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Speaker 1: Everyone was in the room, like, you know, Debbie Allen

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Speaker 1: because she was directing, was there, and Benny Medina every

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Speaker 1: I mean, it was no pressure. And when you go,

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Speaker 1: you do. You show up at the auditions and there

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Speaker 1: were all these other girls there when you go to

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Speaker 1: the network. When we came to that part, it was

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Speaker 1: just you and one other girl and you're waiting and

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Speaker 1: you're looking up. I'm just looking over and her like, oh,

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Speaker 1: she's so pretty. Oh I should have worn something like that.

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Speaker 1: I shouldn't have worth what am I wearing? I can't

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Speaker 1: believe I were this right I wear, you know, And

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Speaker 1: so I was kind of flipping out, being out and out.

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Speaker 1: That is Hilary aka Karen Parsons by her government name,

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Speaker 1: giving us the behind the scenes story of how she

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Speaker 1: auditioned for the fresh Pince of Bellair. You're gonna enjoy

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Speaker 1: this episode. It's not what you think. It's the greatest

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Speaker 1: person in the same carry champions and Karrie Champions a cham. Hey, everybody,

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Speaker 1: welcome to a new edition of Naked. Uh. This is Carrie,

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Speaker 1: and I'm beginning by letting you know that I'm angry,

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Speaker 1: black and activated. I moment ago just wrapped up an

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Speaker 1: interview with Karen Parsons. You all know her Hillary on

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Speaker 1: the original Fresh Prince of bel Air, not the Peacock version,

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Speaker 1: and by the way, I love the Peacock version. But

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Speaker 1: the original Fresh Prince of bel Air. Hillary was Will's cousin,

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Speaker 1: Will Smith. That's our guy. That's all the name he

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Speaker 1: gets um. And she was boogie and unapologetic and all

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Speaker 1: of the fancy things that I love to day, like

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Speaker 1: all the things that I am body today that I

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Speaker 1: do not hide from. I'm like, this is me, thank goodness.

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Speaker 1: And so she is all of those things. But I

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Speaker 1: think it her her second chapter where she is now.

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Speaker 1: She has a company. It's called Sweet BlackBerry, and it

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Speaker 1: is a company that is dedicated to telling the unsung

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Speaker 1: hero stories of African Americans, stories of black folks that

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Speaker 1: you just don't know about, things that you won't know

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Speaker 1: about in the regular school system. That is what she's

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Speaker 1: giving us an animated form. If that's how it started.

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Speaker 1: And now there are books. This is where things go

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Speaker 1: left for me, or the tangent that i'd make or

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Speaker 1: the where I run. I was just talking to a

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Speaker 1: friend of mine. She's an MSNBC anchor. Her name is

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Speaker 1: Joy read joy Anne Reid to be more clear, and

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Speaker 1: Joy posted about a mother who is now running for office,

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Speaker 1: but a mother initially who posted about how her children

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Speaker 1: were learning the wrong facts about African a Remericans and

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Speaker 1: how she wanted to change that, and how she was

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Speaker 1: so upset and she went to the school board, which

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Speaker 1: leads me to where we are today with what's happening

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Speaker 1: in Florida, how they are actively loudly and proudly trying

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Speaker 1: to erase our history. I are I mean Black history,

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Speaker 1: African American history, ann books such as books from the

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Speaker 1: Great Tony Morrison, books from Zorneil Hurston, books, books from

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Speaker 1: Bell Hooks, things that at sixteen nineteen project, I'm just

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Speaker 1: so frustrated by the idea of it. There are so

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Speaker 1: many wonderful gems, if not an entire education in these books.

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Speaker 1: And they are actively trying to make sure that our

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Speaker 1: history is a race from the culture that are contributions

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Speaker 1: to this society that we live in today, this United

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Speaker 1: States of America that we also built. They want those contributions,

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Speaker 1: contributions raised, and so they are those who are loud

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Speaker 1: and proud, and they are activists, and they're fighting on

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Speaker 1: the front lines to make sure that stops. But there's

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Speaker 1: another form of activism, believe it or not. You don't

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Speaker 1: have to protest every single day. You don't have to yell,

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Speaker 1: you don't have to post on your social media. I

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Speaker 1: believe Karen Parsons is doing a great job. And while

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Speaker 1: that wasn't her intention when she first started, I do

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Speaker 1: believe she's doing a great job with her Sweet Black

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Speaker 1: Dairy series. And I don't even think she considers herself

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Speaker 1: an hers all right, Hilary from Fresh Prince of bel

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Speaker 1: Air and activists, But what I told her, when I'm

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Speaker 1: telling you loud and proud, is that she is an

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Speaker 1: activist in so many ways. Reluctant or not, she is.

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Speaker 1: We need these stories told. We need our stories of

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Speaker 1: our black inventors, of our black teachers, of our black educators,

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Speaker 1: of our black engineers, everyone who contributed to this society

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Speaker 1: today to help fight for the freedoms that we have.

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Speaker 1: These stories should be told, and they won't be told

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Speaker 1: in schools. They have to be told by us. And

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Speaker 1: so I hope that you enjoy Karen Parsons. More importantly,

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Speaker 1: I hope that you support her and buy her books.

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Speaker 1: And again, while she is not out to be an activist.

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Speaker 1: She's really sharing stories that I believe is important or

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Speaker 1: honoring Black History Month every single day, every single day

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Speaker 1: of the year, not just in February. But it is

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Speaker 1: a proposed to have her on. Sit back, relax, enjoy

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Speaker 1: this edition of Naked and Pladies and gentlemen, Welcome to

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Speaker 1: the podcast. All applause. Dwayne in SARTs applause, loud applause,

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Speaker 1: loud applause. Kret Carsons to Naked, Um, thank you so

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Speaker 1: much for doing this. I appreciate you a fan as

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Speaker 1: an actress, but more so a fan of the life

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Speaker 1: after um and so can we begin with just childhood

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Speaker 1: and you being a creative an artist. You grew up

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Speaker 1: where and tell me about the family dynamic that created

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Speaker 1: the essence of who we see today. Oh wow, okay,

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Speaker 1: so I grew up all right, sit down, Okay, no,

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Speaker 1: I uh. I grew up in Santa Monica, California, beach

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Speaker 1: baby um and uh gosh, you know, I was one

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Speaker 1: of those kids who I was like six years old

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Speaker 1: when I insisted I was going to be an actress.

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Speaker 1: I was just like, I'm going to be an actors,

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Speaker 1: That's what I'm want to do. That's what I was

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Speaker 1: doing where I actually it was a kid. I was

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Speaker 1: always actress. I mean, actress are gonna be an actress?

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Speaker 1: And I was just really bitten by it. I think

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Speaker 1: I had got a little book small plays for you

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Speaker 1: and a friend, and I used to do the little

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Speaker 1: it was like a little books for I got it

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Speaker 1: from like the book fair thing Van and I would

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Speaker 1: just do these both parts for my mom. It was

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Speaker 1: like you just you and a friend and like props

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Speaker 1: you could find around the house. And I would just

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Speaker 1: do all these plays. And I was just insisting this

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Speaker 1: is what I wanted to do. And I would have

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Speaker 1: to see everything that any child actor was in, like

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Speaker 1: anything Jodie Foster was in, I had to see it,

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Speaker 1: you know. And so this went on for years, and

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Speaker 1: eventually I got to working. You know, I was really acting.

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Speaker 1: I mean I had went to classes and workshops and

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Speaker 1: volunteered a local theater to like you know, did a

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Speaker 1: play bill and you know, to help with sets and

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Speaker 1: things like that, anything to be involved. And then I

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Speaker 1: ended up acting. And so that was always who I

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Speaker 1: was and what I did, and that was my identity,

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Speaker 1: and that's what everyone else told me. I did, and

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Speaker 1: so when the change happened later and I started doing

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Speaker 1: something different, it was a little awkward shift for me.

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Speaker 1: When you're six years old, I believe that's when people

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Speaker 1: find their passion. I believe like when I was seven,

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Speaker 1: I could identify what I was going to do for

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Speaker 1: the rest of my life. And I believe that it

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Speaker 1: happens around that age. I feel like your personality is formed.

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Speaker 1: I think you create up are who you are, whether

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Speaker 1: your parents try to influence you or not. There are

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Speaker 1: little things that happened that you see and we digests

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Speaker 1: and it helps you be who you are. Being an

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Speaker 1: actress to me seems very difficult, and I'm always curious

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Speaker 1: how at six are young people who know at a

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Speaker 1: young age, are you enamored with that life? I want

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Speaker 1: these books and then I want to do this, and

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Speaker 1: then I got to see everything Jodie Foster's in. I

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Speaker 1: think what was exciting for me, what clicked for me

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Speaker 1: was we're all of different we're being different people. I

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Speaker 1: loved story, but I love character. I loved the differences

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Speaker 1: how different this person was and what motivated them to

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Speaker 1: do the things that they did, and why this person

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Speaker 1: acted the way that they did and just and I

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Speaker 1: loved Make Believe, you know, and playing like with my friends.

