Speaker 1: Malague Books has all the knowledge you want.
Speaker 2: My League Books has how.
Speaker 3: The knowledge you need, but yet they.
Speaker 4: Have out the works that the whole wild world one
Speaker 4: up bad Malague Books.
Speaker 3: Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to Malik's Bookshelf, bringing a world together
Speaker 3: with books, culture and community. Hi, my name is Malik,
Speaker 3: your host of Malik's Bookshelf. I must admit I'm having
Speaker 3: a wonderful time as a podcaster. I'm presented with these
Speaker 3: golden opportunities to interview top authors such as Bacari Sellers,
Speaker 3: the Cole, Hannah Jones, and some newcomers like Sierra Rogers,
Speaker 3: which are going to be featured on this episcope. They
Speaker 3: all three have three different topics, three different books, three
Speaker 3: different subjects. I love when I get this opportunity to
Speaker 3: interview the author. That's my way of presenting you at
Speaker 3: book review. No one can tell you more about that
Speaker 3: book than the author. So I'm excited for this episode
Speaker 3: because I hosted three different events just last week and
Speaker 3: I got a chance to interview all three of these authors.
Speaker 3: June is hot at Malite Books. We're loaded with events
Speaker 3: and authors. I'm excited. We still got upcoming to ROGI
Speaker 3: p Henson, Victor Lukason.
Speaker 2: And Tiffany Hattish. Then they all three are going to
Speaker 2: be at Malik's Books. We also have a.
Speaker 3: Big event in August with Jay Ellis and conversation with
Speaker 3: Issa Ray that's going down at the Miracle Theater.
Speaker 2: We're looking forward to that.
Speaker 3: Jay got a book out that's coming out in August.
Speaker 3: It's this book launch and we're gonna do it at
Speaker 3: the Miracle Theater having good time. On June twenty ninth,
Speaker 3: we have the comedian, the Emmy Award winner, the Grammy
Speaker 3: Award winner, Tiffany Hattish gonna be at Melik Books.
Speaker 2: So you gotta come on out. It's a meet and Greek.
Speaker 3: We're gonna take pictures, we're gonna sign books, we're gonna laugh.
Speaker 3: So come on out to Milite Books. Saturday, June twenty nine,
Speaker 3: two pm. Tiffany Hadish at Malak Books.
Speaker 2: So that's the upcoming events.
Speaker 3: But let me shift to the events that took place
Speaker 3: last week and just highlight the electric, the incredible, the awesome,
Speaker 3: the wonderful conversations that took place.
Speaker 2: Nicole Hannah Jones was.
Speaker 3: Fire lecturer we hosted at the Miracle Theater and they
Speaker 3: came out. You know, part of Malie's Bookshelf is about community,
Speaker 3: and these events are community where they create spaces with
Speaker 3: people come out and we gathered and we talked and
Speaker 3: we laugh and we share and we talk about what's
Speaker 3: important in the Cole Hannah Jones in conversation with Angela
Speaker 3: Ryan at the Miracle Theater Friday the fourteenth, was incredible,
Speaker 3: pocked house.
Speaker 2: We talked, we laugh, we engage.
Speaker 3: We got a tremendous amount of information that was delivered
Speaker 3: when these two powerful black women who are known all
Speaker 3: over the world sat down and talked about the most
Speaker 3: banned book in the country, the sixteen nineteen Project, and
Speaker 3: Boy Old Boy. After five years since the publication of
Speaker 3: the sixteen nineteen Project was.
Speaker 5: Still on fire.
Speaker 2: I mean five.
Speaker 3: Years later, the people still came out and brought the book,
Speaker 3: the sixteen nineteen Project. Now it's out in paperback, and
Speaker 3: that's one of the reason why Nicole Hannah Joe went
Speaker 3: on tour. But five years later and people still showing up,
Speaker 3: and this was an incredible dialogue, credible conversation.
Speaker 2: Thank you Angela Rai.
