WEBVTT - The Deric Muhammad Episode 0:00:01.080 --> 0:00:04.800 Get up, Get boys. It's back and reoaded all in 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:07.480 your mind. Yeah, and that deep throating. This is for 0:00:07.640 --> 0:00:11.440 the streets, the reel, the railroading, the disfranchise, the truth 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:14.480 escape building. And they ain't knowing we speak the truth, 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:17.279 so they quoted because we wrote it. The North south 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:20.239 East coat is the g be my tree, keeping your 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:23.119 head bobbing. It ain't no stopping and wants to be 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:26.479 dropped head by. And then the system is so corrupt 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:28.360 they throw the rock out of their heads and then 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:32.840 blame it on us. Don't get it twisted on code 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:38.160 and me and danced for no furtament biscuits. It's really 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:41.319 de y'all scar faces in the building. Collectively, we are 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:44.680 to get old boys reloaded, reloaded with another episode of 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:48.519 information and instructions to help you navigate through this wild, crazy, 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:54.920 beautiful world. In the studio, my old school mate, my homeboy, 0:00:54.920 --> 0:01:02.160 and my friend, my brother, a solid father, brother, son, cousin. 0:01:03.160 --> 0:01:06.080 Hey man, this active, this dude right here, and on 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:08.240 top of that, the cherry on top is he's an active. 0:01:08.600 --> 0:01:14.640 He's for the people. Derek Mohammed family. Good to be here, man. 0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:18.360 Look man, I'm so happy to have you. Man, you. 0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:21.880 You were one of those people that that is earned, 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:27.360 not giving you. You You we came, We came from 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:30.319 the same place and we walked the same streets. We've 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:33.520 walked the same holls in school. So I know your story, 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:36.960 but I want you So y'all went to school. Yeah yeah, yeah, 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:40.520 a couple of years under me. I got a few 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:43.120 years under will But how many years you over me? 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:45.640 Because we all got a few years over me too. 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:49.280 I think we go around that same I just turned 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:57.200 fifty last year. Okay, right, yeah, but from the north 0:01:57.240 --> 0:02:02.000 side of Houston, brother Derek Mohammed, I remember Willie Deep 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:05.880 back when Willie d was the local celebrity rapper. So 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:08.760 when he became famous and people in Japan and everybody 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:11.720 else started knowing him, we thought they already knew him 0:02:11.800 --> 0:02:17.880 because it's famous in Japan. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, he is. 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:22.000 He was he is. I don't know. But but we 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:25.560 come from the same neighborhood. Everybody knows what goals on 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:27.960 in the hood in the United States of America, so 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:33.000 we don't have to itemize that. But we come from 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:38.399 humble beginnings and due to our law, were living better now. 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:41.280 But we haven't forgotten where we came from. Man. You know, 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:44.640 when I look at you, oftentimes I see myself man, 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:48.080 and in that You've always been like a good brother, 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:52.520 had a good heart, but you had some challenges. You 0:02:52.520 --> 0:02:54.680 had some challenges. I mean you you you was a 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:56.600 good dude, but you know you got caught up for 0:02:56.639 --> 0:02:59.280 a minute, just like I got caught up absolutely and 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:06.800 in to see you go from uh, basically a minute, 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:11.720 that's what. But but but to see you go from 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:17.160 that to being a giver, you know, to being a protector, 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:24.320 that's big. That's big. And to see how you dote 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:31.200 over your daughter and how that feeling is reciprocated, it's beautiful, man. 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:34.080 To see the relationship you have with your mother, you know, 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:38.280 especially knowing like what that relationship was like early on 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:42.640 because you know, your father died when you was eleven 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:47.280 years old. You know, your your mother about addiction similar 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:50.720 to mine. My mom bout an alcoholism, which is an addiction, 0:03:51.240 --> 0:03:56.280 but your mom about a drug addiction. Man, How I mean, 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:59.560 what was that like growing up and not Northeast ust 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:03.720 on an our side and you know, having to face 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:07.000 those type of challenges on a daily basis. It was rough, Will, 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:10.960 but it was all that we knew. You know, you 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:13.680 have some young children who say that they grow up 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:16.640 in the household, but they don't even know that they're 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:19.120 poor because they just don't know nothing else. They feel 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:24.479 like it's just normal. But having a mom who was 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:28.800 uh got caught up in the crack era, I look 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:32.000 at it as her being a casualty of the War 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:36.080 on drugs. It forced myself and my siblings to grow 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:40.320 up very fast. My father passing away at the age 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:43.440 of eleven forced me to grow up very very fast. 