningful conversation. 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:56.840 I can say that even I'm sure we both will 0:07:56.880 --> 0:07:59.560 agree that even when we don't agree, we still come 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:02.520 out wiser, like we know a little bit more about 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:06.000 the topic and see different perspectives, which is important. But 0:08:06.080 --> 0:08:09.800 I think that when I really learned how to be 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:13.000 more effective and using my voice was during the Women's March, right, 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:16.480 like you know, that was a real, real hard time, 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:21.200 and I once I started going through the controversy and 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:24.560 all the attacks and people coming at me for anything 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:28.280 they could think of, I found myself getting you know, 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:31.840 I was drained trying to explain and it's like, why 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:32.880 do you you just stop? 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:33.640 Just stop. 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:36.960 In fact, some of the sisters around me called me 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:40.000 one day and said, it's not working. Like what you're doing. 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:42.720 You on Twitter, you on Instagram, You're trying to explain. 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:45.240 It's not working. It's not coming across. And it hurt 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:47.719 my feelings because I'm like, but y'all know, y'all know 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:50.360 what they're doing to me. But then it will I 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:52.679 kind of opened my eyes to what they were saying 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:55.760 that I was only making the situation worse. 0:08:55.880 --> 0:08:56.800 It wasn't getting better. 0:08:56.960 --> 0:08:59.120 So you feel like you wroke. You became stronger in 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:00.960 your messaging after you realize that. 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:03.400 Yeah, I think, well, I know, I became stronger as 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:06.360 a person, right that, which you know is what I 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:10.160 don't think. My message wasn't strong, but it was overkill, 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:13.440 you know what I mean, because you again, you cannot 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:15.880 force people to understand what they're not trying, even if 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:18.800 they already know. Many people already know what you're saying, 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:21.360 and they have decided that they're just not going to 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:24.120 agree with you. So I think it made me stronger 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:27.480 as a person that now when I speak on something, 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:32.480 I absolutely feel convicted. And therefore, whatever I gotta do, 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:35.480 whatever war, I'm in. Hey, to hell with it, we 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:36.520 in it, I do it. 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:38.480 I'm gonna ask good that was going to ask why 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:42.360 the memoir now? Right? Some people will say it's still 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:44.640 too early for a memoir. Some people will say, you know, 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:47.400 a memoir is a period piece of time in your life, 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:48.200 so why now? 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:50.840 Yeah, you know what, I'm at the hopefully like a 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:54.240 little less than halfway point right about fifty. You think 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:56.280 you're kind of at the halfway point of life. I'm 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:59.559 forty four. Obviously, other people. 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:02.400 Thank you very much. I work at this every day. 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:06.640 Obviously, people saw that in me that there was a story. 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:10.120 And when I first when I first sat and wrote 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:13.600 a outline and outline of what would be in the book, 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:17.480 I didn't believe on page one that. 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:21.120 There was a story. I was like, this is whatever. 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:24.640 But by the time we finished the outline and went 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:27.080 over it together, I said, oh my God, like this 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:30.600 is a real powerful story. And I'm at the point 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:32.960 in my life where I can actually walk with this 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:36.679 book and tell the story for myself versus being elderly, 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:39.720 you know, and kind of unable to even remember some 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:42.880 of the things that happened, you know. But obviously a 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:44.840 big part of this book is that I ended up 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:47.920 going to rehab for the pill addiction, which we've talked 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:51.319 about on this show before, and I think that that 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:56.080 marks a really important time that kind of like bookends 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:59.560 the story, you know, from me starting as a little girl. 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:02.800 I tell you all about that because who knew coming 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:05.680 from the projects in Harlem that I was going to 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:08.480 end up on stages in front of millions of people 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:10.400 and that folks would be listening to me as a 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:13.559 leader no one ever instilled that. I mean, my parents 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:15.600 may have told me that, but the world didn't say 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:19.160 little black girl from the Projects can become this. It 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:22.640 just you know, it wasn't a thing. So that's the 0:11:22.679 --> 0:11:26.520 first part. But then there's like there's challenges. There's challenges 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:30.480 that come with influence and what some people consider to 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:32.600 be celebrity, even though I don't really use that and 0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:35.760 reference to myself, but some people feel that way. There's 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:39.160 challenges that come with all of that and ending up 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:43.120 in that place, that dark place of being in rehab. 