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Speaker 1: I think I was the one who probably was more

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Speaker 1: gung hoe than anybody else to you know, whether it

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Speaker 1: was with dolls or playing you know, different games, pretending

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Speaker 1: we were different places. I really got into it and

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Speaker 1: excited by it. And then as I got older and

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Speaker 1: I got into you know, workshops and was reading Stanislovsky

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Speaker 1: and Udahgan and things like that, and I was, you know,

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Speaker 1: I was started going out and observing people and writing

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Speaker 1: notes about people and their behaviors. These are the things

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Speaker 1: that always turned me on, I think from a more

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Speaker 1: elementary level as a kid. But then as I got older,

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Speaker 1: it was a similar things about character and people and

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Speaker 1: even I mean I wasn't identifying it as nuance as

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Speaker 1: a kid, but it was nuance and you know, comic

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Speaker 1: complication and complicated characters. That was all the stuff that

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Speaker 1: was very interesting to me and fun to inhabit and

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Speaker 1: to be somebody else. I mean, you know, I went

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Speaker 1: and played Hillary. I think I got to be somebody

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Speaker 1: very different from speaking of ye take me through that

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Speaker 1: audition process. So what I think it looks like is

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Speaker 1: what I see on the TV. I think it's um.

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Speaker 1: You sit in your room unless you're like getting the

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Speaker 1: special call back, and even if you are, you look

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Speaker 1: like everyone around you, or you see everyone who's familiar

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Speaker 1: to you because you guys have been on the same calls. Right,

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Speaker 1: go in? Are you nervous? Are you excited? I love

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Speaker 1: the audition stories for the big show. So for those

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Speaker 1: of you listening, this is fresh Prince of bel Air, Hillary,

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Speaker 1: the cousin who was very well to do. I love

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Speaker 1: the character. How do you prep for that? And then

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Speaker 1: you go in and you read for that with who?

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Speaker 1: With will, with the mother? Who'd you read? I didn't

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Speaker 1: read with any of them. I mean I started for me.

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Speaker 1: I hadn't done much of anything. So I went to

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Speaker 1: the guys. Had to first go in and se the

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Speaker 1: casting director's assistant. Wow. Yeah, as I started there, and

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Speaker 1: they just put me on tape, you know, they record,

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Speaker 1: they read with me, they recorded me. They gave it

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Speaker 1: to the casting director who went through all the different

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Speaker 1: tapes and said these are the people will bring back.

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Speaker 1: And then I had to go see her and read

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Speaker 1: with you know, ready, with the assistant again before the

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Speaker 1: casting director. And then I think, I mean, I just

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Speaker 1: had to keep reading for like, UM, the writers, then

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Speaker 1: UM Quincy Jones. When I haven't bro I had to

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Speaker 1: go over and they say you're gonna read for Quincy Jones,

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Speaker 1: which I was. I was over the moon. I was

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Speaker 1: so excited and he was a great audience. UM. And

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Speaker 1: then you know, it was like that. I had to

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Speaker 1: keep going in for you know, for then the the producers,

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Speaker 1: and then the studio and then the network. And when

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Speaker 1: you went when you went in for the network, everyone

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Speaker 1: was in the room, like, you know, Debbie Allen because

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Speaker 1: she was directing, was there, and pressure Benny Medina ever

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Speaker 1: reb I mean, it was no pressure, no pressure. And

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Speaker 1: when you go, you do. You show up at the

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Speaker 1: auditions and there were all these other girls there when

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Speaker 1: you go to the network. When we came to that part,

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Speaker 1: it was just you and one other girl and you're

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Speaker 1: waiting and you're looking up. I'm just looking over and

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Speaker 1: her like, oh she's so pretty. Oh look I should

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Speaker 1: have wore that. I should have worked, I should have

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Speaker 1: worn something like that. I shouldn't have worre what am

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Speaker 1: I wearing? I can't believe I were this right I wear?

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Speaker 1: You know, he was going through everything of and and

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Speaker 1: the other actress I actually had had seen her and

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Speaker 1: things before, so I and she was, you know, beautiful

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Speaker 1: and and so I was kind of flipping out. And

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Speaker 1: then there were also they were like two moms to Carlton,

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Speaker 1: they were like, you know, everybody was just like having

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Speaker 1: to look at each other and hang out with each other.

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Speaker 1: Well rude, Why did they do that? That's so rude? Well, yea,

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Speaker 1: I'll tell you that. When I first started acting, um,

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Speaker 1: going out to auditions, I bumped into Holly Robinson and

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Speaker 1: one of my auditions, and Holly and I had gone

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Speaker 1: to high school together. She's the sweetest soul effort. Holly

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Speaker 1: took me, she was so excited to see me out

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Speaker 1: there at auditions, took me under her wing and took

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Speaker 1: me around and introduced me to all the girls. Every

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Speaker 1: time we'd see each other at audition, she'd introduced me

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Speaker 1: to all the other girls because she had been doing

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Speaker 1: it longer, and she'd be like, this is Karen, take

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Speaker 1: care of her. This is Karen, take care of her

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Speaker 1: to everybody. It was so sweet, And all the other

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Speaker 1: actresses were so lovely, really good community of people, and Hollies,

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Speaker 1: you know that's I love that story that is me

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Speaker 1: she can do. First of all, she befriends everybody. They

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Speaker 1: so we love Holly for that reason. Yeah, I love

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Speaker 1: that for you. Okay, good at lisha mess someone like

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Speaker 1: Bob being I'm pretty sure we have our stories, but

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Speaker 1: I love this positive story of yeah, we take care

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Speaker 1: of you. So you read for who when it's the big, big,

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Speaker 1: big thing. Who's in the room? Are you reading by yourself?

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Speaker 1: What are you doing? No? I really I think they.

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Speaker 1: I think it's always either the casting director or the

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Speaker 1: casting director's assistant that reads that read with me. I didn't.

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Speaker 1: I don't think I ever had. I didn't have Will

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Speaker 1: in there. I didn't meet Will until I was on

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Speaker 1: the set. Okay, and yeah, so I had to do

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Speaker 1: you know, I just had to do these scenes. I

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Speaker 1: remember I went to that last audition for the network.

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Speaker 1: I was so nervous. When I walked in and saw

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Speaker 1: those people in that room, I freaked out and I

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Speaker 1: kind of and they all laughed because they knew they

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Speaker 1: had all squished into somebody else's Something had happened with

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Speaker 1: where they were supposed to audition, and they had to

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Speaker 1: squeeze into somebody's little office. And so they were all

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Speaker 1: laughing because they were on the floor and all sitting,

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Speaker 1: all piled on the desk and stuff, and they were

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Speaker 1: laughing at me being nervous a little like, oh, come on,

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Speaker 1: and you know, the head of the network is there, everybody.

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Speaker 1: And I turned away from them and I saw my

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Speaker 1: reflection in something. Something was on the shelf behind me.

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Speaker 1: I don't know why. I always think it's a toaster,

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Speaker 1: but it couldn't have been a toaster in somebody's office,

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Speaker 1: but it could have been. It's true, okay, But I

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Speaker 1: just saw my flection and I started to kind of print,

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Speaker 1: you know, and it's my hair. Oh so you just

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Speaker 1: did it just to do it, and that's what they wanted. No,

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Speaker 1: I did it because I started to feel Hilary. I

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Speaker 1: started to get into I just started feeling the character

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Speaker 1: come into me. And as as I are playing with

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Speaker 1: my hair, looking at myself and and like fixing my

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Speaker 1: my lipstick and like just doing little adjustments here and there,

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Speaker 1: and they're behind me kind of giggling because they can

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Speaker 1: they see what I'm doing. So by the time I

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Speaker 1: turned around, I she was She had inhabited me. She

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Speaker 1: was there. She showed up the girl showed up it

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Speaker 1: was yours have it was crazy. I was so nervous.

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Speaker 1: I'm not an actress, but I see you doing that,

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Speaker 1: proving your hair and being like, and I'm like, she's ours.

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Speaker 1: That's so wonderful you speak that choice in that moment,

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Speaker 1: even though you were I don't know. I mean, I

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Speaker 1: knew I had to like find Hillary. I had to

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Speaker 1: get out of that crazy room with all the people

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Speaker 1: all over, Like I couldn't be thinking about that, you know,

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Speaker 1: I just couldn't be thinking about, Oh my gosh, there's like,

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Speaker 1: you know, Debbie Allen and a million people and you know,

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Speaker 1: all these executives and such, and everyone was so friendly,

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Speaker 1: but still, you know, and so I turned away. I

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Speaker 1: had to leave them to go to the room I

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Speaker 1: was supposed to be in, which was the house in

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Speaker 1: bel Air. And and so then you know, when I

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Speaker 1: looked at myself and saw, you know, I started doing that,

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Speaker 1: she started to take over. I mean, that's one thing

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Speaker 1: about Hillary was fun. Hillary with all she liked to

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Speaker 1: she liked to show up. And is that character the

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Speaker 1: opposite of who you are? Yeah, I mean she's very

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Speaker 1: it's very different from me. I am not very different.