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:47.680 And I feel like the challenges that you face as 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:53.279 a child, they'll either defeat you or they'll make you stronger. 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:56.719 I believe that the challenges that I faced, I believe 0:04:56.760 --> 0:04:59.600 those that you face that we faced, they made a 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:03.719 strong younger. And now that God has blessed us to 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:07.240 become stronger in the face of those challenges, it is 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:09.720 up to us to turn the corner, to go back 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:12.839 to where we came from, to make certain that we 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:15.240 reach your hand out to those other youngsters who are 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:18.279 going through the same challenges. I'm a firm believer that 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:20.799 you must never turn your nose up at the bridge 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:26.039 that brought you over anything. You should do what you 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:29.800 can to repair that bridge so that others who are 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:32.000 coming across the bridge can make it on the other 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:35.560 side too. So that's what I'm in the business of today, 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:40.120 my dear brother, making certain that we were able to 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:42.440 go back to where we came from and make it 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:45.800 better for the next generation. Yeah. Share, share with the 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:49.000 audience that story you told me about your teacher who 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:53.760 who hit you on literacy? Right right? So, tenth grade, 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:57.520 I came to school and I picked up my my 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:01.000 schedule and I saw that they had me in the 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:05.040 class called journalism. At that time, I didn't even know 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:08.640 what the term journalism meant. So I said in the 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:12.440 class and the teacher was like, does anybody have any questions? 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:17.040 I said, yeah, what's journalism? Then she explained it to me, 0:06:17.120 --> 0:06:19.160 but I told her, look, don't worry about it. You 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:23.640 know too many smart children in this class. I'm gonna 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:27.080 get my schedule changed and and and so you don't 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:29.560 worry about I ain't coming back here no more. So 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:34.919 she said, well, Mr Jackson, give me two weeks and 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:37.680 if you still want to get your schedule changed, I 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:40.760 will co sign on it. But the way you got 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:44.000 in this class is because you're English teacher from nine 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:48.359 grade recommended you because she said that you had a 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:52.960 talent for writing. So I said to her, that's a 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:55.599 hell of a thing, because I failed that class. Right, 0:06:56.440 --> 0:07:01.600 So what happened is she started teaching me face how 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:04.440 to do what's called feature writing. She give me a 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:08.080 subject and she said, okay, almost like probably comic songwriting. 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:11.640 And I started getting good at it. Then I started 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:15.240 liking it. Whereas at first I was hiding from my 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:18.320 friends that I was in this journalism class because it 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:22.840 sounded nerdy. Now I'm out with it, like, yeah, I'm 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:25.240 gonna take this journalism thing to the next level. So 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:29.640 she started, um not at the time, my mother was 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:32.800 in the throes of her drug addiction and we hadn't 0:07:32.800 --> 0:07:36.520 seen her for weeks. So it was myself and my 0:07:36.560 --> 0:07:40.200 brother pretty much living on our own, uh, surviving how 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:43.120 we could, and you know, going to school when we 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:46.400 wanted to. That kind of thing. Well, she knew what 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:49.320 it is, what was going on in my household. She 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:54.520 knew I was fifteen with grown folks problems, and anytime 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:57.040 there was some kind of competition or whatever, she would 0:07:57.080 --> 0:07:59.720 come pick me up. She would bring me food, she 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:04.080 would give me money. So she as a teacher, unbeknownst 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:06.880 to me, became the mother figure that I needed at 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:10.400 a time when my mother was not in a position 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:14.480 to be a mother. What I'm saying. So she entered 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:20.120 some of my writings into a competition, and I basically 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:22.360 just did it for her, because this is what she 0:08:22.440 --> 0:08:25.880 did to me. She would give me something and I 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:28.680 would write, and I would bring it back to her 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:30.560 for her to grade it, and she would say, well, 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:34.200 that's okay, Mr Jackson, but I think you could do better. 