Speaker 1: Maligu Buns has how the knowledge you want, my league,
Speaker 1: but has how to knowledge you needlig But yet they
Speaker 1: have out of books that.
Speaker 2: The whole wild world?
Speaker 3: What up read maligue Buds?
Speaker 2: Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to Malik's Bookshelf, bringing a world together
Speaker 2: with books, culture and community. Hi, my name is Malik,
Speaker 2: your host of Malik's Bookshelf. Well, Hey, this was a
Speaker 2: big and explosive week. I'm gonna do a recap of
Speaker 2: what went down this week. It was all about Malik
Speaker 2: Muhammad and his new book that he helped co author
Speaker 2: called The Heart of a Black Man, Inspiring Stories of
Speaker 2: Triumph and Resilience.
Speaker 1: The book is a compilation of.
Speaker 2: Thirty authors from around the world, mostly from America and
Speaker 2: wrote inspiring stories of triumph and inspiration.
Speaker 1: My chapter from Devastation to Elevation. It's my story.
Speaker 2: And this week on June tenth, we hosted a book
Speaker 2: signing and me along with four other authors, was going
Speaker 2: to host a book signing at Malik Books.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 1: I have been excited throughout the week.
Speaker 2: I have promoted this event throughout the week and one
Speaker 2: of my featured interviews this week was with the iconic
Speaker 2: Travis Smiley I had an opportunity to go on KBLA
Speaker 2: fifty to eighty radio and talk about the heart of
Speaker 2: a Black man, inspiring stories of triumph and resilience. But
Speaker 2: most importantly, I had an opportunity to talk about my
Speaker 2: chapter from Devastation to Elevation with Tavis Smiley, and that
Speaker 2: was an explosive interview. I was excited all week and
Speaker 2: waited for that opportunity to sit down with the iconic
Speaker 2: Tivis Smith. Who's interview everyone pretty much that has been
Speaker 2: an advocate for social justice, that has put their life
Speaker 2: on the line to stand up for right. He's interviewed
Speaker 2: who's who in the black community, the icons of the
Speaker 2: Black community, the revolutionary thinkers of the black community. This
Speaker 2: brother has been on the front line doing what he
Speaker 2: can to elevate our voice throughout America in the world.
Speaker 2: And I had a chance to finally sit down with
Speaker 2: the iconic Tavis Smiley on his very own talk radio
Speaker 2: station that he owns, KBLA fifteen.
Speaker 1: Eighty talk radio.
Speaker 2: He's un apologetically progressive, and I was excited and nervous
Speaker 2: at the same time. But on this episode, I'm on
Speaker 2: a feature that interview with Tavis Smiley. I'm excited to
Speaker 2: air that interview because I've never sat down with such
Speaker 2: a progressive activist for blacks and social justice that used
Speaker 2: to put on a conference called the State of a
Speaker 2: Black Emergency, that's always trying to make a difference in
Speaker 2: the black community and to elevate.
Speaker 1: The black community.
Speaker 2: He made this used investment in talk radio because our
Speaker 2: voice matters.
Speaker 1: He has a ton of content now that he.
Speaker 2: Distributes throughout the world through his podcast. So I got
Speaker 2: the applaud that he's one of the giants among us
Speaker 2: who's standing up and trying to do something and advocate
Speaker 2: something that can bring about a universal change for the
Speaker 2: better in America.
Speaker 1: So I got a chance.
Speaker 2: Malik Mohammed had a chance to sit down with the
Speaker 2: iconic Tavis Smiley, and I got to feature that interview. Now,
Speaker 2: we did the interview just before my explosive book SIGNI
Speaker 2: that I hosted here at Malik Books, and I was
Speaker 2: so excited. I mean, listen, listen, and I got to
Speaker 2: give my kudos. I got to give my hat off
Speaker 2: to April whom made this day so beautiful and amazing
Speaker 2: and incredible just down to the detail. It was my
Speaker 2: first ever book SNI. I've always hosted events for authors
Speaker 2: for thirty years. I've planned, organized and hosted book signings
Speaker 2: for so many people.
Speaker 1: But this weekend I was able to be.