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Speaker 1: Opposite maybe very different. I was not my thing. I'm

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Speaker 1: not that person. I don't hope I'm not that. I

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Speaker 1: don't mean to be. Well, it doesn't matter. I love

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Speaker 1: that person. Please. Yeah, she's she's great, and there's stuff

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00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:09,000
Speaker 1: about her or that I wish I there's things about

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Speaker 1: her that I love that I had when I was

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Speaker 1: her as a character. But it's hard for Karen to have.

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Speaker 1: I would say now in life, you'd probably think, oh, no,

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Speaker 1: that's not me. But the older I get, the more

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Speaker 1: I'm comfortable with being as boogie as possible and unapologetic.

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Speaker 1: So and I think now revisiting that character, there's nothing

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Speaker 1: wrong with there's I know what was wrong with that.

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Speaker 1: It's true, revisiting the character, I have so much more

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Speaker 1: appreciation for her than I did at the time. That

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Speaker 1: is true. But I never I don't think I was

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Speaker 1: ever like her in that regard and the things I

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Speaker 1: really admired about her though I really admire and I

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Speaker 1: look at now and I admire is her confidence, complete

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Speaker 1: confidence and unapologetic ways. I mean, I just love that,

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Speaker 1: and that's very much not like me. I'm alway, you know,

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Speaker 1: I was like, oh, I'm sorry, and did I you know,

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Speaker 1: I'm careful. I don't want to rub anybody the wrong way,

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Speaker 1: and all this kind of stuff. I mean, I'm better

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Speaker 1: as I get older about it, but certainly when I

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Speaker 1: was playing Hillary, I think they're part of what was

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Speaker 1: so fun about playing her was these were parts of

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Speaker 1: myself that I need, that needed healing, and that needed that,

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Speaker 1: and she had those things. So it was so fun

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Speaker 1: to dive in and be just like Bold and say

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Speaker 1: say these things and be this. You know, can I

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Speaker 1: ask what parts of yourself needed healing? Not healing from

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Speaker 1: like trauma, but I just mean from I don't mean

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Speaker 1: so much from trauma, well, probably a little bit of trauma,

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Speaker 1: just what I mean from like um to be able

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Speaker 1: to accept myself more and being unapologized. This is me,

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Speaker 1: this is who I am. I don't have to try

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Speaker 1: to make you comfortable. I don't have to try to

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Speaker 1: be the thing you expect me to be. I think

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Speaker 1: I learned those lessons early in life, for whatever survival

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Speaker 1: reasons I learned them, you know, and getting around and

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Speaker 1: getting by and being wanting to be loved. You know,

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Speaker 1: some of us habit more than others for different reasons.

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Speaker 1: And I can look and recognize it more now and

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Speaker 1: and see how much I wanted to be approved of

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Speaker 1: and wanted to be loved, and wanted the only child

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Speaker 1: wanted already. Stay, don't go, don't go take this doll

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Speaker 1: you can have it. Just stay. You know what can

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Speaker 1: I do to make you stay? And um, it was

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Speaker 1: great with Hillary as she wasn't trying to be she

347
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Speaker 1: was just trying to be Hillary. Yeah, yeah, that's beautiful,

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Speaker 1: bot what you just said. It is beautiful. I think

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Speaker 1: everyone struggles with in period. I do here who you are,

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00:18:32,280 --> 00:18:34,919
Speaker 1: and that's why they're so loved. And so there's a

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00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:38,680
Speaker 1: cult like following for it is because I'm unapologetically me,

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Speaker 1: and today people fight for that or people even claim that.

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Speaker 1: I see it on social media apples. You're like, you're

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Speaker 1: not an apologetic but yeah, you want to be. People

355
00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:50,480
Speaker 1: want to be that character in so many aspects of

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Speaker 1: their life. So then you have this amazing ride with

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Speaker 1: a show that it really is black history as we

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Speaker 1: celebrate Black History Month, um, and they're they're so jewels

359
00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:04,760
Speaker 1: and gems that come from that, um that that actual show.

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00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:07,960
Speaker 1: A movie star is born and will and you have

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00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:12,080
Speaker 1: this opportunity and it founds Ribero his forever, you know,

362
00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:15,879
Speaker 1: a mortalize for his character, and you decide what do

363
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Speaker 1: you do? Decide like, I really want to still do acting,

364
00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:20,480
Speaker 1: or I want to also work this other creative part

365
00:19:20,520 --> 00:19:23,000
Speaker 1: of my brain when the show is over. Well, the

366
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Speaker 1: show was over. I wasn't. It wasn't that I was

367
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Speaker 1: thinking of not acting at all. I was wanting to act.

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Speaker 1: You know. It was really difficult during the time that

369
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Speaker 1: I was doing the show to like to break into film,

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Speaker 1: which I really wanted to do more film. But you know,

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00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:43,399
Speaker 1: we had we had the um schedule like a kid's

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Speaker 1: like a school schedule, elementaries or high school schedule or whatever.

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Speaker 1: It was kind of you know, we had the summers off,

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Speaker 1: and it was very hard to fit something else into

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Speaker 1: that three month period. And there were very few parts,

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Speaker 1: you know, and I always joked that, you know, there

377
00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:03,159
Speaker 1: were very few parts. They all went to Hellie. Hellie

378
00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:09,400
Speaker 1: was like mine, mine, mine, yes, you know, but seriously

379
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Speaker 1: she you know, she's Hallie. So but there was this

380
00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:15,760
Speaker 1: wasn't a lot of stuff out. So by the time

381
00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:19,359
Speaker 1: we were at that point, I was still thinking about acting.

382
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Speaker 1: I was still I mean, I'm still interested in acting.

383
00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:26,199
Speaker 1: But a friend of mine, um really pushed me to

384
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Speaker 1: go to a writing class for some reason. I don't

385
00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:32,600
Speaker 1: know why she did, but she was just like, I

386
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Speaker 1: really want you to go study with this teacher, and

387
00:20:36,080 --> 00:20:37,800
Speaker 1: I said okay, and then she just kept bugging me,

388
00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:39,200
Speaker 1: are you gonna do it? Are you gonna do it?

389
00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:41,040
Speaker 1: And I was like okay, okay, and so I went,

390
00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:44,200
Speaker 1: not knowing why she was so insistent. She just thought

391
00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:46,760
Speaker 1: he was so brilliant, but really wanted me to go.

392
00:20:47,359 --> 00:20:50,639
Speaker 1: And I fell in love with it. With writing and

393
00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:53,399
Speaker 1: with this course and everything that I was getting and

394
00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:55,280
Speaker 1: the reading we were doing and what I was learning,

395
00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:58,920
Speaker 1: with the writing exercises and all of it. I fell

396
00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:02,960
Speaker 1: completely in love with it. And all that time that

397
00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:07,719
Speaker 1: I had spent on doing the show for six years,

398
00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:11,400
Speaker 1: suddenly I kind of channeled that that that energy all

399
00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:14,000
Speaker 1: went into writing. All day, I'd just be sitting there.

400
00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:17,480
Speaker 1: I spent so much time just writing, and and I

401
00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:21,399
Speaker 1: loved it and it was great, and that's where my

402
00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:24,000
Speaker 1: energy started to go. But I still didn't tell a

403
00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:27,280
Speaker 1: lot of people that I that I was writing or

404
00:21:27,359 --> 00:21:33,040
Speaker 1: wanted to write. Wow. I was afraid I wouldn't be

405
00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:38,879
Speaker 1: taken seriously. I was afraid that people wouldn't take you seriously. No,

406
00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:41,960
Speaker 1: I mean not only had I And also it was

407
00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:44,879
Speaker 1: hard to kind of accept after me since I was

408
00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:48,160
Speaker 1: so young saying I'm going to act, I'm an actress,

409
00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:51,479
Speaker 1: and then having that success and everyone seeing me that way,

410
00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:54,720
Speaker 1: that was my identity. I was an actor and that

411
00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:56,480
Speaker 1: was how I looked to a lot of other people.

412
00:21:56,640 --> 00:21:58,600
Speaker 1: For me to suddenly I'm a writer people, you know,

413
00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:00,480
Speaker 1: I just felt like people could be like, stay in

414
00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:03,560
Speaker 1: your lane, and you know, no, you're not, and you

415
00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:07,239
Speaker 1: played Hillary. You can't put two sentences together, you know.

416
00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:11,120
Speaker 1: I just had a hard time. And even with my

417
00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:15,240
Speaker 1: novel that came out a couple of years ago, I

418
00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:18,760
Speaker 1: didn't um. I didn't tell a lot of people, and

419
00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:20,480
Speaker 1: a lot of people didn't know until it came out

420
00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:23,119
Speaker 1: that I was even that I was writing it because

421
00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:25,920
Speaker 1: I just was afraid. I think I was really afraid

422
00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:29,960
Speaker 1: of being dismissed and that that would hurt, and so

423
00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:33,960
Speaker 1: I didn't I needed about when he did some Hillary,

424
00:22:34,119 --> 00:22:37,240
Speaker 1: he did some Hillary Boldness and just like, hey, this

425
00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:42,640
Speaker 1: is what I'm doing. Yeah, yeah, I felt very vulnerable. Yeah,

426
00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:45,080
Speaker 1: but that means you were creating something very special and

427
00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:47,360
Speaker 1: it was so personal and it's hard when you when

428
00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:49,640
Speaker 1: you're creative to give it to the world because it

429
00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:52,800
Speaker 1: does make you feel naked. Yeah, I did, I did.