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:37.560 Back then my last name was Jackson. Then I do 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:40.000 better and give it back to her, and then she 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:43.480 would go crazy. She would go that's what I'm talking about. 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:48.000 She would take a small thing that I did and 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:50.960 she would make it big. Right. That was her way 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:54.920 of giving me confidence. So she entered my writing into 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:58.360 this competition. By this time, I was living with my grandmother. 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:00.280 My grandmother had come and got us in. We were 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:04.640 living there. So my grandmother was like Derek, Ms. Leonard's 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:07.920 on the phone. I called, I mean, I picked up 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:13.400 the phone and she started screaming, and I'm like, miss Leonard, 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:17.800 what's wrong? She said, you got second place? You got 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:21.120 second place? I told you you could do it. And 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:23.839 it was the first time that I had ever competed 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:28.960 against white children in anything. But she had put such 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:34.439 a battery in my back that any self doubt that 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:37.439 I had in myself and thinking that I couldn't compete 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:40.760 with these white children, it was already gone. So I 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:44.720 tell that story just to illustrate the power of one teacher, 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:47.920 of how the or the power of one mentor the 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:52.840 power of how one individual can impact a child's life. 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:55.680 And they never forget it. Now, this was thirty years ago. 0:09:56.000 --> 0:09:58.960 I'm still talking about that to this day, you know. 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:02.480 But she but I made it to State as a writer. 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:08.160 I'm talking about coming out of homestead village projects and uh, 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:10.400 she picked me up to take me to the competition, 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:12.959 and she said, Derek, she said, don't you go a 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:17.280 hand up. These rich white kids intimidate you. She said, 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:20.320 you are the best sixteen year old writer on the 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:23.320 planet Earth when you focused. That's the kind of batteries 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:26.480 she used to put in my back. So I competed, 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:30.920 and I remember getting up from that death saying there's 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:34.320 nothing in this room that's gonna be able to compete 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:38.840 with what I wrote. Well, she called me just like 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:42.360 she did the first time, and said, uh, you know, 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:46.240 my grandmother was saying, brother dere Derek ms Lennar is 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:49.040 on the phone. So I pick up the phone and 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:52.920 she's on the phone crying. I'm like, what's wrong, miss Leonard? 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:58.880 She said, they robbed you. I say, what do you mean? Well, 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:05.320 the rule said that you have to write a story 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:10.840 that's four hundred words long or less less. Mine was 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:15.240 four hundred and five words, so I did too much. 0:11:16.240 --> 0:11:19.160 But she used to judge those competitions, and she said 0:11:19.200 --> 0:11:23.480 that she never seen where they disqualified somebody for writing 0:11:23.520 --> 0:11:28.200 too many words. It was my first time experiencing systematic 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:33.679 racism directly. We all experienced it indirectly, but directly, it 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:37.880 was my first time being cheated out of something right now. 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:41.160 To be honest with you, I really didn't care. I 0:11:41.240 --> 0:11:44.200 was more there for her than I was for me, 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:48.760 because I was there to prove her right. You see, 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:51.839 all of the negative things that I have been that 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:54.319 had been said to me about myself as a little 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:57.760 black boy growing up in the hood, she was saying 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:00.600 something different. She was feeding the kid. Get me why 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:03.080 everybody else was telling me you ain't gonna be nothing 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:06.360 in life. So I had to prove her right. And 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:09.640 so even though they robbed me of that competition, the 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:12.240 battery that she put in my back thirty years ago, 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:16.320 it's still in my back today. So I can walk 0:12:16.360 --> 0:12:21.320 in any room and never feel intimidated, never feel less than, 0:12:21.760 --> 0:12:25.080 never feel as if though I'm not on anybody else's level, 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:27.719 no matter who's in that room. Have you had the 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:32.720 opportunity to tell this yes, yes, because he needs to 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:36.360 know that. Yes. I wrote about her in my book. 