Speaker 2: On the other side of the table, not as a bookseller,
Speaker 2: but as an author. That was incredible to experience because
Speaker 2: I never sat down on the other side of the.
Speaker 1: Table and was an author.
Speaker 2: So I, for the first time in thirty years as
Speaker 2: a book activist helping everybody else promote the book, was
Speaker 2: able to finally sit on the other side of that.
Speaker 1: Table and be featured as an author.
Speaker 2: Co author Malik Muhammad wrote a chapter called From Devastation
Speaker 2: to Elevation in the inspiring book called The Heart of
Speaker 2: a Black Man Story inspiring Stories of triumph Resilience, So
Speaker 2: that that event was incredible was amazing.
Speaker 1: I mean, we.
Speaker 2: Brought in, uh well, April brought in Alisa Willis, who
Speaker 2: has a gift, a party planning gift, a decorating gift.
Speaker 2: She's so artistic, she just a family member, so just
Speaker 2: so talented, and she decorated this thought so amazing, so incredible.
Speaker 2: It just made the energy and the aura and the Amians,
Speaker 2: you know, just take off on a whole nother level.
Speaker 2: We get it up for this book signing. Now I
Speaker 2: don't get we don't we feature a lot of books
Speaker 2: signing and we don't go all out like this. But
Speaker 2: it was Malik Muhammad day and we wanted to go
Speaker 2: all out, and they went all out for me. They
Speaker 2: went all out, and I was clean and I was me.
Speaker 2: I had my time for it. But I mean it
Speaker 2: was man in black. Look, it's called the heart of
Speaker 2: a black man. So we came in black. So I
Speaker 2: ain't black shoes, black pants, black blazer, and you know,
Speaker 2: I had to have a black Malik Books T shirt
Speaker 2: on with my time for black shades on looking dope,
Speaker 2: dapper and a man of the century. I came in fly,
Speaker 2: that's right. I came in electric. I came in amazingly
Speaker 2: handsome and wonderful. So hey, I stepped into my position
Speaker 2: as an author. I stepped into that zone and I
Speaker 2: stepped into it with honor and glory and.
Speaker 1: Happiness and humility.
Speaker 2: Now on my chapter from Devastation to Elevation is incredible
Speaker 2: because in a few words, I tell a great detail
Speaker 2: about me. I make myself a vulnerable I make myself
Speaker 2: I open up personal.
Speaker 1: You know, I.
Speaker 2: Share things because it's through the pain of what we
Speaker 2: went through yesterday to allow us to glory.
Speaker 1: And greatness of today.
Speaker 2: I open up some of that on that Typics Final Interview,
Speaker 2: which you know, I get real personal about some things
Speaker 2: you know, and I'm sharing to my audience.
Speaker 1: On Malik's bookshelf something.
Speaker 2: About me that you're just not aware of that happened
Speaker 2: to me, and I share some of that in the
Speaker 2: details of my book the chapter. Now, look, you can
Speaker 2: go to melikbooks dot com. You can get your own
Speaker 2: personal copy and it will be signed. Any book that
Speaker 2: you buy at malikbooks dot Com for the Heart of
Speaker 2: a Black Man will be signing autograd by truly Malik
Speaker 2: Mohamed And when I'm a dude. Now, like I said,
Speaker 2: I have a chapter, but I want to evolve that
Speaker 2: chapter into a feature book, a memoir so I can
Speaker 2: go in detail. Because I couldn't go into so much detail.
Speaker 2: I just had to highlight certain things that is happening.
Speaker 2: But each thing that each different segment that I pointed out.
Speaker 1: While I'm very personal and vulnerable in my.
Speaker 2: Book, I can write the details and I could talk
Speaker 2: about the details of these incidents and so I'm looking
Speaker 2: forward to writing my full on feature book. I haven't
Speaker 2: come up with the title yet, but I think that
Speaker 2: this is from devastation now is an excellent, excellent outline
Speaker 2: to blossom into a feature book about me.
Speaker 1: Malik Muhammad.
Speaker 2: And I have a lot of things that I've dealt with.
Speaker 2: I have a lot of things that I went through.