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:45.960 It's something that I knew I had to tell and 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:48.679 I don't want it to be like mixed into an 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:51.920 early story. I really wanted it to be like you 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:55.120 and me, we on this journey together right now. When 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:57.640 I said it here on the Breakfast Club in the 0:11:57.679 --> 0:12:03.360 Old Space, people started reaching out to me. That you know, 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:06.280 because you're in the world, so you understand. But there 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:09.280 are a lot of people that you would think, whoa, hey, 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:11.959 A lot of people did what I did. Because when 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:17.960 I first contacted Jason Williams, the NBA All Star, you 0:12:18.000 --> 0:12:21.040 know he is in the healing space after all the 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:23.880 things we know he went through. My first contact in him. 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:26.319 I was kind of like, Hey, my friend is going 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:28.880 through something, what can you tell me. He let me 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:31.360 do that for two times, two three calls. By the 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:33.320 third call, he was like, Sis, I already know what 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:35.400 it is. It's all good, Like you need to get 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:39.400 shipped together, basically. And I started getting those calls and 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:42.720 some people who were real honest, and I said, Oh, 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:45.480 hold up, this is serious, because these it's not. It 0:12:45.520 --> 0:12:48.560 wasn't people who look cracked out on the street. This 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:52.400 was folks who have big jobs, they sitting in big positions, 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:54.200 and they were like, I am so proud of you 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:56.280 that you were brave to speak about it. And you know, 0:12:56.720 --> 0:13:01.000 I know somebody who might be also dealing. Pilliction is real, 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:03.960 you know what I mean? Pill addiction is real because 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:07.440 it's silent. You don't smell it like alcohol. You don't 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:10.560 see people looking like they're high, but they're taking pills 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:14.800 to numb themselves, all different types of things. And when 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:17.800 I started to see how many people have the same experience, 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:20.160 I knew it was time for me to release this story. 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:22.640 You know, another part of the book that I love 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:24.480 is when you talk about you know what happened with 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:27.680 the Women's March, and you know, not just what happened 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:29.440 with you. I wonder if people are going to read that, 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:32.480 especially women that were involved, and say, man, she wasn't 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:35.160 just ringing the alarm for herself, she was bringing their 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:37.520 along for how they're trying to break us up. That 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:40.640 was such an amazing movement that way. So I feel 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:43.280 like they broke up rather fast. Was that a hard chapter? 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:44.200 Right? Yeah? 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:47.120 Well, the Women's March part is really difficult for me 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:49.800 even to talk about, just because first of all, it 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:52.600 still exists, and there are people there who were a 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:54.720 part of breaking up. 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:56.240 The Women's March. 0:13:56.679 --> 0:13:59.720 So I try not to call their names because I'm 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:01.200 trying to do better in life. 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:02.280 It took me. 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:04.360 I was as a whole way here. I kept saying, 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:08.200 don't be calling people's names, and so, yeah, it's hard 0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:12.040 to write about that. Our experience there is something that, Yes, 0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:15.480 it was amazing, incredible. I'm glad I did it, even 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:18.920 knowing what I know, I would do it again because 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:21.280 we made history that can't be taken away from us. 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:22.960 Are duplicated, and it. 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:25.720 Is it does. 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:28.400 I mean, they actually just had something that was you 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:31.320 know good, you know, I'm glad that they're continuing our 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:35.160 work because we certainly were the trailblazers. 0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:36.040 We started it. 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:39.760 We the list that is, you know that that they used, 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:41.800 the social media, all of that we created. 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:43.920 That those are people who started. 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:46.400 Following us, and and and and it's not about just 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:53.200 replacing individuals. It's also, in my judgment about the people 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:57.200 who were there were ordained, if you will, to be there, 0:14:57.280 --> 0:14:59.360 right like it was the place that God put us 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:02.080 and it was for a reason. And so there's a 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:06.840 history that exists that at times it can be painful 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:10.000 to have to relive and then also to kind of 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:13.160 see people act like they were the first ones at 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:15.200 the gate, you know what I mean. And so but 0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:18.520 at the same time, I will say that I know 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:21.280 there are some incredible women that are in the Women's 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:24.640 March today, black women who've taken over the space, and 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:28.440 they're making sure that the Women's March continues to be 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:32.080 welcoming to black women. And so, you know, I'm happy 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:33.400 to see that word continue. 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:35.800 I was going to ask, you know, how do you 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:37.320 deal with everything that you're going through? 