430
00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:55,040
Speaker 1: We had to pay some bills. You know what to do.

431
00:22:55,119 --> 00:22:57,200
Speaker 1: You can fast forward. I know these commercials are long.

432
00:22:57,320 --> 00:22:59,919
Speaker 1: Just be patient, be with me, people, be with me.

433
00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:03,360
Speaker 1: This is a great episode. Is just getting started. Back

434
00:23:03,359 --> 00:23:06,320
Speaker 1: in a moment. Every champion and carry champions. To be

435
00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:09,640
Speaker 1: a champion, a champion, and carry Champion, and carry Champion,

436
00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:13,560
Speaker 1: A champion, and carry Chappion and carry Champion Sporison and the

437
00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:24,119
Speaker 1: the tamming can naked. Work her very champion and carry

438
00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:27,280
Speaker 1: champions to be a champion, a champion, they carry Champion,

439
00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:32,240
Speaker 1: they champion, they carry Champion, they carry Champion Sports and

440
00:23:32,359 --> 00:23:35,760
Speaker 1: the tamming can naked. Hey everyone, it's Carrie Champion and

441
00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:39,920
Speaker 1: I have actress, writer, creator artists. If you will, Karen

442
00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:44,440
Speaker 1: Parsons here on Naked giving us a really good look

443
00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:47,000
Speaker 1: inside of the life of an actress turned writer and

444
00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:49,640
Speaker 1: what is next for her. Should we talk about Sweet

445
00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:53,760
Speaker 1: black Berry? We can tell me about and then we'll

446
00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:56,399
Speaker 1: get into the novels also, but tell me about the title.

447
00:23:56,560 --> 00:24:00,760
Speaker 1: Why is it sweet black Berry? Like it? And I

448
00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:03,600
Speaker 1: won't figure out why. But it's really cute. But isn't

449
00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:06,800
Speaker 1: it funny? I don't have a fabulous story. I had

450
00:24:06,840 --> 00:24:09,240
Speaker 1: what it is is my daughter. At the time when

451
00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:11,640
Speaker 1: I was trying to find a name for it, my

452
00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:14,440
Speaker 1: daughter was a little baby and I used to call

453
00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:16,880
Speaker 1: her Laana Berry. We used to call her Lana Berry

454
00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:20,240
Speaker 1: lawa Berry Lawaberry, And so there was just like this

455
00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:27,280
Speaker 1: thing came out of like affectionate, little like BlackBerry thing. Oh.

456
00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:30,520
Speaker 1: But then somebody that we were it was myself and

457
00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:35,000
Speaker 1: two other people pitching names in and um, one of

458
00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:39,520
Speaker 1: one of the ladies said, um, you can't say BlackBerry

459
00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:41,800
Speaker 1: because that's a device. And I was like, what kind

460
00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:45,000
Speaker 1: of device? That gas an idea when we started naming

461
00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:47,960
Speaker 1: the organization, because I didn't know what a BlackBerry was. Yeah,

462
00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:52,160
Speaker 1: you're like, yeah, it's like black a device, so kind

463
00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:54,320
Speaker 1: of device, and she gives it it's like a device.

464
00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:56,480
Speaker 1: It's like, you can't And then I didn't push it

465
00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:58,280
Speaker 1: after a while because I thought, well, maybe it's something

466
00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:01,600
Speaker 1: like sexual or I know, I don't know why she

467
00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:03,679
Speaker 1: isn't telling me what it kind of device, but she

468
00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:07,480
Speaker 1: just wasn't able to articulate it because Blackberries were so new. Uh,

469
00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:11,040
Speaker 1: you know, the iPhone hadn't come out yet or was

470
00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:14,640
Speaker 1: just coming out at Blackberries. So she was like trying

471
00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:17,360
Speaker 1: to explain. I thought she was being mysterious. I left

472
00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:18,920
Speaker 1: it alone and I just was like, Okay, we don't,

473
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:22,800
Speaker 1: won't we don't, So we won't call it that, We'll

474
00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:25,359
Speaker 1: call it something else. And so we but we still

475
00:25:25,359 --> 00:25:28,080
Speaker 1: like the sound of it. And so sweet came in

476
00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:33,200
Speaker 1: there and sweet BlackBerry, and it was cute, and there

477
00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:36,359
Speaker 1: were a couple other names, and everybody that we brought

478
00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:38,920
Speaker 1: it to, everybody responded to sweet BlackBerry. And I'm sure

479
00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:41,040
Speaker 1: it has something to do with them blacker than berry

480
00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:44,760
Speaker 1: and sweeter than Jews. Yeah, of course, I'm sure it's

481
00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:48,600
Speaker 1: that kind of you know, is under it great name,

482
00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:52,720
Speaker 1: that's a great story. Well you're like, I don't know

483
00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:56,600
Speaker 1: what a bibberria is. I'm just gonna live alone. Oh

484
00:25:56,720 --> 00:25:59,720
Speaker 1: I love it. Okay. So then the purpose of Sweet

485
00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:04,480
Speaker 1: black Area, from my understanding, for the actual series that

486
00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:10,480
Speaker 1: is created the children's book books Floral, are to identify

487
00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:15,000
Speaker 1: our unsell heroes in the black culture apropos again for

488
00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:17,320
Speaker 1: Black History Month, but in general, we're in such a

489
00:26:17,359 --> 00:26:19,320
Speaker 1: place in this country right now, and I just posted

490
00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:23,320
Speaker 1: about it. I'm so angry. I'm sewing that's why you

491
00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:25,720
Speaker 1: have to log off social media, but I'm in the

492
00:26:26,119 --> 00:26:29,320
Speaker 1: attempt to erase our culture and our heritage. More importantly,

493
00:26:29,359 --> 00:26:32,640
Speaker 1: I'm angry at the attempt to block those who are

494
00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:34,919
Speaker 1: trying to recreate a false history that we have been

495
00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:40,240
Speaker 1: sold as black people. Right. So, you have this book books,

496
00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:43,520
Speaker 1: and I feel as if it's timely because our kids

497
00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:48,359
Speaker 1: are learning so much, so much not history, but their history,

498
00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:51,360
Speaker 1: fake history, things that don't talk about who we are.

499
00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:56,920
Speaker 1: And our contributions are many, many, many contributions byety. Tell

500
00:26:57,080 --> 00:27:00,240
Speaker 1: us all about the books that you have been able

501
00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:04,440
Speaker 1: to publish. These children's well started off with films, short

502
00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:09,239
Speaker 1: animated films which have been great now two books, but

503
00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:13,040
Speaker 1: the films um you know had I was fortunate enough

504
00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:17,600
Speaker 1: to have Alfrey Woodard, Queen Latifa, Chris Rock, Lawrence Fishburne

505
00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:21,040
Speaker 1: all narrate these stories about real people in history that

506
00:27:21,119 --> 00:27:23,200
Speaker 1: we just don't hear about so much. And the whole

507
00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:26,040
Speaker 1: the whole way it came about was that my mom

508
00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:29,480
Speaker 1: was a librarian and all my growing up, but then

509
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:33,120
Speaker 1: as an adult she was still a librarian. She would

510
00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:35,520
Speaker 1: call me and tell me stories that she came across

511
00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:37,919
Speaker 1: at the Black Resource Center where she was a librarian.

512
00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:41,639
Speaker 1: And she came across the story one day about Henry

513
00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:45,479
Speaker 1: Box Brown, the enslaved man who mailed himself to his

514
00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:50,600
Speaker 1: freedom in a box from Yeah he was. He went

515
00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:56,000
Speaker 1: from Virginia to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, this box that he was in,

516
00:27:56,119 --> 00:27:58,600
Speaker 1: and he was undiscovered and when they opened it, he

517
00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:00,960
Speaker 1: had cross state line. So when they opened it, he

518
00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:09,439
Speaker 1: was a freeman and ingenious, risky, a little risky. I

519
00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:11,800
Speaker 1: couldn't believe I had never heard the story before. It

520
00:28:11,880 --> 00:28:13,800
Speaker 1: was such an amazing story and I hadn't heard it.

521
00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:15,560
Speaker 1: None of my friends had heard it, and so that

522
00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:18,399
Speaker 1: would become the impetus for Sweet BlackBerry. I was like,

523
00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:21,120
Speaker 1: I wanted this is such a great story for kids,

524
00:28:22,119 --> 00:28:25,280
Speaker 1: like a great book. Wasn't as easy to self publish then,

525
00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:28,800
Speaker 1: so I ended up realizing, oh, I can make a

526
00:28:28,800 --> 00:28:32,160
Speaker 1: little movie, you know. I met an animator and talked

527
00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:35,240
Speaker 1: to her and we started figuring it out. I talked

528
00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:37,879
Speaker 1: to illustrators and ended up being able to put this

529
00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:40,880
Speaker 1: animated film together. Reached out to Alfrey Woodard because when

530
00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:43,800
Speaker 1: I was writing it. Alfrey kept coming into my head

531
00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:45,720
Speaker 1: and so I was like, oh, I got to reach

532
00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:48,720
Speaker 1: out to Alfrey, and she did it and we made

533
00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:51,640
Speaker 1: this this great story. And so that's where it would

534
00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:57,160
Speaker 1: start really important to get these to get these stories out,

535
00:28:57,240 --> 00:28:59,040
Speaker 1: get them to kids at a young age. I mean,

536
00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:03,640
Speaker 1: I agree with you at so terrifying what's going on.