Speaker 3: For coming out and having this wonderful conversation with Nicole.
Speaker 3: An extracting profound details about her book and about the
Speaker 3: community and where we go from here. This was a
Speaker 3: wonderful conversation because Nicole and Jone is an investigative reporter
Speaker 3: and it has been centered around controversy since the publication.
Speaker 3: This week we also hosted Bacari Sellers at Maleegue Books
Speaker 3: and that was a powerful conversation. I found it funny.
Speaker 3: He's very intellectual and most stuff for me very political.
Speaker 3: Percari Sellers was in conversation with Ariva Mardin, and both
Speaker 3: of them are civil rights attorneys. Both of them are
Speaker 3: Seeing contributors. They personally know each other and they had
Speaker 3: a great conversation and I was able to, like I said,
Speaker 3: I got an interview I did for my podcast directly
Speaker 3: with Percari Sellers talking about his new book, The Moment.
Speaker 3: Also at Malique Books was a book launch with Sierra Rogers,
Speaker 3: whose new book came out this week called The Outside Advantage,
Speaker 3: And this was a powerful conversation because it was a
Speaker 3: book talk about business, about fashion and about entrepreneurship.
Speaker 2: It was a very electric crowd, explosive.
Speaker 3: It was just wonderful to see the community come out
Speaker 3: gather at Malieue.
Speaker 2: Books in the Westfield Cobe City Mall.
Speaker 3: Bringing people together to discuss topics such as business and
Speaker 3: entrepreneurship is impactful. So those are some of the community
Speaker 3: engagements that Leak Books hosted and was part of. So
Speaker 3: stay tuned for this episode featuring three interviews Nicole head
Speaker 3: Of Jones, Bacari Sellers, and see Harry Rogers.
Speaker 4: Malie's Bookshelf bringing a world together with books, culture and community.
Speaker 4: I'm sitting outside them at the Miracle Theater where it's
Speaker 4: about to go down to Cole Hanna Jones in conversation
Speaker 4: with Angela Ryan. But I'm in the back where we
Speaker 4: have the green room, and I'm just gonna ask a
Speaker 4: few questions. Welcome to Cole to Malie's Bookshelf podcast.
Speaker 6: Thank you, thank you for having me, and thanks for
Speaker 6: hosting the book talk today.
Speaker 4: Now, your book is the leading book, the leading band
Speaker 4: book that started the movement all across the nation. How
Speaker 4: does that make you feel and what's your thoughts about that?
Speaker 1: I don't know how I feel about it.
Speaker 6: I mean, on the one hand, I'm proud because you know,
Speaker 6: they don't ban, they don't band books unless they're afraid
Speaker 6: of them. Unless they're afraid of the impact that they're having.
Speaker 6: But it's also a very scary time in our country
Speaker 6: because they're supposed to be a free country, and free
Speaker 6: countries don't ban books. So I think all of the
Speaker 6: book bands are a sign of our roadent democracy. So
Speaker 6: I have great enemies, but in some way, it feels
Speaker 6: like our enemies are winning.
Speaker 1: You know, I did when your book first came out.
Speaker 4: I did every view, you know, because your book is
Speaker 4: a compilation of so many industries and endeavors and achievements.
Speaker 4: A lot of people think it's just all about talking
Speaker 4: about yesterday, but it's a book that really talks about
Speaker 4: now and resilience and how we overcome. And just what's
Speaker 4: your thoughts about the contribution that your book has made.
Speaker 6: I mean, what I hope that my book has done
Speaker 6: is exactly what you said, is it's People often didn't
Speaker 6: call it a history book, but it's not. It's really
Speaker 6: about America right now, and it's centering black folks in
Speaker 6: the American narrative because black folks have been treated in
Speaker 6: the American narrative as if we're the problem, when we
Speaker 6: really banned the greatest, most patriotic, most art and freedom fighters,
Speaker 6: the greatest democratizing for us as country has ever seen,
Speaker 6: and not to mention our creative and intellectual inputs. So
Speaker 6: it really is trying to resent her the American narrative
Speaker 6: and put us in the middle.