Speaker 2: I have a lot of things that I experienced. I
Speaker 2: have a lot of different worlds, you know, you know,
Speaker 2: just outline on some of those things are the fact
Speaker 2: that I was Alympian, right, the fact that you know,
Speaker 2: you know, I mean, came from.
Speaker 1: The streets of Oxen Hill in Maryland.
Speaker 2: The fact that the things that I have went through,
Speaker 2: and growing up in the inner city at a time
Speaker 2: when things were so voluntile, going to sc usc getting
Speaker 2: the full scholarship running in the Olympics, guns.
Speaker 1: Poured out, people plotting to kill me.
Speaker 2: You know, incidents that happened when I was ten years
Speaker 2: old that affected me in a way that caused a
Speaker 2: ripple effect and trauma in my life that I wasn't
Speaker 2: aware of that I was affected by, but I had
Speaker 2: to address instead.
Speaker 1: Of bearing it under.
Speaker 2: You know, whatever we experienced and whatever we try to
Speaker 2: hide or whatever we try to, you know, try to overcome,
Speaker 2: and it's hard and difficult for me to talk.
Speaker 1: So when I'm talking about this incident.
Speaker 2: Sometimes I do a lot of because you know what,
Speaker 2: it's real tough for me to make myself a vulnerable
Speaker 2: But I'm gonna talk about those things on the interview
Speaker 2: with Tavia Smiley.
Speaker 1: Okay, so I'm gonna say that for that, but stay
Speaker 1: tuned and.
Speaker 2: Enjoy because this is just my intro about what you
Speaker 2: can expect on this segment. But I say a lot
Speaker 2: in the interview with Tavis Smiley, and I hope that
Speaker 2: is an olive branch to a lot of people who've
Speaker 2: also experienced the same thing to open up because you
Speaker 2: be surprised what I found out is discovered. It's a
Speaker 2: lot of people that have went through what I went through.
Speaker 2: So hey, enjoy this episode and reach out to me
Speaker 2: at real Malik Muhammad at gmail dot com after you
Speaker 2: hear the interview. If you feel that this is something
Speaker 2: that you're ready to open up and share with the world,
Speaker 2: because it's only through you purging this and addressing these
Speaker 2: things and making yourself for vulnerable, can you really kind
Speaker 2: of move past that experience because it does have an
Speaker 2: effect for good and for bad.
Speaker 1: It has an effect and you need to address it.
Speaker 2: So reach out to me at real Malik Muhammad at
Speaker 2: gmail dot.
Speaker 1: Com and to share with me your walk and your journey.
Speaker 2: And I appreciate it, Thank you and enjoyed this episode.
Speaker 3: And now I'm honored to have instudio another brilliant black
Speaker 3: entrepreneur here in the city of Los Angeles, Malik Muhammad.
Speaker 3: Since nineteen ninety, Malik Books has served the greater LA
Speaker 3: community with books.
Speaker 4: And cultural gifts.
Speaker 3: One of the many afrocentric bookstores, although shrinking in this country,
Speaker 3: that were part of the black book revolution that's up
Speaker 3: across the nation during the eighties and early nineties. Malik
Speaker 3: Muhammad's co owner of Malike Books and one of the
Speaker 3: co authors of a new text called The Heart of
Speaker 3: a Black Man, inspiring stories of triumph and resilience.
Speaker 4: I'm pleased to have your mom this program. I'm right now, Malik.
Speaker 4: Good to see you first of our brother, how are
Speaker 4: you wonderful?
Speaker 2: Wonderful, I'm so grateful to be here.
Speaker 1: I'm with the iconic ty, I'm.
Speaker 4: With the iconic Milite Muhammad.
Speaker 3: Let me, let me start with this and let me
Speaker 3: set all the joking aside and seriously say to you
Speaker 3: how much I appreciate Malik Books and your support of
Speaker 3: this station.
Speaker 4: You I have supported Malik Books and many of us
Speaker 4: at this station.
Speaker 3: I've supported Malik Books, and it was a beautiful thing
Speaker 3: when we brought this station online. We're moving, as you know,
Speaker 3: toward our second anniversary on Juneteenth, just a few weeks
Speaker 3: from now and a few days from now. In fact,
Speaker 3: not weeks or days from now, we'll be celebrating the
Speaker 3: second anniversary of this black talk radio station, the only
Speaker 3: one west of Mississippi. But it means something to me personally.