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:37.520 Right? 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:40.240 We see you on the front lines a lot of times, 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:43.120 we see you online, we see you on TV. But 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:44.920 you have to be going through a lot because not 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:47.560 everybody that's with you is supporting you, right, There's a 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:49.200 lot of people that's going against you, and you have 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:51.000 to deal with that as well. Where you're really trying 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:54.240 to do something, not for financial grain financial gains. A 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:55.760 lot of times it puts you in danger, but you 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:57.400 still do it. But there's a lot of people that 0:15:57.520 --> 0:15:59.560 still attack you. How do you deal with that? 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:03.120 So I don't mind any you know, I've been in 0:16:03.160 --> 0:16:06.560 this for thirty years, envy like, that's how long. That's 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:10.360 how long I've been in this work for thirty years. 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:13.560 I started before my son was born and he's about 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:17.400 to be twenty six, so that's a long time. So 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:20.920 I'm used to attacks, right, And I'm definitely used to 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:24.120 the attacks that come from what is considered to be 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:30.400 the other side. What is often very very frustrating. It's 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:33.640 people who are supposed to be in the movement together, 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:35.680 we're all supposed to be trying to work towards the 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:38.640 same goal, who you just see and hear with the 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:42.400 sly attacks and the sly comments and things that they're 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:45.320 doing and saying to try to discredit the work that 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:48.320 we put in that for me is probably the most 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:51.600 frustrating part. And what's frustrating about it it's not even 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:54.520 that they do it. What's frustrating is that I have 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:59.080 always tried to maintain a posture of not getting into 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:02.440 a public battle with people who were all supposed to 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:04.840 be walking in the same direction. You know. I always 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:08.399 think about and I try to remind myself because I 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:11.679 was raised in the King tradition, right in the Doctor 0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:14.919 King tradition. That's what I learned. I learned about the 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:18.560 principles of nonviolence. Carmen, if she was here, Carmen Perez 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:21.240 would say, you attack the forces of evil and not 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:24.120 people doing evil, right, And I've had to tell myself 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:27.520 that over and over and over again, even when evil 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:29.880 means people, even within our movement. 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:32.600 And so I was raised. 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:35.800 I think about this one particular scene in a movie 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:37.439 called King in the Wilderness. 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:38.080 I love it. 0:17:38.400 --> 0:17:42.520 I love this one of my favorite documentaries films about 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:45.040 Doctor King because he knows that he's about to die. 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:48.960 He can feel it. You know, he has a great despair. 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:52.000 You can see him walking around and at times you 0:17:52.119 --> 0:17:55.200 know that he's like, you know, really going through something 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:59.680 that's telling him this danger Lumen lat yeah, right, last 0:17:59.720 --> 0:18:04.359 eight months of his life. And there's a scene where 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:07.040 he is walking next to Stokely Carmichael. 0:18:07.240 --> 0:18:07.440 Right. 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:09.399 So, first of all, they're in the same march and 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:13.560 they had tension. Trust me, they had tension, and a 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:16.280 lot of times they kept the attention in the basement 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:18.760 of a building and then came out and they was together. 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:23.720 You couldn't necessarily tell this particular day. They're walking in 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:27.320 the march and the reporter is asking doctor King, like, 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:29.840 what should you know? How should we be moving forward? 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:32.239 What should people be doing? And Doctor King is like, 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:36.399 you know, you know, I believe in the principles of 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:39.600 nonviolence and it is not passive, and he's going on 0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:43.639 and on about nonviolence. And then they turn around and 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:47.280 they asked Stokely Carmichael, what do you think that we 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:47.920 should be doing? 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:48.560 What's the direction? 0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:50.520 He said, I think we should burn this whole damn 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:54.320 thing down, right, And so it's two different mindsets, two 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:58.120 totally different mindsets, but they're walking in the same direction 0:18:58.200 --> 0:19:00.359 and they're able to be there. And doctor King didn't 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:03.680 get scared and say let me run away. In fact, 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:07.320 he used the energy of those people who were like 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:10.199 burn it down, tear it up. And he took that 0:19:10.359 --> 0:19:14.280 into these government offices and corporations and wherever else he 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:16.960 was and said, Hey, these folks getting ready to mess 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:19.800 your shit up, like you know, y'all better figure out 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:22.879 what we're doing here. And they also held him accountable 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:25.200 by saying, these are the things that we need you 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:27.560 to get done if you are going to go in 0:19:27.640 --> 0:19:30.199