537
00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:07,080
Speaker 1: I you know, when I started the organization, I was

538
00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:09,200
Speaker 1: very naive about a lot of things, and one of

539
00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:11,680
Speaker 1: them was, you know, all these stories. We have to

540
00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:14,240
Speaker 1: get these stories to kids. They risk being lost, blah

541
00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:16,320
Speaker 1: blah blah. And of course, after a little bit of

542
00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:18,080
Speaker 1: time with it, I was like, wait, it's not that

543
00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:21,680
Speaker 1: they're being lost, they're being buried. These stories are quite

544
00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:26,600
Speaker 1: intentionally being buried. And I also just started it started

545
00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:31,040
Speaker 1: recognizing the impact they had on kids. I visit schools

546
00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:36,400
Speaker 1: and I share the stories with the kids, and you

547
00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:41,600
Speaker 1: see the incredible impact that this has on kids, seeing themselves,

548
00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:43,840
Speaker 1: seeing what they're being reminded, what they're capable of, what

549
00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:47,040
Speaker 1: their neighbors are capable of. Because these are American stories,

550
00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:51,040
Speaker 1: they're everybody's story, and it's so important for us to

551
00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:55,200
Speaker 1: stop separating this way that it's nice to spotlight. That's important,

552
00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:57,760
Speaker 1: but we can't separate it like, oh good now we

553
00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:02,120
Speaker 1: gave the black people their history month. Now let's move on,

554
00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:06,280
Speaker 1: you know. And and we also we have to all

555
00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:10,080
Speaker 1: look at it and look realistically at our history, at

556
00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:12,720
Speaker 1: where we are at the context, makes sense of all

557
00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:20,400
Speaker 1: of it, and be truthful. I love that my son.

558
00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:24,080
Speaker 1: Remember a few years ago in my son's school, when

559
00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:28,160
Speaker 1: they were teaching him some history, and they were teaching

560
00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:32,680
Speaker 1: two different perspectives, I mean, two different stories, stories written

561
00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:36,280
Speaker 1: from two different perspectives, as opposed to what I grew

562
00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:40,440
Speaker 1: up with, which is, here's a history, accept it. Okay,

563
00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:44,200
Speaker 1: that's let's move on. Here's another history story. Let's accept it,

564
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:48,320
Speaker 1: and let's move on. They were teaching him. You read it,

565
00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:53,360
Speaker 1: you always consider who wrote it, always just consider it.

566
00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:58,520
Speaker 1: And that to me, that kind of dare I say,

567
00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:02,720
Speaker 1: critical thinking was so important to know that my son

568
00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:06,080
Speaker 1: was being given that that when he goes into anything

569
00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:09,719
Speaker 1: he looks at, he thinks, he doesn't just accept everything

570
00:31:10,280 --> 00:31:12,720
Speaker 1: and just walk with it. And that don't we want

571
00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:14,840
Speaker 1: that for our kids? Don't we all want that for

572
00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:19,040
Speaker 1: our children. Yeah, that's a very powerful. Critical thinking is rare.

573
00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:21,760
Speaker 1: I think we do accept even as adults. Someone tells

574
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:25,480
Speaker 1: us something and we seal a phase accept what they say,

575
00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:29,080
Speaker 1: and you're like, that, in fact is not true. Yeah,

576
00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:31,480
Speaker 1: oh gosh, it's so important. Thank you for that. That

577
00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:35,360
Speaker 1: was something that I can use. That's really important. It is,

578
00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:38,600
Speaker 1: I think, I agree. I agree. I was so impressed

579
00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:41,800
Speaker 1: and it really hit me hard. It made me realize

580
00:31:41,840 --> 00:31:45,840
Speaker 1: how much I have, how much. It made me realize

581
00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:52,360
Speaker 1: how much I have always just accepted what was. Yeah, okay,

582
00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:55,840
Speaker 1: I'll take it as opposed to But now though you

583
00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:58,080
Speaker 1: are up in the world we live in, they do,

584
00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:02,040
Speaker 1: I am queen of Why how push back? Give me more? Yeah,

585
00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:05,000
Speaker 1: just I don't have it. It's an eight. But it

586
00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:07,200
Speaker 1: also makes you feel as if you're a troublemaker because

587
00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:10,080
Speaker 1: people feel like and I just feel like it's good trouble.

588
00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:13,040
Speaker 1: It's good trouble. It is. But why is it trouble?

589
00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:16,719
Speaker 1: Why is it trouble because you? Because it threatens the

590
00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:19,680
Speaker 1: powers that be. They feel threatened to buy it, and

591
00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:21,840
Speaker 1: and we shouldn't you know, because I mean, if you

592
00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:26,800
Speaker 1: look at it, you understand it's much easier to govern,

593
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:29,920
Speaker 1: to have any kind of power over people if they

594
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:32,280
Speaker 1: just be quiet. And accept what I tell you. It's

595
00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:34,640
Speaker 1: like it's like you're it's like having kids, right, People

596
00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:36,760
Speaker 1: are like, just accept what I'm telling you. But if

597
00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:40,080
Speaker 1: if you're being if people question and challenge, it's difficult,

598
00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:45,720
Speaker 1: too bad. Where can people watch your There're still live

599
00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:48,600
Speaker 1: on HBO right these short films. They're not on HBO anymore.

600
00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:50,840
Speaker 1: They were on hby had a life on HBO. They

601
00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:54,440
Speaker 1: had a life on Netflix right now they're available easy

602
00:32:54,480 --> 00:32:59,440
Speaker 1: access for teachers and educators. They are on Canopy Canopy. Yeah, ok,

603
00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:02,720
Speaker 1: and O p y they're on Canopy. They need to

604
00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:04,440
Speaker 1: look there for us as well, so we can go

605
00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:07,240
Speaker 1: and then yeah. You can also visit the Sweet BlackBerry

606
00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:10,760
Speaker 1: website sweet BlackBerry dot org. We have DDDs of the

607
00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:13,160
Speaker 1: films and we have the books there as well. You

608
00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:15,280
Speaker 1: can find the books is also you can find the

609
00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:17,440
Speaker 1: books which are published by Little Brown. You can find

610
00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:21,080
Speaker 1: them it. You know various retailers across the country, including

611
00:33:21,120 --> 00:33:24,760
Speaker 1: Barnes and Noble and Amazon, Amazon, the easy d so

612
00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:26,640
Speaker 1: where we get our life. They're taking over our live too.

613
00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:28,080
Speaker 1: Where I have to but you can tell you you

614
00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:30,560
Speaker 1: can tell your local bookstore, hey, I'm interested in this,

615
00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:32,920
Speaker 1: and they'll order for you, and they're fast. So if

616
00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:37,000
Speaker 1: you can avoid the Amazon machine, then if you obviously yeah,

617
00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:43,000
Speaker 1: try so. So the books are our longer form, more informed,

618
00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:46,240
Speaker 1: the same as the films. They're very much the same

619
00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:48,440
Speaker 1: as the films. There's little adjustments and things that we

620
00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:53,280
Speaker 1: had to do differently, But the films were always picture

621
00:33:53,320 --> 00:33:56,200
Speaker 1: books come to life, you know. They were light animation,

622
00:33:56,440 --> 00:34:01,880
Speaker 1: beautiful animation with these great narrators and great music. You

623
00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:05,120
Speaker 1: don't have that in the books, really wonderful music, but

624
00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:09,960
Speaker 1: still a lot of the style, the rhyming style, the

625
00:34:10,160 --> 00:34:15,040
Speaker 1: stories of these people are these really tremendous accomplishments are

626
00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:18,480
Speaker 1: all there in the books. I am fascinated at the

627
00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:21,120
Speaker 1: story of what most of a miracle will identify you

628
00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:23,040
Speaker 1: with his hilary. But this is the work that you

629
00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:27,239
Speaker 1: were doing is so important, especially now, especially now, but

630
00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:31,280
Speaker 1: so important. Had you had you ever thought when creating

631
00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:35,439
Speaker 1: these stories, outside of being unsung heroes, that there will

632
00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:37,880
Speaker 1: be a time, if not now, where a teacher is

633
00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:39,719
Speaker 1: in a classroom, which she's ordered these books for her

634
00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:42,560
Speaker 1: students because they must know. Did you ever think that

635
00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:44,800
Speaker 1: that way when you were creating it? What I did it?