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:41.480 And uh, what's that book? It's called New Rules. It'll 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:45.920 be out in a month. But I called her and 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:48.120 I told her, and I let her know we actually 0:12:48.160 --> 0:12:51.680 maintained contact all the way up until the time she 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:57.720 passed away. She passed away in but that year before 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:00.719 she passed away, some months before she passed away, I 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:03.760 was on an airplane on my way to Nevada for 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:06.120 my birthday. I was gonna spend my birthday up in 0:13:06.160 --> 0:13:09.280 the mountains in Nevada, And as I was writing about 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:14.199 her in the book, I just started crying. Bro Because 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:19.280 it wasn't until then, thirty years later, that I realized, Damn, God, 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:24.120 use this lady to save my life. M and when 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:26.400 I got off that plane, I called it and and I 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:30.439 let her know, but because it was we were going 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:34.240 through COVID protocols, I said, Man, I'm gonna go and 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:37.280 see her, but I'm gonna wait till things cooled down 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:41.520 with COVID. Well, a couple of months later, I got 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:43.480 a phone call from her nephew telling me that she 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:47.280 passed away. But I want to say that to anyone 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:51.520 who might be listening, if you have somebody that has 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:54.280 made a difference in your life like that, don't wait 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:56.480 to go and see them, to let them know what 0:13:56.559 --> 0:13:58.880 it is that they they've done for you, because tomorrow 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:03.360 is not promised. Absolutely, But that's the power of one mentor. 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:05.520 That's a hell of a story, man, And that is 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:08.920 a beautiful story, you know, speaking of passing away. Man, 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:14.320 I did not know Virgin died. Um the owner of Sunshine. Yes, yeah, 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:18.560 I did not know he died. Oh Man, I that 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:21.960 that was a good dude and super good. Yeah. May 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:26.880 God be pleased contributed speaking to pass And I don't 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:29.520 know if people know, but my grandmother, that's on the 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:35.320 My Homies album. She passed win Um June June six, 0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:38.680 She passed, were buried on the eleven. Oh man, my condolences, 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:40.920 that's all good man. She put up ninety for me 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:43.760 and she don't owe me nothing. My grandmother passed back 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:47.400 in October. Um, she put up ninety three years. Yeah, 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:50.520 she don't owe you nothing. I got fifty one and 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:53.200 fifty one years and that was beautiful, Yell the fantastic. 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:58.960 And you talk about people, um that were inspirational in 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:02.080 your your upbring you know, and you being who being 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:04.400 the person that you are. You know, I shared that 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:07.720 same sentiment with my grandmother, you know. She she she 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:09.880 gave me some stuff that I can take with me 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:12.160 for the rest of my life and pass on to 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:14.200 my shieldren that they can pass on it there. So 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:18.440 I understand what you're saying when you talk about people 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:21.680 that that just a big impact on your life. As 0:15:21.720 --> 0:15:24.840 well as teachers too. You know, teachers played a huge 0:15:24.920 --> 0:15:27.560 role in me being you know who I am today. 