Speaker 3: And now that I'm in the studio with you or
Speaker 3: you with me, I should say we're face to face,
Speaker 3: I want to just look at your eye, look your
Speaker 3: eye and tell you thank you for supporting us. It
Speaker 3: means something when black folks support black folk and you
Speaker 3: didn't hesitate to support us with advertising on the radio,
Speaker 3: on our podcast and beyond. So I want to just
Speaker 3: commence by saying, thank you, black man for supporting another
Speaker 3: black business man.
Speaker 2: That that right there man touched my heart. I appreciate that,
Speaker 2: and you know I did it out of love. I
Speaker 2: did it out of community. I did it out of
Speaker 2: you know, progressiveness. You know, this is an iconic talk
Speaker 2: radio is very important. Our voice matters, and I appreciate man.
Speaker 2: I was heartfelt. Thank you Man.
Speaker 4: I mean every word of a brother, every word of it.
Speaker 3: I appreciate you for your support of our effort, and
Speaker 3: we will, of course continue to support the good work that's.
Speaker 4: Being done in Elik Books.
Speaker 3: I mentioned a moment ago that you were You guys
Speaker 3: came online, as many other bookstores did during that period
Speaker 3: of you know, the eighties and nineties.
Speaker 4: When when it was booming for us.
Speaker 3: Terry McMillan had movies everywhere, and it was it was
Speaker 3: a great time. Walter Walter Molesey had movies everywhere, Denzel
Speaker 3: and Cheetle and Yeah Mouse, I loved everybody loved the movie.
Speaker 4: Right, so many was.
Speaker 3: There's a lot going on then. Since then, none of
Speaker 3: these black bookstores have sort of fallen off.
Speaker 4: What is it like?
Speaker 3: Let me ask you right quick, what is it like
Speaker 3: being the owner, the co owner of a black bookstore
Speaker 3: right now in America?
Speaker 2: I think that it's important, it feels surreal, it feels
Speaker 2: very necessary, very you know, important, because our voice matters,
Speaker 2: and just having a bookstore in the this year, at
Speaker 2: this time, I think, you know, has helped make a
Speaker 2: difference in our in our movement upward. I mean, you know,
Speaker 2: I called it.
Speaker 1: The Black book Revolution because.
Speaker 2: We made a difference in getting product and books and
Speaker 2: greeting cards and other kind of We were like a
Speaker 2: distribution center for so many black entrepreneurs across America who
Speaker 2: can create but didn't have distribution, and we were our.
Speaker 1: Outlet to help elevate our voice.
Speaker 2: And I feel like it's necessarily important and it is.
Speaker 2: You know, Malik Books today is like Malik Books two
Speaker 2: point zero, and it's it's evolved. And today I see
Speaker 2: that the work that we've done has made an impact
Speaker 2: because we have people to come and appreciate the fact
Speaker 2: that only did we still in business, but the work
Speaker 2: that we're doing as a book activist, because that's what
Speaker 2: I call it, because it's still of shooting bullets, were shooting.
Speaker 4: Books, shooting books. And I love that we're shooting books.
Speaker 3: I love it books not bullets, The books not bullets,
Speaker 3: Malcolm said. From the ballot to the bullet, Malik said,
Speaker 3: books not bullets. To your point of my distribution. We
Speaker 3: just played prints and will continue to play prints for
Speaker 3: the rest of the show. As I said, but this
Speaker 3: radio station exists. KBLA Talk fifteen eighty exists in part
Speaker 3: because of Prince, because I've told this story. I think
Speaker 3: before when I was trying to figure out the next
Speaker 3: phase of my career, Prince who had been telling me
Speaker 3: for years to own all of my content, which I do,
Speaker 3: all of my TV, all my radio, I own all
Speaker 3: my books. I own my own content. But Prince said
Speaker 3: to me many years ago, Tabis, content is king. Own
Speaker 3: your content.
Speaker 4: I did.
Speaker 3: And one of the conversations we were before he passed
Speaker 3: away tragically and untimely for many.