636
00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:47,400
Speaker 1: I was excited, Like I said, I was. It was

637
00:34:47,440 --> 00:34:51,320
Speaker 1: a different time too, you know. I mean around the

638
00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:53,920
Speaker 1: time that the stories were coming out, when I first

639
00:34:54,040 --> 00:34:56,680
Speaker 1: was starting, it was, you know, around the time that

640
00:34:56,800 --> 00:34:58,960
Speaker 1: I lost my voice from screaming in the streets because

641
00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:01,800
Speaker 1: of Barack Obama is elected to you know. So it

642
00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:06,480
Speaker 1: was a different time, you know. Um. And but I

643
00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:09,799
Speaker 1: so I was more going into it, not this kind

644
00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:12,560
Speaker 1: of fighting for something that I think where a lot

645
00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:16,200
Speaker 1: of us are doing now. But I just was like,

646
00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:18,719
Speaker 1: oh gosh, you know these stories my mom sharing with

647
00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:21,239
Speaker 1: me and the ones I'm researching, these are amazing. And

648
00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:22,960
Speaker 1: when I was in school, I didn't learn these. I

649
00:35:23,080 --> 00:35:28,160
Speaker 1: learned a handful of stories about black accomplishments. Um, and

650
00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:31,759
Speaker 1: these are what did you do? I learned? M sure

651
00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:33,800
Speaker 1: we had this usual suspects who dold you know? I

652
00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:37,799
Speaker 1: learned George Washington, Carver, Martin Luther King. I don't even

653
00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:40,520
Speaker 1: know if I learned Frederick Douglas in school, to be honest,

654
00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:44,120
Speaker 1: you know, I learned um. You know, Harriet Tubman, did

655
00:35:44,160 --> 00:35:46,480
Speaker 1: you did they portray Mathelmax as a bad guy when

656
00:35:46,520 --> 00:35:50,040
Speaker 1: you were Oh? Yes, I mean they didn't teach him

657
00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:52,040
Speaker 1: to us in school. I don't. I think he was

658
00:35:52,120 --> 00:35:54,759
Speaker 1: off limits in terms of what teachers wanted to teach.

659
00:35:54,840 --> 00:35:58,560
Speaker 1: But I always got that message very strong about black

660
00:35:58,640 --> 00:36:02,239
Speaker 1: panthers out Malcolm Max. I learned all these things that

661
00:36:02,239 --> 00:36:05,880
Speaker 1: I learned about later in life, I you know, digging

662
00:36:05,960 --> 00:36:09,400
Speaker 1: into on my own. But yeah, the messages that we

663
00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:11,720
Speaker 1: got were different. Well one other thing that but that happened.

664
00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:14,560
Speaker 1: I think that was really I think it's important to

665
00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:17,200
Speaker 1: look at is when you are taught just a handful

666
00:36:17,239 --> 00:36:20,080
Speaker 1: of stories like that, not only are you being robbed

667
00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:22,240
Speaker 1: of the history, not only are with as a history

668
00:36:22,360 --> 00:36:26,919
Speaker 1: being lost quote unquote, but you know, very not all

669
00:36:26,960 --> 00:36:31,480
Speaker 1: of that. But the message that children are receiving, and

670
00:36:31,600 --> 00:36:33,840
Speaker 1: I mean not just black and brown kids, I mean

671
00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:37,080
Speaker 1: every all children are receiving, is that you know, every

672
00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:39,600
Speaker 1: now and then a special black person comes along and

673
00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:42,520
Speaker 1: does something great. Oh, Barack Obama was a great, special

674
00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:47,080
Speaker 1: black person. And that message is as detrimental as any other.

675
00:36:47,600 --> 00:36:51,480
Speaker 1: And that and so we want to correct that too.

676
00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:55,840
Speaker 1: We want to make sure that that everyone, but especially

677
00:36:55,920 --> 00:37:00,160
Speaker 1: our children, as say, come up, understand the truth and

678
00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:02,960
Speaker 1: that that is not the truth, you know, And that's

679
00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:05,239
Speaker 1: and that has a lot to do with um the

680
00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:08,120
Speaker 1: Dolly experiments, and why you see if you were seeing

681
00:37:08,160 --> 00:37:11,160
Speaker 1: the Dolly experiments where they give they give small children

682
00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:13,480
Speaker 1: a white doll and a black doll, give a black

683
00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:15,600
Speaker 1: child the black doll and the white doll, and they

684
00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:18,439
Speaker 1: asked them which one is the is the nice doll,

685
00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:21,759
Speaker 1: which one is the pretty doll. And they've been doing

686
00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:26,120
Speaker 1: this since nineteen I think thirty nine. Um um, the

687
00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:29,520
Speaker 1: Clarks did it back then. But we're talking about they

688
00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:31,879
Speaker 1: do this all the time. I mean it's been it's

689
00:37:32,160 --> 00:37:37,760
Speaker 1: recently they've did the study and the same results. Little

690
00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:42,839
Speaker 1: kids immediately, little brown kids immediately point to the brown

691
00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:46,160
Speaker 1: doll and go, that's the bad doll, that's the ugly doll.

692
00:37:46,280 --> 00:37:50,160
Speaker 1: And when they ask them why, they don't know, they

693
00:37:50,280 --> 00:37:53,440
Speaker 1: just so, I don't know, it's just bad because you know,

694
00:37:54,360 --> 00:37:56,640
Speaker 1: I don't know, you know, and they just it's come in.

695
00:37:56,760 --> 00:38:01,960
Speaker 1: They've they've already soaked this up. They're little, you know.

696
00:38:02,239 --> 00:38:05,719
Speaker 1: It's it's insane. And for people to tell us that

697
00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:08,920
Speaker 1: these things that we're telling them are happening in society

698
00:38:08,960 --> 00:38:14,479
Speaker 1: are not true, it is outrageous. Every champion and every

699
00:38:14,600 --> 00:38:17,720
Speaker 1: champions to be a champion, a champion and carry Champion

700
00:38:17,800 --> 00:38:20,959
Speaker 1: and Carry Champion, A Champion and Carry Champion and Kerry

701
00:38:21,080 --> 00:38:23,600
Speaker 1: Champion Raiders and sports, And then the taming can make

702
00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:31,960
Speaker 1: it work. Every champion and Carry champions to be a champion,

703
00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:35,920
Speaker 1: a champion and Karry Champion, they Yon Champion and Kerry

704
00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:39,120
Speaker 1: Champion and Kerry Champion raid and sports, and the taming

705
00:38:39,200 --> 00:38:44,359
Speaker 1: can make war. I ask you about what you're doing next,

706
00:38:44,440 --> 00:38:46,319
Speaker 1: and you told me you have another book coming out.

707
00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:48,680
Speaker 1: I do. I have a book coming out in July

708
00:38:48,840 --> 00:38:55,200
Speaker 1: called Clouds over California. Yeah. Tell me, Well, my first book,

709
00:38:55,239 --> 00:38:58,239
Speaker 1: How High the Moon Was, took place. Um, it was

710
00:38:58,280 --> 00:39:03,600
Speaker 1: a historical fiction and it took place in the nineteen forties.

711
00:39:03,719 --> 00:39:05,880
Speaker 1: How High the Moon took place in nineteen forties. It

712
00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:10,440
Speaker 1: was loosely based on my mom's childhood backdrop in South Carolina,

713
00:39:10,680 --> 00:39:13,760
Speaker 1: because my mom always talked about what a happy childhood

714
00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:17,040
Speaker 1: she had, and I just, you know, just heard that

715
00:39:17,239 --> 00:39:21,239
Speaker 1: and let that be until one day I realized, wait

716
00:39:21,239 --> 00:39:24,160
Speaker 1: a minute, you grew up in the segregated South. You've

717
00:39:24,160 --> 00:39:26,320
Speaker 1: got to tell me more about what your childhood was like.

718
00:39:26,560 --> 00:39:31,319
Speaker 1: You're so happy, so yeah, it was really so great.

719
00:39:31,360 --> 00:39:33,680
Speaker 1: Are you're not telling me everything? You know? So I

720
00:39:33,880 --> 00:39:36,160
Speaker 1: started to kind of dig and ask her more and

721
00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:39,920
Speaker 1: more questions, and and and I kind of tried to

722
00:39:40,320 --> 00:39:42,560
Speaker 1: create a character. I wanted it to be like me,

723
00:39:42,760 --> 00:39:46,200
Speaker 1: slipping into her shoes and walking in her shoes as

724
00:39:46,840 --> 00:39:50,920
Speaker 1: a twelve year eleven, twelve year old girl. Character Ella

725
00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:53,400
Speaker 1: ended up being very different from both of us, really

726
00:39:53,520 --> 00:39:58,359
Speaker 1: kind of wild girl, which was great. But I got

727
00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:03,040
Speaker 1: to understand a little bit more about community and family

728
00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:06,839
Speaker 1: and the power that there is with community and how

729
00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:10,400
Speaker 1: you can have and how she did have a really

730
00:40:10,719 --> 00:40:15,520
Speaker 1: great childhood in spite of a lot of the situations

731
00:40:15,560 --> 00:40:18,279
Speaker 1: that she was around. She also she did not live

732
00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:21,080
Speaker 1: that far from She didn't know this as a child,

733
00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:24,880
Speaker 1: but she didn't live that far from George Stinney Junior,

734
00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:28,000
Speaker 1: who was someone I learned about while doing my Sweet

735
00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:33,960
Speaker 1: BlackBerry research often. George Stinney was also in South Carolina

736
00:40:34,520 --> 00:40:37,680
Speaker 1: and at fourteen years old, was the youngest person ever executed.