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:30.600 I started this is funny. I started. The way I 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:32.880 started rapping was through limbricks. You ever heard of a 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:36.239 limerick And it's like there was was a man from 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:39.120 Nantucket who used to sit on the bucket. I guess 0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:42.440 how I learned how to wrap and I just mastered 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:45.920 that and got really really good Willie And it's real 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:50.200 though it is Man, something so simple turn can turn 0:15:50.240 --> 0:15:52.920 you into an animal. You know, something so simple as 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:58.160 journalism can turn you into an animal. Like you know journalism, 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:00.360 you know how to put words together, you know how 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:04.440 to stand in front of a group of people, man, 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:08.400 and express yourself to them about the importance of what 0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:10.120 it is you're trying to get across. You know what 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:14.800 I mean? Like, that's heavy, man, that's heavy boys. Reloted 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:24.480 podcast will be right back after the poet. Are you 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:32.120 still working with the Mail's Office? Uh? Indirectly sometimes sometimes 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:34.400 you put a lot of work in man, especially with 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:38.200 that Blackmail Summit. Yes, sir, Yes sir. The Blackmail Summit 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:44.320 is my baby. The black Mail Summit is the most 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:48.000 important project that I've ever worked on, and it's the 0:16:48.040 --> 0:16:50.560 most important project that I will ever work on. What 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:53.440 is the black Mail something? The Blackmail Summit is a 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:56.320 summit that we host twice a year, once on the 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:59.360 North Side and once on the South Side, where we 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:02.320 bring in and young brothers from the hood and their 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:06.879 parents and we focus strictly on the issues that black 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:12.320 males face America. If anything, let start to cut you off, 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:16.960 but name some of those issues that um played the 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:20.960 black male in America. The fact that your average black 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:26.200 male functions at a reading level of second grade, that's 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:30.680 an issue, the aversh black male? What what? Age? Just period? 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:33.040 That's not true because women can read this ass off. 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:36.600 I'm listening to his words. Second grade second the average 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:41.440 second first of all, second grade reading level is actually comprehensive. 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:46.000 That don't mean you can't read? But yes, sir, what 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:48.679 does what does? What does can't read mean? Though? What 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:53.800 does that mean? Can't read? Like camp? That's not true? 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:59.080 Come on, come on, man, that's not most mostly, most 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:01.840 of your high school graduates, even if they can read, 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:06.639 they graduate as functional illiterates. A functional illiterate is someone 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:09.360 who can read and call words, but they can't get 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:11.800 a grasp on the concept of what it is that 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:14.720 they're reading. And you have to also remember that for 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:17.800 three hundred and three hundred plus years it was against 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:21.359 the law for us to learn how to read. So 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:27.040 reading and writing are actually two lost arts people. So my, my, 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:31.120 my uh first grade teacher, her name was Ms. Taylor, 0:18:32.920 --> 0:18:39.240 and she had a thing on her board on our chalkboard, 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:47.600 and it says, understanding what you've read, Understanding what you've read, 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:51.320 what that is? That like a form of of illiteracy. 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:56.000 If you cannot understand what it is, it's called functional illiteracy. 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:58.560 When you can, you can call. You can read the words, 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:00.840 but you don't it doesn't make sense. And you can 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:04.200 read the words very well, but you don't understand what. 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:06.880 And then and then you have to also understand face 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:12.280 that of what we're reading is culturally irrelevant to us. 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:16.280 Meaning we're reading. We can read it, but I'm not 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:19.840 really interested in what the hell George Washington did as 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:23.879 far as as far as I'm concerned, George Washington was 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:26.840 a slave owner. He sold a slave for a kid 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:30.920 of molasses. So these are things that if if if 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:32.760 you put this in front of me, it's something that 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:36.159 I'm interested in because I see myself in it. But 0:19:36.320 --> 0:19:40.159 most of what our young boys are force fed in 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:44.720 public schools, they don't see themselves in it. What happened 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:50.199 on August second and this year August second nd, According 0:19:50.240 --> 0:19:55.040 to this calendar, North Carolina voters overwhelmingly approved amendment to 0:19:55.160 --> 0:20:00.119 disenfranchise African Americans as part of a statewide campaign to 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:04.760 intimidate black registered voters. What does that mean? That means 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:08.200 that what was going on? Then it's still going on 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:14.880 right now? That's heavy, man. This is a catalog, uh, 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:19.199 a history of racial injustice exactly. And this is the 0:20:19.240 --> 0:20:22.720 type of information that we have to feed to our 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:25.320 children because that's the only type of information that we 0:20:25.400 --> 0:20:27.800 can that we're interested in. Well, it's the type of 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:32.320 information that matters. Man, knowledge of self is It's like 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:35.960 the motor in side of a car, right, you could 0:20:36.080 --> 0:20:38.760 you could have you could have the body of the car, 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:41.520 but if you don't have the engine, it can't go nowhere. 