Speaker 1: Well, I just want to thank you.
Speaker 4: I've been a book activist for thirty years. You know,
Speaker 4: I never thought of us. You know, I never thought
Speaker 4: of myself as a book activist, But for thirty years,
Speaker 4: that's what I tried to do to make a difference
Speaker 4: in my community. I didn't just complain about the problem
Speaker 4: and complain about our books not being on mainstream bookshelves.
Speaker 4: They only had like maybe one section. But I opened
Speaker 4: my own bookstore and I was part of the black
Speaker 4: book revolution. I consider it because black bookstores was all
Speaker 4: across from America and we opened up to give safe
Speaker 4: space for our voice. And so a book like yours,
Speaker 4: we don't get a lot of books to get impactful.
Speaker 4: Your book is impactful, and I just want to know
Speaker 4: what's next for you. And because we got to continue
Speaker 4: this movement.
Speaker 1: Well, I agree with you.
Speaker 6: The black bookstore has always been a subversive space. The
Speaker 6: very first black owned bookstore was opened in New York City,
Speaker 6: it got burned down because it was proliferating abolitionist literature.
Speaker 6: We know black bookstores have always been places of organizing,
Speaker 6: places of liberation, and therefore places of surveillance.
Speaker 1: So what am I doing next?
Speaker 6: I'm opening my own bookstore and best I.
Speaker 4: You heard it, a own release bookshelf. She's gonna open
Speaker 4: up books. I already know that's gonna be huge, that's
Speaker 4: gonna be amazing. Welcome to the book business. It's kind
Speaker 4: of a I guess, a congratulations before the congratulations before
Speaker 4: the rig cutting. But hey, now you know what's next
Speaker 4: for Nicole, what's your final thoughts for my audience on
Speaker 4: malase bookshelf.
Speaker 6: We are the only people in the history of the
Speaker 6: United States for whom it was ever illegal to learn
Speaker 6: to read and write. There's a reason for that. Our
Speaker 6: liberation is found in the pages of books. So please
Speaker 6: support Malik, Please support all your black booksellers, and support
Speaker 6: the liberation of your own mind through reading.
Speaker 4: You heard it first hand on Malie's bookshel Nicole Hannah Jones,
Speaker 4: thank you, thank you, thank you. Malik's bookshelf bringing a
Speaker 4: world together with books, culture, and community. Well, today we're
Speaker 4: gonna host bookari sellers at Malik Books. And guess what,
Speaker 4: I'm standing right next to them and I just want
Speaker 4: to get a few minutes with them before we do
Speaker 4: this event tonight.
Speaker 1: Now Arriva Martin is going to moderate the event.
Speaker 4: But I got them bay stage at Malik's and he
Speaker 4: gonna tell me about this new book, The Moment, Bacard.
Speaker 5: Welcome man, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 7: Thank you, thank you, thank you, and even more importantly,
Speaker 7: thank you for this platform man in this Malik's bookstore,
Speaker 7: your podcast.
Speaker 5: Man, you just doing everything you're supposed to do. I
Speaker 5: like it. I love it.
Speaker 4: Now you heard that directly from Bakari sell This brother
Speaker 4: is an attorney. This brother is on a contributous CNN.
Speaker 4: He even was the youngest elected official, so this.
Speaker 1: Is an honor. And I just want him.
Speaker 4: To go deep into this book called The Moment that
Speaker 4: he wrote because his own time, and it's turned well.
Speaker 7: You know, first of all, the moment I thought we
Speaker 7: were in the precipice of a third reconstruction. I thought
Speaker 7: this was our moment. I thought this was going to
Speaker 7: be something. And then I think we all realize that
Speaker 7: we haven't even made progress, but instead we've been backsliding,
Speaker 7: and so you know, I wrote this book during that time,
Speaker 7: and I think it's timely. I think it's fit, for
Speaker 7: lack of a better word, this moment, and.