737
00:40:39,040 --> 00:40:41,239
Speaker 1: He was only fourteen years old and he was accused

738
00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:45,080
Speaker 1: of killing two little white girls, a trial which would

739
00:40:45,080 --> 00:40:48,839
Speaker 1: be retried many years later from a wonderful man who's

740
00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:52,160
Speaker 1: become my friend named George Friarson, and it would be

741
00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:54,759
Speaker 1: thrown out as a sham and realized that the whole

742
00:40:54,840 --> 00:40:57,600
Speaker 1: thing was a sham. He was coerced into this confession,

743
00:40:57,800 --> 00:41:00,719
Speaker 1: and this fourteen year old boy, they had to put

744
00:41:01,120 --> 00:41:04,640
Speaker 1: books underneath him because he was too small to reach

745
00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:10,080
Speaker 1: the electrocution thing for his head. He was put to death,

746
00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:14,400
Speaker 1: and I was able to bring a little bit of

747
00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:19,719
Speaker 1: George's story into How High the Moon. He's one of

748
00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:22,600
Speaker 1: the friends of the kids, and so we were able

749
00:41:22,680 --> 00:41:26,080
Speaker 1: to see again the community and how they are affected

750
00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:30,120
Speaker 1: and learn a little bit more about George because he

751
00:41:30,280 --> 00:41:33,239
Speaker 1: was never His story, while I think so important for

752
00:41:33,280 --> 00:41:35,680
Speaker 1: people to know about, was again one of these stories

753
00:41:35,760 --> 00:41:38,120
Speaker 1: in black history that people just didn't know about. But

754
00:41:38,239 --> 00:41:42,759
Speaker 1: it wasn't that a sweet BlackBerry inspiring and power and story. Still,

755
00:41:42,800 --> 00:41:44,719
Speaker 1: I was able to have the opportunity to bring it

756
00:41:44,800 --> 00:41:49,640
Speaker 1: into How High the Moon. My new book coming out

757
00:41:49,719 --> 00:41:53,680
Speaker 1: Clouds Over California. It takes place in the seventies and

758
00:41:55,320 --> 00:41:58,400
Speaker 1: calls on some things from my growing up in southern

759
00:41:58,480 --> 00:42:02,200
Speaker 1: California in the seven and days when my fifteen year

760
00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:05,200
Speaker 1: old cousin came and lived with us from back east

761
00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:09,520
Speaker 1: and kind of turned our house upside down. But it

762
00:42:09,680 --> 00:42:14,360
Speaker 1: also it also deals a little bit with the Black Panthers,

763
00:42:14,520 --> 00:42:17,680
Speaker 1: which I I you know, like we talked about with

764
00:42:17,719 --> 00:42:21,439
Speaker 1: Malcolm X as well, I had been kind of fed

765
00:42:21,520 --> 00:42:25,320
Speaker 1: a whole number about who he was, and I definitely

766
00:42:25,520 --> 00:42:29,520
Speaker 1: was always I think the Panthers were always vilified, you know,

767
00:42:29,920 --> 00:42:33,200
Speaker 1: for me, and so this was nice to be able

768
00:42:33,239 --> 00:42:40,720
Speaker 1: to kind of revisit the seventies and my experience growing

769
00:42:40,800 --> 00:42:44,840
Speaker 1: up and put some of that stuff into context. I

770
00:42:44,960 --> 00:42:46,919
Speaker 1: love it. So when you say deals with a little

771
00:42:46,920 --> 00:42:48,360
Speaker 1: bit King, tell us a little more about what it

772
00:42:48,400 --> 00:42:51,080
Speaker 1: deals with with the Black Panthers. Well, like I said,

773
00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:53,279
Speaker 1: I still I got that fifteen year old cousin who

774
00:42:53,360 --> 00:42:56,640
Speaker 1: comes down and kind of turns things. I mean, what

775
00:42:56,760 --> 00:43:00,279
Speaker 1: happens in the story is you know, it's like I said,

776
00:43:00,280 --> 00:43:02,640
Speaker 1: there's based a lot on some things from my life,

777
00:43:02,680 --> 00:43:06,239
Speaker 1: including that really with my cousin. But you know, it

778
00:43:06,440 --> 00:43:11,920
Speaker 1: was in the nineteen seventies you had the women's liberation

779
00:43:12,040 --> 00:43:15,400
Speaker 1: movement happening as well. I had a mother who was

780
00:43:15,680 --> 00:43:20,759
Speaker 1: very kind of you know, the sweet, perfect kind of

781
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:26,240
Speaker 1: Donna reed mom, like you know, perfect um, you know mom,

782
00:43:26,880 --> 00:43:31,040
Speaker 1: you know, wife doing serve, doing all of the things

783
00:43:31,080 --> 00:43:34,160
Speaker 1: just expected to do at this time. And she grew

784
00:43:34,280 --> 00:43:37,359
Speaker 1: up with this being her understanding, this was her role

785
00:43:37,600 --> 00:43:39,320
Speaker 1: and how she was supposed to be is what the

786
00:43:39,440 --> 00:43:43,360
Speaker 1: world was telling her. But when the women's liberation movement

787
00:43:44,640 --> 00:43:47,640
Speaker 1: came along, and when my cousin came along, I think,

788
00:43:48,200 --> 00:43:52,040
Speaker 1: you know, she started to see a little bit more

789
00:43:52,200 --> 00:43:55,640
Speaker 1: of who she could be, who she wanted to be,

790
00:43:56,080 --> 00:44:00,040
Speaker 1: what she was logging for and and seeing when and

791
00:44:00,160 --> 00:44:03,279
Speaker 1: around her, or seeing the world change and meeting that

792
00:44:03,440 --> 00:44:07,759
Speaker 1: starting to meet that change. However, her husband was like

793
00:44:08,120 --> 00:44:13,000
Speaker 1: not not stepping up to that change, you know. And

794
00:44:13,320 --> 00:44:16,279
Speaker 1: and at the same time, there was also um. Like

795
00:44:16,440 --> 00:44:19,400
Speaker 1: I said, there was also a lot of um the

796
00:44:20,200 --> 00:44:22,960
Speaker 1: heels of the civil rights movement. That was the panthers

797
00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:25,920
Speaker 1: and things and people that were kind of stuck in

798
00:44:26,040 --> 00:44:28,840
Speaker 1: their ideas and they're safe ideas of who the panthers

799
00:44:28,920 --> 00:44:33,080
Speaker 1: were and comfortable with thinking that they were baddies. Yeah,

800
00:44:33,160 --> 00:44:35,359
Speaker 1: oh my god, I can't you know what every time

801
00:44:35,400 --> 00:44:36,960
Speaker 1: I see in it. So that's why I get mad.

802
00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:39,040
Speaker 1: I'm tired of slave movies. I'm tired of films that

803
00:44:39,640 --> 00:44:41,520
Speaker 1: tell you that, you know, the black panthers were bad

804
00:44:41,560 --> 00:44:43,080
Speaker 1: and how they had to struggle to get there. I

805
00:44:43,200 --> 00:44:45,040
Speaker 1: get it. I get it. We need that. But I

806
00:44:45,120 --> 00:44:47,680
Speaker 1: do get I want a new storyline and I want

807
00:44:48,120 --> 00:44:49,719
Speaker 1: and I want to hit a way in which we

808
00:44:49,960 --> 00:44:52,480
Speaker 1: are righteous warriors. Allow the woman king, you know what

809
00:44:52,520 --> 00:44:57,520
Speaker 1: I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah, right, um. And I appreciate

810
00:44:57,680 --> 00:44:59,560
Speaker 1: what you're doing. I didn't know when I when I,

811
00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:02,239
Speaker 1: and I fear there are others like me who didn't know.

812
00:45:02,760 --> 00:45:05,080
Speaker 1: And I just want to just for contexts, let you

813
00:45:05,200 --> 00:45:07,800
Speaker 1: know that. I feel like it's so wonderful and timely

814
00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:10,919
Speaker 1: that I had an opportunity to interview you. Thank you. Wow.

815
00:45:11,239 --> 00:45:12,719
Speaker 1: While there are so many of us on the front

816
00:45:12,760 --> 00:45:15,799
Speaker 1: lines fighting for for Florida and fighting for our voice.