Speaker 4: Of us, he said, I got to reframe what I've.
Speaker 3: Been telling you for years. I said, what do you mean, said,
Speaker 3: I've been telling you for years the content is king.
Speaker 3: It is he said, content is king. But it occurs
Speaker 3: to me now, Tavis, that distribution is emperor. Content is king,
Speaker 3: but distribution is emperor. And I want you, Prince said
Speaker 3: to me, in the next phase of your career. I
Speaker 3: don't know what it's going to be. You'll figure it out,
Speaker 3: but find your way to own your own distribution system.
Speaker 3: You own the content, but own your own distribution system.
Speaker 3: And it was that that got me thinking, and some
Speaker 3: years later came Kbla talked fifteen eighty But I take
Speaker 3: your point about distribution. It means something when we just
Speaker 3: don't own the content. We're writing books, but having a
Speaker 3: distribution system to put them out there is a very
Speaker 3: different thing.
Speaker 4: Is it?
Speaker 1: Not very different?
Speaker 2: And that's been the part that.
Speaker 1: We have not done as good as we could.
Speaker 2: We have to think bigger, and we have to think
Speaker 2: outside the box distribution. I realized that just by being
Speaker 2: in business and making all the mistakes I made over
Speaker 2: the years.
Speaker 1: And I see the outlet.
Speaker 2: I see the creativity, the imagination that we have as
Speaker 2: black people, as you know, we can invent, we can create.
Speaker 2: But the problem is how do we get that to
Speaker 2: our community. How do we get it out to the market.
Speaker 2: How do we make that product universal? And I said,
Speaker 2: we don't have distribution. So you know a lot of people,
Speaker 2: you know, they use Amazon as the platform to because
Speaker 2: they got the biggest distribution.
Speaker 1: In the world.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: Then you have the outlets like Walmark and Target that
Speaker 2: we utilize. But we as our distribution because that's necessary.
Speaker 2: We're gonna move forward and beyond, we have to have
Speaker 2: distribution and we have to develop that. And we have
Speaker 2: great minds and geniuses, but that's an area out a
Speaker 2: place that all of our inventions and ideas and imaginations
Speaker 2: can be housed and marketed in.
Speaker 1: Both wholesale and retail. So we got to come up
Speaker 1: with distribution.
Speaker 2: And I feel like back in the nineties, that's what
Speaker 2: we in the black book world.
Speaker 1: We were like distribution outlets for a lot of.
Speaker 2: Up and coming Like it wasn't no black green cards,
Speaker 2: but they came out and we were the outlet to allow,
Speaker 2: you know, that new endeavor where you see a picture
Speaker 2: of a black boy, a black girl or woman or man,
Speaker 2: this is black on a green card. And then today
Speaker 2: because history peats itself when you don't get it right,
Speaker 2: and we see now that in the nineties it was
Speaker 2: a fall off. A lot of technology came on Amazon care,
Speaker 2: a lot of things changed.
Speaker 1: A lot of black bookstores fell off.
Speaker 2: But it resurged again in the twenties twenty twenties because
Speaker 2: you know, and they call it a different back then
Speaker 2: in the nineties was called multicultural.
Speaker 1: Today they called it diversity equity in the coach, but
Speaker 1: it's the same thing, you know, so.
Speaker 2: We and I think that one of the reasons why
Speaker 2: history repeats itself, because you got to get it right.
Speaker 1: Because we don't have distribution.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm glad you're here distribution. I'm glad that we're
Speaker 3: here KBLA for two years. Thank God for Jesus, we
Speaker 3: will see this thing can survived into the future. But
Speaker 3: we at least made it for two years. So we're
Speaker 3: doing our best. You're doing your best, and I'm glad
Speaker 3: we're here together, supporting each other. Now when we come forward,
Speaker 3: I want to talk specifically about the book. He's not
Speaker 3: just a co owner of the store. He's co author
Speaker 3: of a book. It's called The Heart of a Black Man,
Speaker 3: inspiring stories of triumph and resilience. Malik Muhammad right now
Speaker 3: on KBLA Talk fifteen eighty this being a la hour.