0:20:41.760 --> 0:20:45.040 And I have no desire to study Abraham Lincoln whatsoever. 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:48.119 I just don't. Then we're going and talking about the 0:20:48.200 --> 0:20:52.840 Journal Truth or Dred Scott or Path Singleton and stuff 0:20:52.880 --> 0:20:56.320 like that, Like I'm interested in those people. But when 0:20:56.359 --> 0:21:01.640 you talk about uh uh the Haze Tilling acting all 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:03.560 that crap, I don't give a damn about that. Man. Well, 0:21:03.600 --> 0:21:05.200 the only thing that we really need to know is 0:21:05.240 --> 0:21:09.320 who they were period Haying Now I'm talking about our 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:13.439 Washington Jack's all them, Who the who the hell they 0:21:13.480 --> 0:21:19.000 were heroes to us? Because from that we know what 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:23.240 they did. Right, there's a there's an African proverb that says, 0:21:24.160 --> 0:21:27.680 when a child does not feel the love of the village, 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:31.040 they will burn it down in order to feel it's warmth. 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:36.200 But that's heavy, it's very heavy because what it does 0:21:36.359 --> 0:21:40.520 is explains that it explains the behavior of our children, 0:21:40.560 --> 0:21:46.080 particularly black boys. See, we've given birth to soldiers, but 0:21:46.200 --> 0:21:49.400 we have not given them anything to fight for. When 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:54.159 we integrated black businesses into white businesses, and black businesses 0:21:54.200 --> 0:21:58.360 got eradicated while white businesses took off. What we did 0:21:58.480 --> 0:22:00.919 is we gave birth to a generation of soldiers, but 0:22:01.640 --> 0:22:05.159 what they were born to protect, we've integrated it into 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:11.200 white society. So so they're angry. They're angry, my dear brother, 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:15.440 And I mean, think about this. Right, when we came 0:22:15.560 --> 0:22:19.199 up in the eighties, you could drive down one street 0:22:19.480 --> 0:22:22.320 and you could see three different football games going on 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:25.480 at the same time. We are playing tackle football. They 0:22:25.480 --> 0:22:28.640 did a study with lab rats and they said that 0:22:28.760 --> 0:22:32.240 after a lab rat is finished eating, it will actually 0:22:32.280 --> 0:22:36.200 do more work in order to enter into another space 0:22:36.240 --> 0:22:40.840 where there's another juvenile male lab rats so they can play. 0:22:40.880 --> 0:22:46.640 So to play, it's something that's natural for juvenile males. 0:22:46.680 --> 0:22:49.200 So why is it today that we can drive down 0:22:49.200 --> 0:22:53.680 the same streets and ain't nobody outside playing. It's because 0:22:54.560 --> 0:23:00.560 we've traded tackle football for grand theft, auto Fortnite Freeze 0:23:00.560 --> 0:23:04.240 tag for Fortnite hot Ball. Remember we used to play 0:23:04.240 --> 0:23:10.680 hot ball roadblocks. Yeah, so that's taxes, mask letting toxic. 0:23:11.720 --> 0:23:16.000 But what what not anything with black black, anything with 0:23:16.080 --> 0:23:20.520 men doing something aggressive, it's toxic, toxic. But but but 0:23:20.560 --> 0:23:24.560 the thing, but the thing about it is these video games, 0:23:25.400 --> 0:23:27.320 the type of it. It's not just that they're playing 0:23:27.400 --> 0:23:30.840 video games, but these violent video games that they're playing, 0:23:31.240 --> 0:23:35.520 they're militarizing our young boys before they reached the age 0:23:35.600 --> 0:23:38.920 of puberty. Yeah, but that's not our young boys. They're 0:23:38.920 --> 0:23:43.080 militarizing their young boys because we ain't. We're not. We're 0:23:43.080 --> 0:23:46.200 not walking up the street with with Well, I'm lying. 0:23:47.200 --> 0:23:51.359 Think about what you're saying, Think about what you're saying. No, 0:23:51.520 --> 0:23:55.120 they're militarizing walking up the streets now with with with, 0:23:55.119 --> 0:24:00.960 with with, But we're militarized for self destruction. They're militarized 0:24:01.000 --> 0:24:05.680 for something else. And what exactly what they're doing is 0:24:05.680 --> 0:24:09.399 is they're sending in militarized police officers to deal without 0:24:09.440 --> 0:24:14.520 militarized young boys. But but what I'm saying is the 0:24:14.600 --> 0:24:18.719 scientist got it down. Pat. If you can affect the 0:24:18.760 --> 0:24:22.840 way they play as little boys, then you can affect 0:24:22.840 --> 0:24:26.760 how they end up as grown men. Think, think about it. 0:24:26.800 --> 0:24:30.439 Think about it. If if you see a youngster every 0:24:30.440 --> 0:24:32.639 single day he got a basketball in his hand, he 0:24:32.680 --> 0:24:34.760 has a better chance of ended up in the NBA. 0:24:35.640 --> 0:24:37.560 You see a youngster with a football in his hand 0:24:37.680 --> 0:24:39.600 every day, he has a better chance to ended up 0:24:40.840 --> 0:24:44.280 in the NFL. Right if you see if you see 0:24:44.320 --> 0:24:48.760 a youngster playing grand theft auto ten twelve times, ten 0:24:48.800 --> 0:24:53.040 twelve hours a day and that's all he do, it's 0:24:53.040 --> 0:24:56.080 gonna impact where he ends up as a man. So 0:24:56.160 --> 0:25:00.080 that's why Frederick Douglas said that it is easier to 0:25:00.119 --> 0:25:03.520 trained strong boys than it is to repair broken men. 0:25:04.640 --> 0:25:07.840 We got to catch them while they're young if we 0:25:07.840 --> 0:25:11.400 want to save them. Uh, which is a great segue 0:25:11.480 --> 0:25:18.480 into the documentary you produced Raising Boys? Tips for Uh? 0:25:18.600 --> 0:25:22.240 Single moms, sir? What are some tips for single moms 0:25:22.280 --> 0:25:26.520 and raising boys in this climate? Yes, shout out to 0:25:26.600 --> 0:25:30.760 all of the single mothers out there who are being 0:25:30.800 --> 0:25:33.879 forced to raise their young boys on their own and 0:25:33.920 --> 0:25:38.159