817
00:45:16,200 --> 00:45:19,320
Speaker 1: Heard the sixteen Project. I mean, when I think of

818
00:45:19,360 --> 00:45:21,640
Speaker 1: the books that have been banned in this world, in

819
00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:24,000
Speaker 1: this world, when you think of Beloved, which was banned

820
00:45:24,040 --> 00:45:27,760
Speaker 1: by the great Tony Morrison, you know, sixteen nineteen project,

821
00:45:27,920 --> 00:45:31,920
Speaker 1: they attempt to ban that hooks. But all of these

822
00:45:32,000 --> 00:45:35,480
Speaker 1: zorneil Hurst and all these amazing people who told our

823
00:45:35,520 --> 00:45:38,880
Speaker 1: stories in such eloquent forward fashion were considered are now

824
00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:42,680
Speaker 1: considered in Florida to be wrong or things we should learn.

825
00:45:42,880 --> 00:45:46,279
Speaker 1: And yet and still there is a way in which

826
00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:48,600
Speaker 1: we can teach our children everything doesn't have to be

827
00:45:48,680 --> 00:45:50,440
Speaker 1: on the front lines with our fists up in the air.

828
00:45:50,760 --> 00:45:53,400
Speaker 1: There's a way which we can teach our children where

829
00:45:53,520 --> 00:45:56,239
Speaker 1: they understand and it's palpable for others. And I think

830
00:45:56,320 --> 00:45:59,000
Speaker 1: a lot of what you were giving us is that, yeah,

831
00:45:59,360 --> 00:46:02,000
Speaker 1: we can fight this fight any kind of way, whether

832
00:46:02,040 --> 00:46:04,759
Speaker 1: that was your intention or not, and fight this fight

833
00:46:04,800 --> 00:46:08,600
Speaker 1: any kind of way. Yeah, it wasn't my intention. And

834
00:46:08,680 --> 00:46:11,200
Speaker 1: I've been I've gone and made appearances and people say

835
00:46:11,320 --> 00:46:14,320
Speaker 1: activists care parsons, and I'm like, whoa, but wait, what

836
00:46:14,760 --> 00:46:18,480
Speaker 1: when did I become that? You there's such a thing

837
00:46:18,560 --> 00:46:24,160
Speaker 1: as a reluctant activist. I covered ports and still do.

838
00:46:24,480 --> 00:46:27,160
Speaker 1: That's my you know, where I've made my use my platform.

839
00:46:27,280 --> 00:46:31,960
Speaker 1: But Colin Kaepernick was a reluctant activist. I keep now

840
00:46:32,120 --> 00:46:35,200
Speaker 1: minding his business. Yeah, just doing what he felt was

841
00:46:35,239 --> 00:46:39,320
Speaker 1: the right thing right self for himself. That's it. You

842
00:46:39,600 --> 00:46:42,680
Speaker 1: writing these books, doing what you wanted to do for yourself,

843
00:46:42,920 --> 00:46:46,279
Speaker 1: which yeah, these unsunk heros and then wos up and

844
00:46:46,360 --> 00:46:48,040
Speaker 1: now all of a sudden he's got a whole army.

845
00:46:48,080 --> 00:46:51,640
Speaker 1: He's like, wait a second, Yeah, wait a second. That

846
00:46:51,800 --> 00:46:55,200
Speaker 1: wasn't what I was trying to do. But I did it. Hey,

847
00:46:55,280 --> 00:46:57,719
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So for better for worse,

848
00:46:57,719 --> 00:46:59,960
Speaker 1: I won't call you an activist, but I do appreciate.

849
00:47:00,960 --> 00:47:04,000
Speaker 1: Thank you. I appreciate you. It's so nice talking to you.

850
00:47:04,440 --> 00:47:07,080
Speaker 1: You too, thank you so much. I care a person's

851
00:47:07,160 --> 00:47:11,440
Speaker 1: unnaked job. So you guys have to forgive me because

852
00:47:11,960 --> 00:47:15,239
Speaker 1: I noticed that, you know, during the podcast, Karen was like, Okay, well,

853
00:47:16,040 --> 00:47:18,080
Speaker 1: I'm not as activated as you are. I'm not as

854
00:47:18,200 --> 00:47:22,080
Speaker 1: unapologetic as you are, and I understand people have different sensibilities.

855
00:47:22,600 --> 00:47:25,080
Speaker 1: I am one hundred percent activated, I am one hundred

856
00:47:25,080 --> 00:47:30,040
Speaker 1: percent angry, and I am also one hundred percent dedicated

857
00:47:30,080 --> 00:47:32,480
Speaker 1: to the cause of making sure that our stories are told.

858
00:47:32,880 --> 00:47:36,200
Speaker 1: As a storyteller, I take this personal. I try to

859
00:47:36,280 --> 00:47:38,920
Speaker 1: represent us in so many ways, but from our perspectives,

860
00:47:39,680 --> 00:47:42,359
Speaker 1: and day in and day out, when I am given

861
00:47:42,360 --> 00:47:46,799
Speaker 1: a choice, I usually die times out of ten, ten

862
00:47:46,920 --> 00:47:49,200
Speaker 1: times out of ten. Want to make sure I'm telling

863
00:47:49,239 --> 00:47:52,680
Speaker 1: it in the way that reflects the culture and our experiences.

864
00:47:52,840 --> 00:47:55,800
Speaker 1: I never try to tell a story that is not truth,

865
00:47:56,800 --> 00:48:00,239
Speaker 1: and so I find myself extremely angry that we are

866
00:48:00,280 --> 00:48:03,719
Speaker 1: living in a time in which we are actively being erased,

867
00:48:04,080 --> 00:48:06,080
Speaker 1: and the other part that makes me angry is that

868
00:48:06,520 --> 00:48:08,320
Speaker 1: a lot of us in the culture are so busy

869
00:48:08,440 --> 00:48:12,719
Speaker 1: trying to survive that we can't focus on the fight,

870
00:48:12,960 --> 00:48:15,200
Speaker 1: the real fight, And that is the way it was

871
00:48:15,239 --> 00:48:19,399
Speaker 1: meant to be. Pay your bills, go to work, come home,

872
00:48:19,600 --> 00:48:21,279
Speaker 1: take care of your kids if you have them, get

873
00:48:21,320 --> 00:48:23,719
Speaker 1: up and do it the same day. Be so exhausted

874
00:48:23,800 --> 00:48:26,680
Speaker 1: with the day in and day out movement of life

875
00:48:27,200 --> 00:48:29,719
Speaker 1: that you can't stop and fight for the cause in

876
00:48:29,840 --> 00:48:32,719
Speaker 1: whatever way that would look like for you. And so

877
00:48:33,080 --> 00:48:35,960
Speaker 1: that is why I get so furious with the world

878
00:48:36,040 --> 00:48:37,800
Speaker 1: we live in today. And today it's just one of

879
00:48:37,840 --> 00:48:40,800
Speaker 1: those days. I'm frustrated to hell. But it is important

880
00:48:41,200 --> 00:48:44,200
Speaker 1: that we pay attention. Do not get distracted. Do not

881
00:48:44,360 --> 00:48:46,880
Speaker 1: take your eyes off the prize. That is what is

882
00:48:47,040 --> 00:48:49,200
Speaker 1: what they want. That's what they want, that's what they want.

883
00:48:49,920 --> 00:48:52,040
Speaker 1: Do not get distracted. Do not take your eyes off

884
00:48:52,080 --> 00:48:54,400
Speaker 1: the prize. I know Barack ain't in office, so you

885
00:48:54,440 --> 00:48:57,920
Speaker 1: ain't focused no more. But it is important, it is imperative.

886
00:48:58,320 --> 00:49:00,319
Speaker 1: It is the life and the legacy that you leave

887
00:49:00,360 --> 00:49:03,200
Speaker 1: for your children and your children's children. We cannot let

888
00:49:03,239 --> 00:49:06,320
Speaker 1: them erase our contributions to the society because therefore it

889
00:49:06,360 --> 00:49:08,839
Speaker 1: makes you feel like you're not entitled. It makes it fit.

890
00:49:08,920 --> 00:49:11,640
Speaker 1: It makes you feel like our culture is the least entitled.

891
00:49:11,680 --> 00:49:13,440
Speaker 1: We're like you know, I'm black. I can't work for it,

892
00:49:14,000 --> 00:49:15,960
Speaker 1: we can't look we have worked for it, and we

893
00:49:16,080 --> 00:49:19,239
Speaker 1: do deserve it. We contribute it just like everyone else did,

894
00:49:19,560 --> 00:49:22,280
Speaker 1: if not more. We deserve it and we are entitled.

895
00:49:22,520 --> 00:49:25,400
Speaker 1: Do not let them make you think you did not

896
00:49:25,680 --> 00:49:28,120
Speaker 1: build this country, that you did not participate in this

897
00:49:28,239 --> 00:49:31,040
Speaker 1: country's history, and that you are not worthy. That's the

898
00:49:31,120 --> 00:49:34,360
Speaker 1: message that they're trying to send by a racing Black history.

899
00:49:35,160 --> 00:49:37,799
Speaker 1: That's the message that want us to take this little

900
00:49:37,800 --> 00:49:40,719
Speaker 1: funky month in February and leave it as is. That's

901
00:49:40,760 --> 00:49:44,279
Speaker 1: the message I told you I was mad. I'll talked

902
00:49:44,280 --> 00:49:47,000
Speaker 1: to y'all next week. Thanks for listening to Nake It.