Speaker 3: I had almost forgotten about this. I ain't got time
Speaker 3: to get into it. But y'all, y'all sleeping on Malik Muhammad.
Speaker 3: Malik was on the track at the eighty four Olympics
Speaker 3: at the Coliseum before he got into the book business.
Speaker 3: This brother was fast. You still look like you can
Speaker 3: do it, man.
Speaker 1: Oh you know thank you. I still got a little
Speaker 1: speed in me trying to get out there.
Speaker 4: I am straight at this age, he was.
Speaker 3: I mean, you think about the eighty four Olympics and
Speaker 3: all the stars that were on that track, and Malik
Speaker 3: Muhammad was out there with all of them doing his
Speaker 3: thing at for Olympics.
Speaker 4: We'll do that then other time, and you come on.
Speaker 4: He is the co owner of Elite Books.
Speaker 3: Here in Inglewood, California, and he's also the co author
Speaker 3: of a new book called The Heart of a Black Man,
Speaker 3: Inspiring Stories of triumph and Resilience.
Speaker 4: Tell me about the book.
Speaker 2: Malik been in the game, in the book game for
Speaker 2: a long time, but now I got a book.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm a.
Speaker 2: Co authore like thirty of us. They came together, collaborated.
Speaker 2: Talsia Barry, who organized this from Courageous Woman magazine, brought
Speaker 2: thirty men from all across the nation and she approached
Speaker 2: me about this, and I said, I had to do
Speaker 2: it because I've always wanted.
Speaker 1: To be part of a published book.
Speaker 2: And now I have my chapter from Devastation to Elevation.
Speaker 2: And what I talk about in the Devastation and Elevation
Speaker 2: is that you listen. I'm no different than any other
Speaker 2: you know, black man in America. You know, we all
Speaker 2: have something in common. We're black, and that we have
Speaker 2: been targeted as black men. And so I just talk about,
Speaker 2: you know that the devastating aspects of growing up in
Speaker 2: America as a black man at that time, a black boy.
Speaker 1: And then what I.
Speaker 2: Do is is I point out some of the obstacles
Speaker 2: that I had to overcome in terms of, you know,
Speaker 2: the community. The devastation is in the community, the gangs,
Speaker 2: the violence and things like that. Even though I was
Speaker 2: never in a gang and I was never never was
Speaker 2: arrested or anything like that, the thing is drugs and
Speaker 2: all of these elements were still affecting my community and
Speaker 2: affecting me in some aspect. And so what I talk
Speaker 2: about is that, hey, you know the times when I
Speaker 2: was a kid and become vulnerable. I opened up and
Speaker 2: share an incident when I was ten years old where
Speaker 2: where I had a sixteen year old babysitter and she
Speaker 2: has you know, made me have sex with her. So
Speaker 2: I made myself varner. I opened up because it's a
Speaker 2: lot of cascaded effects as a ten year old boy,
Speaker 2: you know, having sex and not understanding sex and what
Speaker 2: that means and the responsibilities that affect that and how
Speaker 2: that affected me. And I opened up and I share
Speaker 2: that to the world, personal things, intimate things about my life.
Speaker 2: Guns pulled out on me, someone targeting to kill me,
Speaker 2: and things like that. And I don't have a lot
Speaker 2: of words to talk about in my chapter, so I
Speaker 2: tried to, you know, pack a lot and say a
Speaker 2: lot and then speak about, you know, the things that
Speaker 2: were devastating in my life. But then I talk about
Speaker 2: the elevation and then and how I survived and how
Speaker 2: I'm still here and the things that I'm doing and
Speaker 2: the things that I've achieved, and because that's where the
Speaker 2: real stories at. That's the trump that's the resilience, and
Speaker 2: that's the most important thing.
Speaker 3: It is amazing with all that you have endured, that
Speaker 3: you found your way on that track in eighty four
Speaker 3: at the Olympics, and that you've gone on to establish
Speaker 3: Molikue Books and now to be a co author with
Speaker 3: others in this book. When we come forward, Malik just
Speaker 3: gave you a sense of his chapter My time is
Speaker 3: Running type, but I'm going to share with you some
Speaker 3: of the other chapters in this book.