Speaker 5: People are enjoying it. The reception has been great.
Speaker 7: I mean, we've been in Baltimore, We've been in Philly,
Speaker 7: We've been in Birmingham, We've been in New York, We've
Speaker 7: been in d C. We're now in LA we'll go
Speaker 7: back to Atlanta, and it's just been a fascinating time.
Speaker 5: Because I want people to get off the sidelines. Man.
Speaker 7: I think people when they listen to your pod, when
Speaker 7: they come into your store, when they're able to just
Speaker 7: absorb all the knowledge us in here, maybe they'll get
Speaker 7: off the sideline and do that much more.
Speaker 5: I dovate to elevate.
Speaker 1: That's what I've just heard from my brother.
Speaker 5: We all can contribute.
Speaker 4: And whatever way you contribute, contribute. The moment is now.
Speaker 4: I was told, what's your thoughts on this? I was
Speaker 4: told by wise man, history will always repeat itself if
Speaker 4: you don't get it right.
Speaker 7: Oh yeah, I mean right now we're I mean, not
Speaker 7: only are we repeating ourselves, but we're going through a
Speaker 7: phase where we're not even surviving or we definitely can't thrive.
Speaker 7: I mean, we're just trying to persevere. And I want
Speaker 7: to get to a point where we can excel. Man,
Speaker 7: I want I want us to stop having to put
Speaker 7: our shoulder to the will to dig out the ditch
Speaker 7: and finally be able to get to a point where.
Speaker 5: We can stack and stack and stack and stack and
Speaker 5: build and build and build. That's what we deserve. I mean,
Speaker 5: we boith.
Speaker 7: In the words of my good friend Angela Rai, who
Speaker 7: used to be on seeing it with me all the time,
Speaker 7: we built this country for free. And I hope that
Speaker 7: we get to a point where we can actually reap
Speaker 7: the benefits of our service.
Speaker 4: We built the country for free. Can't get no more
Speaker 4: accrid than that. We all at that, whether America is
Speaker 4: gonna pay it or not, we need to reap the
Speaker 4: benefits from our achievements in this nation, because no matter
Speaker 4: what they've thrown us, we have perseverance.
Speaker 1: We are resilient people.
Speaker 4: And what's your thoughts in a solution going forward, how
Speaker 4: we can achieve what you desire?
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's the question that keeps me up at night.
Speaker 7: I get a lot of hope from my young people
Speaker 7: from my children, and I think that we have to
Speaker 7: understand that we can all play a role, and we
Speaker 7: all can build, and we can all get off the sideline.
Speaker 7: And you know, this works not for everybody, but there's
Speaker 7: a certain element of us that we have to understand
Speaker 7: that we have a responsibility to other people who look
Speaker 7: like us. And in the South, we have a saying
Speaker 7: we have to stand in the gap, and we have
Speaker 7: to begin to do more of that, and our institutions
Speaker 7: are feeling us right now. The reason I'm here is
Speaker 7: because our black bookstores are standing up.
Speaker 5: And when they are standing up, you have to be there.
Speaker 7: But this is an institution, just like our sororities, just
Speaker 7: like our fraternities, just like our churches, and so we
Speaker 7: have to support these businesses. We have to get out
Speaker 7: and do those things. I mean, look to be one
Speaker 7: hundred percent honus. I could have done this at Barnes
Speaker 7: and Noble.
Speaker 2: Yes, yich is correct, but I.
Speaker 7: Wanted to do it here with you. And I think
Speaker 7: that shows that one step at a time, we can build,
Speaker 7: break by break.
Speaker 4: Brother, that's intentional, and I appreciate that because that's intentional,
Speaker 4: and I think that that's what it's gonna take for
Speaker 4: us to be intentional. They're making those kind of sacrifice,
Speaker 4: making those kind of commitments.
Speaker 1: Many of us don't. Many of them don't directly.