Speaker 4: Thirty men writing pieces in this book. A lot of
Speaker 4: brilliant stuff in here.
Speaker 3: I'll again tell you more about some of the other
Speaker 3: pieces in the book when we come forward on KBLA
Speaker 3: talk fifteen eight, very tight three minutes here. But I
Speaker 3: was saying to Malik during that break that his story
Speaker 3: about what happened to him at the age of ten
Speaker 3: reminded me of the story of Robert Sylvester Kelly Butter
Speaker 3: known as R Kelly. There's all kinds of conversation and
Speaker 3: debate about R.
Speaker 4: Kelly. I ain't trying to go into that right now.
Speaker 3: What I'm saying is that the part of his story
Speaker 3: that I think has not been focused on enough is
Speaker 3: how hyper sexualized he was as a boy, what was
Speaker 3: done to him as a boy. People say he's a
Speaker 3: grown man. Now, no excuse. I'm not even debating you
Speaker 3: on that. I'm just saying, don't lose sight of the
Speaker 3: fact that when black boys get hyper sexualized at a
Speaker 3: young age, they either end up like kills in jail
Speaker 3: because they can't break the cycle, or something happens where
Speaker 3: they break the cycle. They end up like Malik Muhammad,
Speaker 3: owner of Malik Books and now co oths of a book.
Speaker 3: But you can't look past that story very quickly. You
Speaker 3: were saying to me that you spoke recently to a
Speaker 3: group of young black men and you heard what I heard.
Speaker 2: That it was a common thread, a common thing that
Speaker 2: has happened amongst many of them.
Speaker 1: And I was shocked when I.
Speaker 2: Opened up to this group of black men and the
Speaker 2: wellness warrior hill man, he'll that self willos warrior journey
Speaker 2: to self mastery training and I was shocked there.
Speaker 4: I only raised it because you raised it.
Speaker 3: I want to follow you in on that because I
Speaker 3: know a lot of men that happened to as boys
Speaker 3: and again, in the worst case, are they end up
Speaker 3: spending thirty years in prison because they can't break the
Speaker 3: cycle likes or thankfully in your case, you were able
Speaker 3: to move beyond it. But I know that disturbs. We
Speaker 3: are who we are. We are the sum told of
Speaker 3: our life's experiences. And if you start being hyper sexualized
Speaker 3: as a young black boys that age, anything can happen
Speaker 3: very quickly. Here some of the things that you were
Speaker 3: reading this book, how to gas light proof your life,
Speaker 3: prevailing through suffering, to get to your destiny, from bastard
Speaker 3: to greatness, from digging graves to planting seeds, making the
Speaker 3: right choice, the power of the professional black man. Teamwork
Speaker 3: is the price of sustained success. And of course, because
Speaker 3: I'm out of time, the one that our friend Malik
Speaker 3: Muhammad wrote from Devastation to Elevation, that he talked about
Speaker 3: a moment ago. The book is called The Heart of
Speaker 3: a Black Man, Inspiring stories of triumph and Resilience. And
Speaker 3: our dear brother Maliite Muhammad, co owner of Elite Books
Speaker 3: and now contributed to this text, has been our guest
Speaker 3: in this hour. The book once again is called the
Speaker 3: Heart of a Black Man, Inspiring stories of trying from resilience.
Speaker 4: And I can tell you one place you can get.
Speaker 1: You can get that Milie book important.
Speaker 2: You can come this Saturday, five o'clock at Milie Books
Speaker 2: Westfield Mall were doing the book signing. It's four of
Speaker 2: us from featured in this book. Co author's gonna be
Speaker 2: at Melik's at five o'clock. We're gonna be signing. We're
Speaker 2: gonna be the meet and Greek talking about it. We're
Speaker 2: gonna make ourselves vulnerable, We're gonna open up and we're
Speaker 2: gonna talk about these triumph and inspiring resilient stories this
Speaker 2: this Saturday, June tenth, five pm at Melie Books.
Speaker 4: And that's why he owns a bookstore. He knows how
Speaker 4: to selling Night Man.
Speaker 3: Our three year tavispot are when we come forward on
Speaker 3: KO Talk fifteen.