Speaker 4: Tell the publisher I want to go to a black bookstore.
Speaker 4: The reason why it's not that many is because we
Speaker 4: don't get Bacari sellers in the headliners. And it's important
Speaker 4: that I've been doing this since nineteen ninety and I'm
Speaker 4: thankful that just recently I've been able to get a
Speaker 4: lot of headliners like yourself. But it took years, it
Speaker 4: took sacrifice.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 4: I consider myself a book activist because I use books
Speaker 4: to be active and to make engagement in my community
Speaker 4: and to make changes. And we know representation matter and
Speaker 4: our voice matters, and I think that your contribution you
Speaker 4: on TV, you're doing what.
Speaker 1: You can to activate us. And what's next for you?
Speaker 5: My brother, I don't know what's next.
Speaker 7: I'm just trying to be a husband and a father man,
Speaker 7: and that's that's every day. So I don't know what's next.
Speaker 7: But let's get through tonight and then we'll talk about it.
Speaker 4: When you heard it live at Moleague Books for Cards Sellers,
Speaker 4: I hope you'll enjoyed that titbit.
Speaker 1: I stay tuned. Peace, Walcome, Walcome.
Speaker 4: Welcome to Malaigue's Bookshelf, bringing the world together with books,
Speaker 4: culture and community. We just concluded a awesome book signingling
Speaker 4: and just talking and hugging and eating and chilling.
Speaker 1: Right here at Malik Books.
Speaker 4: But shee Anon Rogers just did a book talk at
Speaker 4: Malik Books. Her new book just came out on the
Speaker 4: East Coast. I'm assuming it's midnight. Oh yeah, so the
Speaker 4: book is out. It's just released The Outside Advantage, Because.
Speaker 1: You don't need to fit in to win. Talk to
Speaker 1: me about this wonderful, timely book. You were the founder
Speaker 1: of Babes.
Speaker 4: You got a new book out and I heard the
Speaker 4: day you're a millionaire.
Speaker 1: I love it. I love it.
Speaker 4: Tell my audience and of fans on Malik's Bookshelf. What
Speaker 4: inspired you to write this book, The Outside Advantage.
Speaker 8: Well, I've always loved business books. I just felt like
Speaker 8: there wasn't a business book for us, like people like
Speaker 8: me without resources, money connections. So I wanted to write
Speaker 8: one specifically for us, The Outside and I did, and it's.
Speaker 4: Out all over the country and the world. But I
Speaker 4: need you to come to elikbooks dot com. We want
Speaker 4: to make this a bestseller.
Speaker 1: Talk to me signed here.
Speaker 8: You can get the sign copies at melikbooks dot com.
Speaker 4: That's what you can get here, different from anywhere else.
Speaker 4: Now the book is out. How do you feel?
Speaker 5: Tell me?
Speaker 8: I feel excited, but it's also kind of scary because
Speaker 8: it's a business memoir, so it's like a lot of
Speaker 8: my personal life and struggles out there. So it does
Speaker 8: feel like my insides are out there in the world now.
Speaker 8: But I think that it's going to help a lot
Speaker 8: of people. So yeah, it's nervous and excited at the
Speaker 8: same time.
Speaker 1: So in other words, you made yourself vulnerable.
Speaker 8: Bo I made myself very vulnerable, and I'm usually very private,
Speaker 8: but I had to kind of shed, you know, some
Speaker 8: of my upbringing in order to help other people. And
Speaker 8: I did it. It was It wasn't easy, but it's
Speaker 8: out now.
Speaker 4: When you know, experience is the best teacher, and so
Speaker 4: your book has offers some experience. They got you to
Speaker 4: where you at and just took me some of the
Speaker 4: difficult and highlighted points about the book.
Speaker 8: Well, we moved. We moved around a lot, so I
Speaker 8: technically didn't have a technical room until I was sixteen sixteen,
Speaker 8: But like moving around a lot has helped me learn
Speaker 8: how to adapt in entrepreneurship because you never know what's next.
Speaker 8: So that's just one of the points. Like I have
Speaker 8: an advantage of being an outsider and coming from poverty
Speaker 8: that I could build something like this easier than other people.
Speaker 4: I always say stability is very important for success. Yes,
Speaker 4: here you didn't get stabilized until you sixteen, but yet
Speaker 4: Boom League books. You dealt with the cars you was
Speaker 4: dealt with, and you didn't let that as a it
Speaker 4: was a disadvantage, but you made it into any advantage.
Speaker 8: And that's the whole point is like everything that you're
Speaker 8: going through, all those struggles that you're going through, is
Speaker 8: developing thick skin, which is especially important in entrepreneurship. So
Speaker 8: you ready, you already ready, you already equipped to go.
Speaker 1: Well, how did you know you wanted to get into fashion?
Speaker 5: Though?
Speaker 2: My mom?
Speaker 8: I think a lot of the things that I thought
Speaker 8: are personal to me came from my mother. I'm learning
Speaker 8: as an adult a lot of that came from my mother.
Speaker 8: So yeah, definitely from her.
Speaker 4: A lot of things I do came from my mom,
Speaker 4: So I definite my mom was an entrepreneur, My grandmother
Speaker 4: was an entrepreneur.
Speaker 8: It's passed down, passed down somewhere. For sure, you got
Speaker 8: it from somewhere.
Speaker 1: Yes, and you know I didn't.
Speaker 4: I never thought about that often as I graduated from
Speaker 4: college and trying to find my way, until I guess
Speaker 4: I'm matured and begin to I guess, examine self, examine,
Speaker 4: and you know.
Speaker 1: I wrote a.
Speaker 4: Chapter in a book called The Heart of a Black Man,
Speaker 4: The Stories of Triumph and Resilience. It's thirty black men
Speaker 4: collaborating on this book, and my chapter's called from Devastation Elevation.
Speaker 4: I made myself honorable things about that I didn't share
Speaker 4: with mom into the public. I articulated that in the book.
Speaker 4: I mentioned that in the book, and I didn't know
Speaker 4: a lot of other people also, especially men, have experienced
Speaker 4: things similar to me all the same. So that was
Speaker 4: I think making yourself vulnerable is very important for people
Speaker 4: to appreciate and relate.
Speaker 5: To your book.
Speaker 8: Yeah, for sure, share your story is going to help
Speaker 8: other people, so you might as well do it so
Speaker 8: they can learn based off your experiences.
Speaker 1: How long has Babes been out?
Speaker 8: Twenty twelve? Okay for a while now yeah, yeah, yeah, wow.
Speaker 4: So that's amazing and I learned a lot because you
Speaker 4: open up the day in your conversation here at Malik Books,
Speaker 4: and you know, we want to do what we can
Speaker 4: to make your book a bestseller.
Speaker 1: What is your most favorite chapter in this book?
Speaker 8: Use people? It's okay. It may site back sound bad
Speaker 8: at face value, but if you read the book, it'll
Speaker 8: make a lot of sense.
Speaker 1: Say that chapter again, Use people.
Speaker 8: It's okay. It's okay to use people. It's actually the
Speaker 8: name of the chapter.
Speaker 1: It's almost the same like use other people's money.
Speaker 8: Yeah, you know, whatever works.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 4: Thank you Sarah for sharing a few tidbits about your
Speaker 4: book that just came out today, and thank you for
Speaker 4: sharing your time with us. And the crowd was robust,
Speaker 4: was energetic, was electric.
Speaker 1: Was exciting?
Speaker 8: Good time?
Speaker 1: Yes? Yes, well, thank you, thank you, thank.
Speaker 8: You, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 4: Thanks for listening to Malik's bookshelf, where topics on the
Speaker 4: shelf are books, culture, and community.
Speaker 2: Be sure to subscribe and leave me a review.
Speaker 1: Check out my instagram at Malak Books. See you next time.