Speaker 2: You know, Milite bookself is all about community, and we're
Speaker 2: organizing a community event.
Speaker 4: That's right.
Speaker 2: We're gonna be celebrating June tenth right here at the
Speaker 2: Westfield Code City Mall this June seventeenth. Let me tell
Speaker 2: you what we got going on.
Speaker 1: We got a fit called Freedom to Read and Write
Speaker 1: June teenth Celebration.
Speaker 2: That's right, Freedom to Read and Write June teenth Celebration
Speaker 2: this June seventeenth at two to six right here at
Speaker 2: Elik Books in the Westfield Covid City Mall.
Speaker 1: We're taking over the mall.
Speaker 2: We're hosting book signings right here at Elik Books with
Speaker 2: an author named a Nissi Rochelle whom authored five books.
Speaker 2: But the one we're featuring it's called Juneteenth, a story
Speaker 2: about June tenth for our youth and our children and
Speaker 2: adults who don't know. So we're featuring her. She's going
Speaker 2: to be doing storytime. We're taking over the mall so
Speaker 2: we also organizing the storytime downstairs in the central court
Speaker 2: of the mall where she's going to be reading her
Speaker 2: book Juneteenth.
Speaker 1: Now, she got five books.
Speaker 2: She founded the organization called Beautiful Minds Publishing, where she
Speaker 2: focused on self esteem.
Speaker 1: And books that lift up love of self.
Speaker 2: He's coming all the way from back East and she's
Speaker 2: gonna be with us on Saturday, June seventeenth to celebrate
Speaker 2: freedom to read and write June Team Celebration.
Speaker 1: Now we got live music taking place.
Speaker 2: We got a drum circle and just going back to
Speaker 2: the live music is three person band and they gonna
Speaker 2: be jazzing up this mall with songs of inspiration and resilience. Okay,
Speaker 2: and so we're excited about that. Come through the Westfield
Speaker 2: Code City Mall. Let me tell you what else we
Speaker 2: got going on. We got chose O the Bozo, the
Speaker 2: Clown gonna be doing story time with kids, balloons, bubbles,
Speaker 2: all of that good stuff, as well as a panel,
Speaker 2: a panel focusing on publishing, because if you don't write
Speaker 2: your story, who will. So we got a couple of companies,
Speaker 2: Courageous Women magazine who helped the book The Art of
Speaker 2: a Black Man Toalsha Barry, who brought all the thirty
Speaker 2: black men from around the world. She gonna be here
Speaker 2: talking about publishing as well as forward publishing. My beloved
Speaker 2: brother Larry, who's gonna be in discussion in a panel
Speaker 2: with Talisia Barry about publishing and how to write your
Speaker 2: book and how to tell your story. Because it's just
Speaker 2: a little while ago, it's not that long ago. It's
Speaker 2: not that long ago that black people in America was
Speaker 2: denied the right to read and write, and a lot
Speaker 2: like Frederick Douglass had to learn on his own as
Speaker 2: he was able to free himself from slavery, he had
Speaker 2: to learn to read and write on his own like
Speaker 2: so many other blacks just a few years ago. It's
Speaker 2: not that long ago. So we're gonna celebrate the freedom
Speaker 2: to read and write right here at the Westfield Kovi
Speaker 2: Shit or Maleik Books is hosting this event, and we're
Speaker 2: gonna hosting these books signed in the mall downstairs, as
Speaker 2: well as activities and books on inside Malik Books. So
Speaker 2: you gotta come on out this Saturday, June seventeenth at
Speaker 2: the Westfield Cuova City Mall where Malik Books is hosting
Speaker 2: the June Teeth celebrate freedom to read and write.
Speaker 1: June teen celebrated from two to six pm. I hope
Speaker 1: to see you and.
Speaker 2: Let me know you came out because you heard Malik's
Speaker 2: Bookshelf podcast.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 5: Thanks for listening to Malak's Bookshelf, where topics on the
Speaker 5: Shelf are books, culture, and communities. Be sure to subscribe
Speaker 5: and leave me a review. Check out my Instagram at
Speaker 5: Malak Books.
Speaker 1: See you next time.